Second Life Server Update Week 30a

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I couldn’t make the Beta Server Group meeting Thursday. But I lucked out and Oskar got the minutes posted on the wiki. So, here is the interesting stuff.

Homestead Performance

A couple of weeks ago a problem caused the script timing in homesteads to go haywire and slow things down. This week the fix for that problem made it to the main grid. So, performance should be much better now.

Release Channels

The Wednesday roll of new code to the release channels was delayed until Thursday. Even then only the Magnum release channel got new code. This is the code that improves the HTTP service. In its first few hours Coyot Linden says it has performed well. If that is the case for the rest of the week it could roll to main grid next Tuesday.

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Second Life Search Changes Again

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I am a light user of search in Second Life. When Linden Lab started trying to improve Second Life Search I pretty much gave up on seriously using it to find anything. I think we are in our third or four iteration of improved search.  Whichever it is, we are on a new iteration now. It seems no better then previous versions. If you like to explore, search provides an interesting array of somewhat related results.

Darrius Gothly’s blog DGP4SL covers Second Life Search. He does SEO stuff for those in SL. I do SEO stuff iRL for various web clients and do pretty well. I tried using those RL concepts when I had a store in SL. RL SEO ideas do not work well in Second Life. So, if you find traffic to your store has suddenly dropped off, check out Darrius’ latest article; Kaaaaaaaa-BOOOOM!

 

 

 

#SL 2.8 Inventory Delay

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Since I installed some version of the 2.8 series viewers I have had inventory lag. There is about a 2 or 3  second delay for every click I try to make in the inventory panel. Even the scroll-bar has a delay. It is very annoying.

Today in the Mesh Volunteer group someone said, ‘Clear your settings and that will go away.’ I tried it and it worked. Now the delay seems to be permanently gone.

The same trick is supposed to work with Kirsten’s Viewer. I’ll try it later today.

Clearing Settings

Your settings are kept in an XML file. On Windows look in: C:\Users\[windows_login_name]\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife\user_settings\[viewer file name]

The file name for the main SL Viewer is settings.xml. If you use any project, development, or beta viewers there will be multiple settings files. Make sure you get the right one. They have names that make it obvious which file goes with which viewer.

Slow Rez

Some time ago there was a round of viewer versions that were slow rez’n things and avatars. That problem is back in the Development viewer. Second Life 2.8.3 (237080) Jul 28 2011 04:22:42 (Second Life Development) After 5 minutes most of the avatars around me still have not rezzed. Ping=100 to 150, Packet Loss=0%…

2ndhub Review

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2ndhub is another social network. The network is geared toward Second Life users. How much RL information one uses with 2ndhub is up to you. So, if you are into keeping you RL and SL separate, 2ndhub is catering to you.

I am unhappy with Facebook. I have an account for my avatar and wonder how long it will last.

2ndhub Social Site for Second Life

I still like a couple of games on Facebook, but those are wearing thin now. I play only once per day now and have given up on Frontierville (too many ads in my face) and mostly given up on My Vineyard (same reason). Backyard Monsters is becoming more and more of a grind. Backyard does have a constant flow of new stuff to play with. But, it is a laggy game and doesn’t always work. I think it depends on the time of day…

Google+ is very nice and I love the state-of-the-art interface. But, because of their confused stance on pseudonyms and my use of Google Web Master Tools I canceled my Google+ account.

User Interface

2ndhub has a Facebook style interface. There are no new user interface features. So, use of the service via smart phone is likely tedious. Use via a desktop or laptop is clunky. The interface is cluttered. Everything is a drop down list or simple hyper link. Menus are standard link with a drop down.

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Facial Recognition

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By: jez atkinson @ Flickr

If you live in the USA you are likely seeing news reports of the new Facial Recognition tools the police are getting. For about US$3,000 per unit they get a smart phone thing that will take a picture and compare it to the a law enforcement database and provide an ID for the person in question. It is nearly instant ID.

What is not being covered is the fact that this technology is being made available to smart phone developers via an API. That means we are going to see the same ability appearing in apps.

ReadWriteWeb is reporting that the Apple is making facial recognition part of the iOS 5 operating system. No surprise as RWW was predicting this would happen back in January. The new facial detection tools were recently found on Apple’s Developer website.

Get more information here: Facial Recognition Comes to iOS 5 via New Developer Tools

This means that within 6 months to a year there will be a flood of these apps. Privacy advocates are going nuts. They are all worried about what law enforcement will do with the technology. One reported plan use is to post the face of a belligerent drunk police have been called to remove to all establishments that serve alcohol in the area. However, with this new tech I can see bar and restaurant owners doing this on their own.

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#SL Mesh Update Week 30

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Surely you have heard Mesh has made it to the main grid. To see some mesh open the World Map and search for ‘mesh’. You’ll see the mesh sandbox regions listed. You won’t be able to get in or see mesh until you do a couple of things.

You need to read the Mesh Volunteers Group instructions to get access. You’ll find that you need a particular viewer too. Download the Mesh Test Viewer here. This is the viewer candidate that will soon become part of the beta viewer for SL. So, use it and find as many bugs as possible.

You’ll also find that you must join the Mesh Live Volunteers Group. This group must be your active group to have access to the Mesh Sandboxes.

Mesh Meeting

Mesh regions on ADITI

Now that we are seeing mesh on the main grid some have wondered what would happen to the mesh regions in the Beta/Preview grid, ADITI. After all, soon all the regions on ADITI will have mesh. Charlar Linden says they plan to keep the mesh regions in ADITI for the foreseeable future. That doesn’t mean forever, but it does mean they will be around for some time. The Lindens are hoping residents will continue to upload and test mesh in the ADITI mesh regions.

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