Second Life Update & Barbie Girls
April 27th, 2007 by 
Richard Parent
Second Life has updated their client programs once again, and that means that you’ll need to update the program you use to access it. (Which you must do because we’ll be spending class on Monday in Second Life, and part of the final exam will be in Second Life.)
If you’re running Second Life on your own computer, log in and when it tells you to update the client, do so. You shouldn’t have any problems. I just did it and it’s relatively quick and painless.
If you don’t have access to a computer that will allow you to install things onto it (for instance, if you use the University’s computers), you’ll need to go to the WebCT page and download the files I’ve posted. I’ve already uploaded the Mac client to our WebCT page, and will upload the PC client tonight.
Both clients have been archived as “zip” files. Once you’ve downloaded the client for your computer, you’ll need to unzip the archive and then COPY the entire folder to your thumb drive or burn it to a CD-ROM. To do this, right-click on the unzipped folder and select COPY. Then go to your thumb drive or CD-ROM, right-click and select PASTE. Make sure you’re not just creating a shortcut to the folder (as drag-and-drop sometimes does)!
If your computer doesn’t already have a program on it to unzip archives, ExtractNow is a solid (and free) utility for PCs, and StuffIt is a solid (and free) utility for Macs that will do this for you.
Also, connecting to our recent discussion of the integration of toys and the online world, Mattel has just announced that Barbie is getting a whole new web site! Be sure to check Barbie Girls out. The site appears to be down temporarily, but I’m sure that as soon as they get Barbie changed into her Dream Web Designer outfit, the site will be back up in no time. And you never know, Barbie Girls or the BarbieGirls MP3 players shown below (could Barbie be the iPod killer?) may be on the final.
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