Virtual circus travels UK bars to promote liqueur brand
Critical Mass has unveiled its national product launch campaign for Fire Eater – the hot cinnamon liqueur presented by Early Times, a Brown-Forman brand.
Category: News
Control VR gloves halfway to $250,000 Kickstarter goal after one day
Today, the leading contender for the default virtual reality input device are hand-held controllers such as the Razer Hydra from Sixense, or camera-based systems which are limited by the camera’s line of sight. Now,...
Quantum teleportation brings reliable, super-fast networks a step closer
Scientists at Delft University in the Netherlands have improved the accuracy of a quantum entanglement-based communication channel from one in 100 million in a previous experiment in Maryland to 100 percent today. The information...
850,000-polygon Greek statues imported into virtual world
Press release: MellaniuM creates 3D museum art 100 times more detailed than Second Life HAMILTON, Ontario — Virtual design firm MellaniuM has developed a process to to import extremely detailed objects into spaces running on...
OpenSim conference scheduled for November
Press release: Announcing the 2nd Annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2014 June 3, 2014 – AvaCon and the Overte Foundation are pleased to announce the second annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2014, to take place virtually...
Kitely fixes hypergrid address bug
The on-demand Kitely grid has fixed a minor but annoying hypergrid bug and will be donating it to the OpenSim community. The bug fix was part of a bigger collection of bug fixes and...
Reader numbers hit record high in May
According to the latest Google Analytics report, the number of unique monthly readers on Hypergrid Business passed 19,000 this month. Readership normally goes up and down a bit every month, depending on the season,...
Immersive Education Initiative endorses Bitcoin
BOSTON — The Immersive Education Initiative today announced that all official Immersive Education events will now accept Bitcoin starting with Immersion 2014 in Los Angeles next week, followed by the European Immersive Education Summit in...
AviWorlds shuts down again after attack
The much-troubled AviWorlds grid is down again. The grid has been a target for controversy since its first launched in early 2011 as AvWorlds with a plan of being the most expensive social grid....
Zetamex no longer hosting minigrids
Las Vegas-based OpenSim hosting company Zetamex will stop hosting minigrids on June 1, company CEO Timothy Rogers announced yesterday. Zetamex will continue to provide hosting for individual regions and full grids. A minigrid —...
OSgrid begins work on 7th birthday celebration
Sarah Kline, moderator of the OpenSim Google Plus community, posted a note today that the grid is now accepting reservations for the festivities. The event will be held on July 26 and 27, and...
Utherverse developing Oculus-compatible VR platform
Vancouver-based Utherverse Digital Inc., a proprietary virtual world platform known for its adult content, is developing a new generation of its software that will not only be Oculus Rift compatible right from the start, but...
Zetamex creates new fast, scalable, self-healing inventory system
Las Vegas-based OpenSim hosting provider Zetamex has announced a new inventory system that promises to be faster and more scalable than the default OpenSim infrastructure, with the ability to heal itself automatically if data...
Littlefield helps Serbian flood victims
Littlefield Grid is raising money for charity victims with donation boards on its high-traffic public areas. “We hope that it helps,” said grid owner Walter Balazic. The project was spearheaded by one of the...
Second Life releases Oculus Rift project viewer
In March, Second Life released an Oculus Rift-compatible viewer to a limited number of beta testers, including our own Ann Cudworth. Yesterday, an updated version of this viewer has been released, and this time...
New in Oculus: Chickens, porn and Chuck E. Cheese’s
Quick round up of three stories that I had missed, in case you get all your virtual reality news from Hypergrid Business. Virtual reality comes to Chuck E. Cheese’s A $350 virtual reality headset might...
FrancoGrid holds avatar competition in June, registration deadline Monday
FrancoGrid is holding its Fest’Avi event June 6 through 8 and would-be participants have until Monday, May 26, to submit their avatar designs to the competition. Registration is open to both local residents and...
Silicon Valley Virtual Reality conference videos posted
Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference & Expo 2014 — billed as the world’s first professional conference for consumer virtual reality — kicked off today with Oculus Rift inventor Palmer Luckey and other hardware innovators...
Beijing team creates open source Rift
A Beijing-based company, ANTVR Technology Co., Ltd., has created an open source version of the Oculus Rift and has reached $145,000 of its $200,000 Kickstarter goal after just four days. This particular device falls into...
InWorldz steps up forum moderation on $1,950 land loss
Due to the loss of a major landowner after incivility on the forums, the commercial InWorldz grid will be stepping up moderation, InWorldz co-founder and CTO David Daeschler announced yesterday. “The equivalent of $1,950 per month...
CtrlAltStudio adds Xbox 360 controller support
For OpenSim’s Oculus Rift users, the standard keyboard-based interface leaves a lot to be desired, due to the fact that, with the headset on, you can’t see the keyboard. A video game controller, however,...
Craziest Oculus ripoff yet
I’ve written before about a few low-cost Oculus Rift alternatives, which basically put a cellphone inside some kind of frame. They include the Altergaze, which just concluded a successful Kickstarter with headset prices at around $140....
Virtual architecture tool wins $70,000 prize
IrisVR, a Vermont-based startup focusing on 3D visualization of architectural designs, won a $70,000 grand prize at the LaunchVT competition on Thursday. The company’s software allows architects to fully immerse users inside the proposed...
Report: Consumer virtual reality market worth $5.2 billion by 2018
Press release: Consumer Virtual Reality market worth $5.2bn by 2018 Cambridge, U.K. — The consumer virtual reality market will be worth $5.2 billion by 2018, according to the latest KZero market sizing report on the...
Nine days left to help save net neutrality
Recent moves by the Federal Communications Commission suggest that Internet service providers will be allowed to charge extra for higher connection speeds. Not to customers — they are already paying extra for faster broadband....
New iPhone app animates avatar faces
Animation Technology Company Nito Launches Face Tracking App to Make 3D Avatars Come to Life LOS ANGELES, CA – Animation technology company Nito today launched a first-of-its kind iOS application that uses facial recognition and tracking...
SimValley expands with massive free land offer
SimValley, an international grid based in the Netherlands, just added more than 300 new regions as part of its plans for a massive free land give-away. Over the past couple of weeks, the grid...
Report: Augmented and virtual reality market to exceed $1bil by 2018
According to a new report from research firm Markets and Markets, the augmented reality and virtual reality market will reach $1.06 billion in 2018, with a compounded annual growth rate of more than 15...
19 hours to go on Altergaze Kickstarter
Boycotting the Oculus Rift because of the Facebook buyout? Or maybe the $350 price tag is too steep. You have 19 hours left to chip in for the Altergaze Kickstarter, which has already passed its...
Oculus Rift-based ad goes viral
A Swedish Internet service provider has created an ad to demonstrate how terrible slow Internet speeds are, with a viral video that uses the Oculus Rift. The company, Umea Energi put the Oculus Rift,...
OpenSim’s physical prims can now be up to 64 meters
Over the past two months, a number of bug fixes and improvements have made it into the OpenSim code base, according to core developer Justin Clark-Casey. The highlight is that the maximum physical prim...
Video shows how simulations help the military
A video released yesterday by the US Army Research Laboratory Simulation and Training Technology Center demonstrates the use of simulations throughout the US military — and the role that that outside contributors play in creating the...
High Fidelity to have nested content, peer-to-peer avatars
High Fidelity founder and CEO Philip Rosedale released a blog post a couple of days ago outlining the company’s network architecture. One unique aspect of the platform is that virtual objects are stored in...
Report cast spotlight on brands in virtual reality
A new report by UK research firm KZero highlights a number of brand-related projects in virtual reality. These include a recreation of the Wall from the Game of Thrones television series. You can read...
Virtuix announces $3 mil investment
Virtuix, the company that makes an omni-directional treadmill designed to work with the Oculus Rift, announced a $3 million investment round today. The company raised $1.1 million in a successful Kickstarter campaign last summer. The Omni...
VirWoX draining OMC accounts
A few months ago, I wrote about the VirWoX exchange having tons of money just sitting around in the OMC accounts, OMC being a hypergrid-enabled, multi-grid currency used by several OpenSim grids. Well it turns out that...
Why Kitely’s $20 plan is the better deal
It’s hard to tell from the Kitely home page, but the $14.95 price plan is not Kitely’s best deal. It can take a bit of hunting around to find it, but, buried deep...
Why Tangle grid broke their mega welcome area
Tangle Grid is a small, new commercial grid with about a hundred regions and 70 active users. It used to have a nice, big welcome area — a four-region megaregion. That didn’t work out,...
Kitely and the hypergrid: halfway there
Kitely has done about half of the work needed to enable full hypergrid access, said Oren Hurvitz, the company’s vice president of research and development, in an announcement today. Kitely is the sixth-most popular OpenSim grid...
Garry’s Mod has nearly 5 million players
Garry’s Mod, a multi-player 3D sandbox game, has nearly 5 million players on Steam, according to a report released today by Ars Technica. New World Notes‘ Hamlet Au suggests that Linden Lab take another...
DynDNS starts charging, here are some other options
DynDNS is a service popular with small and personal grids that don’t want to spent $10 a year on a real domain name, but also don’t want to force their users to type a...
Zandramas connects to Kitely Market
Last month, the Kitely grid rolled out hypergrid delivery of content sold in the stores of its fast-growing Kitely Market. But some closed grids are getting in on the action as well. Zandramas, a...
Region counts drop for second month
The total number of regions on OpenSim’s 40 largest grids fell for the second month in a row, only the second time this has happened since we started keeping track in mid 2009. The...
VWBPE draws record numbers with Rosedale, Ebbe keynotes
This year’s Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conferences brought in a total of 4,500 people, who attended in-person in Second Life and OSgrid, and online through streaming channels. There might be some overlap...
Another World grid closes for personal reasons
Another World, a small commercial grid, announced that it is shutting its doors May 12 because of personal reasons, but it will reopen again at some point in the future. “Due to some real...
Please excuse the mess
Here at Hypergrid Business, we’ve been working away on a new, modern responsive design for the website. Some of you may have already seen the proposed design, and had some thoughts about it. We’ll...
Brief Thoughts on Ebbe’s Keynote at VWBPE 2014 in Second Life
It was good to hear Ebbe Altberg, Linden Lab’s new CEO, speak at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education 2014 conference in Second Life yesterday. Ebbe addressed a number of pain points with the educator...
Grids offer music, egg hunts in April
This month has the usual music events and parties across the grids, the Robstock Festival, and Easter-themed activities. Robstock Festival crosses grids Robstock 2014 is on three different grids this year — 3rd Rock...
Linden CEO to keynote education conference
Press release: VWBPE Announces Invited Keynote Ebbe Altberg The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference announced that Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab, the makers of Second Life, will be a featured keynote...
IRS: Bitcoins are property, not currency
If you have been worrying about how to report your Bitcoin transactions or trading profits to the IRS, worry no more. The tax agency issued new guidance this week, explaining that Bitcoin should be...
Facebook buys Oculus Rift for $2 billion
In a stunning development for the virtual reality industry, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced today that his company will buy Oculus VR Inc., the company behind the leading virtual reality headset. “The incredible thing...
Sony unveils VR headset
Virtual reality isn’t just for Kickstarter start-ups anymore. Tonight, Sony unveiled their new “Project Morpheus” virtual reality headset for PlayStation 4 in San Francisco at the Game Developers Conference, the worlds largest game industry...
Unity to support WebGL
Press release: Unity 5 Announced at GDC 2014, Pre-Order Begins SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Unity Technologies unveils Unity 5, the next generation of the award-winning Unity multiplatform engine and development tools, during its Developer...
OpenSim regions drop on OSgrid’s spring cleanup
The top 40 OpenSim grid lost nearly 5,000 regions this month, as a result of a long-overdue spring clearing on OSgrid. The last time there was a net drop in regions in OpenSim was...
Immersive tech group to launch
Press release: The Immersive Technology Alliance to Launch at Game Developers Conference Non-profit organization represents and grows Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, 3D and Gesture markets. San Francisco – Originally founded in 2009, The Stereoscopic...
VR and AR markets worth $1.06 billion by 2018
Press release: Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Market worth $1.06 Billion by 2018 DALLAS — According to a new report, Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality Market – Global Forecast and Analysis to 2013 – 2018 published by...
Serious Play Conference moves to LA
Press release: Serious Play Conference Moves to USC in Los Angeles July 22-24 Event Examines Value of Games for Engagement, Learning, Retention LOS ANGELES – The Serious Play Conference, a gathering of game industry luminaries...
Rosedale, Second Life CEO to keynote education conference
Press release: VWBPE 2014 Kick-Off “Connections” March 12 — The four-day Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference starts on April 9, and will feature keynotes by Philip Rosedale, CEO of High Fidelity, founder of Linden...
Heart Botanicals comes to Kitely
Lilith Heart’s Heart Botanicals is now on the Kitely Market, with a Kitely Market store selling exportable sets of palm trees for $4.95 to $9.95 each. “Exportable” means that the plants can be taken...
Kitely starts testing hypergrid delivery
The on-demand Kitely grid announced the start of hypergrid delivery testing today. The Kitely Market currently has over 2,000 different product listings, about half of which are marked with the “export” permission, allowing buyers...
Patent for multi-user virtual reality platform goes on sale
Press release: Multi-User Virtual Reality System for Sale from ICAP Patent Brokerage New York — ICAP Patent Brokerage announces for sale a patent portfolio disclosing an improved, interactive multi-user virtual reality system from Louis de Groot,...
Variable regions come to OpenSim
Folks disappointed with the standard 16-acre region size can now have variable-sized regions in OpenSim, as long as they are comfortable running experimental code, and are using the latest viewers. Those using the official...
AviWorlds shuts off hypergrid for third time
The much-troubled AviWorlds grid has turned off hypergrid connectivity for the third time.
Army releases grid management tool
The U.S. Army, with its MOSES grid, is one of the more high-profile users of OpenSim. But the military gives back, as well. The Army’s Research Laboratory Simulation and Training Technology Center has been expanding Intel’s...
Bitcoin approaching diminishing returns
There’s been a lot of bad news about Bitcoin in the media recently — the problems at the Mt. Gox exchange, regulatory action in China and Russia, the Silk Road arrests and, more recently,...
CasperTech takes over text-only METAbolt viewer
UK-based CasperTech Ltd., is taking over development of the text-only METAbolt viewer, company director Casper Warden announced recently. “It was recently announced that the METAbolt project was being discontinued,” said Warden in the announcement....
PocketCake converts 3D models into Rift-ready simulations
Press release: Virtual Reality Set to Revolutionize Architecture, Engineering and Real Estate PocketCake’s virtual reality services, combined with Oculus Rift hardware, allow clients to experience a project in an immersive 3D environment for a...
February growth slower for OpenSim
The past four weeks have been slow for OpenSim, with the top 40 grids gaining only 153 regions. This is the first time the growth has been under 500 regions since last April. OSgrid...
Community guidelines now in place
If you have read my previous article, New comment moderation policy, you know that moderation has been proposed for Hypergrid Business. Maria and I have worked on the guidelines, which are listed below, and...
Military releases Atropia simulation
The U.S. Army’s Atropia simulation build — all nine regions of it — is now available for anyone to download and install on their own grid. The work is released under a Creative Commons...
Podex, Zetamex team up on new currency
UK-based virtual currency exchange Podex has teamed up with Last Vegas-based OpenSim hosting company Zetamex to offer a new currency option for OpenSim grids. Today, grids have three choices for in-world payments: a local currency...
Cloud Party closing in February
Cloud Party, a mesh-based virtual world that runs in a browser, announced that it will close on February 21 and provided instructions for exporting meshes and images. “The time has come for the Cloud...
Grid activity down slightly in January
This year begins with an anniversary celebration on Dorena’s World, rapid growth on the newly-opened Great Canadian Grid, and a positive reaction to pricing changes on Kitely. The top 40 OpenSim grids by land...
Overstock now accepts Bitcoin
Bitcoin’s network effect got a big boost today, since the nation’s second largest pure-play e-tailer, Overstock.com, began accepting it as payment for all purchases. “We just went live minutes ago,” Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne...
Zetamex announces bounty for Mumble development
OpenSim hosting company Zetamex has announced an award for anyone who finishes up work on the Mumble-Whisper open source voice system for OpenSim. Currently, the two main options for OpenSim voice are Freeswitch, an...
Top 40 grids pass 30,000 regions
OpenSim’s 40 largest grids passed the 30,000 region mark this month, with a new total of 30,214 regions, a record high. The number of registered users on those grids reached 324,021 — with more than 4,000...
AviWorlds grid down yet again
AviWorlds, a Brazilian OpenSim grid with a history of trouble, seems to be on the outs again. The grid went down on Tuesday night and is officially closed, according to hosting provider Zetamex. “The...
Cyramix offers Wonderland hosting
Press release: Cyramix the new hosting service for your virtual world Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) with the help of WonderBuilders, Inc. has been using Open Wonderland, a Java-based open source virtual world platform...
Bitcoin gains legitimacy with US government, companies
Bitcoin, a virtual currency, was recognized by the US Department of Justice as a “legal means of exchange” last week, and the number of companies accepting it in payment continues to grow. The most...
Fourth annual OpenSim grid survey
The results of the 2013 Hypergrid Business OpenSim Grid Survey are in, with 654 votes cast. Just over 90 percent said they would recommend the grid to others, a slight increase from last year’s...
InWorldz prospers, 3DMee closes in November
The top 40 OpenSim grids have reached 29,617 regions, an increase of 912 regions since this time last month. They also reported 319,872 total registered users and 19,527 active users this month, a total of 3,675 new registered...
Grids gear up for November holidays
The OpenSim grids are getting ready for the holiday season, with themed events and special promotions. Littlefield Grid celebrates Dr. Who anniversary, Thanksgiving and Homecoming Littlefield grid is celebrating a number of holidays this...
Augmented Reality Market & Virtual Reality Market Expected to 1.06 Billion by 2018
[254 Pages Report] Augmented Reality Market & Virtual Reality Market categories the global market by Technology (Semi & Fully Immersive VR, Mobile & Spatial AR), by Sensors & Components (Data Glove, Accelerometer, HMD, ICs), by Applications (Military…
OpenSim land area hits new high
The top 40 OpenSim grids have reached 28,705 regions, a new record high and an increase of 578 regions since this time last month. They also reported 316,197 total registered users and 18,475 active users this...
New VR treadmill allows shuffling in place
Press release: New Device to Revolutionize Gaming in Virtual Realities How is it possible to walk through 3D virtual realities while staying in one place? Engineers from the Vienna University of Technology have solved...
ProtoSphere wins training award
Press release: PPD and ProtonMedia Recognized for Advancing Clinical Research Associate Training Brandon Hall Gold Award honors innovation in employee learning and development WILMINGTON, N.C. & LANSDALE, Pa.–Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) and ProtonMedia...
New Spectra7 Chip Enables Wearable Virtual Reality Experience
Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. TSX VENTURE : SEV October 10, 2013 09:30 ET Ultra HD Video, 7.1 Audio Direct to Human Senses TORONTO, ONTARIO and PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA–(Marketwired – Oct. 10, 2013) – Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. (“Spectra7”) (TSX VENTURE:…
New OpenSim release supports groups, export perms
A new official release of the OpenSimulator server software was released yesterday, version 0.7.6, with out-of-the-box support for groups and profiles, many scripting improvements, better teleports, better voice, materials, and the new hypergrid export...
Kitely eliminates Market listing fees, plans exports
Update: Read Kitely’s announcement about listing fees and merchant exports here Kitely continues to roll out improvements to its marketplace, with listing fees eliminated as of tomorrow, and a plan to allow merchants to...
Should New World Studio connect to grids?
Currently, the New World Studio distribution of OpenSim — the single easiest way to get an OpenSim mini-grid up and running — only runs in standalone mode. This means that your region, or group...
On the grids in October
October promises to be a busy grid on the OpenSim grids, with German residents celebrating Oktoberfest, some grids celebrating their anniversaries, and everyone celebrating Halloween. If you’re looking for a group to get you...
Much-hated ‘4096 bug’ fixed
It’s been more than four years since the hypergrid was invented, and the “4096 bug” has plagued hypergrid travelers for all that time, preventing users from jumping more than 4,096 regions in any direction....
3d framework turns Web sites into virtual worlds
Press release: XR SDK: 3D Player Framework that can turn any website into a Virtual World PHILADELPHIA — After over two years of development, Extreme Reality Inc. is announcing the release of XR SDK, a framework...
Convention, new market spurs OpenSim traffic
The top 40 OpenSim grids have reached 28,186 regions, a new record high and an increase of 578 regions since this time last month. They also reported 309,792 total registered users and 18,442 active users this...
Avination makes “notable” contribution to OpenSim conference
Press release: Avination is sponsoring and attending the first annual OpenSimulator Community Conference on September 7-8, 2013 The first annual OpenSimulator Community Conference will open on September 7, 2013 and Avination, one of the main contributors will not...
OpenSim conference starts Saturday
The first annual OpenSimulator Community Conference will open this Saturday morning Pacific time with a keynote panel of core developers discussing the future of the OpenSimulator platform. Core developer panelists include Justin Clark-Casey, who is the...
Oculus Rift viewer released for all grids
CtrlAltStudio released a viewer yesterday that can be used to access Second Life and OpenSim grids with an Oculus Rift. This is a preview viewer, which can be used to walk and look around...
Arch Virtual releases Rift-ready architectural app
Press release: Arch Virtual releases architectural visualization application built with Unity3D game engine, including Oculus Rift compatibility This week, Arch Virtual released a new interactive, real-time architectural experience for the Panoptic Group, based out of...
Oculus Rift announces app store
The folks behind the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset announced an app store yesterday, called Oculus Share. The site is intended for developers at first, but the company plans to grow it into a...
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