Winter hits the grid!

Winterfaire! Coming December 19 - January 5

As the Northern Hemisphere slowly tilts toward short days and cold, snowy landscapes, our minds inevitably turn to thoughts of togetherness. Once again, it is time for Second Life’s annual celebration of all that is Winter.

Winterfaire is our chance to gather for long nights, blinky lights, hot drinks and gifts in mysterious boxes. We will revel in our usual traditions like the Snowman Building Contest, the wildly popular Lindens v.s. Residents Snowball Fight, and maybe most important, tour your fabulous Winter-themed builds, all around the grid.

Winterfaire will be centered around the ancient Linden mainland regions of Wengen, Voss, Zermatt and Moritz.

This year we will also be using the Showcase in the Second Life viewer and web site to direct people to privately owned lands hosting must-see winter wonderlands.

What are the wintertime traditions in your part of the world? If you are planning a winter extravaganza in your region that demonstrates your traditions, we’d like to connect you to the Winterfaire network of locations.

Just keep these guidelines in mind when you plan and execute your winter builds: We will be looking for builds that are beautiful, well made, available throughout the event, and that present your regional sights, sounds and traditions of winter. We will bypass builds that are commercial in nature, so if you’re basically decorating your store for the season, that’s great, but it’s unlikely to be in the Winterfaire tour. Think of your build as a gift, freely given, to your fellow Residents, not as an opportunity to sell something.

As submissions come in, we will send out Lindens with snowshoes to check them out and bring back their recommendations for the Showcase.

While space in Showcase is limited, we will try to fit in as many submissions as we can, rotating them in and out during the event, giving many builds a chance to be seen.

An application for getting your build into the celebration will be forthcoming next week– til then, I’d encourage you to talk it over in the forum thread, what would be most fun? What are you planning? Are you thinking about creating a special build? hosting a holiday concert, a skating party, or something else? — Go Make It Snow!

Winterfaire plans? Talk it over in the forum thread. Dusty Linden will be there with more info and to answer questions next week.

We too will be featuring Winter themed wonderlands in our explore section and have no issues with them being commercial in nature so if you have come across a fantastic winter wonderland feel free to leave us an SLurl in the comments and we will try to get to see them all.
The two images you see above are Tyche, Styles of Edo and M&M winterland

Dana

Meet the models see the design entries

Look in the DESIGN section for those that missed our fabulous design contest fashion show featuring Lemania indigo and OMG Inc along with the contest designs.

Cartoon of the day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Stories from Second Life

Just for a breath of fresh air something positive from Linden Lab:
I know everyone is down on Lindens right now with the openspace debacle still very much in everyones minds so LL trying to sidetrack the residents with spin is not unknown but on this showcase I do actually agree simply because I believe this is the kind of thing LL should be high lighting for all residents:

Stories from Second Life: How Languagelab gave language learning a new lease on life

This is the second installment of “Stories from Second Life,” an occasional series of profiles of the people behind Second Life innovations, and the tangible benefits that these individuals and their businesses have brought to both the virtual and the real worlds.

In 2005 David laid out the idea for teaching English as a second language to the global audience within Second Life, and at the end of the year he incorporated Languagelab. At that point he decided to put all his focus on his new venture and by the fall of 2007 Languagelab was completing its beta. This year they enrolled their first paying students.

Today Languagelab operates exclusively in Second Life and has invested a significant amount in terms of R&D and testing to provide an unparalleled virtual learning space where students can be paired with highly qualified, innovative language teachers from around the world.

It’s long been known that immersion in an environment with native speakers is the best way to practice and learn a second language. And as David realized early on, the virtual world environment naturally lends itself to language learning, due to its immersive nature and ability to make learning contextually relevant to both situations and locations.

Using the creation tools in Second Life, Languagelab built “English City” where students learn to have contextual conversations with native speakers, for example, by sitting in a café and ordering food together. This methodology of supervised user driven instruction is called in Languagelab parlance; IAL (Instructor Assisted Learning.)

You can read the full showcase on the official blog or follow the forum for suggestions and comments HERE

Introducing Magdeleine Rossini The NOT SO Tranquil Writer

While setting up for the birthday celebrations Nazz Lane introduced me to a friend of his Magdeleine Rossini, now bearing in mind how hectic things were you might agree this was not the best time for me to pay attention BUT with Mags you just can't help it!
To show you what I mean I asked her to write to me and tell me a bit about herself, for perusal at a later time, I wouldn't normally publish this sort of thing but to give you some idea what to expect I am going to print a little of that letter:

I descend from a long line of wordsmiths who totally rebuffed the idea of ever becoming "journalists". I learned at the knee of a fine "newspaperman" -- who, by the grace of God, married a bawdy Vaudevillian.
I'm fairly transparent in all my various worlds -- one to the other -- and as such, my writing is frequently infused with gobs of unvarnished maternalisms and absurd notions of hope. Can't be changed. Tried and failed.
"Well, Madam. You certainly didn't topple me over in a fit of glee with *that* introduction," Dana said.

"Wait! Wait!," Mags crouped out; her tone gone all whiskey-voiced from sucking in file vault dust. A chalky fist emerged from the abyss."I found it! Filed under 'Potato', where else?"

Dana did a quick read through, poised to grab the Mighty Red Pencil and get to work. "Mags, may I ask you a question?"

"Shoot," Mags replied.

"Why did you send me a clip about channeling serial killers in order to make searing investigations of their deep-seated feelings?"

Mags froze solidly. Fixed in space and time like a deer caught in the headlights. "Damnation! That one should have been under 'Porridge'." She proceeded to leave her "particulars below" in the event that she hadn't flummoxed the entire first impression. "Well, maybe they'll let me write some risible obits...."

With a letter like that I just couldn't do anything else but take her on, you will find Mags first column in the PEOPLE section.

Dana Vanmoer

Disclaimer: SL-Newspaper takes no responsibility for accidents that occur to their readers through laughing or choking. DV

SL Shakespeare SOS

Shakespeare, Second Life: Though hinted at on more than one occasion,
Ina Centaur yesterday officially announced the SL Shakespeare
Company's SOS "Save Our Sims" Fundraising Campaign—its purpose,
according to Centaur, is to meet "a modest though desperately needed
sum to pay land tier fees to Linden Lab." Through funding from
microeconomics a la a grid-wide network of donation kiosks, the "SOS"
campaign goal is to meet L$1.5 million by January 21, 2009, which at
the current LindeX rate for selling would translate to about USD$5300,
meeting six month's tier for three of the island sims that host the SL
Globe Theatre venue and similarly daring literary and artistic
projects. Centaur plans to fund the fourth sim through her own
endeavors, to keep the SL Globe Theatre four sims in size, as well as
to continue existing endeavors on the sims in trying to make the
enterprise self-sufficient.

At high noon on November 21st, Ina Centaur, Artistic Director of the
SL Shakespeare Company, greeted a small crowd of fans and supporters
at the SL Globe Theatre before launching a speech that revealed the
funding state of the Company, as well as some unexpected humanitarian
results of their endeavors. The Company's performances have reached
both those in rural areas and also low-income urban districts,
introducing many to the culture of theatre and Shakespearean
performances. Centaur summarized with the words, "Perhaps the greatest
thing that has evolved from our endeavors is that it has become a
truly humanitarian cause that we are fighting for—to bring theatre to
the farthest reaches of the world, to give Shakespeare to those who
would not have had the chance to experience his words in the live and
intimate form they were written for, to use this nascent medium to
bring the most quintessential culture to the metaverse and beyond."

Various donation kiosks are available for those who wish to help the
SL Shakespeare Company in their campaign. Supporters may drop by the
SL Globe Theatre or the Campaign headquarters, directly to obtain
copies of kiosks. The Campaign website contains up-to-the-second stats
and other information, as well as links to the inworld Campaign
headquarter to obtain kiosks http://campaign.SLshakespeare.com

Centaur explained that a 4-sim venue is a necessity for their shows,
"To make sure all can attend, and to minimize the lag." In addition,
the sims listed on the main SOS banners—sLiterary, Shakespeare, and
Primtings—also support several other notable literary and artistic
projects. Centaur stated the best way to find out about each is to
spend some time exploring the sims, or to visit their campaign website
above for brief summaries.

Although many may consider Centaur's activites to be merely great art,
after mentioning a few examples of lives their endeavors have touched,
she summarized their goal as of a greater significance, "Our goal is
to create good within Second Life for the world to thrive from—because
it is possible. We have been doing it, and we want to continue doing
it, but we won't be able to if we become homeless—we would have
neither the energy or the base to go from."

Centaur concluded the session with the haunting words, "You are our
last hope. If you can't help us, then I'm afraid to say we are truly
lost."

WOW! What a week!

Last night saw the end of a week of celebrations, parties every night from some amazing DJ's; Dakota Christensen, BCreative Wilde and our own amazing Qwark Allen and to end it all a live concert from Labgraal, more pictures can be seen in the EVENTS section.
Later today I will finish uploading all the pictures from the week of events into my Flickr HERE.
We have shown 7 artists and photographers in our gallery; Attila Fetge, Tom1 moonites, Neuron Bandit (Physche Designs), Memories by Mystique Sassoon, Cienega Soon and yesterday Rag Randt.
We had Newbie, Tiny, Trance and Wild west parties. Masterclasses in sculpty making from 10 Goosson of M&M creations plus How to make Machinima with Ariella Languish plus we heard Nazz Lane reading from his novel on the beach. Plus all the people that went to a huge effort to set up the fair for you to enjoy.
WOW! What a week!
We gave away over 90,000L$s worth of prizes to the winners of our contests in a star studded glittering ceremony and all I can say is
WOW! What a week!

I would like to personally thank each and every person that has made this week special but there are a few that have really gone above and beyond to help organise this week and they deserve credit for that.
There are 3 very special people at Skybeam estates that have choked me up with the amount of effort they have personally gone to to make this week the success it has been Nevar Lobo, Amethyst Starostin and Charlene Trudeau I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the help you have given me.
All of our crew have been a huge help Bree, Bixyl and Nazz but I have to say Gemma Cleanslate and her Partner Qwark have been awesome, taking over most nights when parties went on late and we were all but collapsing from exhaustion, they took over and did an amazing job - Thank you both.
I also wish to thank Wilder PR, Annette Wilder and Mahala Bing who did so much to let people know across the WWW and the grid it would not have been the success it was without them!
One more person I have to Thank personally may come as a bit of a surprise, because it was to me, and that was Frolic Mills of Best of SL Magazine, not only was his team amazing but he personally oversaw the whole show to make it work in a very short time - when I shouted 'HELP!' Frolic was there and came to the rescue :) Thank you!
Now we have the cleanup to get started :) And I better stop before I started blubbing over my keyboard. So once again Thank you all and WOW! What a week!
Dana

WINNERS! and Thank you

What an amazing week! Here I will hand over to james to tell you all about the winners!
JamesT Juno:
Welcome everyone on the Prize Giving ceremonies for The celebration week of SL-Newspaper.
Thru the week we had a few contests and a lot of parties.
Tonight we will let you all know who has won the building contest and who has won the Fashion design contest.
First let me start by thanking the following persons / companies and organisations....
Foremost to everyone that has come along and enjoyed our events or taken part in the contests.
BNT Holdings for the sim !
Skybeam estates for combining their own 2 year celebrations with us and holding events here as well as donating a huge part of the prize. Skybeam, especially Charlene, Nevar and Amethyst, have gone above and beyond to make this celebration a success
M&M Creations for the huge prize packages
Styles of Edo for not only donating a prize but also getting up very early to help judge the Design contest
Best of SL Magazine and Boulevard agency, Frolic Mills and his team made a fantastic effort to get the fashion show off the ground. Their help shows that truly there are people out there that will do something just to be able to help and gives me hope for the future of SL
Another company that has gone above and beyond is Annette Wider and her partner Mahala Bing from Wilder PR who have helped us get the word out thank you both for your hard work.
And personally I want to thank my P.A. Dana Vanmoer for working day and night to make you all feel at home here and organise 99.9% of everything you see here.

A prize pack in total worth of over 90,000 L$ will be given away to Two winners for SLN and Three more winners for the SkyBeam photo contest.
Winners of the SL-Newspaper Building Contest. The mission was to build an office environment where a reporter would feel at home. Also should it be possible to actually place it into one of our newspaper offices. Max prim count was 25.

In fourth place is : Jangle McElroy
In third is : Leesa Back
Second is : Qwark Allen
And the winner of : a 10,000 L$ sponsorship pack from SL-N / 3000 L$ cash from Edo Tone, owner of "Styles of Edo" / 7000 L$ cash from SkyBeam Estates and finally a 10,000 L$ prizepack from M&M creations issssssss ....................

!!!! Sassy1 Fizzle !!!!!

Winners of the SL-Newspaper Fashion Design Contest. The mission was to design a free give-away costume for sl-newspaper using our logo or newspaper related textures. A wonderfulll fashion show we had yesterday brought us the following results ;

Joint second place were : Lemania Indigo designs AND Analog Jun.
Congratulations ....... !

The winner of : a 10,000 L$ sponsorship pack from SL-N / 3000 L$ cash from Edo Tone, owner of "Styles of Edo" / 5000 L$ cash from SkyBeam Estates / 3,000 L$ photoshoot voucher from Memories by Mystique and finally a 10,000 L$ prizepack from M&M creations issssssss

!!!!! Nany Piaggio !!!!!

And as a bonus Best of SL Magazine has offered to do a full page spread for the winner Nany.

For the prize giving ceremonies of the skybeam photo contest I ask the representative of Skybeam to steal the microphone from me ........

Amethyst Starostin takes the stage

Amethyst Starostin:
Good Evening Ladies and Gentleman. One of the events as part of the SL-Newspaper Celebration was a photo contest sponsored by Skybeam Estates. The theme for this photo contest was Celebration and could be taken anywhere on the Estates.
We had 13 wonderful entries and the judges had a very difficult time this morning choosing the winners. I would like to now announce those winners and award the prizes.
In 3rd place - Phoenix Rising by Phoenix Ember!!
Phoenix has won a $5000L Sponsorship pack from the SL Newspaper and $3000L cash
Now, for our 2nd place winner - In Celebration- One Millionth Meter by Mystique Sassoon!!
Mysti has won a $5000L Sponsorship pack from the SL Newspaper and $4000L cash

And our first place winner...receiving a 10,000L Sponsorship pack from SL Newspaper and $5000L is Slink Dreadlow with Sendoff!!
Charlene Trudeau, Nevar Lobo and I would like to thank you for allowing Skybeam Estates to be a sponsor of this event and look forward to many more. *smiles* Thank you.

Dana Vanmoer shouts: Thank you SKYBEAM!!!!
JamesT Juno: Thank you Amethyst
Now the official part of this ceremony is done, I ask you to please join us in a dancing celebration and enjoy the rest of the evening.
But not before I Thank Gemma Cleanslate and DJ Qwark Allen for their wonderfulll help and everyday hosting of sl-newspapers week-event.
Special compliments go to Quark for the fantastic varied music collection.

LETS PPPPP AAAAA RRRRR TTTTT YYYYY !!!!!!!

Thank you everyone for joining us don't forget one last blast LIVE with Labgraal at 1pm SLT
Teleport HERE

Its not over yet!

What a fantastic evening with huge thanks to Best of SL magazines Frolic Mills and his team from Boulevard Agency.
Sometimes I get really choked up whe people like Frolic go out of their way to make a success, they didn't have to do this yet went above and beyond to help me with the fashion event. Thank you all!
Also Thanks to our judging panel Edo Tone and Mami Jewell who got up especially early just to judge for us, Pup Witherspoon and Frolic. The event was a huge success with almost 50 on the sim and despite that the girls managed to change and walk down that catwalk!

Tonight will see the prize giving ceremony where we will be giving out 95,000L$s in cash and prizes. Please join us at the formal dance starting at 2pm SLT.
JamesT and Dana


Click poster to teleport

Will Linden Lab pull an AOL?

Given that Linden Lab did not send one of its representatives to discuss the matter with us when we requested a forum on the topic, I feel it is about time that I "columnize" about it.

I want to underline an important aspect of the future for virtual worlds. I believe that in the long run, Linden Lab is doomed to become marginalized. Forget our usual gripes about the way LL runs Second Life. There are deeper reasons than that.

The most important thing to keep in mind is how technology revolutions often get out of control for the pioneers who made them popular. The best example to illustrate my vision is how the World Wide Web was created.

When it "hit the streets" in the mid-1990's, the Web had a major player in the United States. It was called AOL. It was hugely popular as an access provider and had its own, closed system of sites to access with keywords. Many companies had chosen to use AOL's site system instead of the Web.

Over time, however, these pesky things such as standards came in full force. The Web, with its HTTP protocol and worldwide accessibility with national control for domain names, became the standard way to publish sites.

I see the same thing happening with virtual worlds. Instead of having an AOL-like closed grid where content in Second Life cannot be exported anywhere, I believe that virtual worlds will standardize and boost creative freedom.

It's rather simple. Grid standards could develop as protocols did on the Web. People could have sims just as they currently have sites with Web hosts. Software companies could release clients as they do with browsers today.

When you think of it, this long term evolution only makes sense. How do you see one company controlling a worldwide grid all alone with millions of avatars online simultaneously? LL has problems running a grid on which only 50000 or 60000 are connected at the same time.

I love Second Life and LL currently is a leader in virtual worlds. But that won't last forever.

The biggest event of the week so far! Join us tonight

Click poster to Teleport

Interview with Azar Shelman (Chev, Tony Dyson OBSS)

Tony Dyson, known for his work in special effects, notably in movies such as "Star Wars" with R2-D2, has come to Second Life under the name Azar Shelman. Thanks to a friend, he agreed to an interview.

Check out the story in MACE.

Google Lively not so Lively?

Back in July Google launched their 3D Lively program where users could create an avatar and rooms to chat to friends, we did in fact try it out but were not overly impressed, Google are now pulling the plug as it seems Lively is not so lively:
"Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. But we've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off.
That's why, despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half months, we've decided to shut Lively down at the end of the year.
It has been a tough decision, but we want to ensure that we prioritize our resources and focus more on our core search, ads and apps business. Lively.com will be discontinued at the end of December, and everyone who has worked on the project will then move on to other teams."

Goodbye Lively
Source: Official Google blog

Last Day at the fair

Today is also the last day of the Fair make sure you get down there to check it out before we pack it all up!

The building contest is hotting up as contestants start to build ready for the judging on Saturday, there is still time to join in.

Watch out for changes to Fridays' agenda, more info later!

Click the poster to explore

Grid is down - guess LL finally found the issues we have all been suffering for a few days

[UPDATE] Network Problems
Posted by Status Desk on November 19th, 2008 at 10:21 am PST

[UPDATE 9:23am PST] - Logins are temporarily closed while we continue to work on the network problems. We will update this blog when more information is available.

[8:50am PST] - We are experiencing network problems at the moment. Our techs are working on it. In the meantime you may notice teleports failing, login troubles and problems connecting to the asset servers. We will have an update as soon as we know more.

Sorry If I am late for class folks I cannot log in to get there! Dana

Why is 2 years important?

The second anniversary feels so different from the first and I actually don't know why.
We seem to have moved from just another blog to a viable, respectable newspaper all of a sudden at least we are getting a lot more notice recently.
For example We have been interviewed quite a lot, often by students doing degrees in journalism or for other media outside SL, like Zoidberg Exonar who came to ask us about SL as a whole and also on the way newspapers work within SL, Zoidberg interviewed us for Vox Publica, an online-based periodical for Norweigens.
The questions he asked James were quite an insight to me of how SL is percieved by the 'outside world':
Zoidberg Exonar: 12. Do you think ethical and democratic aspects of SL might be different in the future?
Zoidberg Exonar: I'm thinking maybe 5-10 years down the line.
JamesT Juno: not SL - I dont think so, residents dont think in ways of making money - they live here for fun not realising it costs money to create this world - two opposites
Zoidberg Exonar: Yeah, I see your point.
JamesT Juno: Linden labs have proven time and again that residents opinion does not matter to them.
Zoidberg Exonar: What do you think, Dana?
dana Vanmoer: that the Lindens have their business plan of which residents are unaware. The way most residents feel now is like guinea pigs
Zoidberg Exonar: OK. Interesting.
dana Vanmoer: at least those that have been here any length of time not those that just come to play a game
Zoidberg Exonar: Do you think perhaps virtual newspapers operating in SL might have more rules and constraints put on them by Linden in the future? Thus limiting your freedom to print basically what you want?
JamesT Juno: they can try - but again impossible to put it outside sl so, inworld magazines maybe yes, with a web based newspaper like ours ? no way - they can ban our avatar but its free to come back and let James and Dana keep living in the newspaper (I would love to run an underground newspaper hahahahaha)
dana Vanmoer: or by suing us for libel - which if we are expressing an opinion or someone elses' I dont believe they can do
Zoidberg Exonar: Ah Ok. I understand. That almost reminds me of "Braveheart": "You can take my avatar, but you will never take my printing freedom"!
JamesT Juno: love it, but we tend to live by the rules too
dana Vanmoer: we can continue through other avatars or by our writers remaining nameless
Zoidberg Exonar: You can print my quote in SL-Newspaper if you want ;)
dana Vanmoer: they cannot prove who wrote anything
Zoidberg Exonar: I understand.
Zoidberg Exonar: What role do you envision virtual newspapers such as SL-Newspaper? might have in the future, not just in SL, but in virtual worlds in general? Do you think that virtual newspapers at one point might be just as important to people as RL newspapers are today? Please elaborate on your answer. I am here of course making a distinction between web-based real newspapers, and newspapers such as SL-Newspaper which operates specifically in a virtual WORLD.
JamesT Juno: yes - we do , but most will be an informing task - let people know whats going on, SL is a series of islands and most other virtual worlds are the same, finding everything that is going on is not an easy thing to do therefore, people will always need a central point to get information.

This is just a small portion of a very lengthy interview.
We are also featured in the new Venture Magazine which has moved to an online version with Solan Nightfire the new CEO & Art Director who interviewed us on how it all began and what keeps us going, read the full interview HERE
Thank you Venture for featuring us in our anniversary month.
Is there something about turning 2 years in SL? I don't know, I just get the feeling people see us as 'all grown up' .
Maybe you have turned two years, has peoples' attitude towards you changed? Do you get a different reaction from others? Add your comments let me know if I am imagining things?

The pictures here are from yesterdays events and many more can be seen in our Flickr HERE
Todays events can be found in the EVENTS section

How it all started

On November 8, 2006, our CEO JamesT Juno wrote his first article. Well, it wasn't his first article, but at least it was the first official SL-Newspaper article. From that day on, the SLN really took off.
Starting with the site, linking to several blogs, it really looked like a newspaper site and a lot has changed since then. We've moved sections around, a number of excellent writers joined us (James married) and basically, we're still a bunch of volunteers, enjoying working for the SL Newspaper. But .. it all started with that one article, written by the CEO and founder, JamesT Juno.
Or ... actually, the paper started about 2 years ago as an experiment, as James explained. With only about 40 readers daily, the year before the actual start of the SLN, he already had a blog that he called the SL-Newspaper. It was mostly about his newbie experiences in Second Life, and I found the real first article. And .. OMG .. I never realized that even our distinguished CEO, usually dressed up in his expensive suit, was once a newbie. And looked like one !!

Although new to Second Life, he wasn't new to writing and publishing. Even before this first article from September 2005, he had his own blog called '15 Timez', basically writing funny stories.
So, as I said, the SL Newspaper started out as just a small blog, but now has grown to a newspaper that's read and appreciated by around 10,000 people per day. Correction: 10k not-unique hits per day. Which means that some people actually check the paper more than once per day. Isn't that flattering :-)
All in all, and I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of the entire staff and freelancers, we are very proud how he established that, how he made it grow into what the SL Newspaper is today. If he wasn't as persistant as he is, we wouldn't have all this fun working for the SLN and informing you people about things going on in Second Life.
And, to be honest, I'm very glad he lost the newbie spikey hair !! Now we just gotta get him to wear some jeans, instead of the CEO suit ....
Dixie Barbosa

Find out about this weeks celebration in the EVENTS section!

M is listening - honestly!

Instead of dealing with the growing frustration caused by lack of communication in the FORUM lets all go down to the blog today we know we'll get a big surprise - Sorry if I seem a little jaded but what the H***
Since the open spaces announcement and charade of a forum *discussion all we see is the good news touting Lindens obviously trying to mask the true state of Secondlife with pep talks that hopefully fool no-one.
Luckily I am of the opinion that ANY outside company looking for a solution in SL will also look at Resident run blogs and real life press about the poor way Linden treat their PAYING customers, I am optimistic that NO corporation would want to deal with a company with so little respect for its customers.
Its great Secondlife is so transparent with its 'Q3 closed on a high note with an unusually strong September' and the mainland cleanup goes on - 'Progress Update regarding the recent Advertising Policy' I just wonder if Linden realises none of this matters? Real companies research before they invest, maybe Linden Lab need to realise public relations are one of the first things corporate businesses look at.
The Solution Providers Update from Glenn Linden just makes Linden Lab look even more desperate for money (sorry Glen, but timing is everything) - bleeding the residents is not enough.
I have always tried to remain objective but it's getting much harder to do. I read with interest Zee Lindens forum and have to admit he did a great job of actually responding and answering many questions, we may disagree on his numbers but at least he bothered to engage with the residents. He is a shining example of a Linden, not perfect but willing to admit Linden Lab messed it up!
"A better way to say it would have been to say that its our fault because we didn't put the proper restrictions on them and then they were naturally used for more than they were intended. Its our mistake. Really. I mean it. Completely our mistake." Zee Linden

The communications officer? You can read for yourself how she dealt with frustrated residents and I will say she needs to take a look at her condescending attitude and remember the residents are not children playing a game but adults many of whom make a real living out of SL and run businesses in the real world also.

The long awaited reply from M Linden finally happened after 2600+ posts, short and not so sweet;
Everybody,
This has been a very robust thread with a lot of dialog and back and forth. I've kept up with all the posts as you've shared them. Since most were specific to the price change, I thought Jack -- the person responsible for Land here at Linden Lab -- would be the best person to answer them. In addition to the posts here, I have gotten a lot of emails and note cards from residents with many thoughts, ideas, concerns, some anger and frustration but also messages of hope and support. Thank you all for sharing your views so profusely!
There is a lot of feedback that will be very useful as we evolve our land product further.
Thank you again for sharing your thinking and your feelings.
Best,
M Linden.

I find it amazing that if he was reading the forum and thought Jack "would be the best person to answer" that he didn't ask Jack to do exactly that, but nobody got the chance to reply as the forum thread was closed just 4 posts later.

In the meantime the SOS movement grows stronger, SOS is no longer simply a group in Second Life, but rather a legally formed non-profit organizaton known as “The Grid Representation Foundation” doing business as SOS.

I will leave this for now as I just find it pathetic and hope that RL companies properly research before thinking of investing in SL the way many residents have done.
Dana Vanmoer

PARTY PICTURES SL-Newspaper opening party !

More pictures can be seen HERE

The full weeks agenda can be found HERE

SL-Newspaper 2nd Birthday Party Kick Off

Our birthday celebrations start today!

Click the poster to teleport at 2pm slt tonight!

[Resolved] Land Store, Logins and In-World disruptions. (RESOLVED - honest)

Amid many celebrations and anniversaries this weekend is the Grid status page has left many thinking the problems teleporting, transaction failures and basic lag issues are only a problem for them;

[Resolved 12:00pm PST] - The Land Store has been re-opened and is functioning as normal once again.
[Update 11:35am PST] - All services have been resolved and are working as normal again, with the exception of the Land Store which will remain closed while we test functionality. We will update this blog when the Land Store has been re-opened.
[9:28am PST] We are looking into issues affecting transactions, logins, account creation and possible extensive related disruptions of services. Please refrain from any transactions as possible while we work to resolve this issue. During this time the Land Store has been closed to avoid further complications.

Guess what guys it is not RESOLVED I have spoken to many people since this was published as a resolved issue and believe me it UNRESOLVED but of course we have no way of letting Linden lab know this since we still cannot comment on the grid status page
Lets hope it actually becomes resolved before our own events begin tomorrow!
Dana Vanmoer

Skybeam turns 2

This month, SkyBeam Estates celebrates its second birthday and we are celebrating with tons of events all crammed into one amazing day!
Here is the Schedule of Events: ( all times are SLT )
Hot air Ballon rides and Airship Rides over the estate will go on all day. Many other events will be happening as well. Check out all the shops throughout the estates and visit the New home of Labgraal for a look at whay they have done for their cause.
7:00am SkyBeam Yard Sale Begins .. this event will run the entire weekend
930am: Speed Building Contest
The speed build contest will start promptly at 10am on Saturday, November 15, 2008. Please plan on arriving by 9:30 to claim a spot. Theme will be announced at the start of the build contest. Feel free to interpret this as you will. Cash Prizes for top three places. Limited spaces available.
9:30am - noon : DJ Dakota Christensen will be rocking us to get our Birthday Party started. She will be over at the Speed Build Contest and streaming through out the estates.
9:30 am- 11am: Fox Hunt through out the estates.
Get your horses ready for the first Skybeam Estate Fox Hunt. We have our Fox training and ready to run . The Fox will be caught 3 times with each person recieving a cash prize. Once you capture the Fox you will have to pull back to allow for others to be able to capture. Capture equipment will be provided at 930am and must be used to be a legal capture.
This will be a good time for all so come join this event .
Noon -1:00pm - Awards ceremony for build contest and fox hunt . 1:00pm - Labgraal Live ....
The Wonderful Keltic sounds of Skybeam's Own Labgraal will be prefoming at the main stage. This will also be the Grand opening of The Eco- Spirituality Land ... The LabGraal is one of the keltic music groups that with great merit has acquired a lead role in the european musical scene. It is made up of a formation of five musicians, who often also dedicate their time to the defence of native peoples and their traditions, to struggles to safeguard the environment and animal rights and to initiatives of solidarity and for Peace. All visitors are welcome and please enjoy the music .
2:30 - 4:00pm Live From Iceland ... DJ Zoolie Nasu will be taking request and bringing us some dancing on the main stage ... This is time to enjoy the sights of the Labgraal Land and dancing over the water.
4:00pm Kim Seifert Live
Kim's musical style and personal sound is well suited for high energy country rock, and this where she shines and has the most fun. Her dynamic voice will have your heart singing with joy, and your feet dancing out of control. Polished and clean, with excellent range and emotional power, Kim's performance will take you away.
5:00pm - 8:00pm Formal Ball
This Formal Ball will close A wonderful packed full event for Skybeam's Birthday . DJ Bcreative will be playing all our favorites as we dance into the evening . Get your Tuxes and Gowns ready and come dance with us under the moonlight. Prizes for Best Dress

The Zurich City Opera House is Celebrating One Year in Second Life!

Please join us for the celebration of this great event
Today - Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Zurich Opera House at Les Nereides


- 12:00 - 4:00 PM SLT





12:00 PM - Musical Artist: Torben Asp
1:00 PM - Erotic Readings by writer Diana Allandale
2:00 PM - Vocal Artist: Reis Alter
3:00 PM - Musical Presentation by Paganini Diavolo

Happy birthday Zurich from all of us at sl-newspaper.com

Linden Lab rated 'unsatisfactory' with Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau gives consumers and companies an idea of a companies performance in areas of customer complaints and resolutions of said issues.
Companies can pay a subscription to become BBB accreditted:

'If a business has been accredited by BBB, it means BBB has determined that the business meets BBB accreditation standards, which include a commitment to make a good faith effort to resolve any consumer complaints. BBB Accredited Businesses pay a fee for accreditation review/monitoring and for support of BBB services to the public.'

Linden lab are NOT accreditted, this does not stop the BB from rating them though and the results are interesting:
In the last 36 months BBB have processed 40 complaints about Linden Lab from consumers of these 40 complaints 28 were in the last year!

'Customer Experience
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the BBB due to unanswered complaints. The company has resolved some complaints presented by the BBB, however, the BBB did not receive a response to other complaints.'

The complaints against Linden Lab range from advertising issues, billing/collection issues to service and refund/exchange issues

'BBB Reliability Reports are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment. Information in this BBB Reliability Report is believed reliable, but not guaranteed as to accuracy.'

"Basically buyer beware!"

Sources: BBB, ACE-exchange.com

Cartoon of the Day

By Bixyl Shuftan

Click for full size

The $10,000USD buy off?

" Announcing the $10,000 Linden Prize
I am very excited to announce the inaugural Linden Prize.
The Linden Prize will award one Second Life Resident or team with $10,000 USD, paid in Linden dollars, for an innovative inworld project that improves the way people work, learn and communicate in their daily lives outside of the virtual world. The award is intended to align with Linden Lab’s company mission–to connect all people to an online world that advances the human condition."

With all the furor regarding the openspaces Linden Lab obviously thinks we need a pacifier and offers Residents a chance to win this prize!
Don't get me wrong its a great initiative and the award itself is a good idea but right now its another slap in the face for angry, frustrated residents living in the Lindens' virtual world.
Not only has M Linden angered many, he has also snubbed any attempts at two way communications. The Lindens asked for and received feedback in the 'hidden away from the world' forums with initially 3000+ posts and many good ideas for fixing the problem Linden lab had caused.
Linden Lab made a pretence of listening to feedback. I say a pretence because the end result of 'listening' is far worse for most residents, with only educational facilities better off, than the original change proposed.
After the second 'Letter to residents' M Linden again took it to the 'hidden from the world' forums and asked for feedback. To date there are over 2500 responses with not a single response from M Linden and I believe only about 4 other Linden replies - Is that listening? Is that communicating? Is that building trust in Linden Lab?

This prize can now only be seen as a weak attempt to divert attention from the issue that has affected most of Linden Labs' staunchest supporters!
A lot of the residents and estate owners, I personally have spoken to, have all said the same thing - Linden Lab were perfectly aware of the use the openspaces were being used for and actively encouraged those uses, leading many to accuse Linden Lab of a 'Bait and Switch' manoeuvre by taking a working product and substituting a second rate product or, of course, paying extra for the same product (with more restrictions) that you originally bought.
With this and the forum snub from M Linden many residents are abandoning their sims, both openspace and full, and flocking to other developing grids.
Dana Vanmoer

SL celebrates Veterans day

Picture by Bixyl Shuftan

Ready, steady ---- GO!

We are all set up and just waiting for you now!
You can now take a sneak peak and find all contest information on the island HERE
There are a few stands free at the fair still contact me inworld if you would like one.

We will have art exhibitions, masterclasses, live music events plus fabulous DJ's like Dakota Christensen, BCreative Wilde and our own Qwark Allen every day and the fashion show with the fantastic Frolic Mills and The Best of SL Magazine.

Don't forget there is up to 75,000Ls up for grabs in the contests we have running in conjunction with our birthday, information can be found on the notices at the TP point as well as at our main office.

Skybeam is looking particularly beautiful right now just right for taking that contest winning photograph - head on over there to be in with a chance to win.
All contest info is available at head office or on Caprona, any questions feel free to IM me.

Dana Vanmoer