By:
On:

The Sundance Film Festival starts tomorrow, and this year, for the first time, it’s all virtual. Now, Sundance has been featuring cutting-edge content at its New Frontier category for more than 15 years now, and virtual reality has been playing a bigger and bigger part for the past few years.Read More →

By:
On:

Craft World grid will be celebrating their 11 year anniversary tomorrow, Wednesday, January 27 starting at 1 p.m. Pacific  time at the Jubilee Expo facility on the Jubilee region of the grid. The hypergrid address is craft-world.org:8002:jubilee. DJ Arianna, Dancegroup, and VJ Josina Burgess will host the event at 1Read More →

By:
On:

  AviWorlds has completed its migration to the multi-grid, hypergrid-enabled Gloebit virtual currency. “Gloebits have been working well for us,” AviWorlds CEO Josh Boam told Hypergrid Business. “I notice an improvement with transactions. The grid has sold a good handful of Gloebits from our Gloebits application.” With a local virtualRead More →

By:
On:

Apple’s first entry into virtual reality could be an expensive VR headset with limited AR capabilities, according to a Bloomberg report. “Apple Inc.’s first crack at a headset is designed to be a pricey, niche precursor to a more ambitious augmented reality product that will take longer to develop, accordingRead More →

By:
On:

Wouldn’t it be cool to fence with a real sword in VR? Russian VR studio Boxglass has released Fencer, a VR fencing trainer designed to help new players learn the sport of fencing while using a real fencing weapon. Fencer uses the Oculus Quest headset and controllers attached to aRead More →

By:
On:

Since it first began offering OpenSim hosting in 2011, Kitely has been known for its on-demand regions. The regions are activated when someone teleports in, and put to sleep when they’re not in use. This allowed the company to leverage Amazon cloud hosting and offer high-performance regions at a veryRead More →

By:
On:

OpenSim land area grew the equivalent of 2,270 standard regions and OpenSim grids reported more than 4,000 new registered users this month compared to last month. However, the number of active users dropped by 646. This loss — and then some — could be attributed to Foundation Grid and VirtualRead More →

By:
On:

Darkmoon Breedables is celebrating its one year anniversary as the first horse animesh breedable OpenSim and the first breedable in DigiWorldz. “Breedables” are in-world pets users can breed for a variety of traits. Darkmoon’s low-lag breedable horses can also be trained for racing and riding when they become mature, DarkmoonRead More →

By:
On:

A new VR glove could be coming that tracks the motion of each finger and thumb bone. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just published a patent application from Apple for a VR glove made with smart fabric that will be capable of this fine-level motion capture. The glove shouldRead More →

By:
On:

Around 35 percent of businesses plan on implementing virtual or augmented reality technology in 2021 according to a recently published research report by GetApp, involving 700 small and medium business leaders from around the world. According to the new report, small businesses will adopt virtual technologies to respond to newRead More →

By:
On:

Most of us will be stuck at home for New Year’s Eve, but that doesn’t mean we can celebrate at a concert in Iceland — virtually, at least. Iceland has announced Polar Beat, a live and fully virtual New Year’s Eve concert experience, with Northern Lights and fireworks guaranteed. Icelandic techRead More →

By:
On:

You can now join virtual meetings in any location and see avatars of coworkers or friends. The VR and AR collaboration platform Spatial released a free AR app for iOS and Android last week. Instead of using a bulky and expensive VR headset, the platform now works with just aRead More →

By:
On:

No need to socially distance in OpenSim this holiday season. Grids are going all out with hunts, songs, dances and parties. Here are a few places to start and things to do. Shop, party and hunt on Virtual Dream grid The French Virtual Dream grid‘s Christmas market is now openRead More →

By:
On:

More than 5,000 new users signed up on OpenSim grids in the last 30 days, the largest gain in four months. In addition, the public OpenSim grids added the equivalent of 367 standard regions and 548 new active users. Kitely gained the highest number of regions this month with 189Read More →

By:
On:

Tangle grid is closing down its expo series after six years of events. “I want to thank all that have participated and visited us at the Expo over the years,” grid co-founder Leslie Kling told Hypergrid Business. She explained that there wasn’t enough interest to keep the program going. TheRead More →

By:
On:

Update: On Saturday, Gloebit CEO Christopher Colosi told Hypergrid Business that Gloebit is back up. “The website is back up,” he said. “The API service should also be back up, though we are still testing some things and we have a lot of cleanup to do once we know everythingRead More →

By:
On:

  Artificial intelligence is doing some amazing things in 2020. It’s driving our cars. It can create art and music. It’s reading our brain waves and letting us control computers and other devices with our minds. AI will only get better at all these things, and some new developments thatRead More →

By:
On:

Half Life: Alyx is the 2020\’s VR game of the year. If you want to play the game the best way, we’ve put together a guide to the best VR headset for Half Life: Alyx. What is Half Life: Alyx? Half Life: Alyx is a VR game built from theRead More →

By:
On:

2020 has been a challenging year and nobody could be blamed if they were looking for a little reprieve from reality. One outlet that’s gained in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic is virtual reality or VR.Read More →

By:
On:

You can now create apps controlled by a user’s thoughts. Yup, you can operate computers, lights, TVs, music, games with your mind — as long as you’ve got a little lighter-sized device strapped to your head. Neurotechnology startup NextMind is now shipping its 399 Euro development kit for a real-timeRead More →

By:
On:

  Mursion, an immersive VR training platform focused on improving emotional intelligence in the workplace, announced that it closed $20 million in Series B funding led by Leeds Illuminate, a growth equity firm dedicated to partnering with high growth companies in education and workforce development. Mursion uses a combination ofRead More →

By:
On:

Helsinki based Varjo has launched its next generation XR and VR headsets with human-eye resolution for use in industries where high visual accuracy is important, including training and simulation, engineering, research, medical and design. With most of the world working remotely and demand for virtual and mixed reality on theRead More →

By:
On:

GasWorks Blues, the performance club formerly based on the Alternate Metaverse grid, held its first grand opening at the GasWorks region on AviWorlds this week. “It is an opportunity to gain new followers, that perhaps we hadn’t reached previously, and we feel that the Aviworlds grid is well positioned forRead More →

By:
On:

The Hypergrid Hoppers, a club for the explorers of the OpenSim hypergrid, is going to Amerika Monday. That’s a virtual world where the travellers will be able to get a preview of Biennale Amerika Art festival. The trip will begin at the HG Hoppers region of Craft World at 1Read More →

By:
On:

The eighth annual OpenSimulator Community Conference will be held virtually on the OpenSimulator Conference Center grid on December 5 and 6, and registration is now open. The OpenSimulator Community Conference is an annual conference that focuses on the developer and user community surrounding the OpenSimulator software. “2020 is a year inRead More →

By:
On:

Update 10/30: The migration is now complete and the grid is back online. The AviWorlds grid, formerly owned by Alexandro Pomposelli and now owned by Josh Boam, is down due to a server migration. “We will be back up in a few days,” Boam told Hypergrid Business. “We’re upgrading ourRead More →

By:
On:

The Great Canadian Grid is back, grid owner Rod MacDougall — also known as Roddie Macchi in-world – told Hypergrid Business. “I have spent an entire year day and night learning the back end of everything,” he said. Previously, MacDougall used an OpenSim hosting provider to manage the back end, aRead More →

By:
On:

On this day in 2008, Crista Lopes, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, sent an email to the OpenSim developers mailing list. “I started working on an extension to OpenSim that makes it work in peer-to-peer mode… I’m really excited to say that this is working!” sheRead More →

By:
On:

A virtual walkthrough of the new planned Pentecost Church of Lumberton in North Carolina has been built in Tangle Grid in order to show parishioners what the final building will look like. The virtual build was commissioned by the senior reverend to help the church raise money for construction andRead More →

By:
On:

OpenSim grids added a total of 1,574 standard region equivalents to their land area in the last one month, while the number of active users increased by 375. On a further positive note, OpenSim gained an additional 4,000 registered users. OSgrid gained the largest land area in terms of theRead More →

By:
On:

Update 10/25: The new grid, now called AviTron, has changed its prices yet again today. For some reason, though this is a commercial grid, Pomposelli is calling the rents “donations” and it starts at $10 per month for a 15,000-prim region and goes up to $200 a month for upRead More →

By:
On:

Update 10/15: Alex Pomposelli just sent out an email saying that Virtual Ville was back up and asking for financial support. “The grid is online now and if we will do this I am going to need your help and support,” he wrote. “The estate of my finances is critical afterRead More →

By:
On:

A new virtual reality camera was successfully delivered to the International Space Station today. It’s not the first VR camera on the ISS, but this new one will allow the astronauts to film spacewalks in virtual reality. According to NASA, The International Space Station Experience is creating an immersive virtual reality seriesRead More →

By:
On:

OpenSim grew by more than 1,700 regions over the past month while active users increased by more than 1,400. There is usually a seasonal uptick in the fall as students and teachers return back to school. This year, that may have been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well. OpenSimRead More →

By:
On:

“Garden of Eden,” the first in a series of three live VR art explorations, concerts, and shows organized by HBO, kicks off today at 10 p.m. Eastern time on VRChat, a social VR platform. Those without a VR headset can watch the “Garden of Eden” livestream on YouTube and will beRead More →

By:
On:

The Fire and Ice Opensim grid is running an abstract art competition to celebrate hitting several milestones this month. “The theme is abstract art, beyond this, the scope is very open,” grid owner Sara Payne told Hypergrid Business. “Entries can be your own art. Additionally, they can also be anRead More →

By:
On:

Multi-grid payments provider Gloebit has been experiencing technical difficulties these past few months, resulting in processing details. But the core problem has been fixed, company founder and CEO Christopher Colosi told Hypergrid Business “I’m still waiting to hear from more people,” he said. “But in my own testing, I completedRead More →

By:
On:

Virtuality Grid halted new user registrations in July and will wrap up all operations at the end of this month. Region archive files — OARs — and cash refunds are being distributed now. “Once that is done, all DNS will be shut down,” grid founder Candi Infiniti told Hypergrid Business.Read More →

By:
On:

AOs — Animation Over-riders — are popular scripted items in Second Life and OpenSim that replace the built-in system animations for walking, running, sitting, and other basic motions, but they usually bog down servers. I have written a drop-in replacement script that uses a feature of OpenSim to make theseRead More →

By:
On:

Kay McLennan, OpenSim educator and professor at the Tulane School of Professional Advancement is holding a survey to determine how educators are changing their use of virtual worlds and virtual reality during this coming academic year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “As evidenced by educator participation in annual OpenRead More →