Cafe Bucky

I really have the Travel Bug today, and cant do anything about it at the moment, but am happy nonetheless.  I recently renewed my passport, and so I will probably hug the next US State Department worker I see.

Hmm, perhaps not.  That would surely get me on some sort of “list”.

Perhaps better to call up and ask for the Duty Officer, and say “yo, thanks!”.

Wait, scratch that.  I’m sure they have a list for that too.

See, to me, having a passport implies a lot of freedom.  It’s a gateway, not just to travel, but possibly to work as well.  I’m looking at you, Canada, Australia, UK, and the EU!

I dont have any immediate travel plans, but at least now I can say “yeah, fly me there!” without having to add the sheepish bit of “but I gotta deal with my passport first”.  That would be an Obstacle.  Not Good.

I can see my suitcases, and it’s time to dust them off :)

I recently marked 3 years in SecondLife, and have also been spending time using OpenSim.  I think OpenSim is the virtual world equivalent of Apache, and I think it’s going to catch on in a big way …

Backing up a bit …

So, OpenSim could be seen as an Open Source implementation of SecondLife.  But It’s more than that.  It is a platform for creating your own virtual worlds.  It’s a 3D environment where the users create content, can meet each other, and interact in real time from anywhere in the world.

Oh oh .. blank stares …  Some from tech people in the audience who think they are all done learning ;)

I recently had three encounters with a couple of friends and a recruiter, and each had the same sort of skeptical look or response to the idea of SecondLife and Virtual Worlds.  Pretty much 3 in 24 hours …

If SecondLife is off the radar for many in the tech world, OpenSim is farther still.

So let’s meander along.  I’ll explain.  I’m good at this.  I’ve been on the web since 1993, and in Virtual Worlds (VW) for three years.  Relax, this will be fun. Get your popcorn.  Keep your frikken butter off my sofa! Sheesh… some people …

In 1993 and 1994, the web was still way off the radar screen for most people.  I was at Autodesk, and I can say most managers there Simply Did Not Get The Web.  I went on to AOL to work on AOL.Com.  I made and lost a fortune, but that is not today’s topic.

So I am used to the blank stare thing.  Y’all will get the Virtual World thing… eventually.

Enter SecondLife and OpenSim.  SecondLife is a great VW platform.  It’s controlled by one company, and the server side of it is proprietary.  A few of the strong points of SecondLife are:

• immersive 3D environment
• user created content
• an economy
• great place to have meetings and trainings
• it is what you make of it
• strong creative and educational community

The client side of SecondLife is a viewer you run on your computer that gets you into the immersive 3D environment …

… and it so happens that the viewer (and its derivatives) work fine with OpenSim servers.

.. Where can an OpenSim server run?  On your Windows, Mac, or Linux machine.  Yes, you can have a self-contained virtual world on your laptop.  This is fine for some.  They’ll run a server, tell their friends how to connect, and that’s that.  Just like a private web site but in 3D.

Where it gets really interesting is to survey the publicly available grids out there (collections of one or more OpenSim instances), and to realize that companies and organizations can have their own private ones.

1994.  Apache.  Web.
2009.  OpenSim. Virtual World.

I’ve thrashed through some of the basics.  You can go to SecondLife.com and Opensimulator.org sites to get more background.

OpenSim is becoming to Virtual Worlds what Apache has been to the web.  It’s Open Source, there are brilliant people from all over the world contributing to it (echoing the development model of Linux, Apache, PHP, Perl, and some other high profile successes).

And we are at 1994 all over again.  OpenSim is at version 0.6.4, which means it is 64% of the way towards implementing the functionality found in the SecondLife server.  It looks as if it could reach 100% parity by the end of 2009.  There are already many organizations getting real results from their initial explorations (such as IBM), conducting meetings and trainings, or using a virtual space as a museum (ReactionGrid.com is recreating the 1939 Worlds Fair).

Do you think I mention meetings and trainings too easily?  Would I really do that?  Of course not.  Amada Linden did a good writeup entitled “Working in the Virtual World“.  Amanda says:

“I believe that the only good alternative to virtual meetings is a face-to-face meeting. It would be a hard to argue the teleconference calls or WebEx can create as immersive an experience”

If you want to drill deeper, see Caleb Booker’s post: Why Webcams Fail

I had known about OpenSim last year, but dismissed it as too early.  The wake up call for me was an article “OpenSimulator: The Choice for 2010” by Gwyneth Llewelyn.  She analyzed the state of OpenSim very well, but more importantly, she has a great handle on what it is going to take to succeed as a VW platform.  It got me thinking, and together with my partner Kim, we started checking it out.

Without going into 20 reasons why we personally love it, I will just paint with some broad strokes:

• SecondLife provides a great reference example
• the OpenSim developers are very capable, and there are organizations such as IBM committing real resources to the effort
• the developers of OpenSim do not feel constrained by the Linden Lab efforts
• there have already been very real advances in the OpenSim platform that cant be found in SecondLife, such as scripting at the region level, integration with skype, dynamic text on prims, arbitrary images on prims from URLs, and HyperGrid (teleport from one grid to another)

In a nutshell, OpenSim is evolving into the sort of effort we have previously seen with Linux and Apache.  A very real community is forming, and there’s even some tutorial material out there …

It’s 1994 all over again, and it makes me smile.

The countryside beckons.  Worn out roads need their picture taken.  They aim to put on asphalt makeup and cover their bots dots for a “Roadway Pinup Monthly” centerfold (daring Cornwall cliffs shed retaining walls, show you all!).  I aim to see a few roads.

I love to travel, and so have been mulling over dastardly plans on how to do that and get paid.  Snicker not, kind reader, for I am armed with a skill or two!  I shall Dance In The Country! Techstyle!

Perched in the midst of Getaway Central, Somewhere in Europe.  Perhaps I am in Tuscany.  Go with it, y’all…   Some people cant make it that far, ya know.  They have boring jobs and soccer brats and mortgages and neighbors with habits that scare them slightly and one too many frikken meetings to go to this week, and, yep, looks like the next one after that.  Their life is living them.

However, some people love to live vicariously….  We’re not just talking about the Peeping Toms and Tanyas…

And therein lies the country wheat germ of a hint of an idea.  Somewhere in this post I will spell it out, but I am going to my damnedest not to crystalize it in one sentence.  This is a post about the country, where paths meander.

Back to Tom and Tanya and their Peepers…

Would they watch an irreverent slidecast that shows the beauty of Dancing In The Country?  Which country?  Which part of the country? Well, send me money and I’ll alter my travel plans!  I sense that there is an opportunity to cater to the wannabe traveler.  Ok, well a subset of them.  I aim to displease those who would look down their nose at anything less than a high minded exhaustive treatise done by thee Almighty BBC.  Think of David Letterman and Monty Python pulling into town in a noisy oil smoking 1969 VW Bug with a grinding clutch and rusted shirt hanger antenna. Whoa there, move it, we have weak brakes!  Park, grab camera, some cafe coin for coffee, cheerful attitude, and a hankering to satisfy the insatiable desire of Jonathan Livingston Armchair Traveler Seagull.

I love to write and photo and video.  I also enjoy talking to the locals and getting the sense of things.  As it turns out, I’ve been doing this sort of thing in Second Life for the last 2 1/2 years.  Yeah, and the experience surely does spill over to the Real World.  Something about SL has made it much more comfy to strike up conversations with strangers.  Amazingly, most of them do not recoil in horror when I do this.  Could be all of the free Lindens I give em.

So the threads are  .. travel, take in the gist, write and photo it, and …

Omg.. is he going to talk about yet another fucking Social Networking Website?  Bucky!  How could you?  It’s almost 2009 you big smelly gorilla!

Now hang on there pardner.  We have the advantage of history.  We know what doesn’t work (like Sarah Palin applying for Mensa), and we know the world economy is on brink of collapse.  What a great time of opportunity!  Nobody can afford to travel, so we’ll do it for them!  We’ll mash it up on a web site with commentary, supplement with local feeds, point to Amazon Associates items that actually talk about the locale in question, and laugh all the way to the credit union.

So that is the thought .. how to mash up skills and local feeds, and turn the situation of traveling into a self sustaining gig.  It would be a side project.. a weekend here and there to start.  The two keys would be the power of the mashup info (content from elsewhere), and the irreverent look at things (local discontent :)

And that is the Dance in the Country.  Cha cha cha.

It’s days after ETech, and I really should write a summary. On the other hand, Snapper helped my mixology skills by showing me the infamous White Russian. Ah .. Kahlua.

So much for my participation in the Attention Economy.

I’ll comment on San Diego though. It was an interesting trip that threatened to be fun. The day I got there, I decided I better get my laptop a charging. Little wisps of smoke issued from the skimpy wire off of the power supply.

Not good. Oh, this won’t do. Fuck. I only brought one. I have, like, access to 3 or 4 power supplies at home. Hmm, 3 days of conference ahead, and no way to charge. Double frick frack fuck.

But I’m an explorer, and have some twisted sense of accomplishment in being able to look at a trolley route map in a strange city and Just Get There. (I am guessing that one day, Tokyo will make me shut up on this one). For reasons best known to Apple, the nearest Apple store to downtown SD is nowhere near downtown SD. This would involve a transfer.

So anyway, I get to some place called Fashion Valley, aka Lack Of Character Forgettable SoCal Mall. I can poke fun at it, because I grew up in SoCal amongst all sorts of Interchangeable Retail. It took me about 150 seconds to walk in the Apple Store, get the power adapter, pay, and get out. I actually had more fun checking out the crowd on the Light Rail than I did in the mall.

On the way back, the thought occurred to me that I could just keep riding all the way to Tijuana. The next thought took the first thought out to parking lot and shook some sense into it. I was frikken alone, and it was getting dark, and nobody knew my location. I think I’d head to Vancouver B.C. at the drop of the hat to go have dinner. Tijuana’s a bit different.

So SD is not really a walking city. It’s scaled for cars. I stayed across from the Cruise Ship Terminal. I enjoyed watching them pull out with their horns at full song. It was a mile or so to the hotel where the conference took place, so I got into the pattern of walking along the waterfront … again and again and again. That was a good thing though, as I dropped some weight in the process. The thing I noticed about Downtown is that there is a familiar laid back SoCal vibe, but there’s also an Undercurrent of “keep alert” that I felt. Although I did walk around a bit at night, I’d have to say that I felt a little less wary in Manhattan than SD. It could be because there are so few peds. The buildings are ok. The architecture of the Santa Fe rail depot is really cool. The fact that the USS Midway was berthed along my walk was inspiring. Big, Intimidating Aircraft Carrier, that. I did a double take when I noticed a MiG up on the flight deck!

My impression of San Diego is that I should go back sometime when I have a reason, but it doesn’t seem like a destination for its own sake. It’s no San Francisco, or Portland, or Seattle. On the other hand, the next time I’m there, I’ll take a car and explore. It’s the only major California city that I don’t know.

This is the last part of grabbing thoughts from the Trip for now. The title is plucked from a quote of Jack Kerouac (I picked up Hip: The History at the Warhol Museum). I say that some cities, states, or other entities (such as a hotel chain) can be Hip in their own fashion, when it comes to Tech (specifically WiFi).

Free WiFi – If you’re a city/state offering free WiFi, you’re well on the way to “getting it”. It’s a way of saying “get some stuff done, or just have fun, but do it in our space – stay a bit”. I say Iowa gets it. The rest stops have free access, with freeway signs touting “wireless internet” from Davenport to Council Bluffs. You go, Iowa!

A tangent to this is how older towns and cities handle urban growth. Some put a fair bit of effort into creating a nice old / historic district, and it flourishes. Maybe they offer free WiFi as an incentive to get people to hang out and generate some economic activity. Other towns (yes, Grand Island comes to mind once again) don’t get it, let their downtowns wither, and let the developers trip over each other on the way out the planning department door on the way to the bulldozers positioned on virgin ground outside downtown. From my limited exposure, at least the inner Iowa City gets it. They have an extensive Pedestrian Area, and the local library offers WiFi coverage outside its boundaries. And there’s more to come.

Denver gets it. I like that they’re putting in a light rail system along the freeway. I like that they have a good shuttle system downtown. It’s not on par with Portland, OR, but it’s a wheel in the right direction. Lots of WiFi in Denver (looks like they’re #13).

Speaking of transportation, Las Vegas doesn’t quite get it. Monorails are Hip, but not if you have to walk and walk and walk to get to them. Why is the system hidden behind the hotels on the east side of the Strip? I smell a massive compromise. If you’re going to get people flowing amongst the resorts, put the damn transportation front and center, right down the middle of the Strip, with stops at every intersection. Is that so hard? On the plus side, I like the elevated walkways. It’d be oh so Hip to put the damn road underground, and turn the Strip into a massive promenade. Maybe within 20 years?

Don’t even get me started on hotels that still charge for Net (yo, Luxor, you kidding me? $180+ a night and you still want to charge for wired access? Later, Luxor). I praise Holiday Inn Express. They’re not the Hippest, but at least they Get It.

Yikes, I’ve been lax on writing up stuff on The Drive. I’ll do this bit on some cool spots I want to go back to (and a couple I’ll avoid), and another on Tech things I noticed along the way.

(more…)

I’m a little torn between wanting to comment on my trip, and attending to the unpacking, upcoming photo weekend, gig searching, and getting back to tech stuff imersion. So I won’t write a proper intro.

The month has been a blur. In between driving 1300 miles to and from OSCON, and another 3900+ coast to coast, I’ve been a road tripper – disconnected from the online and everyday.

And I did it oh so wrong. I may have seen some roses along the way, but I didn’t feel like I had time to stop and smell any. I got to pay a lot of turnpike tolls though. I still wonder what New Jersey will do to me for accidentally running an EZ-Pass lane. Yo, Jersey! Figure out some meaningful signs! Ask Ohio or Penn, or Iowa! Not like it’s hard to do, Jerseyites.

Speaking of turnpikes, the “service plaza” concept in Ohio and elsewhere is pretty cool, in a surreal Americana sort of way. Reminds me of the Autobahn.

My conclusion is that 200 miles a day is a nice target. That gives you room to be spontaneous – to take this or that road, or to check out the place that has 20 faded billboards touting for miles on end. 300-400 miles is a tease: look, but don’t stop! I had some ideal in mind of avoiding the interstate, but the reality of wanting to check in at a decent hour dictates the route.

But hey, I did it. Coast to coast! It’s something I’d wanted to do since I was a kid (I was fortunate to grow up with a father that had a real sense of exploration – thanks Dad).

And I want to do it again next summer. Not the same way, of course.

I’m in the air on Song Airways. SFO behind me, JFK is 5 hours in front.

Song has touch screen “information displays” that do Dish Network TV, Movies, Music, Games, and some other stuff. 10 minutes into the programming … “we have to reset the TV”. Ok, so one figures it’ll be a blank screen for a few seconds. Even though I had just been to OSCON for a week, I figured the plane had some wierd proprietary system – you know – something with the imprint of Microsoft all over it.

Imagine my surprise to see a full Red Hat Linux bootup sequence! 10’s of lines of device driver inits, mount points, sheesh.. everything! I nearly burst out laughing, in a strange Jambalaya of “yay, Open Source”, and “ohmigawd, that is soooo ugly to be showing to the end users”.

Pretty cool system, once it’s running. Navigation is via intuitive touchscreen menus. Ok, Jet Blue, time for you to copy!

postscript: on the other hand, Song was on hour late taking off, and we sat on the tarmac for a good 20 minutes waiting for a gate to open up at JFK. I’ve never had that happen with JetBlue.