Report: VR, AR poised for growth
Enterprises are optimistic about the potential of virtual and augmented reality, according to a recent report by Perkins Coie in collaboration with XR Association trade group and venture capital firm Boost VC. Two-thirds of companies expect to increase spending on immersive technologies this year compared to 2019, the report said, withRead More →
Virtuality Grid turns off hypergrid access, offers migration for Avination users
The commercial Virtuality Grid has turned off hypergrid access as part of a switch to a different version of OpenSim, grid owners announced Monday in a Facebook post. Grid residents will no longer be able to teleport out to other grids, move content between grids, or send messages to friendsRead More →
AviWorlds shuts down. Again.
The on-and-off AviWorlds grid is off again. By my count, this is the 13th time that the grid has officially closed. And, as usual, grid owner Alex Pomposelli says that this time it’s for good. “This is it,” he told Hypergrid Business. “I’m no longer going to open AviWorlds. The domainsRead More →
OpenSim Projects
$16 per month for a single island up to 16 standard regions in size, first month free from OpenSim Projects, an independent hosting company.Read More →
Great Canadian Grid shuts down
Update from GeVolution founder Cliff Hopkins: There are more than 500 OARs, which are stored on Great Canadian Grid servers. Hopkins has access to those servers and will be distributing the OARs. GeVolution will pay for the hosting costs for those servers for the next month. Once Hopkins gets theRead More →
Social gatherings in a virtual world
Social gatherings in a virtual world? Some of you might ask what this means. I have been in virtual worlds since 2004. During that time, my friends have fallen into two broad categories. People I know in the physical world and those I know through virtual worlds. The COVID-19 outbreak andRead More →
High-end VR makers try to gain traction lackluster market
With businesses, schools and other organizations sending many employees to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, this could be a good time for organizations to take another look at virtual reality. And VR manufacturers have just released some nice new high-end headsets. Earlier this month, HTC announced two business-orientedRead More →
OpenSim land continues rising as users drop
The total size of the OpenSim metaverse grew this month, as 79 grids reported increases in land area, led by the non-profit OSgrid, which gained more than 500 standard region equivalents. Discovery Grid gained 249 regions and Kitely and ZetaWorlds both gained more than 100 regions each. As a result, totalRead More →
China’s COVID-19 epidemic in VR
The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be turning a corner in China, with no new cases reported today, but the virus is still spreading aggressively around much of the world, including the U.S. and Europe. For a glimpse of what it was like on the ground in China, check out thisRead More →
AR Helps Companies Work During Coronavirus Outbreak
Scope AR’s WorkLink platform, an augmented reality tool that provides AR-enabled remote assistance and step-by-step work instructions, is helping factories by having maintenance experts provide real-time remote assistance and work instructions to factory workers in geographies where Chinese experts are no longer allowed to travel due to COVID-19, previously knownRead More →
Best Places To Learn AR and VR Development Online in 2020
There are quite a handful of platforms that allow you to develop virtual reality and augmented reality apps and content, but it is not easy to find an offline virtual reality school or academy with which to train for those interested in developing AR and VR apps. Udemy may beRead More →
HG Hoppers goes Medieval today
Epidemics on your mind? Then today’s virtual hypergrid field trip could be for you. The Hypergrid Hoppers will meet on Tuesday, February 25 at 1 p.m. Pacific Time, starting at the HG Hoppers region of Craft World for a “Medieval meets Extinction Global” field trip. The hypergrid address is craft-world.org:8002:HGRead More →
OpenSim stats decline reversed this month
OpenSim stats reversed a multi-month land area decline this month, with slight upticks in regions and registered users. Active monthly users were down by 1,523, but the loss was due to a stats issue on the Virtualife grid. Last month, the grid posted 2,888 active users, but Hypergrid Business readersRead More →
Dorena’s World turns ten
The German-language Dorena’s World grid turned ten years old this month. Dorena’s World is one of the oldest grids in OpenSim. Founder Dorena Verne first came to OpenSim because “curiosity killed the cat,” she told Hypergrid Business. While Verne was still in Second Life, she started the grid as aRead More →
Tangle Grid SciFi Expo starts next week
Exhibitors can already start setting up for February’s Sci-Fi Expo on Tangle Grid, grid owner Leslie Kling told Hypergrid Business. The month-long exposition, accessible to hypergrid visitors, officially opens on Wednesday, February 5 and runs through March 5. The hypergrid address is tanglegrid.net:8002. (Learn how to hypergrid here.) Writer Torn MacAlesterRead More →
Falling OpenSim numbers mark start of 2020
Stats were down this month in OpenSim, with the public grids reporting both fewer regions and fewer active users. It’s not an auspicious start to the year, especially since OpenSim stats declined in 2019 overall as well. This was the third consecutive month in which the total land area fell.Read More →
DreamNation resolves to bring new users to OpenSim in 2020
DreamNation draws a great deal of its membership from Second Life members who have never experienced OpenSim worlds. DreamNation has been recommended to them by our own membership base as a great place to enjoy an entirely different environment from that of the restrictive and, at times, censorious Second LifeRead More →
Hypergrid Hoppers go on a mystery trip tomorrow
The first Hypergrid Hoppers trip of 2020 is planned for this Tuesday, January 7, at 1 p.m. Pacific Time, starting at the HG Hoppers region of Craft World. The hypergrid address is craft-world.org:8002:HG Hoppers. “What place we will visit shall be a surprise,” organizer Ervare Farroretre told Hypergrid Business. “WeRead More →
VR startup helps users find content
Press release: VIRTUAL REALITY START-UP IMMERSIONN OPENS FOR BUSINESS New Discovery Engine for Immersive VR Content Launches with ‘Immersive Journalism’ Partnerships with Dagens Nyheter and Euronews 6 January 2019, London: Immersionn, a content discovery engine for virtual reality, today announced that it had officially launched its platform for subscribers and VRRead More →
The year in grid stats
Over the past year, the public OpenSim grids lost both land area and active users. Since last December, grids lost the equivalent of 8,276 standard-sized regions, going from 81,326 regions to 73,050. And the total number of actives fell by 2,019, from 37,745 to 35,726. However, some individual grids didRead More →
OpenSim: A year in review
This past year has been full of questions for the OpenSim community. Who are we? Where are we going? Is the platform even worth it? The OpenSimulator software dates back to January 2007, according to the official history of the project. The open source virtual world software was meant toRead More →
Ring in the New Year on the hypergrid
There will be New Year’s Eve party all over OpenSim tomorrow night, Dec. 31 — and during the day, as well. Mark your calendars — all times below are U.S. Pacific time. Caribou on Kitely at noon Get a head start on your New Year’s Eve celebration with DJ SaraRead More →
Great Canadian Grid launches fundraiser to save grid
[Update: Since the article was first posted, the total raised has increased to $1,120.] The Great Canadian Grid is holding a fundraiser to raise money to pay for technical help to restore the grid, and to pay for servers. As of this writing, the grid has raised $385 towards theRead More →
Personal feud takes down Great Canadian Grid
A personal dispute between the owners of Great Canadian Grid and DigiWorldz has resulted in an outage on the Great Canadian Grid. DigiWorldz, which is not only a grid but also an OpenSim services provider, had been providing some critical grid services to Great Canadian Grid and cut off thoseRead More →
New OpenSim comic celebrates the holidays
The metaverse is filled with humor it’s everywhere; it is what leads us back time and again, those hilarious memories with friends. With this in mind, I asked Maria what her position was on having a comic strip here at Hypergrid Business featuring the comedy of OpenSim humorist Reyn Softly.Read More →
AviWorlds renews free region offer
AviWorlds, the grid that oscillates between proclaiming itself the highest-priced grid and the lowest-priced grid is back on the lowest-priced side again, with a free region offer for all residents. Addition regions are available for as low as $5 a month for a standard-sized, 15,000-prim region, and up to $25Read More →
New Dayturn release supports Bakes on Mesh
The OpenSim-specific Dayturn viewer was updated this weekend with Bakes on Mesh support. According to Dayturn developer and Xmir grid founder Geir Nøklebye, this viewer is a big improvement over previous versions. “It is a significant change for anyone using a mesh avatar because it lets you use old systemRead More →
Fire and Ice Grid
US $6 for a 20,000-prim region on the hypergrid-enabled Fire and Ice grid, with hypergrid and Gloebits. Each region can be a variable-sized region at no extra fee.Read More →
December users up on conference, holiday events
Land area went down slightly but active users were up this month, thanks to the OpenSim Community Conference and holiday events. The total number of standard region equivalents on OpenSim’s public grids dropped by just over 1,000, from 74,063 to 73,050. The number of active users went up by 137Read More →
OpenSimFest calls for exhibitors, performers, merchants and volunteers
This year’s OpenSimFest will be held in March and exhibitors, performers, merchants, and volunteers are encouraged to participate. OpenSimFest is a yearly OpenSimulator community event that brings together different parts of the community in one place. “This is our second year of running OpenSimFest and with last year’s success, weRead More →
Readers optimistic about OpenSim’s future
Hypergrid Business readers were more optimistic about the fate of OpenSim this year, more satisfied with its technical progress and ecosystem, and the number of readers who planned to spend more time in OpenSim next year increased as well. However, this year’s respondents were slightly less likely to think thatRead More →
OpenSim conference starts today
The seventh annual OpenSimulator Community Conference starts today, at 7 a.m. Pacific on the OSCC grid. Hypergrid address: cc.opensimulator.org:8002. Conference schedule #OSCC19 features over 60 speakers sharing innovative content, dynamic short presentations, and panels that all take place Saturday, December 14th and Sunday, December 15th within our OSCC Keynote regions.Read More →
High Fidelity is basically shutting down
High Fidelity is shutting down its apps, marketplace and virtual currency, shutting down its open source project, and laying off about half its staff, founder Philip Rosedale announced in a post rather misleadingly titled “Updates, and a New Beginning.” Rosedale is best known as the founder of Second Life. HighRead More →
Tour Spaceflight Museum on Friday
This Friday, the public is invited to tour the International Spaceflight Museum in Kitely. one of the several community social events organized to coincide with this year’s OpenSim Community Conference. ISM Exhibit Building Chair Mike Lorrey will personally lead and narrate a tour of the ISMuseum region in Kitely, withRead More →
How I brought one of my first jewelry creations to the OSCC
The 2019 OpenSimulator Community Conference is this weekend, Dec. 14 and 15, and I enquired as to whether or not they would accept my jewelry as an art exhibit. Frans Charming said yes — if it did not exceed 20,000 vertices. Looking at all I had created, I found inRead More →
OpenSim conference is this weekend
Join us this weekend for the 7th annual OpenSimulator Community Conference 2019 celebrating the community and development of OpenSimulator opensource software. OSCC19 features over 60 speakers leading presentations, workshops, panel sessions, music, and social events across the diversity of the OpenSimulator user base. View the #OSCC19 Schedule here. Attending the conference event isRead More →
Where to find jewelry design inspiration
Creating jewelry for me has become quite the obsession, so much so that I feel it is now time to teach others just how amazing creating jewelry can be. Where does my inspiration come from? I get inspiration for my design ideas from shapes of nature, including flowers, stars andRead More →
How the Nuna Gallery came to be
Big things grow from small things. Sometimes a couple of small things collide and merge and grow into a really big thing. I recall first stepping into virtual reality some years ago, into Second Life, and thinking “What the…?” From that very first exposure, looking through the eyes of anRead More →
Discovery’s Winter Market Opens Saturday
Discovery Grid will hold the grand opening of its 2019 Virtual Seattle Winter Market 2019 on Saturday, December 7, 2019. The market will be open until January 7, 2020. The hypergrid address is discoverygrid.net:8002:Seattle. The market’s region coordinates are 503/448/46. This makes the second pop-up market for the grid, butRead More →
Great Cyber Monday deals on VR at Amazon
Cyber Monday is here, and that means great deals on some of our favorite VR gadgets at Amazon.Read More →
HyperGrid Zone features artists, Christmas destinations
The December issue of HyperGrid Zone magazine is out, and packed with profiles of OpenSim artists and creators, as well as Christmas events and destinations. The cover story is about the Nuna Gallery, which is located on 3rd Rock Grid and is having its grand opening on Dec. 15. To visitRead More →
AviWorlds celebrates a whole year without going out of business
AviWorlds is celebrating a whole year of not closing down. “To celebrate one year online AviWorlds is now offering $5 per month private regions with 25,000 prims,” grid owner Alexsandro Pomposelli told Hypergrid Business. The grid is currently hypergrid-enabled, allowing residents to teleport in and out to other grids, andRead More →
Black Friday deals in OpenSim
I’m barely able to type this right now. I have a massive turkey hangover. But that’s not stopping me from scouring the web for Black Friday deals. This is probably a bad idea, because my sales resistance is so low, but I just can’t help myself. But it’s not justRead More →
Kitely loosens rules for Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales
Normally, Kitely Market merchants can only put their products on sale 60 days after the end of the previous sale. The goal is to not have products on the site that are “on sale” all the time. This creates a problem for merchants who previously held a Halloween sale —Read More →
Tangle revamps free land, store regions
Tangle Grid has long offered free land plots to both local residents and hypergrid visitors, as well as free stores for merchants Now, the grid has expanded the offer. Instead of two free land regions, there are now six, joined together. “It gives it that community feeling,” grid owner LeslieRead More →
OpenSim grids gain users, decorate for the holidays
It may look at first glance that OpenSim numbers went down this month. The total number of region equivalents fell by 8,955 to 72,911, and the number of active users fell by 1,166 to 35,589. But in fact, grids actually gained both land and users. The discrepancy is due toRead More →
Tangle Grid’s Winter Expo starts Sunday
Tangle Grid‘s sixth annual Winter Expo starts Sunday, Dec. 1, and will run through Jan. 13, 2020. The expo is fully accessible to hypergrid visitors at tanglegrid.net:8002:expo isle. (Learn how to hypergrid here.) Visitors will be able to get freebie items, and also purchase content using the Gloebit currency. (Learn how to use GloebitsRead More →
IMA releases simplified SceneGate viewer for OpenSim
The Infinite Metaverse Alliance released the beta version of its simplified SceneGate viewer for OpenSim this weekend. The official launch of the viewer, which is available for Windows only, was Monday, November 25. Linux and Mac versions are coming soon, according to the organization. The SceneGate viewer is a forkRead More →
Russian cows find happiness in virtual reality
Some lucky cows are apparently finding virtual reality to be quite moo-ving. A farm in Russia gave its cows custom made virtual reality headsets in an attempt to reduce their anxiety and improve the quality and quantity of their milk production. The experiments took place northwest of Moscow at theRead More →
DreamGrid offers OpenSim-wide search function
Missing the ability to search for content across multiple OpenSim grids? Outworldz‘ Fred Beckhusen has an answer for you. The Diva Distro, from hypergrid inventor Crista Lopes, used to have a grid-wide search, but it’s been offline for several years., he said. “I have reverse engineered it and extended itRead More →
Nani releases new, possibly last, version of OpenSim
In addition to the official distribution of the OpenSimulator software, there are several variations of the open-source virtual world platform, including the mini-grid Diva Distro version, the easy-to-install-at-home DreamGrid version, the HalcyonGrid distribution from the now-defunct InWorldz grid, the AuroraSim distribution which hasn’t been updated since 2014, the still activelyRead More →
Virtual field trips at Penn State as educational as the real thing
Students at Penn State are taking a virtual field trip to a nearby rock outcropping, and early research suggests they’re getting as much out of the experience as the traditional in-person trip they’ve taken in the past. Alex Klippel, the university’s professor of geography, helped create the virtual field tripRead More →
HyperGrid Zone Magazine is out
The November issue of HyperGrid Zone Magazine includes a feature about how to get banned from DigiWorldz, as well as features about artists, performers, and designers from around the hypergrid. HyperGrid Zone Magazine is supported by DigiWorldz grid owner and founder Terry Ford, and is published monthly. “We’re workingRead More →
Profs bring Hamlet into AR
When you think of university level English education, an AR game might not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, with the current availability of powerful cellphones and inexpensive standalone VR headsets, augmented and virtual reality could be regularly used in college humanities courses sooner rather than later.Read More →
17 Halloween parties on the hypergrid!
Halloween is tomorrow, and OpenSim grids are turning up the spookiness — and the music. Get your costume on and check out these creepy spots tonight and tomorrow night! I’ve sorted the events below by time, in case you want to hit them all. OSgrid’s Halloween party Date and time:Read More →
Craft World rocks in this year’s OpenSim grid survey
Nearly 400 valid responses came in for the Tenth Annual OpenSim Grid Survey, and Craft World received the highest overall scores, followed by Encore Escape, Utopia Skye, and 3rd Rock Grid, in that order. Craft World, which will turn ten years old on January 27, is not only one of theRead More →
VR startup to help train US Air Force
The United States Air Force had a problem. They needed to train hundreds of airmen, but there weren’t enough real aircraft to go around. Virtual reality offered the next best thing. Vinci VR, a two year old virtual reality startup founded by a 22 year old college undergrad, was recently awardedRead More →
New OpenSim release has new script engine, animated mesh
The new release of the OpenSim server software is out, OpenSimulator 0.9.1.0, also known as “Snail.” It supports animated mesh, the new YEngine script engine, and fixes a few bugs, according to core developer Ubit Umarov. It is also the first release to have a name, not just a number.Read More →
The hypergrid turns 11
The hypergrid turned 11 years old today. If you’ve ever wanted to teleport from one virtual world to another and be able to make friends and go shopping on other worlds, that’s the hypergrid. You can even join groups and send messages to friends on other grids. And if youRead More →
Great Canadian Grid will cease new land rentals next year
The Great Canadian Grid, will be capping its land sales at the end of the year, the grid announced this week. As of January 1, existing customers will be able to rent additional regions, but regions will no longer be rented to new customers. The Great Canadian Grid is aRead More →
OpenSim conference seeks presenters
Are you interested in presenting a panel at this year’s OpenSim Community Conference in December? Visit the OSCC’s Call for Proposals page and fill out the form. This year’s conference will focus on visions of the future and the evolution of the platform. It will take place on December 14Read More →
Tag marketplace gaining fast on Kitely’s
The Tag Grid Marketplace, in development since 2015 but which the grid began widely promoting this year, has grown at nearly twice the rate of the Kitely Market over the past five months. Tag Grid merchants added 4,058 new item listings, while Kitely merchants added 2,289. However, Kitely is stillRead More →
OpenSim land, actives increased this month
OpenSim land area went up by 3,300 regions this month, with the largest growth recorded on OSgrid, which gained more than 1,500 regions. OSgrid conducted a major clean-up last month, and some of this increase may have been due to region owners reconnecting their regions to the grid. OSgrid alsoRead More →
Halloween expo starts next Tuesday on Tangle Grid
The sixth annual Tangle Grid Halloween Expo is live now and will have its grand opening next Tuesday, Oct. 15. It will run until November 19. The expo is fully accessible to hypergrid visitors at tanglegrid.net:8002:expo isle. (Learn how to hypergrid here.) Visitors will be able to get freebie items,Read More →
Oculus Go: Still worth buying in 2019
I’ve been using the Oculus Go for a while myself, and I’d say it’s totally worth it for most people, but it’s not for everybody.
If you’re new to VR and want to give it a try, then you should absolutely get the Oculus Go. It’s affordable, and you’re getting a lot of good stuff for just around $200.
Read More →
DigiWorldz down for unplanned maintenance
DigiWorldz, one of OpenSim’s most successful commercial grids, went down Tuesday due to a database issue and will be down for a few days while the grid uses the opportunity to do a major update. All in-world events have been canceled, and residents are used to follow the grid onRead More →
Monentes Jewelry expands from Kitely Market to real life
Nineteen years ago, a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and accompanying seizures cost Marianna Monentes her driver’s license and landed her in the hospital. After a few years of dealing with medical issues, she found a new path in Second Life where she learned to make virtual jewelry. In 2012, sheRead More →
15 enterprise AI predictions for 2020
This year, self-driving cars started getting pretty good. Deep fakes video started getting pretty convincing. Our virtual assistants got to the point where they could understand us well enough to do some simple things, like tell us the weather or get driving directions home. When it comes to artificial intelligence,Read More →
Meta’s resurrection shows future of AR is in the enterprise
The world of augmented reality is undergoing a major metamorphosis. This past winter, the industry saw the collapse of three major AR players, all of which lacked sufficient funding and were unable to deliver on promises. But fast-forward six months and one of those companies, Meta, has been resurrected byRead More →
Firestorm reverses decision to fork viewer for OpenSim
In July, the team behind the popular Firestorm viewer announced that they planned to split the Second Life and OpenSim versions of their popular virtual world viewer. But after seeing the reaction from the OpenSim community, the developers have reversed their decision. “It made sense to split, but your pointsRead More →
Virtualife
US $14 a month for a 15,000-prim region on the hypergrid-enabled VirtuaLife grid, no setup fee. Variable-sized regions also available.Read More →
Follow OpenSim News to stay on top of new events
Ever since Google Plus closed down for good earlier this year, the OpenSim community has been scattered across a lot of different platforms — Discord, MeWe, Facebook, and others. So, we used to have more than 2,000 members in the OpenSim Virtual group on Google Plus. Google Plus was public,Read More →
Mondly: An immersive way to learn 33 languages in VR or AR
Looking to learn a new language, or to have some fun brushing up on a language you’re already familiar with? With so many apps available nowadays, how do you know which one to pick? Mondly’s an app I recently tried, and if you’re looking for an immersive language learning experience,Read More →
Survey: Enterprise VR growing twice as fast as consumer use
VR and AR vendors are seeing a lot more growth on the enterprise side of the market, with 46 percent saying that growth has been strong or very strong for enterprise VR, and 47 percent saying the same about enterprise AR and MR. By comparison, only 24 percent are reportingRead More →
Scientists: Brain implants risky, could make us telepathic
It seems like something out of a sci-fi story, but you might be able to control a device or talk to a friend just by using your thoughts — and it could happen sooner than you think. External and internal neural interfaces are already in use in the medical fieldRead More →
5G to spur smartphone sales in 2020, but not VR or AI
Analysts at the International Data Corporation are predicting smartphone sales to resume growth in 2020, driven by 5G and emerging markets. Sales declined for the past three years straight, as a result of consumers holding on to their phones longer. “To be clear, we don’t think 5G will be the saviorRead More →
OpenSim stats down due to missing Brazilian grids, OSgrid cleanup
OpenSim land area went down by nearly 10,000 regions this month, registered users fell by more than 28,000, and active users fell by nearly 2,000. So here’s what happened. First, two major Brazilian grids went offline this month, Virtual Brasil and 3D Love. Virtual Brazil reported 212 actives last month,Read More →
AviWorlds changes business model again
I should just cut-and-paste that headline every month. Okay, so…. AviWorlds has a new website and new sky-high land prices. A 15,000-prim region is now $65, for a grid with almost no users, not much content, and a history of shutting down and losing user content on a regular basis.Read More →
Site redesign and WordPress theme review: Hoot Du
Hypergrid Business has had exactly two site designs during its ten-year history. From 2009 to 2014, we were using a WordPress theme called The Stars, and were using it even after the company stopped supporting it. Here’s what it looked like when it first launched: Then, in 2014, we switchedRead More →
5 great VR headsets available now
Looking for a VR headset but not sure where to start? Here’s a short but sweet list featuring five of the most popular VR headsets available on Amazon this fall. There’s a choice for any budget, from under $20 to over $1,000. With many satisfied customer reviews and answered questions, each of these units has something good to offer.Read More →
Check out new VR art at free UK festival this fall
If you are in the UK this fall, and are interested in seeing some virtual reality and augmented reality art for free, check out the Alternate Realities touring exhibition that is part of the Sheffield Doc/Fest and will be coming to Brighton in October, Manchester in November and willRead More →
Loveseat is first play to combine virtual and real world audience
When I was emailed a free invitation to the world’s first theater production combining VR and a real world audience, I figured “Why not?” I’ve always enjoyed watching live plays, from small local productions all the way to a large scale broadway show, and as a fan of video gamesRead More →
10 of the most popular FPV drones on Amazon this fall
FPV drones let you explore the world from a whole new vantage point.Read More →
Parrot’s new drone lets you fly with VR goggles and phone
Parrot’s latest drone, the Anafi FPV quadcopter is here and it’s focused on putting you in the driver’s seat, flying as if you were in it.Read More →
Steam Expo on now at Tangle Grid
The sixth annual Tangle Grid Steam Expo is live now and will run until October 1. The expo is fully accessible to hypergrid visitors at tanglegrid.net:8002:expo isle. (Learn how to hypergrid here.) Visitors will be able to get freebie items, and also purchase content using the Gloebit currency. (Learn how toRead More →
What to expect from VR in 2020
We asked the best and brightest in virtual reality to share their thoughts on what we can expect from VR in 2020. We’re more than halfway through 2019, so let’s get real about what’s happening in virtual reality. Across the globe, VR is a trend that is rapidly exploding andRead More →
Firestorm viewer now supports virtual reality
There is now a virtual reality enabled version of the Firestorm viewer, developed by Peter Kappler. Austin Tate, director of the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute at the University of Edinburgh, has posted an article about how to install and run it here. Also known as “Ai Austin” in-world, Tate runsRead More →
Caprica grid owner speaks out about Sacrarium
From the editor: The commentary below is from Sam Adama, owner of Caprica Grid, about the Kazakhstan-based freebie grid Sacrarium, which has been accused of hosting stolen content and inappropriate child avatars and accessories. The opinions expressed below are his own. Do not allow yourself to be misled. What theRead More →
Next Krim book on its way
It took ten years for me to get my first book done, Krim Times. The second one just took eight months! Thank you to all my beta readers who helped make it possible! If you would like to be a beta reader on the next book in the series, “DressedRead More →
Land area hits record high in OpenSim
The total number of active users on OpenSim’s public grids dropped by just over 500 active users, which is typical of the summer months. But land area was up by nearly 5,000 standard region equivalents, to 88,512, a record high. OpenSim grids also registered 3,948 new users this month, forRead More →
Camera offsets revisited: A rethink long overdue
The topic of Second Life’s — and OpenSim — default camera offset is an old one. The first Second Life blogger who brought it to people’s attention was Penny Patton, with her seminal post “A Matter of Perspective” from as far back as 2011. Ever since then, various other bloggersRead More →
OpenSim users split about impact of Firestorm fork
A couple of weeks ago, the Firestorm team announced that they planned to split the Second Life and OpenSim versions of their popular virtual world viewer. “This means we can now issue updates for Second Life and updates for OpenSim independently of each other,” wrote Jessica Lyon, CEO and projectRead More →
Why XR needs diversity
Immersive technology means you are able to place yourself inside a world, not just to peer inside it. Like all of the tech industry, extended reality features a diversity imbalance — is this burgeoning XR sector a chance for us to finally build a diverse corner of technology? And isRead More →
Encore Escape reenacts Woodstock for 50 year anniversary
The Encore Escape grid will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock music festival in mid-august. The Woodstock 2019 reenactment will take place in real-time, from August 15 to August 18, on 150 virtual acres of land sculpted using US Geological Society topographic maps from 1967, to reflect theRead More →
Utah researchers develop mind-controlled arm that can feel
In case you’re thinking that fully immersive virtual reality will require full-body suits of some kind to replicate all the senses, there’s promising research coming out of the medical prosthetics field that shows that we’re well on our way to brain-computer interfaces that will make all that irrelevant. Scientists atRead More →
All stats up this month on OpenSim grids
All the stats were up this month on OpenSim’s public grids, including land area, registered users, and active users. Land area was up by 49 standard region equivalents, to 83,516. OpenSim grids also registered 6,649 new users this month, for a new total of 421,087 registered users. The number ofRead More →
Discovery, Tranquility, and Littlefield partying on 4th of July
Patriotic Americans — or anyone, really, who’s looking for a party — will find plenty to do on OpenSim grids this week. Begin your day out on Discovery Grid, where the party starts at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time at discoverygrid.net:8002:Discovery Events 2. Then head over to Tranquility Grid, where theRead More →
Why virtual world content creators should look beyond Second Life and OpenSim
I’ve been creating virtual world content since 2005, selling games like Greedy Greedy primarily in Second Life. I plan to stay in Second Life and continue supporting my games and developing new products there until the lights go out. I’ve also been on the look-out for a new virtual worldRead More →
How to use PayPal for in-world payments
One of the first questions every new grid owner must answer is whether to have in-world payment, so that users can buy stuff, or pay for services, or donate money while they’re on the grid. The easiest answer is “no.” You can put up some freebie stores, have residents buyRead More →
France’s NewImages festival features VR films and interactive experiences
If you are a resident of Paris or visiting this week, check out the NewImages Festival. For five days, the “City of Lights” will host an array of innovative VR program that includes virtual reality films as well as outdoor experiences, keynote speeches, and table discussions. Keeping in tune withRead More →