New World Notes Moves to Patreon

 

 Normally, The Newser doesn't write about other newsletters and newsblogs. And it's been a few months since yours truly last checked this one. But its just been found out that New World Notes, written by James Wagner (aka Hamlet Au), has moved to Patreon due to the platform it's based on shutting down. The move was made in September.

 

 

New World Notes is moving to my Patreon! I've been covering virtual world news and culture on my blog since 2006, but Typepad is shutting down on September 30. So New World Notes must move to another platform.

 

Patreon requires a subscription to not just post, but read articles there. Higher degrees of membership cost money. 

 

Hamlet Au was hired by Linden Lab as their "embedded reporter" in 2006 and remained there for a few years. He eventually left, but continued to write about Second Life and virtual worlds and tech in general. 

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Singularity Viewer Developer Calling For Patreon Support

One third party viewer for Second Life that got plenty of use in the recent past was Singularity. Developed to resemble the classic Linden viewer before they changed to V-2, for a time it was the second post popular viewer with only Firestorm getting more use. It would be updated every few months until February 2015. Afterwards it would be hit with a number of problems such as one developer dying and another leaving the team. It would come up with one more update in June 2016. But there have been none since. While the viewer still works, some newer avatars don't rezz properly with it, sometimes in ways that block much of the screen.

Siana Gearz, the head of the Singularity team, recently made a page on Patreon, a membership platform site that allows content creators to receive funding from supporters, or patrons. Apparently, her financial situation has gone downhill, saying, "the project has been extremely draining in part because it left me bankrupt." So she had created the Patreon page to "gauge interest to continue Singularity Viewer ...  if people are willing to pay, it changes things. You can also pledge here if you choose to support me in new endeavours, which are likely to be 3D printing related, probably firmware development."

So far (as of the writing of this article), Siana has a total of six patrons pledging $23 a month, including five "Singularitians" whom want her to concentrate on improving the viewer. More information can be readon her Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/sianagearz .

Hat tip: Mook Wheeler

Bixyl Shuftan

YadNi Monde, Maker of "YadNi's Junkyard," Needs Help to Continue Drawing

By Bixyl Shuftan

For longtime residents of Second Life, one place many visited in their early days was "YadNi's Junkyard," one of the best known and largest freebie places. Up since at least 2004, newcomers and more established residents on a budget could go there for clothes, avatars, jewelry, weapons, textures, animations, gestures, and more. He also had a few newstands of inworld publications, such as our predecessor paper the Second Life Newspaper. Although it's unknown how many people visited the place, YadNi himself felt the number was many thousands. But in June 2015, YadNi reluctantly took the landmark location down after it had been up for eleven years.

Unfortunately, YadNi hasn't been doing that well financially. After he had to put a small business on hold, he announced on his Facebook page via a Patreon site he had put up that he would need help if he was going to continue his hobby of drawing.

As far as I can remember, I am drawing. And I never stopped, using all tools that would fall into my hands, thus learning different techniques and skills (from analogic to digital). Today is the day where I need some support from all my friends from all over the World. I want to keep creating, to go back to my analogic roots and to do it for You Guys.

I had a chat with YadNi over IM. "Everything got a little complicated," he spoke of his troubles, "I had founded my own 3D personal enterprise. (It) lasted quite a good while, until i came onto a client who didn't honor his payments and put me under. I had to close said enterprise (due to a) lack of reserve money, had to move apartment to a single room, and now I'm totally disgusted in 3D and am going back to my first skills, hands and paper. ... I (had) worked for him for two months and I was always on the edge with money. The simple fact that individual didnt pay the bills, my accountant said there was nothing to save me and I had to close. So I'm starting all over from scratch, hoping to gather enough to restart something serious if possible."

When I brought up his past in Second Life, YadNi responded, "I have mostly been a builder, did work in Second Life for Nike, Toyota, Warner Bros, Alcatel, and many groups and (other) people. I built entire sims, even some stuff others refused because they thought it was impossible to do (Intel sim). I then went to InWorlds, a parallel grid where I did over four or five years building there." He pointed out his one page blog at (https://yadni.blogspot.fr/) that described his beginnings, including where his online name came from. mentioning he had been calling himself in real life as an artist.

Once again, YadNi's Patreon page is at https://www.patreon.com/YadNiMonde . His goal is to get $500 USD a month, at which he'll start holding raffles monthly to send one artwork to one of his supporters.

Bixyl Shuftan