How to....manage your IM in SL

As I posted yesterday, I am registered at Rezzed.Net, a social network for Second Life residents. And there you have, on the homepage, the possibility to post some blog entries as well.
Now, there was a small article from Thaumata Strangelove, about her being offline in Second life, when she is in fact online.;))

Do you have sometimes the urge to disregard your IM's, but you don't want to be rude to your correspondent? Well here is your answer.

- First, you edit preferences and change your busy message to Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later.

- Then, just kick on busy mode and uncheck that person from your communications list. If they send you an IM, you will still see it, but they will get the message that says you're offline.

I hope that you won't use this method a lot, and in this way, I should perhaps be glad that my blog is not the most viewed one, because.....can you imagine if everyone will use this trick?
Thaumata even says she uses this a lot, and that is a quite frightening thing to do, but sometimes necessary, I presume.
Hilariously, a side effect of this is that she somehow managed to get an email which states that she sent herself an offline message which states that she is offline. It's like some kind of weird SL fractal. Neat.

New Blog Header

I have changed the header of this Second Life blog.
The old one was my first, and at that time, I wore glasses.
As I already told in a previous post, I had some troubles with those glasses, that I had to leave them off. Now I thought it was maybe a good time also to switch from header, as a new year is almost to begin, and this can also mean a new start for my blog.
I hope you all like the new header, but if not, you may always tell me. Maybe I will make a new one then.;))

It's Time To Live Again

Reading Tymmerie's post about free hugs, I stumbled on a video post from Torley. It is made quiet some time ago, without Windlight ;), but play it, and you will see why it is still actual. If you have some doubts, think about your friends in Second Life, before leaving it.

Finally registered at RezzedNet

After seeing a post of Raul Crimson and Codie about a new social network for Second Life profiles, such as SLprofiles, I was very curious to check it out. Unfortunately my first attempts were in vain. But yesterday evening, after having looked through the whole store from Luc Aubret, I found the log in panel at the entrance of that store, and could finally register.
Rezzed.net is in public beta (you can through a Rezzed.net terminal in-world) and offers for the moment only 10MB for pictures.
If you are registered or decide to register, you will be able to add me as your friend at my profile page.

Update:

Comment on Rezzed.Net by Luc Aubret on Dec. 5, 2007 12:38 AM

We're up to 100 MB now. We're hoping to come out of beta with unlimited picture space.

More information on Second Life hack

More information is being released from people outside of Linden Lab on this exploit. Symantec has a warning up on this exploit at their site.

"The attack begins with the popular IFrame. An IFRAME code that causes the browser to make an additional request to another URL,is embedded in a porn site. Without knowledge, users visiting this site are redirected to the malicious site serving the exploit. Currently, the malware that is downloaded by the exploit is detected by Symantec as Downloader. We are still studying the attack in depth, so look out for more information at a later time.

Since a patch to correct this issue has yet to be released, we advise users to be cautious when browsing the web. For those of you seeking extra protection, we also recommend the following options:

- Run web browsers at the highest security settings possible

- Disable Apple Quicktime as a registered RTSP protocol handler.

- Filter outgoing activity over common RTSP ports, including TCP port 554 and UDP ports 6970-6999 "

This seems to be a weakness in the Quicktime client to redirect a user to a hidden malicious website to silently install exploit code which is then used to execute the SL exploit of transferring Linden $ and/or objects in world.

It will be interesting to see what Linden will come up with in the next weeks to come on this issue.

But taken into account, I will certainly take the steps that are suggested by Symantec, to lessen the vulnerability to this exploit.

I've been tagged by a Second Life blogger: Eight Random Facts

Ryker Beck has tagged me to participate to a "Eight Random facts" meme. Although I am not in for those kind of games, I won't spoil the fun and will post some random facts.

The difficult part is to find eight people who I should tag. I will tag Tymmerie Thorne, Jooney Jatho, Chloe Streeter,(already tagged), Winter Wardhani, Veyron Supercharge (already tagged) and Amanda Shinji. I could tag Sand Posthorn and Bella March, but I know they won't respond, so the rest has already been tagged, I leave it to anyone's free opinion to tag her/himself .

Here are the rules:
(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here are my eight random facts:

1/ I am fascinating by the Formula one since my childhood.

2 2/ That is why I have been working almost all my career in the automotive industry.

3/ My first chat was in Second Life.

4/ Photography is a hobby of mine in RL too.

5/ I broke my collar bone (clavicle) once, with an innocent football game.

6/ As a good Belgian , I do like chocolates and French Fries.(which should be Belgian Fries actually, ;))

7 /I was a DJ in my former life…;)) while I was a student.;)

8/ Although I am no rocker, I do like the music of Within Temptation, a Dutch gothic-rock band, and especially their song : “All I need”

Summer & Winter's Second Life Rezzday

Last Friday the twin sisters Summer and Winter had a ball for their rezzday. I must say, a totally different approach for having a party. And a party is what it was.
With some classic music and Frank (Sinatra) , we danced and had fun for quiet some time, although I did not understand a word from the Portuguese language, but then again, neither did they from my Flemish.))

Fortunately I had another Belgian to talk too, and we could take revenge by talking Flemish. Largo was his name, and was Winters' boyfriend.
Thank you Winter and Summer for the invitation, it was a great party, you both were "Sissy" for that night.;))

Snapshots in Second Life : Art or just pictures?

post processed image

I have been taking snapshots in Second Life for several months now, because I like doing it, and I wanted to learn in how to post process the snapshots afterwards.
After all these months, I was wondering where to draw a line between nice snapshots and beautiful images, post processed by someone who knows what he is doing in Photoshop or so. And the competition is growing, I can tell you that.
Now, I am very pleased with what I learned, and I use the skills already in RL, in my daily job.
But I am wondering what is suppose to be art in Second Life.

No post processing (just the name added)

I use to make snapshots, and try to make them as nice as I can, from different angles, with a special view etc....and use the post processing just to blur a bit, or to manage the colors or the contrast a bit more. But these pictures are not comparable with images, which are post processed, and where the post processing makes the image.
Now, pictures, which are not heavily reworked are to me, or could be, art as well. And here I want your opinion.

just adjustment of contrast,name and frame added

Could snapshots, made without or just a little post processing, be art or not?
As example I have put some of mine pictures here, but these are not here as a standard.
Once you have decided which pictures are art to you, the next question will be, is this art also art in RL? Would there be a market for this kind of art?
These questions are perhaps not very important to you, but could be decisive for me.

Second Life Art : Cieniega Soon at the Avatrait Gallery

From today on, Cienega Soon will have an exhibition at the Avatrait Gallery. I can only recommend to pay a visit to the gallery, because this artist has a way to play with colors. Just magnificent.

Second Life Viewer Susceptible to Quicktime Security Flaw

ALERT !!!

I post this original message for should you read this blog before logging into Second Life.
This is from the official Linden Blog.
When you log in, you will get the message, first to read the official blog for this message.

"We were alerted a short time ago that a QuickTime exploit has been discovered which may allow an attacker to crash or exploit the Second Life viewer. The Second Life viewer uses Apple QuickTime to play videos and streaming media. This exploit affects QuickTime usage on every platform that uses it, and to date, Apple has not released a fix for the exploit.

At this time we advise that you disable streaming video playback in the Second Life viewer except when you are attending a known and trusted venue. To do this, just open the Preferences dialog, and uncheck the “Play Streaming Video When Available” checkbox on the “Audio & Video” tab.

We do have the ability to turn off all videos on the grid, but have instead chosen to respect the existing in-world content and experiences which rely on streaming video, as we know that many of you enjoy these. We do recommend that you employ caution when using QuickTime in Second Life, only enabling it in environments that you trust, and are familiar with.

We are able to track attacks, and rest assured, if we discover a malicious stream, we will vigorously pursue the attacker. This will include account termination and legal action if appropriate, as well as the appropriate assistance for affected Residents.

The bug is in QuickTime, and not in the Second Life viewer. When Apple has submitted a fix, we will integrate it into the viewer as quickly as possible, and will notify everyone once this has been done."