Monthly Archives: May 2011

Mon, May 30 2011
Hypergrid to have friends, instant messaging

Hypergrid to have friends, instant messaging

What’s the fun of teleporting to other grids and meeting new friends, if you can’t keep in touch with them afterwards? Crista Lopes That’s not going to be a problem for long, hypergrid... 

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Sat, May 28 2011
Study: Age no obstacle to entrepreneurship

Study: Age no obstacle to entrepreneurship

People who remember the last dot-com boom, and are thinking of launching a virtual worlds business so that they can take part in the next one, need not worry that their memories of the 1990s mean that... 

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Sat, May 28 2011
Second Life vs. OpenSim

Second Life vs. OpenSim

You cannot compare Second Life and OpenSim. One is a social world. The other is an open source piece of server software. You can’t even compare Second Life to individual grids using OpenSim as their... 

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Thu, May 26 2011
Air Force to build virtual training lab on OpenSim

Air Force to build virtual training lab on OpenSim

Press Release: Designing Digitally, Inc. Wins 2011 Air Force Research Lab Virtual World Contract FRANKLIN, OH– Teaching students how to build airplanes, robots and simulations is serious business,... 

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Wed, May 25 2011
Are virtual currencies becoming real?

Are virtual currencies becoming real?

Many people view virtual online currencies; the kind used in online websites such as Second Life for example, as being wholly different from their real life counterparts. Many online games have their own... 

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Wed, May 25 2011
Survey: Virtual events promote in-person attendance

Survey: Virtual events promote in-person attendance

Press release: Virtual Edge Institute and ROI of Engagement’s Multi-Year Study Reveals Effectiveness of Hybrid Events Survey Reveals Different Motivations for Attending Events In Person or Online Virtual... 

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Mon, May 23 2011
Why my autism project left ReactionGrid

Why my autism project left ReactionGrid

[Editor's note: We encourage groups using virtual worlds to tell us about their experiences -- both good and bad -- in order to educate the public about this new industry segment, and to encourage platform... 

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Sun, May 22 2011
Aurora devs building bridge to OpenSim

Aurora devs building bridge to OpenSim

Developers of the Aurora Sim version of OpenSim are building a hypergrid bridge to mainline OpenSim, said Enrico Ranucci, head of New Voice, d.i., an Italian technology company that’s been in business... 

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Sun, May 22 2011
Getting down to business in Web.alive

Getting down to business in Web.alive

Hypergrid Business is one of the very few publications you can safely categorize as virtual world platform agnostic. Editor Maria Korolov has visited our Avaya Web.alive environments from the earliest... 

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Sun, May 22 2011
No happy endings for virtual investors

No happy endings for virtual investors

There might be a role for new kinds of exchanges in our virtual future, just as the Internet spurred the growth of online trading and alternative trading networks. But there aren’t going to be any... 

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Sun, May 22 2011
New owner of virtual exchange promises a clean game

New owner of virtual exchange promises a clean game

Second Life “financial institutions” such as virtual banks and stock exchanges have historically been magnets for fraud and mismanagement. But the Capital Exchange — formerly the SL Capital... 

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Sat, May 21 2011
Army extends MOSES to other researchers

Army extends MOSES to other researchers

MOSES — Military Open Simulator Enterprise Strategy — is an OpenSim-based, 3D, virtual environment platform originally developed by the U.S. Army as an alternative to Second Life Enterprise.... 

2 Comments | Read More »
Fri, May 20 2011
Why pay for OpenSim?

Why pay for OpenSim?

With OpenSim hosting prices dropping fast and features and stability improving, it surprises to me that people still ask why anyone should pay for OpenSim. Yes, OpenSim is free. You can go to OpenSimulator.org... 

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Fri, May 20 2011
AvWorlds abandons high-price strategy

AvWorlds abandons high-price strategy

The closed, commercial social grid AvWorlds has abandoned its high price strategy — at least for now. When the grid was launched earlier this spring, a single region was priced at $145 a month. (See... 

3 Comments | Read More »
Thu, May 19 2011
TalentRaspel-PioneerX deal marks next stage of OpenSim evolution

TalentRaspel-PioneerX deal marks next stage of OpenSim evolution

Germany’s TalentRaspel virtual worlds Ltd. has licensed the RCI grid management technology from PioneerX Estates. (Get the details here.) This is a small story in the normal course things — companies... 

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Thu, May 19 2011
TalentRaspel offers grid management

TalentRaspel offers grid management

Customers looking for a high-end grid management service for their OpenSim worlds similar to that offered by PioneerX Estates now have another hosting option — Germany’s TalentRaspel virtual... 

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Wed, May 18 2011
What virtual content creators can learn from Netflix

What virtual content creators can learn from Netflix

Netflix now accounts for the largest share of Internet traffic. According to a new report from Sandvine, Netflix movies and television episodes are now more than 22 percent of the stuff traveling through... 

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Wed, May 18 2011
Utherverse takes on 2012 election

Utherverse takes on 2012 election

Press Release: Virtual Obama, Palin & Trump Set Stage for Most Entertaining Political Season Yet Utherverse Re-Creates Popular Political Figures As 3D Characters For Fun & Free Speech On Virtual... 

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Wed, May 18 2011
Avatar meets Superman at Miami Science Museum

Avatar meets Superman at Miami Science Museum

Press Release: Avatar Meets Superman At Miami Science Museum NASA Astronaut Leland D. Melvin to lead presentation in Miami Science Museum’s NASA funded Youth EXPO Virtual World Island Sat., May 21st... 

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Wed, May 18 2011
Daden creates world selection tool

Daden creates world selection tool

Press Release: Daden creates World Finder, a virtual world selection tool Birmingham, U.K. – A simple virtual world selection tool, World Finder, has been created by virtual world specialist’s... 

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Tue, May 17 2011
One university’s pioneering OpenSim journey

One university’s pioneering OpenSim journey

The last four months have been tumultuous ones for our university. With the end of educational discounts for our island in Second Life, we faced a tough decision. Second Life’s steep learning curve and... 

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Mon, May 16 2011
Mesh may accelerate OpenSim migration

Mesh may accelerate OpenSim migration

I’ve been reading lately about how great mesh will be for Second Life. But I’m wondering whether it won’t actually be better for OpenSim, instead. Off-world content versus in-world content In... 

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Mon, May 16 2011
Book: Virtual avatars have real impact

Book: Virtual avatars have real impact

The experiences people have in virtual worlds such as Second Life influence their behavior in real life, according to a new book. “There are consequences of spending 20 hours weekly using an avatar... 

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Mon, May 16 2011
OMC currency gains popularity in the first quarter of the year

OMC currency gains popularity in the first quarter of the year

The number of OpenSim grids accepting the multi-grid OMC virtual currency reached a record high in the first quarter of this year, as has the number of users of this hypergrid-enabled currency from Austian... 

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Sun, May 15 2011
OpenSim grids reach record high

OpenSim grids reach record high

The top 40 OpenSim grids gained a total of 1,199 new regions over the past month, for a new record total of 15,765 regions. The biggest growth was on OSGrid, the non-profit grid which allows people to... 

6 Comments | Read More »
Fri, May 13 2011
The Machinimist Marketer: Music videos on a budget

The Machinimist Marketer: Music videos on a budget

Yesterday’s bands were limited by money. Awesome music is worthless if you can’t show it off, but how can you show it off while you still need your day job? The average cost of creating a well-done... 

1 Comment | Read More »
Thu, May 12 2011
FireSabre launches Starlight grid for educators

FireSabre launches Starlight grid for educators

Educators looking for OpenSim alternatives to Second Life are currently limited to ReactionGrid or Jokaydia Grid, which is operated by ReactionGrid — unless they want to set up their own grid or... 

22 Comments | Read More »
Thu, May 12 2011
HuzuTech releases social virtual worlds platform

HuzuTech releases social virtual worlds platform

Press Release: Huzutech’s Paperworld Takes Social Gaming To New Virtual Worlds HuzuVirtual is a new technology which takes social gaming and community into whole new virtual worlds. GLASGOW —... 

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Wed, May 11 2011
Paper: Students need clear goals in virtual worlds

Paper: Students need clear goals in virtual worlds

Virtual worlds like Second Life can successful be used for creative learning activities but only if the students understand the purpose of their activities in the virtual world, and aren’t overwhelmed... 

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Wed, May 11 2011
Is social media a threat to virtual platforms?

Is social media a threat to virtual platforms?

While most of the attention within our industry has been on the 2D and 3D platforms for virtual events, I envisioned that a simpler, website-like interface may begin emerging for digital events. My post... 

1 Comment | Read More »
Wed, May 11 2011
Survey seeks work users of virtual tech

Survey seeks work users of virtual tech

Press Release: Virtual Edge Institute Launches Extensive Survey about Work-Related Uses of Virtual Technologies Giving away two free iPads to participants Pleasanton, CA – The Virtual Edge Institute... 

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Mon, May 9 2011
SAIC to demo OLIVE at ITEC 2011

SAIC to demo OLIVE at ITEC 2011

Press Release: SAIC Showcases On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment Software Platform at ITEC 2011 Company to demonstrate virtual world technology for collaboration, simulation and training Cologne,... 

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Sun, May 8 2011
The business case for OpenSim

The business case for OpenSim

A reader asked me today about the OpenSim business case — are there enough users on any of the grids to make it worthwhile for a business to set up a presence there instead of in Second Life? The... 

5 Comments | Read More »
Sat, May 7 2011
Major OpenSim upgrade adds security, meshes

Major OpenSim upgrade adds security, meshes

OpenSim’s new 0.7.1 release supports meshes, media-on-a-prim, and adds additional security features for grid owners and content creators. The upgrade also promises increased stability and less lag.... 

2 Comments | Read More »
Thu, May 5 2011
Virtway puts 3D worlds on iPads

Virtway puts 3D worlds on iPads

Blue Mars has an iPhone client that allows users to change their clothes. There’s an app for Second Life and OpenSim that allows users to chat with other users. VenueGen is working on an iPad-enabled... 

3 Comments | Read More »
Thu, May 5 2011
Researcher tracks virtual movement

Researcher tracks virtual movement

A researcher at the University of California in San Diego is seeking participants for a large-scale study of avatar movement in Second Life and OpenSim. The study involves both online questionnaires and... 

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Wed, May 4 2011
Startled Cat immersed in stories

Startled Cat immersed in stories

Immersive virtual environments are helping to transform storytelling. The new technique – immersive, collaborative storytelling – can be used to expose people to the reality of living life a different... 

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Wed, May 4 2011
Why Teleplace went open source

Why Teleplace went open source

Earlier this week, Teleplace announced that it was releasing the current version of proprietary virtual world software to the open source community as OpenQwaq. The next generation of its software won’t... 

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Wed, May 4 2011
Teleplace Connect to have web viewer

Teleplace Connect to have web viewer

One thing that might keep Teleplace customers from scampering away to its newly open-sourced, free OpenQwaq alternative is the promise of Teleplace Connect — a new version of the Teleplace software... 

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Wed, May 4 2011
ProtonMedia, Sify partner for virtual training

ProtonMedia, Sify partner for virtual training

Press release: ProtonMedia and Sify Sign Technology and Services Agreement Partnership to deliver next-gen virtual learning and training solutions to global life sciences companies LANSDALE, Pa.-ProtonMedia... 

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Wed, May 4 2011
Mobile revolution arrives for virtual events

Mobile revolution arrives for virtual events

In the early days of virtual events (i.e. a few years ago), we used to say that users could attend a virtual event “from anywhere.” Of course, that wasn’t entirely true, as “anywhere” usually... 

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Tue, May 3 2011
Teleplace open sources OpenQwaq

Teleplace open sources OpenQwaq

Press Release: Teleplace Announces the OpenQwaq Open Source Project for Virtual Workspaces REDWOOD CITY, Calif.– Teleplace, the leading provider of virtual workspaces, today announced a new open... 

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Tue, May 3 2011
10 keys to a successful training presentation

10 keys to a successful training presentation

There are several different components to consider in designing and developing interactive 3D software that will ensure that your training simulation will get the results you want. These components aren’t... 

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Mon, May 2 2011
Survey: Virtual events now the norm

Survey: Virtual events now the norm

Press Release: Annual Unisfair Survey Shows Virtual and Hybrid Events are the New Normal in Marketing, Training and Collaboration 550 Marketers Weigh in on Why and How They Use Virtual Environments Key... 

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