Be on the lookout for an avatar named MensajerosDeLaPaz Jubilee, last seen sitting under NBC`s Christmas tree. This avatar will be holding a sign that reads "Help a child have a second oportunity [sic] in his First Life."This is, apparently, an effort on the part of the RL Mensajeros de la Paz, a not-for-profit organization that asks help for children from broken homes. It`s assumed that one will be able to speak with M. Jubilee to coordinate a donation, or otherwise offer assistance. An interesting issue is that, as the press notice I was sent mentions, "The kid hasn`t any land nor properties, except for a cardbox, some newspapers and a sign ... " That`s actually about the same as a newbie owns when first joining SL, so I don`t know that that aspect of the av`s appearance will register, but the sign ought to make some take notice. This is a great move for a not-for-profit organization, and speaks directly to a grass roots/word of mouth method of information dissemination.You can get more information on Mensajeros de la Paz here.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Reports of the famous `Love Machine` -- LL`s in-house tool that helps employees recognize fellow staffers` achievements -- have been shrouded in secrecy. It`s been mentioned by name in various reports, and interviews with Philip, but no further explanations of what it is, or how it works, has been forthcoming.Until today. The Age.com.au reports that the `Love Machine` is the product of collaboration software by Sydney, Australia-based company Atlassian, called JIRA. It`s not said what, if anything, this name means, or whether it`s an acronym for something longer.I have to wonder if the Love Machine has been getting much use lately, given the recent update woes ... though, of course, LL can always give each other pats on the back for fixing whatever problems still exist after such an update. Can residents use a version of the Love Machine to extend similar approbation to each other?Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
[UPDATE: Added Scarlet Singer mention] This is the twenty-fifth in a series of mini-interviews with the residents of Second Life. For the most part, I`ll try to leave the responses unedited, except where editing will grant greater clarity.Iris Ophelia is someone I`d like to hang out with more often. I`m a big fan of her personal blog and she`s always fun to talk to. I know she`s busy with college life and all, but if you get the chance, Iris, come visit! Incidentally, she`d like everyone to know that the above portrait was concocted by Scarlet Singer! I knew that, and even had plans to put that in, but at the last second, my mind went walkies. I`ve fixed it now!Your SL name: Iris OpheliaHow did you first come to SL?: I`d been watching it and joined once I saw the mobile-phone verification instead of credit card verification, since I`m timid like that.How did you choose your name?: I sometimes go by Ayame online, which is Japanese for Iris. I picked Ophelia because it was classy, and I`m an English major. Also allowed for a punchy blog title.What`s your favorite thing about SL?: The avatar customization and community potential.What do you like least about SL?: The drama and incredible negativity.Favorite hangout/store?: I can often be found sitting on shingled rooftops in Nakama.Name one new feature you`d like to see added to SL: Being able to attach more than one thing to an attachment point, ie. layering necklaces, popping in a nosering, glasses, and prim lashes without extensive point juggling.Shout outs: HI MOM!Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is sponsoring the event supported strongly by Lichtenstein Creative Media, and is also providing a virtual replica of their moving and thought-provoking photographic/video exhibition "Our Walls Bear Witness - Darfur: Who Will Survive Today?". You can see Mia and John at this very special event in The Infinite Mind sim on Friday, December 8 2006 -- this very week -- from 9am to 10am SLT (or California time for those of you not well acquainted with Second Life timekeeping). The exhibition itself will remain on view until Tuesday 12 December."We`re seeing atrocities of an indescribable kind . . . [with people] clustered under trees, dazed and terrified," Ms. Farrow told the Associated Press, "The situation continues to deteriorate, and ending this human catastrophe will require the engagement of citizens from all walks of life. Activism begins with education, and I am proud to be working with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in calling attention to genocide unfolding on our watch."
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Nicholas Carr, on his blog Rough Type, has calculated the average energy expenditure of a single avatar in SL. I`m not enough of a numbers guy to confirm that his math is correct (though the many commenters of the article go over the numbers with a fine-toothed abacus), but it`s an intriguing notion. Mr. Carr claims that " ... your average Second Life avatar consumes about as much electricity as your average Brazilian."Of course we`re all aware that avatars are merely pixels on a screen, pulses of electricity in the guts of a server somewhere in San Francisco, and that everyone spends a wide variance of time ranges with their avatars. This is an academic exercise at best. Still, it does give some thought to the accompanying notion that we`re choosing to burn this energy by staying at home with our computers, rather than, say, enjoying a similar output of energy in the form of sound and lights from a nightclub, or watching a game in our local, brightly-lit stadium. However, I know that such ideas are water off a duck`s back with this audience; if we were the type to feel guilty that we might be spending too much time in front of the screen, we wouldn`t do it. Regardless, it`s nice to know that, regardless of considerations of race, religion, gender, sexual identity, or political affiliation, we can count on one aspect of our Second Lives to remain constant: the energy it takes to maintain our virtual biologies.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Self-made and self-titled millionaire Anshe Chung has responded to a few questions asked of her by the Sydney Morning Herald`s online Tech section, covered by Stephen Hutcheon. THe questions asked are pertinent and thoughtful, and no less so are the answers. While Anshe is a somewhat notorious figure in-world, I didn`t find anything particularly ulcer-inducing in her answers to these questions. Indeed, Anshe gives a couple of responses that have led to considerations of my own.Actually, this dovetails somewhat with my recent decision to become a paying member of SL, ending over a year of being a freeloader. I`m going to ask you, O Constant Reader, what should I be aware of? What will change? Should I buy land, and where? I`d appreciate your comments!(Thanks, Stephen!)Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
This is the twenty-sixth in a series of mini-interviews with the residents of Second Life. For the most part, I`ll try to leave the responses unedited, except where editing will grant greater clarity.Following on the heels of yesterday`s Resident Snapshot, introducing Sharona Medby, Iris Ophelia`s mom! While I`ve not met her yet, I anticipate the massive fun we`ll have, discussing the adorable things Iris used to do as a li`l one! Embarrassing Diaper Moments: Attack!Your SL name: Sharona MedbyHow did you first come to SL?: I was curious about what my daughter was doing in SL and decided to check it out. I ended up getting a new computer as a result. Rez is much better now. How did you choose your name?: From an old song, My Sharona, and Medby just seemed a good fit.What`s your favorite thing about SL?: I would have to say the shopping. You have some amazing designers, and I enjoy how the clothes look on my avatar. I also like the online Chat feature. You meet some very interesting people on SL.What do you like least about SL?: Nothing leaps out at me, really. I do not like violence and avoid areas with shooting.Favorite hangout/store?: I enjoy the Shelter, and Pixel Dolls.Name one new feature you`d like to see added to SL: More information for newbies on how to get your inventory in order.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
At approximately 16:50 SLT (Second Life Time) today, another goo attack commenced on the Second Life main grid with the first outbreaks being reported in the vicinity of the Cloudmont sim (as have others before). Alas goo attacks of this nature are not as uncommon as they could be - but freedom rather cuts both ways.Linden Staffers and Liaisons began acknowledging reports at approximately 17:05 (although it`s clear that they were already on the job), and Torley Linden posted a notice to the official linden blog about the attack at 17:15, approximately 25 minutes after the first reports.Response from landowners and Linden Lab were relatively swift however, even this reaction is not without consequences. Sites such as the Shelter In Exile had large chunks returned to object owners due to panic and haste on the part of one or more land-officers trying to limit the spread of the self-replicating nuisances.Griefornament makes repetitive annoying sounds, and spams people around it by sending copies of itself to them. Several variants of this object have appeared over the course of the last hour, including self-replicating candy-canes, and ornaments under another name. Do not accept objects from others if you do not trust the source.
Linden Lab staff and liaisons are now laboring to clean up the mess. Impact on the grid has not been severe enough to warrant closing down logins.[Update 19:07 SLT] Linden Lab reports that all the goo objects appear to be destroyed, and that cleanup is complete.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Additionally, land-directory listing fees were not charged this week, as Search > Places continues offline. As Eloise Pasteur notes in her thoughtful op-ed piece, 170,000 people have now not seen the Search system fully functional, based on the available data on signups to Second Life.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
The Business Communicators of Second Life have reported on an item in the new LL TOS; namely, the upcoming functionality for registration from sites other than SL`s own. What this means, in essence, is for a third party to easily integrate their brand into a user`s experience. As an example: if Bloomingdale`s wants to point users of their website to their unique SL content, the user would be able to register for a new SL account right from Bloomie`s website, providing a seamless experience.While this functionality is not quite active as yet, BCSL mentions that at least two companies -- Dell and NBC -- have already implemented the feature into their sites, showing their willingness to jump into this growing phenomenon of RL companies coming into SL. LL has not at this time revealed when the API will be available for use.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
In our lives (first, second, third, whatever) we all have people who inspire us, role models, people with qualities we try to emulate in our lives. Some of them are people in books, some of them characters in films, religious saints, actors, actresses, television personalities, friends, family, teachers, students.People real, virtual or purely imaginary. Some people ask themselves, "What would Captain Kirk do?"Who is the person in Second Life who inspires you? Or who has some quality that you try to emulate? Who is it, and what is it about them? Is it your partner? A friend? A rival? More than one person and more than one quality, perhaps? Who in Second Life has got that special something that you strive to have too, or who brings out the best in you, and what is it?Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Where`s everything at with the recent issues? There`s a lot been going on -- not all of it, apparently, effective.
Search > Places -- Still inoperable, though the other search functions have come back up.
Partnering -- Still not fully functional.
Group notices -- Not working, but fixed internally. Scheduled for a subsequent release.
Database load issues -- A rolling update ran today from 15:20SLT to 17:25SLT. No word on whether that has caused any improvements. However, shortly after it finished at 18:10SLT we got notification of database issues affecting rezzing, teleportation, L$ balances appearing and presumably all the usual suspects.
Second Life is a complex group of interoperating pieces of software, and Linden Lab doesn`t have the luxury of just closing the grind down for a week or two to do what must be done. Obviously, Linden Lab are not having fun right now. Neither are many residents."I am logging out until this blows over," said one new resident. Another, "This stinks. I don`t know why I even bother logging in. Maybe next week."Nobody Fugazi was more understanding, having been through similar things from the other side. "Being on the bleeding edge sucks sometimes," said Fugazi, "It`s a matter of perceptions. Linden Lab is in uncharted territory, and I`ve sort of been in those shoes a few times... so I`m more relaxed about it. I didn`t build my foundation on virtual property, so I expect the big businesses are REALLY crying... but they should expect this sort of thing now and then. It`s one of the costs of doing business in a virtual world which is never complete." "Can it scale indefinitely? Absolutely. It can scale to infinity. The underlying architecture of the Internet and of `Second Life` is perfectly scalable." - Philip Rosedale, June 2006.
Less than six months on, that opinion looks to be on shakier ground. "To infinity and beyond!" -- Buzz Lightyear, 1995. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Prokofy Neva, certainly one of Second Life`s most outspoken and energetic critics of Linden Lab and it`s policies was banned today from the official Linden Blog, apparently for his comments in this thread. He received an IM from Torley Linden informing him of the ban, apparently for `trolling`.Needless to say, Neva was not impressed. "I haven`t `trolled` or done any of those silly MMORPG hangover notional things. I believe that it`s right to keep asking the Lindens for accountability for the actions of libsecondlife, which they have joined, and which they have approved."Neva doesn`t see that he should be singled out, "I`ve merely stayed on the issue, and I`m not wearing a tinfoil hat, I realize copybot doesn`t really pose any threat, I`m asking the larger issues. I am not the only one to raise serious questions about the three things produced so far by this group: jumbo prims, god-mode stalking, and copybot. Even if these things are proven harmless, or are now disabled, or aspects of their use are now a TOS actionable offense, there is still very serious issues surrounding their immoral actions, griefing, and cynical sense of impunity."Neva will fight the ban, of course. "I`ve written a letter of protest to Cory already," he said.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
This is the twenty-seventh in a series of mini-interviews with the residents of Second Life. For the most part, I`ll try to leave the responses unedited, except where editing will grant greater clarity.Turing Franklin picked a great name for SL, with its nod toward artificial intelligence. I`ll forever remember him as the first person to ever speak to me in binary!Your SL name: Turing FranklinHow did you first come to SL?: Invited by NFM DarkholmeHow did you choose your name?: Alan Turing is one of my heroes. Franklin was the most "scientific" last name available at the time.What`s your favorite thing about SL?: Just wandering and meeting folk. Trains rule!What do you like least about SL?: How women are always coming on to me and wanting to "cyber" me. Hey ladies, I`m not just a piece of cybermeat, I have feelings too.Favorite hangout/store?: I like the Shelters --> Shelter Classic and the Shelter in Exile. Playing trivia is fun.Name one new feature you`d like to see added to SL: Actually, if SL could just be a bit more stable that would be awesome. Oh, and get ALL the search functions working again.Shout outs: Cocoanut Koala - the most genuine person I`ve met in SL! ` Jesse Prior - dude, go buy a Ruby book, it`ll be much faster!Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
At approximately Noon Thursday SLT (Second Life Time), it appears Linden Lab performed an upgrade or extension to their Inventory cluster, which involved the migration of the inventories of some residents to another database server or servers. It didn`t exactly go well.Affected residents were greeted with the not very cheerful message "Login Failed. Unable to complete transform` Copy inventory to new database` Please contact support@secondlife.com", which then accompanied what was essentially the apparent loss of the contents of their inventories. The system`s failsafe mode gave them a `temporary inventory`, only things taken into this temporary inventory actually had no home and likely weren`t saved -- quite possibly turning apparent loss into actual loss.
Linden Lab labored until 14:40 SLT, before announcing that most of the inventory issues had been corrected, and asking those whose inventories had not reappeared to please contact them. This seems to continue a recent run of unfortunate issues and problems for Linden Lab as they battle to keep pace with the growth of Second Life.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Well, there`s been a lot of talk about Marc Bragg and his lawsuit against Linden Lab. Urizenus Sklar, editor emeritus of the Second Life Herald had an excellent interview with Jason Archinaco, Bragg`s attorney in this matter. I`ll be referring to that, but really, if you`re interested in this topic, you should go read it.Marc Bragg, you may know, found a way to fool the system into letting him bid on property that was not available for auction in the usual way. With nobody to bid against him, he scored quite some amount of land for very little money, and then resold it. His account was banned and his Second Life assets dissolved, as Linden Lab considered this a violation of the Terms of Service -- an exploit.Jason A. Archinaco, Esquire himself is a partner in the Commercial Litigation group of White ` Williams, LLP. An avid gamer, he is also a technology law specialist, and wrote this very pertinent and interesting paper on the topic of virtual property. Having read it, I get the impression that Archinaco is very keen to see some of his ideas tried out in a court of law. However, having read both the paper and the interview -- even though I`m no lawyer or legal professional -- a number of other things seem to be going on here.Archinaco says, "So, at the heart of this lawsuit is whether or not Linden and Rosedale`s representations about virtual land ownership are true, or whether they are simply lying to induce people into handing over their money."Well, that`s a bit bald. Its a classic black-or-white piece of chest-beating, like you might see on one of those colorful wrestling shows on TV these days. It is a craftsman-like piece of work, though, in essence boiling down to "Our opponent is either perfectly correct in these select statements, which moves the area of law to one we are more confident in, or they are lying bags of manure, which strengthens our case." -- Overall not a bad piece of work, really, but really rather cliche. Still, it shows Archinaco to be bluff and confident that he can make a good showing either way.Prokofy Neva described the incident like this: It`s like finding an electronics item in the store that was mistakenly priced at $1.00 instead of $1000, going and paying for it at the cash-register becaue[sic] the bar code seems to match, but then being stopped at the door by the guard who looks at the item, and the sales receipt, and says "hey, this doesn`t add up".I think it would fairer (following this simile) to suggest that you slipped your own price sticker and barcode on a thousand dollar product, and bought it for one dollar, through one of those fancy automated checkouts they have these days. Nobody to challenge you, until the store starts looking for its missing products, and checks the checkout transaction history.Archinaco takes a bold stance by playing the devil`s advocate -- assuming that Linden Lab is correct, and that his client is a vile sinner, he asks "does that mean that it would somehow be ok if Mr. Rosedale and Linden are not being honest when they tell people you own land you buy in Second Life? No. Would it mean that Linden could confiscate Mr. Bragg`s property, resell it to the highest bidder and keep the money for themselves? No. Not even the United States Goverment gets away with that."Well, actually, the United States Government does get away with exactly that. Isn`t that what they do when the taxes aren`t paid on a property? The property is confiscated, sold to the highest bidder, and the government keeps the proceeds. Here, we`re rather talking about an invalid sale. To continue his metaphor, a sale at the Government`s expense due to a quirk in the way paperwork is filed. Does fooling the United States Government into releasing land to you make you a legitimate owner? Not normally. One wonders why Linden Lab has not filed a counter-suit for material damages, after all those simulators cost quite a bit of money and cannot reasonably be reclaimed from their present owners who bought them from Marc Bragg in good faith.Here`s where we get to the telling part. "I certainly can`t wait to cross-examine Mr. Rosedale about his belief about the ToS and ask him whether the statements he has repeatedly being[sic] making to the public about land ownership are true or not. I think a lot of people would like to know Linden`s position, under oath, as opposed to statements in the media."This seems to strongly suggest that Archinaco would love one of two outcomes. If it were anyone else, I`d read this as a ploy to push Linden Lab into an out-of-court settlement, by promising showboating and grandstanding cross-examination. Win or lose for Linden Lab, that wouldn`t be an attractive option. However, this is Archinaco, and I think he genuinely wants to have his name against a precedent here. This is his special interest area. Something he loves. Something I think he wants to make a name for himself in. He`s got a passion, and we all understand that kind of passion.As Archinaco himself has pointed out in his paper, the only really relevant case thus far resolved in a way that does not really support his position (Davidson ` Associates v. Internet Gateway; EULA wins), and he seemed a little disappointed about that -- that it could have and should have gone that extra step. I think, as a responsible representative for his client, he would be satisfied with an adequate out-of-court settlement from Linden Lab. As a passionate man, and a thinker on virtual property, I think he wants this one to go to trial, win or lose -- possibly winning a partial summary judgement on the matter of the real value of virtual property, even if the case is lost.Archinaco`s one for a little reckless polymorphism, though and while I like that over drinks, it isn`t the sort of thing that`s likely to endear him to a savvy judge under every circumstance. "I like to ask the "Walmart smell test", i.e., if Walmart was doing "this", what would the reaction from the public or Congress be?"That`s a piece of morphism that goes too far. What if Walmart had troops in Iraq? What would the reaction from the public or Congress be?See? The smell test has a bit of an odor all its own.Lastly, "While I am cautiously optimistic about this case from a legal standpoint, win or lose, I think this case is bringing to light issues like those you have raised in this interview. And, that is necessarily a good thing."
You know, I think I just spent this whole article saying almost that myself, and it may well be that Archinaco is the man to do it. But I don`t think this case has his number on it. I think that taking this case is going to get him eaten up like Brent Hatch in Utah.You can be assured that we`ll be watching the progress of this case very closely.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Mensajeros de la Paz
It might be Monopoly money, but even Monopoly money has value
Cisco`s Integrated Services Router Empowered Branch Launch
The Love Machine Unveiled!
Resident Snapshot: Iris Ophelia
Direct from Darfur
The High Cost of Virtual Living
Anshe Answers Some Questions
Resident Snapshot: Sharona Medby
Goo attack - Griefornament
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