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Lindens perform a Havok brain transplant

Yesterday morning I was startled by a pig flying past my window, which heralded the Linden Lab announcement that the Havok 4 physics engine is in beta testing. No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks. The upgrade the Lindens have promised as being just around the corner (for the last four years) appears to be… well… still just around the corner, but now we can see the corner at least.

By upgrading the Havok physics engine from version 1 to version 4, Linden Lab promises several improvements, including these (from the Linden blog):

  • Reduced simulator crashes
  • Less lag in the physics engine
  • More reliable prim linkage
  • Stacked dynamic objects react when supporting objects are removed
  • Improved collision management – uniform spheres collide as spheres, rather than as faceted shapes
  • Penetrating dynamic objects will be automatically pushed apart by Havok4’s collision solver
  • Vertical simulation extent has been increased to 1024 meters
  • Some slight dynamic changes – avatar movements have changed slightly

To achieve only a few of these goals, particularly “less lag in the physics engine”, would vastly improve the flight experience for virtual pilots. I do wonder, though, about this point, “Vertical simulation extent has been increased to 1024 meters”. I don’t mean to be needlessly cynical, but that claim seems 1984-ish when currently the simulation extent is 4096 meters. Increased? Really? I hope it doesn’t “increase” any more.

I took the SL beta viewer for a test spin yesterday (download it here). To me it seemed to be more than just a little rough around the edges, although I can imagine just how much work it must have been to get it to this level of functionality. Replacing the physics engine would be like performing a brain transplant. I know Dr. McCoy was able to replace Spock’s brain, but he was only able to accomplish it under the influence of an alien knowledge device. I doubt the Linden devs have the benefit of alien tech.

So it’s impressive to see Havok 4 in action and mostly working. That said, it’s not even close to “prime time”. I logged some of my observations, which included sluggish controls, out-of-place collision boxes, and severe time dilation. Please log in to jira.secondlife.com and vote for/comment on issue SVC-722. I know the Lindens have already reviewed it, but more testing is better. And if you have access to an alien knowledge device, please mail it to Linden Research Inc, 945 Battery St., San Francisco, CA 94111. Include snacks. I have a feeling that a few developers will be working late nights for a while.

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The Secret Green Monkey Room of Abbotts

A new Second Life resident recently caught my attention by breaking into private spaces in Abbotts Aerodrome and sending me pictures of it. Well, everyone has a hobby, I suppose.

Most places in Abbotts are relatively easy to get to, and don’t contain anything particularly interesting. There is one room, however, that is completely off limits to the public. It’s where we keep important data, have private meetings, and develop projects of a confidential nature. The room measures only about 40mx30m and has glowing green walls. Among the racks of servers, our servant monkeys wander in and out, busy at their work. We call it the “Green Monkey Room”, for obvious reasons.

The location of this room? We keep that a well-guarded secret, but were you to stumble upon it, the monkeys will defend it well.

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Ready… Set…

…Vend! TerraVend 3.0 is now live. For those of you who used TerraVend 2.x, the first thing you’ll notice is how fast the setup is. No long delays while data emails wend their way through internet tubes to the server. Version 3 is not only faster but 736.2% more reliable. OK, I made that number up, but I think you will be pleased with it.

TerraVend vendors

Also new: I have created a new group “TerraVend Merchants”. Please join the group (it’s open enrollment, so no invitation is needed) to get TerraVend announcements and product updates.

To those who aren’t familiar with TerraVend, it is a vendor system in Second Life that lets you sell Terra Aeronautics products on commission. I provide the vendors, products, and displays, and you run your own shop and earn Linden dollars that you can spend in Second Life or sell on LindeX for real money. The vendors are free and you get paid your L$ commission immediately at the time of sale.

Get a TerraVend 3 package at the top floor of Abbotts Aerodrome or on SL Exchange.

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Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto

This week I took a short breather from Second Life while my beta testers put TerraVend through its paces. Immediately I had this feeling like I had emerged from the Matrix. For the months I spent immersed in the metaverse, I had neglected the meat-verse. I turned from my computer and saw the truth of my existence: I had dirty floors. It was horrible. I shudder to think of it even now.

So naturally, being the geek I am, I threw technology at the problem. Enter my new worker robot: Roomba from iRobot. No, I’m not satisfied with just the vacuum cleaner and broom. I have to get a robot to do it for me.

The idea of having a household robot is straight out of science fiction. Didn’t we all expect that by the twenty first century we would all have hovercars and household robotic servants? We don’t have actual robot servants yet (or the hovercars), but I think the Roomba is a step in the right direction.

The compactness of the Roomba is impressive. It’s a small, disc-shaped vacuum cleaner about 35cm across and about 10cm high. It has a large bumper on the front and an infrared sensor mounted on top. Underneath it has light and sound sensors, as well as the brushes for cleaning.

After charging it up, I let it loose in my home. It drives in almost random patterns across the floor and under furniture, bumping into and avoiding obstacles. By determing the size and shape of the room, it adjusts how long it needs to clean, and — this is the coolest part — when it’s done, it drives itself onto to its charger and turns itself off.

For a little thing, it cleans surprisingly well. It takes, I’m guessing, about 5 times as long as a human to accomplish the same task (about 30 minutes for my living room), but it has the advantage of being completely autonomous. I can push the Clean button on the way out the door, and when I come back, the floors are clean.

So what kind of impact does a household cleaning robot have on my life? Already, I can see my habits changing. First of all, I’ve never taken so much interest in my floors, but I think the novelty of it will fade in time. Second, I don’t try quite so hard to avoid making messes, which is a terrible, slovenly habit to develop. If there’s dirt on the carpet from my potted tree, why bother cleaning it up when the robot can get it? Toast crumbs on the table? Sweep them onto the floor for the robot. Toenails? OK, well that’s just gross and I won’t go there, but I can appreciate the apathy that sets in when one relies on robotic help. If I had a robot to fetch food and beverages from the kitchen, I’d never leave the couch.

Imagine a future, then, where everyone has a household robot that cooks, cleans, and brings food. We would all grow corpulent and lazy, unwilling to think or act for ourselves. And I for one welcome that future, if it means we get cool robots. Corpulence here I come!

Until I get an actual robotic servant, I’ll have to make do with this bumbling little vacuum cleaner robot. With a little duct-tape and a tray, I bet I could make it bring me drinks.

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Good news on the TerraVend front

Owners and operators of TerraVend vendors should be happy to know that the TerraVend 3 vendors are almost done and so far they’re working quite well. You will notice a very fast setup time — no more long delays or hanging while the vendor waits for updates from the server. The new vendors should be available in about a week. Keep an eye on this blog.

To those who aren’t familiar with TerraVend, it is a vendor system in Second Life that lets you sell Terra Aeronautics products on commission. I provide the vendors, products, and displays, and you run your own shop and earn Linden dollars that you can spend in Second Life or sell on LindeX for real money. The vendors are free and you get paid your L$ commission immediately at the time of sale.

When TerraVend 3 is available, I will post a link here.