MechanizedLife

In an effort to improve customer service on existing products, and to make the creation of new features and products less of a support problem, Ali realized some changes had to be made. In talking with me, we considered drastic options (such as selling various bits of the line to interested parties), phasing things out, but we couldn’t just let things continue as they stand. Ultimately we decided that we needed a more streamlined operation to handle customer support and customer service. While we have placed some internal structures for this, such as an internal issue tracker, there are some very visible changes to support us supporting our clients.

Ali asked me if I would take on a larger role in support and since I love her gadgets, I agreed. I will be the lead person in handling customer questions. Since 90% of the contacts were related to the Google Calendar apps, I would very likely be able to handle a majority of them and I could create an FAQ to put on the ML wiki to ensure people were really trying to solve their own problems before coming to me. We still want to hear about issues and (maybe especially) suggestions for new features. What we do ask is that you don’t call Ali, call me (Paypabak Writer) with any problems or suggestions about her gadgets. I’ll make the first “house calls” to see if the problem is simply a misunderstanding in setting things up. This will allow Ali to continue to concentrate on her new creative output (see previous article) and when she has a brainstorm about a new gadget … well, MechLife will still be her outlet for that kind of creativity.These changes will allow us to implement some features we’ve already discussed, notably some ideas about increasing the amount of time the StatsCollector will collect data for those who’ve bought it. It will involve an extra fee, because it does cost for the server space and we’ve outpaced one hosting account already.

New Blog Location

Part of our effort, and maybe the most visible, is moving this blog. The blog will take a more prominent role in the operation, being the single place for product announcements and the like, but it will do so from a new location. If you come to this site manually, you will need to start going to http://www.mechanizedlife.com/, if you get the RSS feed, the new location is http://feeds.feedburner.com/mechanizedlife/cqXF –we hope to see you at the new blog.

Wiki 

Finally, plan to start seeing a ton of new changes at the Wiki as it becomes what it was always meant to be, the support portal. Answers to questions, ideas about how to get more out of your products, and just more general knowledge about how all MechanizedLife things work.

As Alidar Moxie is hitting her creative stride with her new line of products, we both realized that “Antique-Tech” just sends the wrong message about what she’s doing. I think we were trying to keep close to the MechanizedLife theme … Oxymorons R Us! And I guess, Ali just decided to cast her identity into the ring! So, her new store and product line is simply going to be called Ali’s.

And what better way to bring attention to this change than to introduce another new product? “Sophistication” is a jewelry box that features a ballerina that turns to the melody of “The Magic Flute” when the box is opened. Within each drawer and the main compartment, is a piece of jewelry from Second Mirage, which you may remove and wear! (BTW, if you go to Second Mirage, there is an Advent promotion going on, so do check out that link!)

As with most furniture with drawers, of course, you can’t really store anything in Sophistication, but what a lovely accessory to your bedroom! The SLurl for Ali’s is still the same as for Antique-Tech.

Alidar Moxie wasn’t kidding when she wrote about switching gears! She’s put together a wonderful bedroom set that she calls Rainforest. It consists of a window bench, a vanity and bench, a dresser, and four-poster bed! The window bench follows classic scroll-style armrests with plush cushions. The dresser comes with four drawers that open and close at a touch. The vanity also has such drawers, but the real treat is the bench that provides you a hairbrush and then animates your avatar to use it when you sit, sliding into the vanity just so! The bed is made from renewable-source wood with a rail canopy draped with wonderfully sheer curtains. M-F poseballs included for sleeping positions.

Visit Antique-Tech to see these new items!

So I have a friend or two that walked through my house and said ‘You should sell this stuff, it’s great’ and while I felt pretty good because of their comments, I never thought I would actually follow up on it because even if I had managed to make one good bed, clock, etc., it didn’t mean that I could keep it up. I have to say at this point I am extremely glad they kept on me (and in one case paid me a commission for a custom clock) because I am having a much better time in SL lately than I have had in the immediate past.

There is something liberating about seeing immediate results and not having to run a ton of tests on things and I am enjoying myself thoroughly.

Its also helping my creativity ‘throughput’. It might have been the nature of the work or something else, but with scripting projects my ‘what do I want to make now’ moments were the worst because I was never sure what would ’sell’ or what was ‘needed’ or any of that. With this effort I find myself coming up with more and more ideas as I look around and that cannot be bad.

It started a while ago, every third or fourth time the computer just wouldn’t boot. Generally I sigh’d, powered down, spent 5 minutes washing my face, and when I powered back on the little machine (named ‘Mercury’) would restart itself and I could go merrily on my way. Then it started randomly powering down and I thought ‘ok, I guess I have a fan going or something’, but no, all the lights on the baby bus worked, and all the fans were running in any event. Temperature gauges all read normal. Then the hard drives started acting up, all clickity like there was some sort of music. I calmed myself and reminded myself that I had been backing up everything to Fornax ever since the great ‘lose all your Masters Degree work’ scare, so I was in good shape from a data standpoint. With the calm came the realization that I had no idea ‘Motherboard?’, ‘Hard Drives?’, and more importantly, I just didn’t care.

The fact of the mater is, I hate computers. I know what you are going to say ‘Software developer’,'Second Life entrepreneur’,'Internet Celebrity’¹, how can you hate computers?

I love toys, gadgets, electronics, software (all kinds of software, if I told you you would think I was an even bigger geek), but honestly, the days when I would pore through hardware specs and get excited are well behind me. I built Mercury from the ground up, choosing each piece, installing every bit of software from scratch, and it has served me well, but I don’t see myself ever doing it again. I might build something as specialized as Fornax again, but otherwise the drive isn’t there.

So, I needed a new computer. After much consideration, I went with a Dell. The Mac called to me as I’m a huge FreeBSD fan, but I just couldn’t quite make the leap. I also ordered a new multi-function printer and an external hard drive that holds 1TB of data (2 drives, I will be RAIDing them into 1 500GB mirrored drive). Hopefully everything should arrive this weekend. Other than convincing Dell that ‘Yes, I live in Alaska and am not trying to scam you’ which took 24 hours or so, it went smoothly. Once everything is back and running I should be able to get back to Second Life a little more diligently than I have been lately. Seeing that the computer shipped has already relieved much of my stress, so I am very feeling much much better.

¹ Ok, so I made that one up.

Ali has mentioned a new furniture store and some of the things she’s been working on, but we can now make it official that the store is open for business! Antique-Tech is another uniquely designed store that matches the vision that designed the “furnishings, timepieces, and other bits” to be sold there!

The Cassiopeia Grandfather Clock is a wonderful working clock that keeps precise time. The Old Tech Rolltop Desk comes with a rolldown top, of course, along with five working drawers and a chair that automatically pulls you into the desk and sets you to writing animation-wise. The desk comes in your choice of two texture tones. The ML Globe turns at the same rate as Second Life. Also for sale are the Omega Bed and table sets, the ML Table Lamp, and the Spider Drawing Desk and Chair. She’s already working (in her head) on another bed and clock, so come see what’s going on.

Someone asked me recently why I have such an odd release schedule and why things sometimes take so long (I’d have to ask Pay, but I think I have about 3 products ready for release?) to get out. The reason for this is two fold.

First, I still work full time. The amount of money I make at SL is so small as to laugh at. I don’t see it changing, don’t want to see that change and if it did I think I would see SL change from being my ‘fun’ ‘creative’ outlet to being a job and I don’t think I could have that. So, the downside is that SL takes a backseat to my fulltime job.

Second, I work on what I am interested at the moment. I might make a to do list for that evening’s SL activities or get a product ready, and then get an IM from my Bashar and decide ‘Heck with that, I’m going to go RP for a bit’. The other thing that happens is that I start a product and I get bored with it, get sidetracked, or any number of other things. Want me to work on something in particular? Bring me an interesting problem. It really is that simple most of the time.

Edit: Yes, I screwed up the title, I fixed it now.

I am really excited to announce this new product that Ali has created. I’ve been involved with a dance club lately and become aware of how limited the various event boards for providing schedules for upcoming “happenings.” Many of them are notecard-driven affairs, modifiable only by the owner. Even those that work with RSS feeds or from Websites miss the elegance of Ali’s solution: connect with a Google Calendar. This enables one to share the task of posting events with whomever has rights to the calendar and having the board automatically updating for however long into the future you desire.

This package consists of a modifiable event board that provides a label (e.g., Red Dawn Parties) and three lines for looping event announcements for which you can have multiple copies. The other essential component is the CogServer that creates the link between your Google Calendar and your board(s) via a CalendarCog Website, which is established the first time you rez the server unless one you already set one up with your CogKiosk or CogHUD.

Check it out at the Skyridge store!

Ok, so the sim opened, and I must admit that I realized last night that I will be drawing on skills that I just didnt think I ever would. Skills from my Real Life. I mean, just because I got a masters in management along with my CS degree doesn’t mean I ever wanted to actually use the thing, especially in SL. So I start this sim and have these …. divergent personalities vying for time and goals and their own pet projects and, of course, clashing everywhere.  These personalities are good and necessary for the success of the project and I like to think I am ’smart’ enough to know that.

Of course last night, at about 11PM SLT, I said to myself ‘Wait, I know how to deal with all this’, I just never thought I would have to apply all of this in my SL. I started SL to be creative, to get myself a place to do something different and, while I’m not complaining, I find myself surprised when a major portion of my RL crosses over whether it be friends, investments, programming, work, or now, my education.

Hope its for the best.

The StatsCollector and the RSSSensor got a new feature last night. Previously both products worked on ‘collisions’ meaning that avatars actually had to touch them in order for them to record a visit and other stats. I have added the ability for the owner of the object to set a range and frequency for ’sweeps’ where the object will look for avatars and record their presense. All other features remain the same.

This will make some recording more accurate as you can place a single sensor to cover a store that doesn’t have a set ‘door’, etc. Thanks for the person who suggested it.

As always, you can find them on SLEX, OnRez, or from my store in Skyridge