Win a FREE plot at BURN2 2013

This year there is a chance to win a FREE plot at the annual BURN2 2013 in Second Life and enter for a chance to win one 512sm plot–a L$3000 value. Hurry applications close at 11:59pm SLT tonight. Lottery winners will be selected randomly and also there will be a stand-by list to award unclaimed camps. Learn about theme camps here. The theme for BURN2 2013 in Second Life is CARGO CULT! 

HURRY NOW! Apply at http://www.burn2.org/PLOTLOTTERY2013

Important Dates

• Free plots – Deadline for applications is tonight at midnight 
• Camp building – Starts 17th September and ends 12th October 2013
• BURN2 2013 – Saturday 19th to Sunday 27th October 2013

If you have any questions about the Plottery, email info@burn2.org.

First Preview of OpenSim Community Conference Area

Today I had a sneak preview of the new conference area which will be used for the upcoming OpenSim Community Conference which takes place on 7th-8th September 2013. The keynote area looks very good with big screens around the outside with help info boards for links. The Red, Orange, Blue and Green chairs in the middle marks the different conference areas (buildings outside) on the region. I’m really excited about the first annual opensim community conference and hopefully interesting things will be discussed.

• Guide to teleport to the conference regions which is recommended
• Special load test takes place on Saturday 3rd August at 10am PDT

I’ll be covering blog coverage very soon on this first annual opensim conference! Stay tuned…

OSG6B poster preview

OSGrid will be celebrating it’s 6th birthday next month from 2nd-4th August 2013 and here is the first preview of the OSG6B poster which looks very nice. The 6th birthday celebrations will take place on five regions which will be full of exhibits and big events to celebrate the special occasion. I’ll be attending the birthday event and i’m interested to check out the osgrid exhibits.

Check out this interesting yellow birthday themed poster for OSG6B!

OSG6B Birthday regions

• OSG6B Central
• OSG6B East
• OSG6B North
• OSG6B South
• OSG6B West

Early snapshots have already been published it seems.

For the latest updates visit the OSGrid Forums > OSG6B Celebration Planning and Schedules section.

Will you be going to OSG6B this year ? 

L$4,157,129 raised for Hair Fair 2013 in Second Life

The 8th annual Hair Fair in Second Life ended yesterday with huge support this year in donations. The grand total this year for Hair Fair 2013 was L$4,157,129 which is just incredible. Hair Sales total donations reached L$3,887,763 with Bandanas Sales & Donations reaching a total of L$269,366.

Wow! 

Linden Lab offers Limited Time Only – 50% Off Premium Upgrade!

Linden Lab have sent out a email on 27th July 2013 about an 50% Off Premium Upgrade offer which goes on for a limited time only (26th July – 11th August 2013). The aim is get more residents on Becoming Premium and there are many great  benefits when upgrading. 

Premium Benefits

• L$1000 sign-up bonus
• L$300 weekly to spend
• Exclusive virtual gifts
• A personal private home 
• Expanded support/live chat
• Exclusive mainland building rights
• Have access to premium areas and activities 
• And much more!

Email sent out by Linden Lab

Terms and Conditions worth reading to qualify for this limited time offer.

* L$300 of virtual currency deposited to your account weekly to shop. 
** L$1,000 virtual currency bonus will be deposited directly into your Second Life account if your Premium membership is active for 45 consecutive days after initial sign-up.

† TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR 50% DISCOUNT This limited-time discount offer is available only for memberships on the Quarterly billing plan. Discount will be applied to the first quarterly billing cycle only, and all future charges will be at the regular Premium price; price will return to USD 22.50, excluding VAT where applicable. To qualify, Second Life members must have an active Basic account or create a new Second Life account. Discount offer starts Friday July 26, 2013 at 12:01AM (PST) and expires Sunday August 11, 2013 at 11:59pm (PST).

InWorldz 2nd Relay For Life Season 2013

Great news to announce that there will be a 2nd official season of Relay For Life on the grid of InWorldz which kicks off from 9am on  Saturday 24th August 2013. I’m really looking forward to the 2nd season of Relay for Life of InWorldz 2013 to see how it compares.

Upcoming RFL of InWorldz Events

• Season 2 starts: 9am on 24th August 2013
• Half way: 9am on 28th September 2013
• Relay: 12pm on 2nd November 2013

Last year for the first ever season of InWorldz there was a grand total of 64,000$Iz+ raised for the general fund of Relay for Life of InWorldz. The first season was a great success for 2012 because of the participation of IW residents. The aim for 2013 is to break new records and hopefully have more joining in during the RFL events.

A new press release has been released this week with the good news about having another season .

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

American Cancer Society Relay For Life of InWorldz

Relay For Life of InWorldz 2013 Season

COMMUNITY TO UNITE TO FIGHT CANCER

American Cancer Society Relay For Life of InWorldz Kicks Off

InWorldz community members will unite at a Kick Off Celebration to officially launch the second Relay For Life season. Hundreds of participants will ring in the new season with a rally that educates everyone on how their involvement benefits the American Cancer Society’s goal to save lives and create more birthdays. Money raised will fight cancer by helping people stay well and get well, by finding cures, and by fighting back.

Relay For Life Kicks Off its official drive on August 24th at 9 am InWorldz time on Paradise by Design.

Designed by Hairy Thor

The American Cancer Society Relay For Life is an overnight community celebration where individuals and teams camp out, picnic, dance, play games and take turns circling around a track “relay” style to raise funds and fight cancer.  The event opens as cancer survivors lead the way around the track and are honored with the Survivor Lap.  As the sun begins to set, the warm glow of hundreds of luminaries light the field in an emotional silent ceremony. Each bag lit is in honor of a loved one who won the fight against cancer or in remembrance of a special someone who lost their battle. The American Cancer Society Relay For Life represents hope in that those lost to cancer will not be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day, cancer will be eliminated.

Started in 1985, Relay For Life began with one man who circled around a track for 24 hours raising $27,000.  This year, Relay For Life has grown to more than 6,100 communities and over 20 countries worldwide.

August 24th, 2012, 9 am, InWorldz Time

http://places.inworldz.com/Paradise by Design/115/62/22

Come share the celebration with us, to begin a campaign we cannot lose.

For addition information please visit RFLofIW.org

For media inquiries,

Contact: Wildstar Beaumont
RFLofIW.PR@Gmail.com

** We Celebrate Life, But We Fight For The Cure **

The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives and help people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early;  being a support system for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer; and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing about $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1.800.227.2345 or visit cancer.org.

Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2013 opens

VWBPE 2013 opened just after 6am SLT this morning with many avatars visiting the VWBPE Gateway region for about an hour. At 7am SLT many teleported over to the VWBPE Central regions to listen to the LIVE  keynotes opening speech presented by Gentle Heron who is the Co-founder of Virtual Ability, Inc. in Second Life. Over 100 attendees gathered to listen to her history in education which was really interesting and amazing throughout. If you are interested in education in Second Life then I strongly recommend you visiting this conference this week.

VWBPE 2013 runs from 24th to 27th July 2013 full of live presentations. See the schedule line-up here and locations to visit with SLURLS.

Gentle Heron talking on voice at the center stage point at VWBPE 2013

Large crowd listening to the opening keynotes speech

Snapshot from above showing the fantastic stage and seating areas

VWBPE Gateway region with new visitors arriving 

VWBPE central regions during opening this morning – very busy it was! 

Linden Lab updates Pricing for Educational and Nonprofit Institutions

Today Linden Lab announced updated pricing for educational and Nonprofit Institutions in Second Life which comes into effect immediately. This is really good news and it’s a good step in the right direction I think to get educational organizations to come back to SL again. This applies to full regions, homesteads and open spaces apparently.

What’s changed ? 

We’re pleased to announce an update to Second Life pricing for educational and nonprofit institutions. Effective immediately, any accredited educational institution or any organization with a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit tax status (or equivalent) is eligible for a 50% discount on private region set-up costs and a 50% discount on private region maintenance costs.

As long-time Second Life users will note, the discount on maintenance costs is similar to a discount previously offered to these organizations. More recently, after reviewing our pricing, we have been offering this discount directly to individual organizations, but today we are happy to formalize this pricing, extend the discount to also include set-up costs, and open applications for all that are eligible.

For more details on the offer, including how to apply, please see the wiki page here. 

Organizations eligible for this discounted pricing are also eligible for invoicing of the private region costs. Invoices must include a minimum of six months of maintenance. Additional details can be found here.

Woooot!!!

VWBPE 2013 starts today from 7am SLT

VWBPE 2013 starts today from 7am SLT with a opening keynote speech by Gentle Heron at the VWBPE Central Auditorium regions with many more educational presentations after. The conference will be covered live in Second Life, Cloud Party and JokaydiaGRID for the first time. The theme for this year is Beyond the Stage and its set to be a great conference. There is a free HUD this year and there many posters around the VWBPE sims to click on for more information.

VWBPE 2013 Schedule 

• VWBPE 2013 Full Schedule
• Location Guide 
• FAQ

VWBPE Preview

VWBPE 2013 Regions Map

VWBPE 2013 Links

• Official VWBPE Website 2013
• VWBPE on Twitter
• VWBPE on Facebook
• VWBPE on Flickr
• History of VWBPE

Will you be attending VWBPE 2013 ? 

 

Private Estates in Second Life drop under the 20, 000 regions mark

Today there is big news that the number of privates estates in Second Life have dropped below the 20, 000 mark for the first time since 28th June 2008 according to Tyche Shepherd on SLUniverse Forums. The net loss of private estate regions this year to date now stands at 995 regions which is a 4.7% loss. In comparison last year the net loss for private estates was 11.3% between January 2012 to December 2012

On 6th January 2013 private regions was 20, 921 and today there are 19, 997 private regions left on the grid. This is rather alarming and shocking news that there is still a noticeable decline happening in Second Life. There was a positive peak in late March 2013 when there was small growth of 13 regions in private estates in Second Life which was a good sign. The last time before that was 24th June 2012.

I guess if rates continue private estates would go under the 15, 000 mark sometime in 2016/2017. We need a recovery plan for private estates so growth can take place again.

On 6th January 2013

• Total main grid regions: 28, 036
• Total private estates: 20, 921 
• Total Linden owned: 7, 115 

On 21st July 2013

• Total main grid regions: 27, 079
• Total private estates: 19, 997
• Total Linden owned: 7, 082

See the graph below for the net loss of Second Life Private Estates during 2013.

See the graph below from October 2006 to July 2013 showing growth peaks then for some reason there is a noticeable decline of SL private estates.

What needs to be done to see growth in private estates in Second Life in 2013/2014+?