Monthly Archives: April 2011

VastPark teams with Lockbox for virtual security

VastPark teams with Lockbox for virtual security

Press Release: Lockbox and VastPark Announce Strategic Alliance SAN JOSE, CA – Lockbox and VastPark today announced the formation of a strategic partnership that would use each company’s complementary... 

Utherverse hosts virtual Royal Wedding

Utherverse hosts virtual Royal Wedding

Press Release: Utherverse Hosts and Provides a Once-in-a-Lifetime Chance to Virtually Participate in and Attend the Royal Wedding Over its 50,000 Site Virtual World Web (VWW) Network Open Event Provides... 

Realism key to 3D training and virtual instructors

Realism key to 3D training and virtual instructors

The world of computer or web-based training has evolved rapidly over the last several years. In particular, a large amount of interest has surrounded the world of interactive 3D simulation training and... 

The virtual is magic

The virtual is magic

I know the iPad is supposed to be magical. But, to me, it doesn’t come close to the magic I feel inside Second Life and OpenSim worlds. When I’m on a grid, I can wave my virtual arms and have... 

At the Second Life tipping point

At the Second Life tipping point

Second Life is a tipping point, and has been precariously balanced there for months. Average daily concurrency has been slipping since the start of 2010, according to data from Metaverse Business. In fact,... 

Meta7 to shut down, citing trademark issues

Meta7 to shut down, citing trademark issues

Magne Metaverse Research LLC, the parent company behind the Meta7 grid, announced on Thursday that it will be shutting down by the end of the month as a result of trandmark-related legal issues. Today,... 

Outage underscores the need for backups

Outage underscores the need for backups

Ten Kitely users lost 13 regions this week because of a bug in the company’s software. The bug has been fixed, users compensated for their losses, and a new automated backup system is in the works. Kitely... 

NSF grants $297,929 to virtual worlds researchers

NSF grants $297,929 to virtual worlds researchers

Press Release: IU shares $297,929 NSF grant to study use of 3D virtual worlds by business and education enterprises BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The National Science Foundation has awarded $297,929 to a multi-disciplinary... 

New UK grid offers gambling, $20 sims

New UK grid offers gambling, $20 sims

A new U.K.-based grid, Tescos, is marketing itself as a gambling destination, with an added bonus of low-cost regions. It’s not the first grid to have gambling in-world — Avination has a number... 

Webstock 3D to be held in VirtualU

Webstock 3D to be held in VirtualU

Six Boston-area bands are scheduled to perform at Webstock 3D, kicking off the first of a virtual concert series run on Digitell’s VirtualU virtual world platform. The free concert will be held on... 

RealXtend Association formed

RealXtend Association formed

The developers behind the realXtend branch of the OpenSimulator virtual world platform announced the formation of the realXtend Association today. “The purpose of the association is to be a place... 

Utherverse launches virtual learning platform

Utherverse launches virtual learning platform

Press Release: UtherAcademy Now Recruiting Instructors & Students for 3D Web Classes Revolutionary Virtual Learning Center Lets World Be Your Classroom Vancouver, BC –  Imagine being in your kitchen... 

OpenSim 103: Securing your grid

OpenSim 103: Securing your grid

Enterprises rolling out new OpenSim grids are often concerned about security issues of running OpenSim, and justifiably so. OpenSim is alpha software and still poses some security challenges. However,... 

Blue Mars names new CEO

Blue Mars names new CEO

Press Release: Henk Rogers named CEO of Avatar Reality, Inc. Entrepreneur and Interactive Entertainment Visionary Expands Role at 3D Virtual World Company HONOLULU, HI — Avatar Reality, developers... 

Designers offer OpenSim goods on Websites

Designers offer OpenSim goods on Websites

With the recent growth of OpenSim grids, both public and private, and growing demand for both low-end starter items and high-end content, content creators have recently launched several Websites to distribute... 

OpenSim 102: Running your own sims

OpenSim 102: Running your own sims

There are plenty of reasons to run OpenSim on your own computers. If you’re a content creator, you can have as many regions as you want, for free, and load them up when you need to work on them.... 

Clouds help propel OpenSim growth

Clouds help propel OpenSim growth

The top 40 public OpenSim grids gained more than a 1,000 new regions since this time last month, propelled partly by low-cost cloud-based regions from a new hosting provider, Kitely. There are now a total... 

Browser-based platforms report growth

Browser-based platforms report growth

Educators, startup-virtual world operators and individuals looking for opportunities to create their own virtual environments have been flocking to OpenSim over the past few months. But for business customers,... 

HP rolls out virtual banking with Avaya’s Web.alive

HP rolls out virtual banking with Avaya’s Web.alive

Press Release: HP and Avaya Address Banks’ Need to Place Customers at the Center of Service Innovation Virtual Branch and Contact Centers Increase Effectiveness with Enhanced Channel and New Assisted... 

Digitell Releases New Hybrid Meeting Tool Kit

Digitell Releases New Hybrid Meeting Tool Kit

Press Release: Digitell Releases New Hybrid Meeting Tool Kit Jamestown, NY — Virtual conference vendor Digitell has just released a free hybrid meeting tool kit to assist those organizations in... 

UCF students learn accounting virtually

UCF students learn accounting virtually

Press Release: The University of Central Florida Deploys Virtual Training for Accountancy Tools Birmingham, UK – The University of Central Florida (UCF), commissioned Daden Limited (Daden) to... 

OpenSim 101: Renting land

OpenSim 101: Renting land

This is a primer for folks considering moving into OpenSim who have never used OpenSim before and who don’t have much of a technical background. Things move fast in the OpenSim universe, so last... 

UBM Studios add mobile support

UBM Studios add mobile support

UBM Studios Offers Mobile Support on iOS and Android-Based Tablets for Virtual Events Chicago, IL – Today, UBM Studios announced it now offers support on iOS and Android-based tablet devices including: Video... 

The Machinimist Marketer:  A virtual gold rush

The Machinimist Marketer: A virtual gold rush

Machinima, once banished to the realm of the basement dwelling geek, is now being let out of the closet and into the company of professional society. No longer relegated to fanboys, the cinematic art... 

19 Definitions of a Virtual Event

19 Definitions of a Virtual Event

Technology improvements have allowed us to meet, connect and engage online. The 2008 financial crisis further drove the adoption of virtual events for organizations. But even to this day, there is no standard... 

Survey: Slow erosion of educators from Second Life to OpenSim

Survey: Slow erosion of educators from Second Life to OpenSim

In March, I asked educators on the SLED and EDUCAUSE Virtual Worlds lists to tell me how their ownership of land in virtual worlds compares to their holdings a year ago. Here are the results. Analysis:... 

Does Linden Lab put its economy first?

Does Linden Lab put its economy first?

The evolution of the Linden Dollar from a strictly virtual currency and economy to a currency that intertwines with recognized currencies and economies has created many issues that need to be addressed... 

Waiting for an OpenSim content marketplace

Waiting for an OpenSim content marketplace

Update: There are now two marketplaces, Cariama and HGExchange, that deliver items to multiple OpenSim grids. Read more here: Where to get content for OpenSim. As a business owner — and someone... 

US Air Force Academy launches virtual campus tour

US Air Force Academy launches virtual campus tour

Press Release: Designing Digitally, Inc. Partners with the United States Air Force Academy to Develop a Browser Based 3D Virtual Campus Tour Based on Unity Virtual world developer Designing Digitally,... 

How virtual worlds will converge

How virtual worlds will converge

Today, we are seeing an explosion in virtual world platforms. We’ve got various — and incompatible — open source projects, including OpenSim, Open Wonderland, Open Cobalt, Sirikata, and...