On January 29, M Linden announced on the Second Life blog that Linden Lab had acquired “Avatars United.” They were now the owners of the “web-based community site designed especially for avatars” through buying the company that runs it, “Enemy Unknown” of Sweden, “We’re proud to announce that they are now part of Linden Lab.”
M Linden explains that “Our goal is to extend and support the great work done by so many on their SL-related blogs and Web sites, because they are a powerful network in themselves. We want to give you more tools, feeds, and connection points to build even more richness and depth into the experience of SL.” Buying up Avatars United, M Linden says, “will soon start to give Residents new and better ways to connect with each other and with the rest of the world.”
Of those with no connection to Second Life already on Avatars United, M Linden says they will continue to be supported, “we're committed to keeping this ideal of a place where avatars from multiple worlds and games can come together.” They also promise to respect the privacy of those “who keep a strict separation between SL and the rest of the Web.”
Taking a look at the website, one can put up pictures, install applications, or give gifts to others using Avatars United own virtual currency, as well as posting updates. There do seem to be a few minor bugs, such as the "Feed Reader" application not being able to work quite right.
It is noteable that M Linden’s blog post states that among Linden Lab’s future plans is “Optional registration and sign-in using credentials from other properties (Facebook, Yahoo!, etc.)” For those who have been asking for integrating Second Life with popular social networks, a welcome move. Looking at the comments to the blog post, one called it, “the first thing since Havok4 that I’ve seen done right.”
One question is how Avatars United will compete with other social networks that already have large numbers of Second Life residents, such as Flickr, MySpace, and SLprofiles. Time will tell how Linden Labs’ move into social networking turns out.
For the complete blog post and comments, Click Here.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Linden Labs Purchases “Avatars Unite” Social Network Site “For MMOs”
Saturday, January 30, 2010
A Conversation with Gayle Cabaret of Beta Business Park in Second Life
The session that Friday was facilitated by B2P’s General Manager Gayle Cabaret (Photo by Giovanii Fellini) who ably led the attendees through the hour long session where we shared, networked and learned. Impressed with the session and Ms Cabaret, I made arrangements to meet with her a few days later for a conversation about B2P and her second life. I arrived for the appointment early and was promptly greeted by a concierge when I did. While I waited for Gayle, several other avatars rezzed and were similarly greeted as well as assisted by the friendly and knowledgeable concierge.Friday, January 29, 2010
Wishing On A Cure – teams’ registration for Relay For Life of Second Life opening soon!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Cypress Rosewood Gets Helping Hand After Robbery
Cypress Rosewood is a noted musician in Second Life, as well as the host of the “When Worlds Collide” talk show. When returning home on the night of the 24th, he got a nasty shock. The back door of his home had been knocked down and thousands of dollars worth of computers, and instruments had been stolen. Some of the equipment he had been using to play music online. It was a particularly bitter blow to Cypress.
Fortunately, word spread among his friends, who began taking action. Tony Gerber’s music shop offered music for sale with proceeds going to Cypress. Pooky Amsterdam’s “The 1st Question” talk show held a fundraiser for him on Tuesday the 26th at 7PM SL time. Chatting with Pooky about the fundraiser, she responded, “It was very successful, and I am happy for that.” The next day, also at 7 PM, Cellandra Zon at “The Pocket” club held another fundraiser.
Needless to say, Cypress was very appreciative for the help. He posted the following on his Twitter page, “Thanks Second Life friends & fans coming together to raise money to replace stolen items from our home & get me back playing music live.”
Bixyl Shuftan
Sources: Delinda Dryssen’s Blog
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Today in SL Newspaper
In Main News, Shellie Sands describes her experience with People Path LLC and their study "being conducted to investigate the overlaps and impacts of SL on RL and vice versa." In Community, we look at the Areo Pines and Recreation Center. And in Extra Extra, the "ABBA Sweeden" tribute band plays at the Pillars of Hercules.
People Path LLC Research Study in SL
Some time at the end of 2009, I received a notice about a research study being conducted in SL. I have no idea how I got on the list, but it certainly piqued my curiosity. We were asked to complete a survey to determine if we met the criteria for participation in the study. The study, by People Path LLC, was being conducted to investigate the overlaps and impacts of SL on RL and vice versa. As one would expect, the questions on the survey centered around that theme. After submitting my survey, I was informed I had been accepted to participate in the study. was to pay $L15,600.
when or if SL ever prevented you from attending to RL, or whether SL prevented you from attending RL commitments/appointments, etc., as well as if it affected your parenting in any way. Other questions were centered around the aspects I found "binding" in SL, for instance, was it the social networking, was it a connection to RL and was I making lindens to convert to RL cash, and why did I need lindens, why did I need a home and pay rent, all questions along those lines. I was quite fascinated with the direction of some of the questions as they seemed to focus on many areas which I had myself pondered and thought about their significance. I also offered opinion and my own personal experiences as relates to SL vs. RL.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Interview with Treet.tv CEO Wiz Nordberg
Wiz Nordberg is the founder and CEO of Treet.tv, a virtual television company in Second Life. I recently had the opportunity to meet up with him, shortly after he attended one of the snail races covered by his network, and ask a few questions.
Bixyl Shuftan: How did you first find out about Second Life?
Wiz Nordberg: That is becoming harder and harder to remember. I am not much of a gaming person, but I find simulations and "expressive tools" interesting. I think I may have read about it online somewhere. I just don't recall anymore. My wife, Texas Timtam, and I used (Second Life) for about 8 months to a year before ever considering the idea of doing something "serious" in here. It was just for fun.
Bixyl Shuftan: How did that first year go?
Wiz Nordberg: Oh, it was a revelation. The main attraction to me was the "empty slate" of Second Life and the fact that everything everywhere was the creation of a resident. That was remarkably energizing to us. We met some great people, long time SL users, and made some great friends. They helped us to know what to do and what was interesting. Of course that was almost 4 years ago, there were far fewer people here, and the ones who were here were dedicated. The influx of "the curious" had not yet begun.
Bixyl Shuftan: How did Treet.tv come about?
Wiz Nordberg: Unexpectedly. (smile) It is a long story, but let me see if I can shorten it. My wife Texas has worked with the music industry a lot. In 2007, she convinced the Australian government to sponsor an inworld music event to coincide with South-by-Southwest. It was called the Texas Aussie Music Party. Because of our history in the music webcast business (we have done some very large commercial ones for record labels), it seemed obvious to me to try to "film it" somehow. Since we had a lot of experience with that, it was a fun experiment.
But... Unexpectedly, while I was testing I set up a screen in a club that we went to with some friends of ours. Just to get some of the settings right. The people in the club, when they saw themselves on the screen.... well... they almost acted like a group of pre-technology natives that had just seen a telephone for the first time! They started dancing and having fun, and couldn't stop. It was amazing to see their reaction at "seeing themselves".
Within minutes, literally, we were over at “godaddy” and called it the Second Life Cable Network (SLCN). That really is how it all started, with that moment.
Bixyl Shuftan: So it was a spur of the moment decision?
Wiz Nordberg: Yes, we did not intend to start a business. It was just an extension of the fun we were already having. It took months before we started to believe it was something we should take seriously. We did an experimental show called “That S'Life,” we did it ourselves just to prove that the "idea" of television could be transported successfully here. Then we began meeting people who wanted to do shows.
The first was Paisley Beebe, who had performed at the Texas Aussie Music party. To my surprise she didn't want to do a music show, she wanted to do a talk show. When Tonight Live aired, we finally decided that "this was a business" and started planning everything else from there.
Bixyl Shuftan: What would you say have been the more successful shows?
Wiz Nordberg: There have been many. Of the regular shows, Metanomics and Tonight Live had had the largest communities and viewership. But, part of it is because those are also very long running shows. It takes time to gain a loyal audience. Both of those are nearing or exceeding 100 episodes. Shows like the 1st Question and Designing Worlds are catching up.
As far as individual shows, there have been some big successes too. Of course when we had Bruce Willis on, as well as the Transformers Cast with Michael Bay, there were huge numbers for those. But other shows, such as when Paisley interviewed Mark Kingdon and Philip at the Linden Lab offices in San Francisco. That special show did very well. And, inworld, our music shows are at the top of the list always. Our music channel gets almost more viewership than anything else.
Some of the business shows do really well because they have a very interested tech audience. ISTE Eduverse, for example, may really be the biggest show right now in web viewership. They have done a lot to really push that show out to people. I could go on ... about shows. You need to rope me in. (smile)
Bixyl Shuftan: There do seem to be quite a lot of them, talk shows, game shows, sports
Wiz Nordberg: Yes, I didn't even mention all our sports shows! We have done almost 3000 episodes so far. My mouse fingers hurt just thinking about that. :-)
Bixyl Shuftan: Sounds like some shows were a challenge to cover
Wiz Nordberg: Anything worth doing right is challenging. We do shows in a different way than most anybody else, it has its own special problems but also tremendous benefits. As a rule, things go very very smoothly. Our show producers just put in a tremendous amount of work. It's mind boggling sometimes.
Bixyl Shuftan: Maybe I should have brought this up earlier, you mentioned you had experience in the music webcast business?
Wiz Nordberg: Yes, Texas and I owned a business here in Australia which was the number one web provider to the music industry for about nine years. As part of that, we did some of the largest webcasts ever done here, some with 40-50 crew members. We did the main websites for BMG and Warner Music for many years, plus many many others that were single promotions or webcast-only sites. We still run the Paramount Home Entertainment site in Australia. During that time, we learned a great deal from some amazing video professionals we were fortunate enough to work with or have working for us.
Bixyl Shuftan: Did Treet.tv attract any attention from any of those businesses?
Wiz Nordberg: No, I think what we are doing with Treet is off the radar for most traditional media companies. I am not speaking specifically of our clients, but they have a job they are focusing on and the MMO and gaming industry doesn't overlap a lot into their space. Understanding this and seeing the future opportunities takes a leap of faith and a lot of people don't use the same crystal ball we do.
When we worked with Fox and Paramount on the Bruce Willis and Transformers shows, it was with their USA offices. I don't even think we spoke to anybody in Australia at that time, or ever, about what we do. Those deals were really the work of a visionary guy who worked for a company called Picture Production Company. While our entertainment background helped convince them we were the people to work with, they took some amazing risks to create such crossover opportunity and it was great to be in the middle of that.
Bixyl Shuftan: I was told by the staff at one show they managed to get some of their footage onto TV off the Internet, New York City
Wiz Nordberg: Yes I think that might have been the people that work with Pookie at the 1st Question.
Bixyl Shuftan: It was ... Do you see more of that happening, attracting the attention of "real" television?
Wiz Nordberg: I think "real" television has some "real" problems that won't be solved by looking to networks like ours. More than likely, we will start competing with them in alternative television environments like Boxee. That is where the future traction will be. If crossover happens back to cable, it will be fueled by that. Terrible sentence, but you get the gist.
Real television requires enormous markets to function. Markets of 50,000 viewers just won't help them. Our footage has been on TV, both ABC news and BBC as well as Australian Television, but it has been more of a "curiosity" or "human interest story." To get this kind of stuff to happen in mainstream delivery markets, many changes need to occur and it will take a few years. We do, however, think that some shows can "break though" to mainstream market interest. It is one of the things we also are gambling on a bit.
Bixyl Shuftan: There have been some stories about more people relying on the Internet for television. Might this be one of the changes?
Wiz Nordberg: Yes, there is a huge move of interest away from television toward the Internet. We see this unstoppable, and it is not a matter of "if" the internet will replace conventional television, but "when".
Bixyl Shuftan: Any plans for the future you'd like to share?
Wiz Nordberg: Our biggest plan for the future is to extend our reach beyond Second Life viewers and beyond Second Life content. That doesn't mean we are downplaying Second Life, far from it. But, we feel it is essential that our shows can be watched by everybody. Part of that is our new website.
For the first two years, we really did not consider the web our "primary viewership market,” but that has changed in our minds. We see the web now as being as important to delivery as inworld viewing has been. The new website is more exciting, it is more oriented toward discovering things rather than "searching for what you know is there", and it invites people to join in. The old website didn't even allow comments on shows.
When we designed the first website, we figured maybe we would have "100 or so" episodes. The fact that it has held up as thousands of episodes have been produced is a miracle! But, one major difference is the new website focuses primarily on Shows. We care a lot more that people like the show pages than our home page, and we have given our producers control over their sections, as well as done some nerdy things like published our show pages at a higher priority to Google than our other pages. We also designed our own viral player, which is actually scalable to millions of embeds. As the next year evolves we expect to see our player all over the web. It has already been embedded in over 1000 different locations, and it has only been live for 2 months.
There are probably 20 other things I could shout out about, but I'll hold back. Suffice it to say that we see the new website as the first actual step in creating a large online presence. Up until now, everything we have done has been "small" by comparison.
Bixyl Shuftan: If anyone was interested in doing a show, how hard would it be to get on treet.tv
Wiz Nordberg: Well, we accept pitches all the time! We are very receptive. But, one thing that everybody should think about.... we rarely are concerned if people can do the 1st or 2nd show. We believe that is easy. Lots of people have the energy to create a few shows. The big thing we want to know is that they will be able to do the 50th show. So we ask a lot of hard questions about their team, their ability, and their commitment. But we also like to help people we believe are "close" to being able to do it, and just need a push And now and then, we just take a chance on something nutty. (smile)
It was at this point Wiz had to head to a meeting, and so we parted ways.
Bixyl Shuftan
Monday, January 25, 2010
OD Designs Custom Music Shop
Want to go to a place where you can not only get a cool guitar, but also customize it to your liking? Head on over to OD Designs, where one can get guitars, drum sets, and musical AO's to perform your own dream concert, and more.
The store itself has a *huge* variety of guitars up for sale, grouped by the name of the maker of their real-life counterparts, as well as the models and color schemes of the instruments.
“There’s no real genre attached to this (store),” store director Leilani Teskat explained, “We have several different musical tastes here. I’m trying to get a Shakira tribute to play here soon, hopefully. Our tributes are open to any of the tribute houses. We offer that to give them added exposure. Plus, we also have the OD Band HUB too. That gives even more exposure, that’s located out on the back porch. We also have OD Live, which is our Live Artists branch of things. We’re partnered with some live performers too, StevenJaimz, Anek, Space Junky, to name a few.”
“So it really is a wide open genre. (laughter) Which I prefer, because it adds to the variety.”
Leilani went on, “Also, we’re partnered with real-life guitar manufacturers ... Ortho makes reproductions in-world of them.” Leilani explained the real-life companies treat the virtual goods more or less as a kind of advertising, “so we provide text shouts when the person wears the guitar. Plus, we have links from the OD website to all of their sites. Plus, I have them followed on Twitter too, and we have them on Myspace and Facebook. So we’ve got the whole web 2.0 network going.” Feedback from the real-live guitar companies has been “very positive. Actually, some of them have been so impressed, they linked our website onto theirs. So we have our pages on theirs. The ones I specifically built myself, so that’s been a real feather in my cap, so to speak. ;-) “
She brought up the website of the BC Rich guitar company, which at the bottom had “Visit BC Rich at” followed by several places online, the one virtual world being Second Life, which was a link to her OD Designs page (http://www.odmusic.info/leilani/bcrich%20webpage.htm). “If you go there, and look at the very bottom, you’ll see the link to SL,” which was a SURL to their store, “That’s the webpage I made for them, and the others too. It’s added promotion for them too, something interesting.”
But the store does more than just sell guitars, it allows one to modify them, “We’ve got (a) custom shop that allows people to customize their OD guitars and basses, even adding their own stickers to their instruments. It’s very cool! ... There’s also a short video on how to do it.” She showed me the shop, which has separate stations for stickers and streamers. A webpage shows two videos on how to operate the booths (http://www.odmusic.info/CustomShop/customshop.html#Custom%20Streamer%20Station). For stickers, one can select from the textures in the station, or use one of your own from your inventory. You can also enlarge or shrink the sticker and choose where on the surface of the guitar front you want it. For streamers, the guitars come with three invisible ones hanging from the headstock. The booth allows you to texture and tinit from one to three. Once again, either one can use a texture of those from the booth or one of your own.
When one wears the guitar, one gets a copy of the Heads Up Display to control it with various animations, “you can also adjust the guitar on your av (recommended if you have a tail), then when you have it positioned properly, click the guitar and select ‘Teachfront.’ “
The custom shop has its own HUD as well to help with editing the guitar. Guitars can be copied for one’s inventory, or one can use the store redelivery system for a new copy.
For purchases made at the store, customers are given OD rewards points. “Just like air miles, in a sense,” Leilani explained, “It’s helped out a lot of people who want to do tributes.” In picking the guitar, one may want to pay attention to how it’s color compares to your clothes, “ That's the biggest problem I've found is matching the color up. Sometimes SL can make it kinda disappear. If you have an all black ensemble it gets lost.” The guitars are also highly detailed, down to the strings, made from about 180 to over 250 prims. Most of the guitars come in three sizes, “some of these guitars are so big for my av ... but I want them that big to show off, if I use the Medium sized ones they look good but you can't see the detail.”
Besides guitars, OD Designs also sells drum sets, in different sizes, “the medium ... , the monsters, these are the model most commonly used in Second Life, and the small ... People usually get them depending on which tribute or application they are wanting to do.” Like the guitars, the drums are highly detailed, “we do offer a wearable version of the drums just in case people don't want to use up any prims.” The largest “monster” set is The Titan, “there are a lot of people who just love that particular drum kit ... they also do different things, like the Titan there can spin around and even UFO around.” Like the guitars, drum sets come with their own HUDs for options like different styles of drumming, lights and special effects, and spinning the whole set around drummer and all, “I suggest not doing it in Mouse View.” Sitting on the drums, one gets a copy of the HUD plus the drumsticks.
OD Designs also sells keyboards and pianos.
Animations can be remote-controlled, “say you were a live artist playing a guitar, you could have a friend control your animations.” OD Designs sells the H2V vocal HUD, “some do use this vocal HUD along with the guitar playing as some real-life artists sing and play guitar.” And it also has the H2X, a whole-body HUD similar to the one with the guitars, but has many more animations, over fifty, “ think of it as the HUD you get with the guitar is the H2 lite.”
Leilani also pointed out the Redelivery and Help Center, which can get people a fresh copy of their guitars, as well as showing how many reward points they have.
“Someone can come in get a guitar, and be able to do a tribute or performance right away,” Leilani explained, “and we also have a database of people wanting to get into the SL music industry (so to speak) ... the SL Live Music scene is very live and kicking, there are a LOT of live artists, some using SL to promote their own music, and then directing people to their websites to make sales. ... We're trying to help the people get more gigs too because we know that if they're not making the lindens they can't purchase OD Gear. So I'm always looking for ways to help people, and help them step up their performance too. Not just me but the other OD staff. We all help out in customer service.”
The OD Designs website is at http://www.odmusic.info/. The page for the custom shop is at (http://www.odmusic.info/CustomShop/customshop.html#Custom%20Streamer%20Station) and the one for the H2X Full Motion Authentic Guitar Animation HUD / AO at (http://www.odmusic.info/H2x/H2x.htm).
“OD ROCKS!!”
Bixyl Shuftan
Sunday, January 24, 2010
“Blips on the Grid”
If Second Life seems buggier than normal lately, that’s because it is.
In an SL blog entry on January 18th, FJ Linden admits that “over the past 4-6 weeks, we have had some regular operational blips, specifically affecting logins, teleports, and in world performance. “ The reason for this he says are that Linden Labs is relocating from it’s central database in San Francisco, and taking the opportunity to upgrade some old infastrucure. Trouble is, it seems someone forgot to write some paperwork on these “legacy systems that are deeply tied to every part of the Second Life experience. ... In many cases these systems were designed and deployed with little or incomplete documentation, which only adds to the challenge of migrating with minimal disruption.”
Comments after the post were a mix of some relief as they now had an explanation of why things were buggy, with some wishes that things would be better soon.
FJ Linden states that they are “in the final stages” and that it will most likely continue for “the next few weeks.”
Click Here for the complete post and comments.
Hearts in Harmony for Haiti
Thank you,
Nevar Lobo
http://slurl.com/secondlife/SkyBeam%20Haven/212/59/22
Kim Seifert : 2pm slt
MarkSeery Melodie : 3pm slt
Haruno Watanabe: 4pm slt
CraigLyons Writer: 5pm slt
StarFlower Orbit : 6pm slt
DJ Bcreative Wilde: 7-9 pm slt
1/24/10
Aryon Dagger - 12pm slt
Cataplexia Numbers - 2pm slt
Bcreative Wilde - 4pm slt
Cake Somerset - 7pm slt
A brief history of this organization (Builders of Arda Inc.)
Builders of Arda sponsors schools and literacy centers in Haiti for the last several years. Our organization works closely with our sister organization Beyond Borders to end child servitude and increase literacy throughout the impoverished nation of Haiti.
Due to the current disaster in Haiti due to the terrible 2010 earthquake both Builders of Arda and Beyond Borders have taken up donation drives to raise funds to send to our people on the ground in the most devastated areas of the country of Haiti. Following these drives a full public audit will be available to show where every collected Linden went upon request to Phoenix Seelowe in Second Life.
Haiti and her people need help now, we have been able to collect several hundred dollards so far but more help is needed as the scope and size of the catastrophe become more apparent in the coming days, financial assistance will be needed to feed and cloth many displaced families. Please help us help them.
Best Regards,
Phoenix Seelowe
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Today in SL Newspaper
In Main News below, we look at Second Life and real-life artist Feather Boa's exhibits in the Cripta Gallery. In Extra Extra, Special Jewell's recent work is up on display at "The Beauty of it All" at the Chilbo Museum. And in Community, a two-sim live music event will take place tomorrow on Sunday the 24th at TriBorough New York and Hudson New York to raise funds for Haiti relief. Don't forget to look down a little further as Breezes has some fun with dinosaurs and other critters at Calamaro Planet.
Feathers
http://slurl.com/secondlife/
Friday, January 22, 2010
“Avatar” in Second Life
James Cameron’s science-fiction movie “Avatar” has taken cinema by storm, setting box office records in the United States and elsewhere across the world. Inevitably, people began making avatars of the alien “Na’vi.” Whenever there’s something big in science-fiction, people are drawn to begin with to recreate it here. With “Avatar,” there was a certain irony to it. There’s the movie’s name, making the “Na’vi” in Second Life “Avatar” avatars. And just like the humans in the movie create “avatars” to go about in an alien world in an imersive and personal manner, people have been doing so with “Na’vi” avatars here in the Metaverse. And of course Second Life avatars tend to be much taller than normal human anyway.
Many of us have already seen the familiar blue, thin humanoids showing up at clubs or other places. As it turns out, there have been efforts at more, trying to recreate the world of Pandora in Second Life.
Probably the most detailed of these Pandora areas is the Pandora Magic sim in Second Life. The entry area has a few freebies nearby, notably the rp combat system. Portals can take you to shops, or straight down to the planet. And given a little time to load, it is a most beautiful sight. Trees standing tall in the air, luminous plants and creatures providing colorful light - notably when seen at nighttime, flowers that make “crunch” noises and temporarily vanish when you walk near.
And of course there were a few Na’vi avatars about, walking here and there. There was also a couple embracing in a leaf boat moving slowly along a river. There were other cuddle poses throughout the sim, for any couples going here for a stroll in the woods. Supposedly some people after seeing the movie are depressed about not being able to visit Pandora for real (Click Here for CNN article). Logging into Second Life and going to Pandora Magic would certainly be one way to ease these down feelings.
Pandora Magic and its sister sim Pandora Hellsgate are the location for a German Na’vi roleplay group, though they don’t seem to have a problem with visitors going about the forest. The language at the starting area was German, though some notecards had English translations. Most of the chat heard was not in English, but there was one who did, commenting, “I think the reason Second Life has gone AVATAR crazy is because the movie related to us in a big way. A lot of us log in to a new body and a new world with unimaginable possibilities. SL is the outdated version. (laughter).”
Going into Search and typing Na’vi or Pandora, one will find other sims. Checking some of them, none led to a forest as lush as Pandora Magic’s, but there were some other roleplay groups. Angels Sanctuary had a Na’vi forest, which while not as detailed as Pandora Magic was better than most other "Avatar" places I saw. Two places had the same design space station, with a free human Hardsuit and 1L hovercraft, though except for demos the Na'vi avatars were a little costly. And some areas, while a nice place to stroll, seemed to have nothing to do with the “Avatar” movie, or were just a place to sell expensive avatars and props.
So if you’re someone who’s seen the movie and wants to relive it, or just want to see a little of what all the hype is about, Second Life offers places and things for you.
“kîyevåme, eana-txim.”
“(See you soon, blue-butt).”
Bixyl Shuftan
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Learn about sculpts inworld with M&M
A basic tutorial will explain how to use sculpt maps and build the sculpted prims in-world. No extra skills than the basics you need to build in-world are nessecary.
Friday January 22nd at Book-Island 12 PM SLT
Sunday January 24th at Moolto-Island 12 PM SLT
2nd Tutorial
January the 29th; One step ahead. For this tutorial you need a Graphic Program, like Photoshop, and basic skills using Photoshop and building
in-world!!
basic-texture in Photoshop to give your in-world builds and creations
more depth and a more realistic appearance.
Friday January 29th at Book-Island 12 PM SLT
Sunday January 31st at Moolto-Island 12 PM SLT
3rd Tutorial
February the 5th; This tutorial is a big step forward and still easy
to follow for all who would like to create advanced textures with
shade for the more complex sculpted prims in-world. It is based on
Fashion-Sculpties, but the knowledge can be used for all sculpted
prims and even for regular prims. Much more tools of the Grapic
Program are used and to use your textures in-world you need some
building skills and experience!!
Friday February 5th at Book-Island 12 PM SLT
Sunday February 7th at Moolto-Island 12 PM SLT
please appear 10 minutes in advance, so we can start right on time.
To avoid lag we ask you all to TAKE OFF & DETACH lag-causing
adjustments and attachements on your avatar!
(EXAMPLES; AO-huds, scripted attachements, face-light, huge amounts of
flexible prim-dresses, huge amounts of sculpted attachements)***
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Syzygy Community Celebrates First Anniversary
The Community is comprised of four areas: Eos, Helios, Pyxis, and Selene. It is a covenant community, with a general nature theme, spiced with a touch of the Ancient and the whimsical. Elric Anatine, manager of landscaping and common grounds, continually beautifies the public areas and changes the seasons. Currently Syzygy is a winter wonderland, with skating spots, a hot tub, gardens, and other interesting sites located through the sim. There are many small nooks and seating areas for quiet visits, romantic dancing, or simply as a break from the hustle of SL. Syzygy is open to the public, and visitors are welcome. Monday, January 18, 2010
Today in SL Newspaper
On Main News, we look at The Corner of Revolving Time where one can do some early shopping for Valentine's Day. Inside Fashion, we put the spotlight on a new release from "My Precious." In Extra Extra, we interview real life and Second Life singer Lance Rembrandt. And in Community, Breezes shares a camping story.
February 14 Is Coming Fast!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Second Life “Avatar” Advertising Campaign?
It seems that not only has Linden Lab started doing some advertising for Second Life, but they’ve decided to take advantage of the hype over the highly popular movie “Avatar.”
Seen here and here on Flickr (special thanks to inacentaurdump and gogolita), the advertisement banners show a thinly-dressed blue lady with blue skin in front of a wilderness area with a moon rising in the sky behind her. The caption reads “Free AVATAR.”
The woman is not technically a Na’vi avatar. She isn’t wearing tribal clothes, and has no pointed ears or catlike features. But the connection to the movie is obvious.
Peter Linden has been asked about the ad, and had the following response:
"While we’re certainly fans of the Avatar film and of blue avatars (not to mention pink, green, yellow, and robot avatars), we do not want to cause any confusion between Second Life and the movie with this advertisement, and we plan to change it to avoid any misunderstanding."
The advertising campaign does seem to have made the desired results. After slowly declining for much of 2009, their “user concurrency” numbers suddenly rose. Tateru Nino of the “Dwell on it” blog had her own comment about Linden Lab’s ad campaign in comic form. The Lindens will probably want to take their time before removing the ad.
Linden Lab isn't alone in taking advantage of the "Avatar" bandwagon. Social network IMVU has also come out with their own banner, featuring a blue woman with the caption "Get Your AVATAR."
It is notable that a number of people have created various Na’vi avs up for sale in Second Life. While there are a few cheap and demo ones, most cost hundreds, even thousands of Lindens. Some Pandora roleplay areas have sprung up in some sims as well.
Bixyl Shuftan
Sources: New World Notes , Massively
Friday, January 15, 2010
Second Life Science Fiction Convention 2
From Friday January 8 to Sunday January 10, the Second Life Science Fiction Convention 2 took place. Sci-fi buffs from across Second Life to spend a little time in the four-sim event, with money raised going to the American Cancer Society. Although not quite as busy as the first Convention, there were still things to do and exhibits to see. From Star Trek to Battlestar Galactica to Doctor Who, the con drew a variety of fans.
Story continued in Community.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
BOLD & BEAUTIFUL Exhibit at Tart Gallery
Claudia Hek was born on the rustic island of Terschelling in the Netherlands. Later she left for Amsterdam to attend the Rietveld Art Academy there. At Reitveld, she was learning portraits and realistic art. She had wanted to learn techniques and apply it to the art she was focused on, primarily graphic art. She soon realized her vision would not be encouraged and left the Reitveld. During her time in Amsterdam, she found employment and began playing in bands. Through her work with bands and involvement in the Amsterdam music scene, she was able to pratice her art by doing posters, logos and t-shirt designs. From this work, word spread of her talent. After some time, she came to the realization that she wanted to focus more on the art side of things so she quit her job and starting networking. Because her work was already known through the music scene, she took on many jobs doing posters, etc. Word of her work spread via the internet around the world and over the last 5 or 6 years, Claudia has been able to earn a living from it on a freelance basis. She is now a well known artist in the underground scene and her style is most valued by garage/rock bands for her posters, logos and self printed t-shirts.Visit Claudia's website at http://www.claudiahek.com for more information or to make a purchase.
By Shellie Sands
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Autism Awareness Raises over 200,000L
Late Saturday night on January 9th at the Tiatopia sim, after a week or poetry readings, art contests, live music events, and a lot of fun, the “Autism Awareness Project” came to a close. With a climatic performance, singer Ichie Kamachi wowed the crowd and brought donations over the top. The final total, not counting last-minute donations, was a total of 226,290 Lindens raised, or $874 US dollars.
“We started with a goal of 65,000,” sim owner Tia Macbain explained, “Then when we saw we made that in the first day, I was like ‘Okay, so let’s go bigger.’ And so we pushed it to 100K in each (of the two) pillars here." Added to that were the amounts from the art contest, the art auction, wedding certificate purchases, "a big chunk of stuff.”
Story continued in Community
Monday, January 11, 2010
Book Island Revisited
In a previous article, I had discussed Book Island and the fact that the owner had seemingly disappeared and Book Island seemed to be dying out. I spoke recently with Selina Greene, sim owner, who has set the record straight. I had previously been unable to reach her for comment when I wrote the first article. Selina explained this was due to the fact that her computer died, and the one she was using was unable to accommodate SL. In addition, she was also going through a complicated pregnancy. She and her new baby and doing quite well now.
In 2010, Selina, together with Arton Tripsa, are planning many things, including a redesign of the public areas, as well as multiple events. A google calendar has been installed in the main square for "Events on the Beach." The addition of the calendar will provide residents with the opportunity to plan and scheduled their own events. To date, 3 events are planned, including a Book Island party with DJ Grizzly Silversmith, one of the residents. The island has become home to quite a few new residents. One of the groups includes Podcrafters, organized by Emz Mazie, Imarad Breen and Insight Zadark. Members of the Written Word group will recognize Emz Mazie's name (aka Emerian Rich). The group promotes Podcasting and Marketing. In addition, they produce Podiobooks, serialized audio books. These are available for free at http://podiobooks.com. Examples of the podcasts will be shown on the TV screen in the main square. As well, a trailer of Arlene Radasky's (Imarod Breen) book, "Mark of the Druid," will be shown on the TV screen.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Builders wanted
There will be 9 sims in total, with the theme of " Fashion Cities of the World". It is our job to build, in full, the NYC sim. The Clothing Fair will play host to 130 of the top clothing designers from across Second Life.
There are 8 amazing cities and one United Nations, all coming together for one great cause. New York is one of these important sims and we are honored and thrilled to have been asked to participate in this great project.
The sim will be based on many of the current builds in our New York NYC, which has gained notoriety over the years for its tribute to the World Trade Center Towers and the tragedy of 9/11. Voted best Memorial in Second Life, we are honored to be able to give back to another worthy cause, the Relay for Life.
Included in the sim you will see the Lady herself, The Statue of Liberty, as well as the New York Library. Among other buildings planned are the Empire State Building and the famous Flatiron Building.
You may be asking yourself "why is Melody going into all this?" Well, I will say that our builders were so honored to be asked to be a part of this we couldn’t say no. But that is not the only reason: we decided to come to the community itself, and offer a way for some of you great builders to join in this worthy cause with us.
We are looking for 10 builders to join us in this endeavor. We want to offer a way for you, as a builder, not only to give back, but also to get your work out and seen by THOUSANDS of people over a 10 day period.
If you would like to be a part of this project, please continue for more information on what we need:
• NYC skyscraper style buildings
• Exterior footprint of 25x25M
• Interior space of 15 m deep x 25 m wide x 20m tall
• Minimum height of 70m
• Maximum height of 200m
• 200 prims or less (The fewer the better!!)
• No textures over 512x512 (256x256 is preferred)
• Mega prims are allowed but must be phantom
• Single front entrance
• Only the main floor must be functional – IE, no multiple floors needed
• Nothing scripted
• Completed build in a building rezzor (one can be provided if needed)
• Minimal sculpty use, if at all
• Must provide the finished build copy/mod to Melody Regent and the Relay for Life manager (to be named later)
• Interior must remain flat and neutral in color
• A full permissions copy of your logo or ‘name plate’ to be used for promotional use.
All builds must be turned in no later than January 30th. The sooner we get them, the better. You may replicate a RL building or come up with your own design. You are welcome to turn in as many entries as you wish, we will accept only the best of the designs for the limited space available.
When you turn in the build, please include a folder labeled “NYC Clothing Fair – (your name)”. In the folder we will need a copy/mod version of the building in a building rezzor, a landmark to your store/location (if available), Company logo and a notecard with any information you feel we need or about you and your company.
We will be announcing the names and store locations of all the builders that we use to the forums, in Prim Perfect and to our New York group with over 6000 members. You will also get a sign outside the build that honors you as the contributor.
We also have some ‘filler’ places available that need to be built. These are simple builds that will have nothing inside them. They are merely for looks and there to fill the space between buildings. If you want to contribute to these as well, please contact Melody Regent directly for more information.
We are thrilled to be involved in this worthy cause and to have you join us. If you have any questions at all, please send detailed questions to Melody Regent in world or email to MelodyRegent@gmail.com
Thank you again
Melody Regent
Regent Estates
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Some Favorite Communities in Second Life
Four Bridges Project sim is a collaboration of Amnesty International-E, PeaceTrain, and many other activist groups (a few logos are pictured). Four Bridges groups have organized numerous gridwide events, week-long Woodstock-like affairs, like Peace Fest, Earth Week SL, SL Human Rights Festival, Second Pride Festival, and Imagine Festival. These folks are very spontaneous and thoroughly knowledgeable about RL activist issues and how to utilize SL for action and creating awareness! You can meet a lot of high powered activists through their community and get involved in world rocking projects. The Four Bridges team works effectively across group lines gridwide to bring together terrific art, music, talent, ideas, and energy. 
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