Sansar – Page 2 – Ciaran Laval

January 19, 2018

Taking a Fast Step Inside an Intel 8th Gen Processor In Sansar

Linden Lab’s Sansar is still very much evolving, I’ve just been to a fashion community meeting, but we are also starting to see some very good use of the platform by business, in particular by Intel.

Their Step Inside Intel 8th Gen Core build in Sansar is a very interesting, very sci-fi feeling build that really gives you a good idea of how Sansar can be utilised.

The build itself gives you the opportunity, as the title suggests, to step inside an Intel 8th Gen Core processor.

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November 29, 2017

Net Neutrality Debate Requires Compromise To Move Discussion Forward

The text of the FCC’s “Restore Internet Freedom proposal has been published in PDF format and can be found here. I’m firmly against the proposal and find the name to be extremely misleading.

The FCC have also linked to a “Myths and Facts” PDF document, which is actually very light on facts and engages in a lot of speculation, that can be found here.

MYTH: Broadband providers will charge you a premium if you want to reach certain online content.

FACT: This didn’t happen before the Obama Administration’s 2015 heavy-handed Internet regulations, and it won’t happen after they are repealed.

That’s not a fact, it’s a hope. There is support for FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai’s proposals. A decent article has been published by Ben Thompson at Stratechery – Pro-Neutrality, Anti-Title II :

Regulation incurs significants costs, both in terms of foregone opportunities and regulatory capture.
There is no evidence of systemic abuse by ISPs governed under Title I, which means there are no immediate benefits to regulation, only theoretical ones.
There is evidence that pre-existing regulation and antitrust law, along with media pressure, are effective at policing bad behavior.

The problem for Ajit Pai and the FCC is that even that article points out flaws with Ajit Pai’s proposal :

I believe that Ajit Pai is right to return regulation to the same light touch under which the Internet developed and broadband grew for two decades. I am amenable to Congress passing a law specifically banning ISPs from blocking content, but believe that for everything else, including paid prioritization, we are better off taking a “wait-and-see” approach; after all, we are just as likely to “see” new products and services as we are to see startup foreclosure. And, to be sure, this is an issue than can — and should, if the evidence changes — be visited again.

Ajit Pai and the FCC are not looking to address the issue of blocking with new laws and furthermore the article points out that the cornerstone of Ajit Pai’s proposals, the markets, aren’t competitive enough.

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November 1, 2017

Sansar Make Friends Before Unleashing Fashion

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, in Sansar that hasn’t been as straight forward as it could have been because people were not easy to identify, but that’s all changing.

Linden Lab yesterday announced – Sansar’s more fun with friends! Find out how with the new Friends Release :

Sansar will auto-update to the Friends Release, and the next time you login you’ll be able to find people you know in Sansar and grow your friends list by simply searching for their Avatar IDs. With the Friends release, it’s also easier to make friends in desktop mode – just click on avatars to see their names and send friend requests.

An important point to note here is that it’s the Avatar ID you can search for, this is an important distinction to make because an Avatar ID is unique and may not be the same as an Avatar Name, which isn’t unique.

As an example, a search for “Inara Pey” reveals no result, but a search for Inara’s Avatar ID finds, Inara Pey.

Talking of Inara Pey, she has an excellent blog post on this Sansar release : Sansar Friends Release Overview.

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October 25, 2017

Ars Technica’s Samuel Axon Returns To Second Life and Finds Plenty Of Life

Samuel Axon over at Ars Technica has returned to Second Life and published a very good article on the hopes, fears, past and future of Second Life, Sansar and much more.

What makes this article so good is that Samuel has experience of Second Life, knows all about the past hype but in a very refreshing manner he points out that Second Life is still very much around, even if users have some concerns about Linden Lab’s focus on Sansar :

Believe it or not, the platform today enjoys a healthy community. Not only does it still exist, but if you ask Second Life’s creators, the platform may be thriving. Ask its users, on the other hand, and the picture gets a bit hazier.

The article covers an interesting aspect of Second Life, how the area of commerce has in many ways followed physical world patterns, with the online Marketplace thriving in many areas whilst inworld commerce struggles with its virtual bricks and mortar version in other areas.

The article also mentions the growth of virtual pets as a product, with Fennux creator Daemon Blackflag talking about how people breed virtual pets and sell them.

The article features quotes from Second Life merchants, residents and Linden Lab employees, which all adds up to a very good overview of the platform from people who know about the platform, this is a refreshing change from a lot of Second Life articles.

Karsten Rutledge of Greedy Greedy fame talks about how the hype of past years such as 2007 was always a load of nonsense, but we also get a view of how technology developments can hamper the ambitions of platforms, when Second Life was full in its hype cycle Social Media wasn’t the thriving platform it is today.

Peter Gray, Linden Lab’s Senior Director of Communications (AKA Gray of the Lab from San Francisco) touches upon these developments :

Gray even ventured a theory for why the original narrative didn’t pan out. “I think it’s worth bearing in mind that a lot of those experiments were done before people were very familiar with social media,” he said. “In short, if people were to approach creating virtual experiences for those types of things now, whether it be a marketing outreach or that kind of thing, I think they might take a different approach to do it.”

This is worth bearing mind as Linden Lab’s Sansar finds its feet, the development of Virtual Reality and other technologies could completely change the direction Sansar takes, this is true of technological developments throughout history.

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October 6, 2017

Sansar Gears Up For Halloween With Prizes, Karaoke and Live Music

Linden Lab’s Sansar is gearing up for Halloween with a series of events and prizes, as a blog post by Sansar Jenn reveals; October in Sansar is Going to be Scary Good!

The post informs us of a series of planned events, including :

A Contest with a Wicked Sweet Prize

Sansar’s Scariest Experiences is a competition whereby people can create a brand new Sansar experience in the spirit of Halloween. This competition comes with a very eye catching prize :

One grand prize winner will receive $10,000 (USD), an Oculus Rift + Touch bundle and a one year Sansar Super Creator Subscription. Three honorable mentions will each each receive a one year Sansar Creator Subscription.

However if you want to enter time is short, the closing date is October 15th. Click the link earlier in this post for details.

Other events include Friday 13th at Draxtor Despres 114 Harvest. This could be a very scary experience if Draxtor decides to sing the Monster Mesh, make sure you bring some Bavarian bread.

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