Gaia Clary of Machinimatrix.org the home of AVASTAR has a new Release Candidate out: 834. I just installed it. The fix I wanted is not yet in it. Gaia tells me I won’t see that until after the next release. 🙁 But, there are fixes and improvements.
You need your special URL to get the download. But, you can see the release notes here: RC5-834.
The Linden Dollar Exchanges were demanding the ToS 30 day grace period and staying open. Now the Lab is kicking them out and closing them down. So, much for ToS and the 30-day grace.
ToS: This Agreement may be changed by Linden Lab effective immediately by notifying you as provided in Section 13.4 below; provided that Material Changes will become effective thirty (30) days after such notification. By continuing to access or use Second Life after the effective date of any such change, you agree to be bound by the modified Terms of Service. A “Material Change” is a change to this Agreement which reduces your contractual rights or increases your responsibilities under this Agreement in a significant manner.
13.4 We agree to provide each other with notices in a specified manner.
Linden Lab may give notice to and obtain consent from you by one or more of the following means: through the website at http://secondlife.com, through the Second Life Viewer at or after log-in to your Account, by electronic mail to your e-mail address in our records, or by written mail communication to the address on record for your Account. All notices given by you or required under this Agreement shall be faxed to Linden Lab Legal Department at: (415) 243-9045; or mailed to us at: Linden Lab Legal Department, 945 Battery Street, San Francisco, CA 94111.
So, does this leave room for a lawsuit? Ask an attorney.
Podex CEO Jacek Shuftan told Hypergrid Business reporter Maria Korolov:
“I really believed that the new Terms of Service is meant to protect avatars from the risk of fraud. That was my goal as well so I was looking forward to cooperate with Linden Lab. I could not imagine that over one night they would want to destroy our cooperation and everything what I built for 6 years of my virtual life. They did. I believed that they would answer my requests to start discussion. They did not.”
Even the AnsheX is closed.
A to Z of Fashion
This is a site I came across that I am enjoying. It is about fashion writing. I don’t plan to start writing about fashion. But, A to Z is teaching people about fashion and how to write about it. I hope to better understand what I am reading when I do read about fashion.
I never knew there was a style called Boho Chic. I’ve seen it and some of it I like. But, I didn’t know its name.
I am just amazed at the amount of detailed fashion information I find on the site.
I think this site would be a great reference tool for fashion writers. But, I wouldn’t really know.
KirstenLee has posted an announcement about the release of a new version of the viewer: S19 (407). See: What dreams may come! In this post KirstenLee explains why version S19 is being used. Basically because this is the version of the viewer KirstenLee likes working with and using.
KirstenLee Viewer S19 (407)
This is not a cutting edge viewer. Basically it is a V1 viewer being adapted to V3 three features and recent SL system changes. It is easy on hardware. So, I would class it as being in the same field as Singularity and Cool VL Viewer; V1 interface viewers.
In Second Life we tend to use open source products. But, some people use the professional products from Adobe, Photoshop being the best known. I think it has no equal. There are other image editors. But, Photoshop (PS) is the industry standard. If you plan to work for a gaming or other company that works with images, you have to know PS. But, Adobe is making big changes that will radically affect casual users.
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe is changing how they deliver their software. Until now they have sold their software in a package with a perpetual license. I can still use an old copy of CS3, CS4, CS5.5, and CS6. (CS = Creative Suite) It isn’t cheap. A new version of PS costs US$800. Updates can be $300 to $400 per version come every 12 to 24 months. People can find PS on Amazon and in stores for $650. But, quite often that is the ‘basic’ version not the ‘Extended’ version.
You probably know that Designing Worlds did an interview show with the Lindens about SSA and Materials. You can see the video of the show on YouTube (also below). If you have been following this blog, there is nothing new in the video.
Hamlet has a poll running on New World Notes to get an impression of how many people are impacted by the change in ToS. When I voted 60% were experiencing little to no impact and 19% were experiencing heavy impact.
Click over and vote: Survey: Is Linden Lab’s New Policy Forbidding Third Party L$ Exchanges Affecting Your Second Life Usage?
JSON is pronounced jay-sun. JSON is a text based way of representing data structures. Some think of it as an alternative to XML. It primarily was developed for use in JavaScript programming for transferring data across a network.
I suspect for many of us the arrival of JSON in the Linden Scripting Language (LSL) is a non-event. But, for scripters it is a big deal.
This week the JSON upgrades will be running on the RC channels, all three. The new stuff added to the LSL is:
You may have noticed in there the mention of ARRAYS. That is a big thing. I’m not sure it is going to give us arrays as we have with other languages. But, it looks to be closer than the strided lists we use.
Provided this Release Candidate makes it past testing this week another set of JSON features will roll into the RC channels next week. No, no word on what those will be.
Kelly Linden is leading the JSON project. Questions on its implementation can be brought to him at the Tuesday Server & Scripting meetings in Denby.
Kelly says we are seeing JSON added to improve the ability to interface LSL with the larger web. The previous maintenance version expanded the content-type support of http-in and http-out which ties in with this JSON addition.