GeekSugar

Gossip Girl's Second Life Secret

GeekSugar — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:00:41 -0700

While we've been enjoying the stylish fashions and gadgets on Gossip Girl - and the fact that the show is about a blogger! - some fans have started enjoying Gossip Girl's neighborhood in Second Life experience called "The Upper East Side."

In case you didn't know, Second Life is a 3D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. It opened to the public in 2003, and is now "inhabited" by millions of residents from around the globe. The Upper East Side community allows you to build and customize your avatar, have a dance party with friends, play games, watch clips and full episodes of the show. From what I can tell, it's much like the Virtual Worlds MTV has set up for shows like The Hills, Newport Harbor and Laguna Beach, only it exists in the Second Life platform.

The virtual Gossip Girl world looks like the set of the television show, with the same streets, the same hot spots, and even the same characters. To try it out you just need to download the software, go through a brief orientation, and start your "second life." Who knew geek was so chic?

To check out more pictures of the Upper East Side community on Second Life, read more

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Do You Pay Attention To Avatars' Bodies And Gender?

GeekSugar — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:00:26 -0700

Naturally, I spend a lot of time playing video games and visiting websites that use avatars. I think of them as digital characters, that are human-like, but not necessarily reflective of what I think real people should look like. Aside from cracking a few jokes about the impossible curves of video game vixens - I mean, the Fantastic Four game even put Jessica Alba's body to shame - and the built-in stereotyping, I hardly ever pay attention to avatars.

What's interesting though, is the fact that a recent study showed that androgynous digital personas, ie avatars, are perceived as less trustworthy than ones that are clearly either male or female. It makes me wonder if people honestly find the need to assign gender roles to digital images, or if people are just more accustomed to the exaggerated gender stereotypes that seem to be perpetuated online. According to New Scientist Tech, people typically extend this impression to the person behind the avatar too - meaning avatar design and behavior may have a range of unforeseen psychological influences and that such virtual personas need to be carefully designed to make the right impression.

The issue of trust and personality perception is especially intriguing when you think about the number of people that spend a great deal of time in 3D virtual worlds like Second Life and end up creating avatars to represent themselves and later make virtual friends. Still, not "trusting" an avatar because it's androgynous seems bizarre. Everyone trusts David Bowie, right?
Source

Do You Participate in Second Life?

GeekSugar — Sat, 12 May 2007 07:03:44 -0700

For those of you who only take light doses of geekdom let me explain: Second Life is a 3-D virtual world that's built and owned by its residents. It opened to the public in 2003, but is now inhabited by more than 6,240,591 people from around the globe, who create avatars of themselves, buy land, spend money, go shopping and do all the other things you might do in the non-virtual world. "From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity," says the Second Life website. "Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business."

Currently, the phenomenon is filled with high profile appearances and a rapidly expanding list of residents - last summer Suzanne Vega became the first major recording artist to perform live in Second Life avatar form, American Apparel opened a virtual store, and L'Oreal Paris even held a Miss Second Life beauty contest. It's also home to some controversy. Last week, a ginormous media circus occured after a German TV station alleged there was child pornography in the community. According to reports, the claims were found to be inaccurate (the accused man was 54 and the woman was 27), but nonetheless, the community is back in the public eye.

Now You Can Get A Statuette Of Your Mii In 3D

GeekSugar — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:05:08 -0700

Who would have thought that Zach Braff would be such an adorable 3D Mii character (hint: blue T)?!

If you want to bring your own Mii avatar to life (or a fave celeb of course), then check out Fabjectory! This fabulous site can take your online Mii and transform it into either a 3-inch figure for $50 or a 5-inch figure for $100.

All you have to do is take a clear close up pic of your Mii from your TV screen and upload it on their website and voila- your Mii will be made into an incredibly detailed, full color real-life statuette- it will literally be popping off the screen!

Fabjectory can also create 3D models from your SecondLife avatar or from a SketchUp model.

The 13 Most Beautiful Avatars Of Second Life

GeekSugar — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 08:00:08 -0700

No this isn't a post about America's next top avatars contest, but it is about the model-like beauties of Second Life. Based on Andy Warhol's short films: 13 Most Beautiful Women and 13 Most Beautiful Boys comes a serious of canvas mounted portrait prints by the Italian artists Eva and Franco Mattes. Actual Second Lifers originally created these creative avatars. What are your thoughts? Do they scream beautiful in a virtual, digitally enhanced sorta way? Leave your comments below.
[via play-girlz] Want to know more about Play-Girlz's co-editor Ingrid Diaz? Check out my Geeky Girls We Love interview with her.

Daily Tech: Second Life Coming to Samsung Headsets

GeekSugar — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:00:09 -0700

At CTIA in Vegas this week, Samsung showed off handsets featuring the Second Life client for cellphones. - CrunchGear
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for PS3 will be hitting stores on September 16 in the US, with Australia and Europe to soon follow. - Kotaku
iPod Nano's will not be banned from the London Marathon after all. - UK Gizmodo
Learn 11 ways to save money and time with your phone! - Switched
Have you had the chance to meet Ross? He's really sweet and super affectionate! - Converse
Take the Battlestar Galactica quiz for your chances to win BSG posters! - geeksugar

Sites and Tips For Better Customer Service

GeekSugar — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:05:12 -0700

There is nothing fun about sitting on the phone waiting for customer service. Nothing. Unfortunately, it's a fact of consumer life. Whether you are waiting to find out if you can adjust your cable bill, send your laptop in to be repaired, or talk to a human being about that car warranty, the suspense can trigger stress in a matter of seconds. If you like to pay your bills online, you'll love these sites and suggestions for getting customer service faster online. Life is too precious to sit on hold anyway.

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Website Alice Shops For All Your Home Essentials For You

GeekSugar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:30:00 -0700

I won't bore you with tales of how busy I am these days, because come on - aren't we all?

Everyone around me seems to always be swamped, and rarely has time to shop for stuff that's essentials (not shoes, bags, and clothes. Somehow I always make time for that). I mean toilet paper, toothpaste, dish-washing soap - stuff you have to buy but hate schlepping to the store for.

Today's website, Alice, wants to be the girl who makes your life easier. At heart, it's online shopping for those boring home essentials, but it's like a personal assistant for this stuff. Whatever you want, Alice hunts down coupon codes for and reminds you when it's about time to stock up on everything again. There's even free shipping, in addition to the already sweet deal of having your life saved.

To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and "Regular Post."
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click "Next."
Choose the audience for your story to "Website of the Day" in the dropdown menu.
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to "Technology and Gadgets."
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click "I’m done" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Website of the Day: Just Left Home

GeekSugar — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:22:31 -0700

Feeling lost and like the Internet is your only connection to a home you left behind? The website Just Left Home was set up to be a resource for people who'd recently left whatever cushy nest they were used to and needed a resource for, well, everything in their life.

As they say, it's intended to be a "homepage-away-from-home cure-all miracle pill."

When you go to Just Left Home, you're greeted with big buttons to the places you probably visit most online: Facebook, Twitter, Amazon; on the right side of the page, or "Outside World," you get links to the JLH forums, also a helpful resource.

Even though this site was created for people feeling lost in their world, it's totally helpful to me, who's pretty secure. I guess we can all use a little help.

To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and "Regular Post."
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click "Next."
Choose the audience for your story to "Website of the Day" in the dropdown menu.
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to "Technology and Gadgets."
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click "I’m done" to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

What Is Your Favorite Gadget?

GeekSugar — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:10:14 -0700

It's been awhile since we discussed our favorite gadgets in the My Favorite Gadgets group, so I'm really excited and curious to know: since the release of the Nintendo DSi, iPhone 3GS, Kindle DX, and HP Mini (some of the best gadgets out there in my book) has a new gadget taken top rank in your life?

Personally, I'm pretty convinced that the iPhone will be my favorite gadget for quite a while, but what about you? Post and share your favorites in our My Favorite Gadgets group and tell us why your gadget is number one in your heart - you may even see it on the front page of geeksugar! Need some help getting started? I'll tell you how to post to a group after the break.