News In Brief

 There's a lot going on, and only a little time to write. So for today, here's the news in brief.

 

Yesterday, Tuesday April 14 at 1 PM SL time was the official start of the Bellisseria Birthday celebrations, or BB7, with a speech by Patch Linden, who congratulated the Linden Home continent's residents for making the land alive and creative.

 

Today, Wednesday April 15, was the Bid the Lindens Bald party hosted by the Relay Rockers. For a moment, it looked like Patch Linden's team was going to be bald. Then they got a big donation. In the end, Team One would give Team Two the haircuts.

 

Yesterday, Linden Lab announced they were accepting applications for volunteer staff for the SL23B.  

 

Today, Linden Lab would announce "A New Chapter For Mainland." The adult continent Zindra will be expanding while Gaeta 1 will be "transitioning," or going away after it's residents are relocated "by the end of 2026."

 

More on these stories when there is more time to write.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

News In Brief

 

 There's a few news items that deserve a mention, even if there's not quite enough time to explain all in detail today. 

 

Linden Lab announced there will be a pause on AI character development on September 1, No more can be created and any existing ones can not be used until further notice. 

 

There's been some talk about the "Stop Killing Games" movement, of which Ubisoft's CEO responded several days ago. 

 

Next month, the International Space Museum turns 20. 

 

More on these later, when time permits.

 

 

 

News in Brief

 

There's a lot going on, but not so much time to write about it.

 

Of the Firestorm update we wrote about on Monday morning, it would finally be released later that afternoon. You can read details in the Firestorm blog. 

 

Almost overlooked, earlier this month Linden Lab would announce the transfer of the ownership of Tilia to Thunes was now completed.  

 

And a few days ago, Linden Lab would announce that the six months of free Madpea Unlimited was almost up.  

 

News In Brief

 

Busy Fox has been busy. So we have only a little time to tell you what's been going on. 

 

Yesterday at the Lab Gab, Patch Linden gave a few details about upcoming plans by Linden Lab, including the upcoming Ranch Linden Homes, available only to Premium Plus residents. They will be available next month (assuming things go according to plan.

There was also "Second Lifetime," the chance to get Premium, or Premium Plus, accounts for life. 

Today, details about the upcoming mobile viewer were released in a video. 

More on these stories later. 

This And That: News in Brief

 There's a lot going on, and only a little time to write about it. So here's a few things that have been going on, but we haven't had the time to write about it in-depth.

With the Pandemic and US Presidential Election in the news lately, something called the CASE Act was almost unnoticed. Tacked onto the Coronovirus relief bill, the act was to "a small claims court-type system within the United States Copyright Office for copyright owners to seek damages under US$30,000 for copyright violations." It got the attention of one SL DJ whom was concerned as it sounded like streaming for public performance would become a felony under the bill.

A residential area, Baja Cove, closed down, "it was a beautiful New Jersey like beach."

Flash is no longer operating for computers, and with it, a number of browser games, and animated files are no longer playing.

We still have yet to write about the Silent Hill "Otherworld" area, an interactive horror area where monsters attack people as they explore an area. For those who can't wait for the article, you can check it out at Chief (42/87/691).

A new kind of breedable pet was recommended  to us to write about. We'll get to it soon.

Second Life's land area grew over the previous year according to Tyche Shepherd, from 24740 regions to 25555, with most of the increase being private sims.

Stay tuned for more on these, and other topics.

News In Brief

A lot has been going on, and only a little time to write about it. So it's time to write a little about what's going on, and do something more in depth later.

The Second Life Renaissance Festival concluded on Sunday October 4. Just before it ended were two Linden events. On Thursday October 1 was the Linden and Mole jousting event, in which Abnor Mole won, followed by some sparing between the Lindens and Moles and some residents. On Friday October 2 was the Lindens in the Pillory, which was a "jail and bail" with a twist.

In the Sunweaver/Angel community, the Happy Vixen opened it's new Halloween Haunt area: Purrfection Estates (236, 219, 24)   

World Space Week is this week, and the National Space Society has something at their sim for it: National Space Society (104/165/3004)

Nydia Tungsten announced the publishing of her second novel on Amazon: "Switched Destinies - Kevin's Return," holding a party inworld to celebrate.

The Gacha Guild event is going on. To check it out, head over to Dew Drop (162/168/1128).

Furry Fashion has a Halloween area, "filled with merchants spooky wares, a maze and a hunt!" Read more about it here: (link).

Stay tuned for more information on these, and other happenings, later.

News In Brief

There's a lot going on in Second Life. But between the Relay, the SLB, and our upcoming anniversary, so little time to write about it. Here's a brief mention of a few things going on.


In an article in Vice magazine, Linden Lab's CEO Ebbe Altberg stated Second Life's monthly usership was close to 900,000 thousand. Ryan Schultz would point out this was a 50% increase from the days before the Coronavirus Pandemic.


There's a new Firestorm viewer out, Update 6.3.9.58205, "this one comes with a LOT of changes, bug fixes and improvements."


A few days ago, Linden Lab would announce all further US dollar transactions, not just those for cashing out Lindens to real world currency, would be handled via it's Tilia service, "to stay compliant with regulations across a number of U.S. states." Also a few days ago, the Lab announced it would be adding the Value Added Tax to transactions involving residents of Norway and Australia.


Earlier this month, Daniel Voyager reported that the Second Life app, powered by Android, was still in an "internal alpha" stage of development, "This is a communications only app, for now." There's no date as to when a public beta will be out, Ebbe Linden recommending for now the web-based Speedlight.


Yours truly was also given a tour of the CDS Catacombs, located at Colonia Nova (78,108,22). Mermaid Celene (CeleneHighwater Resident) of the Radegast Viewer group met up with me to discuss "Silver Economy," which blind SL users can take part in. After a tip from a friend about "a free downloadable board game ... based around making fun of the toilet paper shortages," I had a talk with the maker, Wanders Nowhere.


We'll have more on some of these when time permits.

Bixyl Shuftan

News in Brief

There's a lot going on, both in Second Life and online gaming. So while we're trying to find some time to write an in-depth article, here's a few topics in brief.

Burn2, the largest annual art and music festival is taking place on Second Life. There are numerous music events and art exhibits over the six sims. To get there, head to Burning Man- Deep Hole (174/32/25). The festival lasts to Sunday October 20, with the high points being the Burning of the Man on Saturday and the Temple Burn on Sunday.

Also going on is the Gacha Guild event. Taking place twice a year, people can purchase avatars and accessories. The hot item for this event is the Spirit Fennec avatar, of which people are selling for as low as ten Lindens on Marketplace. Starting up a few days ago was the event's "Hallows 2019 Silent Hill Hunt," which promises big scares and big prizes. The event ends on November 1, and is located at Dew Drop (189/180/1002).

The controversy over the game company Blizzard banning of a game tournament winner and stripping him of his prize money continues. A few days ago, they announced he would still get the prize money, but was still banned for six months. But this hasn't stopped the criticism from it's customers, human rights organizations, or US politicians. The company's largest annual event, Blizzcon, is just in a couple weeks and fans are planning a protest there.
Image from Vice

Stay tuned for more information.

Bixyl Shuftan

News In Brief

Quite a lot has been happening. Too much to go into detail about it all, so we're going to give the short version.

The HFOT Benefit in Veterans Isle was a success with 258,870 Linden dollars raised.

Montecito Bay has decided to postpone their Nuyu Modtacular Gacha Event until December.

In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread, a Linden claimed adult content was "less than 5% of our revenues."

There are no plans to introduce adult content to Sansar, in part because Linden Lab is searching for corporate sponsors for the virtual world.

An agreement was reached with Linden Lab to save the Chouchou sim, which was in danger of closing in May.

The Gacha Guild event is taking place, with avatars such as the Spirit Fennec.

Firestorm has a new release out, with Bakes On Mesh compatibility. After earlier deciding to offer separate Second Life and Opensim viewers, Firestorm decided to combine them again. Jessica Lyon admitted they were struggling with Opensim "we do not have, and cannot find, a dedicated Opensim viewer developer with lots of time on their hands."

More on these stories when time permits.

Sources: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Weekend in Review

Quite a few things happened this weekend. Regrettably, the closing of the Derpyland sim was one of the happenings. But there were also a couple events. The Homes For Our Troops benefit concert took place in Veterans Isle. Also, there was the annual Lovecraft festival, the Innfest, at Innsmouth (17/34/1201), which is still going on for a couple more days.

More on these, and other goings-on, later.

More News In Brief

There's a lot going on, but only so much time to write about it. Here's a few things that have been going on.

A Second Life fraternity, Mu Sigma Nu, has been working with an inworld sorority Zeta Nu Chi on a "Facebook Photo Drive" to raise awareness for kidney disease (their page here).

Skywind Kitsune (Gravity Wright) of United Furry Outpost showed me an inworld racing game called AGRA (Anti-Gravity Racing Association) that's been around, and updated for some years. Until the article, you can check it out at Topaz Oasis (104/218/2005).

The Gacha Guild Spring is going on. Among the items there is a small and cute feral avatar known as the Chibi Dragon Noodle which has been quite popular. Dew Drop (112/116/1738). Another recommended to me were the "Curious Critters" avatars by XuXu (Xulael Resident).

With anti-vaxxer misinformation being enough of a problem to help cause a resurgence in measles, Youtube has recently started to remove ad placements on videos that discourage people to get vaccinated or vaccinate their children, saying they fall under it's policy of not making videos with "dangerous and harmful" material monetized, or having ads placed with money going to the producer (link). One computer game, Plague Inc., is getting an anti-vaxxer scenarito thanks to an online petition (link).

Youtube has also been in the news for disabling comments on most videos that feature children due to increasing concerns about pedophiles (link).

Last month, in the video game Fortnite, a virtual DJ named :Marshmello played to a virtual audience of about ten million. While some such as Rolling Stone Magazine (link) and BBC (link) mentioned Second Life when reporting on it, some called it "the first ever live performance in a video game." 

A Busy Weekend

A few things happened over the weekend. Montecito Bay held it's first anniversary celebration (pictured above), which lasted over twelve hours with numerous prizes given out. The Confederation of Democratic Simulators held their Oktoberfest event over three days. The Relay's Foundation for Life held their Oktoberfest event for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. And more.

Stay tuned for more later.

News in Brief : Possible Viewer Trouble, Updated Linden Game, Google Plus Shut Down

 Once again, there's a lot more news than there is time to go over it in detail. So here's more brief descriptions of several things that have been going on.

Is Animesh Update Causing Viewer Trouble? - Has your viewer been having problems lately? A couple people have come to me, saying they've been crashing a lot lately. My attention was directed to JIRA BUG-225584 done by the creator of the Black Dragon viewer, saying ever since the Animesh update to Second Life, his viewer has had "massive performance loss" with frame rate. The problem isn't limited to Black Dragon, but could hit any Second Life Viewer. Linden Lab is investigating the issue, and people with problems, are encouraged to discuss it on this thread in the official forums.

Source: New World Notes

New Linden Realms - On the Linden Blog, there was an announcement that one of the older Linden games has been given a new twist. Linden Realms is now "Linden Realms: The Search For Magellan."

New Sunweaver Halloween Attractions - The Sunweaver community has two new Halloween-themed attractions. These are Shockwave's Haunted Maze at Sunweaver Eclipse (102/39/2201) and the Happy Vixen Haunted Manor.

Google Plus Shut Down After Data Breach Exposed - Google announced on Monday October 8 that it would be shutting down it's social network Google Plus. This announcement came shortly after a Wall Street Journal article that there had been a data leak affecting a half million users, and Google made the decision not to warn people fearing disclosure might mean bad press and possibly increased regulation as a result.

Source: Ars Technica 

Dysphoria to Euphoria. The Newser was alerted to a sim that had been recreated by it's fans. Dysphoria was an Alice-in-Wonderland style sim that it's owner announced would be closing due to her changing real life. When an attempt to save it failed, fans made the decision to rebuild it, under the new name Euphoria.

Source: Euphoria Wonderland

More on these stories, and others, when time permits.

Bixyl Shuftan

News in Brief

There has been quite a bit going on lately in Second Life and the Internet. Too much to go in-depth for all of them, and some have been around for a few days. So here's some of the stories, in brief.

Facebook Hacked: Last weekend, Facebook announced fifty million accounts had been exposed and vulnerable by a "security issue" due to a "vulnerability" in the social media app's code. Although Facebook's owner Mark Zuckerberg insisted the problem was fixed, others such as Virginia Senator Mark Warner called for increased regulation to protect the public's privacy and security.

BBC, Mashable, Mark Warner Twitter

Net Neutrality Lawsuit: The US Federal Government filed suit against California earlier this week over the state's Net Neutrality law. Despite 200 businesses and trade groups asking them not to do so, last December, the FCC voted to scrap Net Neutrality protections. Several states responded by setting up their own net neutrality protections, California's being among the toughest. In the lawsuit, the Justice Department charges California's actions are a violation of the Constitution. In response, one of the people who wrote California's protections charged that the state's law was written in response to the Federal Government abandoning it's obligation to help protect public access to the Internet.

Petition at Change.org , ars.technica, Washington Post , The Verge, 

Internet Throttling Has Begun:  Adding fuel to the fire behind the efforts of California and others trying to bring back Net Neutrality protections was a report written about last month that confirmed major Internet Service Providers were already throttling Internet traffic through Youtube, Netflix, and other places. Verizon is already in trouble for throttling the communications equipment used by California firefighters while they were working to stop wildfires.

The Humanist Report , Bloomberg , The Guardian

Leaving Behind One's Avatars In Their Will:  Blogger Ryan Schultz, who writes about Sansar and other virtual worlds, recently announced that he might have cancer. In response, he says he will be putting avatars he made in his will so they can still be used after he dies. While people interested can contact him inworld, he doesn't plan on leaving avatars that took a lot of time, sometimes money, to make to just anyone. (first update) (second update) (third update)

Hat Tip: Hamlet Au

Star Trek RP Worries: A virtual recreation of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation was ordered taken down by lawyers from CBS, prompting worries from New World Notes' Hamlet Au that they might go after Star Trek roleplays in Second Life soon as well, despite an agreement several years ago.

Eurogamer, New World Notes, 

Second Life Sims Still Growing: In late August, the Newser noted that five of the past seven weeks then had seen an increase in the number of private sims. According to Tyche Shepard in Sept 23, the increases have been continuing "an additional 45 regions since 31st Dec 2017 , a 0.3% growth and overall the Total Grid has regrown to the the size it was in April last year." But a week later, he stated five sims had closed, bringing the growth back down to 40 sims and 0.2% .

Source: Virtualverse  Hat Tip: Daniel Voyager

Gossip/Slam Blog Owners Banned: New World Notes reported a couple weeks ago about the owners of a blog called "SL Secrets." The blog allowed anonymous users to make all kinds of claims about those they didn't like from copybotting to fat-shamming to catfishing to ageplay. From the point of view of content creators, it was a potential cause of lost revenue through charges of ripping off others in which the accuser would be completely unknown. The two co-owners were reported to have been banned by Linden Lab from Second Life citing violations for several sections, including 5.3 which Hamlet Au called "the nuclear option," stating, "We may terminate your Account if we determine in our discretion that such action is necessary or advisable to ... protect the rights or interests of Linden Lab, the Service community or any third party." More recently, the owners have decided to remake their blog to cover territory beyond Second Life, called "Virtual Secrets." The co-owners insist they're doing so to expand their coverage and not because of a lawsuit by Linden Lab to remove the "SL" part of their name.

Source: New World Notes

New Avatar Review Website. Some fans of furry avatars may remember "Second Life Avatar Review Files," or SLARF. It used to have a large database of reviews of furry avatars, but stopped updating in 2015, and is now accessible in the Internet Archive after being taken down from the net. Blau Rascon is now doing a new blog of avatar reviews: The "Second Life Avatar Index." Already, there are several reviews of recent furry and feral avatars.