8 New Classic Starter Avatars Added To The Join Second Life Page

New 2019 starter avatars

This week Linden Lab have added a new group of classic system starter avatars on the Second Life Join page. The new 8 avatars are all shown under the drop down menu named New Avatars.

These avatars have been created using the latest features in Second Life like Bento. The avatar complexity for them is around 10, 000 – 20, 000. One of the new avatars comes with a pet dog. The Second Life Join page now has a better range of new starter avatars than it did many years ago I think. This will definitely help new residents in Second Life get started.

New 2019 avatars on the Second Life Join page

Linden Lab plans on rolling out more new avatars with new styles/themed for new residents in the near future. There is a thread set up on the Second Life forums to discuss these new classic avatars.

2019 Mobile Apps For Second Life

Linden Lab is working on a new app for Second Life during 2020 on iOS and Android. Beta release expected very soon. 

The last post I made on mobile apps for Second Life was back in January 2010 for the IPhone. Since then Touch Life, Sparkle IM and AjaxLife have all gone offline.

Apparently Linden Lab is working on an iOS app solution for accessing Second Life and hopefully there will be a Android version of it. Hopefully there will be a prototype app released sometime this year if all goes to plan. Sansar may at some point go on mobile in the near future.

Below are iOS and Android apps which can be used to access Second Life and OpenSim as of 30th January 2019.

iOS Apps

MetaChat 

• Text only viewer
• View avatar profiles, search for avatar by name, chat locally or via IM, teleport to landmarks, view group information, see your friends list and more
• Size: 27MB
• Version: 1.2.9100
• Price: $2.99
• Available since August 2017
• Listed on TPV Directory
• Download

Android Apps

Lumiya

• Second Life viewer for android phones and tablets
• Supports OpenSim, supports new Android Oreo notifications. supports Bento, supports voice, inventory management, 3D view, mesh support, works with Google Cardboard, full VR experience and more
• Size: 10MB
• Version: 3.4.2
• Price: £2.69
• Available since 2012
• No longer listed on TPV Directory
• Installs: 100, 000+
• Download

Lumiya Voice Plugin

• Adds voice chat support to Lumiya Viewer. Supports group voice calls and nearby voice. Requires Lumiya Viewer to be installed. Support for Bluetooth headsets and speakerphone mode
• Size: 4.9MB
• Version: 1.4
• Available since January 2017
• Download

Lumiya Cloud Plugin

• Enables Lumiya Viewer to save chat and IM data to Google Drive. Requires Lumiya Viewer to be installed.
• Size: 2.7MB
• Version 1.0
• Available since 19th October 2016
• Download

Mobile Grid Client

• Second Life and OpenSim messaging client for all Android devices
• Local chat and instant messages, teleport to other regions, region map, profiles, full inventory manipulation and more
• Size: 1.1MB
• Version: 1.25.1255
• Price: First 14 days are free then there is a monthly fee L$250 for the standard version. The Pro version is L$450 per month / L$4500 per year.
• Available since 2010
• Listed on TPV Directory
• Installs: 100, 000+
• Download

LittleSight

• Second Life viewer for Android
• Chat, IM, online friends list, nearby people, mini-map, teleport to current map (paid service).
• Size: 5,3MB
• Version: 2.0.0
• Price: single payment
• Available since 2012
• Listed on TPV Directory
• Installs: 10, 000+
• Download

Bay City 8th Annual Mole Day Happening Saturday 2nd February

On Saturday 2nd February, from 11am to 1pm SLT Bay City will be hosting their 8th annual Mole Day event in Second Life at the Bay City Fairgrounds at the North Channel region. It’s definitely one of my favourite events on the grid every year. The attendance is pretty high each time. The community comes together and celebrates the hard work moles do on the grid every year to make the Second Life experience even better.

This year features a DJ live music hour by GoSpeed of KONA Stream starting at 11am SLT until 12pm. After there will be a live performance by Melenda M. Baptiste from 12pm to 1pm SLT.

The Moles are members of The Linden Department of Public Works (LDPW) group that is a program totally focused on improvements on the Mainland. Moles build the infrastructure including the roads, railways, coastal waterways and protected lands of Second Life. The big project the Moles are currently working on is on the SSP regions which will become Linden Homes at some point this year.

For more information please contact Marianne McCann.

Islandz Grid closing down within 10 days

• The Islandz Discord has gone offline – 29th January

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The Islandz grid will be sadly closing down sometime within the next 10 days according to Elenia via the Islandz Discord channel on Monday 28th January 2019.

Elenia says that the grid is “not sustainable” and says “we’re not even remotely close”. Elenia goes on to say that “people are disheartened at the lack of content we could restore and I don’t blame them”.

As a former InWorldz/Islandz resident this is sad news for the community. I feel sorry for Elenia and Jim who have put so much hard work to start a new grid from the ground up. I understand the reasons for doing this. The grid just reached the 1, 000 users mark on Sunday morning that have opt-in. It was starting to get good with the regions growing.

I guess everyone will now have to find a new grid to move to.

Virtual Highway Grid Closed Down At The End Of December 2018

Apparently the Virtual Highway Grid closed down at the end of December 2018. The reason for the closure is not known but the Virtual Highway website has gone offline. It was one of the few closed grids around.

On the GeVolution World blog there was a small blog post about the closure and it seems they were offering all residents effected with a “free Alamans region for 30 days so they can get back into a home and start setting up“.

Here is the full blog post…

16th/Dec/2018

Unfortunately due to the time of year there is another grid closing its doors (lots opening this time of year as grid owners think they can make a quick buck for Christmas), Virtual Highway grid which is a closed grid will be shutting up shop at the end of the month, as we always try to help out those displaced,

 

GeVolution World Limited will be offering all Virtual Highway members displaced and made homeless a free Alamans region for 30 days so they can get back into a home and start setting up, Pass this word around to any you may know who are being displaced.

If anyone knows more information about the VH closure, please comment below or contact me.

I hope that all the VH community can found a new home again soon.

Registration Opens For The 2019 Relay For Life Of Second Life Season

On Sunday 20th January 2019 the registration officially opened for the 2019 Relay For Life of Second Life season. The 2019 season will last for 16 weeks and it’s going to be very different compared with previous years. Firstly the Relay For Life of Second Life 2019 season will now kick off at 10am SLT on Saturday 16th February 2019. The annual RFL of SL Relay Weekend will be held on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June 2019.

This is a great opportunity to register a team and participate in the annual Relay for Life season in Second Life. I’m looking forward to attending the early RFL season and blogging/capturing the scenes this year.

See below for a special message from Adam Spark, Ari Spark and Gem Sunkiller.

01.17.19

A message from Adam Spark, Ari Spark and Gem Sunkiller...

Registration for the 2019 Relay Season begins on January 20th at www.relayforlife.org/secondlife.

The 2019 National Recruitment Challenge runs from January 20th through February 3rd, we will join with Relay For Life teams around the globe in getting our teams registered.

Our Relay For Life in Second Life is among the top events in the world, with more participants from various countries and more donations made per event.

The Challenge is for each Relayer to bring one other person to Relay along with them!

Let’s show how Relay For Life of Second Life makes things happen. Register your team, then have each team member register their dashboard. THEN EACH ONE BRINGS ONE!

While forming and registering a team is lots of fun and very rewarding, there are many ways to Relay.  These are just a few ideas to help guide your conversations.

*Register a team.

*Support Relay For Life by attending events.

*Merchants and Creators can place vendors or kiosk in their shops.

*Club owners can place a kiosk in their club, just that simple!

*Live Singers and DJs can donate their services at Relay For Life events.

*Business owners can display information in their shops.

*Clubs can donate Ad Board space to Relay For Life.

*Post notices about Relay For Life events in YOUR groups.

*Gift Cards, and creations can be donated to Relay For Life, either to teams or for our Relay auctions and raffles.

*Educate  yourself about the American Cancer Society mission, and share that with others in your groups or club.

*Sponsorship is another way to help. Contact Ariel Stormcrow or Dianna Wycliffe for more information.

*Donating your land or venue for a Relay For Life event.

Each person can participate in a way that is meaningful and relevant to themselves. We are only limited by our imaginations!

Won’t you get on board with us, and help lead the way to a world without cancer?

Stay updated on the latest Relay for Life of Second Life news here.

Four more SSP regions added north of the new SSP Continent

New SSPX regions added

According to last week’s new SL regions in the past week thread on the VirtualVerse One Forums it looks like four new SSP regions have been added north of the new SSP continent. These new regions all marked with X at the end I think will be used for testing as it’s right next door to the SSP2 QA Test region. Now there are 389 SPP regions on the grid as of today.

For the moment SSP stands for Super Secret Project. It will be interesting if the lab will change this name when the regions open to the public at some point during 2019.

Here is the first screenshot I took back on 20th August 2018. A small continent of just 80 regions.

Here is a screenshot of what the SSP regions looked like back on 2nd September 2018 when it grew into a large continent of 384 regions.

Here is a screenshot of what the SSP regions looks like today on 16th January 2019.

It looks clear these regions will be used for new Linden homes (look at all those white dots) with a plenty of docks/waterways/mountains and much more planned. At the moment it looks mainly empty down south of the SSP continent and I wonder what the lab has planned for them.

Hopefully Linden Lab will announce something about these SSP regions soon. I would expect we will hear news before the end of Q1 2019 or possibly at the latest in Q2 2019.

Hover Bug Resolved After Tinies Protest At Governor Linden’s Mansion

For those that didn’t know apparently last Friday 11th January there was a huge number of tiny avatars that held a protest at Governor Linden’s Mansion in Clementina about the Hover Bug. The (BUG-225893) was making some tinies and mesh avatars float a few feet off the ground.

The Clementina 45 avatar limit was reached pretty quickly apparently and nearby regions became extra busy. Many attended with protest signs and even pitchforks. The Governor Linden’s Mansion in Second Life was originally built by Steller Sunshine (first SL resident) during the early testing days (Alpha) of Second Life.

The good news is that on Monday 14th January Linden Lab updated the status page saying this incident has been resolved. The lab have been working on this issue for the last few weeks or so.

Good work all around I say to resolve this issue.

Linden Lab confirms they are in early stages of work on an iOS companion app for Second Life

It’s been confirmed this week that Linden Lab are in the early stages in working towards an iOS companion app for Second Life. The lab are focused on getting a prototype out to the Second Life community at some point in the near future. The app will not be linked to a streaming service.

Inara Pey contacted Linden Lab recently with a number of questions concerning the Bit Bucket code repository that was set up by Brad Linden. The lab responded saying the following…

As you point out, we discussed at our Town Hall events last year that we’re actively looking at ways to extend the reach of Second Life to new audiences including mobile platforms. For example, we’re in the early stages of work on an iOS companion app for Second Life.  

Right now we’re focused on getting a prototype out to our Residents, at which point we’ll be looking for feedback and suggestions. In the early stages, we will not be tying the app to a streaming service. However, we don’t have anything to formally announce yet about the specific features, capabilities, and availability.

It’s important to mention that Linden Lab have not formally announced anything yet. It’s early days but it’s good news to hear the lab are working on an iOS mobile app and hopefully they will make one for Android users.

Are you excited about having Second Life on mobile ?

Deciding on upgrading to Flickr Pro

For the past 12 years I have uploaded my Second Life journey on Flickr and I have enjoyed sharing my adventures with everyone. Since then I have uploaded a huge 26. 803 photos (269 pages) in total to date with over 1, 500 followers.

As many know already Flickr made big changes to the service recently and I’m still deciding on what to do going forward.

Important dates

January 8, 2019: Free accounts will be limited to 1,000 photos and videos. Free accounts with more than 1,000 items will no longer be able to upload new photos or videos.

February 5, 2019: Any items over the 1,000-upload limit will be at risk of deletion, starting with the oldest of the items. Photos licensed through Creative Commons before November 1, 2018 will not be deleted, even for accounts over the 1,000 limit.

I have downloaded my Flickr data today just in case which backs up all photos, videos, account preferences, profile information and everything else. In a month’s time my Flickr photos will be at risk of deletion. I was on Flickr Pro for a few years or so then went down to using the free version of it.

You can use this tool to download the information that Flickr has about your account, including account preferences, profile information, and your photos and videos. This process will take some time, so we’ll send you an email when it’s ready for you to download.

Is it really worth upgrading to Flickr Pro ?

Or should I go else where to upload photos from Second Life etc ?