What is OpenSim standard time?
Here at Hypergrid Business, we’re in the process of launching a virtual events directory (now that the vendor directory is up and working). And the question comes up — what times do we list events under? The Second Life events directory shows everything as SLT time — which is theRead More →
Practical guide to virtual education
A new book by Coventry University professor Maggi Savin-Baden offers practical advice to educators interested in virtual worlds. According to Coventry University, professor Savin-Baden is one of the UK’s leading academics on the subject and has used virtual technology extensively as a teaching resource. Some recent developments in Second Life,Read More →
Growing your sim-com business
Now that we’ve got our new vendor directory ready to launch (see the test page here and give us your opinions!) we’re taking a second look at what exactly customers are looking for when they’re deciding on an OpenSim hosting platform or design vendor. With the recent changes at LindenRead More →
Snowcrash Digital joins SpotOn3D
Press Release: Second Life “gold” solution provider Snowcrash digital joins the SpotOn3D OpenSim grid Snowcrash Digital is a gold certified Second Life® solution provider, most known as the developers of Second Life’s leading audio solution “Hermes Audio Technology” and the “Hermes Engage” range of educational tools. Since 2006, Snowcrash Digital hasRead More →
Building OpenSim neighborhoods
One of the joys of social games like FarmVille is getting to visit your friends. In a virtual world like Second Life, this is also a major attraction — your friends’ regions on the map, you can walk or teleport over. Second Life, however, can’t scale. If millions people suddenlyRead More →
Hypergate Teleport Script
The following is a script you can place on any object to turn it into a hypergrid teleportation portal. If you put it on something that looks like a giant blue swirly circle, everyone will know that it’s a hypergate. But you can also use it to create teleport buttonsRead More →
ScienceSim expands land grant project
OpenSim’s ScienceSim grid is expanding its land grant program, with an offer of super-powered regions of up to a million primitive objects and 1,000 simultaneous avatars per region. ScienSim and Intel have long been pushing the boundaries of what is possible with OpenSim, with experimental regions holding more than 200,000Read More →
Marketing agency renews InXpo virtual events partnership
Press Release: INXPO and George P. Johnson Renew Global Strategic Partnership Deal signals event marketers’ drive to blend Web and physical events CHICAGO, and AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — INXPO and the #1 ranked event marketing agency George P. Johnson (GPJ) today announced a renewal of their strategic partnership, driven byRead More →
SiteForum adds Ustream videocasts to virtual events
Press Release: SITEFORUM integrates Ustream to deliver live broadcasting for communities and virtual events Erfurt, Germany – SITEFORUM chose Ustream, the leading live interactive broadcast platform, to be implemented into the SITEFORUM standard software due to flexibility, frequency and security. SITEFORUM, with its focus on online communities and virtual events,Read More →
Community in Distributed Spaces
I have lost track of the number of times over the last few weeks that I have been somewhere in the OpenSim grid and heard someone say “This is like Second Life in the early days – I love it.â€Â This resonates for me – and I have been thinkingRead More →
Paper: virtual environment can help improve life sciences training
Virtual immersive environments can provide more effective training programs in less time, and for less cost, according t0 a report released today by ProtonMedia, a firm that provides enterprise-focused virtual environments. “We’ve put together a new white paper for life sciences trainers to help them better understand how they canRead More →
GlobalSpec to hold virtual events via On24
Press Release: ON24 Announces GlobalSpec Virtual Events Production Partnership SAN FRANCISCO, CA–Â GlobalSpec (www.globalspec.com), the leading specialized search engine, information resource, e-publishing and online events company for the engineering, industrial and technical communities, announced today that the company is hosting a wide variety of virtual events through 2011 with ON24,Read More →
PayPal Unveils New Payment Solution for Digital Goods
Press Release: PayPal Unveils New Payment Solution for Digital Goods Industry Leaders Facebook and FT.com Using PayPal to Simplify Micropayments for Digital Content SAN FRANCISCO–INNOVATE 2010 — PayPal today announced the upcoming availability of PayPal for digital goods, a new in-context, frictionless payment solution that lets consumers pay for digitalRead More →
Fashion Research Institute brings premium content to Science Sim
Press Release: Fashion Research Institute Collaborates with Intel Labs to Bring Premium Digital Content to Science Sim New York, NY – “Content is King†has long been the mantra of the gurus of the Internet. And now, Fashion Research Institute has teamed up with Intel Labs to provide users withRead More →
Paper: hypergrid allows virtual world to grow without limit
The invention of the hypergrid will allow virtual worlds to grow to the size of the World Wide Web, or bigger, according to a paper made public today by OpenSim core developer Justin Clark-Casey. “The World Wide Web is much larger than any existing virtual environment system,” he wrote inRead More →
A three-year plan — and then some
I occasionally hear frustration from OpenSim vendors and their early-adopter customers that mainstream users aren’t getting OpenSim, that they aren’t aware of the benefits OpenSim offers compared, to, say, Second Life or other virtual world platforms — or compared to Web-based conferencing or face-to-face meetings. Many formed their opinion ofRead More →
OpenSim payments 101
One of the most confusing parts of moving to OpenSim is figuring out how the commerce system works. Not as confusing, maybe, than than figuring out how to run the server software, learning how to hypergrid, picking a home grid, or finding a hosting provider, but up there. There areRead More →
Avatar: Your key to equal contribution and opportunity
Much has been discussed and written about virtual environments achieving levels of immersion and interactivity that rival (and some believe exceed) face-to-face meetings. Much has also been written about increasing the retention of information shared in world. But to many, the whys and hows surrounding this remain a mystery. PerhapsRead More →
Virtual worlds to transform education
Press Release: Advanced 3D Heralds New Teaching Dimension ‘Virtual world’ technology has the potential to transform education and learning, an international conference at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus heard today. It is a young but rapidly evolving sector but already every university in the UK uses it in someRead More →
A hypergrid glossary
Like the World Wide Web that preceded it, the new 3D Web has its own vocabulary. We try to make it easier to keep up. [anchor id=”avatar”]avatar A representation of a user, usually as a three dimensional cartoon character. Avatars can be realistic, based on actual photos of the user,Read More →
Marketing Cloud hosts virtual B2B marketing event
Press Release: Thousands of B2B Marketing and Sales Pros Will Connect at the Marketing Cloud Virtual Conference this October 28 Fully Interactive Online Conference Features Live Presentations, Expo and Discussions on B2B Marketing and Sales Best Practices SAN MATEO, Calif. — The Marketing Cloud, a collection of cloud-based marketing servicesRead More →
OnLand business park opens in Blue Mars
The OnLand business park opened today in the Blue Mars virtual world as a place for traditional companies to market their goods in high-fidelity three dimensional form to their clients. The OnLand park is targeting business-to-business sales in which 3D models are important, such as manufacturing. This is a departureRead More →
Blue Mars testing Web streaming
Blue Mars is currently testing a cloud-based streaming service, which will soon allow users to log into the high-end, graphics-rich immersive world via a simple browser interface. “We’re running it now, with cloud servers in LA,” said Jim Sink, CEO of Avatar Reality, the parent company of Blue Mars. TheRead More →
How To: Generate More Effective Virtual Trade Show Booths
My local farmers market had a “Vote 4 Your Favorite Booth†contest. While the contest was active, I noticed that the fruit vendors were much more engaging and the amount of free samples increased dramatically. The fruit stands had become more customer-friendly as a result of the competition. This wasRead More →
Multi-grid currencies grow in OpenSim
Both the G$ and OMC multi-grid currencies reported strong growth over the last two months. Since we last took a look at their numbers in mid-August, the OMC currency — backed by Austrian Linden exchange operator Virwox — has grown from 14 to 20 grids, and now reports 382,537 OMCRead More →
Bring on the Virtual Bar!
Virtual events are undoubtedly effective… but can they also be fun? Over the last several years, many companies, squeezed by tough economic conditions, have looked for alternatives to in-person events. At the same time, virtual event providers have responded with a hundred rational arguments regarding why meeting online is betterRead More →
UK to teach citizenship with OpenSim
Teesside University is piloting a quarter million pound (US $400,000) citizenship education project in OpenSim this year. The project, which will eventually involve as many as 900 high students in the UK, will be officially launched in January. The entire project is scheduled to run for 18 months and isRead More →
Initiative: free land for educators migrating from Second Life
The Immersive Education Initiative, a Boston-based non-profit coalition, announced today that it will offer free land, and free migration services, for educators working in Second Life’s Teen Grid. The Initiative currently provides thousands of OpenSim regions to members around the world through its Education Grid project, Aaron Walsh, founding directorRead More →
OpenSim regions hit all-time high, growth rate accelerates
The world’s forty largest public OpenSim grids gained 1,605Â regions over the past 30 days, and added 10,530 new users. This brings the total region counts on these grids to 12,425, an 15 percent increase over last month’s total of 10,820 regions. The 15 percent monthly growth rate is alsoRead More →
Reader Survey Results
According to our first reader survey, the majority of the readers of Hypergrid Business are interested in open source virtual platforms like OpenSim and social virtual worlds like Second Life. Less than a quarter were interested in Web-based virtual worls like Venuegen, enterprise virtual worlds like ProtoSphere, and 2D virtualRead More →
OpenSim rolls out mesh in one day
Just a day after Second Life launched its mesh beta, OpenSim already has experimental mesh in the latest test release, and people have begun trying the technology out on OSGrid’s experimental Danger Grid. According to OpenSim core developer Justin Clark-Casey, the OpenSim implementation of mesh leverages the work done byRead More →
Youth charity moves to OpenSim mini-grid
This month, the Youth for Christ charity celebrates its second year in Second Life. But the big party will be held in OpenSim, the charity’s new home. The reason? The Second Life Teen Grid, where the YFC has been offering support and mentoring programs for at-risk youth, is closing atRead More →
TeleXLR8 wants to be the “TED” for virtual worlds
Founders of teleXLR8, a discussion program conducted in the Teleplace virtual environment, are hoping that the project becomes the next TED for virtual worlds. Teleplace, Inc. is one of the leading providers of enterprise-grade, behind-the-firewall, fully immersive virtual collaborative environments. According to teleXLR8 organizer Giulio Prisco, Teleplace’s built-in multi-user videoconferencing,Read More →
Machinima pioneers launch Pixel Valley Studio
Press Release: Real-time Machinima animation pioneers announce launch of Pixel Valley Studio Frank Dellario and Tom Donnelly, previously from The ILL Clan, found new full services animation company Acclaimed Real-time animation producers Frank Dellario and Tom Donnelly formally announced the launch of Pixel Valley Studio, a new company offering anRead More →
An OpenSim grid primer
There are a lot of different kinds of OpenSim grids out there — it can get a little confusing. Well, a lot confusing. Here’s a quick primer. Social grids Social grids attempt to replicate the experience of Second Life. They don’t make up the majority of grids running on theRead More →
GovGrid offers agencies cheap, quick regions and mini-grids
In response to rising land prices at Second Life — and a need for increased control and scalability — the MuniGov association of local governments has launched the GovGrid project, and OpenSim-based virtual world environment for local government agencies. Prices start at just $25 a region, with a $50 setupRead More →
Successful Hybrid Event Case Study: Event Camp Twin Cities 2010
“Attend our free webinar!†How many of these emails do you get these days? I don’t know about you, but my itchy “Delete†finger gets really itchy when these appear in my inbox. Why? I think we’ve all been to many online events that are nothing more than PowerPoint presentationsRead More →
Cube3 offers 50% discount to educators
Since Linden Lab announced that educators and non-profits would see a doubling of their land prices in January, there has been a surge of interest in OpenSim — and a flood of special offers from service providers. Some vendors have offered migration services to help non-profits get their content fromRead More →
NASA’s Moon World moves to OpenSim
NASA’s OpenSim-based Moon World — a quarter-million-dollar project –Â will go live on December 1, allowing students to experience what it’s like to live and work on a NASA moon base. “It helps students understand the geography of the moon,” said Charles Wood, executive director for the Center for EducationalRead More →
The five stages of OpenSim users — which are you?
Marketing guru Seth Godin wrote a short piece today about the five stages of users, which applies to OpenSim as well as to any other product or technology: Novice: wants to be given a manual, told what to do, with no decisions possible Advanced Beginner: needs a bit of freedom,Read More →
Virtual worlds now at bottom of Gartner hype cycle
Press Release: Gartner’s 2010 Hype Cycle Special Report Evaluates Maturity of 1,800 Technologies Hype Cycle Research Provides a Cross-Industry Perspective on Potentially Transformative Technologies STAMFORD, Conn. —  Media tablets, private cloud computing, and 3D flat-panel TVs and displays are some of the technologies that have moved into the PeakRead More →
Teleplace seeks participants for customer showcase
Press Release: Teleplace to Showcase ‘Last Mile’ Enterprise Social Collaboration Successes New Customer Program Highlights Immersive Microsoft SharePoint, Mobile Device Interactivity, Enterprise-Class, Cloud Collaboration REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–Teleplace, Inc., the leading provider of enterprise-class immersive collaboration and learning solutions, today announced a new program designed to showcase how customers are solvingRead More →
50-plus employers, agencies at Milicruit virtual career fair
Press Release: UBM Studios Milicruit Partners with Over 50 Industry Leading Employers and Government Agencies to Produce the Veterans Day Virtual Career Fair More Than 25,000 Veterans Expected to Attend the Virtual Career Fair, Thousands of Employment Opportunities Available CHICAGO– UBM Studios Milicruit, the recognized leader for virtual career fairsRead More →
Make Your Events and Expos a Virtual Reality
Last month I attended one of the most engaging meetings I’ve ever experienced and I was not even there. The event was EventCamp Twin Cities. This was a one-day conference for event professionals. It was a hybrid event, meaning they had a live conference with a virtual component. I hadRead More →
What Virtual Business Means to Your Business
Introduction 1. $54 million in cost savings 2. $19 million in productivity and time savings 3. 34,000 tons of carbon emissions eliminated If those kinds of numbers are interesting to you, we hope you will take a minute and read on, because that’s just the beginning of the story. TheseRead More →
Trends in the Virtual Worlds Industry
How do you keep up with industry trends? You hear from the people setting the trends. On September 24th, FountainBlue held its annual virtual worlds conference on Cisco’s campus in Milpitas, CA. The event featured a session titled “Trends in the Virtual Worlds Industry: An Update on What’s New andRead More →
Maria on Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe
I was a guest on Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe on Sunday, October 10 and had a great time talking about hypergrid and OpenSim. Other guests that night included singer-songwriter Senjata Witt, who performed live, and Dusan Writer, CEO of Remedy Communications and prolific blogger about Second Life.Read More →
Vendors offer Second Life-to-OpenSim migration
UPDATE: TalentRaspel has lowered its price for exporting Second Life regions. It now starts at US $273 (200 Euros)Â per region, and is based on the complexity of the build. Vendors are offering full-region migrations from Second Life to OpenSim at prices starting at as little as $80 a region.Read More →
Would you want to live for free — under a virtual billboard?
There’s talk out there in the metaverse of a project to offer free, advertising-supported land in OpenSim. I’ll provide more details as the project gets closer to reality, but there already seems to be some significant money lined up to make it possible. So I started thinking — would IRead More →
OSGrid to upgrade to HG 1.5
The largest grid on the hypergrid will upgrade to the new version of OpenSim on Sunday, October 17. The new version supports media-on-a-prim as well as a more secure hypergrid teleport standard. The new version is OpenSim version 0.7. OSGrid is currently running version 0.6.9. The new 0.7 version ofRead More →