Main Page

Miscellany

This site is a collection of information, links and comments about topics I want to share. These topics appear more or less in the order they occur to me rather than following any rational schema, so if you are looking for something in particular, try using the page menu or search window above. Welcome!

Playing With Electronics

This hobby is also a learning experience.

• Microcontrollers & SBCs
• IDEs
• References
• Components
• Tools

AI & Machine Learning

In this section, we concentrate on fundamentals of AI & ML specifically as implemented using small computers and microcontrollers

Crypto Currency, Non-Fungible Tokens and Virtual Worlds

These may initially appear to be unrelated, but they are inextricably bound together in blockchain-stored VWs.

Crypto Currencies

Blockchains

The basis

Smart Contracts

What makes crypto work

DApps

Decentralized Applications

DeFi

Decentralized Finance is a movement that seeks to leverage decentralized networks to create trustless, transparent protocols that run without intermediaries.

Crypto Scams

Since cryptocurrency is largely unregulated, inevitably there is a risk of being scammed. One tool to help avoid this is the cryptoscamDB. Caveat emptor!

Crypto Wallets

Where one keeps links to crypto assets, protected by public-private key encryption

Crypto Tips

• Scott Cunningham's YouTube review of crypto-related social media platforms & services

What are NFTs?

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique, immutable virtual assets, such as Decentraland LAND or CryptoKitties or baseball cards. They are used as collectibles, and have sparked surprisingly robust and well-funded markets considering that they are largely imaginary items with no intrinsic value.

A good current explanation of NFTs is offered by Coinbase.

An excellent practical guide to a specific genre of NFTs (Comic NFTs), written by my friend Greg Tjosvold, is available on Substack free for his newsletter subscribers,r for a nominal cost if you don't want to subscribe.

Virtual Worlds, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

Virtual Worlds

Virtual Worlds (VWs) are computer-simulated environments, usually shared by multiple people who interact through their "avatars" or representations. These worlds may be 2D or 3D, depending on the hardware used to access them and the underlying application. VWs may be located on a centralized server accessible via the internet or intranet. Some require the use of an application called a "viewer" while others might be accessible using a Web browser.

Info about Blockchain-based Virtual Worlds

• NFT Estate Homepage
  • About Non-Fungible Tokens, used in blockchain-based VWs.
• Comparison of Decentraland and Cryptovoxels as of September 2019
• Somnium Space
  • an open, social & persistent VR platform built on blockchain. Buy land, build, or import NFTs.
  • Compatible with Oculus Quest & Go
  • 2D app is mainly for exploration. Use VR HMD for true immersion.
  • Assets (i.e., land, NFTs) traded on OpenSea marketplace
• Upland
  • A real-estate trading game, loosely based on Monopoly
  • Uses the EOSIO blockchain to record account & property data
  • Properties are essentially NFTs on the blockchain

Open Metaverse

• Lamina1
  • Neal Stephenson's proposed new enty to the "open metaverse", by the inventer of the term
    • "... the initial Alpha will be an API backed by existing storage providers, with a technology roadmap focused on getting more fully decentralized as an option for creators that want this." -- Michael, Lamina1CM on Discord
• Venture Beat interview w/Neal Stephenson
• FastCompany article about Neal Stephenson's vision
• Economist's Metaverse Summit interview with Neal Stephenson
• 1st Lamina1 Discord AMA 21 July 2022
• Open Metaverse Conference Feb. 2023 in Los Angeles, California
• Open Metaverse Foundation
• The Metaverse Needs an Operating System article by Metanomic CEO, Theo Priestly
• The Metaverse Needs an Operating System, Part 2
• Web3, Interoperability and the Metaverse by Jon Radoff
• Glossary of the Metaverse by Jon Radoff
• Next Billion Seconds podcast by Tony Parisi & Mark Pesce
  • especially see the series about "History of the Metaverse"
• Open source Metaverse project on SourceForge
• Metaverse Foundation & Blockchain
• 12 Theses on the Metaverse by Patrik Schumacher
• FastCompany article on OpenSim from Jan 2022

Virtual Reality

VR mostly applies to activities and environments accessed via HMDs (Head-Mounted Displays), such as Oculus Rift, Quest & Valve Index, and others.

my MootUp office

MootUp is a site where one can host or visit web-based VR-enabled virtual worlds, rooms or scenarios. Free accounts can have up to 15 customizable virtual locations which can serve up to 15 participants. I must confess that I haven't visited this site in some time, though. Without other people there to interact with it is pretty boring.

Documentation

Augmented Reality

AR is a technology that blends the real world with the virtual world, showing virtual objects in a real world environment, usually by means of special camera-equipped HMDs.

---