China, Come to Second Life Now

Posted: March 20, 2011 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

The more I read about China being censored, the more I think China should have a larger presence in Second Life.

A while back, China did the most despicable thing and arrested over 5,300 people for having porn websites, and we know China blocks Youtube, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., but perhaps China isn’t blocking or censoring the SL grid just yet, and it could be our opportunity to get information out to Chinese residents. Anyway, this latest alleged Chinese government attack on Google G-Mail is quite nefarious.

Shame on you Chinese government. Shame on you.

The Right to be Anonymous in Second Life

Posted: March 11, 2011 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

In case you missed it, Engadget recently published a very good article about the right to be anonymous online. The article goes into some detail about why people should have the right to be anonymous as they use the internet, and I think the same holds true for Second Life residents as well. It’s a very good read if you get the chance and the next time someone tries to sell you on Facebook integration, you’ll know they must be crazy.

In an article related to Second Life anonymity, Little Tateru posted an update on the RedZone-like Second Life alt detector known as QuickWare Alts Pro which has just been yanked from Second Life almost as quickly as it arrived. It was designed to detect your Second Life alts by exploiting the Second Life media glitches that have been around for many years now. Soft Linden slammed the magic ban hammer down and then shouted out very loudly “No More!“

Well, he didn’t actually say it in those exact words, but just pretend he did…

Now the important question is, when will the media glitches be repaired?

In another bizarre event related to online identities, the likes of which I hope we never see happen in Second Life, a user who posted a negative comment in an online website forum was banned from the game Dragon Age 2.

Late Breaking Update (3-12-11):

Holy ****ing Moly! In yet another incident related to the Redzone fiasco, the Herald is now reporting that the Redzone password database may have just been compromised which could lead to those users Second Life account passwords being in jeopardy for people who sometimes use the same passwords with different user accounts. Also potentially at risk, “over 1.6 million unique IP addresses connected to various avatars in the database, and geo-location tools to identify real life location of Second Life players monitored by zf Redzone”.

Another Update! The Herald is now temporarily offline. It just doesn’t get any stranger…

It has been quite the roller-coaster ride for online identities this week, that much is certain. It’s time for a Heineken.

Rodvik Linden Explores the Grid

Posted: January 20, 2011 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Holy Christopher Columbus!

Second Life breathes a sigh of hope today as Rodvik Linden introduces himself to the Second Life community. It would seem that Rodvik has been very busy in Second Life as of late, even taking to the intricacies of scripting, building, alt-ing, driving, and sailing. You can follow the adventures of Rodvik Linden on Twitter @rodvik. Here’s to hoping that Rodvik makes Dynamic Shadows his number one priority.

Viewer 2.5 Beta 1 – Get Your Rezz On!

Posted: January 19, 2011 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Holy Performance Upgrades!

Second Life Viewer 2.5 Beta 1 is out with a whopping potential “30% increase in decoding images, which should translate to a visible improvement in rezzing time for complex scenes.”

The reason for the performance boost is supposedly related to the older Kakadu library. I like the way that sounds…Kakadu!

Anyway, this new beta is running a newer Kakadu, or KDU version 6.4.

What are you waiting for? Start your downloads!

Blue Mars Downward Spiral to Nothingness

Posted: January 18, 2011 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Holy Meltdown Moly!

Strange scientific experiments have been going on recently at Blue Mars, but none so disturbing as the most recent. Last week it was announced that Avatar Reality is restructuring and they will be dropping technical support for the Blue Mars PC user client and that most likely only bug fixes will be made going forward. In addition, monthly city hosting service charges are now abolished, and CEO Jim Sink will no longer be with the company, as well as many others who have worked on the Blue Mars PC client.

“With our focus now clearly on mobile, updates to the PC version of the software will likely be restricted to bug fixes for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, we will no longer charge our current City Developers for the monthly city hosting service. The servers will remain online, city updates and uploads will continue, and shop and residence rentals will still function but technical support for the user client will no longer be offered.”

To quote the Master Control Program from the movie Tron: “I wonder how you’d take to working in a pocket calculator?”

Apparently the upper ups at Avatar Reality believe many people seem to enjoy being fully immersed in a virtual world via a teeny tiny iPhone, or iPad. Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll take my virtual worlds in full screen high definition goodness any day of the week.

Linden Lab Acquires New CEO!!!

Posted: December 23, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

Let’s get ready to HUMBLE!

This just in from the Guinness Book of World Records. Linden Lab acquires a new CEO, thus breaking most previous company records for the number of CEO’s in a single year. This latest CEO attempt looks to be most promising. His name is Rod Humble and he comes from Electronic Arts where he worked on The Sims as well as more than 200 other games in total according to Linden Lab’s press release. It sounds like this new CEO is going to be our best hope for dynamic shadows to finally be included as more than just a hack in Second Life. You can contact Rod on his website. Please welcome him aboard: http://www.rodvik.com/

The possibilities for the lab have just increased tremendously and this should be very welcome news for the Second Life community. It is my understanding that with his extensive work on The Sims, that Rod understands why dynamic shadows are so important and deemed a necessity for Second Life to become a fully immersive virtual environment. This news is probably the best Christmas present that Second Life has ever received and it could not have come at a better time.

Merry Christmas and Ho Ho Ho!



Mutants Invade the Second Life Grid!

Posted: December 8, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
3

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

Tonight was nothing special, just out on the town looking for a good club to hang out in for a bit. Club Demonic has always been a place with decent music and celebrity sightings so I stopped by for a cold Heineken. After I had a few cold ones, I started to look around and became more familiar with my surroundings. I started people-watching for a bit. I looked at the new customers entering the club, walking down the stairs, saw a couple pimps here and there, a few vampires, a couple main-streamers, a few furries, you name it, they were all here. Subconsciously, almost involuntarily, I glanced up at the dancers on stage and that is when I became instantly horrified.

Something was not quite right with one of the dancers on stage, in fact, something was dead wrong. It was as though this particular dancer had mutated. Instead of her tail being behind her where you would expect a person’s tail to be, this dancer had a tail magically hovering in front of her body. It was downright creepy. I would have paid it no mind but just then I noticed another one of these mutants in the club. This other mutant had the very same anomaly. Then I remembered that I had seen a few more of these mutants elsewhere on the grid, and I seem to be able to correlate the occurrences of these mutant sightings with the Second Life multiple attachments feature from several months back. Hopefully, Linden Lab has not introduced these mutants onto the grid with the new multi-attachment feature, but at this point in time, I can find no other explanation, unless of course it’s a viewer incompatibility or something equally as strange. Either way, it’s creeping me out, so much so, that it is causing me to lose sleep tonight. I will probably have nightmares, or be forced to cry myself to sleep. In the morning, I am going to continue my scientific research into this very strange and disturbing phenomenon. In the meantime, get your ass to Mars!



Holy Moly! The Teens Are Coming!

Posted: November 18, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

In just two short months the teens are coming to the main grid and all hell is going to break loose. Michael Jackson is even working up his charm by hanging out at all the cool clubs, just anticipating the momentous event. Linden Lab has the new jail bait plan all worked out. It’s supposed to go as smoothly as cherry pie. We’ll just have to wait and see. Of all the crazy ideas, this one is right up there with Second Life Enterprise . It will be more than fascinating to see how this all turns out. As Mork from Ork once said…”Nanuu, Nanuu.”

Second Life’s new Teen Commandments:

13- to 15-year-old Residents will be restricted to the estates of a sponsoring institution.

These Residents will not have access to inworld search or our Web-based Marketplace.

16- and 17-year-old Residents will have access to all SL regions rated General (i.e., containing content appropriate for all ages), on the Mainland and private islands.

These Residents will not be able to enter moderate – nor Adult-rated regions, even if they have payment information on file and/or have used our Web-based identity verification system.

These Residents will be able to communicate fully with and befriend all other users on the Main Grid. This includes local chat and IM.

Virtual Strip Searches Leaked to Interwebs

Posted: November 18, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

In what appears to be a severe lack of security and scientific privacy invasion, today it has been reported that 100 naked body scans (photos of virtual strip searches) were posted online, and this just after the shockingly new scathing video that has recently hit the interwebs whereby a real life software engineer refused a virtual strip search at the airport and posted the ordeal online. The software engineer (John Tyner) was quoted as saying “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested.” Due to this recent leak of the 100 body scans, you can understand why John wanted nothing to do with the TSA backscatter x-ray devices. Even though the leak occured from the US Marshal Service and not TSA, it isn’t going to be easy for TSA to convince anyone that their personal naky images are safe when others are obviously not. It starts with body scans and body patdowns and goes all the way up to virtual worlds that require your real name just to log in…

100 naked body scans leaked



Great Gaikai! Second Life Cloud Beta Demo

Posted: November 16, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

Strange and surreal scientific experiments are running amok lately. First it was the Kinect, and now it is the Second Life Project Skylight viewer demo running in the cloud thanks to the Gaikai cloud-based streaming service. The demo site allows you to get a feel for what is possible by running Second Life in a small cloud, however, as word has gotten out, it seems that the beta site is a little bogged down at the moment. Some people are able to connect to the demo and others are not. All this proves to be a fantastic option for connecting to Second Life, especially for users with older PC hardware and newbies looking for a quick Second Life glance without the full client install cumbersome-ness.



Do You Kinect to Second Life?

Posted: November 12, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
4

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

A truly bizarre scientific experiment was held recently in which the newly released Microsoft Kinect was hacked to hell in a handbasket with the results being that you could control the Kinect from a Windows PC. Then, even more recently, a Kinect open source driver was released and now the NUI group has mentioned they will release an SDK and Windows driver as open source when they achieve $10,000 in donations. Since all this leads to the probability of controlling your avatar in Second Life with the Kinect, it can only be left to the imagination as to how many people will prefer the Kinect versus a standard keyboard.

Update: A Google employee has added another contest to see who can develop the coolest app for the Kinect and who can make it easy to write programs for the Kinect.



Hamlet Au Goes Bonkers – Wants Your Face!

Posted: November 1, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

In what can only be described as absurd, unbelievable, misconstrued, not having all the facts, just plain wrong, far off, and in a small nutshell, FAIL. Hamlet Au wants to see your real face. As this story is just trickling in, all the facts are not yet in place, but one thing is for certain, Hamlet Au wants to see your real life face.

In Hamlet’s stunning new article about virtual worlds and what makes them grow, your real life face is the number one item on the agenda.

“There’s no example of a virtual world for adults who are totally anonymous avatars substantially growing on a mass market level.” – Hamlet Au

It appears that Hamlet wants to see your real life face so that you can be held accountable for your virtual world actions. Please stop by the Hamlet blog and let him know why you want to keep your face private. Tell Hamlet to leave your face alone. Don’t let him persuade virtual world creators to require real life information or your real life face. Virtual worlds may come and go, but they do not need your real life face in order to exist and prosper. Remember, keep your personal information and your face in your own private place.



AMD Pulls a Linden Lab with New Radeon.

Posted: October 24, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

In a most disturbing move that uses state of the art confusion inducing techniques that even Linden Lab would be proud of, AMD decides to mystify the new HD6800 series video card naming convention. The 6800 series should be more powerful than the previous 5800 series of cards offered by AMD, however, this time around, AMD has decided to try and confuse people a bit. Perhaps they have been taking the Lab’s courses in information skewing or something. If you currently have an AMD HD5800 series card and were hoping for a huge performance gain in Second Life by purchasing a HD6800 series card, you may actually want to hold off. Tom’s Hardware recently did a nice review of the new 6800 series cards that includes the very disappointing benchmarks.

“I’m sure we aren’t the first to be surprised by the new naming scheme—to us, it’s a cinch that Barts should file in as the Radeon HD 6700-series. AMD claims that 6800 was chosen because the Radeon HD 5700s will remain in production for some time to cover the sub-$150 market. We honestly don’t think this is a very good justification, as product generations have overlapped time and time again without too much of a problem. The biggest issue for us is that the ill-informed Radeon HD 5870 owner will assume that the Radeon HD 6870 is an upgrade, when in fact the new card wields less performance.” –Don Woligroski, Chris Angelini



Philip Linden Transboogled! No Longer CEO.

Posted: October 19, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

HOLY MOLY!

This just off the news wire. In a peculiar predicament that makes Hamlet Au appear to be stable, Philip Linden is no longer the interim CEO of Linden Lab. The details are just trickling in. At first glance it would appear that Philip Linden was so disappointed with his new avatar, that he just decided to step down from the interim CEO position at Linden Lab. After a second glance, it would appear that there is more to the story and in fact, other reasons have led to this decision. Perhaps the Love Machine has run out of love and Philip must give it a re-fill. Listed below is Philip’s official statement for anyone who can translate it better, or read between the lines. Bill Paxton did not see this coming!

“After about four months as interim CEO, working closely with Bob Komin, the management team, and the board, we’ve decided we are ready to start the search for a new CEO. I’ll be leaving day-to-day management of the company and continuing in my role on the board, including helping in the search to find a great CEO. I will also be continuing my work with my new company, LoveMachine. Bob will lead Linden Lab while we conduct the search. It’s been an intense few months of transition, and we all feel like we are in a better place now, with a clearer sense of direction and more focus, and are ready to bring someone new into the mix as a leader.” – Philip Linden



Nemo Trilogy Sim Headed for Destruction!

Posted: October 18, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Technorati: , , , , , ,

Holy Destructive Moly!

According to his post on SLUniverse, Sextan Shepherd, the very famous Second Life artist who created the amazing steampunk Nemo Trilogy sim has perhaps gone completely mad and is about to destroy the entire sim on October 29th, the very same day that Saw VII is released in theaters nationwide. We haven’t seen anything this crazy since Hamlet Au went crazy back in July.

For those who don’t know, the Nemo Trilogy sim is currently featured in the Second Life destination guide and has been a very amazing attraction to say the least. It will be sad to see it go, however, all is not lost, as Sextan is promising to open a new sim that will be even more amazing than Nemo, and it will include many gaming elements as well. The name of the new sim project will be called Machina Humanum Est and it promises to have 9 keys that will lead to 9 different places. I am uncertain if one of those 9 places will be Planet Michael or not. Only time will tell, time that only Bill Paxton can predict. Shown below are some snapshots from the soon to be destroyed Nemo Trilogy sim. You still have over a week left to visit if you haven’t yet.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/FRANCE3D%20Futuna/225/203/41/



Philip Linden 2.0 Overdrive

Posted: October 16, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Technorati: , , , , , ,

In a bizarre Second Life wardrobe malfunction, Philip Linden accidentally upgraded his avatar to version 2.0 whilst trying to figure out the new display name options. He just didn’t realize that adding a 2.0 to his display name in Second Life would actually transform the physical appearance of his avatar. This is a most unusual circumstance. We will be sure to keep you posted if there are any more altercations of this phenomenal event.



COLLADA: Mesh Attacks Second Life Aditi Grid!

Posted: October 13, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

Holy Flying Doctor Frankenstein!

COLLADA mesh imports have officially started to attack the Second Life Aditi grid today with the release of the open beta project viewer. This will be a day to remember. For many Second Life residents, today is judgement day. If you haven’t already done so, check out the main Mesh wiki page and get to work on those meshes. The Second Life economy needs some rebuilding and this is a perfect way to jumpstart it and force viewer 2.x compliance at the same time.

So far it appears that only one word can describe this new mesh import viewer, and that word is Groovy!



Hamlet Au Seeks Refuge on Planet Michael

Posted: October 10, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

The other night I was feeling a little gloomy whilst pondering over the new Second Life customer support options I’m going to be faced with very soon and so I just sat down at the table and placed my order. I was starving and sometimes a night out on the town with a delicious snack in my belly usually calms my nerves.

Thirty minutes or so had passed and I was just enjoying my usual meal of steak, waffles, french fries, and of course, scotch. Black#1 Extended Cut by Type O Negative was playing on the jukebox and I was humming it out loud to myself when I look up and notice to my surprise, just 15 feet away, the notorious and world-renowned Blue Mars embedded reporter, Hamlet Au, walks in as if he owns the place.

What the hell is he doing here on Planet Michael I think to myself. Then I remember the headlines from a few months back. Seems Hamlet went crazy and was needing a place to stay low while all the excitement died down. He was still sought for questioning due to an episode that transpired in a seedy nightclub in Second Life. He had since escaped to Blue Mars, and now he was here, on Planet Michael.

I couldn’t remember all the details of what Hamlet had done, but if one wanted to get away from the mainstream media, law enforcement, etc., what better place to hold up than at the Steakhouse on Planet Michael. It’s very secluded and extradition is out of the question, mainly because it’s so difficult to enforce between virtual worlds. Also, Planet Michael is out of the way, not on the beaten path, making extradition that much more difficult. I really wanted to find out exactly what Hamlet was up to but just then my cell phone rings and it’s a client. Some bots were seen back in Second Life and I have to get back there to check it out. Could be the mother load. Only time will tell. Time that only Bill Paxton can predict.



Basic SL Residents Get the Deluxe Shaft

Posted: October 7, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

In a strange, twisted, and very sadistic cost cutting maneuver disguised as a great and wonderful achievement, Second Life Basic resident customer support is getting the super deluxe shaft right up the ass of pain. Starting on Wednesday of next week, the types of cases that basic residents can file is going to be significantly reduced and redirected to self-service tools, knowledge base articles, and Second Life Answers. The madcap fun just gets better with each passing day. This new direction in support really sticks it to the little people. It’s this kind of hi-jinx that can really get on people’s nerves. Time to go out for a drink. Meet me at the steakhouse on Planet Michael…



Linden Lab Tells the EDU Sector to Beat It

Posted: October 4, 2010 in Second Life News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Technorati: , , , , , , ,

Holy Smooth Criminals!

In a very bizarre strategy that makes Michael Jackson seem normal, Linden Lab has decided to lay down a pricing smackdown right in the face of the educational sector in Second Life. To be honest, it’s Monday, I’m tired, and I don’t have all the details just yet, but it sounds like many people with educational sims are threatening to walk out of Second Life and head directly to OpenSim and other grids (perhaps even Planet Michael) due to this strange and rather ridiculous 2011 land pricing announcement which includes the elimination of discounted pricing for universities and non-profits that could double their monthly region fees with only a 2 month notice in the middle of an academic year.

I haven’t seen anything this bizarre since Hamlet Au went crazy back in July. Perhaps there is a method to this madness…or perhaps not. It’s time to ask the Sensations bots:

[2:14] Little Lost Linden: Hello Stardust, what do you think about this Second Life 2011 pricing announcement?
[2:14] Stardust Quandry:
[2:16] Little Lost Linden: Stardust, do you think that educators are going to be upset with this announcement?
[2:17] Stardust Quandry:
[2:18] Little Lost Linden: Amey, What are your thoughts on this subject?
[2:18] Amey DeVinna:
[2:21] Little Lost Linden: What color is my tie Amey?
[2:21] Amey DeVinna:
[2:26] Little Lost Linden: Stardust, this next question is for you. If I were asleep, and you were my alarm clock, how would you wake me up in the morning?
[2:28] Stardust Quandry:



Older Entries
Newer Entries