Monthly Archives: September 2011

Thu, Sep 29 2011
How real is real enough?

How real is real enough?

How real does a virtual environment need to be for users to feel presence? This is a question educators have been researching in the attempt to implement virtual spaces to expand the classroom. For those... 

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Thu, Sep 29 2011
Dassault offers virtual first aid training

Dassault offers virtual first aid training

Press release: Dassault Systemes: “Staying Alive”: 3D Experience Helps Save Lives Teaching People How to Administer First Aid Using 3D Online Experience Platform from Dassault Systemes PARIS... 

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Thu, Sep 29 2011
Unity 3.5 — faster, better graphics

Unity 3.5 — faster, better graphics

Press Release: Unite 11: Unity 3.5 Demonstrated Live for the First Time Major Additions Mark an Impressive Update to the Award-Winning Development Platform for Games and Interactive 3D SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Unity... 

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Wed, Sep 28 2011
Unity a road to un-united worlds

Unity a road to un-united worlds

As the number of Unity-based virtual platforms proliferates, and a decent viewer for OpenSim and Second Life still remains a pipe dream, we’re getting close to the point where the center of gravity... 

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Tue, Sep 27 2011
ReactionGrid tests Jibe on Android, OpenSim upgrade

ReactionGrid tests Jibe on Android, OpenSim upgrade

This was a big week for new deployments at virtual world vendor ReactionGrid, with a demo of a new Jibe app on the Android platform, and a test of the latest release of OpenSim. Jibe App Jibe is a virtual... 

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Tue, Sep 27 2011
What I look for in an OpenSim host

What I look for in an OpenSim host

The OpenSim hosting industry is still young, and, though it is developing quickly, still lacking in experience and maturity. But it doesn’t mean that customers have to settle for substandard service. I’ve... 

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Mon, Sep 26 2011
The hypergrid is not the next Web

The hypergrid is not the next Web

I am a big fan of the hypergrid. I love logging into my personal grid. Then teleporting to my company grid, or visit friends on OSGrid, or go shopping on GermanGrid. But I don’t have any illusion... 

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Mon, Sep 26 2011
New directory features virtual services

New directory features virtual services

Press Release: Virtual Edge Launches Definitive Online Directory for Digital Meeting, Events, Learning, and Community Solutions Virtual Edge Directory simplifies process for researching, identifying and... 

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Sun, Sep 25 2011
Five ways make money with a viewer

Five ways make money with a viewer

All existing OpenSim viewers are based on the GPL-licensed open source version of the Second Life viewer. All derivative viewers also have to be open source — which makes it hard to build a business... 

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Fri, Sep 23 2011
Created Worlds

Created Worlds

US$49 per month for a 17,600 -prim region that can hold up to 55 avatars on the startup Created Worlds grid. No hypergrid. OMC currency. Still in beta, with land special offer during the beta phase. Prices based... 

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Thu, Sep 22 2011
Easy, slick virtual campus tour

Easy, slick virtual campus tour

Designing Digitally Inc. is at National Association for College Admission Counseling’s 2011 National Conference this week showing off its 3D Virtual Campus Tours product. You might remember... 

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Thu, Sep 22 2011
Design firm 3DLES partners with Virtyou

Design firm 3DLES partners with Virtyou

Press release: 3DLES and virtyou join forces Scherpenzeel, The Netherlands—Germany’s Virtyou GmbH and 3DLES, an OpenSim design and consulting firm focusing on education, have   join forces to... 

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Thu, Sep 22 2011
ProtoSphere now supports video, Flash

ProtoSphere now supports video, Flash

Press Release: New ProtoSphere v.1.5.4 Now Supports Video and Flash Content Five new features extend ProtoSphere’s lead as the virtual collaboration environment for learning and training LANSDALE, Pa.—ProtonMedia... 

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Wed, Sep 21 2011
Virtual Events: The New Marketing Frontier

Virtual Events: The New Marketing Frontier

The economic downturn has put a damper on tradeshow activities worldwide. Travel budgets have been tightened across the board. Attendees are less willing to hop on a plane halfway around the globe for... 

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Wed, Sep 21 2011
Open Wonderland now supports object exports

Open Wonderland now supports object exports

The Subsnapshot Importer Exporter module is now available in the Wonderland Module Warehouse. First successful test of importing objects using Subsnapshots. (Image courtesy Nicole Yankelovich.) This... 

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Wed, Sep 21 2011
vAcademia pioneers 3D recording

vAcademia pioneers 3D recording

Russia’s Virtual Spaces LLC has released a new education-focused virtual world platform, vAcademia, that allows for both traditional 2D and 3D recordings. The platform, which is now in beta, is being... 

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Fri, Sep 16 2011
How SWIFT reduced virtual world training to 30 minutes

How SWIFT reduced virtual world training to 30 minutes

An interesting quesion arose from my ALT-C talk last week. It was basically “How can you use Second Life for teaching when it takes two hours to learn how to use it?” Which isn’t really a question,... 

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Thu, Sep 15 2011
Top grids gain 883 new regions

Top grids gain 883 new regions

The top 40 OpenSim grids now have a total of 19,381 regions, a new high — up by 883 regions from a month ago. Meanwhile, total registered users grew to a new record high of 212,452. These numbers... 

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Tue, Sep 13 2011
Why free land is good for OpenSim

Why free land is good for OpenSim

Will free land destroy grids? There will probably a winnowing out of grids that continue to charge for residential land without offering enough additional perceived value. But the end result will, I believe,... 

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Mon, Sep 12 2011
Getting attention in a virtual world

Getting attention in a virtual world

A few days ago, I heard a brief talk by marketing expert Steve Harrison in which he talked about how to get attention for your message. It turns out he was speaking about how to get the attention of journalists... 

3 Comments | Read More »
Mon, Sep 12 2011
Open Wonderland supports drag-and-drop docs

Open Wonderland supports drag-and-drop docs

One of the great features of Open Wonderland is its application-sharing facility. And one of the benefits this provides is the ability to use OpenOffice in-world to create and edit documents that are compatible... 

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Sun, Sep 11 2011
A modest proposal for hypergrid security

A modest proposal for hypergrid security

As John Rogate pointed out today, the 4096 bug — which limits hypergrid teleports to no more than 4,096 regions in any direction — is a significant impediment to hypergrid travel and to the... 

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Sun, Sep 11 2011
It’s time to move all grids south

It’s time to move all grids south

Hypergrid is probably one of the greatest and unifying features for OpenSim, and virtual worlds in general. Basically, virtual worlds cannot be what they should be without the hypergrid. It is the same... 

18 Comments | Read More »
Fri, Sep 9 2011
Nova drops prices to $5.95 per region

Nova drops prices to $5.95 per region

New Voice’s Nova OpenSim hosting company has dropped region prices to a new low today — just $5.95 for a region with up to 80,000 prims. The catch? The region is designed for low-traffic residential... 

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Fri, Sep 9 2011
5 missing pieces in OpenSim

5 missing pieces in OpenSim

OpenSim development — like that of any open source project — is very much focused on what developers want to do. They are, after all, volunteers, they don’t take orders. That leaves business... 

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Fri, Sep 9 2011
Unity’s Flash plans to spur adoption of Web-based worlds

Unity’s Flash plans to spur adoption of Web-based worlds

Unity 3D is currently the hot platform for virtual world development and it’s going to get hotter, experts say, now that Unity has announced that their environments will soon be exportable to Flash. Chris... 

8 Comments | Read More »
Fri, Sep 9 2011
Virtual cockpit for executives

Virtual cockpit for executives

A French virtual design firm has created a virtual command center for organizations looking to have all their business intelligence dashboards in a single virtual location. Internet 3 Solutions‘ Cockpit... 

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Thu, Sep 8 2011
Medical simulations can benefit healthcare, pharma industries

Medical simulations can benefit healthcare, pharma industries

Healthcare and the pharmaceutical industries can benefit from using training simulations and serious games in everything from sales and customer relations to helping medical professionals work with upset... 

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Thu, Sep 8 2011
AVWorlds tests Bullet physics

AVWorlds tests Bullet physics

AVWorlds is a brand new grid — at just 26 regions, it doesn’t even make our monthly Top 40 list — but it has big ambitions. The grid launched with the highest priced land in OpenSim,... 

4 Comments | Read More »
Thu, Sep 8 2011
3DLES

3DLES

3DLES is a full-service building and consulting company for education in OpenSim, located in the Netherlands. The company’s philosophy is that immersive education is about more than just putting... 

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Tue, Sep 6 2011
Avaya trains sales reps virtually

Avaya trains sales reps virtually

The flight simulator celebrated its 100s anniversary a couple of years ago. A training rig was developed in 1909 to help pilots operate the control wheels of the early monoplanes in a safe environment... 

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Fri, Sep 2 2011
Whose side am I on?

Whose side am I on?

I’m regularly asked why I give more coverage to one company or another, or why I’m biased against particular grids or platforms. And, it’s true. I do have a bias. You see, in my day job... 

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Fri, Sep 2 2011
Put Google drawing on a prim

Put Google drawing on a prim

Use this script to put a Google graphic on any prim. Clicking on the drawing in-world will automatically refresh it. You can use it to create a white board for an in-world presentation. You can allow several... 

3 Comments | Read More »
Thu, Sep 1 2011
Linda Kellie releases first OAR

Linda Kellie releases first OAR

Linda Kellie, whose free content has made her website a go-to destination for folks making their move to OpenSim and needing content, has released her first OAR file (free download here). This complete... 

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