General News

Oculus Rift Update 2013-20

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Jo Yardley, of 1920 Berlin fame, has an update on the Oculus Rift from Rod Humble. See: Rod Humble: Oculus Rift already in Second Life, want to make it excellent. The title pretty much says it all. But, Jo provides some interesting background making it worth the read time.

Oculus Rift COmpared to other display systems.
Oculus Rift Compared to other display systems.

I think Jo is somewhat representative of builders like Loki Eliot, Penny Patton, and others that create fantastic builds. I expect many of that caliber builders will be looking at their builds though Oculus Rift eyes.

I suspect that a shift to Oculus Rift will change how Second Life is built and experienced. While I am looking forward to the Oculus Rift arriving in a retail version I am probably not as excited about it as Jo. It will affect all the things she says it will affect. But…

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Lab Makes L$ Exchange Announcement

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There is a new post on the Second Life™ blog announcing: More Options for Buying Linden Dollars.

Quoting:

With a credit card, you can purchase L$ on the LindeX using 27 different currencies, including EUR, GBP, JPY, and AUD. If you don’t have a credit card, you can also use PayPal, which can be connected directly to a bank account in more than 193 countries and regions.

OK… most of us know that. Then they go to say:

Now, to give users more options and make it easier to purchase L$, we’re launching a pilot program of Authorized Resellers of L$. These sites are authorized by Linden Lab to purchase L$ on the LindeX and then resell those L$ using a variety of international currencies and payment methods. To be clear: per the Terms of Service, these resellers will not be allowed to purchase L$ outside of the LindeX (i.e. they will not be able to buy L$ back from users and cash people out). The list of Authorized Resellers participating in the pilot program is available here.

They also acknowledge there is a problem with cash out time via the LindeX saying:

We know that users are also concerned about the length of the LindeX’s cashout process and the limited choice of currencies when selling L$. We’re currently investigating ways to improve that experience for users while still providing superior fraud protections, and hope to hasten the cash out process and offer new currency options in the future.

So, something is at least in the works. I expect to hear more as the day wears on.

ToS L$ Change Update

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There is still a huge amount of speculation going on in regard to the ToS change and the Lab’s issuing Cease and Desist emails to those operating L$ exchanges and building viewers that link to third party exchanges.

Linden Dollar Exchange PODEX
Linden Dollar Exchange PODEX

In one thread over on SLUniverse the participants are trying to figure out why third party exchanges are suddenly illegal. They aren’t illegal. But, they do violate the Lab’s ToS… may be. That is where the confusion is, the ToS. 

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Drax World Makers Episode 5: Engrama

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This episode of Drax’s World Makers features musicians that are using Second Life™ to reach an international audience.

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Facebook is boring… Second Life is exciting…  Argentinean Pupito Helstein and Lakua Arriaga have fresh take on how they can meet fans and reach a larger audience.

The indie group is Engrama, which if I translate accurately is a spin on something that creates a memory. But, I may be losing something or missing the mark in the translation process. Whatever, you can find them in-world.

According to the events schedule there is a free concert May 11, Saturday, at 3:00 AM SLT. That is a little hard for USA West Coasters to make. The location is Lavender Island. There is a group joiner there.

 

 

More Second Life Oculus Rift

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Hamlet Au has an article titled: Oculus Rift Integration Coming to Second Life, Linden Lab Staff Confirm (Both Officially and Unofficially). I think in that article and in a previous article (ref) he makes several good points. And, it does look like Oculus Rift (OR) is coming to Second Life™. But, Hamlet doesn’t combine it with the LEAP Motion controller I think is needed to go with OR.

You are not going to be able to get a retail OR headset until at least 2014.

The video shows the OR with an omni-directional treadmill. That is NOT the kind of control system I am hopping for… but it might be good for me… but… how would that work in Zindra?

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