The latest version of the vHUD is smokin hot!

Sporting a completely new programming core, the latest vHUD is easier to use, has way more content and applications, and delivers faster then ever before. Building on great partnerships with companies like SLCN.tv, SLEXCHANGE.com and SecondPages.com the vHUD 2.0 also delivers a contextually target advertisement system to only bring you content you want to see.

To complete the new look we reached out to the designers at Joysco at asked them for a color scheme that would make the vHUd look as good as it performed. The results are fabulous.

For a brief introduction to the features check out the pdf here.

After many months of development we are very excited about our new contextual ad system for the virtual world platform of Second Life. Our vision for this AD API is to begin to build the infrastructure necessary to support an advertisement based business model in the 3D Internet. We are all familiar with the concept of embedding contextual advertisement into our blogs or website on the existing Internet, and i3D hopes to extend that possibility to sim owners, gadget makers, and businesses on virtual world platforms.

I had the opportunity to speak about i3D and our new AD API at the Virtual Business Innovators Event on Friday.

Footage of the event can be found at SLCN.tv.

Our Contextual Ad system takes advantage of the immersing capabilities of Virtual Environments.

Adding to our existing Media API, this new addition continues to take full advantage of the SilverStream Network.

More information can be found

UPDATE: Clever Zebra posted a synopsis and video/audio links for the event.

I had the good fortune to be introduced to Nathan from Cruxy by a new acquaintance Bernhard Drax. We managed to strike up a great conversation on the future of music and media in Second Life, and share ideas on current media technology in Second Life.

In case you don’t know, “Cruxy is a digital marketplace for people to buy, sell, and promote each other’s original creative works. No DRM, no sticky contracts.” And they have an amazing music player in Second Life that does some incredibly tricky and cool things with the media

I am very happy to report that Nathan is evaluating the SilverStream API with the yet unreleased version of their media player. I will be sure to let you know how it goes!

Yesterday at the Metaversed First Friday event

we demonstrated the capabilities of the SilverStream Network, and the vHUD in particular, to a group of 70+ avatars! SLCN was also broadcasting live, as well as an Australian news organization, to who know how many more… It was a smashing event, and kudos to Nick for pulling it off again! I must have given out 20 SilverStream Starter Packs and twice that many vHUDs.

At the event we made several important announcements that I would like to talk about here.

First, I would like to talk about two new relationships that we have begun to develop with other companies wishing to be involved with the vHUD. We are very happy to announce that we are working closely with SLCN

as a major content provider for the SilverStream Network. They are rolling out three new specialty live channels, all of which we will be showing on the vHUD. You can find this new content under the Public tab for now, but the newest version of the vHUD will feature a SLCN section of it’s own. We will also be developing a new series of stationary eINDV screens for SLCN, that will be distributed throughout Second Life. I am very excited to work with the team over at SLCN, they have an amazing level of high quality production.

I am also very happy to announce that we have been in talks with SLEXCHANGE,

and will be rolling out a targeted product suggestion program with the newest version of the vHUD. I believe that this is just the beginning, as we have discussed a few bigger plans … but I am going to have to let your imagination run with that one for a bit.

With everything moving so quickly on the content and services front, we are ready to implement a more rapid deployment plan for the SilverStream. In order to encourage landowners throughout Second Life to setup a SilverStream Server, will will now be giving away the following products as a incentive to whomever sets up the first SilverStream Sever in a region we are not currently enabled.

- 3 eINDV Screens, fully functional, an can be completely controlled through SilverStreamNetwork.com
- The multimedia WhiteBoard from our Collaboration Suite
- A copy of the vHUD prototype, the most powerful application of the SilverStream Network

All interested parties should visit our sim i3D for your SilverStream Starter Pack.

We are very happy with the latest progress, and how well received the vHUD has been. Thanks to Fiend Ludwig, and the great article that he posted about us. We will continue to look for content and service partnerships to enhance the vHUD project, and benefit all of it’s users. We currently expect to have the next version of the vHUD ready for wide spread release at the end of this month, but you never know how things will be on the bleeding edge …

Caleb posted a review of the First Friday here.
With links to a video copy of our presentation on blip.tv.

We have been working for more then a year on a host of interactive media products, many of which I have blogged about here. Today I want to tell you about our latest endeavor, the vHUD, which is currently in pre-beta development. As you may know, we use our SilverStream Network to connect our applications to data and media outside of Second Life. We have developed methods to display images, video, and formatted text in mixed media environments. We can show multiple streams to the same avatar simultaneously, or show different feeds to different avatars on the same parcel.

We have taken the best from all of our previous applications to create the vHUD. Worn on your screen, we can beam media directly to you in any sim enabled with the SilverStream Network. As a proof of concept, we have setup dynamically created lists of available content that are separated into categories.

Tutorials - A list of machinima tutorials of or various products.
Products - Machinima commercials created and hosted by AWM Mars.
Public - Video feeds from in world broadcasters such as SLCN and Metaverse.TV, as well as RSS feeds of Metaversed and Reuters.
Flickr - A Flickr application that allows you to search for photos based on tags or user name.
Region - A short list of regions currently supporting the beta network, with teleport links for convenience.

Now the vHUD is not without its’ challenges. Using the video stream can be interesting with parcel boundaries automatically reseting the feed. Although our other media products on the SilverStream Network are designed to operate together in harmony, not all media equipment is made by us. And then there is the occasional parcel with all scripts turned off anyway … You get the idea.

We have put together a series of low rez videos covering some current operations of the vHUD.

I can imagine amazing potential for this product. You could deliver content … RSS news feeds, product videos, BlogHUD reviews … relevant to the locations that you were visiting in Second Life. Or tutorials not limited to textures, that helped you get oriented or learn a new building technique. Or simply stream individual music or entertainment videos while you work. My business partner and I watched SL Hockey for the first time today, while we finished up a build on our new island i3D. I have never watched SL sports before, but it was on SLCN, and the HUD followed me where ever I looked.

Our goal is not now, or ever has been, to convince people to log into Second Life to watch a video or surf the web. Our products are about enhancing the 3D environment by connecting users to mixed media content. Text did not die when video came to the web, and old media has its place in the new world as well.

At this stage we are looking to partner with content and service providers in Second Life. We have developed an API that will allow other companies and individuals to access the resources of the SilverStream Network for their own applications, we are interested in content providers who want their media to be available on our vHUD, and we are interested in hearing if we can develop specialized HUDs for use on private sims. Imagine the possibilities …

On Friday we presented a demonstration of the new LSL Test Harness, that we have produced for Linden Labs, at the first “First Friday“. The demo was a smashing success, and well received all around. First Friday is the newest evolution of the Geek Meets and a great opportunity to show off, and see, up and coming technology.

If you are interested in participating in a Beta Trial of the new Test Harness, please email team@i3dnow.com for more information.

UPDATE: Metaversed has posted the audio from the demo.

Yesterday we released the first Beta version of our new eINDV media screens for use in Second Life. As you may know we have a wide selection of media alternatives currently avaliable, from the existing Proximity Video System to the Split Stream system to the multimedia Collaboration Suite. The new eINDV screens are now fully integrated into the SilverStream Network, and the website is now up and running.

When you first rez and register one of the new units, an account is automatically created for you avatar on the network. From that point you can login into this account and control the media list for as many screens as you own, throughout Second Life, all from this single website. You will also receive constant feedback on the popularity of your new setup, from our Metrics system that comes included with each eINDV unit.

We are very excited about the SilverStreamNetwork.com and it’s potential for integrating existing media more completely into Second Life. Look for continued improvements to the capabilities of the system, as well as your ability to find and share media in world!

If you are interested in Beta testing the new Screens please email us at team(at)i3dnow.com.

Hello, and welcome to the new site and the launch of a new endeavor! You might already be familiar with some of our products, such as the Proximity Video Manager or our line of SL Chatbots, and you may have seen one of us around – Anthony and I just passed 1 year in SL. What you have not seen before is the new company, i3D inc. and this great new web presence i3Dnow.com!

Together with a long time friend and creative genius Kevin McCarthy, along with my tech wiz of a business partner Anthony Bundy, and of course me (Jacob Sullivan); we have incorporated i3D inc. in the State of Washington to bring you a whole new evolution of products and services. We are geared toward bringing i3D( 3D Internet) to a reality, and are currently focused on development in Second Life – a free i3D platform that is currently the most prolific of its kind in the world.

Your first reaction might be, “Oh Jacob, aren’t their already tons of companies like yours?” And I would have to tell you that no there just isn’t anyone quite like us. If you check out our services page you will see that yes we can help get your feet wet is Second Life, and yes we do handle island sized builds. And although we have one of the most innovative and professional builders in Second Life, this is where the story begins, rather then where it ends.

For almost a year now Anthony and I have been programming is SL. Learning the ins and outs of scripts and sim lag, exploring the capabilities of communication between SL and the existing World Wide Web, and delving into media delivery and management in world. Let me tell you, I think you are going to be happy with what we have found. We have developed applications that allow secure content delivery to individual avatars, blocking other users as necessary. We have applications that allow multiple videos to be seen simultaneously by the same avatar, or different videos can be shown to different avatars on the same parcel. And those are just the things we came up with last year!

This year we are launching the Silver Stream Network, an interconnected web of virtual servers in Second Life that allow a host of new interactive multimedia applications. Everything from our new Collaboration Suite, to managing the content of all of your video screens in SL from a single website interface, to our new Metrics program that provides detailed reports of the habits and activities of Avatars while they visit your SL facilitates. And that is just the beginning! I have not even had a chance to tell you about the Avatar Experience Manager or the new rapid application development pipeline that we are putting together … I guess you will just have to see it all for yourself.

Please feel free to visit our facilities in world to experience some of the demos first hand, and don’t forget to drop by the SilverStreamNetwork.com to see the webside interface as well. Let us know what you think.

The ITE Expo starts up this week, I am sure looking forward to it. There are lots of different booths with tech breaking all sorts of SL boundaries.
posted by Anthony Reisman on Silicon City using a blogHUD : [blogHUD permalink]