These images are just being released. They are around in a few places. I found this an interesting video.
It runs about 14 minutes. By default, it plays in 720p but is available in 1080p. Change your settings if you watch it fullscreen.
Second Life News 2018 w07
Servers
Monday Caleb Linden posted the Deploys notice. The main channel is getting a restart. But will continue to run the same server version, #18.01.17.511913. The restarts are said to have started rolling across the grid at 3AM PT.
Blue Steel may get a new package Wednesday. The Deploys notice says they have not yet decided.
Le Tigre and Magnum will continue to run #18.01.17.511913, the package they ran last week. I doubt they will get a restart…
Viewers
The main viewer is now 5.1.1.512121. This is the upgrade with fixes to the voice features. The previous version 5.1.0.511732 released in week #2.
The Sanar News Blog is gone…
The Sanar News Blog is gone… well… the name at least. The blog is now using the URL RyanSchultz.com.
Ryan has decided he’ll no longer wait for the Lab to make up its mind and tell him if SansarNewsBlog.com is going to be a permissible use of the Sansar™ trademark.
He also has decided not to exclusively cover Sansar. He’ll expand into VR, Virtual Worlds, and similar.
He does not plan to write much about Second Life. He thinks there are plenty of people already blogging about SL.
Read his post here: The Sansar Newsblog Has Changed Its Name to RyanSchultz.com
When will Sansar or Second Life Go Mobile?
I came across an article on Massively Overpowered. Seems Blizzard Entertainment is rumored to be taking World of Warcraft® to mobile handheld devices. The official cinematic trailer for WoW is here.
Looks pretty awesome. But, when playing WoW this is not what one sees. The actual gameplay looks like the video below (2017).
Pretty neat. So, if they are taking their game to mobile, when will SL or Sansar go mobile? To have an answer I decided to consider the complexity of the two ‘games’. (And no, I don’t consider SL a ‘real’ game. I think it more a platform for games. Like Mercs Beach Haven…)
So, considering the two games’ complexity I started with the systems requirements comparing WoW and SL. But, number-wise they look very similar.
Second Life Bits 2018 w06
I had to correct my article AvaStar – Infected Download about the AvaStar package being infected with malicious software. Seems others thought it had been not The Machinimatrix people, who seriously doubted it. I agree with them now that I think about it. Very unlikely AvaStar was compromised.
Tralala’s Diner (URL) is a region in Second Life™ that is getting some deserved coverage in the blogosphere. Hamlet at New World Notes is covering Strawberry’s coverage of Tralala’s Diner.
There is a Tralalas Diner Flickr group where you can see a ton of pictures. I have some there. They don’t stand out that much. (Mine: Cat, The Diner, The Lake, Darts, Sunset, Boom, Power, Urban Renewal, and Arriving. )
Strawberry is into streaming video. She made a Live Stream (33 min). We can see it here: Strawberry’s Tralala’s Diner. There is a problem with streaming live. One is limited to 720 and a single sound track at whatever volume you had set. You have to get everything right in production. It is much easier to tweak a video in post-production, which is why I like OBS. But, you get live chat and Strawberry is pretty good at tweaking things as she goes.
You may know the place as Pine Lake. If you haven’t been… it is a fun exploration.
AvaStar – Infected Download
WARNING – UPDATE:2/9 – OK The original post is not quite right. Original:
The AvaStar people (wrong – wasn’t reading closed enough) have posted a warning about recent downloads of AvaStar being infected with a Trojan or computer virus. They aren’t clear on what it was just that it was a bad thing. See: AvaStar – infected download.
If you downloaded their version 2.3-2 update in the last 2 or 3 weeks… you are at risk. Get a new copy and replace it. Scan your computer… Type DEFENDER in the ‘Ask me anything‘ or Search Windows field and run Windows Defender. Click Virus & threat protection. In place of a Quick Scan choose Custom Scan and point Defender to the place you keep your downloads.
Gaia commented below. Also, the original warning came from Casper Tech, not Machinimatrix. Also, the Casper Tech post has changed since I first read it.
Gaia and the Machinimatrix people seriously doubt the AvaStar code or package was infected.
Thinking about it, the programming code for Blender is Python. Blender add-ons, at least all those I have, are delivered as text files written in the Python language. So, the malicious code would have to be written in Python making it a specialized case, which is outside the normal pattern of malicious code for a web hack. So, I suspect Gaia and crew are right, the AvaStar programs and package were NOT compromised.
Doing some research this morning, I find that it is possible to embed malicious software in Blender files (.blend) and place executable code (.exe) in Python programs, but the Python has to call them and Windows intercepts the call and asks if it is OK to run it. Neither case is conducive to hackers. So, possible but unlikely.
However, Casper Tech is pointing out that the website hacks were sending people to a third-party site. They were attempting to inject malicious software into computers arriving at the site. But, a manual virus-scan of your computer will reveal any problem.