New Community Roundtable: 20th May Possible Date ?

In the recent lab gab (24mins/14secs) held on 19th April 2024 Grumpity Linden talked about the new upcoming Community Roundtable with Second Life Leadership which is due to launch in late May 2024. In this new roundtable Linden Lab executives will be regularly available to meet directly and in real time with the Second Life community like the weekly user office hours. Linden Lab are looking for ways to improve communications with the Second Life community.

This new community roundtable will be more of a general purpose user group for the community to provide input to the leadership with ideas on how to improve Second Life. More details for how to participate in the new community roundtable will be announced soon. The lab are working hard now to improve Second Life from the inside out.

The lab had said this on 23rd April 2024 “This is good news for Second Life residents and creators. More options without additional costs. We are having an open meeting on May 20 and can discuss in detail”. This was posted just after the press release for the recent Thune acquisition.

20th May 2024 could be the official date for this new community roundtable to take place in Second Life. We will have to wait and see.

Linden Lab Sells Tilia To Thunes

It has officially been announced via a press release by Thunes on Tuesday 23rd April that Thunes, a global cross-border payments company is proud that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tillia LLC, an all-in-one payments platform by Linden Lab. It is still currently awaiting regulatory approval. There has been alot of buzz and questions via the Second Life forums during the past 24 hours.

Following regulatory approval Tilia will be re-branded Thunes and will continue to be based in San Francisco. The agreement is subject to an 5 year collaboration where Thunes will provide payment processing and payouts to Linden Lab.

Floris de Kort, CEO of Thunes, says, “The acquisition of Tilia demonstrates our ambition in the United States. This investment will enable us to leverage Tilia’s capabilities to provide merchants with direct money movement solutions in and out of the United States. Furthermore, Tilia’s deep expertise in online gaming, virtual worlds and token-based payments will greatly accelerate our growth into that fast-growing, exciting industry.”

Brad Oberwager, CEO of Linden Lab, says, “Thunes is an exceptional company that directly connects nearly every payment method and market worldwide. The combination of Tilia and Thunes will give Linden Lab’s customers more payment choices, and the ability to receive pay-outs in real time, anywhere, into the wallet or bank account of their choice. It will be business as usual for our people and our customers as we bring Tilia and Thunes together.”

It will be interesting to see what this new acquisition will bring in the months and years ahead. See the latest discussion here on the Second Life forums.

The lab had said this on 23rd April 2024 “This is good news for Second Life residents and creators. More options without additional costs. We are having an open meeting on May 20 and can discuss in detail.“

Mediterranean Railway Network – April 2024 Update

Mediterranean sub continent – 24th April 2024

The Mediterranean sub continent is making good progress with more new land mass being added in the south and in the north just recently. There is now a new railway network on the Mediterranean sub continent which is still under construction. Start at SSPSubtle Joy in the south then follow the railway line north then towards SSPOtro Gallo where the railway line is to be continued very soon.

At the moment there is one railway station on the Mediterranean sub continent which can be found in SSPCondor Pass region which includes double tracks and rez zone. The Moles are still working on the railway network and you can expect more new railway stations/new railway tracks to be built in the weeks/months ahead.

The first batch of Mediterranean regions were added on the grid in early December 2023 and since then more new batches of regions have been connected. Linden Lab revealed the this Linden Home theme back on Friday 8th December during the SL Christmas Expo 2023.

Here are the Mediterranean railway stations as of 24th April 2024. 

• Start at the Marimba region then head north over the new railway bridge which is incredible 
• The railway starts at SSPSubtle Joy through to SSPOtro Gallo where the railway line stops at the moment 
• More railway stations and railway tracks expected real soon

1. Condor Pass Station – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SSPCondor Pass/192/37/22

New Condor Pass Station

Marimba Bridge Connection

SSPKestrel Skies

SSPOtro Gallo – More new railway is coming real soon! 

Stay tuned on my blog for further development railway updates soon.

Ranch Railway Network – April 2024 Update

Wild Winds Railway Station

Over the past few months or so the Moles have been expanding the Ranch sub continent railway line adding more new railway stations, new Ranch homes and new areas along the way. It’s an exciting journey going from south to north.

The Ranch sub continent is still being built and is not fully complete yet. More Ranch regions/new homes are expected to arrive in the weeks ahead around the coastal areas filling the sharp edges.

Here is the Ranch Railway network as of 24th April 2024.

• The north part of the Ranch sub continent railway is still under construction and more railway stations/railway line are expected to be built soon.
• The new railway stations listed below have rez points nearby and double tracks etc
• Click for the SLURLs to teleport to the railway stations across the Ranch sub continent 

(Far North)

Wild Winds
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wild%20Winds/36/180/24

Kersplash
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kersplash/43/165/23

Seaweed
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Seaweed/60/95/23

Fish Sticks
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Fish%20Sticks/26/53/23

Lost Again 
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lost%20Again/20/79/22

Goodge Reef
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Goodge%20Reef/62/25/22

* Marimba – connection to railway bridge and rez zone here – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Marimba/43/120/26

Full Fathom Five
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Full%20Fathom%20Five/18/113/22

(Far South leads to underground railway tunnel)

Briar Hill – (Loop around)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Briar Hill/125/50/22

I’ll update with new SLURLS soon. 

Lab Gab April 2024: Updates to Second Life Mobile Alpha, Child Avatar Policy, Mirrors, New Community Roundtable, SL21B and More!

Second Life Mobile – April 2024 Update

On Friday 19th April 2024 Linden Lab blogged about the latest progress they are making on the new Second Life mobile app via Lab Gab. There is a new developer video from the latest Private Alpha release for April 2024 which runs for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. It’s been five months since the lab first announced Second Life mobile private alpha to the Second Life community.

The full release of the Second Life mobile app is so close. Premium subscribers will really soon be invited into the alpha testing program. The lab have made big improvements to the Second Life alpha mobile app so far including connection stability, reduced the memory footprint and fixed issues relating to where some avatars weren’t appearing at all.

The lab have improved the user experience by decreasing the sensitivity of pinch and camera controls, moved the camera target closer to the centre of your avatar and improved the size of the area for the V-Stick. The user interface has been recently been updated and now you can start a chat from any screen (friends, nearby and groups).

The lab are now working on getting avatars with skeleton deformers looking better, getting moving vehicles synced with the vehicles, improving teleports and notifications. Sounds very exciting indeed and it’s going to be amazing once the Second Life mobile app goes into the Beta/Public phrase. The lab are still accepting new testers into the Second Life mobile private alpha program for Second Life Premium Plus subscribers.

Lab Gab – April 2024 Update

There was a new Lab Gab that was uploaded on YouTube on 19th April 2024 where the developer update for April 2024 preview was shown (see above). The lab are working through the roadmap and feedback is needed to make the experience better. There was a interesting mobile Q&A section during the lab gab episode talking about whats coming soon to the Second Life mobile app…

• Second Life supporting HUDS – yes
• Creating and building – possible in the longer term
• Voice support – yes
• Estate Management – maybe
• Supporting GPS, webcam etc – maybe
• Keyboard & mouse support – maybe
• Free/Pay To Access – No plans to charge for Mobile use

Other Updates In The Lab Gab Episode

• Mirrors: This is currently available for testing on Aditi (Beta grid). Simulator support is starting with limited deployment from Monday 22nd April via the glTF Featurettes RC viewer with viewer support
• 2K Textures: Full support for 2048×2048 textures: Basic/Plus account is L$50 per texture & Premium account is L$40 per texture & Premium Plus: L$10 per texture.
• Second Life Age Requirements: Second Life is for adults 18 and older / Anyone 16 and 17 years old are allowed but only in G-rated areas / Second Life is not meant to be experienced by people under the age of 16 / Students aged 13 – 15 are restriced to Second Life sponsoring institutions like schools which involves a special registration process
• Age Verification Process: The lab will be sharing more information about this soon
• How consenting adults engage in roleplay in avatars that are child presenting: The lab do not and will never allow sexualized age play in Second Life. There is a policy on this issue and it is strictly enforced. The lab have no intention of preventing adults role playing as child avatars.
• Child Avatar Policy: The lab are in the process of strengthening the child avatar policy right now and the roll out will be soon. The lab wants an even stronger separation between child avatars and adult-rated content and experiences
• Governance/Community Changes: The lab are looking at updates with better clarity and stronger guidelines on conduct within the community/organisation. The lab are now finalizing an update to the conduct policy which addresses issues raised recently including how Linden employees interact with the community and policies that address perceptions of conflict of interest or favouritism
• Upcoming Community Roundtable: This will be linked with Second Life leadership and the lab plans to launch this in late May 2024. Details about how to participate will be announced soon.
• SL21B: Birthday celebrations start from 21st June 2024 and the theme is Elements. More SL21B announcements will be announced very soon.