Maria's Worlds

Sun, Feb 28 2010
The Maria Awards

The Maria Awards

Can’t wait for Oscar night? I know I can’t. So here at Hypergrid Business we’re doling out our own awards. First, a little video introduction. This is a little sailboat trip that OpenSim’s... 

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Sat, Feb 27 2010
Virtual worlds? Bah!

Virtual worlds? Bah!

If you think that the virtual worlds are over hyped, and the metaverse of hyperlinked OpenSim grids will never amount to anything, you don’t have to think up an original blog post — just take... 

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Fri, Feb 26 2010
Will Second Life be the next Netscape?

Will Second Life be the next Netscape?

Two major things happened before the World Wide Web took off in a big way. One was the fact that individuals were able to create Web sites and link them to other Web sites. Once individuals did it —... 

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Wed, Feb 24 2010
Viewer envy is bitter, and stings

Viewer envy is bitter, and stings

Last summer I decided to open a virtual office for my company. I don’t just write for Hypergrid Business — I run a company with staff in China and India, among other locations, providing outsourced... 

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Wed, Jan 27 2010
Time for SL private grids?

Time for SL private grids?

Second Life is a popular destination for businesses and schools because it’s cheaper and easier to use than most other enterprise-quality virtual platforms. In addition, Second Life’s popularity... 

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Tue, Jan 26 2010
Should Linden Lab switch to OpenSim?

Should Linden Lab switch to OpenSim?

Today, Linden Lab is three companies in one. First of all — and this is where most their revenues come from — it is a community company and content distribution channel. They charge people... 

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Fri, Jan 22 2010
Building a 3D workspace

Building a 3D workspace

In my last column (”The 3D future“) I briefly touched on the idea of a 3D desktop to replace the current Windows interface. Nobody knows yet what a 3D workspace will look like. It probably... 

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Tue, Jan 19 2010
The 3D future

The 3D future

The dawn of the 3D age is upon us. Over a dozen immersive virtual world platforms are competing for our attention — and that’s just in the business sector. Our kids and teenagers are already... 

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Fri, Jan 15 2010
10 predictions for 2010

10 predictions for 2010

I just got off the phone with a company building an educational grid for a company in China — in OpenSim. They picked the platform not for its cheapness, but it’s feature set. This too often... 

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Tue, Dec 22 2009
Private viewers, dead-end worlds

Private viewers, dead-end worlds

The great advantage of using OpenSim is that a grid owner can leverage all the work done by the open source community. The OpenSim server platform is updated continually, with new bug fixes and new features... 

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Mon, Dec 21 2009
Metaplace closing a warning for virtual worlds users

Metaplace closing a warning for virtual worlds users

On Monday, Metaplace announced that the company was shutting down its virtual world. This virtual world wasn’t the first platform of choice for enterprise users. The game-like interface, the kid-friendly... 

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Mon, Dec 21 2009
Why freebies are good for virtual designers

Why freebies are good for virtual designers

As OpenSim-based social grids continue to grow, Second Life content designers are understandably worried about the free content floating around these grids — content which may have been ripped off... 

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Mon, Nov 30 2009
Grid analytics wishlist

Grid analytics wishlist

I love Google Analytics and use it to track visitors to my Websites — and where they come from and how they leave. It would be great to have this same information for my grid. This could be a gadget... 

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Tue, Nov 24 2009
Hypergrid hiccups

Hypergrid hiccups

Folks looking to enjoy the interoperability of OpenSim-based virtual worlds by hypergrid teleporting between different grids have been repeatedly disappointed recently. By “folks” I mean myself,... 

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Fri, Nov 20 2009
A Wayback Machine for virtual worlds?

A Wayback Machine for virtual worlds?

One of the joys of exploring virtual worlds grids is finding new fantastic new regions and builds. Then comes the pain of virtual worlds — you bring your friends back to visit, and the builds are... 

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Mon, Nov 16 2009
Why Second Life needs OpenSim

Why Second Life needs OpenSim

As the number of virtual worlds proliferates, Second Life is beset on all sides — niche worlds, big social worlds, high-end worlds, inexpensive worlds, browser-based worlds, kid worlds, business... 

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Fri, Nov 13 2009
OpenSim Content Management Wishlist

OpenSim Content Management Wishlist

As my staff and I begin building out our third — third! — company grid it’s becoming apparent how much manual labor is required in creating office space and landscapes. The first time... 

4 Comments | Read More »
Mon, Sep 7 2009
The future of virtual goods

The future of virtual goods

According to a recent Piper Jaffray report, US virtual good sales will total $621 million in 2009 — up 134 percent from 2008’s $265 million. And this total will rise to nearly $2.5 billion... 

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Tue, Sep 1 2009
3Di OpenViewer almost ready for prime time

3Di OpenViewer almost ready for prime time

Japan’s Sanwa Supply Co., launched a site today where visitors can shop for computer supplies and peripherals using the immersive 3Di OpenViewer from 3Di that came in the form of a browser plug-in,... 

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Sun, Aug 30 2009
Race for a Web viewer is on

Race for a Web viewer is on

A Web-based viewer for OpenSim and Second Life is a Holy Grail for business users: it would make it easier for employees, customers and business partners to access virtual platforms. That would make for... 

6 Comments | Read More »
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