Month: June 2020

The SL17B Exhibits Are Still Open

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

Bugs Bunny at the bar drinking lime

Last weekend marked the end of the major events and live performances at SL17B. The only big event still going now is the SL17B Shop & Hop shopping event which ends Sunday 12th July 2020. The exhibits and birthday regions are still open for another two weeks roughly. There is a useful list of SL17B community experiences worth checking out. 

SL17B core regions open until 12th July 2020
SL17B Shop & Hop Shopping Event still open

For those that are visiting this week and next week the lag should now be at normal levels. It should be easier now to explore the regions sightseeing and hanging out with family/friends. It’s best to visit during non-peak hours to enjoy it more.  

Ebbe Linden & Saffia live at SL17B last week (22nd June)

The SL17B Meet the Linden sessions were a huge success again this year with a large audience every day participating inworld and on the live online stream. Well done to everyone that made it work this year. It was good to hear good progress being made with the uplift work, the mobile app, premium plus, Linden Homes and much more. I think before the end of the year there will be some interesting announcements on Second Life.

The new Stilt Linden Home theme
SL17B Enchant from the air

The new Stilt Linden Homes can still be viewed in the SL17B Enchant region. The LH Demo region will remain open for the next few weeks. After that the Stilt Linden Homes won’t be released until later in 2020 when residents will be able to start moving in. I will post more on this when new updates becomes available.

What do you think of SL17B so far ?

 

 

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Poll: Which Linden Home theme is your favourite ?

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

I would love to know what Linden Home theme is your most favourite in Secone Life ?. It would be a good snapshot hopefully of which Linden Home themes are most popular and those that are not so popular.

Poll options include the old Linden Home themes and all the new ones. I will publish the results in early July 2020.

Catch Up With The SL17B Meet the Lindens Series

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

For anyone that has missed any of the SL17B Meet the Lindens series so far here are all the catch up videos for reference. The 2020 Meet the Lindens sessions at SL17B have been very popular indeed and they have been most interesting because of all the latest developments going on at Linden Lab.

Featuring Ebbe Linden, Patch Linden, Oz Linden, The Marketing Team and The Moles.

All these sessions run for at least a hour and a bit. It’s worth watching for sure.

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Monday 22nd June – Ebbe Linden

Tuesday 23rd June – Patch Linden

Wednesday 24th June – Oz Linden

Thursday 25th June – Marketing Team

Friday 26th June – Meet the Moles 

Meet the Lindens series be back next year for SL18B. This year all the sessions have been most interesting and packed full of residents. 

 

New Last Names Options Now Available

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

Today Linden Lab have announced 7 new Last Name options for purchasing with another three new last name options in honor of Second Life 17th birthday theme.

There will be further updates to the last name options pool in the near future. Last week ten last names were officially retired and they are no longer available for purchase.

Here is the newly updated list of available last names as of 25th June 2020. 

Here is the full blog announcement below…

As we announced last week, ten last names have officially been retired and are no longer available for purchase. 

Today, we are pleased to announce the names replacing them, available as an option for purchase now:

Vortex
Fluffpaw
Sassypants
Amethyst
Bloodrose
Aurelia
Starlight

Additionally, three names are being made available for purchase in honor of Second Life’s 17th Birthday theme: 

Wayfarer
Rover
Wanderer

These three names will be retired in the next round of updates, so if you’re interested, be sure to grab them while they’re available!

We will continue to make additional updates to the available last name pool, so if these options aren’t for you, stay tuned for future updates. 

What do you think of these last name options ?

The SL17B Water regions explanation

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

On 24th June Patch Linden on the Second Life forums posted the reasons for why there are ten SL17B Water regions surrounding the core SL17B regions. Apparently the main reason for them is that it’s “purely for decor and aesthetic purposes“. The lab felt “the entire SLB continent looked better not having things fall off into a void“.

He goes on to say “so we gave everything natural shorelines and such which meant extending in to the surrounding water regions this year. They serve no other purpose and are not usable for anything else because they are running on openspaces“.

I have to say this is pretty disappointing to hear this as this is a big opportunity missed for like a SL17B sailing event or perhaps spreading the new theme of Linden homes around the core regions. I’m sure the water regions could of been used better somehow. It’s interesting that these water regions are running on openspaces though.

Here is the full explanation from Patch…

They are there purely for decor and aesthetic purposes.  When we built out the core regions, we used as much space as possible and in many areas right up to the region edges.  We felt the entire SLB continent looks better not having things fall off into a void.  So we gave everything natural shorelines and such which meant extending in to the surrounding water regions this year.  They serve no other purpose and are not usable for anything else because they are running on openspaces.

Hopefully next year for SL18B there will be more regions to explore and more demo regions. 

SL17B Water regions can be seen around the outside of the core regions

Patch Linden Gives Update On Linden Home Themes 7, 8 and 9

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

Today Patch Linden posted a further update on the new Linden Home themes upcoming on the Second Life Forums. Read more here.

Firstly he points out there are 4 floor plans to the new Stilt home theme. There will be two placement options on the home selection page soon. Patch says don’t abandon your homes. 

Here is the schedule for the upcoming new Linden Home themes 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Theme 6

  • Theme 6 officially announced on 23rd June – Stilt homes
  • The Stilt homes are basically done and ready for deployment
  • The lab don’t have have the region capacity to release them right now. The lab are aiming at after the AWS project completes when region capacity becomes available to us sometime later this year

Theme 7

  • Theme 7 is nearly content complete
  • Not set up for deployment yet .

Theme 8

  • Getting ready to enter production

Theme 9

  • Getting ready to enter production

Here is the full update posted by Patch Linden…

As has been mentioned, do not abandon your homes.   A quick clarification on styles and such.  There are 4 floor plans to the Stilt Home theme.  There will be two placement options offered on the home selection page of the site.  One of the selections will find the house placed where there are stairs are anchored to land, so those houses will be either the over land or maybe partially over the water for home placement.  The other option offered will be for a home fully over water (no entry stairs).   This is how you’ll be able to choose witch type of placement you could select.

In general, the Stilt Homes while they are basically done and ready for deployment, we unfortunately do not have the region capacity to release them right now.  We are aiming at after the AWS project completes when region capacity becomes available to us sometime later this year.  In the mean time, we’re already working on the next 3 themes after it.  Theme 7 is nearly content complete, but not set-up for deployment yet.   Then the following themes (8 and 9) are getting ready to enter content production.

Loads of new Linden Home themes to look forward to now. Hopefully by the end of the year themes 6, 7 and possibly 8 may be released. 

Second Life Mobile Companion App – June 2020 Update

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

On Monday 22nd June 2020 Ebbe Altberg CEO of Linden Lab talked about future plans for the Second Life Mobile Companion app for iOS and Android devices. The lab are currently focused on the communications side of the app (IMs, Abuse Reporting support & Friends list) and the world view etc. The lab are trying to figure out the right time to enable the 3D viewer aspect of it into mobile.

The lab have made incremental improvements to the viewer UI like streaming into SL through the Chrome Embedded Framework. There is still more work still to be completed.

Ebbe hopes to see a beta version of the new Second Life Mobile Companion app released pretty soon. The best estimates for this is before the end of 2020 around time when the Uplift project should be finished. In general terms this means moving all of SL to the Amazon Web Services cloud. Then the focus will go on a cloud streaming option for the Second Life Mobile Companion app.

Personally I would love to test the Android version of it but if not i’ll wait until the public release happens. I really hope this new app will be successful in the long term and for the lab continue to develop it for years to come.

I will post more updates on my blog when more details become public.

New Photos Of The New Stilt Homes

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

The bunny explores the new Stilt homes area at SL17B

It’s just gone past midnight in Second Life on Wednesday 24th June 2020 and here are some new photos of the new Stilt homes in the SL17B Enchant region. There are different styles of homes here from the Havana, the Lauderdale, the Santiago and the Tortuga. Each offering something new and interesting. Come and check them out today.

The first initial feedback has been been rather mixed so far but the overall feeling seems to be positive at the moment. The LH Demo region is now open to the public to view these new homes and the region will remain open until SL17B ends in early July 2020. It’s best to visit SL17B during non-peak times for the best viewing experience.

These new Linden homes won’t be released until late 2020. There will be around 4, 000 to 5, 000 new Linden Homes which is subject to change. It’s believed the SSP pink regions area (closed to the public) is where the new developments are taking place.

Check out my new snapshots of the new homes below.

What do you think of the new Stilt homes ?

New STILT Linden Homes

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

Over 70 avatars try to move across

After Patch Linden live session finished at SL17B the LH Demo region at the SL17B officially opened to everyone. Patch announced the new Linden Home theme #6 – Stilt homes.

These new homes will come in three styles (over land, over water and mixed) all on stilts (1024m²). This is theme based on Floridian low lying areas (hurricane-prone) areas. To get a better sense of this new theme Google Florida stilt homes.

Patch said you can have boats etc connected with these new homes. There might be the ability to park cars underneath houses.

Trying to rez the new theme

These newest Linden Homes are not launching today as they are being worked on in the background. Another theme is almost ready with another two more themes coming later this year or sometime in 2021. There could be a double theme home release in the winter.

The lab can’t proceed with releasing new stilt regions next to the Bellisseria continent until the UPLift move to the cloud project due to be completed before the end of 2020.

Ebbe Altberg Goes Live At 2pm SLT Today At SL17B – Live Stream

Posted on by Daniel Voyager

Live Stream

Watch Here From 2pm SLT Today!

Ebbe Altberg CEO of Linden Lab will be having a live conversation with Saffia Widdershins today starting at 2pm SLT/PDT at the SL17B Auditorium. This week marks the start of the special 2020 Meet the Lindens series at SL17B happening every day.

It’s going to be most interesting to hear what Ebbe has to say about Second Life, Linden Lab, current global events and much more. The SL17B Auditorium is going to fill up pretty fast. For those that can’t attend here is the live streaming link below.

SL17B Auditorium already starting to fill up

I am looking forward to hearing more about the 2020/2021 roadmap for Second Life going forward, the latest on Linden Homes and the mobile app. I hope it will be interesting and exciting this year.

I will post more here when I hear more on any new developments.