A 2017 photo from my space station. The view of space here is created by a photosphere generator, which makes a 256×256 spherical bubble around the generator, with the unit at the center point. Imagine if I could set the environment on this level to space without needing to use a generator. This can expand space role-play tremendously — just one new use for EEP.
What looks like excellent news from Linden Lab, put up on the Community Blog, and brought to my attention by Daniel Voyager’s plurk today. LL has released the Environmental Enhancement Project to the main Grid. For users of the Linden viewer, at least, the new abilities will be available to all Residents on all sims. And that includes, as I’m seeing this, sims that you rent, even if you don’t have owner environment privileges. (Third-party viewers don’t have this yet, as it will take a code revision. However, I think we can expect a scramble to integrate the new code into Firestorm and other top TPVs. Firestorm users such as myself should probably expect an update notice at some indeterminate point.)
Some possibilities:
You don’t need to be an estate owner to change the environmental settings.
New environmental settings panel
Custom day cycles
Changeable textures for the clouds and moon
Different settings for different altitude settings
Changeable locations for sun and moon
Save settings in Inventory instead of an XML file, and import existing XML files to the new settings
Creators can set permissions for next owners
Settings can be applied at the parcel level, for everyone to see
Here’s a really nice aspect to enhance your possible revenue stream: the new settings can be saved as Inventory assets — and given, shared or (ka-ching)sold. This could result in a whole fresh category on the Marketplace, or new stores for EEP files. (That’s E-E-P, by the way, not “eep.” Which, of course, means everyone will promptly ignore the Lab, just as they do by calling them “Linden Labs.”)
Patch “Lirpa” Linden has made an announcement in the Community Forum about an experimental improvement to the new residential areas in Bellisseria — improved weather!
The 15th Second Pride Festival opened up on Friday, and will be running through June 23. This year’s festival has additional significance, as 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, considered by many historians the cornerstone point of the homosexual-rights movement.
I was looking for a breakfast restaurant this morning, when my phone went off. The call was from Morgan instead of a robocall computer, so I answered; “Hey, newb, what’s happening?”
“You tell me,” Morgan said, sounding bewildered. “I was wandering around the commons up on your starbase, when a glowing blue ball popped up in front of me. It’s still here, sitting in front of me, and I can’t get away from it; it follows me around. Do you have something loose up here I need to worry about?”
There have been some changes in my real life that I wanted to share with you and be completely transparent about. I have been hired by Linden Lab as their …
This is going to be an exciting time for Berry. We’ll miss her in the regular blogging trenches of Second Life, as I’ve already told her on her article; but I understand her feeling that, as an employee of the Lab now, she needs to put a firewall between roles.
As she notes in her article, please don’t contact her directly to solve any problems; that won’t work, and will load her down with unfulfillable requests. File a normal ticket. Be a nice avatar.
So, we get home late last night from a trip to Chicago, bringing home a cold that the husband says I started working on before I left for Chicago. Everyone else gets to bed, but I’m not asleep yet; so I log in to Second Life for the first time in a week, looking for a little relaxation.
The others have clued me into the promotion blogs, telling the goodies that are coming out for sale at the various creator events around Second Life. I just stumbled into this one today, and the pictures say this new round of Uber is going to be fantastic! There’s lots of goodies to drool over, including quite a few separates that you can try mixing/matching.
I don’t know if Harper wants to try all of us doing our choices from the selection available. But I’m already saving up the cash to buy some of this, and you’ll want to as well.
The field shook itself out fairly rapidly for this year’s Oscar Fashion Photo Contest. As ever, thank you to all the entrants, and I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to show off your red-carpet chops.
The main difficulty this year was between First and Second Places. It could easily have gone the other way, and almost did. A fresh evaluation gave this order, however; and I’m pleased to welcome a new First Place winner this year.
So, with further non-ado, here’s this year’s placers ….
With thanks, as ever, to the Rose Theatre in Angel Manor for the ability to borrow their lavish halls.
We thought long on this one, considering last year’s performance, and whether we could pull off the publicity factor this year. But finally, tradition won out, and so the time has come once again. The Flickr group is open for submissions of your finest evening gown photos. Who will be the best-dressed avatar on the Hollywood red carpet when the Academy Awards are handed out? Around the Grid is accepting submissions for its 9th Annual Oscar Fashion Photo Contest!!
The contest group will open for submissions once this article is published, and the prize pool has been placed in escrow (so to speak). Time to talk to your stylists, find your hairdresser and book an appointment, call in favors at the jewelry stores, and decide what you would wear if you became a nominee for the little gold man. For those considered outstanding in their evening couture and artistic portrayal, there shall be (15 minutes of) fame, (a bit of) fortune, and hopefully fun in playing the game.
Entry is free; just submit a photo to the appropriate group on Flickr, or leave a comment with a link to your photo. (However, make sure to read all the rules, okay?) The prize pool is again guaranteed at over L$50,000. First place will receive L$25,000. So, if you want a chance at filling your virtual closet at my expense, come on and enter!
Second Life® with Harper, Conan, Jem, Diana and Morgan
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Around the Grid is willing to provide unbiased and unreserved reviews of Resident-created and -sold, non-pornographic products, especially fashion and hairstyles, and of Real World books on Second Life. Submissions for review should be sent in world to Harper Ganesvoort.
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