Second Life

Second Life is one of the most interested things that I ever came across. Although the assignment is to find two businesses with a real-life counterpart, I hardly was able to find anyone to talk to at all. Nonetheless, this virtual world is very interesting. After awhile, I started to search for stuff that I like instead of following the assignment. Being an anime fan, I searched one of the title "Naruto". There actually is a virtual world based on that anime series. It is a role-playing world where, I assume, each avatars takes part in the lives of this ninja village. In order to join this village, there is a 50$L and an entry exam. $L is the currency used in Second Life. At first, I thought I would have to somehow pay and then convert into $L, similar to a foreign market, but only to a virtual money instead of foreign currency. Then, I found out that there is something call "camping" which the avatar can sit still for a fixed period of time (let's see 20 minutes) and the reward is $L (let's say 5$L). According to the official website, USD$1 can usually buy about 250$L, so, by earning $L, in some way, it is possible to convert back to something useful in real life, presumably.



(An image from the anime, "Naruto")



(Compare to the virtual world in Second Life)

Even though I was not able to find any representatives from any business to interact with, I did came across 2 avatars who were very generous to share and try to help me with this project.


(The two avatars that I chatted with and both tried to help me finish the project)

The only thing close to a success is that Dell has a world that has the logo of "Dell" in it. On the other hand, I came across with a really weird McDonald's that I do not think is official.



After using Second Life for many many hours, I am amazed by the detail of how much I can adjust to try to make my avatar looks like me. Even with so many features, it is so hard to make the virtual me looks remotely like me. The biggest surprise is a fan-based virtual world exists for everyone to enjoy without too much cost. Then, the biggest disappointment is that many virtual worlds are abandoned and many are no longer active. I came across a listing of business with virtual presentations. By clicking on those links, which suppose to teleport my avatar to that world, but many were no longer available. There are many ways to make money off of Second Life. The most common one that I have seen is to sell the outfits for the avatars. In the end, I think Second Life is amazing and, hopefully, I will not become addicted to it.


(An image of myself that does not really look alike)

These pictures are taken from IBM, Dell, and the Hidden Leaf (the town where the animed series "Naruto" take place), and also the two avatars that I chatted with and my avatar.

My First blog

Welcome to my first blog ever. I have always thought that my first blog would be in Chinese and never thought about it in English. As a student in the University of Houston, one of the assignments from a MIS course is to write about a cool gadget/technology and post it on a blog instead of submitting it directly to the professor.

In the first day of class, the professor introduced CoolIris (since her name is Iris) to us and this application is really "Cool" after I tried it at home. Then, the next coolest thing that I thought of was the tabletop computer from Microsoft, but then, I noticed it was on the powerpoint as recommended "reading" with a URL link to a video. Finally, I decided to write about Ultimate Wall-E, which is a $500 robot that based on the movie Wall-E with many features, such as voice commands and abstacle avoidance. While I was searching for extra stuff to put on the blog, I found the better "gadget" to write about, the uBot-5, the real life version of Wall-E, (or something close to it).

uBot-5 is a robot that is designed to be a home assistant that can be stationed at home 24/7. It cna help with ceratin house chores. Most importantly, it can help dial 911 if the robot detects an unconscious body. The uBot-5 can be controlled remotely over the internet (which I had done a similar project when I obtained my bachelor degree). This is the perfect assistant to any elderly that live alone and far away. Their children or anyone they choose can reach them and has a video conference. In case, no one picks up, the robot can help determine if there is an unconscious body laying around, then, the user at the other end can command the uBot-5 to contact the emergency people via 911. If the elderly is conscious, then, the uBot-5 can help perform basic medical examination. With the uBot-5 at home with an elderly, it can ease teh worry of the children who might have to go to work at a different town. The mininize the worry of leaving an elderly person alone at home. This is a great gadget that might make the difference in a life and death situation.

With the amazing help of youtube, the following links are the video demonstrations of Ultimate Wall-E and the Real Wall-E (uBot-5)

Ulitmate Wall-E: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNazyivhkUs

The Real Wall-E (uBot-5): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koc6xhPM420&feature=related