Casey Pelous

Sculptypaint is indeed free and still available: http://www.xs4all.nl/~elout/sculptpaint/ with video tutorials here: http://www.xs4all.nl/~elout/sculptpaint/tuto/index.html If you want to take a bit bigger leap, there is a "special version" of Blender called Jass that includes some remarkable capabilities, including the ability to generate an lsl script that you place in a prim inworld along with your final sculpty textures. The script then assembles your multi-sculpty object right before your eyes. The basic version is available for what I believe is a voluntary contribution through an inworld site. (Search "Jass".) Gaia Clary's tutorials at http://blog.machinimatrix.org/ are positively wonderful. Though Blender can be a bit intimidating, Gaia's tutorials -- especially if you can put the tutorial up on one screen and have Jass running on another so you can work along with the videos -- will have you creating AND understanding stuff really quickly. (Now you know why you have a laptop AND a desktop!) Making basic sculpties like what you want really isn't that hard in Blender. If you have achieved at least an intermediate level with Photoshop -- using layers, say -- you can learn to use Blender/Jass. If you do, you'll be ready for mesh when it debuts. Either program will get you going, though.

Starry Questi wrote: My partner and I own well over a SIM. We definately do not use or allow Red Zone and have the green Zone decctors all around for people to get. We have a Mall, Shopping areas, Clubs, residential areas and interactive areas. I am currently having a problem with a neighbor who has her two Red Zone bots set for SIm wide, when she does not own the whole SIM, and is not listening about setting it for her parcel. These two Red Zone Bots fly through where I am trying to rent houses, at the rate of once a minute. I have parcel music off and set object entry to only group, yet they still fly through my property at once a minute. This has become a problem trying to rent houses on my property. (I did send an AR, we will see what happens) My opinion of Red Zone- I personally know they gave someone names of another person's ALTS, and it was for personal reasons, nothing to do with copy bot. Their database has questionable security and their employees aparantly none, as they give out ALT's. I understand LL has made it so they cannot collect alt names recently, so it is said anyway, now, but although better late than never, Red Zone's database is absolutely enourmous and already has info on ALTS, and a lot more info as well. My husband does security for the Gov. I am not blowing smoke here. Red Zone is a stalkers dream come true. Just a thought, how about banning BOTS all together? Reasons stated by those who are for bots are ridiculous, they can use an ALT. hmmm, bots make the number count of the amount of people on SL rise by the thousands, maybe that is the reason LL does not care? ONly thing I ever saw them do abolut it was go after campers and take camping pads out. idk Hi, Starry. Just to clarify, RedZone continues to gather alt data. Indeed, it was never interrupted by anything other than the maker's server going down a couple of times. All that LL has prohibited thus far is the revelation of that alt data via an inworld object. The maker has already threatened to take the database offline and offer it on a subscription basis. Bots would be difficult to ban, since they are just avatars being run by a computer rather than a human operating a computer. There are a few areas where they are very useful, especially in the area of group invitations which are clumsy to handle via the scripting language. There are also companies that run them to gather economic data such as "busiest sims", etc. One could even argue that we need a bot net programmed to look for URL's that are attempting to violate privacy, since the RedZone folks and their competition are already experimenting with ways of masking the URL that gathers your data as an innocent address. As for bots running up the numbers, they are SUPPOSED to be identified as bots via the account's web page so that they don't run up the numbers. How diligent are folks about that? Well, there are penalties for not doing so, so at least the Lab is doing more than just suggesting it's a "good idea". Those RedZone "bots" aren't real bots, anyway -- they're just objects being rezzed inworld, much like any "full sim scanner" would use, but with much different purposes, of course.

Gina Chrome wrote: After reading through many pages from https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-24746. GS Estates will no longer use RedZone and will update the covenant on all sims, banning its use. Yay, and sorry for being snarky. I'm more than a little battle weary from this thing. "Fried" is more like it. I shall work on it.

Gina Chrome wrote: Actually, this is a great question. I own eight sims, residential and commercial. I use RedZone on my main sim and it has served us well. I have never received a complaint about any of my residents having or using RedZone themselves. But this topic does make me think that we need to look ahead and decide how we will handle it when it does happen. I can tell you that I do not use the hud that came with the updated. I really do not care if people have alts. The only time I access RedZone is if someone has to be banned. I will also ban their alts. This has been a valuable tool for me. However, I do see how people could misuse the product. Kind Regards, Gina Chrome Gina, I guess you also mention it in your covenant, not just on some obscure web site your potential and current tenants would never know to visit, right? Oh ....wait ....by then, your unit would have already harvested, without notice, their data and fed it to every other user of the system on the grid. That system that you say "could be" misused. The ethical thing, then, would be to mention it prominently in all your advertising, fully explaining the functions, so people can choose whether to even visit your sim. Since that system is such a good thing, that shouldn't be a problem. It's for their own good, after all.

I think, Steven, there are two key areas for us to focus. 1) Consent to scan. The alt detectors are still scanning invisibly and I believe the vast majority of users are oblivious. So far as I know, the viewers as delivered default to a less-than-fully secure state -- that includes the media patch already in the Cool viewer and the coming update of Phoenix being defaulted to "off". 2) Nevertheless, "they always find the blue dress" as I heard a public relations consultant say recently. Awareness will spread. Those of us who are aware and who care about the future of our little pixel world are called, I believe, to share the needed information with those who don't know and to share it in a way that fully informs yet welcomes them to continue being residents. The helpers at at least one of the resident help sims are already mastering this by working it in casually to their chats with new residents who come to them for help. We can do this in a way that is world building, not world destroying. Unfortunately, at this point, the only fully safe method is to switch voice, music, media and cookies off permanently. This breaks significant amounts of content, including Search in viewer 2.5. So -- we educate them about TPV's based in viewer 1, too. While the media patch and full disclosure of media URL's is a great tool, it really has nothing to say about which URL's are suspicious and which aren't. We had quite a lengthy discussion in another forum today on this topic and the very knowledgeable folks there were, thus far, unable to come up with any method of reliably detecting suspicious URL's -- and certainly no simple method that would work for the average user. I won't blather on about the technical details -- trust me, we worked this one over in some depth. Until the exploit is patched -- not a trivial exercise -- that's the best we can do. This doesn't need to be the boogieman that killed SL -- it can be a nuisance we dealt with while LL developed more powerful technologically and policy based methods.

Scholarly (easy to read, "this isn't tinfoil hat craziness") article on what the Facebook and Twitter buttons do: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1717563 They're pretty aggressive little snoops, to say the least. I don't usually get all upset about such things, but when it comes to my SL identity, I don't want ANY possible tie to my RL, tyvm. You can block them with adblockplus or with noScripts (Firefox) or notScripts (Chrome). noScripts/notScripts is pretty fun to have anyway, since you get to see just how much stuff is trying to track your every web move, although in the early going you'll keep wondering why all your favorite sites suddenly broke. (You get to choose what scripts run, so by default you are safe --- what a thought!) The Lab seems to be struggling to grasp the concept that a lot of us don't want this connected to Real Life. Maybe if they changed the name to something like "Second" Life it would be .................oh, wait .......

Rene, Search is no longer a problem for anyone with viewer 2.5 and all the necessary alterations to the default settings that are needed to protect oneself against the web based profiles TwitFace snoopware, redZone, QuickWare Alts Pro, and goodness knows what other security invaders are creeping in through unpatched exploit holes and LL's new "features." By the time you shut down media, music, voice, cookies and Javascript, neither profiles nor Search work. So, problem solved!

Settle down, settle down. I finally get it. No decisions are being made here, there's nothing to worry about. There's a new CEO and all the management are thrashing about attempting to look like they're doing something gosh awful important, that's all. Notice ....this is the Marketing Department running this! "Yes SIR, we've just opened a whole new Resident ....erm ...CUSTOMER Communication Initiative and are even now beginning to prepare to analyze their vital input and preparing to begin to get ready to move forward with a continued dialogue which we have every hope will produce an actionable agenda." I've been the new boss several times, I've seen this show before. It's relatively harmless. All that Viewer2 stuff that culminated in the latest assault on privacy and laughable "Facebook Twit" stuff was in the pipeline LONG before Mr. Humble ever answered that fateful phone call, and it will take some time for him to shift things. One key sign will be what he does or doesn't do with the alt detection scheme/media security exploits brouhaha. Then we'll have a good indication of the real new direction. Until he can get himself grounded and his staff assembled and grounded, don't expect huge changes, just signs.

http://s1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb329/CaseyPelous/?action=view&current=1939_SonFrankenstein.jpg

Issue #4 : I like the check box to make your profile NOT shown on the web AT ALL but stil shown in Second Life to either everyone, friends, etc.... however, I'm not sure if this Facebook widget thing still works or not or how they plan on implementing it from getting "Liked" even if someone else lets their information known. Plus it seems as tho the settings don't stick? I've clicked "Save" but I'm extremely weary on profiles even being shown on the internet. I know that before they still were on SL.com's search, but nothing was linked to other websites such as Facebook. Its nice they gave us the option to not have it searched, but honestly... JUST GET RID OF IT!! Oh, no worries. That Facebook Like button is working just fine, trying to send all sorts of your personal data home to Mark Zuckerberg and crew every time you load a profile -- even if you're not a Facebook member -- unless you've taken some serious steps to kick its teeth in. Here's what it does and how it does it: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1717563 And IM me inworld if you want a notecard on 10 steps to take to secure your personal data in SL.

1) Default setting is Javascript and Cookies enabled, leaving users wide open to the Facebook and Twitter snoopware on the web based profiles. 2) Media, Music and Voice default to on, leaving you wide open to having your IP address snagged by the IP snoopers out there. 3) I hoped to use this long enough to change my profile privacy settings, but am getting some sort of Web Kit fail error and my Profile won't open. How do I change those settings outside this viewer, please? I'm getting really tired of having to fight so hard to maintain a shred of privacy and am losing interest. If that's the desired effect, I guess you win. If you changed the default setting of cookies from enabled to disabled, profiles won't work. Lovely, huh? Go to your profile in your browser to update it there. http://my.secondlife.com/casey.pelous Thanks, Adam! hahaha, wouldn't you know they'd set it up to bork Search if they couldn't snoop me. Great. Ah, well, Search didnt' work worth a damn, anyway. Let's see ....now I have to effectively shut off Useless Search, Media, Music, Voice, Cookies, and my external browser if I don't want half the planet in my data shorts. GAWWWWD! The featurez on this viewer is so AWESOME dooood! Wewt! And, unchecking "Show My Profile On Web" then clicking Save results in an assurance that "settings saved" but guess what! Muahahahahaaaaaa! It's permanently checked. Suckered again, Casey! Wait .....I think I hear a Linden in my base killin' my doodz ........brb .......

Well ....we're about 250 posts into this thread plus several hundred more on the 2.5, New CEO and Q4 Economic Indicators threads. Allow me to summarize, and tell me if I'm way off here: 1) Fix the basic functions. Search and Group Chat for starters. 2) We like our privacy more than you thought. We're getting cranky about IP Address sniffers exploiting your security hole to play the "alt matching" game, and we want a lot of choice about who sees what. 3) Viewer 2? Not as cool as you thought. Rethink. (Even if it was as cool as you think, it wouldn't be by the time we take all the steps we need to take to protect our personal data.) 4) Marketplace's growth probably came at the expense of inworld stores. Please investigate and determine if this is the best path to profitability for your company. 5) Yes, yes, you're all smitten with Facebook and Twitter. For a lot of us ...not so much. And ....subtle hint? It's called "Second" Life. Lots of us want the choice to opt out of FB and Twitter stuff altogether, and that includes your little privacy invading widgets on the profiles, though we don't generally begrudge you trying to promote the place. I think that's a pretty good five point bullet list that the vast majority of us who are savvy enough to be aware of these issues would agree on. I can't think of anyone who would fight to NOT handle those things, with the possible exception of the guys who sell the IP Address snoopers and their customers ....but the customers would be mollified with some simple changes to your membership policies that have been detailed here and elsewhere and that would probably reduce the amount of content theft, if indeed it is at the epidemic levels they seem to think. After all that's handled, I'd add: 6) Reinvent from the ground up the new user experience so retention rates transform. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm honestly baffled about what more communication you need from us to grasp that those are our hot issues. However, if there is more you need to know, I am pretty sure we stand ready to answer your questions, though frankly, I'd rather be in world having fun.

1) Default setting is Javascript and Cookies enabled, leaving users wide open to the Facebook and Twitter snoopware on the web based profiles. 2) Media, Music and Voice default to on, leaving you wide open to having your IP address snagged by the IP snoopers out there. 3) I hoped to use this long enough to change my profile privacy settings, but am getting some sort of Web Kit fail error and my Profile won't open. How do I change those settings outside this viewer, please? I'm getting really tired of having to fight so hard to maintain a shred of privacy and am losing interest. If that's the desired effect, I guess you win.

You needed ANOTHER channel of communication? I'm dumbstruck. Another channel of communication. You didn't hear us the first 10,000 times? Are you hoping for some different messages than the ones you've gotten over and over and over elsewhere? Is this a case of "Didn't like Mom's answer, try Dad?" Seems like it to me. Or just window dressing. It must be, because I have no problem whatsoever in finding out what your customers are saying to you without any need for a special channel. Makes me wonder why I've bothered. How profoundly discouraging.

how many big business concerns will say to themselves, lets do something in virtual worlds, and look at what they can do and then they see you guys comments.. and dont do it.. Uh .........the day of "big business concerns" thinking anything profitable was going to happen here passed back in about 2008 ........and believe me, it had nothing to do with any comments in a blog. every business in the world when they present their results don't focus on the negatives I am wondering if some of you supposed wonderful business guys are thick I'd argue that LL is more like a government in that we are trying to make business plans within the SL economy, and have only their economic figures to plan from. In most developed nations with progresseive governments, lots of such data is available. Anyone who can read the TOS can see that SL is much more like a developing nation run by a capricious and secretive totalitarian government, complete with its own star court for "offenders." Typical of such nations, "reality is available only on a need-to-know basis." But that doesn't mean we have to kneel down and accept the little dribbles of sanitized numbers as "the best we can get, and thank you for that pittance." I am sorry that your business is (apparently) not going well. These are tough times -- RL and SL, and many of us are in the same boat with you. I'm not without sympathy, believe me! But your (our) business troubles are most likely rooted in how you (we) have adapted (or not) to the series of decisions "the government" has made, such as failing for years to solve basic functionality issues, taking a large chunk of commerce out of the world and onto the 2D web and failing to generate any sort of useful in-world search engine for commerce. I long ago gave up trying to find anything via in-world search beyond Groups and People. (Sorry to say it, but that would include your business.) I've about abandoned hope that group chat will ever function dependably. I've accepted that I will spend at least 15 minutes every single day answering, "Why am I a cloud?" only to have the new resident asking me finally give up in exasperation and poof, probably never to return. I've even learned to smile ruefully at the irony of a company trying to build a "social networking site" on an architecture that inherently functions worse and worse the more people you put in one place or in one group. These days, I'm adapting to all the haxorage I have to do to attain some level of privacy for my personal data, such as switching off media, music, and voice, blanking my profile, hiding all my groups, unchecking Show In Search, blocking all the snoopware on the new web based profiles by editing my hosts file, wearing a useful but singularly unattractive HUD to alert me to IP address thieves, etc., etc., etc. Then there's all the additional effort of keeping up with developments in all the viewers, which feels like even MORE haxorage. The whole thing is one giant workaround! What I have not yet given up is my dream of what this interconnected, 3D world without borders can be. And, perhaps I'm foolish -- or as you say, "thick" -- but I've not given up participating in creating that vision. And you think we are the problem? I respectfully disagree.