Second Life: DMCA Noise

This DMCA thing is a law I absolutely hate. It turns the American concept of innocent until proven guilty on its head. This has made it a prime candidate for abuse and caters to large corporate interests and extortion.

Rogue Cop! 2
Rogue Cop! 2 by Larry Vinaver, on Flickr

We have a number of people covering the DCMA Notice given to WordPress to take down photos in a users blog, Mademoisl-Eve.com. You may be wondering why this is a big deal. I mean someone got a DMCA notice and took stuff down. So? 

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Windows 10 is Almost Here!

This morning I found a tiny icon on my Windows 7 Tool Bar. The official release date is July 29. Now I am wondering how well it will or won’t work with Second Life.

Windows 10 Icon Notice
Windows 10 Icon Notice

This icon is a link to a Microsoft promotional about Windows 10. According to it, you can reserve a copy of Windows 10. I supposed if you haven’t been following Win 10 development you may think this is some great free offer you need to jump on. I have no doubt a large number of people will.

Windows 10 is a free upgrade. Microsoft is no longer charging for operating system upgrades. They are following Apple and Google. Both have been giving away their upgrades. The idea is the original purchase and install of an operating system is made by the hardware manufacturer. After that all upgrades are free. 

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Who is Winning the Virtual Reality Race?

The financial people think it is Facebook and Apple that are positioned to win in the Virtual Reality War. But, it won’t be a fast war. It will last years.  Quoting Chris Ciaccia :

[A] Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster stated that virtual reality is likely the next key trend in technology, writing, “We liken the state of virtual and augmented reality today as similar to the state of mobile phones 15 years ago. It likely will take a decade before mainstream adoption as necessary improvements in displays and applications as well as lower pricing are needed to drive demand.”

Breaking bad$$$$
Breaking bad💵💵💵💵 by pokute Burt, on Flickr

They expect new virtual everythings to open up; gaming (obviously), live sports, concerts, immersive cinema and social experiences will have a VR version. The article, Facebook and Apple are Poised to Win the Virtual Reality Wars, gives us, at least me, some new ideas about VR can be used.

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Second Life: Designing for Newbies and Oldies

Second Life has its challenges for new players/users. Massively Overpowered started a conversation with the question: How Can MMO’s Design For Both Vets And Newbies? There are quite a few comments being added. It got me thinking about our challenges for new users in Second Life™. Many of the comments on Massively suggest removing leveling. … Read more

Second Life Bits Week 21

Bright Canopy

For Second Life™ users Bright Canopy is software and service taking the place of the discontinued SL Go as the software for phones, tablets, and under powered computers to use for accessing Second Life. Hamlet of New World Notes is playing with it. He doesn’t seem to be having much success. Read about his experience here: First Look at New SL Streaming Service Bright Canopy.

Two Sides
Two Sides by Carthalis Rossini, on Flickr

Some People…

There are those that pay little to no attention to what Linden Lab is doing or saying. The headline from a blog article caught my attention: Linden Bear digs grave. Did a Linden die? No. 

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Second Life: The New New User Tutorial

Hamlet is on about a video that shows the new user experience. I find those interesting. You can see Hamlet’s comments here: Second Life First-Hour User Experience by Returning SLer. I have the video just below. It is an hour long. Sheeeesh. Will anyone watch the whole thing?

Beau Hindman (YouTube name) made the video. He says he was first in Second Life™ (SL) in 2004 and has not been in SL for some years. So, this is a semi-new user experience.

Beau rambles a lot and stumbles on what he wants to say. He keeps his umm, errr’s to a level I can tolerate. The first 10 minutes is more just telling us what SL is than it is a logical ordered tutorial.

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