Category: General

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Rod Humble Moves Linden Lab Forward, But He Shouldn’t Leave Second Life Behind

I’m seriously having to drag my mouse away from add to cart on Steam where Football Manager 2013 is seductively glancing at me… well it’s more than a seductive glance, it’s winking, fluttering its eyelashes and licking its lips … I must resist, I mean it destroys your social life, it’s too time consuming these days … wait they’ve introduced a new classic mode which makes gameplay quicker, like in the old days, beta will be available any day now if I pre-order and resistance may be futile …

Now when I was a lad I knew more about the people behind games, people such as Paul and Oliver Collyer, whom brought us Championship Manager and are still part of the team now that it’s called Football Manager. Going back further into my childhood I knew who Kevin Toms was, he wrote a game called Football Manager for the Sinclair Spectrum, which I loved, the speccy game is not related to football manager 2013 in any way, shape or form.

Then there were people such as Ron Gilbert, Peter Molyneux, Jeff Minter yadda yadda yadda. However I had never heard of Rod Humble when he came to Linden Lab, by the time Mr Humble arrived my days of reading magazines such as Computer & Video Games, Crash for the ZX Spectrum, Amiga Power for umm, The Amiga or PC Gamer were long behind me. However those in the gaming world do know Mr Humble, when an article appears in gaming related sites, you see comments from people asking why is Rod Humble is at Linden Lab.

Continue reading “Rod Humble Moves Linden Lab Forward, But He Shouldn’t Leave Second Life Behind”

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WordPress Commenting Issue Demonstrates Poor Communication

Here’s an example of how not to do things. WordPress recently updated their commenting system on WordPress.com so that you need to be logged in to comment with a WordPress account. This sounds sensible right, I mean this is how blogger works. However WordPress seem to have missed some important steps in their process, the first being telling their users in a sensible fashion.

The thing is many people comment on WordPress sites, without even realising they’re on WordPress.com and those people use Gravatars. Plenty of people don’t realise that their Gravatar is their WordPress.com account because they’ve never thought of it that way before, with Gravatar having its own site and all that. So what has been happening over the last few days is that people go to a site hosted on WordPress.com and then get told they need to login to post with that account, because the email address is linked to their gravatar, but, there’s no bloody obvious way of logging in and many people don’t get the link between Gravatars and WordPress accounts, they are one and the same in many cases.

I myself ran into this problem whilst trying to post on Inara Pey’s blog. The workaround was to post without using the email address linked to my Gravatar. However, as can been seen from this forum thread on the WordPress forums, a lot of people are confused as to what the bloody hell is going on. Talk about poor design, implementation and communication.

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SL is still amazing

I know I haven’t blogged in awhile, but today a note card was passed my way that I want to share with you.
First I want to explain why this note card hit me the way it did. Last night I was reading a chat window of fellow bloggers and one person went on to say how SL has become a pit. That it has lost its shine.  “This place is rapidly turning into a shit hole of a has been.”  His summation of SL, obviously, was not good. I just closed the window as I didn’t want to listen or read the negativity anymore.
So, today a dear friend of mine passed out a note card which follows:

Phoenix McGann
One of the things I loved about performing online in Second Life was the opportunity to touch the lives of people all over the world. SL is a godsend to some…particularly those with disability or disease that confine their world. In SL they could run, dance, and soar through their imagination…doing things the weight of real life would not permit. One of these wonderful, joyful spirits, Phoenix McGann, passed on recently. For several years Phoe battled courageously with late stage Parkinson’s Disease. But nothing could stop her. SL allowed an outlet for her indomitable love of life. She was an amazing, crazy woman. Funny how people you’ve never met can sometimes touch your heart so. She was a Shantu fan from the very beginning…over 5 years ago. She was a wonderful human being. I’ll miss her.

This Thursday, Feb 2 at 7pm SLT I’ll be singing in SL for a tribute for her being put on by people who loved her. I hope all of you will find the time to stop by and celebrate here life. A landmark and further details will follow.

Shantu

So next time you want to “rag” about SL and what it DOESN’T do, remember what it does do too.

Till next time,
Your friend, Jez

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SOPA Fallout – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

The fallout from the postponed SOPA legislation has at times got ugly, at times is has shown the bad and there has been a very little bit of good. There are also other external factors that show current legislation has teeth, uncomfortable teeth I should add. Yahoo News Reporting that Megaupload has been shutdown is a little disturbing, although really it’s for the courts to decide exactly what they’re guilty of, a Dutch citizen being arrested in New Zealand and a Hong Kong based website being shutdown suggest there’s not much need for SOPA. Those who had legitimate content on Megaupload are out of luck too, which is one of the problems when actions like these occur.

Then there’s the very disturbing case of British student Richard O’Dwyer as reported by The Daily Mail , who is fighting extradition to the USA to face charges related to running a website that posted links to downloads of copyrighted content. The website was allegedly managed from the UK and hosted in The Netherlands, so quite why he’s fighting extradition to the USA is baffling, if his activities are illegal or a case for the courts, any trial should be happening in the UK.

These issues are happening now, without the need for SOPA or PIPA. Yet Hollywood wants more, the MPAA Twitter account links to articles supporting their stance on SOPA, do they support the extradition of Richard O’Dwyer?

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RFL of Second LIfe Weekend Finale

Seasons Of Hope Logo
Seasons Of Hope 2011

Hello from Relay For Life of Secondlife!
(the Visitors Guide can also be viewed by HUD or at Visitors Guide)

SEASONS OF HOPE! Event Day – July 16th & 17th, 2011
Relay for Life Welcome Center
Relay For Life Weekend 2011 Activities & Entertainment Guide

What is Relay For Life of Second Life?

Relay For Life is the signature event of the American Cancer Society and has been active, and continually growing  in Second Life for 6 years.  In 2005, the first Relay For Life of Second Life (RFL of SL) was attended by a few hundred avatars and raised almost $5,000 US dollars for the American Cancer Society.  In 2009 the Relay For Life of Second Life raised over $250,000.00 US dollars and was attended by thousands of avatars.  In 2010 the Relay For Life of Second Life raised over $220,000.  We ran right past the $1,000,000 mark during our 2011 campaign!

Relay Weekend  is a fun-filled, overnight event that unites SL individuals throughout the world to celebrate survivors (anyone who has ever been diagnosed with cancer), remember loved ones and raise money for the fight against cancer.

Continue reading “RFL of Second LIfe Weekend Finale”

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