Blog Archives
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.
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 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!
Video of new InWorldz Dreamshare
Watch this new video about the new InWorldz Dreamshare which is a new tool from InWorldz that lets everyone show your creations to people all over the world. See announcement on the InWorldz Forums for more details. There will be apparently a QA session for questions next week about InWorldz Dreamshare. This sounds awesome and has potential to become something big in the coming months.
Live demo
- http://dreamshare.inworldz.com/?package … 0483052476
- http://dreamshare.inworldz.com/?package … 00354b4456
What is InWorldz Dreamshare ?
InWorldz dreamshare allows you to share your creations with people all over the world simply by sending them a link to the dreamshare website. It works in the latest versions of firefox, chrome and safari and doesn’t require any browser plugins to run.
Easily provide friends and family with a glimpse into your world via a simple hyperlink. Simply pick anything from your inventory that you have created and use the dreamshare tools on our website to generate a web friendly version of the item. Up to 64 prims!
New video about InWorldz Dreamshare
What are your first impressions of InWorldz Dreamshare ?
Kitely Marketplace update 2
Today at the Kitely meeting I asked Ilan Tochner (CEO of Kitely) if there is any new updates on the progress of the launch of the Kitely Marketplace which is due to go live very soon.
The new Kitely Marketplace will include a range of virtual items from clothing, objects and buildings etc. To search for items to purchase there will be new categories to choose from. The Kitely team wants to open the marketplace to other users from other virtual worlds which sounds really exciting.
Here is the latest update as of 10th April 2013:
we’ve finished the merchant control panel but are delaying rollout until we bing all the other system components to more than a prototype so we know we aren’t missing anything before we make the control panel available to merchants
It seems the rollout is being delayed until further notice. I predict the control panel for Kitely merchants will be ready by the end of April then the launch of the Kitely Marketplace in mid June 2013. Subject to change!
Hopefully it won’t too be much longer. I’ll publish more updates when the info becomes available.
Olantica Grid new developments for spring 2013
Today in the Welcome Area of the Olantica Grid on OpenSim I met Leslie Kling who is one of the founders of Olantica Grid. Leslie Kling was very friendly and talked to me about the latest grid developments. Then we went on a tour of a new Star Trek attraction on Olantica Grid which was very interesting and fun. See my SL Flickr stream for snapshots.
New developments in the pipeline for Spring 2013:
- New version 7.5 of Olantica has arrived includes better scripts and work is being done on physics (testing)
- The grid continues to be updated regularly as long as the versions are stable
- Attachments to notices will be coming soon
- 2 more city villages to the main land are in the works
- New Signup choices will include full ready avatars soon
- New star trek attraction
- Welcome Area will remain for answers and questions if needed
Olantica Grid is a small grid and it’s growing on a monthly basis. There are many cool interesting places to visit on Olantica and it’s worth signing up to explore a beautiful landscape. You can get FREE shops for 1 year, FREE apartments and the grid has its own currency on Olantica.
Olantica Grid stats update (10th April 2013):
- Total Users: 476
- Total Regions: 62
- Unique Visitors last 30 days: 113
- Online Now: 21
Olantica Grid stats back on (21st November 2012):
- Total Users: 185
- Total Regions: 47
- Unique Visitors last 30 days: 109
- Online Now; 19
What do you think of Olantica Grid ? Please share your views in comments!
The growth in OpenSim Grids Statistics since 2009
Since October 2009 OpenSim grids have been growing in terms of total regions, total registered users and total active users. Hypergrid Business publishes monthly blog posts on the updated opensim grid numbers which is interesting to look at every month. During 2013 or 2014 it’s predicted OpenSim total regions will overtake Second Life total main grid regions.
Over recent years there has been more interest for OpenSim grids it seems and still Second Life continues to decline in terms of regions and active online users. These statistics below show data from October 2009 to March 2013 based on the top 40 opensim grids. Worth looking at I think!
Total Regions via Top 40 OpenSim Grids
- 6, 103 – 15th October 2009
- 7, 246 – 15th December 2009
- 8, 561 – 15th February 2010
- 10, 558 – 15th April 2010
- 11, 717 – 15th June 2010
- 10, 427 – 15th August 2010
- 12, 425 – 15th October 2010
- 15, 094 – 15th December 2010
- 13, 369 – 15th February 2011
- 14, 566 – 15th April 2011
- 15, 290 – 15th June 2011
- 18, 498 – 15th August 2011
- 19, 525 – 15th October 2011
- 21, 666 – 15th December 2011
- 23, 231 – 15th February 2012
- 20, 159 – 15th April 2012
- 18, 518 – 15th June 2012
- 21, 775 – 15th August 2012
- 25, 202 – 15th October 2012
- 23, 718 – 15th December 2012
- 24, 678 – 15th March 2013
Total Registered Users via Top 40 OpenSim Grids
- 183, 896 – 15th April 2011
- 194, 466 – 15th June 2011
- 206, 096 – 15th August 2011
- 215, 740 – 15th October 2011
- 222, 316 – 15th December 2011
- 228, 892 – 15th February 2012
- 235, 468 – 15th April 2012
- 245, 433 – 15th June 2012
- 257, 734 – 15th August 2012
- 258, 301 – 15th October 2012
- 276, 930 – 15th December 2012
- 286, 798 – 15th March 2013
Total Active Users Via Top 40 OpenSim Grids
- 15, 504 – 15th February 2012
- 17, 404 – 15th April 2012
- 16,391 – 15th June 2012
- 17, 364 – 15th August 2012
- 18, 124 – 15th October 2012
- 20, 695 – 15th December 2012
- 19,496 – 15th March 2013
Do you prefer Second Life or OpenSim grids ? Can you predict future numbers ?
Happy 4th Birthday InWorldz
Today InWorldz has turned four years old and it’s time to celebrate 4 years with the founders of the grid. Elenia Llewllyn and Tranquillity Dexter with the rest of the InWorldz team who have worked really hard over the past 4 years to make the grid run smoothly. Woooot!
As far as I’m aware there are no birthday celebrations planned between now and the end of next week (7th April 2013). Last year for the 3rd birthday InWorldz had it’s first official IW conference that took place in Las Vegas. Next year is going to be extra special I think as InWorldz will reach it’s 5th birthday hopefully. 
Happy 4th InWorldz!
Snapshot from InWorldz 2nd Birthday
Snapshot of InWorldz Login Screen taken at 2:50am SLT today.
117 avatars during load test on InWorldz Desert Island
On 20th March 2013 InWorldz users took part in a load test after 12pm SLT on InWorldz Desert Island where almost half the grid attended in just one region. Apparently 117 avatars were all in the region during the crash test according to Tranquillity Dexler which is an amazing achievement I think. When it reached 117 avatars there was a code bug that took down the region. So I guess more work is needed to cope with more avatars in future load tests on InWorldz.
Best snapshot taken was by Arkady Arkright shown below…
The aim of the load test was to find out how many avatars the sim could put up with on InWorldz Desert Island before it started to cause problems. This load test was very exciting to be part in and i’m sure more records will be set for InWorldz very soon.
Historical stats of load tests on InWorldz:
- 50 avatars on 7th December 2010
- 67 avatars on 22nd April 2011
- 100 avatars on 20th March 2013
- 117 avatars on 20th March 2013
Attending the Kitely Mentors Group meeting for the first time
Today I went to visit the weekly Kitely Mentors Group meeting for the first time on Wednesday 20th March 2013 from 1pm PDT. All Kitely users are welcome to attend and talk about all things Kitely. This meeting took place at the new Kitely Plaza hosted by Ilan Tochner who is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kitely which was really cool.
This was my first ever time I’ve attended a Kitely meeting which went well and it reminded me of the Linden office hours (user group hours) on the main grid of Second Life. There were around 10 avatars that attended this week (more in previous weeks) and I guess more will attend in the near future. Topics discussed: servers, transfer station design < space station/moon/ ideas and much more.
The meetings are used to discuss user requests, upcoming features and various issues relating to Kitely. The meetings are open to all Kitely users.
Shown below: My first ever snapshot taken today of today’s Kitely Mentors Group Meeting.
After the weekly meetings are finished the transcripts are posted on the Kitely Forums in the Feedback & Suggestions section. These Kitely meetings are very interesting and to learn of upcoming developments is good to know about I guess.
If you are a Kitely user then I recommend you visit these weekly meetings to stay updated about Kitely happenings. If you have not signed up to Kitely yet then I highly recommend signing up today. Check out the FAQ page on the Kitely website for more information.
The latest March 2013 stats via Hypergrid Business shows that there are around 386 active users with 3, 314 regions on the grid. The Kitely community builders are currently working hard at completing the Kitely Plaza which has not officially opened yet. Next month the Kitely Marketplace should be launching which should be very interesting to check out. More exciting developments I’m sure are in the pipeline and Kitely will continue to grow more than ever before during 2013.
