Kitten Lulu

You know you are googling on the wrong path when you reach…. “the Worlds 1st Organic permanent gel hair colour specifically for pubic hair“.

And no. I wasn’t googling for porn.

PS: the link is safe for work.

Did you know that someone is working on Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) for Second Life? SSAO is what makes Crytek’s Crysis look so good.

Screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO) is an approximation of ambient occlusion, the idea that parts of an object which are crowded by other objects are occluded from the sky, and therefore are lit less from diffuse sky lighting. Thus, these areas should be darker than those which are more open to the sky. Traditional implementation involves raytracing and is too slow for real-time graphics. Instead, SSAO uses only surfaces which are present in screen space, and approximately calculates the concavity of a point compared to the other surfaces which have been drawn.
This application proposes that SSAO should be implemented for Second Life.

(from an application to Google’s Summer of Code)

UPDATE: this blog post has tons of resources on hardware accelerated ambient occlusion, including SSAO variants.

UPDATE 2: Not Possible in RL blogged about it some days ago. Linking to an exchange between Dave Parks and Argent Stonecutter, Dave even links to some test screenshots from an internal research prototype.

Some of the oldbies like me will remember that we actually had shadows in Second Life circa 1.16, but they were extremely slow.

I’d like some feedback on this tongue-in-cheek concept for a 2050’s personal computing device. I’d appreciate also proofreading from an English mother tongue speaker.

The Pill®

Available in Blue and Red versions.  (*)

- Share yourself in GlobalConsciousness®
- Enrich your perception with RealVirtuality® patent-pending augmented reality system
- Forget depression and increase productivity with MoodControl®
- Unexpected death? Backup your consciousness and continue your journey in AfterLife® (**)
- Do you think you’re under external mindcontrol? Regain your freedom with MindShield® (***)
- Do you think you’re not under external mindcontrol? It’s too late. Sorry.

Footnotes:

(*) the red version is not on sale in all countries due to legal restrictions. Security clearance from your government may be required.
(**) Due to legal restrictions, blue pill users may experience limited memory loss when joining AfterLife®. Copyrighted music, films, books, works of art distributed by registered multinationals will only be available after the copyright protection ends - that is one thuosand years from artist’s death (see the Global Copyright Extension Act of 2039, also known as “Disney’s Joy” act).
(***) MindShield® use may be limited in blue pills sold in some countries, including China, Russia, Iran, USA and Europe. Do not expect MindShield to work in repessive regimes and in market democracies that ratified the Unrestricted Freedom In Advertising treatise (aka “Thought Control”) or which extend DMCA-like provisions to “advanced communication tecniques”.

… of my mobile development strategy.

I have been accepted in the iPhone Developer Program. It means that I will be able to write apps for the iPhone and publish them through Apple’s iTunes.

At the end of last year, I joined the Maemo Device Program to develop software for their Nokia Internet Tablets (NITs). Back then I promised to work on a lightweight mobile chat client for Second Life. I haven’t forgot. Real Life just got in the way so far. I will start working on the project this summer.

I could even end up creating an iPhone version of the lightweight client I have in mind.

Check out the nice flash little games at www.deadtoast.com, they’re addictive!

A walk in the park is sooooo cute.

If you’re a programmer, bugs are things that you’d rather go without than crave… unless we’re talking about Buglabs’ bugs. They’re basically linux-powered blocks that you can assemble to prototype mobile devices and applications. There’s a base unit that is a portable mobile computer and you can connect to up to four peripheral blocks such as LCD screens, motion detection accelerometers, GPS receivers or 2 megapixels cameras.

The problem is that they don’t ship outside US yet, so I won’t have a bug in my bloody hands anytime soon. That’s a shame. I want to build one with two cameras to make a portable stereo camcorder to record 3D video.

I have written the covenent for my sim. I’d like to know your comments about it. It is designed to reduce lag while allowing a loosely themed community to grow.

The monthly tier is 7500 L$/month for each 4096 sqm block. Re-parceling the land is allowed, but it can only be sold or transferred in 4096 sqm blocks.

The tier is to be paid at the start of each month within the 10th day. If you don’t pay your tier within this limit, your land will be reclaimed and your objects will be returned; the land purchase cost will NOT be refunded.

1. Marche is a mixed purpose sim: residential and low-lag commercial.
   We’ll have an hangout (with shared facilities that every resident or visitor can use) on the central parcel.
   You can mix commercial and residential. I prefer if you follow these guidelines:
   • terrain level — use for residential or low-lag hangout
   • 300m-500m — use for commercial
   • 500m and up — anything else (private sky-boxes, etc.)

   At the 300-500m, I’d like to build a coordinated flying commercial complex. People who teleport to the central parcel will arrive at this level, on a landing point with TP links to the hangouts and shops of the sim.

2. Keep lag to a minimum. If sim performance (time dilation) is constantly affected (< 0.9) by your objects, they will be disabled or returned and a warning will be issued.
3. Camping chairs are prohibited. Promotional tools that require active interaction from avatars (such as lucky chairs) are allowed if they don’t violate rule #2.
4. I value good, beautiful builds. The guiding theme (on the terrain) is fantasy or medieval or natural or caribbean, but it’s not actively enforced.
5. Please try to keep a high quality standard. You’re welcome to ask for help, which I will happily provide for free if my personal schedule allows.
6. This is not a combat sim. I will not allow damage-enabled parcels. RP combat is allowed, but slightly discouraged. If your visitors harass people on other parcel, you’re responsible for their behaviour and you’ll receive a warning.
7. This is an adult sim. Public display of nudity is allowed, public sex is allowed. I expect people to behave in such a way not to interfere with other residents or visitors: outdoor sex is best limited to secluded areas not visible from other parcels.
   All the usual limitations apply: no age-play, no rape (unless explicitly agreed OOC), no harassment.
8. You’re welcome to have sky-boxes, but please keep them above 500m. The range between 300m and 400m is reserved for use on the central parcel. I may agree to exceptions to this rule, for coordinated builds (see rule #1).
9. Changes to these rules will be announced on my blog (www.kittenlulu.com) and using group notices (Kitten Lulu land group).
10. If you receive more than three warnings in a month, your land will be reclaimed and a refund of the *remaining* monthly tier will be issued. The land purchase cost will NOT be refunded.
11. I may decide that a person or business doesn’t belong on this sim, but they are not in violation of these rules. In that case, I will provide a 15 days advance notice and refund the full purchase cost (18.000 L$ per 4096 sqm block); after the 15 days term is over, the land will be reclaimed.

For all other doubts, clarification or details, contact me (Kitten Lulu) or write to (email omitted to avoid spam).

PixelDolls has created a group for wholesale resellers. People will receive their products for the next 6 months full perms for 75.000 L$.

I often wonder why there is no shop that runs subscriptions. Give me all your products no-transfer for 6 months at a generous-but-smaller price and I’d be happy.

My alt and I are shopping slaves in a few selected shops in SL: I just can’t let a week pass without getting something new from them.

[From PixelDolls… » Blog Archive » PixelDolls Wholesale Group]

Back in 2006, I ran a place called “Bar Akuda”. It was nice but not very popular club with japanese hotsprings and the compulsory bdsm dungon.

The new Bar Akuda is a gathering place for very different folks. It stands where our world’s veil is most thin. There, with a bit of ancient magic, I teared the veil apart to mold a bubble from the very same matter that dreams are made from. An ancient, victorian lighthouse overlooks a glowing atoll where mermaids and pirates can once again be together.

If you want a sneak preview of my work in progress, just teleport to Marche. If you’re interested in living there, send me an IM. Marche is WindLight-optimized, you need the WL firstlook client to fully enjoy it.

What is an empty sim good for? Nothing.

I did however leave Marche, my sim, empty most of the time since I bought it in May 2007. I used it sparingly as a private sandbox while working on commercial projects.
The original plan was to develop a role-playing area with a mixture of fantasy and steampunk theme. It sounds cool in abstract words, but it never worked well in practice.
A couple of days ago, Marche’s hiatus was over. The cost of an empty sim is just too high. I’d either sell it or do something with it. The latter being preferable.
At current market rates, I can cover sim costs by selling or renting three quarters of the island: that is twelve 4096 sqm parcels for a weekly tier for 1700 L$ each and selling prices to be determined. These private parcels will lay on the sides, while the central part of the sim will host shared facilities and a low traffic hangout. I will move my main shop to a skybox, over this area.