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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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  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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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.
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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 →

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Update: Monentes Jewelry has shut down its physical store, but the jewelry can still be found in OpenSim on the Continuum Grid, which celebrated its one-year anniversary in March, 2021. The hypergrid address is continuum.outworldz.net:8002:Monentes Jewelry. Learn more at Marianna Monentes’ blog. Nineteen years ago, a diagnosis of multiple sclerosisRead More →

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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 →

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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 →

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$146 a month (120 Euros) for a 30-region private grid with daily backups, hypergrid, Vivox voice, and grid website.Read More →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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  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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →