Linden Labs Purchases “Avatars Unite” Social Network Site “For MMOs”

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.

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A Conversation with Gayle Cabaret of Beta Business Park in Second Life

By Nazz Lane

It’s late Friday afternoon my local time and I’m about to wrap up for the day, having sorted through a busy week’s list of to do’s. I clicked close on the several open notecards and am about to on the inventory window when an instant message arrives:

1 pm on Friday. Wrap up the week with some mingling and networking at B2P's Black Sun. Share with fellow business people the best (or worst) thing you have found, learned, seen this week. We'll share landmarks and anecdotes and keep learning from one another!

Drinks are on the house, of course!

With journalistic instinct piqued and the added incentive of “drinks on the house”, I took the ride over.  Beta Business Park (B2P) is a project of Beta Technologies and had opened in mid September last year. B2P is “a community of businesses and the people who own, operate, and work at them”. The group charter goes on further to define the park community in that it “offers a different way to use Second Life … allowing easy connections between people, as well as convenient shared costs of common facilities”. I’d attended the opening event and wrote a short piece for my blog about it.

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.

Nazz: I’m impressed with the concierge service. Do you have 24x7 coverage?

Gayle: That's the goal, right now we strive for 6am to 6pm coverage ... and do a bit better than that. But with the call buttons, we at least know who to get back to in the morning. As you see, we are doing better than 6am already.

Nazz: What was it that brought you into Second Life?

Gayle: Oh goodness ... in short, knee surgery. I'd seen something about Reuters being here, then my partner came in poking around … and then I had surgery on my knee and was stuck at home in a recliner for weeks. I followed her in and almost didn't stay. I was not impressed, until I found the New England estate. The people there were an actual community and they showed me a bit of what this platform could really do … that, and they had beautiful sail boats all over the place. I don't think I left the estate at all for at least 6 months… maybe a shopping trip here and there.

Nazz: How was it then that you become involved with B2P?

Gayle: Well, in a living example of how social this platform is; after I found NE, I got a greeter job there due to my almost constant availability. I moved up quickly, within a matter of weeks I was helping the managers host events and started working on retail management there. Then the estate was sold to its current owner, Sudane Erato and she got me with the deal.  I have been managing the village/commercial operations there for three years now. Sudane brought me to the attention of the partners of Beta Technologies, she works with them, too.  They brought me in on early planning discussions for building the community here. They knew they needed someone with the event/community/estate management staff to do this and the rest, as they say, is history.

Nazz: As general manager, your primary responsibility is in managing the event/community/estate management staff?

Gayle: They have put this project pretty much completely in my hands. B2P has a mission of its own, of course ... the community and offering the office space with shared facilities. But this also serves as a sort of front office for Beta Technologies so, we are constantly working with people looking for help on virtual world projects. BT has a very deep bench, so I am comfortable telling our visitors "if it can be done in a virtual world, BT can help you do it. If it can't be done, we can tell you why and probably offer you an alternative."

Nazz: How many events are held here in an average week?

Gayle: Let's see … SL 101 every day, Grace is running her classes three times a week, my forum is twice a week and we usually have two mixers, at least and I've added the show and tell and then Metanomics …  so sixteen and we're not done yet.

Nazz: That’s a good amount. On average, how many "new" to second life people pass through here?

Gayle: Well, since we are an official Community Gateway, that number is huge. I can tell you, if I open the report from LL, how many landed in our orientation area just through the gateway last month and, of course, there are many who find us other than the gateway. You're familiar with the program?

Nazz: The community gateway program, yes.

Gayle: Great … in December we got 1257 through the gateway program, alone. Judging from our metrics, the landing spot at the orientation area has already had 742 hits this month.

Nazz: That’s a pretty good clip. Do you query entrants on why they chose the B2P community gateway, if so what sort of responses are generally given?

Gayle: Well you really haven't experienced life until you've tried to wrangle newcomers. We are in the process of developing a short list of questions to get that info … those who are truly here for business purposes tend to move a little more slowly, they stand still and actually talk to us. Others find the 'fly' button very quickly and they are a completely different story. We know that many who come through this gateway simply picked something from the list and clicked, without considering. We try to help them all but the point is to be there as an option for those who are making a considered decision about what they want to do here.

Nazz: As a business park, what services do you offer to the businesses located here?

Gayle: Well, space, of course … but you can find space anywhere. We also provide tenants with the chance to share resources … meeting space, the auditorium, the orientation area, club… no need to build their own. Also the presence of our staff here ... it not only supports BT, but our tenants, as well ... built in estate management. But, really the most important thing we offer is service with the staff here, our community members can come to us with any question from 'how do I make my hair fit right?' to "I have this huge idea ... how do I make it happen?"I take the word 'concierge' very seriously if we don't have the answer immediately, we'll get it quickly and respond.

Nazz: What do you see on the horizon for B2P … let’s say in six months to year out?

Gayle: We'll be announcing the dates for our 2nd semiannual Leadership in Business conference shortly. It will be late April, and then planning for a third for October. We're going to be adding some wonderful tools to our office builds to assist with collaboration and we're working on the pilot of a new business show for treet.tv. We'll be adding more and more programming to our weekly schedule.  I've got a long list of requests for professional development topics and I intend to provide as many as possible.  What else ... continuing to build the community, because, as I keep preaching, we are each other's best resource networking and conversation are vital so I just keep trying to provide ways to make that happen.

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Wishing On A Cure – teams’ registration for Relay For Life of Second Life opening soon!

RELAY FOR LIFE OF SECOND LIFE is back and it’s bigger and better than ever! This year’s theme is ‘Wishing On A Cure’. Teams’ registration opens soon in preparation for fundraising from March to July, culminating in a 24-hour walk on July 17-18 around a virtual track.

http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/slregistration

Don’t worry if you haven’t taken part in a relay event before. There will be an opportunity to learn more at a series of informational meetings on February 12 and 13 where the incoming Event Chair Tayzia Abattoir    , together with the American Cancer Society’s official representative in Second Life, Stingray9798 Raymaker, will present an overview and hold a Q&A, supported by the Event Co-Chairs MamaP Beerbaum and Nuala Maracas.  Each team will also be assigned a mentor who will coach the team, brief them on new developments and answer questions.

‘This year we’ve paid special attention to training’ says Tayzia. ‘During the informational meetings we’ll explain what goes on at Relay, how to form teams, and how people can get involved in the event.’ She added: ‘Each team will be assigned a mentor as well. We have a great group of enthusiastic mentors this year who have already been busy training for over a month so that we’re ready to go as soon as registration opens.’

For more information please contact one of the following:

Tayzia Abbatoir (RFL of SL Event Chair tayziaabbattoir@gmail.com),

Stingray9798 Raymaker (ACS Staff Partner Jeffrey.Montegut@cancer.org),

MamaP Beerbaum & Nuala Maracas (Event Co-Chairs, mamapbeerbaum@gmail.com or nuala.maracas@gmail.com).

About Relay For Life

Relay For Life is the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. The mission of the American Cancer Society is to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. Cancer knows no boundaries. The American Cancer Society partners with 20 cancer organizations globally to license and support Relay For Life programs in other countries.

About Relay For Life of Second Life

Relay For Life of Second Life (RFL of SL) is a division of Relay For Life in an online virtual world. Relay For Life teams fundraise from mid-March through mid-July. On July 17 and 18 we will walk a track for 24 hours, just like in a real world Relay For Life. Team members build and gather at their team campsites, enjoy live music, participate in fun events, and explore the many Relay sims and the incredible builds by some of Second Life’s top designers, as the event runs overnight and into the next morning.

Last year’s Relay For Life of Second Life attracted more than 120 teams with participants from over 26 countries, held over 300 team fundraising events between March and July, and raised over US$275,000 (that’s REAL US dollars) for cancer research and education.

Key dates

Please note these key dates:

February 1 – Teams’ registration opens

February 12 – information sessions at 6am and 4pm

February 13 – information sessions at 8am and 6pm

March 13 – Kickoff Party and start of fundraising!

July 17-18 – GO RELAY!

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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 ShuftanSources: Delinda Dryssen’s Blog

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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.

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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. 

The study was completely anonymous and was comprised of 3 options by which to participate.  RL information was not to be collected and avatar names were to be "coded and 'washed'" for the study so as not to reveal anyone's RL/SL identity. 

The first option for involvement was to occur in December, involving group discussions in SL with 5-6 avatars.  These group discussion were to last one to two hours covering RL/SL overlap.  Involvement in a group discussion (full participation) netted the participants $L10,000.  I found I was unable to devote up to two hours of my time on the days/times presented to me so I opted out of this one. 

The second option for participation was  to begin in early January involving one-on-one voice interviews with Flower Ninetails (aka Christine Bolas, People Path LLC).  The interviews could take place via voice chat in SL, Skype or telephone.  I was approached to do one of these interviews, having not participated in any of the group discussions.  As I was in between working headsets, I opted for the telephone interview.  This level of participationwas to pay $L15,600.

My interview was scheduled for 15 January at 2 pm SLT.  I anxiously awaited the phone call, having no idea what on earth to expect.  All I really knew was that it would take one to one and a half hours.   

The phone rang at the appointed time, and after brief introductions, my interview began.  The questions were very interesting I thought.  Among those were questions with regard to 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.

I asked about the data, stating it would be interesting to see the results at the conclusion of the study (me and my damn RL research job!).  However, this study is being conducted for a client of People Path and all data collected will be the client's property to do with as they will. When the interview concluded, "Flower" logged in and paid me my fee. 

On to the third type of participation in this study.  This will be one-on-one, face-to-face interviews in person, in a place of the individual's choosing.  Christine will fly to  the individual's location (nice budget!).  These interviews are expected to cover a few hours discussing aspects of RL/SL overlap.  The participants will be paid $300 in cash. 

I felt the interview was interesting, had excellent questions and I am glad I had an oppotunity to participate.  I sent a note with after thoughts and comments that didn't come to mind during the interview.  In the end, however, although the experience got me thinking, revisiting ideas I have had in the past, I doubt it will change how I enjoy or interact in SL. 

By Shellie Sands

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Cartoon of the Day

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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, sportsWiz 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 coverWiz 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 CityWiz 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.tvWiz 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

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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

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“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.

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Hearts in Harmony for Haiti

Thank you for participating in the Haitian Fundraiser. As you know this tragic event has effected alot of people all over the wold. We are only a small part of the help that is reaching out to them.  All donations will be made to a non profit here in SL called Builders of Arda, This group is already in Haiti working in the city of Meno. This is a registered 501c3 , verified by LIndens and the state of PA. The funds raised by them will be funneled into food, shelter , clothing and items needed for the welfare of people in the earthquake area. Contact person for the charity is Phoenix Seelowe.Thank you, Nevar Lobo http://slurl.com/secondlife/SkyBeam%20Haven/212/59/22

DJ Dakota Christensen : 12-2pm slt 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

http://slurl.com/secondlife/SkyBeam%20Haven/212/59/22

Haiti Earthquake Response Fund,

Funds collected by these (Haiti Earthquake Response Fund Donation Bowls) is being collected by the Real Life 501c3 non-profit charity called the Builders of Arda Inc.  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

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Cartoon of the Day

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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.

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Feathers

Retrospective. Spectacular movement in art. 

When I wandered through Feather Boa”s art at AdOpera in the Cripta Gallery it was with memories. I first saw her work at the Garden of Earthly Delights last year and was astounded.  I think of her walking around the city of Boston taking pictures of anything and everything: tiny gears, signs, dials, clocks, envelopes, all kinds of things she passes in her travels. Then she takes them, arranges and rearranges, blends and creates imaginative delightful art works in rl and sl. Such talent! 

Her art has been exhibited in many real life galleries . She works in graphic arts in the USA and Japan . About sl art she says “  I believe that we are seeing a new form of creative expression being born in SL and other virtual worlds. There are so many talented people here and that the best is yet to come." Some of the art is moving and changing as you gaze at it. Stand and wait and you will discover more than you expected. It is a large exhibit in a large gallery. You will be able to enjoy it at the Cripta Art Gallery until the 10th of February. Feathers also owns two galleries in SL. Her life is just beginning and I think she will be around a long time with new visions to delight the eye. I am lucky because I have one of the pieces in my sl home that was a gift from her sl father and mother and think of her often. . http://slurl.com/secondlife/AdOpera1/149/86/26

By Gemma Cleanslate

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“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

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Learn about sculpts inworld with M&M

1st TutorialA 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.

Ideal for newbies and Beginner Designers/BuildersFriday January 22nd  at Book-Island 12 PM SLTSunday January 24th at Moolto-Island 12 PM SLT2nd TutorialJanuary the 29th; One step ahead. For this tutorial you need a Graphic Program, like Photoshop, and basic skills using Photoshop and buildingin-world!!

We teach you how to merge a shade-texture with abasic-texture in Photoshop to give your in-world builds and creationsmore depth and a more realistic appearance.Friday January 29th at Book-Island 12 PM SLTSunday January 31st at Moolto-Island 12 PM SLT3rd TutorialFebruary the 5th; This tutorial is a big step forward and still easyto follow for all who would like to create advanced textures withshade for the more complex sculpted prims in-world. It is based onFashion-Sculpties, but the knowledge can be used for all sculptedprims and even for regular prims.  Much more tools of the GrapicProgram are used and to use your textures in-world you need somebuilding skills and experience!!Friday February 5th at Book-Island 12 PM SLTSunday February 7th at Moolto-Island 12 PM SLT

***You don't need to subscribe in advance for the Tutorial-series, butplease appear 10 minutes in advance, so we can start right on time.To avoid lag we ask you all to TAKE OFF  &  DETACH  lag-causingadjustments and attachements on your avatar!(EXAMPLES; AO-huds, scripted attachements, face-light, huge amounts offlexible prim-dresses, huge amounts of sculpted attachements)***

Contact 10 Gossoon for more information

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Cartoon of the Day

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Syzygy Community Celebrates First Anniversary

The Syzygy Island Community celebrated its first anniversary on January 9. The party was held on Helios at Imagine Peace (181, 221, 34), owned by Olorin Tigerpaw. Tigerpaw is the Community Events Coordinator for Syzygy. Grijandomore Greene, another founding resident of Syzygy, DJ́´d the event, and the other residents and their guests danced and partied.

    The second picture, provided by Pipsqueak Fiddlesticks, shows Syzygy being created in January, 2009. As future residents watched, Syzygy came on-line. This magical event was followed by weeks of work by Administrator Samantha Glume, and the other officers, Elric Anatine, BW Jinxing, Pipsqueak Fiddlesticks, and Olorin Tigerpaw.

    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. 

By Grey Lupindo

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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.

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February 14 Is Coming Fast!

You can start your Valentine Day shopping  already.

As usual Vickijo Rivera is ready for visitors to come pick up decorations for that special day. She is always on top of getting wonderful items for everyone to enjoy each holiday.

Many creators and builders  contribute to the sweet items in the geo dome that are almost all free!

Around the grounds of the Corner of Revolving Times you will find some lovely items for sale  that are very inexpensive. Saucy Loire has been busy making some really nice emitters that you will love to place  all around your home or business. And the trees!  Don’t miss the freebies or bargains!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Relaxation/87/169/42

Gemma Cleanslate

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Cartoon of the Day

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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 ShuftanSources: New World Notes , Massively

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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.

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BOLD & BEAUTIFUL Exhibit at Tart Gallery

A special showing of the Bold & Beautiful Exhibit occurred at the Tart Gallery on 2 January 2010.   The gallery is owned by ByrneDarkly Cazalet and has two floors of art. 

The Bold & Beautiful exhibit featured artwork by real life poster artist Claudia Hek of The Netherlands. Unfortunately, Claudia could not be present.   Due to technical difficulties, Claudia is unable to maintain a presence in SL.

Of interest is the fact that each of the posters features dark haired females as the subject, evoking thoughts of a Betty Boop characterization.   A common theme is the use of a red flower in the hair.  Each woman is modeling various looks, such as a pirate with ship tatooed on the arm, cigarette in her mouth; a woman encircled by red roses and wearing a sombrero; an Indian girl, and a  woman in lingerie sporting a nun's head wear--interesting. One of the more striking posters was a woman superimposed on a black panther surrounded by flames and baring fang teeth.

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.

Claudia still plays in a band, with her animator/cartoonist/painter husband.  There are times that, due to the demands of the band touring and recording, she is unable to work at her art, but she continues to collect new ideas during those times.   Claudia claims she has always been into art and creating things, and as a child she focused on drawing horses. as that was her passion ,having grown up with horses.  Nowadays, Claudia is attempting to mix the realistic style of painting with the subjects she paints; she is not as excited about the graphics now.   She is very excited at working on her own unique style.  Between Claudia and her husband, they have the music/art scene pretty well covered! Visit Claudia's website at http://www.claudiahek.com for more information or to make a purchase.By Shellie Sands

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Cartoon of the Day

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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

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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.

A large extension  to the Cartland Court area of the island had been built, which would explain the many empty shops I saw when I was last there.  The island now has a 90% occupancy with many tenants remaining and new vendors coming in. 

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.

 

RL romance writers, Melissa Mayhue (FaeWritr Bookmite) and Elaine Levine (Vinnie Mimistrobell) hold a month SL Salon on the Island,  held often at Books at the Beach. During the past year, they have hosted RL literary figures, Deidre Knight, Elissa Wilds, Deb Stover and Terri Brisbin. Another resident is Nightmare Scribe, a writer and co-founder of the award-winning Colorado Springs Fiction Writer's Group at http://www.csfwg.org.

Over the next couple of weeks, new homes are being built for  writers who would like to live in a literary community. 

With the many plans in place, the future of Book Island looks, indeed, very bright and I look forward to becoming a bit involved with events there.

Shellie Sands

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