After talking to its inventor today, Second Life avatar “Unmitigated Gall” aka Mitch McKenzie of Metaverse Media Center, I am reasonably convinced that the object you see above – the SliPod Media Antenna will revolutionise the way media is delivered in the virtual world of Second Life.
At 12:05 SLT a sudden dramatic post appeared on the Music Development mailing list from Unmitigated claming the following :
“Created device that truly revolutionizes media in secondlife. It is currently termed and ‘unsupported’ way of doing streams. In fact, the Lindens are perplexed at how I got it to work. I can be anywhere in a SLiPOD enabled Sim and listen to my songs or watch my videos. Truly the coolest thing I have ever done in SL. If you are interested in the final beta testing, please IM me, I need help to get this product out fast, as the Lindens have stated they may decide to publish my techniques without my permission, which doesn’t seem remotely fair, but they said it would then officially be a ’supported’ way of doing it. I would have sworn I had rights to my creations in here, but we will see what moves the Lindens make next. I just had to post somewhere that this testing is going on and is 100% successful, I would hate to see the lindens pull the rug out from under me after so many years of working in here to build something that really fills the huge media gap.”
Mitch arrived at my studio and we immediately tested his system. He gave me a pack of objects – an antenna and a set of “media objects”. I rezzed the antenna, and he instructed me to wear one of the media objects. Immediately a high quality video streamed on my HUD. He then told me to check the landstream and to my amazement it was completely unchanged from my normal setting.
He then explained that this antenna has just activated the entire sim ( not affected by parcel boundaries ) to play media in his format. Any number of avatars could come onto the sim and play any number of media streams simultaneously. This doesn’t use the Silverstream technology that www.i3dnow.com have recently developed. In fact it works in a completely different way by connecting the Second Life client directly to media. In that way it has nothing to do with the Second Life server at all and creates no lag.
I was immediately transfixed by the possibilities of such a system and started asking questions about how it could be used creatively. At this point Mitch explained that the discovery of the ability to do this has created some considerable tension with Linden Lab. He was extremely concerned that they would either remove the “bug” which enables this to happen, thus disabling this feature entirely ( they seemed to have serious concerns about possible abuse using the tool ) or “support” this feature by explaining how it is done, effectively destroying Mitch’s entire business model. He felt forced to get it out there as soon as possible in order to document his role as creator. This brings up huge issues about intellectual property rights in virtual world business, the dangers of doing business using features that could be considered “bugs” and removed by the platform developers as well as ethical issues to do with the impact of those decisions. At this point I teleported some key Second Life bloggers and technophiles over and a lively discussion ensued. I am quite sure a number of them will cover this story in some way.
Personally, as I began to understand this device, I could see a vast array of creative possibilites forming before me. Mitch see’s his device as a “media format” – a way of delivering any quicktime based content – video or audio, to any avatar in Second Life. He intends to set up a website here : www.myslipod.com. Where anyone could upload their media, and it would be converted to an inworld object, which could then be sold, or simply handed out in world. This would mean that a musical artist could create an album, sell it as an object in world to anyone, and then at a later date update the album with new songs – quite a unique platform. However conversely it also means the buyer never recieves the actual quicktime media file – just a link to it.
This also potentially raises huge copyright issues. We also noted that if these objects were copyable, this could feasibly turn Second Life into quasi file sharing platform ( although the media would all be remotely hosted – the objects would link to them with an encrypted URL )
We then moved on to discussion about alternative uses of the technology, and alternate ways of controlling media streams. Many possible uses came up here. Whilst the antenna currently affects a whole sim – it has controls in its script for its “sphere of influence” – ie. it could be used to stream one file to avatars within its influence, then other antenna around it could stream different media files. This could enable developers to create soundscape across a sim based on proximity. Possibly more exciting than this is the fact that the script could be programmed to respond to any LSL functions just like any other object – changing streams with avatar interaction. As Unmitigated noted, in many ways this system could completely supercede the current media streaming system in Second Life. He also explained that the server side technology he has enabled to hosting the media files has “unlimted” bandwidth.
I am fascinated by the potential of this device. I think it would be a great shame if for any reason, it wasnt implemented. It’s a clever lateral approach to a common problem – when is a bug not a bug ? When its useful. This tool really does light up a roadmap to creating a much more immersive Second Life experience. Is this the tool that will finally enable Second Life developers to work with audio properly ? Is this the tool we have all been waiting for ?
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October 17, 2007 at 3:35 am
Kori Travanti
THAT is way cool device. Gotta get me one of those… hehehe
KT
October 17, 2007 at 3:44 am
Second Life News for October 17, 2007 « The Grid Live
[...] At last – Media in Second Life is freeeeeee! After talking to its inventor today, Second Life avatar “Unmitigated Gall”, I am reasonably convinced that the object you see above – the SliPod Media Antenna will revolutionize the way media is delivered in the virtual world of Second Life. [...]
October 17, 2007 at 1:01 pm
HolliVals Allen
I see a huge potential in Surround Live concerts, where I create say 2 reverb settings for my sound and stream them on different channels, so if you turn your avatar, the stereo sound in your headphones becomes a bit different
And yes, SL will become alot more alive if we can feed few audio channels from say down town Amsterdam into the sim in SL. That way you could have as many mics as you want and really mix the two worlds together.
Not to mention things like outerspace stuff….
I’m a musician and I here by put my name on the fact that Second Life avatar “Unmitigated Gall” aka Mitch McKenzie is the owner of this technology and I sure as heaven and Hell want to see it grow and use it myself
Brilliant idea, can’t wait to put my hands on it…
Holli Vals.
October 17, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Nat Mandelbrot of Cruxy
While I applaud Mitch aka Unmitigated Gall’s work and product sense, I think he might be overstating a bit this secret “bug” he has found. Using the code below, you can change the media stream for just a specific agent/avatar and not for the entire parcel:
just set “AGENT_KEY_YOU_WANT_TO_SET” to the key of the agent:
llParcelMediaCommandList( [
PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_AGENT, AGENT_KEY_YOU_WANT_TO_SET,
PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_TIME, START_TIME,
PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_PLAY ] );
list Info = llParcelMediaQuery([PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_URL, PARCEL_MEDIA_COMMAND_TEXTURE]);
llSay(0, “Playing ‘” + llList2String(Info, 0) + “‘ on texture ‘” + (string)llList2Key(Info, 1) + “‘ for agent ” + llDetectedName(AGENT_KEY_YOU_WANT_TO_SET));
This is also the basis of Jeff Barr’s fantastic Web Page on a Prim effort: http://www.jeff-barr.com/?p=607
and indeed what http://i3dnow.com/ is doing.
October 17, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Navillus Batra of i3D inc.
Certainly a great idea … one we have been excited about since we revealed a demo of this technology at the ITE Expo several months ago. If you go to our sim, i3D, you can get free copies of SilverStream servers, screens, and a HUD that does exactly what you are talking about here. These products have gone through several releases, and have many cool features built around this concept.
October 17, 2007 at 3:47 pm
dizzybanjo
The emergence of a number of these tools with similar, but perhaps not identical features, is such a great thing for Second Life, and the ability of virtual worlds in general to become more immersive.
I really hope that through the development and implementation of these tools on projects, we might come to capitalise on the particular advantages of each method, discovering new exciting techniques for distributing media and sound.
October 18, 2007 at 2:46 am
The Lindens are listening.. « Dizzy Banjo - Soundtracking Virtual Worlds
[...] Dizzy Banjo – Soundtracking Virtual Worlds Soundtracking Virtual Worlds « At last – Media in Second Life is freeeeeee!!! [...]
October 18, 2007 at 3:37 pm
AWM Mars
Been there, done it and even bought the Tee shirt for exaclty what you describe… Silver Stream Network media systems have been deployed all over SL since we showcased it at the International Technology Expo back early this year.
Check it out at http://www.eml-entertainments.com
This is the 2nd such claim I have seen to release ‘New Technology’.
GL with your project, but aknowlegement where it is due.. you aren’t the first, and BTW, the Lindens don’t know how the backend works for the Silver Stream Network either. The ingame functions are relatively easy.
October 19, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Unmitigated Gall
Hmmmm.. I will ignore those who wish to throw stones, and only say that I have swam in the streams of Second Life for almost 2 years, been working on media concepts since literally video entered the platform. My product isn’t a gizmo or gadget for geeks to spend hours tinkering with to try to make it work, It is designed solely to deliver media to the end user, FAST AND SIMPLE. A lot of developers in SL seem to develop things that require tweak after tweak, setup modification after set up modification, and wonder why their product doesn’t have a wide spread acceptance. An apparently, they even lash out at those who appear to be some form of competition especially if they sense that the competition might really have something.
I for one am excited about the future of media in SL, and have nothing but respect for anybody who dares spend time working on the platform to improve it.
As for talk of a secret ‘bug’, that I discovered. Perhaps you misunderstood. I never thought it was a bug, never, the script does exactly what I intended it to do, NO BUG WHATSOEVER. The person who termed it a bug and unsupported was a Linden. I simply related what I was told, so I do hope that clarifies it for those who seem to imply different.
I think a certain Linden would be able to establish that I have been an aggressive hunter of media/client stability issues and have endeavored to get the platform better for all of us here. It seems obvious to me if a musician is to get paid for a gig, that the place the gig is to be held, cant crash randomly during the performance.
I do wish to thank those who got the point, an jumped in to help me test it, and also support intellectual property rights.
Your world, your media.
October 19, 2007 at 5:41 pm
anthony reisman
Fast and Simple is good Unmitigated, but there is a reason why other developers tweak things…. testing and trials reveal bugs, feature improvements requested by your users and opportunities to make it better.
I look forward to seeing how your distribution method works out with the individual objects. We are working on a simpler distribution model and I look forward to seeing both benefit all residents.
Not sure which products you are referring to with the hours of tinkering and require tweaks and setup modifications. Not Silver Stream, I’m hoping. It is simple if all you want is a quick and simple solution, but has expanded functionality for those that have greater needs.
October 26, 2007 at 9:11 pm
AWM Mars
I have been dealing within Virtual Reality Environments since the mid 1990’s, in the past 2 years I have focused fully on Media and all relative products. We developed several companies that encompass multi-media in SL and other platforms.
The Silver Stream Network system has the ability to almost ‘force’ people to watch our media, as long as they have meidai enabled. That is no trick, but it IS damaging to media within this and other 3D platforms. The method chosen was to be passive. Give the users/viewers as much choice as they could want/need.
The operative word being Choice. Anyone that releases a system that in any way ‘forces’ someone to watch their stream, overriding any other system, deserves to fail and fail badly. I am not totally familiar with some of the new systems coming out of the woodwork of late, but I am aware that some have decided to make their systems more of a ‘Bully’ than the vast majority.
It has taken years of work to put together movies in such a format whereby they cause the least overheads to the users system. The ‘myth’ about movies causing lag, has for the most part been quelled, through vast amounts of testings and money to develop hardware and software to make appealing media at the lowest possible cost.
The parcel myth/misquote has been well and truly broken and is a thing of the past. Many new systems, including the Silver Stream Network, which supports the vHUD multimedia system, can provide greater choice to users in SL, linking the vast wealth of media available over the internet and indeed private servers. The only thing required from the LL servers is the location of the viewer, which is readily available at no cost to server resources. Not even the delivery of the url is made by SL. You can imagine a ‘Virtual Parcel’ which works in 3D, so that you can now have multimedia in both height as well as horizontally, if the range is set by the owner of a screen/player to 10mtrs, that creates a fixed area of 10×10x10 from the face of the screen/player.
So what is the point of this post? Simple… lets have technology that enriches and enhances SL, creating links between the 2D internet and what is clearly the 3D internet of the future. BUT… not at any cost… No one should tolerate any technology that believes IT has to control the user, or those within its grasp. Any technology that ‘controls’ a SIM overriding media settings of owners, should be banned.
If we are all here to enhance SL and develop media systems that give greater choice, then this will elevate the very nature of business and the platform itself. Before anyone flames this post, I have not mentioned any technology by name, nor shall I. I just want to give you my business and multimedia experience, gleaned over the years, along with my perspective on SL and other VR platforms future. If your technology and service is good, it will survive and flourish.. my advice is use passive methods and offer a great product that gives the greatest choice.