Firestorm Viewer v6.3.3 – 9-2022

Wow, we have a new release of the Firestorm Viewer. Just last July 26 I downloaded my then newly released update.

As the Firestorm Development Team explains, they have a new development cycle in place and expect to have new releases out every 6 to 8 weeks, so every other month. It has been 8 weeks since I grabbed the previous update. So, they are pretty much on schedule.

A New Firestorm Update

What is a bit unusual, is they released this update on a Friday. Typically, Friday releases are avoided. The reason the team gave long ago was that if there were a major glitch, there would be few Lindens at work to get them server-side information for diagnosing the problem.

As usual, Inara has done her review of the new release. You’ll find that here: Firestorm 6.6.3. I see no point in duplicating her work or you reading similar reviews. So, I’ll write about the things that interested me or I didn’t find in Inara’s coverage.

Warning

Another new update… there is a revised beta version of Firestorm that should be hitting the grid 9/19 or 9/20. A new griefing attack is being or was mounted and all viewers are suspectable to it. The Lab has released a fix and the fix is winding its way through implementation and QA testing.

You can turn off Media on a Prim and close that particular exploit. Turning it off causes problems with some body and head HUDs. Experiment to see if you are affected.

This is a scary LOOKING attack. There is little real danger. Don’t panic. If you see viewer panels opening and things happening, TP to another region.

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Second Life News 2019 w20

A berry good introduction to Second Life™ popped up on YouTube yesterday, How to Get Started in Second Life New User Tutorial.

Save a link to the video. You can refer people to it that ask about Second Life™.

Servers

There is currently no DEPLOYS post which is sort of expected this week as a maintenance project is in progress this week. From Grid Status a few days ago,

Scheduled – Our engineers will be performing maintenance on the Second Life network May 13 – 16. We hope to perform most of the maintenance early in this window, but it may extend several days if needed.

Residents may experience problems connecting to, being disconnected from, or an inability to log in during this time, as well as possible issues rezzing objects, teleporting, or crossing regions. We hope to keep these disruptions to a minimum and greatly appreciate your patience during this time as we work to make Second Life more robust.

We will resolve this status once the maintenance has been fully completed.
May 7, 16:16 PDT

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Second Life News 2019 w13

WARNING: ASUS motherboard users, you have been attacked. Users in Russia (18+%), Germany (16%), France (12+%), Italy (6+%), and the USA (5+%) are the main targets.

The attack targets specific machines. It is hardcoded into the Trojan. So, checking if you are a target is easy. Check to see if your MAC address is in the list. Links follow…

Once upon a time, there was a demoness.
Once upon a time, there was a demoness.

The virus was transmitted via infiltration of the ASUS update system. As the system provides Certified patches most anti-virus programs failed to detect it. So, you may have updated and opened the doors without your AV warning you.

This story started breaking 3/25/2019. ASUS and anti-virus companies have been working on this since January 2019. ASUS has responded with ASUS response to the recent media reports regarding ASUS Live Update tool attack by Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups. They have a repair tool for the problem on that page.

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The Latest Second Life Drama… Coming After You.

If you have been in SL for a time you know a significant number of users are big on drama. Whole roleplay communities exist for the drama in storytelling. If you know a game master, you have no doubt heard some of their amazing stories of stupidity.

Unfortunately, drama often spills over into other parts of the SL world and results in RL legal actions that affect those of us that were minding our own business.

Feel good
Feel good – GA.EG

In January I wrote about the OpenCollar Drama in OpenCollar No Longer OpenCollar? The Nirea and Athaliah side of that dama got control of the OpenCollar group. Moderators and some others there claim they are the only real OpenCollar. Collar updates are now confusing.

Now. it seems we are bumping into another such situation, but with mesh heads. Catwa has filed a DMCA Take Down Notice against GA.EG and Akeruka. I’m not clear on whether they are at DMCA with Akeruka. But, Akeruka is in conflict with Catwa. I hear Stray Dog is also dealing with a DMCA from Catwa. Note 7/9: Gac Akina the owner of Stray Dog says he isn’t dealing with a DMCA. As best I can tell the comment/email address is Gac’s.

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