Update: "The Corsean Encounter" Now on Paperback

 

 

It was a few days ago that yours truly announced his novel "The Corsean Encounter" was finally published and up on Kindle. The paperback wasn't available then. But as of a couple days ago, it now is. So now you can get the sci-fi tale done by the editor of the Newser on both Kindle and paperback on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRT58H37/ 

So what's next? Yours truly has been working on a sequel: "The Corsean Encounter: Prelude to War." I've also been working on a fantasy tale, "Tales of a Metamorph." 

But writing those won't stop me from doing stories for the Newser, and as always will continue to write about the people, places, and events of this virtual world.

Bixyl Shuftan

"The Corsean Encounter" Up On Kindle

 

 

I don't normally post about my activities outside Second Life, but this has been a project decades in the making, and is finally up.

 

Those who know me well recall that besides having a longtime interest in current events, I've also been reading science-fiction and history. Most science-fiction stories involve aliens with either advanced or tribal technology. Technology in a Medieval or Colonial Age state? Not so much. 

So introducing my first published story: The Corsean Encounter.

Theadore Smith, sentenced to a Soviet gulag, gets a second chance when the train he's on has a wreck in Central Asia. Making his way south with his companion Leonid Kakanov, they're ambushed by Muslim tribesmen, and have to seek shelter in a cave they stumble upon. Finding a strange machine, it teleports them to another cave. They emerge not on Earth, but another world. Running into some of its not quite human inhabitants, whom live under Medieval conditions, the initially friendly encounter turns hostile when they're captured by a local lord, whom turns them over to his superior.

After a period of time in which Theadore learns the local language, the overlord takes the two humans to his Emperor as a gift. At the Imperial Palace, they learn more about the land and it's people. They get attention from some people who see value in their knowledge. They also run into the ambassador of a nearby land which is somewhat more advanced and not an empire but a republic, Gideon. But some consider the humans little more than monsters, whose lives are of no real value. Can Theadore and Leonid convince enough people of importance that they deserve more than a lifetime in a dungeon, or worse? And what can they do for the Gideon Republic, which many in the Empire want to settle old scores with?

For now, the story is available only on the kindle version, though kindle apps can be used on computers, tablets, and some smartphones. The paperback version will be available soon. 

You can find the story on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRDZSTHC

And stay tuned for the sequel: "Prelude to War."

Update: "The Corsean Encounter" is now available on both Kindle and paperback.

Bixyl Shuftan

Nydia Tungsten's "Switched Destinies" Now Available in Hardcover

 

For fans of Nydia Tungsten's stories, some good news. Her novel "Switched Destinies" is now available in hardcover. 

"Two souls, viewed by many of their kinds’ as eccentric lunatics, suddenly find themselves switched within their parallel universes. Now in strange new lands, each is having to learn about the other side of the mirror. In the all new Switched Destiny's"

 

Switched Destinies is the first novel Nydia published, and has been followed by a sequel, with a third story in the works. An interview with Nydia about the novel can be read (here). 

 

 The story is on sale on Amazon (here). Hardcover costs $25 USD, with the paperback costing $14, and the Kindle version $3.

Bixyl Shuftan

Sansar Mistakenly Declared Dead After Being Knocked Offline

 
Those who read DrFran's article from earlier this month may remember she described Sansar as "on life support" with "all of the employees have been furloughed, and many have gone on to other jobs," and it's license for Umbra, which helps it's graphics to run better, had expired. So last week on December 22 when noted blogger Ryan Schultz couldn't get on, he assumed the virtual world had died. New World Notes would also report it was offline. But the next day, people were able to get back on the virtual world. Inara Pey would say, "services came back on something of a rolling basis, with all avatar services being about the last."

Exactly why the virtual world was knocked offline for a day is still unknown. While one can easily pin it on the lack of technical support, it's notable at the time there was an outage with Amazon Web Servers which is known to have affected the Epic Games Store, Imgur, and other places online. So that may have has something to do with the outage. While Second Life uses Amazon Cloud servers, it is unknown what effect if any the outages had on the larger virtual world.

While Sansar may still be around, it's still a virtual world in trouble. So while the reports of it's demise might have been mistaken, unless things change for the better for the place, it could soon go permanently offline for real.

Sansar was created by Linden Lab, officially going online on July 2017, as a next-generation virtual world. But it's numbers remained small, so Linden Lab would eventually sell it to Wookey Technologies in 2020. 

Update: DrFran reported a response from Wookey management on December 26:

 hi there. this is steve from the wookey management - sansar team. i thought i'd pop in to let you know we are actively looking to resolve the issues on the platform. we value our community big time, and hoping we can get things running smoothly soon. ... we appreciate your patience and understanding... happy holidays from the wookey team!!!

Sources: The Verge,

Image Credit: Inara Pey

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Amazon To Link Users of Alexa, Other Devices, To One Another

 

For those who own an Alexa, or other devices by Amazon that you use, an article in Ars Technica has some troubling news for those who value their privacy, and don't like the company getting them into something without their okay. According to the e-zine, Amazon plans to launch "Amazon Sidewalk." The service will link those who use Amazon products to their neighbors who also use them and share their bandwith for the purpose of helping those without a connection. But instead of asking users if they want in, people have to actively opt out of it before the date of Tuesday June 8, one week from now.

Amazon Sidewalk helps your devices get connected and stay connected. For example, if your Echo device loses its wifi connection, Sidewalk can simplify reconnecting to your router. For select Ring devices, you can continue to receive motion alerts from your Ring Security Cams and customer support can still troubleshoot problems even if your devices lose their wifi connection. Sidewalk can also extend the working range for your Sidewalk-enabled devices, such as Ring smart lights, pet locators or smart locks, so they can stay connected and continue to work over longer distances. Amazon does not charge any fees to join Sidewalk.

Amazon insists the service is to help the users of it's devices. They also released a report to address security and privacy matters.  But as Ars Technia put it, "But there are enough theoretical risks to give users pause. Wireless technologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have a history of being insecure. ... If industry-standard wireless technologies have such a poor track record, why are we to believe a proprietary wireless scheme will have one that’s any better? ... Extending the reach of all this encrypted data to the sidewalk and living rooms of neighbors requires a level of confidence that’s not warranted for a technology that’s never seen widespread testing. ... Amazon’s decision to make Sidewalk an opt-out service rather than an opt-in one is also telling. The company knows the only chance of the service gaining critical mass is to turn it on by default, so that’s what it’s doing."

The good news, users can opt out of "Sidewalk." The steps are:

Open the Alexa app.
Open "More" and select "Settings."
Select "Account Settings."
Select "Amazon Sidewalk."
Turn Amazon Sidewalk "Off."

Ars Technica stated they contacted Amazon representatives to comment on the matter, but got none.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

"We Are Now In The Cloud"

 
It's been about a month since April Linden announced that the data from all the sims (aside from a few Linden ones) had been moved to Cloud servers. But there was still some work to be done. This week, there was some more news about the last stages of the move. On Tuesday, it was announced that "as part of our overall migration to the cloud, some of our web publishing tools ... may be unavailable for our internal editorial team." And so the Second Life Destination Guide was getting a temporary freeze on updates. Also on Tuesday, according to Inara Pey, at the Simulator User Group meeting April and Oz Linden had stated all Second Life systems and service were now running on Amazon Cloud Servers. So the Lab was clearing all of it's equipment from it's "former co-location facility in Arizona."

At the Wednesday Third Party Viewer Meeting, supposedly Oz Linden was more direct, "Actually, we disconnected the datacenter last night ... everything is now running in AWS."

It's not an announcement that's being celebrated by all. There's been a number of glitches on the Grid lately, and Inara Pey stated in the same article that the Lab was working to fix an issue on the map. While the move to the Cloud may be done, the job of taking care of the bugs and glitches as a result of the move remains.

Source: Modem World , SL forums 

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: This Friday and Saturday at The Science Circle - "Global Fires"

"Global Fires"

Saturday March 28

10 AM to 11 AM SL time

Host: Mathew Burr

For more information: Click Here

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Science%20Circle/122/137/3002

The Amazon River- Eight Regions, One River!

Britty Bee's travels in Second Life took her to a particularly adventuresome place: The Amazon. With eight sims of jungle, there is no shortage of sights to see from villages to ruins to tall mountains. Not only that, the place is home to an active roleplaying community made up of tribes and hardy loners. With the roleplay HUDs, danger is quite literally around every corner as someone or something may be out to get the next unwary traveler.

Read Britty's article in Places.

A Trip to the Amazon: Day One

A few years ago, Linden Lab came up with it's "Amazonian Adventure." While liked overall, some residents thought there was room for improvement. Recently the Newser found out about a newer Amazon area, one which has adventure, but also some dangers. Bixyl Shuftan took a trip over, likely to be the first of a few.

Read more in Places.

Linden Lab Offering "New Limited Time Deals on Amazon"

Today is the last day that Second Life residents in the US can "take advantage of a couple of great sales for Second Life packs" on Amazon. The three offers are a "Premium Vehicle Pack - which includes L$4000, an exclusive hoverboard, deluxe sail boat, and premium dune buggy" at "30% off" for $24.95 US dollars, a "Hoverboard Bonus Pack," and a "Pet Pack."

More details are on the Linden Blog (Here).

Desi Heet by Jackson Arthur

Grease Coakes recently went to Book Island to chat with a writer, Jackson Arthur, about his new book. In the book, Desi Heet, the title heroine is a contradiction. Her appearance is demonic, yet she is steadfastly religious and charitable. So what happens in the book? Jackson tells Grease a few things, including a question the story raises.

Read more in People.

The Island of Lost Dreams

Second Life Newser recently was sponsored by the Island of Lost Dreams. So what is the place and the people behind it? Bixyl Shuftan was invited by its leader Lisa Salvadori to come on over and have a look. It was a place with never a boring moment, and some interesting friendships.

Read more in Extra.

Eye on the Blog: Second Life on Amazon with Weekend Promotions

This weekend, it was announced on the Linden Blog that Second Life was doing promotions on Amazon.com.

It’s a new year, and we have news: Second Life is now available on Amazon! 

In addition to the standard Mac and PC versions, we’re offering several bundled packages for sale, which include vehicles to enjoy and L$ to spend inworld or on the Marketplace.

As a special promotion, this weekend only the Starter Vehicle Pack (usually $9.95), which includes a hoverboard and L$1000 will be available for FREE [limit one per customer].

If a friend of yours has been waiting to join Second Life, now is a great chance for them to head over to Amazon and get started with the free Starter Vehicle Pack. Spread the word!

Besides links to the Mac and PC official viewers, there were three offers listed. One was a Premium Vehicle Pack that consisted of a overboard, a sailboat, the dune buggy once available only to Premium members, and 4000 Lindens, for $25 US dollars. Then there was the Deluxe Vehicle Pack with the overboard and sailboat with 2000 Lindens for $15. Last was the Starter Vehicle Pack with the overboard and 1000 Lindens. The latter was not listed as free, but marked "Currently unavailable." Word was people were logging in with alts and when the Lab realized this they took it down. Later on, it was listed at ten dollars.

There have been a number of reactions from residents. There was a thread about it in the official forums, where most residents expressed skepticism. One called it "a fiasco that does further damage to SL's reputation."

Daniel Voyager thought it was a good idea overall, but noted in his comments after his post that those outside the United States couldn't benefit from the promotions. Someone commenting on his article thought it was a good idea, but not thought out very well.

Tateru Nino called the promotions "just plain embarrassing." She noted that Second Life was listed as a "game," a sticking point with her and other residents. The second part was because of the content bundles, which were of various vehicles, calling vehicles in general "the single, weakest, most unreliable aspect of Second Life," and likely to give newcomers a bad impression.

Inara Pey noted the items had been up on Amazon since December 10th, but only now being announced by Linden Lab to the residents. In a second post she felt Linden Lab should be let off about the "game" issue, considering public attitudes and Amazon's limited categories, but not about what she felt was the promotion being far short of it's potential, "the packages are indicative of thinking at the Lab, which is at worst simply lazy, or at best demonstrating an inability to think an idea through."

Probably the most enthusiastic about the promotion was Hamlet Au, who called it "a clever sales system" that could help make up for its declining land sales, "a pretty good idea for driving new revenue." He suggested that anyone who had an Amazon affiliate code add it in to a link to the promotions so they could get a small cut if someone makes a purchase. But many of those commenting on his article weren't so sure.