General News

#SL Last Names Coming Back

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I saw Danial Voyager’s post about a comment in LL’s CEO’s Feed. Rod wrote that last names are coming back in 2012.

You may have been following the JIRA Feature Request to being last names back. See SVC-7125 – Bring Back Last Name Options!

This JIRA had 2,139 votes and 696 watches. That is probably some sort of record. It certainly shows that the most residents do not know the importance of clicking Watch.

There is a stream of new comments added to the JIRA item just about every day.

Racism?

The lack of last names seems to have created a form of racism. New SL users with the last name Resident are claiming discrimination. The only way to know is create a new Alt and walk a mile in their shoes.

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Metareality Podcast

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If you have not listened to one of Metarealities podcasts, check one out. The podcasts are a panel discussion among three regular members and various guests. Charlar Linden and Karl Stiefavater have been recent guests. The topics covered are current Second Life and virtual world events. They can range from whether Phillip Rosedale, SL founder, really diss’d Second Life and means to exploit third world labor or not to Ashton Kutcher’s explosive gaff tweet.

Metareality Podcasts

The host Gianna is a bubbly person with an empathic nature and a seemingly tolerant world view and willingness to look for broader context and understanding. Draxtor and Reed seem more locked into their meta worlds views with clear opinions and less questioning of their personal opinions and perceptions. The combination makes for interesting discussions.

The recent podcast (11/18) titled, The Perception of Failure and Success, came to my attention because they linked to one of my blog articles, Where is Torley Linden? I had to know what they said about it… OK, me. Nothing. But, they did link and that is good.

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#SL Direct Delivery in Testing

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We don’t hear much from the Linden Commerce Team. But this week the new Direct Deliver system made it to the Release Channel in the main grid. We know because the Server team told us. It is currently testing in Le Tigre regions. That means there is a chance it will move to the main grid this coming Tuesday, if things go well. 

As best I can tell the new features are not enabled. Visiting Le Tigre sandboxes I see none of the new folders needed for Direct Delivery in my inventory. Presumably this is a code compatibility test. They are checking to see if adding the code breaks anything else.

Also there are the other inventory services using HTTP Inventory. Those services are to make Inventory load faster and more reliably. I think new API’s are part of the deal too.  So, new viewers should see a speed up in inventory while in Le Tigre channel regions.

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Halloween in Second Life 2011

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In Second Life we have traditional events that the Lab has put on to show off content. One of the spontaneous events that residents build for is Halloween, which is a big and growing holiday in America. Residents create hunts with hundreds of search locations. Some places create hunts within a single region. It is way big fun.

Halloween Fun via Farthington Whetmore's Portal

Finding all those participating with spooky Halloween builds and hunts has never been easier. The Destination Guide and What’s Hot Now are both helping expose fun places to residents. Plus Farthington Whetmore has created an in-world portal to Halloween builds. Contact him in world via IM or the new Send Message to add your location.

New Send Message

Also, there is a neat thread in the SL Forum. The Haunted Halloween season is just around the corner — how will you celebrate? There are shops and haunted houses listed in the thread. Everything from tattoos to bodies and funny to gruesome monsters are listed. As of now there are about 3 pages of stuff listed.

Viewer Evolution User Group Closed?

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Communication?

Once upon a time we had a group that dealt with the evolution of the Second Life Viewer. Esbee Linden ran the group for a time then left Linden Lab. After she left Oz Linden ran the group for a time. When Esbee came back to the Lab Oz dropped the meeting. Presumably it was Esbee’s to deal with.

Office Hours – User Groups

The User Groups page used to have a Viewer Evolution User Group (VEUG). That has been removed. Some of the meeting archives still survive. Some links for VEUG now forward to the Open Development User Group (ODUG) or so I’ve heard. I haven’t found any links left.

The ODUG meets Wednesdays at 1:30 PM SLT/PDT. See the User Groups page for location.

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