COLLABORATION AT ITS BEST
::NEWS WRAP UP::
SpotON3D HAS BEEN CHOSEN AS ONE OF SIX VIRTUAL WORLD
ENTREPRENEURS TO PRESENT AT THE FOUNTAIN BLUE VIRTUAL WORLD
CONFERENCE AT THE SUN MICROSYSTEMS' HEADQUARTERS ON SEPT 25TH
ALM- PRODUCTIONS IS CREATING OUR MACHINIMA FEATURE FOR
THE FOUNTAIN BLUE VIRTUAL WORLD CONFERENCE!
APPLIED CREATIVE TRAINING HAS CHOSEN SpotON3D
AS ITS HOME FOR THEIR VIRTUAL WORLD PLATFORM PROJECTS!
SAY CHEEZE!!!
Had an important meeting tonight with Ariella Furman, Ariella Languish in Virtual. If you've not visited her website you might wanna check her work out
http://www.alm-productions.net/
She's a formidable Machinima artist who has worked with everyone from virtual business and players to Fortune 50 corporations. Her work is astounding and we're privileged to have her filming on our first virtual cinema piece for us. her ability to convey her client's message visually is second to none and I hope we enjoy a long working relationship with her and her company.
THE MACHINIMA SPIN FOR THE FOUNTAIN BLUE CONFERENCE
The message is going to be steered by the event it will be showing at the FountainBlue.biz Virtual World Conference held at Sun Microsystem's HQ in Santa Clara on the 25th. You can read more about it here:
http://www.fountainblue.biz/virtualworlds.html
Just so happens that last April they put out a call for virtual world entrepreneurs to submit their executive summaries for this event. Out of the undoubtedly hundreds of submissions, only six where plucked out of the masses to showcase their work and business models at the event and .... drum roll please ....
SPOTON3D HAS BEEN CHOSEN AS ONE OF THE TOP SIX PRESENTERS!
Its big news for us! We'll get the opportunity to present our executive summary and showcase our gird in a 17 minute fast pitch to the prestigious panelist attending. Its a WHO's WHO of Virtual Environs;
* Benjamin Duranske, Pillsbury Winthrop
* Moderator Sibley Verbeck, CEO, The Electric Sheep Company
* Panelist Josh Bell, Director, Technology Integration, Linden Lab
* Panelist Tim Chang, Norwest Venture Partners
* Panelist Benjamin Duranske, Pillsbury Winthrop
* Moderator Jeffrey Pope, Founder of Virtual Worlds Roadmap Group, Former
Virtual Worlds VC and Virtual Worlds Entrepreneur
* Panelist David Helgason, CEO, Unity
* Panelist Craig Sherman, Gaia Interactive
* Panelist Reuben Steiger, CEO, Virtual Greats and venture capitalist that will be in attendance.
This is a HUGE honor that we're all working hard to gear up for, so please forgive my missing a beat on our blog yesterday. As is usual with Mondays, I was buried alive in meetings.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR SPOTON3D
Simply said, it puts us on the map. We've been quietly slaving away in our great big 100+ region grid, trying to make things run better for our future inhabitants. We're thinking that many of our peers pitching will have their own brilliant ideas to present and we're looking forward to seeing their progress too.
As far as our presentation goes, we've clearly defined our target market, and shown that a considerable amount of work has already been completed. All that is needed now is one more financial fusion to get us over this start-up hurdle, and then we'll be good to go.
We are extremely fortunate to have had a six figure budget to build this project upon. We've focused primarily on the under the hood stuff to ensure that our grid systems outperformed the competition and is stable enough to market as a production ready product. That's been achieved. Next is make the experience more fluid and intuitive for our target market, making it easier for them to embrace our business tools and run with them.
Seems all this is attracting some major press parties, such as Metanomics, so you might be seeing us get some face time in your favorite virtual world media soon!
APPLIED CREATIVE TRAINING
We've also gotten our first official Enterprise Developer firm on board! APPLIED Creative Training is a new company from some truly innovative veterans of virtual worlds; David Woodin and Lars Ullberg, both formerly of CADE/UofI.
These two gentlemen are no strangers to me or simulation development. David in particular has a keen vision for integrating high functionality into virtual projects. He's one of the few developers out there that can out think me in this area and I'm especially pleased to have him on board. Lars is a visionary too and knows how to convey this to his prospective clients in a way that they can understand. We're extremely honors to have these experts chose SpotON3D as their new place of business and can highly recommend them without hesitation.
Well, that is it for today. I hole this has more than made up for missing yesterday's blog. If you have any questions or ideas you'd like discussed here, please drop me an email at spoton3d@gmail.com - don't ya just love gmail?!?!
Tessa Kinney-Johnson
aka Tessa Harrington in Virtual
Co-Founder/COO/Art Director
SpotON3D/SponONSynergy/UnReal Designs, LLC
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Metanomics Discussion on the Concerns of People & the Future of the Metaverse
Today on of my marketing Gals, Butterfly Laa, pried me away from my work long enough to go to a Metanomic's meeting. I love their events, because you always leave with a head full of thoughts and ideas to chew on for several hours, but at the time I had to fine tune the message on some serious paperwork for a funding event and thought ... "hmmm .... do I really wanna have anymore things crawling around in my skull tonight?" I'm sure some of you understand that.
Never the less, Butter dragged me in, saying I HAD to be there. I was thinking, "Well, maybe someone kewl will be interviewed and I'll work on some graphics while I listen." Boy! Was I wrong. I came in to see Dusan Writer, a well known journalist who focuses on Virtual World's who works with Metanomics a lot. He had some interesting boards up, detailing what was obviously going to be an open mike discussion. I immediately perked up! This was my kinda event!
As I reviewed all his materials I realized why Butter had insisted I be there. Every topic he'd set out to speak on was a problem that we'd made great progress in solving on our grid! I started speaking up, sharing stories on how we'd handled this or that on our grid. I was my typical excited self I'm sure, running off at the mouth a bit too much probably. Poor Dusan! I'm sure he was ready to duct tape my mouth shut! I started to worried I'd be asked to leave. Pretty certain I sounded a bit like a snake oil sales gal. :P But, I just couldn't help it! Suddenly, we were the ones with all the answers to the problems - well at least some of the options to solve the challenges. :P It felt good to have something real and substantial to offer everyone after so many months of slaving away on our own grid, isolated from the rest of our community.
Afterward, Dusan made a point of speaking to me, which was a huge honor. I'm sure he has no idea what a big fan I am of his blog. I suddenly found myself all tongue tied and anxious, but his words of interest and encouragement where sincere and very much appreciated. And with Bevan Whitfield and Jennette Forager piping in their excitement too, it was just the highlight of my day!
Its funny. I know what we've been creating these last eight months is really important and I should probably play the aloof professional business woman and pretend this is not a big deal for me, but in truth, to be in this time and place is a 14+ year dream of mine and I’m pinching myself daily. Why? Because I know where this stuff is going and I know me, my business partner, Stevan Lieberman, and our team are just one group of worker bees in many that are making history as we put our thumb print on the creation of the 3D Web. To be here and KNOW, without a doubt, how big an impact this work will have on our futures thrills me and scares me to death all at the same time. The feeling of being responsible for getting it right is intense as I try to look around corners most others don't even know exist.
Maybe that's what keeps me honest and humble in my utter confidence of the path we've taken here. It serves to remind me that in reality I am just a work horse artisan who happened to have stumbled upon this technology early on and never gave up on it. Otherwise, I am a bit of a hermit. Yeah, I can rock when called upon to speak for a reason, but send me into a room full of folks without a purpose and I kinda fade into the background. And, though I absolutely love our grid's purpose and believe in it, getting out there and talking out loud is just not so easy for me, because its just not in my mature to talk more than I work. I grow way too comfortable slaving away in my little cave.
That's why moments like today, when everything just falls into place, it makes it all worth while. Kinda takes the sting outta all the naysayers and negative thinkers, those who say what we're striving for isn't realistic - that no one will want what we offer or accuse us of being selfish or idiotic in your pursuit. Makes me think that maybe .... just maybe .... it might be ok to crawl outta the cave more often, risking the occasional gloom and doom long enough to enjoy a chance at a day in the sun. Thanks Dusan.
Never the less, Butter dragged me in, saying I HAD to be there. I was thinking, "Well, maybe someone kewl will be interviewed and I'll work on some graphics while I listen." Boy! Was I wrong. I came in to see Dusan Writer, a well known journalist who focuses on Virtual World's who works with Metanomics a lot. He had some interesting boards up, detailing what was obviously going to be an open mike discussion. I immediately perked up! This was my kinda event!
As I reviewed all his materials I realized why Butter had insisted I be there. Every topic he'd set out to speak on was a problem that we'd made great progress in solving on our grid! I started speaking up, sharing stories on how we'd handled this or that on our grid. I was my typical excited self I'm sure, running off at the mouth a bit too much probably. Poor Dusan! I'm sure he was ready to duct tape my mouth shut! I started to worried I'd be asked to leave. Pretty certain I sounded a bit like a snake oil sales gal. :P But, I just couldn't help it! Suddenly, we were the ones with all the answers to the problems - well at least some of the options to solve the challenges. :P It felt good to have something real and substantial to offer everyone after so many months of slaving away on our own grid, isolated from the rest of our community.
Afterward, Dusan made a point of speaking to me, which was a huge honor. I'm sure he has no idea what a big fan I am of his blog. I suddenly found myself all tongue tied and anxious, but his words of interest and encouragement where sincere and very much appreciated. And with Bevan Whitfield and Jennette Forager piping in their excitement too, it was just the highlight of my day!
Its funny. I know what we've been creating these last eight months is really important and I should probably play the aloof professional business woman and pretend this is not a big deal for me, but in truth, to be in this time and place is a 14+ year dream of mine and I’m pinching myself daily. Why? Because I know where this stuff is going and I know me, my business partner, Stevan Lieberman, and our team are just one group of worker bees in many that are making history as we put our thumb print on the creation of the 3D Web. To be here and KNOW, without a doubt, how big an impact this work will have on our futures thrills me and scares me to death all at the same time. The feeling of being responsible for getting it right is intense as I try to look around corners most others don't even know exist.
Maybe that's what keeps me honest and humble in my utter confidence of the path we've taken here. It serves to remind me that in reality I am just a work horse artisan who happened to have stumbled upon this technology early on and never gave up on it. Otherwise, I am a bit of a hermit. Yeah, I can rock when called upon to speak for a reason, but send me into a room full of folks without a purpose and I kinda fade into the background. And, though I absolutely love our grid's purpose and believe in it, getting out there and talking out loud is just not so easy for me, because its just not in my mature to talk more than I work. I grow way too comfortable slaving away in my little cave.
That's why moments like today, when everything just falls into place, it makes it all worth while. Kinda takes the sting outta all the naysayers and negative thinkers, those who say what we're striving for isn't realistic - that no one will want what we offer or accuse us of being selfish or idiotic in your pursuit. Makes me think that maybe .... just maybe .... it might be ok to crawl outta the cave more often, risking the occasional gloom and doom long enough to enjoy a chance at a day in the sun. Thanks Dusan.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
MegaSims Come to the Fore Front!
For about a year now I've been wishing for region crossing lines to either perform better or go away all together. Well, yesterday Adam Frisby, the lead dude in the OpenSimulator movement, made my wish come true! He's revealed the latest advancement in the OpenSim arsenal called MegaSims! Read all about it here: http://www.gwala.net/blog/
The idea is that we can now convert multiple individual 256x256 regions into one massive land offering that have no defined region lines, opening up the opportunity for many new things, such as military and emergency preparedness applications. This is a HUGE new direction for us and we'll be testing it on our test grid to learn how it works and its impact on performance, with the expectation to roll out a product in about 30-45 days if not sooner.
If you have a business or recreational application that you've put off, because of the problem with region lines, then now is the time to contact us and be a beta tester. Please email us at engineering@spoton3d.com with the follow information:
Contact Name
Company Name
Address
Phone
Email
Number of testing users
Type Project purposed for testing
Length of testing period needed
The idea is that we can now convert multiple individual 256x256 regions into one massive land offering that have no defined region lines, opening up the opportunity for many new things, such as military and emergency preparedness applications. This is a HUGE new direction for us and we'll be testing it on our test grid to learn how it works and its impact on performance, with the expectation to roll out a product in about 30-45 days if not sooner.
If you have a business or recreational application that you've put off, because of the problem with region lines, then now is the time to contact us and be a beta tester. Please email us at engineering@spoton3d.com with the follow information:
Contact Name
Company Name
Address
Phone
Number of testing users
Type Project purposed for testing
Length of testing period needed
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Hi! Tessa Kinney-Johnson here. As the Co-Founder of SpotON3D I've felt a huge responsibility to get this right – the making of an alternative grid system for business, education, corporations, non-profits, families, kids and gamers alike. To make a grid that can be enjoyed by that wide of an audience without inhibiting their creativity or stepping on anyone's toes is a tall order in anyone’s book. I think we’ve gotten a good start, with our clear separation of content and land via our memberships and selling portal. My hope is that everyone appreciates what we’ve done and finds a reason to willingly work within the rules and framework to make it succeed.
Are we perfect? Far from it, but we do strive to solve our errors in the most perfect way possible, with honesty, integrity and honor. Some think those are strange words coming from a company like ours. Kinda old fashioned, but after all the Enrons of the past era I personally feel its time to get back to some of the basics, where the customer matters and service is the backbone of the business.
My staff and I will be using this blog as a means to talking about what makes us excited, what new ideas we’re thinking of, our failures and achievements, and the reasons behind our decisions. Its a running dialogue with you, our participants, and as such, we’d love to hear back from you.
Here are some rules to go about doing that.
1. NO FLAMING
2. FIND A REASON TO BE POSITIVE
3. NO CURSING
4. EXPRESS YOURSELF INTELLIGENTLY
5. NO ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR
6. HONOR OTHERS AS YOU WOULD WANT FOR YOURSELF
7. NO DENIGRATING ANOTHER PERSON, ESPECIALLY AS THE MAIN POINT OF YOUR COMMENTS
8. BE THOUGHTFUL AND COURTEOUS, AS IF YOU WERE FACING THAT PERSON IN THE REAL WORLD.
Responding to someone’s opinion with an angry outburst that doesn’t convey any meaningful dialogue or comments besides the, “I hate you and your an idiot!” type mentality won’t be tolerated. Either you have a valid point of view that you can express with intelligence and grace, or its simply not appropriate. Calling other’s names or berating someone for stating their opinion, because it clashes wildly with your own, isn’t productive. In my book blogs are supposed to be about expanding on ideals and goals to incorporate everyone’s opinion, or to at very least give them a voice to be heard.
Does that mean you’ll be censored for disagreeing? NO! But it does mean that your argument or disagreement must be more than a diatribe of ughly verbalization and grounded in a solid point of view based on FACTS – that’s right. Facts. Not heresay and supposeds, unless you clearly state you are guessing at something, or flagrant rants based on fiction. If you make claims on someone’s character that are false in nature just to make a point and have no foundation in reality, this will not bode well. At the very least your comments will be taken off, because legally speaking we can not be seen as approving of such comments.
A good example of this would be disagreeing with someone who thinks all things should be free in virtual worlds. You can state your reasons as to why you think that ideal is flawed, but you can not accuse them of being actively involved in content theft. If you sincerely question their actions in such a way, then you need to bring that matter up with the Mediation Panel. The blog is not the area to debate disputes of character. Otherwise, you are just choosing to spread unfounded rumors, something I think we all can agree is far too prevalent in social networks.
In summary, lets do more than complain and moan! Bring a solution to the table too! Share your ideas and help us grow. Be a productive force in your virtual community. FIND A REASON TO BE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE. While its sometimes much easier to roll in the mire or cry woe is me, I would hope we, as a community, could take the high road and strive to do better.
Are we perfect? Far from it, but we do strive to solve our errors in the most perfect way possible, with honesty, integrity and honor. Some think those are strange words coming from a company like ours. Kinda old fashioned, but after all the Enrons of the past era I personally feel its time to get back to some of the basics, where the customer matters and service is the backbone of the business.
My staff and I will be using this blog as a means to talking about what makes us excited, what new ideas we’re thinking of, our failures and achievements, and the reasons behind our decisions. Its a running dialogue with you, our participants, and as such, we’d love to hear back from you.
Here are some rules to go about doing that.
1. NO FLAMING
2. FIND A REASON TO BE POSITIVE
3. NO CURSING
4. EXPRESS YOURSELF INTELLIGENTLY
5. NO ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR
6. HONOR OTHERS AS YOU WOULD WANT FOR YOURSELF
7. NO DENIGRATING ANOTHER PERSON, ESPECIALLY AS THE MAIN POINT OF YOUR COMMENTS
8. BE THOUGHTFUL AND COURTEOUS, AS IF YOU WERE FACING THAT PERSON IN THE REAL WORLD.
Responding to someone’s opinion with an angry outburst that doesn’t convey any meaningful dialogue or comments besides the, “I hate you and your an idiot!” type mentality won’t be tolerated. Either you have a valid point of view that you can express with intelligence and grace, or its simply not appropriate. Calling other’s names or berating someone for stating their opinion, because it clashes wildly with your own, isn’t productive. In my book blogs are supposed to be about expanding on ideals and goals to incorporate everyone’s opinion, or to at very least give them a voice to be heard.
Does that mean you’ll be censored for disagreeing? NO! But it does mean that your argument or disagreement must be more than a diatribe of ughly verbalization and grounded in a solid point of view based on FACTS – that’s right. Facts. Not heresay and supposeds, unless you clearly state you are guessing at something, or flagrant rants based on fiction. If you make claims on someone’s character that are false in nature just to make a point and have no foundation in reality, this will not bode well. At the very least your comments will be taken off, because legally speaking we can not be seen as approving of such comments.
A good example of this would be disagreeing with someone who thinks all things should be free in virtual worlds. You can state your reasons as to why you think that ideal is flawed, but you can not accuse them of being actively involved in content theft. If you sincerely question their actions in such a way, then you need to bring that matter up with the Mediation Panel. The blog is not the area to debate disputes of character. Otherwise, you are just choosing to spread unfounded rumors, something I think we all can agree is far too prevalent in social networks.
In summary, lets do more than complain and moan! Bring a solution to the table too! Share your ideas and help us grow. Be a productive force in your virtual community. FIND A REASON TO BE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE. While its sometimes much easier to roll in the mire or cry woe is me, I would hope we, as a community, could take the high road and strive to do better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)