if you make enough predictions, some will come true and you’ll be the next Nostradamus. otherwise, predictions are sure fire ways to be wrong it’s fun thinking about the future and arguably something that makes us the smartest species on Earth (tell that to a dolphin next time you are stuck in traffic on the [...]

why? Linden Lab may change the recently announced (last month) policies for teens in-world. someone commented on that with “and why are we surprised?” that is a great commentary reflecting the seeming lack of thought or exploration of significant decisions which do affect users, specifically customers who are actively using Second Life for very targetted purposes first [...]

YouTube routinely gets hit with notices to remove copyrighted content and it must take significant resources to police content like that. well, i saw this post yesterday: LL forced by Universal to remove Battlestar content from SL where the same is going on with content in Second Life. in this case Universal City Studios is asking that any Battlestar [...]

this is a great use of Second Life done for PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) as part of a film project that is called Deep Down. it strives to educate people on what it means to be part of an American coal mining community

in my opinion it started to tank last year. after all i left! losing one $3000 a month customer doesn’t seem to be a big deal, although i know many businesses that would flip over that, but whatever . . . however, it’s one thing to take your paying customers for granted, but how can [...]

what are the big categories for virtual world users; as far as why people are in them? i can only view the world (virtual and real) through my own eyes and speak from my own experience. i feel lucky in having had a “land business” in Second Life. it was a great experience and even [...]

LL sees a jump of over 13% on their venture backed index! they must be doing cartwheels at the lab but if you don’t put much credibility in this number, then it won’t mean much to you to me, all of these bits and pieces are what create mainstream perception, so a positive thing like [...]

had i known that LL would discontinue their ed/not-for-profit pricing, i may have categorized posts better (that darn hindsight) =) i have talked (blabbled and rambled) so much about the trials and tribulations of moving from SL to OpenSim over the last year many educators and non-profits are left scrambling with very little time to act =( [...]

i have been blogging about OpenSim for 8 or 9 months now. my first month or so dealt with the wake-up call that just because OpenSim looks just like Second Life, it isn’t now after straight OpenSim immersion (i have not logged into SL since early March) i can say that i no longer miss [...]

graphic? why yes, that is a graphic blog title. sensationalist? i don’t think so as a past teacher and also a significant part of a 10 year teaching veteran’s life, educators typically get screwed over in the US. i imagine they are somewhat marginalized in other countries as well. everyone says educators are important, but salaries are not [...]

Tateru does a wonderful job displaying Second Life statistics. i confess that i don’t really know how to effectively read them (you can do so much with statistics and it is easy to think you see a trend but it’s not really what it appears) i believe that her charts are updating realtime thus always [...]

my heart goes out to you if you are doing anything that deals with people under 16 in Second Life. last month Philip announced the closing of the Teen Grid but today, Linden Lab says they will lower the age limit to 13 for the main grid. what an emotional roller coaster! but those under [...]

i was reading about the success InWorldz is having a post by Maria at Hypergrid Business. i have an Inworldz account but never been. so i can’t judge it personally. but there are two things i use in judging it: their growth and the opinion of my longest virtual friend Sunnygirl. InWorldz has 531 sims now and you can’t [...]

yes and no. being able to create big prims, up to 256 metres let’s you use fewer prims for buildings and roads i am making an airport terminal and it’s just a box but slightly tapered so that it is wider at the top than at the bottom. the building is about 40 metres square and [...]

hardly scientific, but i did a little texture test to illustrate file sizes. i almost always use 512 by 512 pixel png 8 for my textures. but if it is something like art work, then i will use 512s at png 24 using a picture of my avatar’s nose, i saved it as png 8, 24, 32 [...]