SL Mobile App Total Dowloads Reach A Million

 

 Linden Lab is currently talking about "A Big Year of Progress" for the mobile viewer in the official Second Life blog, from clearer pictures to in-app purchases to using the avatar starter pack via one's smartphone, and more. But in New World Notes, Hamlet Au mentioned another milestone. Linden Lab confirmed that the total amount of SL mobile app downloads has reached one million.

 

Hamlet had first guessed this by noticing the number of downloads on Google Play was 500,000. So he reasoned the number of those downloaded from the Apple App Store, which isn't pictured, was at least the same. In March, the total number was reportedly close to 300,000, and the total listed on Google Play was 100,000.

 

But this would be a guess until Linden Lab head Brad Oberwager confirmed the total number did pass one million.

 

As a reminder, Second Life has been downloaded on computers millions of times. 

 

Sources, Linden Blog, New World Notes  

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Six Thousand Days

 

 The other day, someone pointed out my account was exactly six thousand days old, congratulating me. And so, here's the picture.

 

That's quite a lot of days. A few sad. A few with not much done. Most having fun with friends, covering something for the paper, or both. 

May you make the best of your days.

Bixyl Shuftan

RFL Team Sunbeamers Reach Jade, 500K Lindens

 

Yesterday evening, Tuesday April 20, the Relay's Team Sunbeamers reached a milestone. The total raised in both online and inworld donations hit the 500,000 Linden dollar mark, and into Jade level fundraising. The equivalent of $2000 US dollars. 

By all means, this isn't going to mean the team will slow down. Having just had their bumper car event (which raised 6400), there's one ongoing Bid-Me event with plans for more. And then there's the Air Show, and the weekly Moon Dance and other Bring Your Own Kiosk events. Team captain Rita Mariner plans to get the team to reach to Sapphire level (750,000 L), and beyond.  

Team Sunbeamers is the Relay team of the Sunweavers community, where the SL Newser has it's office.

As of the writing of this article, the Sunbeamers are twelfth (very close to eleventh) among the teams in terms of money raised, with six other Jade teams.  The three Emerald teams (over one million), are Roos With a Dream, Goreans in Relay for Life, and The River of Life. Third highest is Cure Chasers, which is at Ruby level. Second highest at Diamond is Relay Rockers. And the highest, also at Diamond, is Camping For a Cure. So far they've raised over 2,500,000 Linden dollars, or over $10,000 US dollars.
 
Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan
  

RFL Sunbeamers Reach 300,000 Lindens, Team "Camping For A Cure" Reaches Ruby Level

 

A few days ago, the RFL Sunbeamers reached another milestone. On March 12,  the team passed the 300,000 Linden mark

Currently, the Sunbearmers are number six among the various teams in terms of the amount of money raised, at Platinum rank. As of now, the top team is "Camping for a Cure," which has raised 1,271,171 Linden dollars, and is the sole team at Ruby level.

Passing The One Thousand Mark

 

The Newser prides itself on being a daily source of news about Second Life and related topics. I sometimes say we update 363 days a year, leaving out a couple days due to the Internet (and computer hardware) being subject to bugs and glitches. But we usually have two or three articles, leads to articles, briefs, videos, cartoons, announcements, and other posts per weekday and sometimes weekend days. It all adds up, and on Monday our 1000th item for this year went up in the newsletter.

This isn't the first time we've done this. Actually for most of our ten year history, we've posted close to this number, and since 2015 have exceeded 1000 in all years but one. Still, it's something to be proud of. Not only have we done this milestone this year, but we've been doing it for a while, and barring technical difficulties will keep on doing it.

Bixyl Shuftan, Editor

 

RFL Sunbeamers Now Platinum, Bid Me Results

On Saturday March 21, the Relay For Life's Team Sunbeamers reached a milestone for this year. The season total crossed the 250,000 Linden dollar mark, putting them in Platinum level fundraising.

Later that evening a 8PM, the totals of the team's first three "Bid Me" events were made final, and the totals announced.

Beamers:  Here are the results of the voting for the first three BID MEs of the 2020 RFL Season.

BIXYL: Fox:         7.756L
             Bunny: 15,100L , goes Bunny for 6 weeks
            
LISKA: Fox:              50L
            Purple: 15,200L, goes Purple for 6 weeks
           
RITA:    Bunny:    8,884L
             Mouse: 12,500L, goes Mouse for 5 weeks

TOTAL RAISED: 59,490L        

So this means for five weeks, the team captain goes about on little mouse feet. Liska, usually a red vixen, will be purple for a month and a half. And yours truly will be going about with long ears and a cottontail for six weeks.

And then there's my little tradition of doing something whenever the team hits Platinum. So the first week of the period, I'll be going about as a purple bunny, purple being the color of the Relayers. Perhaps not as flashy as some other times the team reached Platinum, but it is keeping with tradition.

There is still one Bid Me event going, Matt Carlton's "Bid Me Feral." Those interested in making him go on for feet for a while can heat to Club Cutlass at Sunweaver Bay (114/117/757).

As of now, the Sunbeamer team has raised almost 256,000. But the team won't be resting. It has a game almost ready for others to play. And then there is the air show. The next fundraising level is Jade, which is 500,000 Linden dollars.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

RFL Team Sunbeamers Pass 200,000 Lindens

Sometime on Saturday, March 14, the Relay for Life's Team Sunbeamers passed a milestone. The fundraising total reached the 200,000 Linden Dollar mark. As of the writing of this brief, the team total for this season is 217,002. This is over 50,000 raised in a little less than a month.

Just 33,000 Linden dollars remain before the team reaches Platinum.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Chrismas Expo Has Raised 2.5 Million Lindens After Five Days

Tuesday December 10 had a couple milestones for the Relay for Life Christmas Expo. Two days earlier on the Sunday Relay Rap, Stingray Rainmaker had stated, "'IF the Christmas Expo meets its goal of $20,000 it will enable the ACS to bring the VR Goggle Program to a new Childrens Hospital and reach many many more Kids in treatment!" That likely spurred the Relayers to donate more. By 5:35 PM Tuesday afternoon, the two million Linden mark had been reached. Late in the night, the total passed two and a half million Linden dollars.

"We are at L$2,566,823," Nuala Maracas, one of the women behind the Expo, told me, "We did L$550,000 tonight, was an amazing night. ... Our goal is $20,000 US  (L$5 Million)." When asked what the high point of the Expo was, she answered, "Seeing communities from all over SL,  Goreans, Kids Tinies and more all coming together to help us get those VR Headsets for the kids with cancer. The biggest one is learning that because of the Christmas Expo that the Society is making this a  program, not just research.

"When I first approached Jeff (Sting), our American Cancer Society Staff Partner, about the VR Headset for pediatric cancer patients as the possible recipient for the Christmas Expo fundraising efforts for 2020, he was not aware it was even a Society program.  He looked into it and learned more.  With persistence the Society agreed and we were able to announce it as our goal! As a result of what we are doing here the Society has decided to make it a patient program and if we reach our goal it will expand to another hospital."

The Expo goes on to Sunday, December 15.

RFL Team Sunbeamers Reaches 100,000 Lindens Raised, Launces "Bid Me Chipmunk"

Over the weekend, the Relay for Life's  Team Sunbeamers reached a milestone. The total amount ot Lindens raised for this year passed the 100,000 Linden dollar mark.

Beamers:  We hit 100K Lindens on the KIOSK, just 25K Lindens to go for GOLD!  We can do this! 

Team captain Rita Mariner, having just finished her "bubblegum crisis" following her "Bid Me What?" in which she had to be pink for a week, has volunteered for another Bid Me, though a less drastic one: "Bid Me Chipmunk."

I have also started another BID ME.  I will go CHIPMUNK for a week for each 3000L reached.

Rita is occasionally called "Captain Chipmunk" when gaming.

As with other "Bid Me" events by Team Sunbeamers, there are two kiosks. One is for those who want the volunteer to stay as is, and another for the change. To donate, head to Club Cutlass at Sunweaver Bay (114/117/757).

Besides the "Bid Me," there are two upcoming events for Team Sunbeamers. One is the Farshore Field Air Show this upcoming Saturday April 13. Another is a party at the Happy Vixen Beach club on Saturday April 20.

With less than 25,000 Lindens left until the Gold fundraising level, already people are talking about Platinum. That rank is achieved at 250,000 Linden dollars raised. Last year, the team pulled out all the stops and made it to the never before achieved Emerald level. Getting there this year would take one million Linden dollars.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

Team Sunbeamers Reaches 400,000 Lindens

Picture from Cynthia Farshore. The "Little team that could" is continuing to pass milestones and make news. Yesterday evening, it passed the 400,000 Linden dollar mark.

It was May 23 when the team made Jade level fundraising. How much longer until 500,000 Lindens, and Sapphire level?

Second Life Newser Reaches 700 Likes on Facebook

Second Life and Facebook are sometimes at odds. such as when the latter insists those who use both can't use their avatar names (though if they include some real-life information, the moderators may let a pseudonym slide). But it's so widespread and otherwise convenient, a lot of SL residents use it. They post pictures, vent about drama, and of course see what the SL Newser has to say about goings-on in the Grid. A few days ago, we received our 700th like on our Facebook page.

So keep on reading, and if you haven't given us a like before, go ahead and do so.

Newser Gets 50,000 Reads Last Month

While there's no doubt the Newser is the number one newslettter in Second Life, our readership does go up and down a little. Usually, it's around 25 to 30,000 readers a month. In December 2016, we had a good month, about 45,500 reads. Last month, we finally beat our old record, with 50,224 reads for February 2018.

And it's not just English-speaking readers who view the Newser. Last month, we had over 8500 readers from France, over 6,000 from Brazil, almost 4800 from Belgium, almost 3800 from Russia, and almost 1800 from Kuwait.

The Newser hit it's one million mark in total reads in October 2016, and currently has a total of over 1,400,000.

Keep on reading, and we'll keep giving you the best news of the people, places, and events of Second Life.

Sunbeamers Strike Platinum, Raise 154,000 Lindens at Land and Sky Race Event

 It was a day Artistic Fimicloud would have been proud of.

When the Steampunk Land and Sky Races event for Team Sunbeamers, in cooperation with Mel's Maniacs, started yesterday, the "beamers" had raised a total of 412,500 Linden dollars. We were well into Gold and 150,000 Linden dollars away from Platinum rank. We had achieved this seemingly impossible dream last year. And once again, it was within sight.

And once again, the little team that could pulled it off once again. Near the end of the day, thanks to several people who reached a little deeper into their pockets, and of course the hard work and cleverness of Cynthia Farshore and Shockwave Yareach, our shooting for the moon had once again resulted in the Eagle landing.

For those of us lucky enough to be at Cynthia's Road Rally/Air Race today.  We made PLATINUM!  We cracked the level at the dance down in the Goblin Cave, while listening to great music, DJ'd by Cynthia.  Oldesoul and several members of other teams showed.  We even helped Meli's Maniacs make SILVER.  All in all a very successful event. 

Team Captain Rita Mariner's only complaint was that not everyone could be at the race and party. And some people contacted me, saying events in real life had kept them away and were sorry they missed the event.

Some teams manage to make it big once, then for whatever reason are unable to make an effort the following year. While the Sunbeamers are not the most successful Relay team, they, and their predecessor team the Passionate Redheads, have made good showings year after year after year. The Relay has been a source of community pride, and we were happy to share that pride with Mel's Maniacs who took part in this and other events this year.

But our work isn't quite over. We still have our campsite for the Relay Weekend to work on. But this time, the little team that could will be taking part in the walk around the track a little prouder, flying it's flag a little higher. Many from the Sunbeamer community and outside contributed in some way with time, money, or both, some people in large ways. And once again, our effort has paid off.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan, member of the RFL Sunbeamer Team

Team Sunbeamers Hit Gold

As soccer fans might say, "Gooooooooollllllllllld!"

Raising money for the Relay for Life can tough. Just getting to Rising Star status can be a challenge. For Team Sunbeamers of the Sunweaver community, we've been top performers year after year, so we expect to make a good showing. Gold level fundraising is certainly a mark of success. And on Thursday June 1, the Sunbeamers finally reached it.

So does this mean we're going to declare victory and coast the rest of the way to the Relay Weekend in July? Nope! Last year we managed to hit Platinum, and we can do so again. But doing so will require more than a little persistence, effort, and luck. We have some things planned this month, though exact details will have to wait until after the team meeting on Sunday. But we have a few "Bid Me" events currently going, including a "Bid Me Human" by yours truly. So stay tuned for more updates.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

Sunbeamers Reach Silver

Last night, on the evening of Friday May 12Team Sunbeamer reached another milestone of this year's Relay season. At close to 8:28PM, the team was finally brought over the mark to 187,800, reaching the Silver ranks. The donation was made by Cynthia Farshore.

Beamers:  Thanks to awesome generosity of one of our members,  we made SILVER, last night.  Thank you!  I also want to let everyone know that Cynthia will be holding the 4th Annual RFL Air Show, on Pacific Waters, next weekend.  Just to give everyone a heads up!  Keep an eye out on the Newser and notices for more info.

Just behind the Sunbeamers, still at Bronze rank at the time of the writing of this update, is the yearly top performer the Second Life Cheerleading Squad, at 185,501 Lindens. They should have joined the Sunbeamers among the silver ranked teams by the time the weekend is over.

Join the fun at the Relaystock and other Relay events this weekend. Next weekend, the Sunbeamers will be having their annual air show at Farshore Field in Pacific Waters. Stay tuned for details.

Updated 9AM SL time to include team announcement

Sunbeamers Pass 100,000 Lindens

The Relay for Life team representing the neighbors of the SL Newser has passed another milestone. Yesterday, they passed the 100,000 Linden dollar mark, and are currently at 102,000 Lindens raised.

An impressive number, but it's still about 78,000 short to get to Silver level. A few teams have become extremely successful, Team Shadow recently joining Two Moon Paradise Dreamers and the Relay Rockers at Platinum level. One team made Jade level: Unmasking a Cure.

There will be more about the Sunbeamer Bid Me events and the Lindens' Bid Me Bald soon.

Go Relay!

Celebrating The Three Million Dollar Milestone

On Sunday January 15 at 1PM SL time, various members of the Relay for Life in Second Life met at the Relay d Alliez sim. They were celebrating the announcement days earlier that following the results of the Christmas Expo, the Relay for Life in Second Life had raised a total of over three million US dollars since it began in 2005.

These pictures had been posted by Luna Portilo (Luna Vonrandolf) from Foundation For Life on the Relay for Life in Second Life's Facebook page.

The 2017 Relay For Life season in Second Life will begin with Kickoff on March 5th.  Team registration will be announced shortly.  Grid residents interested in participating can join the Relay For Life Volunteers group (secondlife:///app/group/7f1cc591-7968-9204-4082-98c7e544c371/about) for more information about joining or starting a team.

Press Release: Relay For Life of Second Life Passes Three Million Dollar Miles

Following the close of the 2016 SL Christmas Expo and final accounting from off-season fundraising 2017 Relay For Life of Second Life Chair Nuala Maracas announced to the RFL community that the milestone of $3,000,000 (USD) all time had been achieved.   The RFL community is invited to celebrate this accomplishment at a special party to be held Sunday January 15th at Relay dAlliez.

Relay For Life is the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society.  It began in Tacoma WA in 1985 and is held in more than 5600 communities and in more than 23 countries outside the U.S. Relay For Life of Second Life began in 2005 and raised $5000 that year.  The annual event has grown into the largest virtual fundraising event ever. In 2011 the event passed the $1,000,000 total and raised its 2 millionth dollar during the closing ceremony of 2013 Relay weekend.   In 2014 the Relay For Life of Second Life raised more than $420,000 and was the ranked 17th largest Relay event in the world.

The Thank You Celebration to be held Sunday, January 15th will begin at 1pm slt will be broadcast on T1Radio and will feature special guest performer Maximillion Kleene, a longtime supporter of the Relay in SL.

The 2017 Relay For Life season in Second Life will begin with Kickoff on March 5th.  Team registration will be announced shortly.  Grid residents interested in participating can join the Relay For Life Volunteers group (secondlife:///app/group/7f1cc591-7968-9204-4082-98c7e544c371/about) for more information about joining or starting a team.

Relay dAlliez (128, 128, 23)

About the American Cancer Society:

For more than 100 years, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has worked relentlessly to save lives and create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Together with millions of our supporters worldwide, we help people stay well, help people get well, find cures, and fight back against cancer.

Visit cancer.org or call 800-227-2345 for more information

ONE MILLION VIEWS

If we had a dollar for every time the paper has been read, well, we'd be rich.

When the Second Life Newser first opened in June 2010, only a handful of readers from JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer's Second Life Newspaper, of which we took over after it's folding, carried on with us. But over time, our numbers have grown. In recent months, we regularly get 25,000 views a month, with some months as high as nearly 40,000.

Finally on Thursday October 13, The number of reads the Newser has had in total reached the one million mark.

Special thanks to you the readers for making this milestone possible.

Team Sunbeamers Reach Gold Level

Yesterday June 11, Relay for Life in Second Life's Team Sunbeamers achieved another milestone. As their yearly Air Show in Pacific Waters was winding down near 4PM SL time, the last of the Lindens needed to put this year's team total over 315,000 Lindens were donated, and so the team had finally reached the coveted Gold Level.

Rita Mariner, the dual head of both the Sunweaver community and it's Sunbeamer team announced the news of the achievement, as well as the results of the "Bid Me Pink Part Two" event.

Beamers!  Today with the efforts of Cynthia, Shocky and many people bidding me PINK for 2 weeks, our team is now officially GOLD!  I am so proud of you.  Hugs and kisses all around!  To those of you who missed the Air Show, you missed one heck of a good time, lots of planes, cannons shooting parachuting, period music, good friends, aerial acrobatics.  Getting to the next level is NOT on my list, but we can still add to the pot and have fun while we do it

Rita would also credit Skylark Lefavre, the Sunbeamer's events coordinator, for their success in the event, as well as that of the team's season.

It's notable that sometime between 3:30 and 3:50, the team total was bumped up from about 230,000 to 301,000 Linden dollars, an increase of 70,000 Lindens or $280 US dollars. This person or persons, or "angels" as Rita referred them to as, so far remains unknown.

And so, the Sunbeamers have once again maintained their reputation as a top-ranking team. But they're not done yet. The team will continue to be a presence in multi-team events. And Skylark is reminding a certain fox reporter of his promise to "go pony" for a week should the team hit Platinum Level. And of course there are the preparations for the Relay Weekend in July. So it's hardly over for Team Sunbeamers.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan