An Interview with Bixyl Shuftan

During my look into the subcultures In-World, I had the chance to sit down and talk to a member of the Furry community. Read our People section to hear what Bixyl Shuftan had to say on a personal note.

Eye on the blog

Well good news and bad news - typical of LL as we have seen!

To start with the good news (to an extent):

Second Life Grid Status Reports

Are you following the Second Life Grid Status Reports? If your business, your event, or your time with friends may be impacted by the Grid Status, we want you to have all the information we can get you, as quickly and easily as possible.
We’ve been posting Status Updates mixed in with a variety of posts on other topics. We realize that many of you don’t want to have to hunt through the blog for needed Status information, so in an effort make it easier for you, we’re following the tech industry standard and moving that information to a Status page.
Starting today, we’ll be collecting all the Second Life Grid Status Reports onto that one page. Now, you can check for an update without having to scan through all the other blog posts.
You can also subscribe to updates on your mobile phone using Twitter, or with an RSS reader.
Yep, get your Second Life Grid Status Reports, wherever you go.


Now this sounds like a great idea, but lets look a little deeper;

For a start it means a cleaner blog for the Lindens to show off to corporate business no more long posts with angry Residents comments filling up the page.

Then, of course, it takes away the ability to comment on the issue posted:

Yesterday I DID get an inworld message saying there was a problem with some accounts associated with one of the inventory databases; great, actual warning inworld! problem was an hour later, after a bad crash, I could not log back in so off I toddled to the blog to see what was happening - nope not there - ok, off to the grid status page : [05.51 AM RESOLVED] Logins should be restored for all affected accounts. It may take some time for things to return to normal as the system catches up and everyone starts logging back in, but they are back online. -Chiyo

Resolved??? um no..........

This was then at 06.25 hmmmmmmm...............

So what can I do? Answer NOTHING, there is no way to communicate that no the issue is not resolved and to be perfectly honest I couldn't be bothered to go through support and get a load of pre-printed pages telling me my firewall was blocking SL (this is what happened last time) so I just gave up for the day!

So in conclusion having up to date easy to find grid status - great idea, one place to find out whats happening, unfortunately most people find out more from Resident comments on grid status than from the actual posts saying [RESOLVED] they usually aren't.
The comments have been removed also effectively striking the Residents dumb, there is no recourse and no feedback here so what APPEARS to be better communication and easier to find info is actually the opposite.
Dana

UPDATE:
"As for the harsh things some of you are expressing, I’m sorry you’re frustrated. We are indeed trying to get comments enabled on the Status page."
A single click of a button turns on comments Katt - I am disappointed

Exploring through images

Click EXPLORE to see more

Eye on the Blog

Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 2:50 PM by: Jeska Linden

Second Life Showcase, Popular Places and the Future of Traffic

"Looking for cool places to visit within Second Life? We are too! We’re pleased to announce that the Second Life Showcase is coming to the 1.21 viewer release, which is planned for Release Candidate in 2-3 weeks and in final form in 6-7 weeks.
For a sneak peek at this new feature, please visit Second Life Showcase on our website. The Showcase is an editorially-managed guide that highlights a variety of inworld venues and intriguing locations to new and existing Residents. For more info, read our Second Life Showcase FAQ; it includes information on how to suggest a venue for feature placement. We are currently developing an easier way to nominate inworld experiences for the Showcase from within the viewer, so keep an eye on this blog for more news!"

"Brief History of Traffic
Popular Places was initially created as a list of the 20 parcels with the most traffic on the previous day. The data that drives Popular Places has been based on raw traffic numbers, which do not differentiate between bots, campers and active Residents, and as some have pointed out, this has resulted in the tab not being an accurate reflection of true popularity among Residents."

"It is clear that the current Traffic system is not an effective means of determining the success or popularity of a parcel, nor does it provide useful information about Residents visiting those parcels."

Key phrases in this post that show that maybe they are listening: some have pointed out, opening up the discussion, brainstorming sessions, We look forward to your ideas!

WOW!
They have actually started to listen, and yes I am amazed. Have they finally got fed up of all the bad PR and are working on generating some good for a change?
This is certainly a step in the right direction finally bringing the traffic stats under scrutiny.
They have as yet no idea what they will replace it with and to be honest do we really need it at all? The showcase mentioned will only show a few places and will obviously reflect the opinion of those editing it, rather than the community, so its not really an alternative.

There is a spark of hope that if traffic is removed it will mean the end of 'bots' used to cheat the traffic stats - as mentioned before I can't honestly see LL doing this as it will reduce their user stats probably by as much as half, if not more, immediately; they need those stats to keep people believing the figures businesses see!
Well we shall see what we shall see, but at least its a step in the right direction Kudos to whoever finally began to listen, long may it continue!
Dana

Cartoon of the day

By Bixyl Shuftan

SPAM/SCAM ALERT

A link is being spammed out inworld, usually in group IMs linking to this site - and NO it is not Secondlife.com - and no i won't give the link out here.
The site offers Lindens for filling out surveys but the chances of this being for real are very low and the content is not exactly nice. I would not recommend anyone going here and hope that this message gets passed on.
I hope the LL trademark lawyers are ready in this case!
source: Massively

Grand Opening of Jakeson Quality Music Essentails Store

Come celebrate with us, the Grand Opening, of our New and Improved Jakeson Quality Music Essentails Store.

Find full details in EVENTS

Interview with Somber Atlass

I recently got a chance to sit down and chat with a member of the Wiccan/Pagan community. Read more in our People section

Here's a question for yah!

Why are there so many pirate ships in Second Life? Why are they so hugely popular? You can't really live in them (way to small), you can't really move around in them (way to small), you can't really rez them properly unless you have a large piece of land/water (way to primmy), they cost thousands of L$ (way to expensive) ...


I guess everyone wanted to be a pirate at some point during their playful youth. Didn't we all play 'pirate' when we were kids? With eye patches and plastic swords? I certainly did! Well, I also wanted to be a pimp when I was a kid, and SL would be the perfect place to try that. But I don't. The past is the past, and the present is the present. Do we still want to be pirates on primmy ships right now? Or do we want to socialize, contribute to the wonderful world of pixel porn, or run a decent business?


You know, the whole thing with pirates has become somewhat of a hype, after the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Maybe that's it. Maybe that has triggered the pirate hype in SL. All I can think of, is that. Who doesn't want to have a glass eye, wooden leg, a hook for a hand and an abusive parrot on a shoulder? You have my blessing, good people, go ahead and be playful! And don't forget to go to mouselook when you go down to the lower decks!

Ship Ahoy !!!

Styles of Edo wins at Merovingi Fashion Awards

Our good friend Edo tone last night received the award for 'Best Male Fashion Label' for his designs 'Styles of Edo' at a star studded award ceremony filmed by SLCN.

The Merovingi Group is proudly sponsoring the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders during this year's Fashion Awards and have set a goal to raise$15,000 dollars for the selected organizations, which have made exemplary strides to improve access to the information and means to seek medical care and treatment for millions of people worldwide.

Edo wishes to thank all our readers who took the time to go and vote for him and showed so much support throughout the awards.

He generously donated his winnings to the cause and looks forward to another year building on his success.

We congratulate Edo on his award and believe it to be well deserved: click here to learn more about 'Styles of Edo'.

update:

I have been criticized for not posting all winners: not being there myself I did search for the winners but was unsuccessful both on SLCN and the official MFA website (but then i was early posting this today) these are now there and the winners were:

Best New Fashion Label - KA Designs

Best Furry Fashion Label - Neko Gear

Best Gothic Fashion Label - Silent Sparrow

Best Female Fashion Label - SLAB Designs

Congratulations to all!

Dana

Amazing Grace

Have you wondered why people come to second life? I have wondered often, when I meet an avatar, what is this person doing here?? Why did they come? Game playing? Curiosity?? I think that is the most common answer. It was my reason. Then , by accident I met an avatar who told me a story that really touched my heart , and perhaps will touch your heart too and cause you to think and to wonder more, why we are all here in this place together? What stories do we share??

Read more of this amazing story in the PEOPLE section

By Gemma Cleanslate

Cartoon of the day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Click to see full size

Blues For Autism

The Book Fair 2008 is officially open

The book fair got underway last night despite SL grid problems with Selina Greene managing to log in just in time to launch and Kelvinblue Oh just a little late to entertain those gathered.

The book fair gives you an opportunity to meet authors, writers and publishers, wander around the stalls to find out just what is available in SL.
Events will be going on all weekend and for a full list of whats happening click HERE.

Stalls will remain for about 2 weeks after the fair to give everyone the chance to find out about the literary side of Second Life.

Soggy Lindens

The Dreams sim was ready for fun yesterday at 1 when the Lindens began showing up at the last day of the Health Fair for their annual dunking. Nothing was working correctly! We could not rez our balls to throw! Half the place was grey in color, including the Lindens themselves!. And then Sl shut down the logins . Conspiracy was suspected!!! Crashes! The works!!

Find out what happened in EVENTS

By Gemma Cleanslate

Highlife drops prices

Amsterdam Alonzo has announced a price drop on all rentals:
1/4 sim = 30k 27.500
*NEW* Void Sim = 27.500
1/2 sim = 60k 55k
whole sim = 110 100k per month
Limited extra space available upon request. Price 2 linden per sqm.
Edit terrain of your rented land, Deed to group upon request.
Just like owning your own land!
Commercial/Residential
Click here or Contact Carlosj Xeno or Amsterdam Alonzo for more information

Eye on the Blog

Return of the Old Land Store
cynlinden:
"Best laid plans of mice and men often go awry… the new Land Store is just not ready to ship.
Rather than inflict you guys with a tool that isn’t ready yet, we have decided to bring the old store back up with the new prices. All the old challenges remain (doesn’t work in IE, wait time for delivery) but you will be able to place orders as you have in the past.
You will still be unable to order Openspaces via the old store, and the delays there will continue to be long as we deal with backorders. New island orders will go up as quickly as possible, and we will keep you updated on the progress of not only those orders but of the new store as well.
Thanks much."

"Rather than inflict you guys with a tool that isn’t ready yet" are they talking about the entire grid?
Well I think at least they are giving people an option, although there is no hint of a timeframe on either regular sims or the new popular void sims.
A lot of concern over time estimates given and then not met - its a bad mistake to say you will deliver on a certain date and then not do so, most would probably accept it if you say it may take a month, then when they get it sooner its a bonus.

One resident hit the whole sorry story on the head with this comment:
Ryanna Enfield Says:
"The best thing you can do is withdraw any investment you have in SL. Money talks. Buy an Island when LL has proven they can provide a stable environment for you to enjoy that Island. The problem is that there is a whole new generation of SL users to take your place and fund SL. Unfortunately there really isn’t any decent competition at the moment to show LL that it might be wise to try to retain long-term customers (investment) as well as generate new customers. Afterall, SL’s old-school residents will someday be a competitors new residents. The unstable environment we will never grow accustomed to, will simply give us a valid excuse to try other alternatives. I’ve tried more games in the past four or five months than I have in my entire life. All running perfectly smooth on my computer. Unfortunately, I think a massive revenue loss is the only kind of message LL will ever understand, and by then it will be too late."

It is easy to say but I don't expect many will follow until there is a usable alternative then you will see an SL migration in their millions!

source: http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/04/24/return-of-the-old-land-store/

A Day in New York City Block

What HAS Bixyl been up to now????
A pegasus, a guy in a dark suit being chased by a neko catgirl armed with a baseball bat, a walking tree; a treant and a dark lizard-like monster this can only happen in SL's NEW YORK
read the full story in EXPLORE

Events, events, events,

Wow its going to be a busy weekend!

Take a look at EVENTS, MACE and DESIGN sections to find out just how busy; there is the SL book fair 2008 this Friday, Saturday and Sunday - then also the Arthole Gallery Grand Opening you can read about that with Nazz in MACE, don't forget Phat Cat's re-opening and the award ceremony for the Merovingi Fashion Awards and a whole week of events at Rezz rock and Rezzolutions. Also find out what great shows are lined up for you in Zurich this weekend in the MACE section.

BBA Hotshots will also be running a YARD SALE in aid of RFL from the 24th - 27th with 1000's of items on sale and all proceeds going to this great charity. Keep up with all the RFL events in their section

Plan your weekend with our help - keep an eye on the sections for more events this weekend!

Arthole Gallery Grand Opening

I usually check my e-mail first thing in the morning before heading off for real life work and was pleasantly surprised a few weeks back to have received one from Nebulosus Severine. She had been gracious in responding to a survey I did on the Arts in Second Life earlier this year and it was great to see her name pop up. It was an announcement that she'd been working on a new project, a collaborative gallery, "Arthole", with her friend and fellow artist Arahan Claveau and that it would be opening soon.

Read Nazz Lanes interview in M.A.C.E.

Introducing TK Interactive Gaming

Have you ever found yourself looking for something to do while in-world? Whether you want a place to meet new people or somewhere to being that special someone, look no further than the TK Island sim.

Look in EXPLORE for full details

We sponsor SL book fair 2008

It's on again! The SL Book Fair 2008 will be held on 25th April - 27th April on Book and Publishing Islands.
Last year saw over 1400 visitors attending the Fair in the course of three days. There were over 40 exhibitors and nearly 20 events and the response to the event was overwhelming.
This year will be even bigger and better as it will take place across two sims. Don't miss out! Once the exhibit stalls are taken, they are gone. If you are into books in any way this is your Fair!

For a list of events and times PLUS SLurl links go to EVENTS

Phillip Linden announces the new CEO:

Direct from the SecondLife blog:
Announcing our New CEO!

I said a month ago that I was looking for a new CEO to lead Linden Lab, and we’ve found one! His name is Mark Kingdon, and his Second Life name is “M Linden”.

As you might imagine in a new leader of Linden Lab, there are lots of great things I could say about him, but let me just pick a few and then encourage you to meet him in-world. He is a person with the rare and unusual combination of business leadership, creativity, and passion for Second Life that we were looking for. In terms of history, he has a background in art, economics, and business. He has been in successful and highly regarded leadership roles at two companies that are bigger than Linden Lab: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Organic. He is a well-loved people leader who is fearless and can weather challenges and change.

He is going to start on May 15th. Like I said when we started looking, I am not going anywhere, and will be working with Mark to help lead Linden and Second Life onward. I am really looking forward to working with him, as he has so many skills and capabilities that will help us and that I can also learn from - here are a few: He will have an intense focus on improving the in-world experience and stability and reliability of Second Life. He has extensive hands-on experience with user experience design, which will be critical in making Second Life an easier and better experience for more people. Finally, he has a ton of experience leading companies and products with global reach, which is now essential given that the great majority of Second Life usage is international and Linden Lab will continue to grow as an international company with offices in many locations.

I have to say I am also really happy at how we found Mark. We decided to talk in public about searching for a new CEO because we thought it was the right thing to do, but of course we were concerned that it was unusual for a company to talk about such a change before finding the right person. Generally, recruiting executive people involves lots of work in creating lists of potential candidates and calling out to them.

But I always also hoped that with our public message out there, maybe the right person would actually just come to us. The intersection of people who would hear that news, have the right skills, and also be passionate enough about Second Life to pick up the phone and call me and ask for the job - well that is a very small list. But I thought maybe it would happen and turn out to be the perfect person. It was!

We will schedule a series of inworld meetings in the coming weeks where folks can get a chance to meet and talk to him and me together.

================================

Kingdon comes equipped with an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, as well as more than a half decade's worth of experience running digital-ad agency Organic.
Hiring a 'business guy' to head Linden Lab, rather than someone with a background in social networking or gaming, gives credence to the rumours that the company wants to achieve some corporate momentum and eventually go public.

Said Kingdon in a press release, "To me, the CEO role at Linden Lab combines perfectly my passions for art and design, business and technology" the executive added, "Until Second Life, we experienced the digital world passively in two dimensions. By enabling users to create a rich and immersive virtual world, Second Life is transforming the way we connect, collaborate, learn and transact online."

Philosophy Class Revisited

You may recall back in the fall I wrote an article about our philosophy class here in SL. ( archives)Our Professor is presenting the 100 philosophers who have affected our philosophical thinking of today. People from all around the world gather to listen and learn.

Read on with Gemma in PEOPLE

Wilder moves

Wilder Public Relations, Inc. was founded by Annette Wilder on December 17, 2007. Annette started with Avenue Models Inc. Once she left Avenue she was still being asked to do Public Relations so it became obvious that she needed to start her own business.
This is the Public Relations Firm to beat in Second Life. Committed, proficient, understanding, charming and a very strong networking base, Annette and Bibe have formed an incredible business out of what was Annette's stunning personality and business sense so humbly began. Consider Wilder PR if you want to get your product's name out there. There is no one better.

Annette wanted to let everyone know that they have a swanky new office high up on the clouds :) please don't use the old landmark or you could end up falling a long way! Here is the new SLurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Royal%20Tropic%20Lagoon/30/241/592

Through the Mirror (Blood-Soaked 3)

Nightmares turn to something stranger read our Explore section to understand what Dashwood fell into this time.

Greetings from Katt Linden

Yesterday saw the introduction of a new Linden, Katt Linden:

Thwack…thwack…is this thing on? Oh, hi. This is Katt, one of the newest Lindens.
I’m the new Communications Manager, and kudos to those of you who noticed the position had been filled.
So what am I here to do?
A big part of my job is to listen. I will also be aggregating your comments here and monitoring the blogosphere, to follow developing trends and opinion. I’ll be working to update our communications tools. And, I’ll be doing my best to help all of us at Linden Lab be more consistent and effective as bloggers and communicators.
Linden Lab knows how important it is that we have clear and consistent communications with Residents. We know that we have work to do, and that’s why I’m here.
I’ll start by managing a facelift on the forums, and then on the blog.
As for me, I’ve been paying attention to Second Life, and reading your blogs, for a couple of years now, and like you, I care deeply about Second Life. And I’m more proud than I can say to be part of Linden Lab, “working to connect us all to an online world that advances the human condition.”
My role here is, however, a work in progress, and so I’m going to start out by saying that I’ll need to ask for your patience.
This is surely going to be evolving, and I welcome your feedback.

We would like to welcome Katt and wish her the best of luck.

Judging by the mixture of comments and flak jackets handed out, her job is not one to be envied, after all you can only please some of the people some of the time and frustration is running high.

Some explaination is needed to clarify what Katt will actually be doing, 'A big part of my job is to listen' this doesn't say she will actually do anything with what she hears. Most are hoping this is not just another PR stunt to keep the tiers coming in a little bit longer while they TRY to fix the platform.

In reply to one very frustrated Resident Katt said;

'I do hear how frustrated you are. I wish I could promise to wave a magic (Starax!) wand and make it all better right now — but I can assure you that we are, really, working hard on the issues. That’s one reason you see tech posts from the Lindens working on some issues, like Sidewinder’s posts about Havoc, which has had a huge impact on *reducing crashes*. Can we get better at communicating things? Sure, and that’s why I’m here, to try to help.'

Well, we have asked for better communication for a long time let us all give Katt a chance to settle in and hope that this bodes well for future communication, a simple Inworld warning would suffice to satisfy a lot of that frustration and save a lot of people money.

We can but hope..................

Dana

source:http://secondlife.com/

Breezes Thoughts

I was walking around today, feelig quite content with myself, when I heard a mournful sound. I walked around the shadows of the trees, magical Mushrooms and colorful gnomes frowning because I could not find the pitiful mews...............

Continued in PEOPLE

Dreams Community Fair

The other day in my article “Builders With Dreams” I mentioned I was exploring a health fair there. I was working on an article when I was sidetracked by the building going on . I do want to tell you about the Dream’s Fair however and urge you to visit this week . There will be events taking place there until April 25 when from 1:00 to 4:00 you will be able to dunk a linden!!!

Find out more from Gemma Cleanslate in EVENTS

At the Bellagio

Last night saw me at the Bellagio Since I knew Edo Tone was showing his Tuxedo collection, plus I am always looking for ideas for my own wedding dress.............

See more in DESIGN

Home sweet home

Void Sims, demand created
I can't begin to express how wonderful it is to sail around your own little piece of SL, to be able to make it anything you want it to be........

More in Explore

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Another Murder in the Prision

I arrived back to my office this morning to find a stack of assignments that I have been putting off all week because of the wedding, only to find this had been shoved into the pile. Seems another messenger from the prison made it to the news office.
I must apologize for not getting it out sooner as it was covered in red smears marked urgent. Read our People section for the scoop.

Falling land prices are always bad news

So, the Lindens took down the prices for islands by 40%. A frustrating move for those who purchased islands recently at "full price" but great news for wannabe land owners who feel that ordering will be cheap from now on.

I congratulate you on your future purchase if you are part of the latter group. The only issue is that falling land prices never are good, in any economy.

The situation of Second Life can not be directly compared with RL economies. The level of development is not the same. But it has something in common with RL: when prices fall down, it indicates that owners are getting poorer and demand is weaker. When prices go up, land owners get richer with the perspective of reselling assets that are worth more.

There is a broader way to look at the situation, too. When a company has the ability to raise prices without meeting a hostile reaction, we call that "pricing power". If Linden Lab had the ability to raise prices for its islands, it would mean that demand would be so strong that they could afford it. Under normal circumstances, pricing power is a great indicator of a healthy market.

It actually sounds like Linden Lab is rather under "pricing pressure". It doesn't matter much whether they think that businesses are shying away from Second Life and looking for competitors. Or that a 40% price drop will create instant demand. Stable or rising prices are better news, as long as they are not on a bubble.

At least, SL generally escape the realities of RL. In RL, people who borrowed to buy a house can face foreclosure if the value of their home is worth less than the amount they owe. In SL, once you have mainland, you have it!

Yet, add the 40% price drop to an unstable grid and concerns over Second Life's long-term perspective... and one starts to think twice about investing.

Introducing Gilberto Gregg's Hyper-Interactive Modern Art Garden

Please come experience Gilberto Gregg's Hyper-Interactive Modern Art Garden in Cyamenti. Enjoy viewing and interacting with nearly 100 paintings. Touch each painting to see how it reacts.

Find out more in M.A.C.E.

Takeshi Newman Games

Named after the builder, Takeshi Newman Games offers a number of novelties to keep visitors entertained.

Read more in EXPLORE

By Bixyl Shuftan

Congratulations

Our very own Dashwood Dayafter married Tanis Caudron in a gothic pagan paradise hosted at Deviation Park.

We here at SL-Newspaper wish them all the best for a happy future together!

Interview with Selina Greene - SL Book Fair 2008

This year's Second Life Book Fair 2008 will occur on the 25th through 27th of April. The fair will be held on Book and Publishing Islands and the organizers are planning a host of exhibits, events and activities for the residents of Second Life. I spoke with Selina Greene, the head of the book fair's planning committee.

Read Nazz's interview with Selina HERE

Opinions: by Dana

Today LaurapLinden posted 'More on trademarks' this I must say is an improvement on previous posts, but she reiterates to write to them with direct questions, this I must say I have personally done and the answer? Go back and look at the FAQs, so obviously not a good idea. Basically unless you can afford a trademark attorney wait for the cease and desist.
I won't go into what is said clarified or otherwise you can just as easily read it here, the one thing that struck me though is the level of unhappiness of most of the SL™ residents not only with the trademark/branding issues but overall.
Grid stability according to Linden Lab® is better with the roll out of Havok4, this is not the impression that most of us get.
Content theft is another major concern and the lack of action by Linden Lab on this issue is galling to say the least when they are working so hard to protect their own interests, but, leaving content creators out in the cold to fight their own battles.
According to their own metrics the economy is growing with more Lindens being spent, a 33% increase since the gambling ban. I would love to know where? Most business owners are distraught with the grid problems preventing businesses from running to a profit - stale transactions, items not delivered, payments not received etc........
Events are on a downslide as clubs and venues reign in, keeping the bare minimum to keep going. Most events are problematic, even the remembrance day was marred by grid downtime and login failures.
Again according to the metrics there are more residents than ever, are they true figures? We can all fly around to most places that look busy and find the BOTS sitting up on a platform or buried in a hole under the ground. These bots are the bain of many residents bumping places up in search falsely and causing lag for anyone in the region, but it makes the total resident number look good for the Lindens so of course they will not stop them and all calls for something to be done about them will fall on deaf ears - Why would they stop something that makes their figures look good?
I hear more and more about other options, residents looking for open source alternatives - why?
Have Linden Lab lost all the confidence of the residents to that extent?
We all know now that Linden Lab is a business and SecondLife is a business, that it was created by the residents for them, that the content creators and people made it what it is does not matter, more and more people feel left out in the cold by a corporate business.
Once upon a time the Lindens worked with the residents to created a wonderful world, now Linden Lab appears to be grabbing at anything it can to keep afloat amongst all the bad RL press and PR decisions.
Today will also see the opening of I-World island. What is I-World?
"Part of our support structure here at Linden Lab is a dedicated customer team called I-World. This team answers support tickets and live chats from residents who are experiencing some difficulties or looking for guidance with in-world issues. Some of you may be aware of us from your contact via the Support page but most of you will probably never have heard about us.
We help to ensure that your in-world experience goes as smoothly as possible by providing answers where we can and getting our technical colleagues to perform their magic where we can’t. We know there are things that sometimes don’t work so well in SL…things that get you down. We’re sorry that they happen, they get us down too and we want to get them resolved as quickly as you do."
I think they will be kept very busy with mobs of angry residents, is it any wonder the Lindens keep away? Every blog post is accompanied by complaints and anger from residents who just want stability, to play and love and learn in an environment that works the way it was intended.
'RESOLVED' - How many times do we see that only to try to purchase something and have it fail? How many times have we been logged out and spent an hour trying to log back in to that important meeting only to find a blog post an hour later saying 'logins are closed'?
How much more does it take for Linden Lab to realise they have lost the confidence and trust of most of the residents? Linden was once seen as a company that cared, that wanted to help residents to create something unique and wonderful a SECONDLIFE, now it seems that goal has been achieved with the help of all the fantastic content creators, scipters and residents, so does that mean Linden Lab can now just act like GODS and do what they like with it?
Seems that way to many.........................
Dana

Cartoon of the day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Breezes Thoughts

Read what Bree has been up to in the PEOPLE section

Day of remembrance

This I can honestly say is one one of the most moving places I have ever been too (except maybe the garden of remembrance at RFL) maybe it was the beautiful soulful music played by Kourosh Eusebio.....................

Read more in the EVENTS sections

BREAKING NEWS: Land store closed, new store launch postpone

Today, Linden Lab announced on their official blog that the launch of the new land store, with drastically reduced prices, will be postponed by a few weeks. Linden Lab did not give a new date for the launch.

In the meantime, the old land store has been closed down indefinately to prevent people from ordering new regions for a price that is too high. Of course another reason for this is that the Concierge Team has been overworked for a while already and has had to deal with a lot of stress. Hopefully this will give them a bit of rest.

Rumour had it that Linden Lab had a lot of trouble with the payment system behind the new land store. This would be the reason for the new delay.

However, this does not take away all the protests (for example during Linden office hours) and upset residents. If anything, it will make it worse. After being haunted by devaluation of investments first, and now not even the possibility to recuperate, this is a heavy hit to take for anyone who owns 1 or more (or even many) sims.

We at SL Newspaper are pretty sure it's all for good reasons, but it is yet another blow to the economy of Second Life and the larger companies are already withdrawing from the SL world to look for other alternatives. The new land store, in combination with the 40% drop in sim prices, was supposed to be a way to draw more companies and investors to Second Life, but the opposite seems to be going on. Especially if you add that to the serious problems with performance and stability of the past few weeks.

Day of Remembrance TODAY !

Have you ever lost an in-world friend? As years pass in Second Life, more residents will have the sad experience of logging in to find that someone they know and love in-world has passed away in Real Life.

The Day of Remembrance is a new community event commemorating the life, spirit, and creativity of all the residents who have left us.

24 Hours — April 17, 12 am to 11:59 pm SLT

The event is organized around the tradition of the Jazz Funeral in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. When someone dies, all their friends gather for a parade in their honor. They play loud Jazz music as they move through the streets of the old town, carrying parasols and pictures of their friend. It is a time to celebrate the life of the dearly departed, as well as to mourn their passing. Our parade will depart from historic Jackson Square and crash joyously through the Big Easy region four times today– so that residents in all time zones can participate. We will have an interactive memorial garden and temple, and 24 hours of truly great music on the main stage.

Participate!

source : http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/04/16/second-life-day-of-remembrance-thursday-17-april/

Interview with Author Diana Allandale

By Nazz Lane

Second Life has played host to a growing number of authors, publishers and promoters of the written word and the community is readying itself for its annual book fair. I had the opportunity to meet with and interview Diana Allandale, author of thirteen novels and a prominent member of the community.

Read the full interview in PEOPLE

Travel--Archive with Isolde Flamand

I've just TP'd into someplace called Archive. The first thing I noticed is this giant faucet spewing all sorts of objects such as a bed, a landspeeder from StarWars, a cow, and a barrel among other things. What the heck is this place?

Find out more in the EXPLORE section

A Panthers Prayer

Home at last, still in a fair amount of shock at how easily I had escaped what could have ended very differently. As I riffled threw the store room in the camp all thoughts of my captor, the one known as Thorn were far from my mind, I redressed my body in scraps of fur and skins. I knew now I had to train with my bow and become strong.
Over time I spent a lot of time alone, hunting bosk for meat and learning to fish in the waters close to the camp, days would go and I wouldn't see another sole, occasionally in the distance I would see a tall male, one with hair as fair as gold, which in these parts was rare to see in the men, he was always fast and swift on his feet. I was always tempted to shoot at him, but something always stopped me, I was not get confident enough, so I would stick to just mere survival.
As the days and went by, for no reason I can explain, other women started to come and go by the camp; each time they would stay longer and for some reason unbeknown to me they would call me En.
It seemed that they looked upon me as thier leader, so with the pressures of a tribe on my shoulders I had to push the thoughts of my former Master from my mind, I could never show them any weakness.
When i could be alone, I travelled from land to land, telling my sisters I was searching for food or supplies but in all reality I was merely searching for him, still in my heart I could never believe he was dead, every ship i sailed on; all the faces I would scrutinize. I would sneak into cities we had travelled together in the past, asking questions of old friends in a somewhat desperate and pathetic attempt to be re-united with my Master.
Every time I returned to the tribe a little more of my soul had died, but for my sisters I stayed strong.
Though unfortunately it seemed, the pirate Thorn had not forgotten my promise, every time it seemed I came back to the camp, the girls would tell stories of different pirates attacking and leaving messages for me in regards to the promise I had not kept, when questioned on this i would merely shrug it off, but in my eyes the fear was always evident.
There were other repetitive occurrences that became part of my life, the male who had originally given me the bow, he would appear on almost a daily basis never with a mere greeting but to shoot and attack me and my sisters, but the most he would do was slap my ass and laugh before running off back to where he had come from, it infuriated me, I would get so mad, but no matter how hard I tried I never could seem to win.
Still I would see the blonde one from a distance and now more confident my arrogance growing I would shoot a few arrows in his direction but never anything more, occasionally we would meet at the docks or trading posts, he was an attractive man, something about him always brought about a strange calm with in me, though again, I was becoming somewhat of an actress and would merely sneer at his greetings and spit at his feet........... but that I believe was to be the beginning of my downfall.................

By Kerri Spitteler

Temenos Artist Oasis

A new gallery with a new view. Check our M.A.C.E. section for a taste.

Which you is you?

Are you a Doppleganger or just your real self? Read our Explore section to see what I mean.

ace-exchange is back:

Full story in FINANCE

Digital Art Show at W.I.N. Gallery

I attended the grand opening of India Garrigus Digital Art show at the WIN gallery on Sunday, 13th of April, where I met both the artist and gallery owner Walt Ireton.

Find out more with Nazz Lane in M.A.C.E

Exploits in CG

With the Lindens making themselves so unpopular at the moment I heard a lot more talk about Central Grid and other options so I thought I would take a look myself to see if it was workable.
To start with the similarities were obvious with the 'ruthed avatar' I appeared in a dome with signs all around to instruct on how to get started - mostly unneeded for an SLer.
I immediately set to work on my appearance, I couldn't bear that avatar.
Firstly finding out there is no cost for uploads as there is no money here in CG although my balance showed $1000 it never changed. I uploaded a basic outfit and then set to work on my hair and skin; not so easy I had never made either before but I didn't do too badly as you can see from the image below I ended up with a fairly creditable look.
One problem seems to be saving this; you cannot edit the original skin or clothes but must create new ones which do not always save under the new name, after crashing I had to start over since the new ones i created were suddenly no MOD. and my appearance was 'ruthed' again.
I took a fly around after this, there was a large education center and a lot of buildings where I was, but always empty - I thought 'great' a huge empty world to experiment. Sim crossings were a lot more temperamental too and crash rates were very high.
I was directed to the sandbox to try building (I wanted to try to make hair) building here is exactly the same as in SecondLife although there seems to be a few glitches with linking objects and also taking them into your invent
Although I did in fact manage to make some simple prim hair I had huge problems attaching it, after reading the forum and seeing someone elses solution I rezzed it on the ground and then attatched, this did in fact work but when i tried to edit the position it went shooting off out of sight and the only way to find it was to log out and back in.
When I logged in I was yet again 'ruthed' but I could see the blue dot that indicated where my 'hair' had reappeared.
I was also told that LSL scripting would work here and more so I set about creating a newspaper vendor, a simple redirect to website script - this also was a failure it simply did not work, and not being a scripter, that was time for me to give up.
Although I found very little working, for those with knowledge and ability its a big open world waiting for you, for those, like me, that like to go into a shop and buy what you need then I would suggest waiting.
This is a world in its infancy and with no Inworld currency buying things from each other will not be an option for quite some time.
For cheaper land options, explorers and innovators - go for it, if you expect a second SL you will be disappointed. I will continue to keep up with CG as I can see the potential lets hope some of our more able content creators do too.
Dana Vanmoer reporting from Central Grid

Introducing Lovers Playground.............

Lovers Playground is SL's largest premium source of animated furnishings. Located on five beautifully themed sims, Lovers Playground plays host to the highest quality of home decor available in Second Life.

"Lovers Playground knows no limits, if you can imagine it we can create it."

click over to REDLIGHT for more info, ADULTS ONLY

EVENTS coming up for RFL

Don't forget to keep up with events coming up for RFL this week in our RFL section

This week Jean munro sings in concert for Heart N Soul Relayers, then find the Spring Fling Fight Against Cancer with Relay Hope followed by a full weekend of the 50's by BBA Allstars & Hotshots

Full information in the RFL section

Deviation Renovation

Hot club cool times. Check out our Explore for more

Design Hoax

Being an IT girl sometimes is not all it is cracked up to be.
It took a long time for this reporter to get into the hottest club in-world few months back, and now I am understanding why. Controversy is covering the club as well as the gallery it co-owns and shares a sim with.
As I logged in this morning, I found two separate notices from the two groups in question. An in-world designer who created the buildings for the sim has been ripped off. I have sent a request asking for an interview with the designer and am eagerly awaiting the chance to talk to her. From skins to dresses to buildings, where and when will the designer troubles stop?
This just proves that nothing is safe in-world from theft. Hopefully I will have not only an update but a full interview soon.

Photo by reporter Dashwood Dayafter

An interview with Annetelope Pawpaw.

Meet long time resident and club owner, Annetelope Pawpaw.

Click here

Shoshana Epsilon

Evanston, IL – 04/11/2008 – AVATRAIT GALLERY, Second Life’s premier site for “Digital Impressionist” art, has recently undergone a major renovation as part of the on-going upgrades to the Simuality sim. They are very pleased to announce the resumption of monthly features with an exclusive showing of images by noted artist Shoshana Epsilon, starting with a gallery re-opening celebration on Saturday, April 12^th, at 1pm SLT.

Shoshana noted on her blog:
“I've been working privately for months to try to come up with a new set of pictures that would be unique. … I'm really excited about this show. I've really stretched, as far as the subject matter is concerned. There will be topics on display that I've been too sensitive to touch before.”

She notes that many of her images have “a backstory” and invites attendees to ask her about these, but also adds that some are just pure whimsy. Aside from the April 12^th opening, Shoshana will be available for additional “meet-the-artist” events during the month: Thursday, April 17th at 4pm; Sunday, April 20th at 5am; Tuesday, April 22nd at 4pm; and Tuesday, April 29th at 4pm (all times SLT).

Shoshana Epsilon’s images can be purchased both on an exclusive basis in-world (only one copy of the image exists), and as high-quality real-world prints. As always, there is a “freebie” framed graphic by our featured artist available across from the gallery welcome desk. Avatrait gallery, http://slurl.com/secondlife/Simuality/38/211/38

Relay for Life in SL Carnival

The Relay for Life in Second Life Relay Rockers team will be the beneficiaries of La Place Mall's three day carnival and grand re-opening the weekend of April 25. The mall has completed its renovation and expansion, and is celebrating with rides, an arcade, live music, dancing, fireworks every night, and a parachute jumping contest open to all users. The fundraiser starts on Friday April 25 at 5 P.M. SLT and runs through Sunday April 27 at 5 P.M. SLT. For free jumping classes, contest registration information, or carnival or rental information, IM Tria Boucher or Chase Marellan.

Dear all,

It is a pleasure to announce that Zurich City is now part of the Sister Cities in SL group (Dublin, Groeningen, SS Galaxy, Museum of Robots).

We have been invited to be part of this selected group of cities in SL because of our traffic, content and social networking.

All the cities share a common interest in promoting culture in SL as well as social activities.

Info about the other cities will be on display in the park next to Opera and at Lindehof Park. S.F

Silelf Fisseux:

Writing Contest - sculputres by Elros Tuominen

Spread around Zurich City and Zurich Hillside there are 9 sculputres by Elros Tuominen exhibiton 'Air Painting'.

We invite the SL community to participate in writing a notecard with a maximum of 500 words describing the exhibition/sculptures as per presenting them for a book introduction.

More details in M.A.C.E

BREAKING NEWS: Region prices dropped by 40%

UPDATE (Thursday, April 10th, 3:30am SLT):

Linden Lab have released some more details about the new pricing for sims. The most important changes are:
- Openspace sim prices will also drop (to US$ 275, excl. VAT)
- Tier fees will remain the same for all types of sims
- New land store will probably open on April 16th/17th
- Orders for new regions that have not been processed yet, can be cancelled
- There will be compensation for those who bought a new region after March 10th
- First month's tier will still be included in the setup price

It seems that Linden Lab has given in to the many many comments and complaints about these price changes. It is mostly the enormous drop in prices (over 40%) and how sudden this all came to the public at large, that has been upsetting many residents. Especially those who have bought a region not too long ago, but long enough not to get compensated, are very aggrevated to see their investments drop 40% in value overnight.

The post on the LL blog reached the maximum of 150 comments within hours after the details were released. About 80-90% of the comments are negative and critical towards these price changes.


Original post (Tuesday, April 8th):

Linden Lab has done it again! Another very controversial decision that will shake up Second Life completely! Very angry sim owners are screaming and shouting how unfair the latest of LL's decisions is.

Yesterday/today, LL announced that prices of private regions will drop from US$ 1695 to US$ 1000 within the next couple of weeks.

Imagine that you ordered a new region yesterday, and that you paid almost US$ 1700 for it, while only a few hours later you read that if you had waited 2 weeks, that you would have gotten exactly the same private region for US$ 700 less! Or imagine that you have invested in 20 sims for your RL business, or that you have started your own business in-world, renting out land. You would have invested US$ 33,500 (or even more if you lived in the EU), and now would loose about US$ 15,000 !!!

It almost seems that with two major top-level managers in Linden Lab gone, things are going downhill very fast and decisions aren't thought through very well.

Of course this decision also has it's advantages for those who were thinking about buying a region sometime soon. They will simply get a huge discount. But that will not weigh up against the tremendous amount of upset sim owners, protests and maybe even law suits against Linden Lab.

Another decision that was announced, is to drop the bottom threshhold for mainland region auctions from US$ 1250 to US$ 750, and to 'agressively' sell abandoned mainland.

All we can think of, after the mere flabbergasted feeling fades away, is one question: what is Linden Lab trying to accomplish with this action? Why this enforced rapid expansion over the backs of current residents who will loose 40% of their investments? Has Second Life been subject of some kind of contest over who has the biggest online metaverse? Or did they just get a very good deal on an investment of new servers and do they want to earn that money back very soon?

The article on the LL blog was not very clear on the Openspace regions, on which there has been a huge run since they became a lot easier to buy about a month ago. It is unknown if the price of those 'void sims' will drop by 40% as well. And if so, will LL be sued over it? A lot of people ordered a lot of those sims very very recently!

For now we will have to wait for the new Land Store to open (before the end of April), and in the meantime we will see if this will finally make the economy of SL collaps.

GHUL FEDERAL PRISON: A comment

This is just a short note to all our readers. It might seem that this reporter has a vendetta against Ghul Federal Prison. This is NOT the case. Far from it. I have made many good friends, amongst inmates and guards, and have many nice memories of my internment there. I simply report what I have seen or am reliably informed about. I do not report on anything that I cannot confirm or have proof on.
Regarding The Beast Of Ghul, well, there is not enough space for me to tell you the full story about him.
Suffice to say, should any of you wish to experience a ‘Prison lifestyle’ then Ghul Federal is the place to do it, I should know, been there long enough.
Obey the rules and you will be fine, just don’t be a ‘Sink Freak’ as I was lol, the Tower is not a place to be.
Have a nice ‘Time’.
The Baron.

1st Annual Equestrian Ladies Tea and Luncheon

I was recently invited to high Tea by The Queen of Gentle Kingdoms Come, Charltina Christensen, something I had never done before and what a surprise awaited me.

Find out more in the EXTRA EXTRA section

Drama at JCNY contest: we tell both sides

On Tuesday I received a strange story, now this does happen but we don't always print them. This however was well written and expressed one side of a story, so I did what any reporter would do I contacted the other side to get the full picture. One thing I do wish emphasized is that none of this is written by me, I will not print the whole story but will try to show both sides, even after being accused of writing it, I still wish to be fair:

Full story in DESIGN

New Viewer Pixelation Quirk

The new Second Life viewer does offer some improvements.
When I first used it, I got a beautiful view of reflections in the water.
But it has a rather quirky effect on some avatars. When viewed from a distance, some avies begin to look blocky. Some just look a little pixelated, some quite heavily. As one guy put it, "makes you look like you're out of an early video game ... 8-bit SL." I was told this is how the new viewer acts with certain video cards, apparently including my own

My own avie, whether it's my usual foxboy avie or the gryphon one that I wore for these pictures, doesn't seem to be affected as much on my computer, though this doesn't seem to be the case with others on theirs. Hopefully, this pixelation effect will be corrected soon in a new update






By Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Relay Raiders Charity Dance Goes on Despite SL Troubles

At Haute Style & Co. in the Haute Couture sim, Nevar Lobo, Bcreative Wilde, and the Relay Raiders held a charity dance for Relay for Life. But events made it more than just a simple fundraiser.

Continue reading in the RFL section with Bixyl Section

Changes.....

You may have noticed a little change with our layout (well i had to find something to do) one of the main changes is that instead of leads to our other sections you will now find the headlines on the right, these only show the top 2 stories in each section, so to read the whole section you will need to use the left navigation buttons as always.
We hope you find this easier, as now you can see what is new from the one page without hiding the articles on this main news page.
As always feel free to comment.
Dana

The Beast Kicks A Patient.

The Beast Of Ghul, aka Jeb Nicholls, has sunk even lower ..For full story…click here

How can organizations use virtual worlds?

One cannot say that he or she has figured out the way that large organizations will be able to use Second Life on a broad basis. Using it as a tool to reach ordinary people or simply do internal activities has yet to develop comprehensively.

A few examples such as Sun Microsystems and IBM have been widely cited in the media for having virtual offices or meetings. We sometimes hear that there are companies who recruit on the grid. But all of this is rather experimental. There isn't clear a "virtual world presence" model for everyone. Even for retail businesses, which may not have been fully using the potential of SL.

Without being an oracle, I have a bit of a vision on all of this.

Let's start with the retailers. I believe that in the long run, 3D worlds have all the potential to be a replacement for traditional Web sites. Today's Web sites have their limitations when you want to shop. Imagine going to your favorite electronics or housewares store's Web site. You do not get the same shopping experience than you get at the RL location.

Second Life can be an answer to this. With an island, sculpties and a bit of work, even a luxury shop from 5th Avenue in New York could recreate its unique in-store experience. Even for the curious such as me who don't go to NYC very often! You would go to virtual stores and look at the virtual replica of this LG television, Canon photo camera or GE fridge that you are thinking of buying. You could read about it from a notecard. You would get, on your screen, the environment that you would later see when visiting the RL location. Or order in-world if you want.

In such a model, the virtual world doesn't have to replace the real world... just replace the limited potential of the Web site.

As for large organizations that want to use virtual worlds, IBM's answer might prove to be right. They want organizations to use SL as they use the Internet. They would have a firewall that allows them to step outside as much as they want while protecting their internal islands. That would be a brilliant step towards a more secure environment.

But there's still a major problem, as The Economist points out wisely in its March 19 edition. You can't take something you created in Second Life and take it to another virtual world. The same goes with your avatar. They are wrong about moving information in, which is rather easy. But being unable to move it out easily is an issue. And they rightly point out that more open standards might do to SL just what they did to AOL's gated online services. Once we discover a universal, open virtual world, we may all abandon SL to avoid its limits.

Scary for the Lindens, eh? But it could be a long-term reality.

Related Link: Break down these walls (The Economist)

Yes you can MAYBE log in, but why bother?

Unless you were lucky enough to log in amongst your friends you cannot get to them, TP is borked and I won't be trying to buy anything (The system is currently unable to process your request. The request timed out.). IMs work so at least you can talk (if your friends list loads that is) textures don't load, notecards ditto, oh and don't try to get dressed either because its a waste of time, I did eventually manage to get hair, but shoes? not there even after 15 minutes. It took 20 minutes to change pants and prims still havent appeared.
Walking? well if you call sliding across the ground with your hands on hips walking then that is at least possible
Uploading, don't even go there LOL
building seems to be possible and it even managed to delete the prims i rezzed which is a slight improvement from reports we have heard.

To give them their due (ROFL) LL are at least admitting they can't fix it and are keeping people informed:

[07:30AM 04/05/08] It seems the problem is even harder to nail down than we earlier supposed. We need to close logins again to go back to diagnostics. -Lotte

Hopefully we will all be back sometime this week with the new Havok4 working and transactions going through everytime, oh no thats just a dream I had once upon a time...........

What is happening at Ancapex

We spoke to Intlibber Brautigan last night go to FINANCE for the full update

Second life grid wide issues, a black week for residents

After another week of inworld issues the World of Second Life® has finally come to a complete halt with logins being disabled as from 10.22 last night.
Said this time to be a problem with the ISPs who provide bandwidth for Second Life this is just the last in a very long list of problems which many are saying make SL™ such an unstable platform for any business to consider.
This week has been plagued by problems which present themselves by: login failure, teleporting, timeouts on the web page, support lines down, map usage, search functionality, IM/chat, add to that the fact that most of the week transactions have been failing grid wide, businesses will be suffering as residents hold tight to their purse strings.
Through load tests, updates and the installation of Havok 4 Linden Labs have worked hard to try to fix the issues but to no avail, this week has been a black week for most residents and definitely for business owners.
I am sure that many will agree with me that the long awaited Havok4 rollout has been over shadowed by the inworld problems facing most residents.
I know many are asking if the two are related and maybe, just maybe the Havok4 is not all its cracked up to be. Now I am no expert but I have been told that they are not related and Havok4 is actually making a difference. But with no logins and troubles when you do, who is going to believe that (apart from the techies out there)?

Update:[3.30 AM] [RESOLVED] - The doors are open and we are back. It turned out there were multiple issues with our ISPs network which have been worked around for now. The network provider is working to resolve the issue permanently - Matthew
OOPs looks like i was too quick to hope:
[05:20 AM 04/05/08] Unfortunately, connected to the earlier described problems with our ISP, we are getting reports of failing inworld services again. We are working to get it fixed again, and will keep you updated here.
[9:38 PM] We are continuing to work with the service provider, we will keep you posted as the details come in.
[8:34 PM] We have investigated network issues and determined connectivity issues with one of our service providers. Contact has been made and they are working to resolve this.
[7:31 PM] We are experiencing various inworld issues at this time, such as region down, logins failure, transactions, teleporting, timeouts on the webpage etc. We are aware of this problem and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. Please refrain from any transactions at this time, as possible.

Are you busy on April the 17th?

If not and you have ever lost anyone dear to you then this may be the event for you:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Big%20Easy/129/225/24

April 17th, 2008

6 am to 11 pm SLT

Have you ever lost an in-world friend? As years pass in Second Life, more residents will have the sad experience of logging in to find that someone they know and love in-world has passed away in Real Life.

The Day of Remembrance is a new community event commemorating the life, spirit, and creativity of all the residents who have left us.

The event is organized around the New Orleans tradition of the Jazz Funeral. Rather than a sad, solemn affair, a New Orleans funeral celebrates life with music and parading. Our parade will depart from historic Jackson Square and crash joyously through the Big Easy sim four times-- so that Residents in all time zones can participate. We will have an interactive memorial garden and temple, and some great music on the main stage throughout the day.

Parades at 6:00 am, 11:00 am, 5:00 pm, 11:00 pm
Interactive Temple and Memorial Garden: All day
Live Music and DJ's TBA

Full info can be found here

Soulmates forever Sim

Find out all about this fantastic sim and all it has to offer in the EXPLORE section

Introducing Intimate Life

If you are trying to introduce a little more intimacy into your Second Life then there is no where better to come than IntimateLife at Pondlife.
Click over to REDLIGHT for more information

Honey Fairweather - an interview.

It is with great pleasure that I interviewed Honey Fairweather, founder of FashCon. Although she readily agreed to speak to me, her busy SecondLife ment that I was reduced to begging, pleading, nagging, bribing and eventually blackmail to get the interview. thank you Honey.

Read more here

The Future of Media, Marketing and Entertainment

LAST DAY !!! :

Virtual Worlds 2008 is where leading media, consumer entertainment, youth brands and agencies come to understand how to monetize their intellectual property using virtual worlds.

Entertainment brands and youth-oriented companies are increasingly integrating virtual worlds into their product mix. Forward thinking brand advertisers and agencies are aligning themselves with high-quality virtual worlds franchises in order to further engage consumers.

Read more on : www.virtualworlds2008.com

Virtual Worlds Management, the leading virtual worlds media company, announced the keynotes for the second annual Virtual Worlds Conference taking place April 3 – 4, 2008, at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Keynote addresses will be given by: - Charles Scothon, General Manager & SVP, Girls Mattel Brands, Mattel, Inc. - Rosie O’Neill, Senior Brand Manager, Barbie Tech, Mattel, Inc. - Jeffrey B. Yapp, Executive Vice President, MTV Networks Music & Logo Enterprise Group - Sibley Verbeck, CEO, The Electric Sheep Company - Kyra E. Reppen, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Neopets - Steve Mortinger, VP & Associate General Counsel, Systems and Technology Group, IBM.

"Virtual worlds are rapidly reshaping the toy, media, and entertainment industries," said Christopher Sherman, Executive Director of the Virtual Worlds Management. "This year’s Virtual Worlds Conference keynoters are individuals who are leading the charge, leveraging existing content, brands and intellectual property to create new, high-margin virtual worlds that excite, entertain and engage audiences."

The two day conference agenda covers the business, operations and legal issues for companies seeking to monetize their intellectual property with virtual worlds. Thirty three companies will also be exhibiting new products and services.

Tantra opens today!

Grand opening

Today at 1pm SLT
Tantra opened its doors to the public for the very first time:

go to EVENTS to see more

Secondlife on your mobile phone?

Samsung Electronics has introduced a wireless solution, which can help Samsung phone users receive services from the Second Life virtual world whenever they want to and wherever they are.

The world’s No. 2 handset manufacturer said Wednesday that it will offer demonstrations of the three dimensional world of Second Life through its mobile Softboard applications, in addition to in-home wireless synchronization solutions at the cellular telecommunication industry association (CTIA) annual U.S. wireless trade show in Las Vegas.

`We plan to commercialize phones equipped with the innovative wireless mobile solutions possibly from the second half of this year for U.S. consumers,' a Samsung spokesperson said.

source: Korean Times

The 'Beast Of Ghul' Strikes Again

To read about this vile creature and 'Mindless Violence At Ghul Federal Prison' click here

Havok4 introduction completed

It's done. It's finished. It's there. The physics engine, this vital part of the server-side software that Linden Lab uses to control everything in Second Life has been upgraded from version 1 to 4.

Today the last rolling restarts made it happen. The upgrade project was started behind the scenes over a year ago and has been available for testing for everyone on the Beta grid for months and more recently in the early adaptor program. And now it's gone public. Today the last sims were updated and restarted.

So is this the promised milestone that will make everything better? Or is it the introduction of more problems? I've done some research and to be honest, I'm not sure. Time will have to tell.

Two months ago I was in a wild mood and tried the Havok4 Beta. I went out, rezzed about 100 go-karts on a nearly empty Beta sim and made them all physical. Now, you must know that under the old Havok1, this would almost certainly bring everything on that region to a near stop, if not crash the sim completely. I've seen it happen. But I must say, this first try with Havok4 really made me smile! Holy moly, what a big step this would mean. I won't say this test went as smooth as it would be in real life, but the go-karts actually fell down and tumbled down the hill. I could see it happen, and I even could still walk around!

But ... is this really an improvement? Or will it just turn out as one of those things where things get more complicated, and get more buggy? Will it make everything run more smoothly, or will it cause more lag? Again, my first experiences with Havok4, even now that I've seen it on the SL grid, is very positive.

But if you consider that this introduction has been done during a number of other performance problems (specifically this weekend was very bad), one might wonder if they're really doing a smart thing there.

Let's wait and see. For now I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Further reading and explanation on Havok4 can be found in the new Barbwire section, if you're interested. It'll tell you what Havok is and why they were upgrading it.

Return of the Ceiling Gods (Blood-Soaked 2)

No not again! Dashwood is seeing red again, read more in our People section.

The supposed 'clarification' of the new trademark rules

The supposed 'clarification' of the new trademark rules are a huge let down to everyone, they in fact do nothing to clear up the questions of most residents or fan sites.

These fan site, website, blogs, newspapers etc have spent the last 4 years boosting Second Life's hits and promoting SL freely and enthusiastically, what are they to do now? Why would any company turn on the very people that love them and show it on a daily basis?

We all know how much revenue gambling brought SL™ but it didn't matter to Linden reasearch inc. ® This is a company that is determined to destroy itself by turning on the very people that have brought it the fame it now realises. Unfortunately they just do not seem to care, knowing that most will have to knuckle under or quit.

We at SL-Newspaper have no idea whether we are in breach of the new rules and will wait for the cease and desist letter. Another question that has arisen is whether the term 'SL' is trademarked anywhere else, a quick search under UK trademarks shows at least 50 SL trademarks - how does anyone know what the SL stands for? It could be Sally Long, Silly Losers, Stupid Lag or even Sri Lanka. Can anyone enforce not using the letters S and L together?

That is undoubtably a question a lot of us would like answered, instead we basically get a rewording of the original guidelines which yet again answer nothing, as Rheta Shan commented:

'It is, in short, useless drivel only designed to raise a smokescreen, providing a simulacrum of care while in essence openly declaring your complete and utter contempt for the people that have been your most supportive community and most successful evangelists.
Dear Catherine Linden, and dear Linden Lab all, please take not that you are driving open eyed into major PR disaster. LL is headed for the kind of fame that struck so many other companies when they abrogated themselves abusive rights on their products and terms of services. If you want to make sure your best (and may I add : unpaid) publicists and supporters turn to alternatives and declare your product unsuitable and untenable, just do go on as you do.'

I absolutely loved Carter Giacobini's addition to the 'discussion':

What concerns me is that it seems that you’re getting ready to float an IPO, however, your interface is forever borked. I know… Instead of using the ridiculous amount of tier fees I pay you every single month, how about you hire at least one troubleshooter to review the viewers before they’re released. Or, maybe pay some overtime to the code poets who are writing the code for the viewer so that they have enough time to finish the job before releasing it. Or, maybe… just maybe… you should concentrate on creating a reliable product and even a halfway decent customer service team, demonstrating that you care about the residents of your world. Your slogan says that it’s our world and our imagination… But, these latest rules clearly show that’s false advertising. So, if you come after me for using your name, I’ll come after you for false advertising. Then you can use my tiers for paying lawyers to answer the same type of frivolous lawsuit I would bring against you that you would bring against me.

One Lawyer inSL Says stated:

Dear Linden Lab,
'If you do not back down on enforcing your abuse and barely legal policy against the use of “SL” and remotely try to come after all those who previously and currently use the term SL in their business entity name and or domain, I am afraid there will be repercussions in the form of an inevitable class action lawsuit against Linden Research Inc. I would regrettably take part in such a lawsuit myself.
You would be about to wage an unnecessary war with the core people who are the active force behind Second Life and made your company what it is today.

Half of creative SL residents have “SL” in their business names which was previously permitted by Linden Lab so long as non-affiliation with Linden Lab disclaimer was displayed. Such reversal on the term “SL” specifically shuts the door to the expansion of your brand rather than protect it. Your brand is Second Life, Linden Lab and the Second Life Grid, not SL. “SL” as many pointed out is a product of the residents themselves for naming Second Life.The inSL program is fine but please don’t overstep your boundaries.'

Another question oft raised has been will LL compensate for the change of domain names, pay for rebranding etc? The question has been asked although most already know the answer LOL. What can't be paid for is the years of marketing work most of us have spent building OUR brands that the new rules say we must change. I would love to see someone come along and tell them 'Sorry we already registered the name SL, you will have to rebrand in this country'

Watch this space for more news as we get it.

Dana

XXX

Source: Second Life Blog

The following Letter was published by Gwyneth Llewelyn on her own blog. We are reprinting it here to show our support of its contents and in the hope it gets some response.

Dear Linden Lab®,
Your recent change of policy regarding the usage of your trademarks — Second Life®, Linden Lab®, and others registered by Linden Research Inc. — will effectively prevent the operation of the very vibrant community of bloggers, forum posters, websites, community portals, and even 3rd party services, that have provided Linden Lab® with links and driving traffic to your blog, and raising brand awareness for free for your product Second Life®.
Probably thousands — if not dozens of thousands — of sites include (now illegitimately) the name “Second Life®” or “SL®” somewhere in their names. From sites like Reuters (which has a Second Life® channel) to whole companies that have a “Second Life® Division” (and promotes your product by the explicit naming of it), a plethora of online communities, products, and services — some free, other commercial, many in the limbo between both extremes — include, in some way, your registered trademarks.
Your previous policy, established in May 2004 (”Second Life® Fansite Tolkit”), and later reinforced with referral programmes like “Viva La Evolution”, positively encouraged the widespread use of your trademarks, so long as it was quite clearly displayed that no infringement was intended. To requote your own terms of agreement for the usage of your trademarks:
USE OF SECOND LIFE MARKS
While you are in full compliance with the usage guidelines described here, you may use the “Second Life” name on your website, as well as the related logos and graphics available at Toolkit, solely in the form described there. Additionally, you may use screenshots from Second Life to the extent that Linden Lab has the right to authorize use of the content within such screenshot, including screenshots of Linden in-world objects and Linden avatars, subject to these usage guidelines.
Under those very friendly terms, a plethora of fansites of all sorts popped up, driving traffic to Second Life®’s main website, its blogs, forums, and other related sites — making SL®’s own ranking quite high on Google, Alexa, and other systems — while at the same time, in a period of a little less than four years, allowing the number of registered users to skyrocket from 10,000 to 13 million.
Fansites, blogs, 3rd party sites, Second Life®-related online communities, 3rd party sites that create products and services related to Second Life® are the “off-world” counterpart of the dynamic and enthusiastic community that made Second Life®, as a brand, get world-wide recognition — without the need for Linden Lab® to spend millions in advertising and campaigns on the media. We worked for free on the promotion, brand awareness, and market recognition of your products — while, at the same time, we also worked for free creating the fantastic content of the 3D environment that makes Second Life® a place worth to visit, to enjoy, to chat, to socially connect, to do business, and launch the pillars of the upcoming metaverse — fulfilling Philip ‘Linden®’ Rosedale’s dream of having more users in Second Life® than on the Web.
We’ve been the ones ultimately promoting that vision, spreading it around, and making sure that the world noticed your product and your brand. We were very successful — thanks to your gentle and encouraging former policies.
And for four years, you have been thankful enough to allow us to do that promotion, by establishing very reasonable and clear guidelines of the terms of usage of your trademarks.
Your sudden reversal of position — effectively limiting the display of the name “Second Life®” on most sites, domain names, products, and services, through a mechanism of explicit approval that you fully admit “can take long and might never finish” and will only be available to a very limited number of sites — means that suddenly all the off-world promotion of Second Life® will necessarily have to stop; or face a lawsuit in court; or, at the very least, receive a Cease & Desist letter from your lawyers and be forced to shut down.
The current terms can be aggressively enforced or not. According to your blog, we are supposed to have a 90-day grace period to remove all mentioning of Second Life® and its logo from our fansites, blogs, forums, or 3rd party sites offering products and services related to Second Life®. In fact, what this means is that we are forced not to talk about Second Life® any more — or, if we do, we cannot explicitly name the product at all.
This is, obviously, absurd.
The compromise between Linden Research Inc. (owners of the registered trademarks) and the community of volunteers that have so faithfully promoted your product, Second Life®, was quite clear for the past four years. We had clear guidelines of what we could do and what we couldn’t. Abuses could still be effectively dealt with by your legal department; to the world’s knowledge, these cases were few and scattered, if any. They were not significative to prevent a vast number of dozens of thousands of sites of all sorts to draw traffic to your own site; to reach out the huge audience on the Internet; and to drive new users to register. The numbers fortunately speak for themselves: with almost zero promotional costs, you managed to grow a thousand times in four years, thanks to crowd sourcing the promotion of Second Life®.
The “inSL” programme is definitely interesting, but a small new logo, worthless to an audience of hundreds of millions of users that are familiar with the eye-on-hand logo, without a massive campaign of promotion behind it to reflect the logo change, is not enough. “inSL” doesn’t say much, and it cannot be expanded to talk and promote Second Life® directly. And, anyway, the same restrictions apply to the usage of “inSL” as with all your other trademarks. We appreciate the grant to use that new logo, but we also feel it will be unable to gather the same support and promotional effort as the old logo and the product name did in the past four years.
We would thus kindly request that you clarify your position regarding the usage of the trademarks Second Life® and the logo on all fansites, blogs, forums, or other 3rd party websites offering products and services related to Second Life®. This clarification should be as easy to follow as your previous policies on the usage of those trademarks. They should make clear that all people intending to promote your product and raise your brand awareness are not facing lawsuits because they have faithfully used your trademarks using the old policy, and wish to continue to do so in the future.
We consider that an appropriate response should be forthcoming in the next few days, or we will be forced to shut down our own blogs, websites, forums, community portals, and other 3rd party sites to avoid litigation — and thus depriving Linden Lab® from the traffic generated by millions of direct links and millions of viewers that learn first about Second Life® through all those sites.
=============================================

Permission is granted by the author to fully copy & adapt the text above if you wish.

BREAKING NEWS: LL has new CTO

UPDATE: APRIL FOOL !!! Please see 2nd comment for more info.

From a reliable source within Linden Lab, one of our reporters has learned that a new CTO has been hired. When this person will start is at this moment unknown and it should be announced on the official LL blog sometime today.

The name of Dr. Ted Polofaril has been mentioned and apparently he has great plans for Second Life. It has been said that one of the first things he will do is increase the maximum number of prims on regular regions considerably. This should happen sometime in May. According to him, this should be a logical step, following the introduction of Havok4 and updated hardware.

When we tried to contact the PR department of LL to get this confirmed, we did not get any answer. So for now this is only rumour. It is also said that Dr. Polofaril has been hired by Phil Rosedale himself. At top level his ideas are supported, but at lower level this decision is much debated, because of possible increased lag and increased number of system failures.

We will keep you updated as this story develops and we get an official reply from LL. Or of course when this is be publically announced. Please note that this Linden employee has requested not to disclose his name.

Clown Crime on the Rise

The Newspaper Head Office was one of many media places to be hit today by a string of bizarre crimes. The thief who was caught on tape did manage to run off with a wheelbarrow of office supplies.
She was heard screaming about getting the "Bat" and mumbling a song by the face painted rap band ICP as she loaded up her purple and green get-away van. The janitor thought he saw her dancing the Bat-Tosy as he hide behind the large cola machine near the offices on the first floor. Read our Explore for more details

Vendor draw winner Desiree's

Shamu Kidd began his SL retail career by opening his Desiree's boutique a little over a year ago. Now with 8 desigers to choose from, Shamu has used his 12+ years experience in RL retail industry to offer a great selection to his valued SL clients, but owning a succesfull store is not the only thing Shamu is up to. Believing designers should be allowed to concentrate on what's important and the most fun for them...designing, he is allowing others to take advantage of his RL experience and has started offering his services as a retail manager. Los Texanos will be the first to take advantage of his new service, Shamu will be running the day-to-day retail operations for the group.
Being facinated with Machinima as well, Shamu has also partnered with Rusty Miles and Tocho Cortes to help expand Second Life Media Source ( www.slmediasource.com ). SLMS gives the user a portal into the creativity and complexity that is Second Life. With videos, tutorials, photos and more, we want to help enhance their metaverse experience and help make it one of quality, enjoyment, and enlightenment.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isle%20of%20Freedom/73/158/23




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