This week the lab are raising awareness for the COVID-19 information center on Inspiration Island in Second Life. There is a updated Covid display there built by Lady Brielle which is located in the courtyard upon arrival. The information relating to COVID-19 is displayed in Spanish, American Sign Language and English.
Check out the social distancing book of stories from the past year. You can leave your personal note of the pandemic at the information center.
Check out this great video which runs for 2 minutes to learn more about this destination. Lady Brielle has been a essential worker throughout the pandemic.
Here is a brief overview…
The COVID display in the courtyard was built by Lady Brielle, a medical librarian who maintains the text as new data becomes available. Lady Brielle has been a tireless essential worker throughout the pandemic, and her work has not gone unnoticed. Lady Brielle us that “our outreach work in Second Life has been recognized by the National Library of Medicine and won an award in Research by the Hospital Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association.”
The eighth annual One Billion Rising annual event in Second Life will be officially happening on Sunday 14th February 2021. The event will feature a four-region stage where over 200 people can come together to dance, surrounded by art installations and more. There will be DJs and live performers playing over the 24 hour period. The 2021 theme is Rising Gardens following the international One Billion Rising.
For the eighth year, on February 14, 2021, men and women in Second Life will join activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and people across the world to Rise, Resist and Unite as a show of unity, individual strength, and the need for change.
1 in 3 women across the planet will either be raped or beaten in their lifetime. This event raises awareness of the issues. Every February in Second Life the community rises, dances and shows incredible strength. Everyone is welcome to participate.
Rise – Resist – Unite
One Billion Rising 2019One Billion Rising 2015One Billion Rising 2013
OBR Blog – visit here for the latest news and event schedule
If you would like to volunteer to support OBR 2021 in Second Life, visit this page
For the month of January 2021 there is a special Lavender Lake Air Balloon Festival happening in Second Life spread over four regions which sounds very exciting and fun.
You can rez a boat or float through the sky in your personal hot air balloon or explore the marine life. Spread the word and visit the air balloon festival today.
For anyone that missed the latest episode of Lab Gab featuring SLEA then here is the full episode above. Strawberry Linden talked with the SLEA coordinator Tansee, Patch Linden (VP of Product Operations) and Brett Linden (VP of Marketing).
There is a tour of the SLEA regions featured in this episode. The episode runs for 57 minutes and 30 seconds.
About SLEA
The Second Life Endowment For The Arts (SLEA) is opening with a bang at midnight SLT 1/1/2021. Use the SLEA experience to visit 9 regions of diverse creativity representing the many levels of virtual art in SL, including 2 & 3D, Theater, Literature, Visual, Machinima, Art Education, and Media Art. Cost-free grants are awarded! For more info, visit: slendowmentforthearts.wordpress.com
The Lumiya Viewer website has had its main website content removed for some reason. The Lumiya banner is the only thing left remaining on the main homepage.
For many years the Lumiya Viewer website has not been updated by the creator. I have not visited the website since last year when everything was on there. Today I was surprised to see everything removed.
I am wondering if the creator is going to come back soon with a new revamped website along with a brand new app update. I think many would love to see that happen. There is a chance that the Lumiya Viewer website could be deleted in the months or years ahead.
Linden Lab is still working on a Second Life companion app for iOS and Android devices which will become available in beta at some point during 2021.
If anything changes this year I’ll post another blog post about Lumiya.
Today Linden Lab have updated the Second Life Status Page with a small update on the issue with the inworld map tiles. The last time the lab updated this section was back on 19th November 2020 and still the Second Life community is waiting for a ETA fix on the issue. The uplift has finished.
The good news is that the lab are working hard now to restore the map tile functionality. Here is the latest update as of 21st January 2021 via the Second Life Status page…
Update – Now that Uplift has finished we are working to restore the map tile functionality. We still do not have an ETA, but please follow this blog for updates and thank you for your patience! Jan 21, 11:23 PST
Hopefully it won’t be too much longer until the inworld map tiles is fixed and it’s back to normal again. You Subscribe to the section on the Second Life status page for new updates.
Hypergrid Business posted within the past 48 hours or so the latest OpenSim grid statistics for January 2021 where the total land area grew by 2, 270 standard regions and more than 4, 000 new registered users this month compared with December 2020. The active users dropped by 646 due to some OpenSim grids not reporting their grid statistics.
The largest OpenSim grid at the moment is the OSgrid with 26, 154 standard regions followed by the Kitely grid with 19, 180 regions then it drops down to the DigiWorldz grid with 8, 015. The OSgrid has 6, 384 active users followed by DigiWorldz with 1, 875 active users and AviWorlds with 1, 590 active users.
The Growth Of OpenSim
OpenSim land area growth since December 2009 (Hypergrid Business Data)
As you can see above the OpenSim land area growth has been expanding since December 2009 and more rapidly since early 2014. OpenSim software has been around since January 2007 where the first client was released. There has been a lot of good progress and gains since then.
Overall OpenSim growth is still happening with loads of new grids coming online every month or so. There are many OpenSim grids that have been online for years that are still showing positive growth in terms of land area and active users.
As of 17th January the Second Life grid reported 25, 539 total regions and yes there is a lot of catching up to do. It’s going to take many more years though.
About OpenSim
OpenSim is a free, open-source virtual world platform that’s compatible with the Oculus Rift. It allows people with no technical skills to quickly and cheaply create virtual worlds, and then teleport to other virtual worlds. Those with technical skills can run OpenSim worlds on their own servers for free, while commercial hosting starts at less than $5 a region.
The Kitely Market
(Kitely Market Data)
The Kitely Market is the largest “collection of legal content available in OpenSim” that currently has 17, 868 product listings and it’s growing every week. The Kitely market contains 36, 074 product variations where 30, 996 are exportable.
The Kitely Market has showed strong positive growth since July 2014 with even more products being added every month. It has now delivered orders to 484 OpenSim grids to date and more orders will be delivered to other grids in the months ahead.
The Future
I think that OpenSim will continue to grow throughout 2021 in terms of land area, new registered users and active users. I think there are many reasons to be optimistic about the future of OpenSim including the Hypergrid. As long as more improvements/new features are added, more events take place and technical issues are addressed quickly then growth will continue.
It’s worth pointing out that there are loads of educators, performers, developers, creators, grid owners that have made successful gains over the years. The OpenSim community is very active and I think there will be more interest in the months and years ahead.
It will be interesting to see what happens with OpenSim during 2021 and 2022. I will be blogging more about OpenSim throughout this year. Stay tuned for that.
In recent weeks the Moles have added more railway track and more railway stations on the east side of the log homes continent highlighted in blue on the map below. It’s not yet open to the public for rezzing trains. The wait is almost over.
My last blog post back in late October 2020 I posted that the Moles extended the railway line from SSPE1162 to SSP1165. Since then the railway line has expanded through the middle of the log homes continent going east then turning up north near the new recently opened Stilt homes regions highlighted in red squares.
There are now new railway stations, rez areas, signal points, victorian tunnels, bridges, railway line crossings and much more. The Moles have been working on this railway development since early 2020 and have done a great job going through the different Linden home theme styles.
The latest new railway line starts roughly from SSPE1125 all the way up to SSPE1111 where there is a big loop around. There is a new railway station in SSPE1111 and a train on the tracks nearby.
I believe this is the end of the railway line on the east side of the log homes continent for now. I will blog again if new changes happen next month.
It’s worth flying over the new railway line from one side to the other side of the log homes continent seeing what’s new. I think you will be amazed at all the latest developments.
It’s going to look really exciting when the railway track finally opens in the weeks/months ahead along with new Linden homes. I can’t wait to ride the new railway soon and I’m sure many can’t wait to rez trains too.
Great progress so far overall and I can’t wait to see what comes next throughout this new year.
Starting at 11am PST on Friday 22nd January the first episode of the new 2021 Lab Gab series will air live. Strawberry Linden will be speaking to Tansee the coordinator for SLEA, Patch Linden (VP of Product Operations) and Brett Linden (VP of Marketing).
SLEA (Second Life Endowment for the Arts) is a new community arts initiative that has opened to the public in Second Life. SLEA is a multi region experience that aims to provide opportunities for established and emerging artists across the grid.
The first Lab Gab episode of 2021 sounds like it’s going to be a great episode to watch next week. I’m sure it’s going to be a popular episode with some special guests.
About the upcoming episode…
Tune into Lab Gab today at 11am PT/SLT. Strawberry Linden will be speaking with the SLEA Coordinator Tansee, and our very own VP of Product Operations, Patch Linden, along with our VP of Marketing, Brett Linden.
The About Linden Lab page has been updated this week unveiling three new board directors. These include Brad Oberwager, J. Randall (Randy) Waterfield and Raj Date.
The lab have said that everything is carrying on as business as usual. There is no cause for alarm yet.
SecondLife is now listed as part of the Waterfield Network which is worth mentioning I think. Check out the biography for each of the new board directors at Linden Lab below…
BRAD OBERWAGER
Brad Oberwager has spent his entire career in technology and consumer focused companies as an entrepreneur and board member.
Currently, he sits on the board of two public companies, Asure Software (NASDAQ: ASUR) and Better World (NASDAQ: BWACU). He is the chairman of two companies he founded, Jyve and Sundia and is also on the board of TEGSCO (aka AutoReturn). He owned Bare Snacks, acquired by PepsiCo in 2018.
Brad was Vice-chair of YPO International, a global organization of 25,000 CEOs.
Brad received his BS from Georgetown University, his MBA from the Wharton School and lives in San Francisco.
J. RANDALL (RANDY) WATERFIELD
Mr. J. Randall (Randy) Waterfield, is the Chairman of Waterfield Holdings, which traces its origins to 1928. After selling the largest private mortgage company in the US and largest Indiana based bank in 2006 and 2007 respectively, he diversified into technology, manufacturing and other industries.
Randy holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a graduate of Harvard University. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Red Oak Partners, Waterfield Technologies, Linden Research, Inc. and has previously served on the boards of YPO (and was the 2017-2018 Chairman of YPO), Asure Software ( NASDAQ: ASUR), SMTC Corporation (NASDAQ: SMTX), RF Industries (NASDAQ: RFIL), among others. He is also the Co-Chairman of Missouri Cobalt, LLC, the largest cobalt mine in North America.
Randy supports various education, environmental and community development charitable causes through the nonprofit Waterfield Foundation and J. Randall Waterfield Foundation.
RAJ DATE
Raj Date was the first-ever Deputy Director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). As the Bureau’s second-ranking official, he helped steward the CFPB’s strategy, its operations, and its policy agenda. He also served on the senior staff committee of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and as a statutory deputy to the FDIC Board.
Before being appointed Deputy Director, Raj acted as the interim leader of the new agency, serving as the Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury. He led the CFPB for most of the first six months after its launch.
Currently, Raj is the Managing Partner of Fenway Summer, an advisory and investment firm focused on financial services and financial technology. In that capacity, he chairs the investment committee of Fenway Summer Ventures, a fintech venture capital fund, and works with clients of FS Vector, the fintech advisory firm. He also serves as a Director for a number of innovative firms in financial services: Prosper, the marketplace lender; Green Dot, the bank holding company; Circle, the digital asset firm; Grasshopper, a de novo bank; and College Ave, a private student lender.
He is a graduate of the College of Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley (highest honors) and the Harvard Law School (magna cum laude).
What are your views on the latest announcement and the change on the Linden Lab about page ?
Daniel Voyager 