Linden Lab Has New VP of Engineering: Andrew Kertesz (Mojo Linden)

 
Since Oz Linden retired in February, his position as VP of Engineering remained vacant for months. Several days ago, it was finally filled. Linden Lab's new VP of Engineering is Andrew Kertesz, or Mojo Linden. He had the following description on Linden Lab's website:

With over twenty years of experience in the games industry, Andrew is an expert at building teams and launching groundbreaking games across genres that push the limits of their respective platforms. His product and technical expertise spans across multiple mobile, PC, and console games, as well as platform and SDK development, web applications, and cloud services.

Prior to joining Linden Lab, Andrew held senior-level positions at Level Ex, Zume, DoubleDown Interactive, IGT, and Microsoft. Andrew has worked on iconic franchises such as Halo, Forza Motorsport, Fable, Crackdown, and Wheel of Fortune. Andrew has a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Washington.

It has not yet been announced when he'll be in a meeting or interview in which residents will get a chance to ask him questions. Presumably, there will be one soon.

Kertesz has a LinkedIn page one can read here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-kertesz/

Source: Modem World

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Former Xiola Linden Joins Mixed Reality Startup

It's been about two weeks since Xiola Linden departed Linden Lab. According to New World Notes, already she's been hired. She's now at Ubiquity6, a startup tech company focusing on mixed reality.

Xiola told Hamlet Au she saw similarities between Linden Lab and the new startup,  "'Fun, energized, whip-smart, kind, thoughtful, and very diverse. That is something that was so important to me in my previous role, and I did not expect to find that kind of culture anywhere else -- I got lucky to have lightning strike twice in that regard. It's exciting to make new friends who are so enthusiastic about the incredible possibilities and potential of really compelling projects."

Uniquity6 has one product available: display.land , which it calls "a new digital canvas for creativity and shared experiences." How much we'll be hearing from them  in the future, hard to say. But Xiola's presence can only help them.

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan

Strawberry Singh Hired By Linden Lab

Strawberry Singh has made a name for herself as Second Life's most popular fashion blogger. A few days ago on April 12, she had an announcement for her readers. She had gotten a job with Linden Lab. Her position is Marketing Content Specialist.

This is a new chapter in my life which came at a perfect time when I felt like I really needed a change. I am incredibly excited to be working for a company for whose product I have so much love and passion.

Going forward, this blog will no longer promote brands in Second Life as I don’t want there to be a conflict of interest because of my new position. Therefore, I will no longer be sharing style credits or reviews on items inworld. I will, however, continue to use this blog to occasionally do exploration videos of various Second Life destinations, other topics of interest, as well as specific announcements that Linden Lab might want me to make.

As a skilled blogger, video maker, and photographer, there's no doubt she'll be a strong asset to the Linden marketing team. What she comes up with, we'll likely soon see.

Bixyl Shuftan

BREAKING NEWS: Michi Lumin To Be ABC News Technology Anchor

Update: April Fools!

Before Second Life, Michi Lumin worked at the TV news program "ABC World News Tonight." Her work then was mostly behind the scenes. In a surprise move that she didn't expect, she was contacted by them, asking if she wanted to work for them again. This time in front of the camera.

"They were looking for an anchor, one of the people talking to the camera behind the desk, with some experience in technology. Well, they happened to be looking over information about Second Life, and found one of their former employees was among the founders of the oldest active community here. So they gave me a call, offering me the job. Quite a bit of a change from when I used to work there."

By all means, this doesn't mean that Michi will be leaving Second Life, "There may be some days when I'm not on as much, but I'm sticking around for sure."

Michi says she should have the chance to do parts of some stories from within Second Life, presumably as her skunkgirl avatar at Luskwood, much like National Public Radio used to from the Science School sim.

For the official statement from ABC News, Click Here.

Former T Linden Hired by Vacation Home Rental Business

Among the Lindens let go during the “Restructuring” last month at Linden Lab was T-Linden. Thomas Hale in real life, he was the Lab’s Chief Product Officer, or CPO, most known for the development of the unpopular Viewer 2. He has recently found himself another Job

On July 14th, the vacation home rental company HomeAway announced they were hiring Hale as their new CPO, “a newly created position at the company.” Of him and their other hire, Brent Bellm of Paypal, “HomeAway is fortunate to be able to attract these two talented and seasoned professionals to our business.”

It listed his experience with several companies, Second Life included, as qualifications, one company he worked for being a “capital investor” in HomeAway. They also noted that he was, “an avid traveler and vacation rental owner himself.”

HomeAway also operates BedandBreakfast.com, “the most comprehensive global site for finding bed-and-breakfast properties.“

Sources: TechCrunch, PRNewswire, HomeAway

Bixyl Shuftan