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. Â 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
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 →
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
$146 a month (120 Euros) for a 30-region private grid with daily backups, hypergrid, Vivox voice, and grid website.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? Â Here’s a short but sweet list featuring five of the most popular VR headsets available on Amazon this fall. Â There’s a choice for any budget, from under $20 to over $1,000. Â 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?” Â 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 →