Linden Lab’s Cool New Search Engine!
So you haven’t downloaded the new in-world release candidate? You really should, it’s awesome! Linden Lab is converting all their object/asset data into HTML pages, feed them to a Google Search Appliance, and let us do complex queries on it.
If you’re afraid of downloading “unstable” versions, you can still get a hint on how it looks like, since these are pretty normal webpages, all you need is a Web browser and an Internet connection 
For instance, this is what Linden Lab returns when searching for Gwyneth Llewelyn. Isn’t it neat?
Congratulations to Linden Lab for this extraordinary development — it was definitely quite needed! And, unlike the worst fears of many residents, it makes teleporting to content actually quite easier… and since these are web pages, it also means they’ll get picked up on Google, Yahoo and other search engines, so, one day, you might be able to do a search on Google, see an item in SL, click on an URL, and be directly teleported to the place where that object is found. Now that’s quite fantastic!
Now I only wonder what this means for the dozens of “in-world search engines” like the ones I’ve listed on my blogroll, who use libSL and a pseudo-avatar-bot roaming the grid searching for content. I guess they will quickly become obsolete. Ah well…
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Oh, but this is not all. If you’re wondering about the link to the webpage, there is quite a lot more goodies from Linden Lab.
For instance, if you know your avatar’s UUID (avatar key), you can watch your profile on the Web. Looks nice! And it works for groups too.
But wait! There is more! If you right-click on any texture or picture on your inventory (without any alphas in it), you can now view it on the Web too! For instance, here goes my very first picture taken in SL. Ugggh what an ugly face! Notice that you can change the last digit on that URL to give you three different sizes.
SignpostMarv Martin is a wizard with these things. Look how you can click on pictures and groups, and get information on them inside Second Life
Way to go, Linden Lab!
Gwyn, I never cease to be amazed at how much you are willing to shill for the Lindens.
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2007/11/the-awful-new-s.html
Prokofy, it never ceases to amaze me how desperate you are to get links.
Ola’ Gwyn. Alguem me disse que es portuguesa. Eu tb sou.
Just wanted to let you know that the SLBrowser search engine is far from being obsolete. The fun has just begun
Well, actually, it begun a few months ago…
Partially thanks to the Lindens, we now have a web interface:
http://slbrowser.com
Check it out and compare!
Having options is a good thing…
Diva Canto
I heard about this through a little bird and figured it was time to abandon my efforts along these lines. Ah well — at least we finaly have useful metadata! ^___^
Here’s a useful little bit of HTML:
http://www.lexnva.name/sl/search.html
I couldn’t find any kind of entry point into their database of HTML pages from the outside world, so I made my own.
I don’t want to watch my profile on the web, it shouldn’t be available to be viewed either.
There’s potential in this new search for sure, there’s also the danger of spam city arriving at an IM box near you soon.
Diva, sim, sou portuguesa
As for SLBrowser, I’m glad you’re still in the business of searching & indexing SL content!
Ciaran, it’s very easy to turn it off. Just log in with the Release Candidate, and uncheck the box “Publish on the Web”. And there you go — your Profile will vanish from Search! Now isn’t that wonderfully simple? I wish that the billion sites on the Web would work that way…
Just an interesting statistic: on the day I post a new article, half of the hits on my blog are from search engines (mostly Google and Yahoo, but also many others). When I don’t post any article at all, it’s about 90-95% of traffic generated just by ‘bots crawling the web pages. It’s scary. The Web’s traffic these days is only made by machines, not humans…
Gwyn if I turn it off via the publish to the web option it does not stop my AV name appearing on the web, nor my key.
Facebook have better options for dealing with this.
“Now I only wonder what this means for the dozens of “in-world search engines” like the ones I’ve listed on my blogroll, who use libSL and a pseudo-avatar-bot roaming the grid searching for content. I guess they will quickly become obsolete. Ah well…”
Are there any remaining ones? I abandoned mine during the alpha stage because I saw the writing on the wall, that LL homebrew their own, in a way I couldn't compete with.