I recently took another look for a Second Life IM client. There’s supposed to be something called SLim that’s official, but I bypassed it for something called AjaxLife, which I’d previously tried back when it was a light Web interface that just barely ran on my iPhone. It runs well on a normal computer, though.
Now there’s a much better iPhone interface, which allows the user to log in, IM friends, and chat locally at whatever your default login location is.
You can’t move your AV, so you should be sure you’re somewhere safe and not in the way. But you could theoretically attend a meeting if you planned ahead (and maybe added a courtesy title to explain your immobility).
About the only thing you can’t do that would be useful is send or receive group IMs. Also, you can’t read IMs that were sent to you while you were logged out. They’re still waiting for you when you log in normally, though.
It’s a curiousity; it might come in handy if you’re a landowner and need to contact someone to fix something. Also it’d be stellar for breaking up with a partner as long as they know you can’t be bothered to drop the bomb in (virtual) person. Could come in handy for establishing a cop-drama alibi, too. It works fine for what I might need – satisfying the occasional curiousity about which of my friends are logged in, or checking in with them when traveling without my laptop.
I logged in while on break today, for example; surprising how many non-Europeans were logged in in the middle of a workday.
Screenshots below. Because of course I had to post via iPhone, too.
UPDATE: Added a few links, since the iPhone doesn’t do that well, and fixed the annoying WP missing-brackets bug before publication. So at least now I know Flickr isn’t the culprit. The new version of WP definitely strips brackets if another application is actually sending the post to the server.
Anyway, the creator’s AjaxLife Blog: iPhones post explains that if you log in to http://blog.ajaxlife.net/ via iPhone you are automagically re-directed to a “secure login proxy.” It currently does not work with other cellphone Web browsers.
It amused the hell out of my virtual landlord last night when I IMed him to ask if he could see my message and told him I was logged on via an iPhone. I noted that based on the attachment messages in my local chat screen, it was likely that my AV was physically present in my little priory cell. The local chat screenshot shows something called “ZHAO” and something called “CG Facelight” loaded, some attachments I was wearing at logout.
UPDATE:AJAXLife was de-activated asas reported on Katherine Berry’s blog yesterday. It’s a sad thing, because it was a brilliant idea that was well executed. Frankly, I’ve been using the Metaverse app on the iPhone exclusively, but I’ll never forget the feeling of awe and wonder when I managed to log in to Second Life from my then-new first iPhone at a Panera.
If you want to move somewhere, try getting a friend to teleport you – accepting or declining teleports (should) work now.
Also, not picking up offline IMs is intentional, although I forget why. I might add a little button to pick up any you might have.
Thanks much, Katharine, I admire your work on the project a lot. About the only thing that might be useful is group IMs, since sometimes they’re used for coordinating meetings, events, and to communicate when things are borked.