How to make money in Second Life?

The slide share embed below is called How to make money in Second Life, and it is kind of funny, it still has references to casinos and shows a Ginko Financial terminal in the next to the last shot. Don’t do it buddy!

Apparently this slide show is made by one of my best friends in SL, Coolz0r Courier, and was made 10 months ago, so before the Ginko and casino story.
I still thought it was nice to post it.

| View | Upload your own

Found on Smartlindens.

Betrayal or not in Second Life?

We are all having fun in Second life, in one way or another, otherwise we wouldn't be on the grid, I assume.
In those several months that I am a "player" in Second Life, I hear more about people leaving SL, due to their relationship in RL.
I have lost already some dear friends, because their real life partner had found out some actions on their PC, which were not "proper". And with these actions I don't necessarily mean SLex, but just having good times with an avatar of the opposite sex, by talking or/and accompanied.
The question is, are we betraying our partner in RL, by just having some unforgettable times, by just being able to forget the RL problems for just a little while?
Because, let us be honest, we all have some troubles in RL, minor or big, and SL is helping us to forget them just a little bit. We are able to find new skills, to explore the wonderful world of SL in all its means etc..., and that is a lot more amusing, to do with a friend.
And if it happens to be with an avatar of the opposite sex, would that mean that we are betraying our partner in real life?
To my opinion, most of the time, the partner does not "play" in Second Life, and that is why they don't understand what is going on, and what real friendship means in SL. And yes, that can be a bit more than saying "Hi" and "Goodnight", but is that betrayal?
But everyone still have feelings, and those feelings are of course also there with our partners, only...they don't know about Second Life. And if the first life is difficult enough, than why making it more complicate than it already is?
So at the end, we are not helping ourselves by running towards Second Life, we are creating more difficulties. Instead of finding some peace in SL, we will not be able to forget the problems from real life.......we are creating even more problems.
Conclusion of it all: stay out of Second Life!!;))

A Second Life Avatrait

On November, 20^th, the postman was at my door, but, as like most of us are working during the day, I was not able to receive a package that he had with him for me. He left a note in the mailbox and, as most of those post offices are only open on the same hours that everyone is working, it is difficult to find the right time to get that package.

Nevertheless I managed to find the time, I had to quit the office in time, and get there before closing hour.

I was expecting a package from Illinois, but was already waiting for so long, that I did not thought that this would be it. You can imagine my curiosity to open the package once I saw that it was from Avatrait.

I have to admit, it was worthwhile waiting. It is even more beautiful than on the screen. The colors are so true.

It is great to actually have a piece of your own from Second Life in RL. It is hanging right in front of me, against the wall, so when I am working on my PC, I see this piece of art, and with art I don’t mean my picture, but all of it, the frame with the picture.

I had no intention to make a free advertisement with this article, but when something was promised by a company, and when those promises are actually met, and how, I can only recommend the Avatrait Gallery, when you would like a picture from Second Life hanging in your RL room from the best artists on the grid.

And in fact it is also a little advertisement for my pictures too.;))

You can find all about the arts and artists of the Avatrait Gallery here.

New Second Life “SLURRENCY EXCHANGE™” to offer best rates, preferred programs.

Evanston, IL – 11/26/2007

Virtual world developer Simuality.com announced their new venture
into the world of Second Life currency exchanges, with the opening
of the SLURRENCY EXCHANGE™,whose main office is located on the
Simuality island.

Simuality founder Antony van Zyl (Hendry Goldkey in-world) was quoted:
“moving into the exchange of Linden Dollars for other currencies is a
natural outgrowth of our efforts to bridge the gap between the real and
virtual worlds”.  Initially, all transactions will be PayPal based,
allowing for the greatest flexibility in transactions for Second Life
users world-wide.

The SLURRENCY EXCHANGE™ promises to have the best rates, set daily,
for both those buying Linden Dollars and those looking to cash
out their in-world earnings.  In addition, there are “preferred customer”
programs for regular users, with separate structures for frequent buyers
and sellers.

Live avatar attendants are available at Simuality’s SLURRENCY
EXCHANGE™ to help with customer transactions during official hours of
operation at the island offices.  Eventually these hours will expand
to 24/7, and access will be available from kiosks throughout Second
Life.

Located at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Simuality/195/205/2
in theNortheast corner of the Simuality sim, the SLURRENCY EXCHANGE™ is
currently open for business from 11am till 3pm SLT seven days a week.
Second Life residents are encouraged to visit and get details about
signing up for the Preferred Customer programs. 

Winter at "Doornroosje"

Despite the lower traffic at Second life's Doornroosje, the seasons are not standing still. Eagle may have found another spot to build a wonderful castle, with lots of surprises, until further notice, Doornroosje is a place where we all have nice thoughts about. As already known, the months in Second Life seems in fact as years, and we all regret that the former "Roosjes"group has split, for many reasons, but they all are still present in SL. We hope sincerely that once Eagle's castle is built, we all get together again like in the old days, and have some fun. Sorry........not some fun, but a lot of fun. There are already some of us, who can actually confirm, that the new place has everything that it takes to make Eagle's nest to a friends gathering place, where we all can do what we please to have fun.
In the meanwhile we see the snow falling at Doornroosje, a Christmas tree is standing in all it's glory, the first present already waiting under the tree.
For a lot of us, and I think for all of us from the "Roosjes' group, it will be the first Christmas in Second Life.

Update: Career makers in Second Life (part 2)

Yesterday evening I visited the store of PatrickHufschmid on Second Life. I just wanted to have a quick look, but did not expect that Patrick Hufschmid himself would be there actually. This was of course the ideal opportunity to know what he is doing in SL.
In his store in SL, he creates originals, which he can make later as an exact copy of those guitars in RL. Some of them are limited editions, scripted with rooth prims. It is amazing what he does with his guitars, not only in RL, but in SL as well.
I was lucky yesterday, as he had taken a day off in RL to update his guitars in SL, and so I was the first one to see his latest project in SL, also a limited edition, a "waterguitar", scripted of course.
After I said that I had published an article about him on my blog, he started to explain, with the exact copy of his handmade built guitar of "After Forever", how and what these guitars could do in SL. How you can play them, how you can test them.
This original is only recently available in SL, and he gave me a link to a website where an article was written about this SL guitar.
"Patrick decided to give After Forever some Second Life promotion, and it's awesome to see that it actually works out, I think he's one of the first guitar builders to do it in this unique way. He's created an After Forever guitar that you can actually buy and use for your second life character."said Sander Gommans, After Forever guitarist.

By visiting PatrckHufschmid's store in Second Life, you get a "Funny Guitar" for free with his signature.
We played a bit around with the guitars, and I tested the features in this "Funny Guitar". A real "must have" for a laughter at parties!
And finally he let me play his piano in SL, the HufPaull.

Spread your Creations in Real-Time from Second Life to Koinup and Beyond

Broadcast Your Virtual Life from the Metaverse to Koinup
Spread your Creations in Real-Time from Second Life to Koinup and Beyond

Milan, Italy, November 23th, 2007. We're happy to announce we just completed a broadcast system that lets you post any kind of content directly from virtual worlds to Koinup, in one click.

Right now we can only support Second Life, but soon we'll be including many other virtual worlds.
Using this feature, members can send their stuff directly from Second Life to their gallery, without leaving the virtual world. They can broadcast not just pics, but whole slideshows, stories and journals.

Interaction with virtual worlds is at the core of Koinup strategy. This live broadcast system is the first step inside a more complex strategy aimed at integrations with virtual worlds as Second Life and many others that will come.
This virtual broadcasting system is an ideal tool for covering Second Life events, parties and exhibitions. Bloggers and journalists can use it to do live reports while inworld. Any event you attend in Second Life can be exported to your Koinup page. Anyone can now become a virtual reporter!

By combining the Virtual broadcast and CrossPost tools you can unleash the ability to publish from Second Life to Koinup and from here to major services like Flickr and Twitter - it only takes one click.

Try the new feature without registering by sending a postcard from SL to this email address: try.now@post.koinup.com
Have a look at some posted postcards .
Info:
Koinup srl is a web company based in Brescia, Italy.
Koinup founders are Pierluigi Casolari (CEO) and Edoardo Turelli (CTO)

For press contacts:
press@koinup.com

www.koinup.com

Career makers in Second Life (part 2)

PatrickHufschmid Beaumont will probably not be a name that sounds familiar to the most of you. But in fact, behind this Second life's avatar name, you will find the famous guitar maker Patrick Hufschmid.
"Patrick was born in Rotterdam from a Swiss father and British mother. He showed his passion for music very early. He spent most of his time as a small child playing the piano, and later, the violin. He found his real vocation when he was able to experiment with a guitar, in his early teens, about the same time as he fell in love with metal music. He is a designer- creator, not a traditional luthier. As a skilled guitarist, he advocates simplicity and economy in his own designs.
Although Patrick has a degree as a chef, he found his passion for the guitar. He studied its design and Lutherie at Red Wing Technical College, Minnesota, USA.
In the summer of 2000, Patrick was invited to be the official guitar repairman at the world famous Montreux Jazz Festival. During the Festival he met many celebrities who played his instruments. Without exception, everybody was most enthusiastic.

Hufschmid guitars are hand-made individual works of passion from a man for whom guitar playing and design are not only profession, but also an Art. None of these guitars has a serial number. Each one has a unique personality for Patrick Hufschmid, whose aim is to create a living extension of the performer, his music, and his sound."
On his website, you can see the different guitars he made, as well as a list of all famous guitar players, who plays with a Hufschmid.
It is amazing how many find their way in Second Life, if it is not to make and begin a career, then it's just to socialize. But there is definitely more to find in SL than what the newspapers write all the time about the virtual world. And that makes it all exciting and interesting.

Career makers in Second Life (part 1)

Going through some articles, and with a tip from a friend, which is necessary when you write a blog, I stumbled on the articles of a few avatars, who are famous (or almost) in RL, with or without the help of Second Life.
Today I start with the remarkable story of Jeff Krantz, known as the avatar Hep Shephard, who gave up his work in the beginning of 2007, realizing that he would never be heard from behind his desk.
He could never anticipate what it would be from behind his Mac laptop in his NYC apartment that the world would hear his original and heartfelt songs through live performances in the virtual world. Krantz has quickly become one of the world's first thriving Virtual Singer-Songwriters.
Playing all around Second Life for the last 10 months, he became a notorious and successful singer. He would never have thought that in the Summer of 2007, he would receive an unexpected letter of support from Cat Stevens, who felt his songs were "meaningful and clear", complimenting him on his songwriting talents, and urged Jeff(Hep) to keep going.
Jeffs music is honest, raw, insightful and catchy. Sung in a soothing and approachable voice with dynamic guitar playing. Krantz is likened with artists such as Cat Stevens, James Taylor and Paul Simon. His voice has a clear and mellow tone, which he uses in performances to capture the intimacy of the lyrics and melodies he writes.
Personally, I did not had the chance yet to hear one of his concerts, but I will look out for it, and report all about it. To read more about this singer, click here.
His next concert in SL would be on Tuesday, November 27th, on the Carabbean Breezes, from 1.30 till 2.30AM SLT (Monday, November 26th, 19u30-20u30 CET)

It is not Slex after all, which makes Second Life so popular, it even helps some people to have a foot in RL, to make a career in RL, all thanks to Second Life.

EagleWolf......what are you waiting for? ;))

Tomorrow I'll bring you the story of another well known person in RL, who has also an avatar in Second Life.

'Worm' attacks Second Life world

I was preparing my blogpost for today, after reading BBC News. As at chance, it was written on November 20th, not this year, but last year. I almost published it as news, when I saw the date, and double checking the article. Nevertheless, it still could be news from today. The threat is not gone.

Well, apparently Second Life was hit by a worm, called grey goo. According BBC news, many residents were furious.
The grey goo attack, and controversy over a tool called copybot, which can be used to replicate people virtual wares, without paying for intellectual property rights, was beginning to sour some people's opinion of SL.
"You are selling a service which you can not and have not been able to provide."
Some users were angry because the copybot tool could be used to make replicas of objects in the virtual world and sold by some users in their virtual shops.
Copybot was originally intended to be used as a tool by Linden Lab to find vulnerabilities in the virtual world but it has since been modified and spread to other users.
"Like the world wide web, it will never be possible to prevent data that is drawn on your screen from being copied," Linden Lab wrote, advising residents to sue those who are copying their wares.
Other users were unhappy that Linden Lab continues to offer free accounts to people, who are portrayed more as sight-seers than real residents and increase the load on servers, diminishing the virtual experience for everyone else.

I think there are a lot of free account residents, celebrating already their rezzdays in this period, who will not be very pleased by hearing that colleague residents were pointing them out as tourists, with no contribution to Second Life whatsoever.
After reading, and realizing it happened one year ago, not much has changed, I think.
It still will be Linden Lab's task, to secure Second Life, and taking decisions on who may log in to the grid and who not. Are all residents going to pay their contribution to Linden Lab?
To my point of view, it would be better to stop new subscribers for a while, until LL had the chance to stabilize the grid. The growth of SL, has of course a direct link to the possible problems, where I am blogging about the last days.
But the success was also noticed by several big companies , which have set up business in Second Life, ...who are investing, and therefore supporting the development in the virtual world by Linden Lab.
To read the whole BBC News article from last year, click here.

Hacker(s) Attacks Banks in Second Life

Several banks are hit by a hacker. Money was taken from their accounts, but L&L Bank was the biggest victim. 3,2 million L$ was stolen through the ATM's. Read the full article here.
So, despite if any bank in SL is trustworthy, we now have to deal with criminal avatars, who can make a bank go bankrupt.
I immediately went to the site of the Whitfield Holdings, to see if they were hacked too. I found a note to all customers from Christopher Whitfield, explaining what has happened. I also learned the countermeasures he took, to prevent further misfortune.
They were hit for an amount of 1,055,000 L$, which was covered by Belinda Linden, after reporting this indictable offence.
The avatar who hacked the system was Betatester Allen.
But, despite all efforts, the bank was hit a second time the very same day. This time the hacker's name was Hamid Alter, and stole 160,000 L$.
Again, Linden Lab was notified of the abuse, and they are also investigating this black Monday for banks in Second Life.
Countermeasures were taken, such as all accounts with 10L$ or less on the account are blocked, no automatically sign-up in the future, profiles will be checked......

To be honest, I would think that these actions should have been thought about long ago, before this could happen. As when you start a bank.....but it is easy for me, to be critical after the facts.
All Second Life banks will investigate, what is to be done, to prevent this from happening again in the future.

Sports or Miss Belgium Second Life?

Last Saturday there was a football(soccer) game between Belgium and Poland. Belgium lost with 2-0, which was not really a surprise.
What was a surprise, to me anyway, is that on Saturday, I had a record of views on my blog.
When I checked "Google Analytics" today, I expected a lower quantity of views during the weekend, which is normal, but what did I see? An extremely high number of views on Saturday ( 4 times more than usual). When looking at the content that was viewed, I could see that the article with pictures of Miss Belgium Second Life was definitely successful over the weekend.;))
When checking out the origin of the views, it seemed that for more than 75% came from Poland.
Even on Sunday, most viewers came from Poland.
Apparently, my blog had a link on "sports.pl", which is a website for sports in Poland.
I don't know how, I don't know why, but it I think that Miss Belgium Second Life had more success in the weekend , than the Belgian players in Poland.
At first sight, I even did not made the link to the football game, but there is no other explanation.
And to be honest, I am also more interested in pictures of a miss, than to watch a football game of Belgium now a days, so I can understand their interest. But what is strange, is that this blog was to be found on a sports website. Thank you Poland!;))
If you did not read the article yet, please follow the link to the article and this link to the pictures.

Sunrise...in Second Life

I had a picture some months ago, which was post processed, which was one of the coolest pictures in my album of Second Life at that time. That picture was taken with the "depth" setting in the SL viewer.Now I had the chance to make a similar picture, but without rework. With the Windlight viewer I got almost the same effect, even better.

Black Swan in Second Life

I was very busy the last few days in RL. That is why there are not too many articles in my blog lately. Sorry for that.
Even Windlight was difficult to try out, due to my responsibilities in RL, but yesterday, I took my chances, and tried several settings out with the Windlight viewer. What I noticed is that the current viewer is more laggy than the normal Second Life viewer. Not all is rezzing. When I logged in, my house stood only half in my screen. I did not know if half of it was gone, or just not rezzed. By accident I moved a piece of my house, and to correct that, I had to log in again with another viewer. And there it was...my house was still there...;)
To try the Windlight viewer out, I thought it would be good to visit the Black Swan Sim. I had the URL from a friend, and as she told me it was a nice place to take snapshots, it would be the best opportunity to do it with the Windlight viewer, despite the rezz problems.
And I must say, you can do great things with the new viewer. The water looks real, the clouds are beautiful. Enjoy the snapshots I took there, and tell me what you think.

WINDLIGHT is back in Second Life

Finally!!!!!
We all have been waiting several months now on this to happen.
I can't wait to start downloading the viewer. This will probably mean that I will have to quit the "Nicholaz"viewer, but I think the Windlight will give me more profits in Second Life.
Read the official posts about this feature!
Download the Windlight First Look viewer here.

Update: My Second Life project

You have probably already noticed, that I have made a video from the presentation. You will be able to find it on the right column of my blog. It will stay there permanently, with a link to the main article.
This was my first attempt with a video on youtube, but the quality is rather poor.
So, it will be better for now, to look at the presentation through the link to my other blog. But for those who have trouble by opening a flash file, can always have a look on youtube.
We will see to it that, with our next project the quality of the youtube video will be better.

RL catches up with Second Life

"On November 10th, fans of Last Call, a leading SL fashion studio, learned shocking news about one of the company's co-owners on the official website: in late October, the avatar we’d all known as Ginny Talamasca had died."
This was the first sentence I could read in a New World Notes' article.
We are all part of Second life. We all have dreams, that we can let come through in Second Life. But RL still continues. And how hard it is, it is constantly watching behind every corner.
Although I did not know Ginny Talamasca, it is reality, he is no more.
Can you imagine that your friend avatar, would not show up for a couple of days? You are wondering what is going on, why he or she did not come to the grid, and then to find out that he or she died in RL......
In most cases you will find out too late, no chance to pay your respects to the family, nothing. That is even harder than RL, but it is Second Life's reality.
Let this short article be a tribute to a colleague avatar, Ginny Talamasca.

Belgian Minister in Second Life

The Flemish Government releases an introduction in a virtual world.
Tuesday November 13th at 10.30 PM (SL time !!!!)(Wednesday
November 14th , 9.30 AM (CET)) Flemish Minister for Culture and
Youth, Bert Anciaux,  will open a seminar on gaming, both in RL
as in SL (more information at
http://www.cjsm.vlaanderen.be/e-cultuur/studiedagen/gaming/index.html).

The opening will take place in SL on a temporary location in
Virtual Bruges(SIM Belgique),
http://slurl.com/secondlife/belgique/220/209/24.
Everyone welcome !

This SL project was realised in cooperation between AnnSophie
Maertens,LouisPlatini.com _ A Metaverse Content Provider
and the IT service provider for the Flemish Government :
EDS-Telindus.

Second Life Blogger Party November 10th

Last Saturday, the monthly blogger party was held again. I was not able to capture a lot of pictures, due to the, ever present, lag. This time the gathering was hosted by Nikk Huet, at the new Tribute Island Sim.
Usely these parties are on Sunday, that is why perhaps not everyone could attend this event, so a lots of bloggers were not there, or should have arrived after I already left.;)
Thanks to Nikk Huet for hosting this time.
Other pictures to be seen at my flickr site.

HYPOTHERMIA

Finally, my first Second Life project has come to an end. I guess you all have been wondering what I was talking about, when I wrote that I was working on a new project. So, now you will be able to watch it, to comment it, to criticize it, and to wait for the next project to come, as this will not be the last.
Sand Posthorn, my wonderful colleague blogger, and I, have decided to work on more similar projects. They only can get better, and I think, with the beautiful stories Sand writes, with her building criticism on my works, our team spirit, I already look forward to work with her again.
Feel free to write your comments on this project.
Click on the picture above (for better quality) or on the youtube picture below to see the presentation.

Last impressions of the Cannery show in Second life

Last Wednesday was the last day of the SLArt at the Cannery Rezzable. The sim is staying, the show is over. But this will not mean that there will be no SLArt again, no definitely not, as I heard already that Shoshana has new plans, for a new exhibition in the beginning of next year. All about Stories. And let 's say, that is just the thing I was waiting for.;))
Just a couple of days away now to reveal my project I was working on. And this idea of Shoshana could be just the thing that would give this project and the next one a stimulation to upgrade my work to a higher level, with different aspects, with a different view on pictures.
It was DJ Nephie Eerie, who had us all swinging on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the ceremony.Despite all lag, I was able to take a picture of RightAsRain Rimbaud, who also attended the party, though in a special outfit.;))
You will be able to find the other pictures on my flickr site.

Swindle in Second Life!!

I received following message inworld, but think you all should be notified. This time the warning has a name, so better watch out.

IMPORTANT WARNING .

It is communicated that a serious swindle is in course on Second Life: an invitation with a link is received, if we accept it, the avatar is stolen . The persons who take possession of the avatar obviously take possession of all the powers and also of the data of the credit card. The name to watch for is : Cora Lewsey, who joins groups at random. She just sent the link to over 20 groups through chat then quit the groups.

What to do with your savings in Second Life?

If you are some months or even more on the grid, I can imagine that you would have some money saved over this period. What would you do with it?
Keep it in your account, with the possibility that an individual with bad intentions would steal it in one way or another?
Put your savings in a SL bank, with possibility of bankruptcies?
Create other avatars and divide your savings over the several accounts?

I have chosen to put my savings at a SL bank, with a, not so bad, interest. For the last two months I have seen my account increase. The bank is trustworthy, I can say.
They started with a group, but they have now more than 300 members and thus moved to a website where you can register for being updated about the possible updates. They even have switched from server, due to the big success.

Yesterday evening I had the crazy idea to check my balance on that bank, and went to an ATM inworld, right clicked to see the balance. “Not found in database” was the result.
How can that be? What to do now?
Outside the “secured “ area, I found two names who could be contacted, but as a note said, one was offline, and the owner of the bank was online but asks to put any requests on the contact form of the website, which is understandable, with such a number of members.
But my problem was, how could I be sure that I did not lose my savings? So I tried again, and pretended if I was a new customer, logged in with my SL name, which is mandatory (there are no two of me). The result was that I found 10 L$ on my account. Hmmm, I thought I had saved a bit more than that.;)
As I did not receive an email in the meanwhile, and as I am very inpatient, I contacted the owner, with the request to provide me some information how it could be that I was not able to log in, that my access was denied on the website, and thus no more savings.
Cristopher Whitfield, that is his name, was very friendly and told me that there was a change, that I had to register myself to the new system, and that everything would turn out fine. He manually switched my savings to the new system, I checked….and everything was okay, I had my money back, save on my account.
Now, I have learned something too. As I was suppose to check the website regularly, I would have known about the change, and would have made my precautions, and there would be no issue, no reason for doubt, no stress. All I can say is that I found a trustworthy way for my savings in Second Life.

Now I hear you all say: What bank? Where?……Well, you can all find it here.

Thank you Linden Lab

After a whole day work, you come at home, a bit tired, preparing your meal...thinking of what might come this evening.
Oh, why not log in a little bit earlier on Second Life? That might be a good idea, nothing on the television, so what would be better than to have a nice chat with friends on the grid?
But, what is supposed to be prime time in Europe, is not in the US, so what happens...indeed failure by trying to log in. We try again...and again...and again, but despite all the efforts, we are not able to go in.
Immediately I went to the Linden blog, to see what is happening, and yes, there was a notice. Now I am relaxed...Linden will fix it in no time....
" [11:30a.m. PDT]
We are currently investigating an issue where people are unable to log in.

The Ops Team has been notified and is currently investigating the problem."

But what is no time in Linden language? I need to find a new Linden dictionary and see what they mean by saying " is currently investigating" Does that mean they are fixing the problem, or does that mean they will only investigate the problem?

Ok, after approximate 45 minutes they fixed the problem, we are all save on the grid now, thank you Linden for having us. Even if it is only for a couple of hours.;))

The new Spin Lounge back in the eighties

Next Sunday, we go back in time again in Second Life's Spin Lounge with Dj Spin.
As she was also playing last Sunday, it is one of her hidden talents, I can assure you, the music will rock.
Here after some impressions of the Spin Lounge.

Hype of Second Life Far Outweighs Its Ability to Impact Mainstream Interactivity

The hype surrounding Second Life doesn’t match its actual marketplace impact, according a Yankee Group's note.
Average use per Unique Resident fell 66% in the past year to 3.8 hours per month. The decline in average use is compounded by the fact that less than one percent of the total Resident population engages in the site in a regular and sustained fashion, underscoring the challenge of using virtual worlds to reach a broad mainstream audience. There are numbers of factors contributing to this niche appeal, but the note concludes that Second Life’s PC-centric approach in an increasingly mobile world is to blame.
"For virtual worlds and metaverses to achieve greater potential in the marketplace and grow beyond early adopters, the experience must be untethered to meet the needs of the Anywhere Consumer™. Companies that provide remote access—through mobile devices or other means—to their web experience will have a greater impact than pc-centric companies."said Christopher Collins, senior analyst in Yankee Group’s Consumer Research group.
The people of Yankee Group are the global connectivity experts™—the leading source of insight and counsel for builders, operators and users of connectivity solutions. For nearly 40 years, Yankee Group has conducted primary research that charts the pace of technology change and its effect on networks, consumers and enterprises.

The future will tell, if this view on virtual worlds will be the correct one. It certainly may help some gaming, but to my opinion, it is not the mobile devices who will save Second Life from decreased popularity. The virtual world, in general, will have more benefit in developing a new approach of living and experiencing the virtual world, with 3D images, for example, with headsets, where you actually are acting in the virtual world, as already seen in different films.
The problem is that the RL sees Second Life as a game, which it is not, it is a second life.
Look for example at this video of Italian developers who converted SL into virtual reality cave and read the blog of David Orban about this revolutionary creation.

Last days for SLArt at the Cannery

I posted an article about the opening in Second Life back in August. I even participate with one piece of mine.
Well now, this beautiful exposition of Art in Second Life is coming to its end.
On Wednesday it will close its doors definitely, so, if you did not visited it yet, now it is the time. (SLurl)
And when you do, you still can vote on the pictures (mine too ;)), while paying only 25L$ per vote.
If you like, you even can buy the whole exhibition with a nice projector.
Check the site to know more about this unique event in Second Life.
You will be able to find my picture in the category "STORY".

Did you know ...about various metrics on Second Life avatars

In RL we have regularly a list with newborns in the region with the most popular first names. Well, now you have such a list for the 50 most used and popular first names in Second Life, or even the 50 most popular last names are to be found in that list.
Do you want to find out if someone you know has his SL birthday?
Do you want to know how big the Linden family is, and what their names are? Even a member list of the famous Anche Chung Systems is to be found here.
So everything you wanted to know about Second Life avatars, but did not yet discovered, is now listed and made public.
Did you even know that there are companies who have their company name as last name, such as DutchX, PhilipsDesign, Xerox, CiscoSystems, Google and many other custom names?
Although some figures don't seem to be accurate, it is nice to found out who's birthday it actually is, so you can surprise your friend, without he/she knowing about it.
I expect that list to be very long in the coming months, or is it just coincidence, that there are a lot of my friends who came on the grid in that period?

Second Life - O Novo Mundo

Having read Winter's blog about this video, I wanted to share this one with you all. Relax and watch this, with sound.
How beautiful Second Life may be.

"Santa" already spotted in Second Life

In Europe we know "Saint Nicholas", who's feast day is on December 6th, the day he died, and which means that all children get some toys, if they were good over the past year, if not "Black Pete" will come to punish them. But as you know, there are no bad kids. They all are good, and thus they all receive toys from the good old Saint.
In the Netherlands and Belgium, St. Nicholas arrived on a steamship from Spain to ride a white horse on his gift-giving rounds. December 6th is still the main day for gift giving and merrymaking in much of Europe. Children leave carrots and hay or sugar in their shoes for the saint's horse, hoping St. Nicholas will exchange them for small gifts.
What has "Sinterklaas" to do with "Santa Claus"?
The name "Santa Claus" is an American accented version of the Dutch "Sinterklaas." St. Nicholas and Santa Claus are the same person, but many people don't realize that. They are one in the same, but they look different because they are at different points in his posthumous evolution. We don't know when the idea was carried from Northern Europe to New Amsterdam, now Manhattan. It's safe to say he came with early settlers as a fake memory and was then dormant in North America until the late 18th century.
In the 1820s he began to acquire the recognizable trappings: reindeer, sleigh, bells. They are simply the actual bearings in the world from which he emerged. At that time, sleighs were how you got about Manhattan.

Now, more than one month before December 6th, "Sinterklaas" has been spotted in Second Life already. And that is way too early.....did he already arrived in his steamship? I don't know, but I intend to find out. And yet, will we receive some gifts too? I thought Second Life was supposed to be only for adults? Did he missed from grid? Perhaps his intentions were to be on the teen grid, and accidentally got somewhere the wrong way?
I need to ask my friend EagleWolf, he knows much more about these things than I do.;))

Cars and girls in Second Life.

I have been looking out to do this job, as I know Amanda Shinji has something to do with cars. And I happened to have a job in the automotive world, so I am interested in cars alright.
She asked me to do a photoshoot for the OMG calender, and the Dark Eden girl of the month. So I took the challenge, to take pictures, for the same purpose as I did for Veyron. And I was curious to found out if they were as good as the other ones. But I let you to be the judge of that. The whole photoshoot can be viewed as usual on my flickr stream.

Halloween in Second Life

"Camping" catwalk in Second Life

When going through some blogs this morning, I noticed this post about a certain catwalk in Puerto Banus. Being in the Lindens' Top Twenty sites by foot traffic, I found it remarkable enough to visit the place myself, and see how innovative this is.
Everyone knows for sure the campingspots, where you, and certainly in your early Second Life,
can sit to earn your first couple of Linden dollars. You sit and do nothing, just wait till time flies by, and Linden on your account goes up, one by one, or, if you are lucky, and found a good camping spot, three by three.
I convinced myself by visiting the place, and indeed, the avatars, walking on one of the catwalks, were fixed to an animation embedded in the floorboards, which was making their avatars automatically "sashay across the catwalk like so many Tyra Banks marionettes."
"We pay the models to parade on the runways and exhibit our traders' designs and other designs in SL," Puerto Banus manager JR Sands tells. "I look at it as 'earn as you go job' rather than just sitting on a camping bench to boost traffic.", I could read on New World Notes.
In the early days you could earn your first Linden on a campingspot, buying some fashion clothing with it, and start your wonderful alternate lifes. Now you can start all over again, roleplaying that lifestyle, too, even when you're not at the keyboard, and earn again some Lindens. But the question of it all remains, for who are they showing off? There was no chat, no public, as every avatar present, was on the catwalk, so they were roleplaying to no one, either dreaming at the screen, away from keyboard, or whatever you can do in the meanwhile.
So, as said, it may look better than a traditional campingspot, it is still a campingspot, only with another, or better said, with an animation.
But let's be honest, although I never go to campingspots, it is a good and better alternative to earn your Lindens, only, they could be better be placed at a place where you have visitors, so the roleplaying would have a meaning. Potential buyers of the fashion, would actually see a moving, "model" avatar with the clothing they are about to buy.