Hiperia3D News: December 2008

Realtime Arts, a creative agency providing professional computer graphics production and training services, announced on December 15, 2008, its formation as a limited liability company (LLC). The agency serves the virtual worlds, serious games and visual simulation industries. These serious applications leverage high-performance interactive 3D computer graphics technology, similar to that used in the latest video games.

The company was formed in San Francisco by two individuals, Christian Greuel and Aaron F. Ross, for the purposes of building a world-class digital content creation studio and providing instruction in the skills of the trade.

“We believe that our unique combination of production and training offerings places our customers in a position to benefit from the current economic conditions.
By working with remote teams, we offer our production clients excellent value. At the same time, we are helping to train creative individuals around the world who desire to improve upon their existing skill sets, without the need for increasingly expensive travel.”
-Christian Greuel, President of Realtime Arts.

Realtime Arts' initial clients as an LLC include software developer Blue Newt Software and graphics hardware giant NVIDIA®. The company is currently in discussions with key platform, development and training partners, with the intention of securing a leading market position. Announcements on this topic are expected to be released in early 2009.

Greuel is an artist and producer with 15 years of experience in the field of interactive 3D computer graphics. He has previously held positions with Timeless Cities (VP Production), Planet 9 Studios, LEGO®, and virtual reality pioneer Fakespace Labs.

Ross, who serves as the Director of Training, is an Autodesk® Certified Instructor for Maya® and is the author of three books on 3ds Max® animation software. He has nearly a decade of experience teaching college courses in 3D computer animation, video production, and audio.

Both Greuel and Ross hold Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees from the California Institute of the Arts®, the interdisciplinary art school created by Walt Disney.

Production services offered by Realtime Arts include 3D modeling and animation, programming, scripting, project management, concept development, and design documentation. Particular expertise is offered in urban simulation, geo-referenced terrain, and CAD format conversions. The company's production pipeline utilizes open formats such as COLLADA™ and X3D™, preferred by a growing number of 3D rendering engines and virtual world platform, such as Forterra OLIVE™, Multiverse, Wonderland, Qwaq Forums, and the Xj3D Toolkit.

Training offerings include customized courses in digital content creation and design visualization. Classes draw upon real-world knowledge gained in actual production environments and are taught in either of the leading 3D graphics packages, 3ds Max or Maya. Realtime Arts supports training for a wide range of disciplines and industry specializations such as animation, architecture, games, geospatial, graphic design, industrial, scientific, virtual worlds, visual effects, and visual simulation.

For additional information on Realtime Arts, visit:
www.realtimearts.com

RealXtend: Open Source Virtual Worlds Platform
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realXtend is a free open source virtual world platform with which you can create your own applications using it as a base.

There are 2 main products in this platform:

The realXtend viewer, that is GPL licensed.
The server, that is BSD licensed, and is based on the open source OpenSim server software.

The server has a sample virtual world that you can use as it is, or you can modify it to suit your needs. realXtend also offers free, high-quality content for your own worlds.

They're providing this for free in the belief that "the true value of the interconnected 3D worlds is in the applications, not the platform".

Present features:

OGRE rendering
Particle effects
3D objects, lights and shadows
Integrating web pages within virtual worlds
Desktop application sharing (VNC) to share your applications with other users
Voice chat
Scriptable teleports between worlds
Second life compatibility mode for use in SL and Opensim worlds
Sprites
Address field in client login screen to select world
Python scripting to make your own applications
Free-form non-humanoid avatars
Avatar generator to import your own avatar design and modify your appearance
Avatar attachment tool to help set objects to your avatar
Unlimited amount of attachments
Teleports between realXtend and SecondLife
Media library for world builders

Roadmapped features:

Direct3D rendering for better performance
Support for OGG Vorbis
Support for video (other than quicktime)
Avatar generator and attachment tool integration to rexViewer
OGRE materials support
Improvements to in-world building tools
Weather support
Integration with skype/google spreadsheets/openoffice
Avatar face/head animation based on live video camera data
Lip synch for VOIP
Clothing physics
Vehicles support

Here you are a video that shows an overview of realXtend:

And here's another that shows an avatar customization process:

Now, some additional links for your investigation:

Developer Community: http://community.rexdeveloper.org/

Wiki: http://www.rexdeveloper.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

AWSource: Your VW Resources On ActiveWorlds
(Read more...)

The Best Freeware For 3D Of 2008
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This is a list of some of the best freeware that is available out there for 3D. Many of them are open source, and other are freeware applications. They provide a way to start familiarizing with 3D with no cost, and some are really valuable tools for 3D and virtual worlds.
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3D Modelers

3D Canvas: Modeler for the POV raytracer. Design your POV scenes in a visual way.

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JPatch: This is a 3D modeler for POV or Renderman.

Sculptypaint: Create sculps for Second Life, that after all are .dxf files, and can also be used in other apps, like Blender, Wings3D, and Google Sketchup.

Moray: One of the most popular 3D modelers for POV.

Wings3D: Wings3D is another very popular 3D modeler that exports to many formats (3DS and VRML amongst others) and can apply textures and materials.

ShapeOnYou: A very interesting concept of 3D modeler. You can model something and insert a 2D view in a document. If you change your 3D model, the 2D image in all the docs that had it, also change.

CBModelPro: Organic modeling program, used to build humanoids, animals, or anything that has rounded muscles and shapes. The beta version is free and has sketch based modeling and blobs.

Anim8or: Anim8or is a good 3D modeler and animator with many tools for these purposes. Has a big community of users.

gCAD3D: Free CAD software for architecture and industrial design.

Blender: Blender is one of the most popular 3D modeler. Its interface is not as intuitive as others but it's an extremely powerful tool that is used on cinema productions. If you need a book to make its use easier, read this.

Misfit Model 3D: This is a modeler for Milkshape 3D, Quake, and OBJ. Can import 3DS and Lightwave.

Art of Illusion: We covered Art Of Illusion in an article. It's by far one of the most intuitive and powerful modelers for 3D.
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Posing Tools

DAZStudio: Free posing and animation tool for Poser figures and others made by DAZ, that can be used to compose scenes and render them.

MakeHuman: This project consist in something similar to Poser but free. You have a human figure that you can handle, and exports to obj and COLLADA.

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Render Tools

Terragen: I own a copy of this great software for natural landscapes, that is really worth buying for professional use. Anyway, for personal use, it is free. An excellent way to render awesome natural landscapes.

MegaPOV: MegaPOV is an improved version of POV, that adds more realism and some rendering improvements and tools to that popular and accurate raytracer.

Photo by Smws

YafRay: Free raytracer that can be integrate with Blender and get photorealistic images.

yafray_eric_terrier_3d_car_model

Photo by Eric Terrier.

PoseRay: Import 3DS or VRML and export to POV, and do other interesting things for POV-ray.
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Texture Tools

UVMap per: Apply textures to 3D shapes with the UV Mapping technique in an easy way using this free program.

Hugin: Make panoramas from photos. These panoramas can be used in virtual worlds as a background.
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Other Tools

FreeWRL: You can have VRML and X3D in your Macintosh using this free viewer.

WhiteDune: We covered this tool for X3D and VRML here in this article.

3D Box Shot Maker: Useful tool to make graphics of the box of your latest software or product for free.
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Room3d Desktop: Although there are other 3D desktop applications, this is somewhat immersive and fun to use. With a key stroke, you can toggle it.

Dryad: This application generates 3D trees for virtual worlds.

Interview: Darius Lahoutifard, CEO Of Altadyn
(Read more...)

Darius Lahoutifard is the CEO of Altadyn. Altadyn's products, and specially 3DXplorer, have taken a strong position in the market, specially when applied to corporate and business uses, due to the stability and robustness of the solutions they provide.

In this interview, you'll read about this interesting new concept of plugin-less 3D browser built in Java that is fully cross-platform, and also about what platforms like 3DXplorer have to offer to internet users, corporations, and businesses.

Goweb3D "Auditorium"

- What are the advantages of 3DXplorer compared to others?

- There are a number of primary advantages of 3DXplorer, I’ll list them and then expound on a few in more detail.

Browser-based and plug-in-less – anyone can visit by just clicking a link
Runs on multiple platforms and browsers: Windows, Linux, Mac, IE, Firefox, Safari and Opera.
Support for user-generated content.
Worlds can be imbedded in any web site.
Programmable: 3DX provides an API to customize and extend the 3D environment for specific applications.
Easy and affordable: 3DX is deployed with a SaaS model allowing companies to get started quickly and for free.

The first in the list above and the key advantage and differentiator is that 3DXplorer is plug-in-less, meaning that no additional software has to be installed to visit or create a 3D world right in your web browser. While being browser-based is not unique, the fact that 3DXplorer runs as a purely thin-client is unique, and we believe 3DXplorer is the only web3D technology to provide it. Further since worlds can be imbedded in any web site, it opens up the entire web to providing 3D content to anyone with a web browser and an Internet connection.
3DXplorer is Java-based so it does require that Java be installed on the user’s system, but it is estimated that over 95% or more of computers have Java installed, so for that large majority they can directly visit and create 3DXplorer worlds right in the browser by just clicking a link; nothing has to be installed, no plug-in, ActiveX control, etc. This is crucial for corporate use where firewalls and IT policies that allow installation of only certain applications. In addition, our Java architecture also enables us to support multiple platforms and browsers, whereas many other technologies run only on Windows.
3DXplorer’s focus on enabling easy access to user-generated content for 3D world creation is also very strategic to us and a key strength of 3DXplorer. While we will provide an expanding library of models in the standard library, one of the more important features of 3DX is the ability to import models created in popular 3D modeling tools like SketchUp, 3ds Max, Maya, Revit, AutoCAD, and many more. This allows the huge amount of data that already exists to be reused and/or re-purposed and extending the value of the huge amount of data that already exists. For instance, the Google 3D Warehouse alone has huge amounts of data in COLLADA format. In addition to supporting the import of data from other sources, 3DXplorer’s online studio is both free of charge and easy to use, allowing one to directly author and publish a 3DXplorer 3D scene.
I won’t go on about the business model here, but suffice it to say that free to start is a pretty compelling proposition. We charge by server traffic and our pricing structure makes it possible that a small web site might always get free use since the first level of paid use starts at over 200 visitors to a 3D world in a day.

- What advantages for world building does 3DXplorer offer?

- The top advantages are that it is easy to access and use, running online in a browser with no software to install and providing a heads up right-click interface. It’s also free to author 3D spaces, and 3DXplorer imports data from other modeling systems, as mentioned above. Regarding ease of use, you start by just going to the 3DXplorer web site and signing in. After creating a new project and then you start out in an empty world with an online studio running right in the browser. To add objects like buildings, furniture, vehicles, etc., you just right click where you want to place the object and are then presented a menu with choices of object types to add including buildings, furniture, vehicles, and so on, that you pick from and place in your scene. To change colors, textures, images, add hyperlinks and so on, it’s similar; you right-click, pick the command you want and voila. Once your scene is finished you just click to publish and generate the snippet of HTML applet code that can be imbedded in any web page. Simply visiting a web site and signing in to get access to the online studio and publishing capabilities makes it very simple for anyone to start working with web3D today.

- What would you say to someone to encourage him/her to test 3DXplorer?

- I would tell them that we are the beginning of a new 3D web -- a new online medium for communication -- that is going to create many new market opportunities and competitive advantages for those who learn how to harness it. 3DXplorer makes it easy to get started now with minimal cost, if any, and begin exploring how this technology can benefit one’s business.
Many times people envision that web3D is all about walking through imaginary 3D worlds. Indeed this is possible, but exploring 3D spaces is only a small part of it. A bigger opportunity is in enabling a new way to engage, collaborate and interact with others on the web. I tell people not to limit their thinking to only those working with 3D data, such as a home builder, an architect, furniture manufacturer and so on. Granted an application showing off 3D structures, spaces or objects is fairly obvious and a good market opportunity for many, but we believe that there is also a real opportunity for companies who don’t design or create 3D products, maybe they even offer services rather than products. The ability to create a personal storefront or lobby on your web site that anyone could visit at any time, like walking into a real store or a tradeshow booth, in which your customers and prospects could interact with you in an entertaining yet familiar and comfortable manner is really exciting as it relates to engaging, identifying and monetizing web visitors more effectively.

- Do you expect to increase the number of importable file formats, for example with X3D or LWO?

- Yes, we plan to extend the number of formats we support. Today we support 3DS and COLLADA, and VRML/X3D and a few other formats are among those being considered for the future.

- Have you thought in integrate 3DXplorer with Web2.0 services like Twitter, Facebook, etc?

- Yes, 3DXplorer will offer a very flexible and uniquely plug-in-less 3D environment for essentially any social network. Members of the community would be able to create their own spaces and grant access to their friends. Any 3DXplorer avatar is universal and can visit any other 3DXplorer world as a persistent personality, should the creator allow them access. We have a proof of concept of our Facebook integration as well as a social network based on Ning, which is under test now.

- Who do you think is your main public/users?

- For now, our primary market opportunity is with businesses and corporations, not consumers. We’re not looking to a provide a world to compete with something like Second Life, but we do see enabling companies to create their own worlds, that they control, allowing them to leverage web 3D on their terms and in a manner that can be experienced by any web site visitor by just clicking a link.
We then will target application segments with specific products. Our Meet in 3D offering available today we are enabling immersive 3D on any corporate web site. The vision is a standard link, a “Meet in 3D” button, on par with the commonly-used links such as Home, Products, Company, Contact Us, and so on. These 3D spaces would be staffed with company greeters to guide website visitors, talk to them, let them touch products -- live, in 3D. This is a relatively specific application of the technology that can be applied to many types of companies in different industries.
This application can easily be extended to virtual show rooms and galleries or virtual tours or seminars in industries like residential of commercial home building.
We also have some exciting enhancements coming soon that will open other targeted applications in the near future, so keep an eye on us and sign up for our newsletter.

- If you had to recommend several 3d worlds made with 3DXplorer, which will you name?

- I would recommend any of the featured worlds on our web site at: http://www.3dxplorer.com/i.php?p=static/13. There are lots of examples from real famous places like the Benaroya Hall in Seattle and the Sydney Opera House, to imaginary yet highly realistic worlds like those provided by our content partners Avalonn, GoWeb3D and Cube3. Check out the Picasso Gallery, Lucky Luke’s Village and the Avalonn Exposition Hall for other very nice examples. Lastly, you can see a variety of other worlds from our content partners at: http://www.3dxplorer.com/i.php?p=static/MI3D_Content_Gallery.

- What do you think that the users are searching for when they come to a virtual world?

- This question has a lot of different answers depending on the user. I think the first generation of virtual world users were looking for entertainment or social interaction, very similar to text chat rooms and now social networks. A place where they can interact with others with similar interests. Then there are others looking at them to improve communication and collaboration, and to do more business. It’s this last group of business users that represents the big opportunity for virtual worlds and web 3D. In their report titled, “Getting Real Work Done in Virtual Worlds,” Forrester Research predicts that “Within five years, the 3D Internet will be as important for work as the Web is today.” In this report they go on to say that, “Major companies and public-sector organizations — such as BP, IBM, Intel, and the US Army — are investing heavily in virtual world technologies.” These companies and organizations are looking for reduction in travel expenses and decreased carbon footprints associated with online meetings versus physical face-to-face traditional meetings. They are also looking for improved collaboration and communication between internal teams and with partners and customers. Others are looking for ways to enhance their training systems and processes. Others are looking at enhancing their web presence to grow their businesses by improving their ability to engage with web visitors and better convey the value propositions of their products and services, while also delivering higher levels of customer satisfaction with more direct and personal interaction with their customers.

- Compared to big communities like SL or ActiveWorlds, what do embeddable independent worlds offer?

- Put simply, embeddable independent worlds based on an open platform like 3DXplorer offer broader access, ease of use and flexibility. Second Life has been claiming around one million active residents, although a recent article in Information Week indicated it was down to around 500,000 active residents. Contrast this to the 1.5 billion people with access to the Internet. Imagine that any of these 1.5 billion people could just visit any web site and visit a 3D world or space by clicking a link. No software to download, no special groups or communities to join, just experience 3D in the manner intended by the company or organization that runs the web site. As for ease of use, what is easier than just clicking a link and entering. Granted you need to learn that you push this arrow to move here and move your mouse to look there, and so on, but most anyone can come up to speed fast on those basics of the user interface. It’s truly 3D for all, rather than 3D for 500,000 and shrinking. Interestingly, some call 3D web sites like these “small worlds” versus large monolithic worlds like SL, however, the reality is that the independent, imbedded approach offered by 3DXplorer actually allows for an almost infinitely scalable 3D universe. You just experience it by traversing from one space to another. This is actually quite similar to the real world where you really only experience what is in your local vicinity, so why try to put everything in one massive world?

- What are the technical improvements and new features that you wish to add in the near future?

- Our product plan is totally customer driven. Everything we develop is the result of customer requests.
We have some very exciting tools related to giving presentations , holding online meetings and collaborate which are coming soon. Suffice it to say what we will be coming is very unique and it will all run in the same browser-based, plug-in-less environment. Those interested in learning more should come sign up and create an account and they will be one of the first to see the new capabilities in action!
We will also increase graphics performance, reduce the time of loading avatars, and increase the number of avatars in a scene.

- What are Altadyn's medium term challenges and aims for 3DXplorer?
- The biggest challenge is changing the perception that web 3D and virtual worlds are not just for games and entertainment such as casual social chatting. Web 3D is a technology for doing real business on the web now. We also need to overcome the perception that 3D is hard. It’s actually quite natural, we live and work in 3D every day, online 3D is just an extension of that. Many people see it and think it is like a complex video game that takes a huge commitment to learn and use, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Our goal is to show companies that they can start leveraging 3D today to improve their ability to identify, engage and monetize web visitors, and they can do it without a large investment.

Netbeans IDE 6.5 Resources And Info
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As a Netbeans Community Partner, Hiperia3D News is proud to announce and offer you a list of news and resources for Netbeans IDE 6.5, so you get a good introductory knowledge and a general view of its potential.

Netbeans IDE 6.5 is available for download, and can help you in rapid development of applications for the web (including JavaFX apps), and for the desktop. Now you can program in many languages, including PHP, JavaScript, Java, C/C++, Ruby, and Groovy. Start by looking at these links:

Java highlights include: built-in support for Hibernate, Eclipse project import, and compile on save.
A good list of non-Java improvements can be read here.

Training Screencasts And Videos

Intro To Netbeans 6.5
Introduction on how to edit, compile and run Java programs, and how to use the IDE's productivity features.

Building a Flickr Slideshow with PHP
Building a simple application to access Flickr through PHP. You will then see how to turn your Flickr images into a simple slideshow using JavaScript and CSS.

Database Support Improvements in Netbeans 6.5
Enhancements to database support in NetBeans 6.5, such as support for the Sakila database, improved support for MySQL, improvements to the SQL Editor, SQL code completion...

Working with JavaScript Toolkits in NetBeans IDE 6.5
How to work with JavaScript toolkits in the IDE, in two parts. The first part shows how to add a toolkit that is registered with the IDE to a project; the second part shows how to register a new toolkit with the IDE.

PHP Support in NetBeans 6.5 (Part I & 2)
In the first part of this new screencast series focused on NetBeans IDE 6.5 for PHP, you will learn about PHP project and run configurations. The second part is about basic editor features.

JavaFX MediaPlayer
Learn how to use NetBeans IDE 6.5 to create a media player in JavaFX.

Netbeans 6.5 Tutorials

Debugging Multithreaded Applications in NetBeans IDE
How to use the Debugging window in NetBeans IDE 6.5 to debug multithreaded applications.

Introduction to Ajax for PHP Web Applications
Learn about basic Ajax functionality while building a simple application that employs auto-completion in a text field.

Importing Eclipse Projects into NetBeans IDE
Now you can import your existing Eclipse Projects to Netbeans and this way migrate to Netbeans or make easier to share projects with developers that use that other IDE.

Create & Import a JavaBean Component in NetBeans IDE
A two parts tutorial on how to create, import and use your new JavaBean component in the NetBeans Swing GUI Builder.

JavaScript Debugger User's Guide for NetBeans IDE 6.5
Demonstration on how to debug JavaScript functionality in web applications using the NetBeans IDE 6.5 debugger.

JavaFX

JavaFX is a new scripting language that is optimized for graphical effects and multimedia, and for building internet applications with simplicity -rich internet applications (RIAs) -.

JavaFX apps can run within or outside the browser. It is possible to drag and drop them from your browser to your desktop.

The NetBeans IDE is the recommended tool to create, test, debug, and deploy JavaFX applications for the desktop, browser and mobile platforms. You have the option of deploying JavaFX projects as Java web start (JNLP), Java Applet or stand-alone applications.

A mobile emulator is included to preview mobile applications. There's also a JavaFX Production Suite that can speed up your work with your designer. The designer can make a sketch of the GUI, and the programmer can start coding on it, while the designer continues his work. At the end, they join their products together.

Here's the downloads for JavaFX for Mac and Windows. For Linux, follow this and this articles.

You can download Netbeans 6.5 for JavaFX from the JavaFX page, or from here.

Don't forget to visit the NetBeans IDE for JavaFX Developer Center, and learn about what you can do with the NetBeans IDE and JavaFX through tutorials and documentation.

Netbeans On Twitter

Follow Netbeans on Twitter and get the latest news and information, ask questions and engage with the NetBeans team.

Netbeans Podcast

Don't miss the Netbeans Podcast, download and listen to it in your mp3 player. Episode 48 is specially centered on Netbeans IDE 6.5 release.

Blog About NetBeans

In addition to share your thoughts on Netbean's mailing lists and forums, you can blog about NetBeans and add your blog to Planet NetBeans, so you get additional exposure and spread your mastery.

December News Machine Gun: Nurien, 3D iPhone, Vivaty Points, Myrl's Statistics
(Read more...)

Nurien, Stunning Graphics
Nurien is a new virtual worlds platform that makes intensive use of Nvidia Geforce 8 Series to show stunning avatars, animation and graphics. Of course, it needs lots of resources.

Anyway, don't let the videos impress you, because we may need to test it to have a more accurate view, because the snapshots are not so stunning, and maybe the videos are rendered by many computers CPUs working together. Important links:
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_nurien_home.html
http://www.nurien.com/

H3DAPI 2.0 Released
http://www.h3dapi.org/
H3DAPI 2.0 is the new release of the open source haptics C++ API. It is for adding simulation of touch to virtual reality applications.

Introducing the 3D iPhone
http://marketsaw.blogspot.com/2008/12/3d-geek-alert-introducing-3d-iphone.html
Jim Dorey, virtual reality and 3D cinema expert, introduces you to 3D applications for the iPhone. An article that you shouldn't miss if you own one of those device.

Vivaty Launches Vivaty Points
http://blog.vivaty.com/2008/12/08/getting-the-points-thanks-steve/
Vivaty launches Vivaty Points, which is a way to start earning points for all the great events and activities you do when in Vivaty. You can earn Vivaty Points for adding friends, sending gifts and more things. Start accumulating these points just now.
Here you are a video by MetaverseOne that shows the use of X3D for Web3D, and features Vivaty:

AnnieOK Shows Awesome Augmented Reality Video
http://annieok.com/tangent/?p=1903
Augmented Reality Video Monumental Projection on a post by AnnieOK, virtual reality expert that built the virtual worlds timeline that is shown in our sidebar.

Steampunk - Myths & Legends - 10 Novemeber 2008 - 3 February 2009
http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/steampunk/
The largest CGChallenge ever, with over US$220,000 in prizes, that has ever been. Entrants are challenged to depict their favorite myth or legend, with a steam-punk aesthetic, via a still image or video. If you like Steampunk and are a digital artist, don't miss this opportunity.

Google Chrome Now includes Bookmark Manager, and reaches 1.0
http://www.google.com/chrome
Google Chrome is a lightweight web browser that is a good complement to Mozilla Firefox because it uses a small about of RAM and it's good if you have many apps running.
Since version 0.4, it added a Bookmark Manager, that imports Firefox bookmarks much better and can manage them in a similar way. Now, Chrome just reached 1.0, which means simply that this version is more stable, and has many security fixes.

Google: Lively Didn't Meet "Tough Targets"; Looking to Use Tech Elsewhere
http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/11/google-lively-didnt-meet-tough-targets-looking-to-use-tech-elsewhere.html
In this article of Virtual Worlds News you can read explanations on how Google has decided to use Lively's technologies in other projects, due to their decision to close it. This is a good and bad news. Good because Lively may be the foundation of future developments, and bad because people that were the users of Lively are not laboratory rats.
If you want to keep Lively alive, read this.

Interview: Jack Buser On PlayStation Home's Community Focus
http://www.worldsinmotion.biz/2008/11/interview_jack_buser_on_playst.php
Worlds In Motion interviews Jack Buser about PS Home, who shows an interest for building community.

Habbo Pilots A Dual Currency Economy In The UK
http://www.worldsinmotion.biz/2008/11/habbo_pilots_a_dual_currency_e.php
Habbo will have 2 currencies: credits that have to be purchased with real money, and now also a currency called "pixels" that will be earned by using the world regularly, and by performing achievements.

The online game Tabula Rasa is going away..
http://thisvirtualworld.com/2008/11/29/the-online-game-tabula-rasa-is-going-away/
On February 28, 2009, Tabula Rasa will be shutting down its servers. Read this article in This Virtual World, and the analysis that the author does about this happening.

Myrl
http://www.connectingworlds.net/index.php/2008/11/29/myrl-index-october-08
http://www.connectingworlds.net/index.php/2008/12/11/myrl-metaverse-index-november-2008
Myrl (http://www.myrl.com/) shows their statistics for October and November, and you can learn from them what worlds the users are more interested into, and to which ones they decide to join. You can see a raising activity on ActiveWorlds, amongst other interesting things.

Business And Learning With GoWeb3D
GoWeb3D Experiences, GoWeb3D’s virtual learning environment for libraries and schools, has won the award for ‘Most Innovative’ new product at the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) Ed Tech Forum in NYC, after being selected from numerous applicants to be one of 10 participants in the SIIA’s Innovation Incubator program.
Don't miss their many different products for all kinds of activities applied to virtual worlds for education, business, community areas, workplaces, virtual residences...

New Marketing Director At The AVW
The Association of Virtual Worlds has appointed Andrew Peters (virtual world advocate and community creator) as new Marketing Director.
Peters will be chartered with launching the AVW Platinum Membership Program as well as growing the community even much more.
The new AVW Platinum is a high visibility premium membership package that offers members the opportunity to showcase their companies, products and services in order to build both sales and brand awareness.

Virtual Worlds Management News
Virtual Worlds Management launches a new product and a new conference called 3D Training, Learning and Collaboration (3D TLC), that will be on April 20-21, 2009 - Washington, DC. This new conference focuses on the business use of virtual worlds and immersive 3D solutions
In addition, the Virtual Worlds 2009 is now called Engage! Expo. Remember that the call for speakers is now open, and that it will be on March 10-11, 2009, in New York City. It is all about immersive and engaging solutions to capture audience. Subjects covered include kids worlds, social media, games, virtual goods (micro-transactions), and teen-oriented virtual worlds and the 3D Internet.
They also release a new blog: Virtual Goods News, which is focused on the business of micro-transactions, virtual goods, items and gifts.

SIGGRAPH 2009
The next SIGGRAPH Conference will be on 3 - 7 August 2009, and the Exhibition on 4 - 6 August 2009. It will be in New Orleans. Check their site for submissions, and to know the details to attend as public: http://www.siggraph.org/s2009/
Here you can see the computer animation festival video preview of this year (2008):

Myrl Reviewed in Killer Startups
Myrl has appeared in Killer Startups. Read their review to have a quick idea of what is Myrl, and vote them. Remember to read our interview with Francesco D'Orazio, Myrl's CEO, if you didn't.

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Flip Mino HD is the smallest HD video camera in the world. This means that this new gadget can record your favorite memories in high definition video that can be displayed in panoramic widescreen TV.

Flip Mino HD can record high definition video (HD) that is 1280x720 pixels, with an aspect ratio of 16:9. It's like what you see on Digital Television and cinema movies.
It is the smallest HD camcorder in the world, as it is only 3.94'' high, 1.97'' wide and 0.63'' deep, and weights only 3.3oz.

The back of the device has buttons to replay and browse the videos, a built-in speaker and a LCD screen in which you can preview the videos.

This is a device that can be useful for many people:

To create movies for personal or professional use, in High Definition format.
To get high quality videos that can be directly uploaded to video services like YouTube and others.
As an alternative of buying a video camera or a photo camera, as it is less expensive than most of them and in addition provides extra functions that make it more interesting for many of us.

Some of the designs by Emma Alvarez

You can record videos in low light conditions, as light sensitivity and black and white levels are adjusted automatically, so the quality of image is stunning.
The camera has also a microphone that records to MP4 (AAC). It can record up to 60 minutes to a memory of 4 Gigabytes and has an internal battery that lasts for 2 hours of continuous use, and turns itself off when not in use so it lasts much longer.

Some of the designs by Emma Alvarez

Flip Mino HD has a USB connector that is used to charge its battery and for communication with your computer. It also includes a software that will allow you to upload your videos to YouTube, AOL Video, MySpace, and other websites. You can also send videos by email, edit your creations, save snapshots of your video as a photo, add music, organize your videos... You can even make an entire movie with Flip Mino HD combining the videos that you recorded, adding titles, music and credits.

There's also a minor (and cheaper) version of Flip Mino HD called "Flip Mino" (without the HD), that produces VGA movies of lesser size (VGA 640 x 480). The advantages of this version is that the edition program has less requirements, and the battery lasts longer. Although the movies of the non-HD version are not so bright, the quality of the videos is also remarkable.

Some of the designs by Emma Alvarez

Now, if you find Flip Mino HD interesting, you can have it skinned with exclusive designs.
Emma Alvarez, worldwide known designer and digital artist, has released a new line of Flip Mino and Flip Mino HD devices. They are unique, beautified with designs that you can't find in any other place.
For the same price, you can get a camcorder that is different from all the others and has a visual appeal that stands out of the rest.

The ones you see illustrating this article are some of the designs available, but be sure to check the others on her online store: Emma Alvarez Shop's Flip Mino Designs.

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