Second Life

I was actually a little excited about this assigment. I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I am not a gammer, I tend to be outdoors as much as possible; wakeboarding, biking, hiking, running etc. It really is not in my nature to sit behind a computer and play. I think playing should be outdoors. I had read about virtual worlds and never really had a desire to check them out. So with this assignment I was hoping to understand this "other world".

So my adventure began. Creating an account was easy and creating my avator was easy. I named my avator Trisha Hazelnut. Here is a picture of Trisha Hazelnut.

I was feeling pretty confident by this time. Getting on the first island was easy but that was the end of the easy part for me. It took me a long time to figure out how to move and fly. It took me a much longer time to figure out how to get to the different islands. The first couple of island I went to were very scary. I was not sure what was going on. It took me two days to figure out how to get to better islands.

The first island that I went to that I actually liked was Dive World. This island taught you about SCUBA diving. Since I am certified I was naturally interested. There was a lot of information about scuba diving. The graphics were interesting. You could do a different dives, purchase equipment, learn about the different levels of SCUBA. Below you will see a couple of screen shots from the island.

The second island I went to was IBM Green Data Center. It was very interesting. I found this site to be very user friendly. The poster along the sites had a lot of useful information.

I tried to talk to a couple of other avators in Second Life. I unfortunatley did not have any luck. There was someone who said hello to me and stated they would answer any of my questions when I was in the IBM Green island - however they did not speak with me after the one question.

I will probably never return to Second Life. After I was more comfortable in this "world", I could see how businesses and universities could benefit from this world. However, I like the real world better.

ObjectDock

I do not like the way every PC has the same basic look. I found a software called ObjectDocks that lets you customize the way your computer screen looks. The basic premise of the software is organize shortcuts and running tasks onto a customizable dock on you desktop. This program is specifically for PC users who want to customize their applications and make them more interesting and unique. The three things that I really like about ObjectDocks is the neat docklets, the running task bar (kind of like a MAC), and the way it lets you customize the way your computer looks.

According to the website, ObjectDock is simply a container for desk top items. The first thing I like about ObjectDocks is the docklets. These are mini applications that can do just about anything (clock, weather, e-mail status, calendar, WIFI strength). For example, if you install the weather docklet, when you move your mouse over the weather icon on the taskbar, you will see a 5 day weather forecast. The second thing I like is the running task bar. You can move through all your icons with a lot of ease - just like the MAC. When you move your mouse over the icon, the icon grows just like a MAC. You can even hide the Windows Start bar and take over all of its functionality. The third thing I like about OjectDocks is you can customize the task bar anyway you like, from placement on the screen to different icons. You can even change the background. I personally like to put the task bar on the right hand side instead of the bottom.


The basic ObjectDocks is free. You can purchase an upgrade called ObjectDocks Plus. This upgrade allows you to have customizable tabs on your dock. Check it out.





http://www.stardock.com/