General Computer Stuff

Did Photobucket Just Screw You?

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An article about a change over at Photobucket just popped up in my news stream. Seems free Photobucket accounts can no longer embed images… you will have to pay for that privilege.

Photobucket – Stopping embedded image service – 2017

But, are they screwing you? No. They have given us free service for years and can no longer afford to do that. So, they have started charging for their service.

If you were/are a Photobucket (PB) user you probably didn’t worry much when you saw this post in PB’s blog.

At Photobucket, we are committed to providing the best experience and services for all of your photo and image needs. We have updated our Terms of Service, effective June 20, 2017. Please take a moment to review our updated terms and policies as they may affect your account.

Yeah… that’s a big effective warning. NOT! Like everyone reads ToS…

There is a longer more informative post here. Since these articles are not dated it is hard to know how much of the user base’s outrage is real and a response to fake-news.

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Oculus Rift Market Traction?

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Is Oculus capturing the VR market? No, but may be. A good analysis is at Road to VR: Rift Sale Eases Buyer’s #1 Concern, But All-in Cost Still Hinders Mainstream Traction.

[vrview img=”https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2254/32524369200_5c3ffe5e20_o_d.png” ]

The TL:DR

Simplified, the big road block to mass acceptance is PRICE. The next biggest obstacle is Content Quality.

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Second Life – The 360 Viewer – Add Image Metadata

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Taking 360 images is way easier with the new RC viewer. But, figuring out what to do with the image so you can see it is a serious PITA. I’ll give you HOW TO using Photoshop, which is pretty painless, and several other easy ways to make the image usable as a 360-image. The process works in most of the Adobe tools that allow you to access File Info.

First here is my first snapshot with the new viewer.

sl360 Picture - RAW Image
sl360 Picture – RAW Image

It kinda subtle (not), but you might notice this isn’t displaying as a 360-image. The problem is the metadata Flickr needs to know this is a 360 image. It is missing. The Lab is adding that part of the viewer code now. So, the latest version of the Linden 360-Viewer as I write this is version 5.1.0.506743. It stiches the image together for us. But, does not yet add the needed metadata. 

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How to Play PC Games on Gear VR 2017… Right…

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This is for NVIDIA owners… sorry AMD peeps. It’s a software limitation.

Stream Theater Start Screen – Post Setup

So, you want to see Second Life™ or any OpenGL game on your Gear VR. Well… you are going to have to learn a lot. You’ll also find few are telling you what the result of their tutorials or apps actually provides. Advertising hype is everywhere. If  O N E  PC or OpenGL game will run or even sort of run, then PC and OpenGL compatibility is the headline. Expect disappointment. I’ll explain what worked for me below.

Visual quality is the next point of disappointment. My S8 has a 4k screen. I normally run it at 2k to save battery. In everyday use, 2k is pretty much retina resolution, way sharp and crisp, beautiful. 4k is overkill. If I didn’t tell you which mode the phone was in, you probably couldn’t guess.

The Gear VR turns the phone up to 4k when connected. Most VR headsets are NOT 4k and thus most media is made for 2k and that media is fuzzy on my 4k screen. Looking at my 1k 24” Samsung monitor is way nicer.

Then there is ‘screen door’… This is a term from the VR-world. The headsets magnify the small screens to fill the field of view. In doing so the individual pixels start to be visually apparent. This creates an effect that looks a bit like looking through a window/door screen. With the S8 it is a very fine screen, but a visible screen. 

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Second Life – State of VR – Gear VR

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If you are hoping I am going to tell you we have VR for Second Life™, I’ll disappoint you. However, it apparently is possible. But, it isn’t easy and the whole VR thing is a mess, especially if you want to do it cheaply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmC4nDabAkw&

For an instance of a mess, when you place a phone in Gear VR it auto-launches the Oculus app. Doesn’t matter what app you have running, the Oculus app launches and takes over the device. A bunch of people tell you to insert to the headset without connecting the phone to the headset. WAY lame, but doable. However, without the USB connection made the phone can fall out of the unit.

So… you have to get Samsung’s BK Package Disabler (US$1.49) get around this problem. They have a free version if you rooted your phone. If not, you have to hope the retail package will install. If you did root it, no problem just delete all you phones accounts, installed the root-version of BK, and redo all your accounts… lovely.

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