Syzygy University

Syzygy University is the latest improvement to be added to the Syzygy Community. The University is located at Syzygy Eos (89, 21, 1326).

Built by Syzygy resident B.W. Jinxings, SU has all the latest in modern technology, including TV camera and monitors. The classroom is spacious and airy.

Last week fellow Syzygy resident Elric Anatine presented the first class on SL Photography. Notes, including screen shots of the best viewer settings, can be found at http://www.syzygycommunity.com/support/tutorials-how-to/viewer-settings-for-sl-photography. Or, you can go into the classroom and touch the blackboard for a direct link to the webpage.

In case you need a pick-me-up to get through your SL day, there are Red Bull and Coke dispensers outside the classroom, too. You won't need them to stay awake in the Syzygy classes, however, as they are awesome!

Be careful, however, when walking around the grounds. Odd creatures are springing up from the lawn and sewer. It's also possible to fall off the edge of the skybox. Or perhaps one of those creatures pushed me. In any event, beware!

The next class will be May 20, 2012 at 11:00 AM SLT. Dr. Anatine will be presenting a class on "Taming Your Inventory". We all know how out of control that can get!

The University is free and open to all SL residents.

Grey Lupindo

Events this Week in Second Life from April 17th to April 23rd

This week offers a number of events on the Grid. From the Earth Day celebration this Saturday to the new Sanity Falls in Madpeas to the return of the Papermakis Exhibit, one can see these events and more across Second Life. And of course we have our regularly scheduled music events, talk shows, poetry readings, science lectures, and other happenings.

Read more in Events this Week.

Press Release: Gairdin na Sidhe Flower Shop in Trouble

Dear flower lovers,

The sim-owner is experiencing bank issues since he moved to Ecuador, which is making it difficult to transfer money to the Lindens. If we can't raise the tier money for this month, the sim will disappear on April 23rd and with it Gairdin na Sidhe.

To help raise the money, I've set all the vased flowers at half price and put a donation box out for those who want to help support us. All sales and proceeds will be going towards the tier for this month to keep the sim and the store alive.

If we don't make it, I'd like to thank all of you who've visited and enjoyed my products. Let's hope this isn't our final goodbye. :)

Thanks for all the help and support! <3

Eruanna Rossini

Star Bright (224, 162, 27)

Editor's Note: For those who don't know, Euranna was the manager of the defunct STA: a place in 2007 which besides its purpose of helping arrange trips abroad also served as a hangout and a starter place for newcomers. Following the STA's vanishing in Jan 2008, Euranna eventually founded the flower shop, where she continued to do business up to now. It really is a nice little flower shop, with gifts for all occasions.

Byngo! Maybe ....

There is a new controversy in Second Life. Many happy byngo players pass time in SL by playing this game. It is my understanding that it all began with neighbors of the byngo sites complaining about the shouting of the balls was bothering them. There seems to be a way to control this issue on land. But some property owners are not bothering, which added to the issue. After many requests to Linden Lab just to see if the issue had been solved, the creator of the byngo, Dazza Staheli, has shut down the byngo servers until it is all resolved.

I spoke to Dazza this morning and he told me, “I really don't think the first return was about shout .... Ok, well the first one was on a empty sim .. was rezzed then 5 hours later was returned .. our alt who is owner on all boards got a warning for wagering ... NOT ME and its my name on all boards as creator ... now the problem is this .... that game was never played .. even the Linden didn't play it .. so how could he say it was wagering ???? ... ok then .. 3 days past .. 400 sims played 100's of games 1000's of people and nothing .. all boards have same owner .. but nothing!!!! Then in a separate 'attack' on a sim, our board was AR'd .. a 180 day old linden employee went to that sim .. looked on her records and see's that the owner was warned 3 days earlier and she just does what she thinks is right and returns the board .... I still had no contact .. but my alt got 1 day suspn ... so I was faced with a decision .. run it and take the risk of losing my alt or close it down and let the Labs do their thing ..."

There are protests going on at various locations. One was held at Governor Linden’s home, and another at Mia Linden’s office. Here is a video of a protest held Saturday:



Byngo players are hoping that the issue is settled soon and there is also a petition up on the web at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/byngo-bonus-4-sl/

Gemma Cleanslate

"Direct Delivery" Marketplace Troubles and Rodvik's Response

Direct Delivery for the Second Life Marketplace hasn't gone the way Linden Labs intended. At first, it seemed to be a simple bug of gifts to others not always reaching the recipient. But apparently, it's much more.

Inara Pey noted a number of other problems, including, "Listings on Marketplace do not match the actual items," incorrect merchant information (products from one seller listed as belonging to another), "products from one merchant appearing in stores belonging to other merchants, items incorrectly priced," and "incorrect ratings assigned to products (G-rated items appearing as Adult, etc)" She also stated she was beginning to observe "rising accusations of 'theft' among merchants as they come across what appears to be their own goods being listed by others." Tateru Nino called the source of the problem a "unicode bungle," listed in the JIRA as "WEB-4587."

The initial response from Linden Labs was largely silence. Then a few days ago, Rodvik Linden gave a few answers on his Twitter account, pointing out an update on the commerce forum, "team has been crunching non stop to get those issues addressed. We will update as soon as we have a fix." Calling it "not an acceptable quality of roll out," Tateru Nino deadpanned, "perhaps is wasn't an acceptable quality of rollout, but it was the level of quality that we have become used to all these years."

The commerce forum update was further updated the next day, saying "two of the top three outstanding issues" were addressed

• WEB-4580: purchases are now delivered to recipients with the inventory name (which does not allow unicode characters). This will prevent future orders from getting stuck in the Being Delivered state due to this issue. In addition, all orders affected by this problem have been pushed through.
• WEB-4587: updates have been made to support updating store search results, which we will process over the next week; we continue to work on the issue related to mismatched data on listings. We do know that this issue has existed since September 2010 (during the migration from Xstreet to the Second Life Marketplace).


Hamlet's article on Rodvik's response drew some positive feedback from readers, mixed in with cautionary notes, "Wow, a straightforward acknowledgment, with no BS, no spin. … Kudos to Rodvik, may this act serve as an example for all of LL. This kind of forthcoming communication can make all the difference in the world in making SL live up to its full potential." the same resident also stated, "Whether it's truly accompanied by the promised action is a different issue … everyone should hold LL's feet to the fire on this regardless until it's fixed."

On the Linden forums, residents seemed a bit more critical, "And yet he can't even manage to post this timely info on his company's official website?" "Although it is refreshing to see a CEO like Rodvik use some of the other social media to communicate with the community, the flaw with Rodvik is that he seems to ONLY use non-LL official tools to interact with his customer base. "

Second Life Newser has yet to hear whether or not things have improved on Marketplace or not. But judging by some of the comments observed, some merchants and shoppers will be relying less on it.

Sources: Living in a Modem World, Tateru Nino, New World Notes, Twitter, Linden Forums,

Image Credit: Emilly Orr, Sera Lok

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: RFL Biker Rally

From the Relay for Life Bike Rally at "Perri's Xandu." Nydia Tungsten took a friend for a spin on a bike, but somehow it ended up spinning on it's backside. She soon corrected herself, and there were no scrapes on the paint job to take care of.

Bixyl Shuftan

Pathfinding Test, "Smokey and the Bandit" Style

From AC14 Hutson, and mentioned on New World Notes, a fun little film on Youtube of some "messing around" with Pathfinding, with music by Jerry Reed.

The Cutlass Easter Party

Last Saturday, the Cutlass Club of the Sunweaver Estates/HV Community held it's Easter party. And people dropped in with some interesting avatars. Among theme were these chocolate bunnies, one whom had a couple swords to discourage anyone coming in for a bite.


Also there was Rita Mariner and the "Sawyer Clones," all in Easter dress and bonnets. Someone later told me she found them a little creepy. More often, I hear chuckles about them, or people shrugging it off as just another example of the nuttiness around the Sunweavers.

Club Cutlass is at Sunweaver Space (243, 87, 123)

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Machinima: Titanic, 100th Aniversary

A Second Life Titanic machinima, "This music video remake was created in remembrance of Titanic's upcoming 100th anniversary 2012 april 15th. At the same time this is a unique way to highlight the visual capabilities of SecondLife, using a real world example. All images are captured within the 3D-virtual world of Secondlife itself. Therefor, it is a technology benchmark and will generate related discussion."

Music by : Celin Dion (Titanic original)
Video by : RG Giano (Secondlife)

The Titanic in Second Life

With the 100th Anniversary of the voyage and sinking of the famous passenger liner Titanic, the attention of Second Life residents is drawn to the Grid's own Titanic. Opened in 2009, the ship attracts many residents on a daily basis. Some are drawn to the ship's haunting history, some to take a special someone on a date in a place of atmosphere, and some a little of both. This weekend, there are some special events aboard to honor those who perished in the sinking.

Read more in Places.

Press Release: Linden Endowment of the Arts Hosts Project 48 Machinima Premiere Screening in Second Life April 14.

The global sensation that is the 48 Hour Film Project comes to the virtual world of Second Life on with an exclusive inworld screening of all entries from the 2012 Machinima 48 Hour Film Project, accompanied by film crew interviews and a presentation by Emmy nominated Film SFX supervisor Tony Dyson.

22 teams have entered the world famous 48 Hour Film Project Machinima, where crews must create a movie within exactly 48 hours: write, shoot, edit and score it. With 3 required elements (prop, character and line of dialogue) and a randomly-assigned genre, filmmakers must work fast to create high-speed cinematic history. In the Project 48 Machinima edition, films are created within games and online platforms.

The Linden Endowment of the Arts (LEA) is a resident-managed agency within the world of Second Life, tasked with nurturing and promoting the arts community within the virtual world. LEA’s new Media Arts Center specifically works with awareness, education and development of virtual world-generated video (machinima) and will be hosting this screening within its new LEA Theater, a high-tech facility designed for cutting-edge media events.

The program will also feature the head of jury, noted Emmy-nominated special effects supervisor Tony Dyson (Moonraker, Dragon Slayer, Star Wars, Altered States) delivering his jury keynote speech before the official awards ceremony. This event will be streamed live to the Casula Powerhouse Theater in Sydney, Australia.

Other judges; Sean Callinan, Paul Nunes, Chris Howlett, Dan Graf, Trace Sanderson (aka Lainy Voom) and event host Phaylen Fairchild.

The winning film will represent the 48HFPmachinima at the Filmapalooza Filmfestival 2012, in Los Angeles, and take away a grand first prize of 3,000 Australian dollars.

WHEN: APR 14 at 11PM SLT/PDT
WHERE: LEA Theater in Second Life: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA2/223/223/21
SITE: http://www.48hourfilm.com/machinima/
and: http://48machinima.project48.com.au/

Producers:
Chantal Harvey and Tom Papas.

Easter Town

Easter had a number of events this season. Most were simple egg hunts, and there were Easter parties. But there was one sim-sized place that was all about Easter: Easter Town. Full of cartoony holiday goodness, it was a fun place to go to.

Read more in Places.

Railroad Fans Celebrate at Bay City

Last Saturday April 7th was a "Taste of Bay City" event held by the Virtual Railway Consortium, inviting, "all citizens of Bay City and rail & transit enthusiasts across the Grid." The theme of the dance was "Filming of the 'Murder on the Bay City Express,' (sorry machinima fans, no evidence there really was a filming)," with Callipygian Christensen as the DJ. Geo Meek was also there filming the event for SL TV. The dance lasted from about 1PM to after 3PM SL time, and there were boxes of railroad cars and track up for free for whomever wanted them.

There was a lot of funning around during the party, with people making joke accusations of who the murder was. I heard a few times that this event was to celebrate the SLRR's connection to Bay City, though they've been in town since May 2011. Someone commented that she heard Linden Lab had special plans for Bay City now that their work on the Wilderness is done, but she had no idea what they were.

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

This avatar made me think of the "invisible gremlins" of the "Family Circus" cartoons.

Bixyl Shuftan

The Sea of Aley

Gemma Cleanslate has been visiting the Linden Endowment of the Arts exhibits, and made a great find. Coming across an artist named Aley, she found someone behind a number of fine aquatic-themed builds and exhibits. Some of her creations can be picked of for free for those willing to hunt for them.

Read more in Design.

Relay Bike Rally at "Perri's Xanadu"

At 4PM SL time, The Passionate Redheads held their Biker Rally event. The location was the classic rock club Green Meadows, also known as "Perri's Xanadu." Club owner Perri Prinz acted as the DJ, spinning a number of tunes, mostly from the 60s & 70s. Many of course were biker-themed.

Several of the bikes were contributed by Twistmy Gears of the Road Rash group. But there were others from Daniella Looming and Brandi Streusel. Besides dancing, a few hopped on the bikes to spin around, or kick up a lot of smoke and noise in a "burnout." Close to two dozen people showed up, including Cocktail Lounge owner Rich Mordly, and FCA club alliance leader Nydia Tungsten.

About 4,000 Lindens were raised at the event, bringing the total raised by the Passionate Redheads team to 35,000 even.

The Green Meadows Club is at the HV Community sim at (68, 207, 4051).

Bixyl Shuftan

Passionate Redheads to hold RFL Bike Rally Event.

Today at 4PM, the Passionate Redheads Relay for Life team hold their Bike Rally party. The Event will take place at the Green Meadows Club, also known as Perri's Xanadu. Perri Prinz will be the DJ for the event. Instead of tips, Relay kiosk will be there to accept donations. Suggested dress is biker wear.

4PM to when the last one leaves, HV Community (68, 207, 4051)

Events this Week in Second Life from April 10th to April 16th

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and there are some special events at the Titanic sim to commemorate the tragedy. This is also Aviation Month at the WW2 Tribute sim. The Passionate Redheads have their Bike Rally RFL event at Green Meadows. And as always our regularly scheduled events from live and DJ music, fiction and poetry readings, talk shows, and more.

Read more in Events this Week.

Newcomer Area "The Yard" to Close

Some sad news for newcomers to Second Life. "The Yard," an area with freebie stores aimed at newcomers located at the Honie Isle sim, will be shutting down. The place has apparently been up for seven years, and the closing date is this Saturday.

As from Saturday the 14th April 2012, this island will be closed to public access. The Yard management have decided its time to retire from mentoring. The island will be gone at the end of the month. We wish you every (bit of) happiness in your Second Life.

Dropping by the Yard, there were a few notes set up expressing their thanks to the owners Til Pierce and Min Ixtab, or "Min and Til." Looking around, there were a few games, such as a "Wack-A-Mole" and a mechanical bull (I got 79 seconds). But the big thing were the freebie items, and there were a *lot* of them, from ladies clothes, to shoes, to jewelry, to skins, to even an adult items shop with things like intimate animations beds. Not everything is free, there is one shop with clothes you need to pay for, but most everything is.

Daniel Voyager had his own article on The Yard, including some comments from Till.

To get to The Yard, go to Honie Isle (145, 124, 24)

Bixyl Shuftan

Main Grid Sims Briefly Fall Below 30,000

Daniel Voyager's Blog had some disappointing news last week. Since Jan. 2010, the number of sim regions in Second Life has been a little over 30,000. In some uncovered statistics, the total dropped below that milestone.

The number of sims on the Second Life Grid rose, quite rapidly according to the graph in the DVB, until the OpenSpace/ Homestead fiasco in October 2008, in which Linden Lab suddenly jacked up the rates of those sims by 66%. Numbers then plummeted due to people unable to afford the new tiers, some saying they were leaving because they felt the Lab was pulling a "bait and switch." Eventually, numbers recovered, but the rise was slow and eventually plateaued.

The present drop, the general agreement is it's mostly due to the economy, people no longer able to afford their virtual property as real life financial problems become too much. However some point to Linden Lab's decision to end the nonprofit discount as an additional reason for some educational sims closing down or moving to other Grids. It's also noteable out of these 29997 sims, under 23,000 are private estates.

As Daniel himself put it, "It’s not surprising to see this happen but if rates continue then it’s concerning for the future of Second Life." However, a look at the "Second Life Universe" forums where he found the statistics, another look showed a report that the number had risen back over the 30,000 milestone.

Hopefully, it'll stay there.

Image Credit: Daniel Voyager

Corner of Revolving Time's Skyclub Grand ReOpening Party

This Easter Sunday, the Corner of Revolving Time's Skyclub had it's grand reopening party, with Qwark Allen as the DJ. Besides Gemma Cleanslate and myself, guests included Eymrich Lane who appeared as a "killer penguin," and blogger Daniel Voyager, who was a tiny chocolate bunny, "Don't eat me!"

The Corner of Revolving Time, owned by Vickijo Rivera, had recently relocated to the Ophelia sim, which is the main sim of the new Corner Estates. Besides a shopping area, it also boasts a fishing area and an amusement park. Talking with one of the staff, the Corner of Revolving Time will soon be involved in a hunt, and a Relay for Life event as well.

The Corner of Revolving Time can be located at Ophelia (188, 196, 21). Daniel Voyager took some pictures of the event (including the second one here), which can be found on his Flikr Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from Second Life Newser

Candyland Ride in Conundrum

Mystery's sister sim, Conundrum, has a new attraction just in time for Easter: the Candyland Factory ride.

Just go through the door and down the stairs, following the arrows. One soon gets to a chocolate river with a boat just big enough for two, the right size for a couple on a date. But larger groups can also take the tour as another boat will appear after the first is taken.

Going down the river, one finds a magical land, an underground candy factory. But this isn't "Willy Wonka," and there are no little chubby men. Instead the treats are made by teddy bear bakers, who make and gather the treats. One can find all sorts here from donuts, to lollipops sprouting like flowers, cupcakes, gumdrops, cookie trees, and more.

The Candyland ride is at the Anchorage shopping district at the Conundrum sim (84, 144, 26)

Bixyl Shuftan

Guess Who?

And who is this in a freebie old-style ringtail avatar? None other than the editor himself. It was five years ago today he took his first screenshot while exploring around the mainland.

Our Biggest Month

March 2012 was Second Life Newser's most active month so far, with 89 postings: articles along with a few cartoons and Press Releases. Besides St. Patrick's Day, there was the Relay for Life Kickoff and subsequent RFL events, the Military Expo, the "Mini Burn," and unfortunetly Linden Labs last names and economic reports blunders and the end of a Firefly RP area.

Stay tuned for more news subjects this month. Among them, the Passionate Redheads Bike Rally, and the RMS Titanic.

SL Youtube: "The Italian Job ," "Flufee on a Meshion - Episode 12":

The latest in Draxtor Despres & Pooky Amsterdam's "Fluffe on a Meshion" series, "Jeff Smith's 'Bone' series plays a big part as Flufee travels to the old country to find out what happened to an abducted fellow spy. Did GS [the gecko syndicate] have anything to do with it? We might find out albeit the story picks up somewhere in the middle. Epilog and conclusion to follow in season two a little birdie tells me....

"The 'physical' world portion was shot at Current Comics in Salinas, California [ http://www.facebook.com/CurrentComics ] . What a blast to be on set with the Fluffmeister."

The New Life Church

While people usually think of Easter bunnies and chocolates this time of year, for churchgoers it's also time to celebrate what Easter originally meant, the Resurrection. Second Life has it's share of churches. Among them is the New Life Church in the Shelton sim.

Read more in People.

Scenes from the Mini-Burn

Last weekend, fans of the Burn2 Festival (which itself is an inworld version of the Burning Man art festival) held a smaller version of the event, the Spring Burn or Mini-Burn. Two of the Newser team took a little time to take a few pictures. While not a complete view of the event, the pictures do show some of what took place.

See the pictures in Events.

Via Crucis

Here is another site you might like to visit before Easter. You are invited to Via Crucis: a depiction of the last journey of Jesus on the way to the cross remembered on Good Friday of this solemn week. It will be here until April 15 in case you miss it during this busy week. It is interactive and there are avatars to pick up and you may participate in each station as you walk the way.

Sicily Zapatero sent me this invitation:

The Way of the Cross. Beginning April 5th, 2012 at 1pm SLT.

The Passion of Christ presented as a 3D immersive experience. All are welcome to visit the Stations of the Cross as never before, in this self guided exhibit where the power of avatar identity is felt. The Exhibit will open to the public at 1pm slt April 5. through April 15th . Presented by Sicily Zapatero & Eros Boa. A Heart2Art production.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Naberrie/178/220/48

Gemma Cleanslate

Green Meadows Club Reopening Tonight

For some time, the Green Meadows Club (aka Perri's Xanadu) has had it's regular events on hiatus. Tonight, the classic rock is coming back for a "Feeling Groovy" late 60's party.

"Spring's in the air, and time to look back to the late '60s. Go get your bell-bottoms, your peace symbols, your pie-dyed t-shirts, and anything else psychedelic and bubblegum. DJ Perri will provide the classic tunage, with 500 L on the board. It's a blast from the past, and you're all invited. Peace out."

Formerly known as Xanadu, the club offers a 60's/70's feel, plus owner Perri Prinz is among the most knowledgable DJs in Second Life of the era, as well as playing top music from the 80's to today.

The event is tonight from 6-8 PM at HV Community (68, 207, 4051)

Relay for Life: Mardi Gras in the Bayou

On the weekend of March 30-April 1st, the Relay for Life held its Mardi Gras Weekend. For three days, there were a number of events on a special French Quarter Sim. For Friday, the big event was the dance at the Bayou. From 5 to 7 PM was the Cure Chasers event, the cheerleading team for the Relay. At 7PM was the Team Relay for Hope with DJ Madona Milena.


We're still rockin' in da Bayou here at Mardi Gras. Team Relay For Hope is taking over the airwaves with the fabulous DJ Madonna Milena up next. Bring those dance shoes and your RELAY spirit.. and c'mon down. it's a fun time .. we gar own teee it!



Dropping in, people were dancing in the swamp near a shack on stilts. It didn't matter that some looked like they were going "splish-splash" in the marsh water, everyone was having a good time. "If any Cure Chasers need dry sneakers, instant-message me," spoke Sienna Thor, captain of the Cure Chasers, whom still had several girls there. Some of them were sporting comically huge top hats, white with pictures of the "Road Runner" cartoon character. In her latex outfit and boots, DJ Madonna looked better able to handle the waters of the swamp. Some had outfits more appropriate for a real Mardi Gras event. And of course there were plenty of beads worn around.

Later that weekend were other events. Saturday 10 AM had a parade with a number of floats involve, which were later parked for display. They would later be judged for a contest. The winner was the Lanterns for Life Green Lantern float. Other teams would have their events, among them Flying Tigers, Heroes for Life, Team Caledon, Starfleet, and others.

The sim was not a permanent one, but after the weekend would disappear, as if vanishing into the virtual swamp.

The weekend also marked a milestone in this year's Relay. The amount raised this season passed the 25 million Linden mark, or over 100,000 US Dollars. One team, Amaretto Ranch Breedables, has reached Emerald status, with over two million Lindens raised. The Steelhead Salmons earned their Silver trophy, with 120,000 Lindens raised. The Passionate Redheads, whom many of the writer's virtual neighbors are with, are a Bronze-ranked team, with just over 31,000 raised.

"Go Relay"

*Addition* Second Life Newser was later contacted by Kaiila Mahoney of "Goreans in RFL," saying they had raised 75,000 Lindens that weekend, 68,000 from their parade float. This would make them the top fundraising team for the Mardi Gras. They are the third ranked among the Relay teams, behind only Amaretto Horses and SL Music Races for a Cure.

Source: RFL in SL

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Agape Prayer Garden

In the Christian faith this is a solemn week , Holy Week , the week before Easter Sunday. It is a time of prayer and reflection on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. I found a lovely place to meditate . It is called Agape Prayer Garden in the Ebony Paradise sim.

Naeico Swansong-Bluebird built the place for just this purpose. Agape, from the Greek means love , especially God’s love for humankind. She said,” This is a place of peace, where God's Word flows fluently thru prayer & worship. I encourage you to take advantage of this wonderful place to access the presence of God. All are welcome here & we do ask that everyone is mindful of others.Always be blessed in the Lord, AGAPE!“

There is gospel music playing all day and night. You are encouraged to leave a prayer request if you like. The garden is lovely and peaceful. It is certainly an enticing location to walk around and enjoy the lovely flowers and plants, or to just sit and reflect. If you would like to receiver daily thoughts there is a group you are invited to join. That way you can be notified of Bible Studies and prayer services when they are held. Right now there is a tomb that is empty to remind us that on Easter Sunday Jesus rose from the dead.

Visit and see. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ebony%20Paradise/62/211/23

Gemma Cleanslate

Events this Week in Second Life from April 3rd to April 10th

It's the first week of April, and spring is in the air. Besides the Easter events, there are happenings such as the "Magic Frogs" and the "70's Experience" in London. And we have our regularly scheduled events, from book and poetry readings, to live music and DJ music parties, talk shows, and church services.

Read more in Events this Week.

The Mama Allpa Conception HUD and Service

Second Life Newser presents a new sponsor: Mama Allpa.

Virtual pregnancies in Second Life are nothing new. These services have been in Second Life for some time. Trouble is, the "tummytalkers" they have are often irritating to other residents nearby. And the setup in the hospital resembling an artificial insemination service may not be exactly ideal to those seeing a pregnancy as starting with an act of intimacy between a couple.

Yt Recreant offers an alternative with a more realistic beginning for virtual pregnancies, as well as not having the feedback that others hear: Mama Allpa, "Mama Allpa is a conception HUD system. It addresses people who want to mate in SL with the 'consequence' of having babies. Of course I am a bit biased about the product options (grin), but I can rightly say that my product is the market leader, by far, and also highly configurable."

Read more in Extra.

SL Youtube: Raytheon & NOAA in Second Life

Although not as many real life businesses have an inworld presence as a few years ago, some continue to do some work in Second Life. One I hadn't heard of doing so was Raytheon, at least until I stumbled across a Youtube by accident.

The video describes Raytheon helping out NOAA bring a number of science teachers inworld "together in one dynamic learning space" at a "NOAA Virtual Workshop of Climate Change" to discuss the latest climate news to share with classrooms, suggesting there were some Raytheon workers also inworld in-avatar.

It wasn't mentioned when the event took place, but the video was uploaded on March 7, a week before the VWBPE(Virtual World Best Practices in Education) conference, so that can be ruled out.

Taking a look at NOAA Island at Meteora, there were no signs of the buildings in the video. So where this was taken remains unknown.

The youtube can be found at :
http://youtu.be/vuR2xeIcnFM . Although one can get copies of the link, the option to embed it on a webpage is gone.

*UPDATE* It's possible that the recording was done in the Energy Island sim, which while around when visited in August, has somehow since vanished, along with most of NOAA Island's other immediate neighbors. I say possible as that sim was closed to public access despite that it seemed to be set up for Education purposes.

Bixyl Shuftan

Classic SLN Cartoons

April Fool, sort of. This was the first cartoon I sent to SLN over four years ago, though it was originally without balloons.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Linden Lab to Make Main Grid Unuseable for Viewer 1-Based Viewers, Setting Up Separate LUsR Grid

Update *April Fools*

In a move that's been rumored of since the development of Viewer 2, Linden Lab has announced it will no longer continue to keep Second Life's Main Grid accessible to Viewer-1 based viewers, "It's been over two years since the last version of this viewer was released. Continuing to support it has been holding back the Grid," CEO Rod Humble stated in the official blog, "and continuing developments in technology are threatening to render Second Life behind the times. Residents whom do not adopt more recent Viewers will find themselves having more and more difficulty getting about the Main Grid, eventually unable to access it at all."

However, Linden Lab is giving those still insisting on using the old Viewer 1 and third-party viewers based on it's technology a continued means to access Second Life. It plans to set up another grid separate from the main one. Residents can freely move between the two, provided they are using the correct viewer. Some items in their inventory will only be able to work properly in one grid, such as Mesh objects. Residents can move their private sims and mainland holdings to the Viewer 1 grid as well, for a fee.

Linden Labs has designated the new Viewer 1 Grid the Low Use Resident Grid, or "LUsR" Grid. It is also referring to residents who will be exclusively using this grid as LUsRs, "Should a resident desire to drop their LUsR status, all they have to do is start using the proper viewers and they will be able to travel about normally and not be confined to the LUsR grid as LUsRs."

To read the official post on the Linden blog, Click Here.