things to do

A few weeks back, a group called Best of Second Life crossed the Metaversed radar. What made them interesting, was that they were doing an extremely similar thing to our Things To Do group, ie. posting landmarks to cool and interesting places in Second Life. Rather than view each other as competition, Jenn Hienrichs and I talked about ways in which the two groups could work together.

The Things To Do group has a decidely techy feel to it. Often the landmarks and events we post are tech/biz oriented, as is the entire focus of Metaversed. What Jenn has been doing can only add value I think, and to that end, she's agreed to take over the running of the group, bar the events side of it, which I will stay manage.

I think this marks an important step. A small one in the greater scheme of things but one that will really make the TTD group the best it can be, and bring two very cool, large Second Life groups together.

As always, if you want to suggest an event for the TTD group please IM '57 Miles' in Second Life. If you want to suggest a landmark, talk to 'Jenn Hienrichs'.

Thanks so much to Jenn, she does an amazing job with her group and we're really, really excited to see how she works with the collective mass of Second Life explorers :)

We've known for some time that eventually we'd have to rework the way we do things with the Things To Do group, and today I've taken a first go at it. Instead of organizing a group outing at an allotted time to one destination that may well groan under our collective weight, I've send out a freely transferable object containing the 2 landmarks I think are worth your time today and a notecard.

The idea is that you'll be able to drag the object you save from the group notice out of your inventory and open it to get the landmarks, then if you wish, use the group IM to see if any Things To Do members feel like exploring at a time that works for you. You can also give the object to non members (sadly i forgot to put 'how to join this group' in this package lol..) which should help grow the group and give newcomers to Second Life a few things they can go do as they find their way around.

This isn't the end of group events by any means, but they will be fewer for sure. Apart from the group getting really big, Im finding it hard to find a spare hour each day to do this stuff, so with a bit of luck this will work out better for everyone!

Do let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy the new format!

The Things To Do group are getting a guided tour of Star base C3 today, starting at the Cube3 offices and led by Cube Inada who ported is Starbase game into Second Life. If you're a scifi or gaming fan, then this is a must! Be at this landmark at 11am SLT/PST, 7pm GMT today, if you want to hear Cube discuss the project.

See you there!

Join the Group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Get yer pocket knife ready, shoes polished and hang on to your woggles, we're off a scoutin' today! The Scouting movement is 100 yrs old this year, and Ynot Fenua, who built the celebration in SL will be giving the Things To Do group a guided tour of the build. Be at this landmark at 2pm SLT/PST, 10pm GMT today for the tour!

See you there!

Join the Group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Inspired by Aleister Kronos' recent coverage of Japanese sims, the Things To Do group is off to visit Mitsukoshi today. It's a pretty amazing experience, with much to see and explore. Join us at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT today at this location [SLUrl] to explore with the group!

See you there!

Join the Group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

As the Things To Do group gets bigger (not far off 500 members now..) and continues to get cool reviews and great suggestions from it's members, it's time to make the whole thing just a little more useful.

If you're not familar with the group, think of it this way: A group that suggests 'things to do' to it's members several times a week. Sometimes neat tech demo's, sometimes discussions, new island openings, old islands worth discovering, Things To DO. It's a very cool way to discover Second Life, and make friends in the process.

Building an Auto Update Object?

My friend Eshi Otawara, who built the fabulous EOLUS sim recently is helping me to build out a small place on my plot at Second Mirage (Teleport URL) and I'm looking to produce an object that people can pick up, and freely distribute to friends -- what i'd like to do though, is have an auto update system for it. So each month, there would be a new version containing all the up to date landmarks, and the object would be offered automatically to the owner of the object, whether they picked it up from me, or were given it by anyone.

Is that possible? And more to the point, can you help me?

Suggestions

Im also looking for great suggestions for places the group can visit. THe kinds of things we like to do include:

• Sim openings
• Tech discussions / events
• Cool builds, old or new
• Sights of particular beauty or interest
• See examples here

You can email suggestions, or indeed news tips, stories or anything else at tips@metaversed.com -- that email goes to Caleb and I both, so is a good way to make sure you get one of us!

Thanks everyone.

Today's Things To Do, is a voice discussion on "reflexive architecture" led by RL architect Keystone Bouchard. The event is produced by InformationWeek/Dr. Dobb's and will start at 8am SLT/PST, 4pm GMT today -- The organizers have asked me to remind you to please keep your mic's muted during the presentation, and to download the First Look voice client if you want to ask questions in voice. Landmark is here.

See you there!

Join the Group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Thanks to Malburns for the suggestion!

Today's Things To Do is a visit to Ancient Rome! The ROMA sim is beautiful, with a ton of cool stuff to explore, and things to see and do. So don your virtual toga's and head on over to this landmark at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT today to explore with friends!

See you there!

Join the Group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Thanks to Malburns for the suggestion!

Today's Things To Do is a chance to get lost in one of Second Life's oddest structures, the Q Maze. Its not easy to describe, but a lot of fun to DO, so be at this landmark today at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT if you want to get lost with friends!

See you there!

Join the Group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Thanks to Malburns for the suggestion!

Im really excited to tell you that Rezzable owner RightAsRain Rimbaud will address the Things To Do group today at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT and answer questions on the mysterious greenies project that's been causing so much curiosity and controversy of late. After the Q/A, the Greenies SIM will open up to 50 avatars to go exploring together. This is a MUST attend Things To Do!

Please use this this landmark to get to Rezzable at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT today.

Today's Things To Do is a group outing to explore the beautiful Second Chance Trees project. This is a fantastic build, and a worthy project, a must for nature lovers and Second Life explorers alike. Be at this landmark at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT today to explore with the group.

See you there!

Join the Group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Thanks to Malburns for the suggestion!

On Friday this week, an ambitious project dubbed Eolus, which aims to use the virtual world of Second Life to research, test and discuss, solutions to a better real life, will open it's doors to the public. The technology led virtual venture, headed up by Swiss construction firm Implenia's Oliver Goh, together with representatives from 7 other leading tech firms including IBM and SAP will conduct tours of the installation at 9am SLT/PST, 6pm CET, then will hold a grand opening ceremony at 12pm SLT, 9pm CET with live audio feeds and discussions led by participating members.

The Eolus project incorporates many things. Not least of which are real examples of how Second Life can integrate with real life, such as a fully working house in the virtual world, whose controls, doors and light switches all corrsespond with a real life house. Also, working demonstrations of virtual world ecommerce integrated with real world supply chain and CRM solutions. But it's more than just tech guys messing around with neat toys, it's a think tank with the purpose of discovering ways that Second Life can help us to define, and make, a better planet for everyone.

Things To Do

Eolus McMillan, who i mentioned above by his real life name Oliver Goh, has kindly offered to give the Things To Do group, and indeed any Metaversed readers the Grand Tour at 11am SLT/PST, 8pm CET. Group notices will go out nearer the time.

At 9pm, we're invited back to take part in the opening ceremonies, where Metaversed will be recording for broadcast on Sunday.

More...

If you're looking for a little more background on the Eolus project, Eolus.ch will be online at 9am SLT/PST tomorrow, Tish Shute did an extended write up here and I podcast interviewd Oliver/Eolus here.

Today's Things To Do promises to sate the thirst of even the geekiest Second Life adventurer: A demonstration of a new tool that automatically builds sculpties (sculpted prims, a new basic building block in Second Life) from regular objects. Join us at the this landmark [SLUrl] at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT today to see Anjin Meili demo his new Sculpty maker!

Join the Group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Late last night, I got to spend some time with Tue Torok, the creator of a very cool new system that aims to help Second Life residents find businesses more easily, using a very visual, 3D environment that essentially mimics much of the functionality you'd expect to find in a classic web directory. The system has some interesting web2.0 tie ins, and looks to be a pretty interesting experiment in Search within a 3D environment.

If you'd like to come along today at 1pm SLT to this landmark, Tue will be demonstrating the system, and talking about how it all works for the group.

See you there!

Today's Things To Do is a guided tour of Vassar College's recreation of the famous Sistine Chapel by one of it's creators. If you'd like to come see the chapel, and hear about what it took to build it, then be at this landmark at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT today. See you there!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Today, the Things To Do group is visiting the Ivory Tower, probably Second Life's oldest learning institution and certainly one of it's most loved resources and landmarks. If you've never been, and want to learn a little about how to manipulate objects, and build, then this is for you! Our trip begins with a talk from it's creator , Lumiere, so please be at this landmark [SLUrl] at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT today if you want to come with the group!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Today's Things To Do is a group experiment in 3D spaces. It's an uber geeky construct designed to help groups visualize decision making. Trust me, if I knew more I'd tell you! It's fun though, so be at the this landmark [SLurl] at the slightly later time of 3pm SLT/PST, 11pm GMT today if you want to come have some fun with the group.

See you there!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Wimbledon! IBM have recreated the courts and are having a lot of fun during the 2 week tournament -- Epredator Potato has kindly invited the group for a behind the scenes tour today at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT. Please teleport to this landmark at 1pm if you'd like to come see what they're up to!

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Join us for our Things To Do outing to Paris 1900 today! It's a beautiful sim that people have been recommending to me for sometime now. So come along with the group today at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT to explore Paris. Teleport to this landmark or wait for me to IM the group with the SLurl.

Not a member of the group? join today, its free, fun and a great way to explore Second Life with friends.

Cyberextruder, the folks behind Avatar Island that opens today, have kindly agreed to give the Things To Do group a guided tour of their new facilities, AND a free photo realistic 3D face for your Second Life Avatar to demonstrate the system. You will need to bring a good photo, see below for instructions.

What You Need To Do

• Join the Things To Do group
• Have a forward facing, non-smiling (really, the plainer the better) photograph taken in good lighting, preferably against a homogeneous background handy.
• You DO NOT need to upload this to Second Life
• A passport photo makes a very good choice, as it will generally fulfill all of the above criteria

When and where:

Be at Avatar Island at 1pm SLT/PST, 9pm GMT, 10pm CET today, and make sure you're a member of the Things To Do group!