The is my second attempt at summarizing what has happened in Second Life™ in the last month. Last month and this month I used A.I. to find websites that cover Second Life™ technology. I’ve culled several of the June A.I. picks for source information and added others.

• Mobile App Updates: The Second Life Mobile app, still in Beta for Premium and Premium Plus users, continued to evolve with performance enhancements and bug fixes. No specific July 2025 updates were announced. June 2025 updates highlighted features like the Lobby for quick access to chats, friends, events, and blog posts. Also Linden Reward Streaks for earning free Linden Dollars daily. These updates likely saw minor refinements in July.

Reward Streak Payout

1. Day 1 =          L$15
2. Day 2 =          L$20
3. Day 3 =          L$25
4. Day 4 =          L$30
5. Day 5 =          L$40
6. Day 6 =          L$50
7. Day 7 =          L$70 – OR L$250/week

On day 8 the pattern starts over at L$15.

• AI Character Designer Pause: The experimental AI Character Designer, which allowed users to create virtual personalities, was paused… PAUSED… not canceled… effective September 1, 2025.
• No new AI-related tech was reported for July. The supposition is there is a focus on evaluating prior feedback.

• Viewer and Grid Enhancements: No specific July 2025 viewer release was mentioned, but earlier 2025 updates (e.g., March 2025 Viewer 2025.03) introduced features like Water Exclusion Surfaces (a “Hide Water” checkbox for builds) and expanded Picks (20 for all users).

• SL22B Aftermath: Post-SL22B (June 20–July 20, 2025), the blog emphasized community feedback on events but didn’t introduce new tech features in July. Discussions from SL22B’s “Meet the Lindens” sessions included glTF Importer (for simpler mesh and material imports) and WebRTC (a new voice protocol targeting grid-wide rollout by summer’s end), which may have seen incremental progress in July.

2. SL Grid Status (status.secondlifegrid.net)

• Scheduled Maintenance and Restarts: On July 29–30, 2025, Linden Lab performed scheduled maintenance, including rolling restarts for main and RC Server channels and a 30-minute viewer login downtime (July 30, 9:30–10:00 AM SLT). These improve system stability but aren’t new features.

• Support Team Updates: An update on July 28, 2025, noted progress in reducing support ticket backlogs with an expanded team and streamlined processes. This hopefully improves the user’s experience for technical issue resolution.

• Marketplace Stability: No new incidents were reported in July beyond resolved Marketplace issues from June (e.g., intermittent errors). This suggests infrastructure is now stable, critical for new feature rollouts.
• Second Life Forum: People are reporting glitches, images and posts disappearing and reappearing. Enough people complained that it was decided by users that the HUGE thread 2,550+ pages ‘How does your avatar look today…’ should be locked and a new thread started. Rowan Amore did that. Thank you 😊So we have a new thread here.

3. SL Viewer Release Notes (releasenotes.secondlife.com)

• No July 2025 Release Notes: The site lists viewer releases but lacks a July 2025 entry. The most recent noted release was 7.1.11 (December 2024, formerly ExtraFPS RC), with performance-focused improvements like DeltaFPS for better frame rates.

• Ongoing Projects: Features like glTF Mesh Import (Alpha, introduced earlier in 2025) and WebRTC voice protocol were under development, as mentioned in June 2025 blogs. July likely saw continued testing on the Beta Grid (Aditi) without public release.

4. New World Notes (nwn.blogs.com)

• No July 2025 Updates: New World Notes did not have specific July 2025 posts in the provided data or recent archives. Earlier 2025 coverage focused on Second Life’s cultural and technical longevity (e.g., AI bot integration like BunnyGPT).

5. Blogging Second Life (bloggingsecondlife.wordpress.com)

• Limited July 2025 Content: No direct July 2025 posts were found in the provided data. The blog typically covers community events, fashion, and destinations, with occasional tech mentions. Earlier 2025 posts (e.g., via Daniel Voyager’s blog) discussed mobile app UI improvements and viewer updates, suggesting July coverage might have focused on user experiences with these features rather than new tech announcements.
• Community Feedback: The blog likely echoed SL22B discussions on WebRTC and glTF, emphasizing their potential for creators.

6. Living in a Modem World (modemworld.me and x.com/InaraPey)

• Viewer Updates (Week #30): On July 28, 2025, Inara Pey posted about SL viewer release summaries for week #30, detailing incremental updates to official and third-party viewers. No major new features were highlighted, but the post noted ongoing performance optimizations and bug fixes for the official SL Viewer and TPVs like Firestorm and Black Dragon.
• Linden Lab Update: A July 25, 2025, X post linked to a Linden Lab blog, “An Update from Linden Lab,” which likely covered general platform progress but didn’t specify new tech features. The focus was on community engagement and system stability post-SL22B.
• WebRTC and glTF Progress: Earlier 2025 posts (e.g., June 27) detailed WebRTC’s stalled progress due to Firestorm’s pre-PBR user base and glTF Importer’s Alpha testing. July likely saw continued development, with WebRTC targeting a summer 2025 grid-wide rollout.

7. Firestorm Viewer (firestormviewer.org)

• No July 2025 Release: No specific July 2025 Firestorm update was documented. Recent 2025 posts suggest Firestorm is addressing PBR-related lag and integrating features like WebRTC, but no new version was confirmed for July.

• Compatibility Issues: Firestorm’s lack of support for the browser-based viewer (zero.secondlife.com) was noted earlier in 2025.

8. Hypergrid Business (hypergridbusiness.com)

• No July 2025 Articles: Hypergrid Business did not have July 2025-specific content in the provided data. The site often compares Second Life’s tech (e.g., LSL scripting, rendering) to OpenSim grids. Recent articles discussed Second Life’s mobile app challenges and scripting limitations, suggesting July coverage might have focused on mobile Beta feedback or creator tools like glTF Importer.
• Technical Context: The site’s earlier 2025 analyses highlighted Second Life’s aging infrastructure (e.g., single-core region servers) as a bottleneck for new features, likely framing any July discussions around mobile or viewer performance.

Summary

This is another month where not much is happening that affects users. The Lab is working and things are getting done. It is sort of like ordering something that ships from China. It takes time no matter how fast the boat goes.

I’ll have to keep looking for websites that have news worth reading.