Category Archives: OpenSim
Avination releases HTTP Inventory Throtteling to OpenSim
Leonie Gaertner (Saphira A-Team) who is apart of the Community Management / Public Relations team on Avination has published a press release announcing that Avination has released HTTP Inventory Throtteling to OpenSim. “HTTP-Inventory throttling reduces the amount of data sent in one burst to allow sim and viewer to actually process the data and not overloading sim or viewer.”
Read the Press Release for more details…
Avination releases HTTP Inventory Throtteling to OpenSimulator
Avination is once again helping the open source community to create a better platform to develop
virtual worlds and to improve performance and usability of OpenSimulatorWhen Avatars login to virtual worlds, large amounts of data has to be transferred between the server and the client
computer. Viewers often have to request many items at once and this data is mostly transferred using the well known
HTTP protocol. Having to suddenly deal with that amount of data all at once can often result in massive overload of
both the client and sever network connections. This can cause viewer disconnects and crashes as well as server
instability and teleport failuresSo what can we do about this problem?
The solution is to take a step back and send data slightly slower to allow both sides time to work and fulfill requests for data rather then being allowing the endpoints to just request the same data over and over again. HTTP-Inventory throttling does does just that. HTTP-Inventory throttling reduces the amount of data sent in one burst to allow sim and viewer to actually process the data and not overloading sim or viewer.
Avination has developed code that implements this feature and has been tested and used in Avination for quite some
time. This code now being introduced via code donation to OpenSimulator. Avination is once again helping the open
source community to create a better platform to develop virtual worlds and to improve performance and usability of OpenSimulator.
Main links and contact info
OpenSimulator: web: http://www.opensimulator.org
Avination: web: http://www.avination.com
contact Leonie Gaertner; Mail: leonie@avination.com; Tel: +49 152 – 36926035
This is very interesting news and a positive way forward for Avination I think. It’s great to know Avination is helping the opensim community build a better platform for the users.
6 years on Flickr sharing SL snapshots
On the 7th June 2007 I uploaded my first snapshot to Flickr which was a snapshot of the former teen grid and it was much smaller back then. As the months and years went past I uploaded hundreds of snapshots sharing my journey through my teen years. I transferred to the main grid in mid December 2008 when I started to upload my adult adventures in Second Life onto Flickr. My main mission at the start was to document events and share my adventures with the SL community. I didn’t imagine I would capture thousands of snapshots at the start but somehow I managed it now looking back on 6 years on Flickr.
Historical Stats
Since then I’ve taken 22,410 snapshots of my Second Life journey through the years and in total I’ve had 22,298 views which is just unbelievable I think. In total there have been 2,519 comments on my Flickr stream since 7th June 2007 which is amazing and thanks to everyone that wrote comments/viewed my snapshots over the years on my SL Flickr stream. In the groups section on my SL Flickr I admin 23 groups, moderate 5 and I belong to 452 groups. On my contact list on Flickr I’ve now got a huge total of 1, 115 friend contacts and I would like to say a big thanks for being a fan of my Flickr stream since the beginning.
The Future
I’m staying with Flickr to share my adventures with you from Second Life and OpenSim for many years to come yet. I’m proud of all the milestones I’ve reached since June 2007 and hopefully more records will be broken in the near future. I’m excited and looking forward to what will come next in my journey through Second Life.
View My SL collections on Flickr to see many cool snapshots over the past 6 years on Flickr. There are 10 main collections full of great SL snapshots I’ve took which is really worth looking at.
View My SL Sets on Flickr to see the best snapshots I’ve captured of events, places, avatars and changes in Second Life during the past 6 years on Flickr. There are 152 sets full of awesome snapshots of Second Life.
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Stay tuned for more great snapshots on my SL Flickr stream!
New version of Lumiya 2.4.5 is now available
A new version of Lumiya Viewer is now available (2.4.5 ) on the Google Play Store for SL Android users to try out. The new version includes inventory search, improvements to memory usage, support for profile pictures/picks/notes and much more. The user experience just got better with this new version and I recommend this app to everyone in Second Life/OpenSim. It’s really worth trying out Lumiya if you interested in SL apps.
Lumiya Viewer is a Second Life app for Android phones and tablets. Lumiya is the best and most popular android apps at the moment for Second Life/OpenSim grids so far I think. Created by Alina Lyvette!
New improvements in 2.4.5:
- Inventory search.
- Auto reconnect after connection loss.
- Improved handling of large inventories.
- Runtime texture compression to reduce memory usage.
- Support for multiple external storage devices.
- Support for profile pictures, picks and notes.
- Online/offline notifications in chat windows.
- Option to deactivate active group.
1st Annual OpenSim Community Conference
New details have been released from AvaCon about the 1st annual OpenSim Community Conference which will be held on 7th-8th September 2013. Apparently it will include keynote speakers, presentations and topic based panels. This conference is open to opensim developers, admins, users of all opensim grids. The conference will be free to attend and registration for the event will be free on a first come served basis.
The Overte Foundation and AvaCon are pleased to announce the first annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2013, to take place on the OpenSimulator Conference Center grid on September 7 – 8, 2013. The OpenSimulator Community Conference will be a celebration of the platform and of the large and varied community using and creating it. It will feature two days of keynote speakers, presentations and panels on different topics, and an expo area to showcase community activities and projects.
The conference will be held in OpenSim and it’s expected there will be around 150-200 attendees during the conference. The conference will be live streamed on UStream which sounds good if you can’t attend inworld. Hypergrid will be enabled and there will be a chance to move between different opensim grids during social hours.
Tickets for the conference will be free during June 2013 and the aim is to reach 200 users in total. It’s a first come first served basis process and registrations open on 17th June 2013. Wooooot!!!!
Volunteers sign up here
Speakers sign up here!
Sponsors apply here!
This sounds very exciting indeed for OpenSim users and its going to be interesting learn more at the conference about OpenSim. A historical first and most likely if it goes to plan there will be many more in the near future. 
New InWorldz Desert Island opens
The InWorldz Desert Island has been revamped today and now there is a new welcome point for new residents when they arrive on the grid. The new InWorldz Desert Island looks very impressive and it’s very exciting to explore the new welcome area. It’s open to the public now and it’s going to be very popular in the coming years than the old welcome area I think.
There has been already positive feedback on the new look revamp of the island. Most love the relaxing atmosphere and garden feel to the island which I agree with totally. Woooot!!
Visit InWorldz Desert Island to explore the new look island!
New areas to visit
- New welcome point with new info boards
- New Freebies Tower with 4 floors with new viewing area on top
- New Building Learning Center
- New music/events hangout
- New bowling lane
- And much more!
New InWorldz Desert Island Map
New Welcome point when new residents arrive. Very colorful trees and more seats around the island.
Snapshot from above showing the new InWorldz Desert Island showing the different areas.
Snapshot of the new Freebies tower with a new viewing area at the top.
Explore InWorldz – check out the new Landmarks Board with many places to explore on InWorldz!
Stay tuned for more great things soon from InWorldz. Like the new look ?
Metropolis Grid still offline due to Server Maintenance / Server Shutdown
Metropolis is a free OpenSim Grid and for the past week it’s been offline due to migration of the server infrastructure. There have been delays during the downtime and its starting to have a big impact on Metropolis users. Metropolis Grid recently celebrated it’s 5th birthday and every month or so its reaching new records in terms of regions/residents.
The good news according to the Metropolis Grid login screen is that the grid should be online today around 8pm CET. I can’t image what would happen if SL went down for a week because it would cause anger and many issues with the SL community users/businesses.
I log in regularly into Metropolis Grid like many other grids to see what the trends and events are like. I hope the grid will come back online soon.
===========================
Wednesday update 12:40am SLT
===========================
In case of server maintenance and changing the Metropolis-Grid is Offline at the moment. The actual status of the current works are permanently published in the Forum.
===========================
The latest update as of 3pm SLT:
The Metropolis-Grid is currently offline due to migration of the server infrastructure. In all probability, the Metropolis Grid will be tonight against 20:00 clock back online. Best regards! Lena Vanilli ————————– ————————– In case of server maintenance and changing the Metropolis-grid is offline at the moment. The grid will be online again today around 8.00pm CET. Best regards! Lena Vanilli
Screenshot of login screen showing server downtime after a week!
Latest updates visit the Metropolis Grid Google+ page. Stay tuned for more updates soon!
Kitely Market Open to Kitely Merchants
There was a big announcement on the Kitely Blog today about the new Kitely Market which is now open to Merchants which is really good news to hear. This is a major milestone for the Kitely team and it’s the first phase of many still yet to happen. Kitely Merchants can now create a store and add products to the store. It’s not open to Kitely buyers yet but it will become available sometime within the next few months or so. Stay tuned for that!
We achieved a major milestone today with the completion of the first phase of the Kitely Market! Merchants can now create their stores, and we are offering a limited time promotion which can save you money and increase your sales with free advertising.
Currently the Kitely Market is not open to the public and its only limited to Kitely Merchants. This allows time to get ready for the main launch in June/July 2013. Very exciting!
First preview of Kitely Market
- Learn more – documention page with full official information
- Create Store – login details needed to create stores
- Link: http://www.kitely.com/market
There is a limited time promotion which is worth doing if you are interested in joining the Kitely Market.
Limited Time Promotion
Normally there’s a fee of 100 KC to add a product to the Kitely Market, and 25 KC to add a variation. However, we are offering a limited-time promotion to encourage merchants to add products now, so that they’ll be ready once the Kitely Market opens for buyers.
The promotion includes the following benefits:
- Add 20 products to your store for FREE (no listing fees).
- If your first 20 product listings adhere to our guidelines then you may request to be allowed to add an unlimited number of products to your store for free. The link that allows sending this request appears once you have added 20 products to your store.
- If you create at least 100 product listings that adhere to our guidelines then you’ll be considered for Featured Merchant status. Featured Merchants will be featured for free on the Kitely Market homepage, and they’ll get free in-world shops in the official Kitely Plaza.
The free listings promotion will expire once the market is open to buyers. However, Featured Merchant benefits will last for an entire year after the market opens for business.
See the Kitely Market Fees page for a complete list of fees, and additional details about this promotion.
Please note that there are no fees for uploading content in Kitely: only for listing products. Furthermore, if you don’t have a world of your own where you can create your products then you can use the free Kitely Merchants Sandbox.
Great progress is being made and hopefully there will be alot of people creating stores on the Kitely Market to make it very successful for years to come.
50% off all private regions on 3rd Rock Grid
On the 3rd Rock Grid blog there is a new deal for the whole of May 2013 which is 50% off all private regions on 3rd Rock Grid which sounds very good for new and existing region owners. There is a whole list of prices of Private Regions here if you are interested in buying a private region.
May Sales Event!
50% OFF All Private Regions!
As you may or may not know, 3rdrockgrid.com has been working very hard the past couple of months upgrading our equipment and moving our servers to a faster and more reliable datacenter. These changes have provided us with previously unheard of reliability and smoothness on our grid.
To celebrate we have decided to offer all private regions at a previously unheard of “50%” off* and no setup fees for the entire month of May!
These prices are good for new and existing region owners but does not apply to any regions already owned – new orders only.
Thats right! 50% off.
Any private region(s) you purchase during the month of May will be 50% off each month for the entire time you own your private region(s).At these prices you can afford to have all of the land you have ever wanted!
Want to save even more??
If you pay for 11 months in advance, your 12th month is free!
There will be no setup charges however prices are “non-transferrable”. See below for more information!
These monthly prices will be good for the entire time you own your private region(s) and there are no setup charges. The only catch…. these prices are non transferrable. If you sell your private region(s) the new owner will be charged our regular monthly fees. If you give up or lose your private region(s) due to non payment and you later decide you want them back you will be charged our regular rates.
Upcoming RFL SL events 2013 to attend
This month there are many big SL Relay For Life events happening in Second Life during May 2013. Recently the Fantasy Faire finished in Second Life raised over 9,000,000 Lindens to help the American Cancer Society which is a new event record. Overall Relay For Life in Second Life have so far raised over $2,000,000.000 Lindens during the past 7 years which is fantastic and really worth celebrating.
There are many RFL events to look forward to between now and the end of the RFL season in August 2013.
Upcoming May 2013 RFL Events
- Halfway There Fair > 18th to 19th May 2013
- Paint SL Purple > 19th to 25th May 2013
- 100th birthday of the American Cancer Society > 21st to 22nd May 2013
- 6th Annual Second Life Home / Garden Expo > 24th May to 2nd June 2013
- Breedables Fair > 24th May to 2nd June 2013
Which RFL SL events will you be going to this month/year ?
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2013 Relay For Life season started in March 2013 and will last until August 2013.
This year marks the 9th year of Relay For Life of Second Life and the relay weekend on the main grid starts on Saturday 13th July through to Sunday 14th July 2013. The theme this year is Celebrating 100 years of Hope. There will be Wrap Up Party in August 2013 to end the RFL 2013 season.
- Check out the Relay For Life of Second Life SL wiki page for event details and historical RFL events.
- The main SL RFL website is worth visiting for the latest totals and teams.
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New dates have been published for InWorldz 2nd season of Relay For Life for 2013.
- IW Kickoff – 24th August 2013
- IW Halfway Events – 28th September 2013
- IW Relay Weekend – 2nd November 2013
A lot of events to look forward to and hopefully more new RFL event records being set in Second Life/InWorldz. Wooooot!!!!
New pre-release of Avination Viewer
Melanie Milland who is part of the Avination Viewer team announced a new first pre-release of the Avination Viewer which is now available to download. This latest version is 0.4.0 public FirstLook beta which is 31.2BM in size. This is very exciting news for Avination users because this new viewer brings many new features including:
- Mesh upload / Full Mesh viewing capabilities
- Improved graphics
- Improved menus
- Land options
- Misguiding labels have been removed
- And more!
Here are my snapshots of the new Avination version 0.4.0.
The orange login screen
Logged into the new viewer
Upload Mesh menu
Apparently there are more major new developments coming in the pipeline. A new script engine and new improvements is in the works. Media on a Prim is still under the “implementation” phrase.
InWorldz hits 75, 000 total users milestone
Today InWorldz reached another big milestone of 75, 000 total users according to the InWorldz Login Screen. This is another step closer to the big 100, 000 total users mark (expected in 2014 or 2015?). There’s around 350 new residents joining InWorldz each week apparently and that number is expected to rise quicker when physics is fully in place soon. InWorldz is still growing and breaking new records on a regular basis.
New milestone reached of 75, 000+ total users
InWorldz Historical numbers so far
- “The first 1, 000 took almost a year.. the second 1, 000 just a bit over a month..”
- 2, 000 members – 14th May 2010
- 5, 000 members – 20th June 2010
- 10, 000 members – 12th August 2010
- 20, 000 members – 21st October 2010
- 25, 000 members – 12th December 2010
- 30, 000 members – 1st February 2011
- 40, 000 members – 15th July 2011
- 50, 000 members – 15th January 2012
- 55, 000 – 20th April 2012
- 60, 000 members – 18th July 2012
- 70, 000 members – 25th January 2013
- 75, 000 members – 3rd May 2013
Future Predictions…
- 80, 000 members – July/August 2013
- 90, 000 members – January 2014
- 100, 000 members – Mid 2014
NEW: It’s worth looking at Constanza’s blog where you can find new weekly posts on the InWorldz metrics. Graphs, latest region/users stats and much more!
InWorldz Links
- InWorldz Website
- InWorldz Forums
- InWorldz Twitter (latest #InWorldz tweets)
- InWorldz Facebook
Why Do I Blog Meme
A great challenge was started recently by Strawberry Singh to answer questions about blogging about Second Life which has started a domino effect across the SL blogosphere. This is my Blog Meme below!
- How long have you been blogging? Since 18th December 2007
- Why did you start blogging? I started my Second Life journey on the Teen Grid starting from the 31st October 2006 and back then the grid was very tiny. There was more blog coverage on the main grid of Second Life and nothing really on the Teen Grid so I decided to make a WordPress Blog about Teen Grid news, developments and events. I transferred to the main grid of Second Life when I turned 18 years old in December 2008 then continued reporting on big news and big events in Second Life which I enjoy doing.
- How many times a week do you post an entry? Depending on the latest SL/OpenSim news its anywhere between 3-6 posts a week.
- How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis? Hundreds on Google Reader (includes SL/opensim forums and social networks on a daily basis).
- Do you comment on other people’s blogs? Sometimes if it’s interesting and if it’s going to have a impact/change Second Life.
- Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? Yes, on WordPress Stats page on a regular basis. I normally get over 8, 000 hits per month with a average of 200-500 views every day. I’ll love to have more this year and future ones.
- Did you ever regret a post that you wrote? Nope.
- Do you think your readers have a true sense of who you are based on your blog? Yes, I believe so.
- Do you blog under your real name? Nope. I just use my Second Life name.
- Are there topics that you would never blog about? Not really. I’ll blog about interesting SL happenings and I’m always open to new things to blog about.
- What is the theme/topic of your blog? Second Life and OpenSim news.
- Do you have more than one blog? If so, why? No. I use my blog. Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Google+ and SL web profile to communicate with SL friends.
- What have you found to be the benefits of blogging? It give me confidence and something to be proud of mostly. Its a great way of informing and communicating important stuff to my SL blog readers.
- So, why do you continue to blog? It’s good fun to write about Second Life events and news. It’s addicted and It’s going to be hard to stop any time soon. I’ll continue to blog for many years to come covering a whole range of interesting topics hopefully. My hope is that more readers will read my blog and continue to give me feedback like in previous years.
Thanks for reading my SL blog over the years and being part of my SL journey so far. Please FOLLOW MY BLOG on the right hand side and stay updated on the latest grid happenings. Thanks very much again!
More great things to come!
