You probably know Google+ is gone, closed, poof… It didn’t work out for Google. So, the Second Life™ community using Google+ needs a new home. Daniel Voyager is suggesting MeWe.com. There is the website for the desktop and a mobile app.
It is sort of free… they want your whole list of email contacts. You have to know servers cost money. So, a free service to you typically means YOU are the commodity being sold. Well, you and your friends. Thus, the nag to upload your contact list.
They have my email as part of the signup process. But, I’m not giving them my friends email addresses.
I’m not sure how much I’ll use MeWe. I’ll play with it for a time and see if it helps my blog or I find some handy feature.
Or… it might just be they think all those contacts are needed to get you working on MeWe. It’s like, what is Facebook if you have no Friends? Boring! So, they try to hook you up. But, then how do they make their money? The MeWe store isn’t going to cut it, IMO.
There was lots of detailed information in the third-party dev UG meeting last week. We got a bunch of information on what is happening with a couple of problems. Currently, disconnects and detachments are front lines.
Servers
From ‘How Does Your Avatar Look Today?’ 4/2019 – Click
The main channel rolls to #19.03.15.525315. This is the OS upgrade. It includes the EEP support.
The RC channels Blue Steel, Le Tigre, and Magnum will be the first version with UDP asset fetching disabled or removed. See the Tools & Tech section of the SL blog Obsolete Asset Fetch Disabled for more details.
The UDP change will mean older viewers using UDP asset fetching will stop working correctly. Avatars are likely to not render or render as Ruth/Roth. Sooner or later you will have to update…
Disconnects
The RC channels will have a change that is hoped will help with the disconnect problems people are experiencing, which seems to have started in December or January. Some think EEP is causing the disconnects. EEP is coincidental with the disconnects. The current analysis of the problem suggests it is in the TCP communication between the viewers and servers.
In the March 29, Third-Party Dev UG meeting Oz talks about the problem and why it took the Lindens so long to notice. Video Basically, the problem is not showing in the performance stats the Lindens watch.
The disconnects seem to fall into groups, those occurring during a teleport and those that are periodic (disconnect every so many minutes). People trying to chase the problem down are having problems reproducing the disconnect. They have the problem rated as #1 & #2 and have lots of people on it full time plus a QA team of remote users, meaning far from the Lab distance-wise.
There are rumors about different things one can do to stop the disconnects, change the WL/EEP sky, cancel a TP mid-teleport (cancel, open World Map – find destination region – wait for it to come up and you pop in), and others. For others the key is location, Blake Sea is a problem and Heterocera is not a problem.
Cyan Worlds the creators of Myst and Myst Online:Uru Live and the more recent Obuction are starting a new Kickstarter for a game named Firmament. Details here.
I expect this to be another VR game as Obduction is. So, playable on a PC with an NVIDIA 10xx series or better and VR optional.
In week 13 there was a third-party viewer UG meeting. A significant part of the meeting was spent discussing the EEP – Enhanced Environment Project (EEP).
The EEP Viewer is in RC and has been for several days. It is the big push in the viewer pipeline. Vir Linen thinks the Love Me Render viewer is the likely next candidate to be promoted. But, EEP should be ready to release in 2 to 3 weeks… Firestorm thinks they will be 2 to 3 weeks behind that. I think 5 or 6 weeks behind, but I’ll be happy to be wrong.
EEP Editing Problems – 4/2019
As soon as EEP releases the Lab will move on to EEP2. Some of the things people want in EEP are being put into EEP2 to allow EEP to release sooner.
EEP is causing the current black stars and changes in the appearance of some Windlight (WL) environments. So, lots of complaining going on. I’ve turned off ‘Use Region Default’ on my Firestorm viewer. You do that in Preferences->Firestorm->Windlight->Automatically change environments… (uncheck). I can still control whether WL is using the region-default WL or not with the Photo Tools controls.
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.
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.
