Monthly Archives: August 2010

Tue, Aug 31 2010
How can you add joy to your virtual world?

How can you add joy to your virtual world?

A couple of weeks ago, the ever-insightful Seth Godin pointed out that every new activity has a learning curve — and also a joy curve. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes a bit of time before we learn... 

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Tue, Aug 31 2010
Does your grid need its own currency?

Does your grid need its own currency?

Update: I still recommend the OMC currency, which has grown substantially since this article was first written and now used on 30 OpenSim grids. The two other currencies I mentioned — V$ and G$ —... 

5 Comments | Read More »
Tue, Aug 31 2010
Utherverse launches casino for US customers

Utherverse launches casino for US customers

Utherverse, a proprietary virtual world platform known for its adult content, has launched a virtual casino targeting US customers. While the winnings cannot be converted into cash today, that might change... 

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Wed, Aug 25 2010
Renting or owning your OpenSim land?

Renting or owning your OpenSim land?

Hosting providers with previous experience in Second Life are bringing some Second Life terminology with them into OpenSim. For example, Coral Estates draws a distinction between “owning” a... 

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Wed, Aug 25 2010
OpenSim prices drop to $10 per region

OpenSim prices drop to $10 per region

Correction: Coral Estate regions start at $20, not $10. OpenSim hosting prices have fallen to a record-low, with providers like New Voice offering regions for just $10 per month — though the performance... 

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Tue, Aug 24 2010
Intel, Nokia create 3D research center

Intel, Nokia create 3D research center

Press Release: Intel and Nokia Create First Joint Laboratory: New University Research Center will Lead to New User Interfaces and Experiences Intel Corporation, Nokia and the University of Oulu have announced... 

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Sun, Aug 22 2010
Hypergrid

Hypergrid

The hypergrid is like the World Wide Web of 3D worlds. You can create your own world, at your company, school, or government agency, and link it to worlds owned by partners, clients, or information providers. Hypergrid... 

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Sat, Aug 21 2010
Rooms and regions: pros and cons

Rooms and regions: pros and cons

Business users choosing virtual environments usually focus on particular features — does it support mesh imports? Are there in-world editing tools? How good is the voice? Is the a web viewer? However,... 

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Sat, Aug 21 2010
OpenSim business roadmap: past, present and future

OpenSim business roadmap: past, present and future

My company is a small, enterprise user of virtual worlds. Over the past year, we’ve used them for meetings with partners, new hires, internal collaboration, and external business networking. There... 

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Thu, Aug 19 2010
Whisper clear as a bell in OpenSim

Whisper clear as a bell in OpenSim

Tonight’s meeting of the Hypergrid Entrepreneurs Group was an eye-opener for me and several other attendees — well, ear-opener. We got a chance to try out the new Whisper directional voice... 

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Thu, Aug 19 2010
Second Life discontinues enterprise platform

Second Life discontinues enterprise platform

Update: “As Philip has mentioned, Linden Lab has discontinued the Second Life Enterprise development program,” Adam Nelson, Linden Lab’s Executive Director of Monetization, told Hypergrid Business.... 

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Wed, Aug 18 2010
Report: Running successful virtual event takes face-to-face contact

Report: Running successful virtual event takes face-to-face contact

Running a successful virtual event takes face-to-face contact on the part of the team running the event, said InXpo product marketing director Dennis Shiao, in a recently-released report about virtual... 

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Wed, Aug 18 2010
Teleplace brings in new CEO, new funding

Teleplace brings in new CEO, new funding

Press Release: Teleplace Appoints Anthony Nemelka CEO, Initiates Next Phase With Solutions for Enterprise Learning and Collaboration New Financing Round Will Fuel Enterprise-Class Solution Development,... 

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Wed, Aug 18 2010
Are Women Better at Virtual Events Than Men?

Are Women Better at Virtual Events Than Men?

Last week, I had a conversation with someone who’s organizing a virtual event. She wanted me to speak on the topic of using telesummits to build your list and I gladly agreed due to the quality of speakers... 

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Tue, Aug 17 2010
CyberCoinBank’s G$ takes early lead

CyberCoinBank’s G$ takes early lead

CyberCoinBank’s G$ is taking an early lead over the OMC multi-grid currency from Virwox. Although G$ is only accepted on 8 grids, compared to 14 grids for OMC, there is over 63 million G$ (US $210,000)... 

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Tue, Aug 17 2010
Viewer 2 a net gain for OpenSim

Viewer 2 a net gain for OpenSim

The latest versions of OpenSim support Second Life Viewer 2 and, over the next couple of months, grids and hosting providers will be upgrading their OpenSim server software to make Viewer 2 usable everywhere... 

6 Comments | Read More »
Mon, Aug 16 2010
Virtual appearance can affect employee behavior

Virtual appearance can affect employee behavior

As businesses look to cut costs, one technology that they have begun adopting is the use of 3D virtual immersive environments or virtual worlds to hold meetings, trade shows and even conduct training.... 

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Mon, Aug 16 2010
Whisper – New Voice Solution for OpenSim

Whisper – New Voice Solution for OpenSim

Today, vComm Solutions of Switzerland released Whisper, a high quality voice solution for OpenSim based on the popular Mumble open source VoIP client. The key feature of this solution is that it enables... 

4 Comments | Read More »
Mon, Aug 16 2010
300 colleges now offer video game degrees

300 colleges now offer video game degrees

Press Release: Computer and Video Game Degree Programs Continue to Grow at Colleges and Universities Across the U.S. A Record 300 Institutions Offer Degrees in Game Design, Development and Programming WASHINGTON,... 

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Mon, Aug 16 2010
Free seminar on making 3D events more productive

Free seminar on making 3D events more productive

Press Release: Free Online Seminar in 3D: How to Make Your Online Meetings More Engaging and Productive According to a recent Gallup study, disengaged workers cost US companies over $325 billion each... 

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Mon, Aug 16 2010
How to save Second Life’s Teen Grid

How to save Second Life’s Teen Grid

The TeenGrid has low traffic compared to Second Life’s mainland, and its primary renters — educators — pay half of what Second Life’s other customers do for land. It makes sense... 

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Sun, Aug 15 2010
OpenSim grids resume breakneck growth

OpenSim grids resume breakneck growth

The top 40 public OpenSim grids resumed their breakneck growth pace this month, gaining a total of 1,139 regions and crossing back over the 10,000 mark with a total land area of 10,427 regions. This was... 

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Sun, Aug 15 2010
Hypergrid economy hits new high

Hypergrid economy hits new high

The hypergrid economy continued its steady growth this past month, with a total of 1,091,000 OMC (US $3,775) spent on the 14 OMC-enabled grids since the multi-grid currency launched in March. This total... 

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Sun, Aug 15 2010
CyberWatch to train faculty in Second Life

CyberWatch to train faculty in Second Life

Press Release: CyberWatch Launches Virtual World Environment for Learning, Training and Global Meetings Second Life environment will extend services to national members in virtual space. Washington, DC.,... 

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Sat, Aug 14 2010
Rosedale promises meshes; Teen Grid to close

Rosedale promises meshes; Teen Grid to close

Philip Rosedale who recently returned to the helm of Linden Lab, gave his first major speech of his second term as CEO on Saturday with a couple of bold announcements — Second Life was definitely... 

2 Comments | Read More »
Sat, Aug 14 2010
Free Scripts

Free Scripts

Looking to add some jazz to your virtual world? Say, by having doors that swing open when you touch them, fish that swim in your lakes, or cannons that actually fire? Sure, you can buy all this stuff,... 

3 Comments | Read More »
Fri, Aug 13 2010
The Virtual and Mobile Workforce

The Virtual and Mobile Workforce

The way we work has changed dramatically over the past few years.  I’m relatively young…turning 27 in a few weeks – yet even I can recall working for previous employers where there was just no... 

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Fri, Aug 13 2010
VastPark not dead, serves top-tier enterprise clients

VastPark not dead, serves top-tier enterprise clients

Despite rumors of its demise, the Australian virtual worlds company VastPark is not dead — in fact, it’s recently seen quite an uptick of interest. In April, the company won a prestigious contract... 

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Fri, Aug 13 2010
Sitting and staring at a virtual screen wastes time

Sitting and staring at a virtual screen wastes time

In a post today titled 5 Reasons Why Users Flee from Difficult 3D Virtual Platforms, “Daisy” at VenueGen suggested that new users might like virtual worlds more if they don’t have to... 

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Thu, Aug 12 2010
Unisfair reports 60% growth

Unisfair reports 60% growth

Press Release: Unisfair Experiences 60% growth year over year, adding 20 new virtual event customers in first half of 2010 Companies like 3M, EMC, Genentech and Tourism Fiji Turning to Virtual Events for... 

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Thu, Aug 12 2010
The business of virtual sex

The business of virtual sex

Would be sim-commerce millionaires gathered at the Hypergrid Entrepreneurs Group meeting Thursday night on the Trombly Grid to discuss recent innovations in OpenSim hosting, currency systems, and selling... 

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Wed, Aug 11 2010
Why virtual worlds suck for business — and some solutions

Why virtual worlds suck for business — and some solutions

Wagner Au and Gwyneth Llewelyn have recently posted thought-provoking pieces about how to make virtual worlds more engaging. Au proposed an achievement system to encourage new users to make friends and... 

8 Comments | Read More »
Wed, Aug 11 2010
How to get ripped off in OpenSim

How to get ripped off in OpenSim

A couple of weeks ago, two OpenSim content designers came to Hypergrid Business with a complaint: they were offered a chance to produce content for a new grid, in return for space on that grid. They did... 

1 Comment | Read More »
Wed, Aug 11 2010
Provider Agreement for Virtual Environments

Provider Agreement for Virtual Environments

[Disclaimer: This is a sample contract for informational purposes only and is not meant to replace professional legal advice.] This Provider Agreement (the “Agreement”) is made as of _________________________... 

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Wed, Aug 11 2010
Why virtual worlds are important for business

Why virtual worlds are important for business

There is a ton of debate and discussion and information Out There about why virtual worlds are, or aren’t, or might someday be, important for business. Important, that is, to people who are wearing... 

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Mon, Aug 9 2010
Two German grids to merge

Two German grids to merge

Update: See end of story for new pricing information. Two of the world’s largest German grids — Grid4Us and GermanGrid — are merging this week, in order to provide a richer — and... 

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Sun, Aug 8 2010
SL Viewer 2 on the hypergrid

SL Viewer 2 on the hypergrid

Second Life released Viewer 2 in February and, though many complained that the new interface was confusing and less efficient it did offer a significant new benefit to enterprise and education users: the... 

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Sun, Aug 8 2010
Using machinima for real business

Using machinima for real business

Editor’s introduction: Machinima refers to animations filmed inside virtual worlds or video games. Machimina is cheaper and faster than the alternatives — traditional filming using real actors... 

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Thu, Aug 5 2010
Qarl Linden’s layoff is bad news for OpenSim

Qarl Linden’s layoff is bad news for OpenSim

Linden Lab developer Qarl Linden reported that he was laid off yesterday. The developer — known as Karl Stiefvater outside of Second Life — was responsible for such innovations as scupties... 

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Thu, Aug 5 2010
UBM Studios Unveils the Virtual Business Continuity Center

UBM Studios Unveils the Virtual Business Continuity Center

Press Release: Turnkey Portal Ensures Business Communications through Interruptions Chicago, IL — Business continuity planning is an imperative business practice for organizations.  Business interruptions... 

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