Cartoon of the Day

Zorro Wuramunga sent me a picture from when I was momentarily Away From Keyboard at Club Cutlass. The punch line is a twist on a cartoon from a few years ago.

Bixyl Shuftan

Has Seraph City Been Saved?

On February 27, it was announced that Seraph City, the "dieselpunk" sim made in the style of how science fiction from the 1930s saw the future, was all set to close (link). Edward Pearce wrote in his blog that the sim's owner Bromo Ivory had decided to shut the place down on March 21st. A few days ago, the show Designing Worlds dropped in for what looked like a final look at this unique city area before it was gone.



But word is, someone has stepped in to help. Chatting with Fuzzball Ortega of the Steelhead Community, he told me someone from the Steampunk community was about to take ownership of the place. If the plan goes through, fans of the sim will be able to keep on visiting. Second Life Newser will have more once we have talked to the new owner.

Bixyl Shuftan

2014 Relay For Life of Second Life Kick-Off Celebration Schedule:

Friday, March 7

5pm - 8pm SLT
    Team Tailgate and Set-Up - Trader Whiplash; Nuala Maracas;
                    and Friends from T1 RAdio
      (teams will be invited in to set up their fundraising tools)


Saturday, March 8

10am - Noon SLT
    T1 Radio - Trader, Nuala and Friends On the Air

Noon - 2pm SLT
    Official Kick-off Ceremony
   
2 - 3pm SLT
    ChicagoSax - Live Music

3 - 5pm SLT
    Fuzzball Ortega - DJ

5 - 6pm SLT
    Toxic Darkmatter - Live Music

6 - 8pm SLT
    Arioch Snowpaw - DJ

8 - 10pm SLT
    Aryon Dagger - DJ

10 - Midnight SLT
    Billy Ixito - DJ


Sunday, March 9

4 - 8am SLT
    Wolffang Faith - DJ

8 - 9am SLT
    Shining Starlettes Dance Team - Performance

9 - 10am SLT
    Johannes1977 - DJ

10 - Noon SLT
    Spook Maroon - DJ

Noon - 3pm SLT
    FAMILY FEUD - Teams will be announced

3:30 - 4:30pm SLT
    Relay Rap with Trader Whiplash

5 - 6pm SLT
    AngelBonita - DJ

6 - 7pm SLT
    Holocluck Henley - DJ

7 - 8pm SLT
    Toxic Darkmatter - Live Music

8 - 10pm SLT
    Maverick Buccaneer

SL Video: "Bunny in a Kitchen"

(Click Here if video fails to load)

From RacerX Gullwing, "RacerX escapes and runs amok in the kitchen.

Game Review: Left 4 Dead 2

For her latest article, Nydia Tungsten tried out a zombie game: Left 4 Dead 2. Now we've all seen zombies in movies, slow, lumbering, husks that clumsily stumble forward as they move toward their targets. Well, put that stereotype aside should you download this game via Steam. Not only can the zombies run and run fast as they charge you, there are some mutants that can really do some damage.

Read Nydia's review in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.

More on SL Go

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was Wednesday March 5th that Linden Labs announced the release of SL Go, it's new application which allows users to access Second Life via a tablet. Since then, a number of people have tried the product. Some like it, some have reservations.

Inara Pey gave a little history of the app on her blog. She stated the idea first came not from Linden Lab or then CEO Rod Humble, but cloud computing and gaming company Onlive and it's chairman Gary Lauder, "Lauder made his approach because third-person adventure games have been particularly successful for OnLive. As such, Second Life was seen as a logical choice for extending OnLive’s reach into more immersive environments  while at the same time potentially offering Linden Lab with a solution for providing SL to tablet devices and to low-end desktop and laptop systems." Among those working on it's development were Nick Barsetti, whom was "a former Linden Lab employee (Scout Linden) and a long-time Second Life resident who has been actively engaged ... for seven years, notably as a community leader in a Star Wars role-play group." The SL Go service is "provided entirely by OnLive," Inara felt this may have been one of the reasons for Linden Lab's controversial change in it's terms of service in regards to content creation. 

 For now, SL Go is designed to run on tablets powered by Android, though plans are in the works to include the iPad. Of the display, "for convenience, the log-in fields are displayed at the top of the viewer’s splash screen. Tapping the Username field will display the tablet’s on-screen keyboard (note you can also use a suitable bluetooth keyboard as well), allowing you to enter your avatar name. Tap the Password field to enter your avatar’s account password, then tap Log In to log-in to SL. The Tablet overlay provides a means of carrying out routine interactions with the viewer – walking, turning, flying, jumping, camera movement and zoom, closing floaters, and so on."

"According to the supplied reviewer notes, double-tapping the avatar icon in the middle of the movement keys is supposed to enter flight mode; however, this consistently didn’t work for me, and I found flight could be enabled much as when using the viewer on a computer – tap and hold the Jump icon. Movement can be achieved either by using just the movement controls in the overlay (think arrow keys / WASD on a keyboard), or through a combination of using the 'up' key to walk forward and the joystick control to adjust your direction of travel. This takes a little getting used to, but isn’t that hard to grasp."

"Tapping the camera icon shifts the overlay to the camera options, All of the menus and toolbar buttons are accessible via tapping the tablet’s screen, although keyboard shortcuts are not enabled (even when using a separate keyboard). To assist with using the buttons and menus, pinch-zoom motions are fully supported, as is the ability to 'drag' the viewer across the tablet’s screen using a two finger gesture when zoomed-in. To help prevent the overlay getting in the way of things, you can tap the “Power” icon to collapse the overlay into a single icon; a second tap will expand it again."

Inara had some doubts about the app seeing widespread use, "I do wonder as to the potential impact SL Go will have on established users. From Nate Barsetti’s comments, the service appears to be aimed towards a niche set of uses (thus helping justify the cost). Frankly, for many users, there are alternatives when presented with most of those niche uses."

Draxtor Despress gave SL Go a try, his efforts recorded on video.



(Click Here if the link fails to load)

Draxtor was among those whom gave glowing reviews, "Seriously: the user-generated universe known as Second Life - beautifully rendered in the cloud - runs BETTER at times on an Android tablet than on my PC: I am thoroughly impressed ...  for SL professionals and enthusiastic residents this is a must IMHO: SL GO is not only running on 4G on the road but is instantly upgrading EVERY OLD machine in your household by using OnLive desktop app = pretty darn good!"

Hamlet Au also expressed enthusiasm, saying that he'd been using SL Go through being a tester was the reason he was reporting more about Second Life from in inworld perspective lately, "SL Go feels like a new era of Second Life ... here is the thing that makes all the difference for the world: SL Go works, and almost paradoxically, is the first platform to present Second Life as it really is. It eliminates almost all of the lag and load times most SL users have learned to accept, and presents to you a Second Life at its best, and purest form. If you couldn't see dynamic shadows, you can see them now; if your draw distance was small, it's now broadened to the sky. ... it's probably not ideal for new users (at least not in this early stage), but I do think it will bring many back to Second Life, to see the world as they've always wanted -- and as they've always wanted to share it with their friends -- but up to now, have never had the means."

Ciaran Laval thought the technology was good, but felt the high prices limited it's potential, "The pricing would get very expensive very quickly for anyone who used the service often, which means it’s unlikely to be used often by anyone. ... like tier, the SL Go pricing is a tad on the high side. Used infrequently there’s a lot of potential here but for a regular service, it’s a very expensive proposition."

Jo Yardley blogged that SL Go vastly improved the appearance of Second Life on her old Mac Laptop. But the high price bothered her, "Would you pay 3 bucks to go into SL for an hour? I would only consider doing that for emergencies, when I need to be inworld for a few minutes to fix something or kick a griefer in the unmentionables. Having said that, the OnLive experience is impressive, there is almost no lag, it loads a lot faster than most computers, it is mobile and it allows you to use your TV for SL. So although I am very impressed with SLGo, I fear that the costs may keep a lot of people from using it more than just occasionally."

For more comments, one can check the thread in the official general discussion forum: (Link). There's also a thread in the Second Life Universe forums: (link)

Pictures provided by Inara Pey , Hat tip to Daniel Voyager for blog links 

Bixyl Shuftan

Press Release: Kick-Off Celebration 10th Anniversary in Second Life March 7 - 9

This weekend we will kick off the 2014 Relay For Life of Second Life Season. The fund-raising tools have been sent out, the event boards have been circulating, and now it is time to make it official!

We will kick off the weekend with a Friday night (March 7) tailgating party!  At 5pm SLT, T1 Radio will crank out the sounds as we open the sims for the participating teams to put out their fundraising tools - kiosks, vendors, auctions, raffles, random riots, oh my!  We do ask that if you are doing a raffle or an auction, please set the ending time to 3pm SLT on Sunday, March 9.  T1 will keep the tunes in play until 8pm SLT, so come out and mingle as you get things set up!

On Saturday (March 8), T1 will start broadcasting live around 10:30am SLT was we gather for the official Kick-Off ceremony which will start at Noon SLT.  On stage will be the Planning Committee - Nikki, Sting, Dawn and Random along with other committee members to talk about the season and getting us all started!  There will be a special guest hero to speak that we are all excited about, and then... the Season will be officially KICKED OFF.  A Journey of Promise will then be underway!

For the remainder of Saturday afternoon and until Midnight SLT, we will have on-going entertainment - DJs, Dancers, Live music!

On Sunday (March 9), the music starts early as a DJ opens the day at 4am SLT. At noon SLT, we will have 3 games of FAMILY FEUD incuding 3 teams and the Planning Committee.  At 3:30pm, Trader Whiplash will broadcast "Relay Rap" live from the kick-off sims and will have a great show with exciting guests!  

DJs and live music will continue on Sunday until 10pm SLT.

Notes:
   
* Participating teams will be provided landmarks for their assigned spot before 5pm on Friday 3/7.  Those team members listed on registration will have rights to rez.

* Teams playing Family Feud will be contacted by Thursday night 3/6

* Teams with Kissing Booths will be provided information on Friday night 3/7.

* Landmarks for the sims will be provided before the celebrations begin.

* Season t-shirts will be sent out to the groups on Friday 3/7 - watch for those :)


If you have any questions, please contact TylerPin; Dianna Wyclife; Pinkie Fellini or Sunshine Zhangsun.

Let's get ready to RELAY!

SL Go: Second Life Now Accessible on Tablets, For a Price

Yesterday on March 5, Linden Lab announced a new application on the market, this one for Second Life users: SL Go. This product allows residents to run Second Life on tablets. It is currently in open beta.

OnLive, the leader in cloud gaming, today released an exciting new service for Second Life users. SL Go, now in open beta, is a mobile Second Life viewer for Android that delivers a fully immersive desktop-like experience on tablets.

(Click here if the video fails to load)

With SL Go, you can experience Second Life from anywhere you have Wi-Fi or 4G connectivity, with ultra high-quality graphics, full shaders, shadows, and the Advanced Lightning Model on Android devices. Not only can you get high-quality graphics on a low-powered device, but you also don’t have to sacrifice frame rate or draw distance for high fidelity inworld explorations. Thanks to super-fast gigabit connections with OnLive’s high-performance gaming servers, objects and textures rez quickly when logging in and teleporting. OnLive has clocked the SL Go viewer at upwards of 200 fps set to Ultra with Maximum Render Distance, allowing people to participate in events, engage in combat games, and generally enjoy immersion in Second Life at a level never before possible on a mobile device.

With SL Go, OnLive has brought touchscreen interaction to the Second Life experience, but if you prefer keyboard and mouse, you can opt to connect these devices and interact with your friends in the same way you always have. SL Go gives you access to edit menus, inventory, preference settings and chat management just like the Second Life Viewer on your home computer.

To use the application, one needs an account with Onlive. New users get a 20 minute free trial, after which residents need to pay to use it, from $3 an hour, to $8 for three hours, to $25 for ten hours. For now, it is limited to the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

This is clearly a major move for Linden Lab and Second Life, one in development for many months.

More information later on SL Go and what others are saying about it.

Crew Meeting

A picture of the crew meeting Saturday March 1st, when we met to discuss ideas for stories the next month, such as the Relay for Life season. Those present: Gemma Cleanslate, Joshua Xavier (Becky Shamen's alt), myself, DrFran Babcock, Nydia Tungsten, and Grey Lupindo.

DrFran Babcock was trying out this Siamese avatar, and had a little friend from the gacha along for the ride. Ribbit!

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: "The Count"

Taken at Steelhead's "Muppet" party

By Bixyl Shuftan

Trade Winds

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! Becky Shaman's alt Joshua Xavier got himself a ship, and went to the Trade Winds to do a little sailing and exploring. The voyage was not without hazard as the place is known to harbor pirates. So did Joshua encounter any buccaneers, or RP admins whom had a dislike for boats that didn't exactly fit the approved list?

Read more in Places.

Bryn Oh's "The Singularity of Kumiko"

Bryn Oh, the noted Second Life artist, is back with another story by art. Her Immersiva sim is now hosting an exhibition titled "The Singularity of Kumiko." Bixyl Shuftan went over to take a look, and while there had a few words with the creator herself. So was the exhibit as good as Bryn's previous work?

Read the story in Design.

Mardi Gras at Club Zero Gravity

March 4 was "Mardi Gras," also known as "Carnival" and "Fat Tuesday," the final day before the Lent season practiced by some churchgoers. It's traditional to give up eating foods considered richer, so this was the last day to indulge in them for a while, and people in many places where there are large numbers of Catholics often throw a party for the occasion. Even for those whom don't believe in Lent, everyone loves a good party. So many places in Second Life threw Mardi Gras parties. This included Club Zero Gravity.

Tonight at Club Zero Gravity, it's our Mardi Gras party. It's "Fat Tuesday," the day in many places people have one big party before giving up good food for Lent. Even for those of us whom aren't giving up anything but rent and tax money, it's still a great time to whoop it up. Wear "masquarade" masks, and anything else fit for a party. And of course there's the beads. Come on over and be part of the worldwide Carnival.

Normally one has to be "in theme" to qualify for the contest. But while Carnival is known for it's outfits for the ladies, special outfits for guys not so much. So everyone who showed up (aside from the DJ and hostess) qualified for the 500 Linden prize.

Perri Prinz was the DJ for the event. Her selection included a number of Jazz tunes worthy of a parade in New Orleans. But there were also a number of classic rock and pop songs mixed in.

The winner of the contest was Valkyrie McGill for what she called her "peacock" dress.

It was a small party for Club Zero Gravity, perhaps some were out partying in real life. But a fun time was had by all.

Club Zero Gravity is at Purrfection Estates, (232, 35, 3340)

Events this Week March 4 to March 10

It's a week full of events in Second Life. Today and tonight is Mardi Gras aka "Fat Tuesday." Stop by New Toulouse and Mardi Gras Town for a taste of New Orleans as they celebrate Carnival, or drop by various clubs celebrating it, such as Club Zero Gravity. This Saturday, the Relay for Life season starts off on Saturday March 8. And of course there are the regularly scheduled DJ and live music events, book and poetry readings, talk shows, racesm and discussions.

Read more in Events this Week.

Grease Coakes Latest Book: College in Cleveland

Grease Coakes wrote for the Second Life Newser for a time, then took a leave of absence. Since then, he has changed his focus from writing news to writing fiction. Recently Grey Lupindo had the chance to interview him. Grease talked about his new story "College in Cleavland," his sequel to "Ginny Griffin Goes to School," and the challenges in promoting it.

Read more in People.

EOTB: Linden Lab Makes JIRA Reports Readable to All Again

It was about eighteen months ago that Linden Lab made an unpopular move with its JIRA reports page, "Although some categories had been closed to public viewing, such as security issues, most were accessible to the public for residents to read to see if a reported bug was the same as the problem they were having." As of Sept 6 2012, this came to an end, " In the summary of changes, it was stated 'Second Life users will only see their own reported issues.' No longer can residents read and compare."

On Friday February 28, Linden Lab announced on their blog that there would be some changes. The Lab admitted the JIRA wasn't as good as it could be.

Recently, this system was working in a way that wasn’t very transparent, and it frankly wasn’t a good experience for the users who care enough about Second Life to try to help improve it, nor was it the best set-up for the Lindens tasked with addressing these issues. So you can see why we’re happy to be changing it!

 The changes the Lab is offering are:

"All users will be able to see all BUG issues, all the time."

"You'll also be able to comment."

"Lastly, 'New Feature Request' is back!"

A thread started in the forums about the JIRA changes. The results were mostly positive, "Thanks Ebbe." "OK - I'm officially impressed!" Some however were less than enthusiastic, "It's great to have it back, though it'd be better if it didn't get hidden again after triage.  Additional comments with updated incidents with further info could help narrow down the issue, or reveal other potential causes." Still, everyone agreed this was a step in the right direction.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "The Drax Files - Episode 17: Zachh Barkley"

(Click Here if the video fails to load)

From Draxtor Despress, Feb 28, 2014, "The vision is in the player's hands: it is what you see and what you bring to the world!"

Zachh Barkley is a 21-year entrepreneur [and self-described magic fanatic] who easily could - like some of his peers - play video games all day and goof off killing virtual monsters.Instead he opted to surround himself with capable collaborators at this young age, learn as much as he can about 3D modeling, scripting and marketing, all this with one goal in mind: to shape the digital world just as so many other global residents of Second Life before him.

"That bringing virtual enjoyment to thousands of avatars all over the world from his humble apartment in Madison, Wisconsin makes him a pretty penny may seem to some like magic, but at the end of the day - it is simple ingenuity & passion at work!

"Enjoy a journey into a universe full of wonder and...some loud spells!"