Firestorm to Start Blocking Viewers

by

Jessica Lyon, the project manager for the Firestorm Viewer, posted that they will begin blocking older versions of their viewers. Jessica is anticipating the drama this will bring on. By her writing you can tell she is expecting a chorus for complaints one might hear from a 10-year old trying to manipulate their parents.  I suspect she is right.

Firestorm Logo
Firestorm Logo

Jessica points out they have little choice. It is either the Firestorm team blocking or the Lab will take over blocking. I’m not sure that is completely accurate. But, I can see how some will see things that way. In general the Lab does not block viewers. But, if you use the newer viewers you really don’t have a choice about updating your viewer. It automatically updates by default. But, that can be turned off.

There are mandatory updates that the Lab requires from time to time. I expect as some of the current changes being made allow better overall SL performance, which are viewer dependent, more updates are going to be mandatory. So, whether there is a misconception about what is and is not going to be blocked and by who, you are going to be updating your viewer or find yourself unable to login. Otherwise you will be degrading other people’s performance. 

Read more

Metareality: Weak Sauce

by

The last podcast from Metareality was in April. In this cast Kim/Gianna is saying they plan to be back doing more regular casts, back to the weekly format. You can listen to the cast here: Weak Sauce.

This is an uncensored audio. No bleeping, so there is some profane language… actually a lot.

I remind you, my usual warning is: I paraphrase what I hear and make no attempt to transcribe the audio. Listen to the audio before you react to anything I’ve written.

[youtube 9hUUsqhetX4]

Index

02:00 TOS Discussion starts. Karl describes the change as the Lab becoming a co-owner in all that you create and upload to Second Life™. Karl rants a bit, not much, and I have to agree with his points. Spot on little rant in my view.

Read more

Pages: 1 2

My Second Life LEAP Motion Experiment

by

LEAP Motion Controller is the mouse free controller for your computer. I figured this would be a good device for use with the Oculus Rift. I went on eBay and picked up a near new one for US$50. I tried it out with the default apps and some free games.

It does not come with any app or adaption for Second Life™. One needs a free or retail app to adapt LEAP to SL. Drax made a video showing his experience with LEAP and Second Life.

[youtube mso4D8sOLmY]

The app Drax is suing is Game Wave (US$4). I tried some free apps. I didn’t find anything that would work well. So, I tried the app he is using in the video.

It has a good introductory manual, a tutorial if you will. The best I have seen explaining hand gestures for the LEAP.

Read more

Second Life News 2013-46 #2

by

Some big news from this week is the release of the ‘Interesting Viewer’, this is the viewer with improvements from the Interest List project (ILP).  The project is about doing a better job of deciding what to render first.

Torley did a good job of illustrating what the project does.

[youtube W7AC1RojXOk]

For months we have been getting the server side changes from the project. For weeks we have been promised the viewer side changes. Now those changes are out in a RC Viewer release: Second Life 3.6.11 (283895) Nov 13 2013. 

Read more

Obduction vs Uru Live

by

Obviously the Obduction Kickstarter project is an exciting thing for me. The game Uru Live is also a favorite of mine. I think this leaves Obduction and Uru Live fans wondering how Uru Live will be affected by Obduction. I certainly wonder. So, I want to take a look at a few of the factors that I think are going to affect Uru Live.

Uru Live - @2004 Image
Uru Live – @2004 Image

Obduction

With 40+ hours left (US$1,168,159) when I started writing the Obduction Kickstarter has made it’s first goal ($1,100,000) and is headed for the first ‘stretch’ goal: US$1,300,000. Making it to the next goal will add more play area to the game, adding another world to explore. If you haven’t already pledged funds to the project now would be a good time. Or if you can increase your pledge, that too would be great. 

Read more

Pages: 1 2

The Second Life TOS and Impatience

by

There has been a turn taken in the battle to get the TOS changed. Mostly drama and little productive result that I can see. I’m mostly involved in RL projects the last couple of weeks. I obviously missed something. So, what’s going on?

UCCSL Guild Hall
UCCSL Guild Hall

Hopefully, you know about the TOS change in mid August. It is hard to tell how many people are troubled by the August TOS change. I believe it is a small number. I also think the ones bothered most by the change are the more left brained creative types that can see and understand the impact of the TOS change. I think that more left-brained group is a small part of the creative community. I believe the result from the nature of artists is; the majority of the creative community is just not interested in the TOS change. 

Read more