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"What's the difference between a virus and windows ? Viruses rarely fail."
<a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/09/03/symantecs-hack-is-wack-and-cybersecuritys-most-embarassing-marketing-campaigns/?boxes=Homepagechannels">Symantec’s “Hack Is Wack,” And Cybersecurity’s Most Embarassing Marketing Campaigns:</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCv0A6J4zMY&feature=player_embedded">Hack is Wack</a> <small><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/95332/Snoop-Dogg-Joins-the-War-on-Cybercrime">previously</a></small> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHEFmg1Cr0Q&feature=player_embedded">Jackie Chan - Kaspersky 2010 Antivirus Commercial</a>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy9LELlwbZs&feature=player_embedded">Ex Gang member turns Computer Hacker</a>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up863eQKGUI&feature=player_embedded">Don't Copy That Floppy</a>. & <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUCyvw4w_yk&feature=player_embedded">Don't Copy That Floppy 2.0</a>.
Yes We Scan
<a href="http://public.resource.org/rules/">10 Rules for Radicals</a> Video link. <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/org.resource.public.10rules">(Transcript in a variety of sources)</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Malamud">Carl Malamud</a>, <a href="http://public.resource.org/">public</a> <a href="http://yeswescan.org/">domain</a> <a href="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2009/03/president-obama-appoint-carl-malamud-0">advocate</a> <a href="http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=washingtons_it_guy">extraordinaire</a>, describes lessons learned from his years of bringing government documents into the true public domain. (<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/08/29/10-rules-for-radical.html">via Boingboing</a>)
The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk
<a href="http://tgimboej.org/">The Great Internet Migratory Box Of Electronics Junk</a> How to <a href="http://tgimboej.org/Participation">participate</a>
Icons of the Web
<em>The area of each icon is proportional to the sum of the reach of all sites using that icon. ... The largest icon (Google) is 11,936 x 11,936 pixels, and <a href="http://nmap.org/favicon/">the whole diagram</a> is 37,440 x 37,440.</em>
KFC's Skinwich Is Only A Tasty Illusion
Yesterday, <a href="http://www.brainresidue.com/taste-test-kfcs-new-skinwich/">reports leaked out</a> that KFC was releasing a new sandwich, consisting of 5 layers of fried chicken skin between two (bread) buns.
Sadly, it was <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/the-kfc-skinwich">later</a> <a href="http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2010/08/kfc-skinwich-hoax-gets-readers-salivating-groaning.html">revealed</a> to be a <a href="http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/archives/2010/08/the_skinwich_a.php">hoax</a>.
Undaunted, some people at the Chicago Tribune went ahead and <a href="http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2010/08/hoax-or-not-we-constructed-our-own-kfc-skinwich-and-omg.html">made the sandwich anyway</a>.
The Google Graveyard
<em>Let's take a walk through <a href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tech-fun/google-product-graveyard/">the Google graveyard</a>.</em>
"Israel is our only hope as the post-American president is aiding and abetting a nuclear Iran. Barack Obama is enabling Iran’s Islamic bomb" - Pamela Geller
As the <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/insanity-at-the-ground-zero-mosque/article1675880/">"ground zero mosque"</a> story approaches <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/17/courage/index.html">bipartisan consensus</a>, thanks to <a href="http://www.lvrj.com/news/reid--has-lost-respect--100963944.html?ref=944">unexpected statements</a> by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (joining a <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailybeast/9503_groundzeromosquewhichpoliticiansareforandagainst">growing opposition</a>), several journalists <a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/when-psycho-pamela-geller-becomes.html"> trace the origins</a> of how the Park 51 community center <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ9g4WDIy4o">became</a><small>(warning: CNN)</small> <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/16/ground_zero_mosque_origins">a toxic subject</a>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90INBVMRgMg&feature=player_embedded">What they found was Pamela Geller</a>, a blogger at<a href="http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/"> Atlas Shrugs</a>, who has some <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TG7DTOkU-s">very interesting vlogs</a>. You may previously know her from<a href="http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2006/03/the_bolton_inte.html"> this cozy 2006 interview</a> with Bush's infamous anti-UN UN ambassador<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Bolton"> John Bolton</a>.
JPEG slideshows of the print editions of magazines are the future!
<a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1">The Web is dead.</a> <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/08/whats-wrong-with-x-is-dead/61663/">Or maybe it isn't.</a>
Everyone's favorite browser
<a href="http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/217686.asp">Microsoft’s IE turns 15.</a> Starting as a licensed version of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_%28web_browser%29">Mosaic</a>, it is now up to version 8 and a platform preview of version 9 was <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2010/08/04/html5-modernized-fourth-ie9-platform-preview-available-for-developers.aspx">recently released</a>. Don't expect everyone to migrate over to 9 in a hurry though: It's for Vista and Windows 7 only. Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.bringdownie6.com/">despite everyone's best efforts</a>, IE6 grimly hangs on to life.
Tokyo Twitter Techno
<a href="http://dommune.com">Dommune</a> is a fairly new nightclub in Tokyo. It's only open Sunday through Thursday night and they close at midnight. The room only holds 50 people. Nevertheless, the place attracts top-flight talent; Jeff Mills, Derrick May, Claude Young, Prosumer, and Shed have all performed. What's the gimmick? <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/user/Dommune">Every party is streamed live.</a> (from <a href="http://mnmlssg.blogspot.com/2010/04/tokyo-twitter-techno.html">mnml ssgs</a>) From the source: <blockquote>the result is a rather interesting dynamic: both people at the club and those watching at the home are using twitter throughout the party. being at the club this made for a weird situation where probably half the people on the dancefloor had an iphone in their hands the whole night. so more interaction with people on the interwebs, less with those around you - real virtual partying (or something like that). the other consequence of the live streaming is there is some serious attention whore action going on, as partygoers do their best to get on camera.</blockquote>
Maybe the first thing about DeviantART that doesn't suck
To celebrate its tenth birthday, popular site <a href="http://deviantart.com">DeviantART</a> unveils <a href="http://muro.deviantart.com/">Muro</a>, a gorgeous HTML5 drawing tool that handles multiple layers and a variety of artistic brushes. No account required.
"See no evil, hear no evil..." "Can you hear me now?"
Despite <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/aug/05/gogle-denies-verizon-deal-net-neutrality">very strong denials</a> last week from Google and Verizon that they were not discussing ways around <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality">Net Neutrality</a>, Google and Verizon <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/live-blogging-google-verizon-call-on-net-neutrality/">held a conference today</a> to announce their agreement to the establishment of price-tiered network services, dividing the current Internet into a "neutral public Internet" that remains "open" (and which preserves access to YouTube and other Google properties), and a set of paid, priority channels that Verizon and other telecoms can use to deliver certain other types of content at higher prices, particularly over cell networks and whatever future infrastructure the Internet will be carried over.
Surfs up!
<a href="http://nm.merz-akademie.de/trailblazers/">Trailblazers</a> is a live web surf event where you can show off your PRO surfing skills. <strike>No keyboard, no google,</strike> just pure links! At the event, the participants use a prepared computer with a modified browser: the address bar is removed and each click on a link is tracked by a counter. The goal is to get from one website to an other one by just clicking on links. The winner is the one who had to click the least links. TRAILBLAZERS is a project by <a href="http://work.thxalot.org/">Theo Seeman</a>, an <a href="http://nm.merz-akademie.de/">interface design/new media</a> student at the <a href="http://www.merz-akademie.de/">Merz Akademie</a> in Stuttgart, Germany. That’s also where the first event took place. One of the missions was to browse from <a href="http://imdb.com">http://imdb.com</a> to <a href="http://thepiratebay.org">http://thepiratebay.org</a>, an other was to browse from <a href="http://web.mit.edu/">http://web.mit.edu/</a> to <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/">http://icanhascheezburger.com/</a>. The next event will be at <a href="http://www.aec.at/index_en.php">ARS Electronica</a> in Linz, Austria, September 3rd. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arkcBV5Y_Bo&feature=player_embedded">Check out this video</a>.
Internet as Social Movement: A Brief History of Webism
<a href="http://nplusonemag.com/internet-as-social-movement">Internet as Social Movement: A Brief History of Webism.</a> An editorial from N+1 magazine.
Officials Say The Darnedest Things
<a href="http://www.propublica.org">ProPublica</a> now has a <a href="http://officialssay.tumblr.com/">tumblelog</a>.
Because who doesn't like a visual?
<a href="http://twaggies.com/">Twaggies, turn your tweets into pics.</a> Take random weird tweets and turn them into even weirder visuals. Twaggies, a website by <a href="http://youfail.com/">Kiersten Essenpreis</a>, features illustrations by the extraordinary <a href="http://twitter.com/k_essenpreis">@K_Essenpreis</a>. (Essen is the German verb for “to eat” and preis means “praise.” So you better leave some nice comments for her or she’ll twag you most unfavorably.) The other half of the team is <a href="http://davidisrael.net/">David Isreal</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/resila">@resila</a>, who can’t draw a stick figure much less a twaggie, but does all the other stuff for the blog and hit on the idea for it in the first place.
Three additional twaggers have contributed in the past – <a href="http://twitter.com/yaelbt">@yaelbt</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/mmbemer">@mmbemer</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/hsugene">@hsugene</a>.
Whores and other Hackers
<a href="http://www.spreadmagazine.org/2010/02/01/whores-and-other-hackers/">Three hokey lingerie shots on my bed</a> would take all of five minutes to shoot and upload to Erotic Services, and whenever I had enough business, I could take the ad down. It would be like I—or “Sarah,” the kinky temp who loved to blow off work early and meet men for anonymous “encounters”—had never existed. (NSFW)
Tastes like effeciency.
<a href="http://vimeo.com/13560319">TabCandy.</a> A new way to intuitively browse the web.
Just be real
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/lifeinaday">Life In A Day: Youtube's first Crowd-sourced feature film</a> On July 24, <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/lifeinadayfaqs/">you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera</a>. The most <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEQhy0oFE1w">compelling and distinctive footage</a> will be <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nIIVH0R0kY">edited</a> into an <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46de7qPgcyg">experimental documentary film</a>, executive produced by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGYACultjCY">Ridley Scott</a> and directed by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_4uii96xqM">Kevin MacDonald</a>.
Mystery of the disappearing blogs
<a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20010923-261.html?tag=mncol;txt">More details are surfacing about why Blogetery.com, a blogging platform that claimed to service more than 70,000 blogs, was mysteriously booted from the Internet by its Web-hosting company.</a> <a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/19/did-feds-shut-down-73-000-blogs-and-why/">Politics Daily: Did feds shut down 73,000 blogs, and why?</a>
<a href="http://www.zeropaid.com/news/89974/al-qaeda-activities-not-piracy-reason-for-shutdown-of-73000-blogs/">ZeroPaid: Al-Qaeda activities, not piracy, reason for shutdown of 73,000 blogs.</a>
<a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20010872-261.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20">CNET: Why webhost shut down 73,000 blogs a mystery</a>
<a href="http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-authorities-shut-down-wordpress-host-with-73000-blogs-100716/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Torrentfreak+%28Torrentfreak%29">TorrentFreak (who broke the story): ‘Operation In Our Sites‘ targeted several sites including TVShack.net, Movies-Links.TV, FilesPump.com, Now-Movies.com, PlanetMoviez.com, ThePirateCity.org, ZML.com, NinjaVideo.net and NinjaThis.net. In almost unprecedented action, the domain names of 7 sites were seized and indications are that others – The Pirate Bay and MegaUpload – narrowly avoided the same fate.</a>
The Internet Accuracy Project
The <a href="http://www.accuracyproject.org/index.html">Internet Accuracy Project</a>. You may have stumbled on it in a casual <a href="https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=july+5th%2C+2010+will+be+a+postal+holiday&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a">search </a>about postal holidays, been drawn in by the charming <a href="http://www.accuracyproject.org/faq.html">prose </a>and vintage web <a href="http://www.accuracyproject.org/errors.html">design</a>, and stayed to browse the eclectic contents, from <a href="http://www.accuracyproject.org/w-PlantZones.html">plant hardiness zones</a> (USA) to <a href="http://www.accuracyproject.org/towns.html">unusual town names</a>. There are also extensive and ostensibly fact-checked celebrity <a href="http://www.accuracyproject.org/astrologydata.html">biographies</a>, which are <a href="http://www.evolvingdoor.ca/links/links2.php">beloved by some astrologists</a>. While the lack of specific references in individual entries may raise eyebrows, there's an extensive <a href="http://www.accuracyproject.org/sourceinfo.html">defense</a> of the Project's sources and methods. [Yes, I read the <a href="http://www.accuracyproject.org/tradelinks.html">Internet Accuracy Project Linking Terms & Conditions</a>.]
Pie in the Sky?
<a href="http://css3pie.com/">CSS3 Pie.</a> Google's <a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/">Frame</a> requires users to install Frame in order to get the benefits of CSS3 support (among other things). CSS3 Progressive Internet Explorer aims to bring support for CSS3 in IE versions 6 through 8 via a server side script. It's early days for the extent of supported properties but there are more to come. If it's ultimately functional and useful long term remains to be seen.
like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind
<a href="http://therevolvinginternet.com/">The Revolving Internet</a> (music autoplays)
North Korea Is Best Korea
The people of <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/omonatheydidnt/3728222.html">4chan</a> are at it again. They are now trying to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10506482.stm">hijack the voting for Justin Bieber's next touring destination</a>. Their goal: <a href="http://www.urlesque.com/2010/06/30/send-justin-bieber-north-korea/">to send him to North Korea</a>. There are now almost half a million votes to <a href="http://gawker.com/5577433/the-plot-to-send-justin-bieber-to-north-korea">send Bieber to the secretive communist nation</a>.
Virtual Archaeology: Active Worlds Turns 15
<a href="http://network.associationofvirtualworlds.com/xn/detail/2008361:Event:295313?xg_source=activity">Fifteen years ago</a> this week, programmer <a href="http://roderickmoyes.50megs.com/brit1.html">Ron Britvich</a> launched version 1.0 of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds">Active Worlds</a>. Started as an autonomous project of <a href="http://www.worlds.com/">Worlds, Inc.</a> (a spinoff of educational gamesmaker <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Adventure">Knowledge Adventure</a>), Active Worlds was one of the first and most ambitious attempts to create a 3D virtual community on the web.
Built on the architecture of Britvich's <a href="http://www.digitalspace.com/avatars/book/fullbook/chwc/chwc1.htm">Worlds Chat</a> beta, Active Worlds <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/vw_alphaworld-demo">debuted</a> in the form of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49033761@N08/4487153405/sizes/o/">Alphaworld</a>, a sunny green infinite plane open to <a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Build">public building</a>. In its opening years Alphaworld experienced <a href="http://activeworlds.com/community/maps.asp">a land rush of construction</a>, resulting in <a href="http://mappa.mundi.net/maps/maps_013/">an anarchic starfish sprawl larger than the state of California</a>. A sister company, Circle of Fire, was soon founded to craft <a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Public_building_world">additional themed hubs</a>, and once individual ownership of worlds became possible the AW community spawned a veritable universe of <a href="http://www.awportals.com/db/worlds/">hundreds of worlds</a>.
Although <a href="http://www.activeworlds.com">the company</a> has seen its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Worlds#History">ups and downs</a> since those heady times and its fortunes have slowly dwindled, the <a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Main_Page">Active Worlds</a> <a href="http://www.awportals.com/">platform</a> <a href="http://www.activeworlds.com/newsletter/0610/index.html">survives</a> to <a href="http://forums.activeworlds.com/">this day</a>. Look inside for a simple guide on how to log in to the (free) service, rundowns of the best worlds, links to essays analyzing the program's legacy, and other content summing up <a href="http://www.awcommunity.org/">its venerable community</a>. <b>Getting Started</b>
<blockquote><b>Installation</b>
Active Worlds can be accessed by downloading and installing <a href="http://www.activeworlds.com/products/download.asp">Active Worlds Browser 5.0</a> (<a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/downloads/awb50.exe">direct link</a>; Windows only). Because of the dated nature of the software, <a href="http://activeworlds.com/help/system_req.html">the system requirements are modest</a>, allowing the browser to run relatively smoothly on laptops and low-end desktops. Compared to more recent virtual environments like Second Life, Active Worlds graphics are pretty simplistic and low-impact. A high-speed internet connection is best for loading your surroundings, though.
<b>Configuration</b>
On first startup, the browser should download a few updates. Once this is done, it will prompt a login. No registration is required -- just enter a username and a fake email address and you will be given access on a free tourist account. Tourists have some restrictions: they can't visit many of the private worlds, and anything they build can be replaced by other users. But since <a href="http://activeworlds.com/products/citizenships.asp">a full-featured citizenship account</a> costs $70 per year, tourism is best if you just want to look around. You will begin at Ground Zero of <b>AWGate</b>, the default introductory world. There are usually a dozen or so users here chatting.
<b>Controls</b>
The controls are FPS-standard, with keys for walking forward, backward, and sideways. You can activate a mouse-based free-look mode by going to Options -> Settings -> General tab and checking the "Freelook mouse" option, then clicking the mouse icon in the toolbar at the top (exit by pressing Escape). You can jump by pressing + on the number pad, or fly if the world you're in allows it. Holding the Control key while moving will make you sprint, while holding shift will make you pass through solid objects. You can modify all of these functions using Options -> Configure Controls. A common change is mapping the forward/backward/strafe keys to WASD and the jump/fly key to the right mouse button. You may also want to tweak the download/cache/performance settings to fit your system and internet connection (Options -> Settings).
<b>Navigation</b>
You can view a list of worlds by opening the Tabs pane (Show -> Tabs) and clicking the "Worlds" tab. You can sort them by name or by population. Clicking a world will warp you to its Ground Zero (the central plaza at coordinates 0n 0w), or bounce you back to where you were if the world is restricted. <a href="http://www.awportals.com/db/worlds/tourist_access.php">Click here for a list of tourist-accessible worlds</a>.
When in a world, you can teleport to any location by clicking Teleport -> To... in the menu bar and typing in some coordinates. You can also teleport by entering portals (their exact appearance varies by world).</blockquote>
<b>Recommended Worlds</b>
<b>Note:</b> Links to locations within Active Worlds posted below are <u>underlined</u>. If you open this post in the AW browser's web tab (press F7), clicking these links will teleport you to that location instantly.
Also, keep in mind that the userbase of the service has declined substantially since its heyday. <a href="http://www.awportals.com/archives/charts/charts.php?p0=0&p1=1&p2=0&p3=0&ymax=60&from=-3+days&to=now">Even the most populous worlds rarely have more than 20 people online at once</a>. The upshot is that the majority of worlds are eerily empty and have been for years. Bad if you want social chat, but perfect if you are intrigued at the thought of exploring vast fantastic virtual ruins that have been sitting untouched for over a decade.
<blockquote><b><a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Alphaworld">Alphaworld</a> (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw">aw</a></u>):</b> The oldest, largest, and most important world of all, Alphaworld is an unpredictable hodgepodge of mansions, streets, gardens, canals, arcades, mazes, rainbows, heavy machinery, model cities, impossible architecture, and everything else hundreds of thousands of people can collaboratively construct over the course of a decade and a half. <a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Alphaworld_Ground_Zero">The old Ground Zero</a> (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_0n_0w">link</a></u>) is the historic heart of the world, arguably the oldest continuously accessible virtual space still in existence. The world's entry point has since been moved to a slicker and more complex plaza at <u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw">2000n 7000e</a></u>.
Alphaworld supports special navigational tools that you can access by clicking the double-arrow icon in the bottom-right corner of the main window. The most important tool is the world map, a top-down satellite image of the world that you can use to scroll around and teleport to specific locations. You can also view this map online in a Google Maps-style interface at <a href="http://www.imabot.com/alphamapper/aw/">AlphaMapper</a> if you want to browse Alphaworld without installing any of the software.
See <a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Alphaworld#Notable_Locations">the wiki page</a> for listings of cooperative building projects and model cities within Alphaworld, such as <a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=SW_City">SW City</a> (<a href="http://www.swcity.net/pmwiki/pmwiki.php">internal wiki</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pgaJ-c44Ak">"trailer"</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q26rqNGFA-E">guided tour</a>, <u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_2217.4s_3609.8e_180">link</a></u>) and <a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Alpha_Mechanics">Alpha Mechanics</a> (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?aw_8094s_1820e_0.1a">link</a></u>). You can also browse points of interest in <a href="http://www.awportals.com/sidebar/aw.php?view=places">AWPortal's Alphaworld places database</a>. But since Alphaworld is 0.4% larger than California, teleporting to any random coordinates (especially near the center) will likely take you to some place interesting.
<b><a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Cofmeta">Metatropolis</a> (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?cofmeta">cofmeta</a></u>):</b> Modeled after the cyberpunk dystopia of Neal Stephenson's <i>Snow Crash</i>, Metatropolis is a dark and foreboding science-fiction city. The most interesting location, the Global Biomechanics Consortium, is located at <u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?cofmeta_129s%20199e">129S 199E</a></u>. It's a small city that serves as the headquarters for a fictional megacorporation, with plenty of secret interiors to explore within. There's also the Teleport Center at <u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?cofmeta_16s_0e">16S 0E</a></u>, with portals to many other points of interest in the world.
<b><a href="http://www.activeworlds.com/worlds/mars/">Mars</a> (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?mars">mars</a></u>):</b> Like the name implies, Mars is a futuristic simulation of the Red Planet, complete with colonies, caverns, spaceports, and <u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?mars_188n_306e_6a">a massive model of Olympus Mons</a></u>. See <a href="http://www.awportals.com/sidebar/mars.php?view=places">the Mars places database</a> for more.
<b><a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Yellow">Yellowstone</a> (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?yellow_705.72n_1077.16e_0.1a_274">yellow</a></u>):</b> A naturalistic world based on Yellowstone National Park and built with the aid of the Dept. of the Interior. Recently underwent an acclaimed renovation that won multiple "<a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Cy_Awards">Cy Awards</a>" (think Oscars for worldbuilding).
<b><a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=AWTeen">AWTeen</a> (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?awteen">awteen</a></u>):</b> A youth-oriented public building world, notable for its many subcommunities, such as the futuristic <u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?awteen_2121N_2636E">Cobalt City</a></u> (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgYZjATZi90">video</a>).
<b>Van Gogh (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?vangogh">vangogh</a></u>):</b> This world brings Van Gogh's town of Arles to life in his style, as if you'd stepped into a painting. In fact, several of his works are incorporated into the colorful small town landscape. Short video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldr9e8RWJ-E">here</a>. See also the associated <a href="http://www.awportals.com/sidebar/awteen.php?view=places">AWPortal places database</a>.
<b>Casablanca (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?rick's">rick's</a></u>):</b> A world with a moody black-and-white film noir theme.
<b>Canyon (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?canyon">canyon</a></u>):</b> A cheesy but well-built world full of interactive set pieces from famous fantasy and horror franchises (Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, The Dark Tower, The Haunted Mansion, etc.)
<b>Dirt City (<u><a href="http://objects.activeworlds.com/cgi-bin/teleport.cgi?dirtcity">dirtcity</a></u>):</b> A gritty Matrix-esque slum.</blockquote>
<b>Active Worlds Europe</b>
If you want more content, download and install the <a href="http://www.aw-europe.com/downloads/aweurope.exe">AW Europe browser</a> (a multi-lingual spinoff affiliated with the main project). It uses the same interface, but has a different set of worlds on offer, including:
<blockquote><b>London:</b> a large replica of Victorian-era London.
<b>Venezia:</b> A world based on medieval Venice.
<b>Titanic:</b> A scale model of the RMS Titanic.
<b>Future:</b> A Jetsons-esque world of towering skyscrapers, automated factories, and floating walkways.</blockquote>
<b>Extra links</b>
<blockquote>
<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20001205142500/http://online-magazine.com/worldsindex.htm">An extensive interview series with the founders of Active Worlds</a>
<a href="http://www.digibarn.com/collections/notes-designs/alphaworld-britvich/index.html">Snapshots of Ron Britvich's original Active Worlds development notes</a>
<a href="http://mappa.mundi.net/maps/maps_013/">Mapping a Virtual City</a>
<a href="http://www.mappingcyberspace.com/gallery/index.html">Mapping Cyberspace gallery</a>
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.socsci.kun.nl/ped/owk/medewerkers/jjanssen/Iscrat2002_Degas.pdf&pli=1">Reconstructing Art in a Virtual World</a> [PDF]
<a href="http://www.awreunion.com/2009/">The homepage for AW Reunions</a> (yearly meetups)
<a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Main_Page">The official Active Worlds Wiki</a>
<a href="http://wiki.activeworlds.com/index.php?title=Portal:Communities">AW Communities Portal</a>
<a href="http://rivercity.activeworlds.com/">River City educational project</a>
<a href="http://blog.wellsfargo.com/stagecoachisland/">Stagecoach Island</a>: A semi-active spinoff of Active Worlds maintained by Wells Fargo.
<a href="http://www.vwtimeline.com/">Timeline of virtual world development</a> (<a href="http://www.dipity.com/WebHistoryProject/Virtual_Worlds">interactive scrollable timeline</a>)
<a href="http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/06/the-art-of-archiving-virtual-worlds.ars">Saving Virtual Worlds from Extinction</a>
<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/virtual_worlds">Archive.org's "Archiving Virtual Worlds" project</a>
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.firstlightmedia.dk/kontakt/kenneth-hansen-1/artikler/to_meet.pdf">To Meet Without Actually Meeting: Cultural Models of Virtual Rituals in Cyberspace</a> [PDF]</blockquote>
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