Month: January 2014

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The Drax Files Radio Hour Extends The Conversation, Linden Lab Should Take Note

I was going to do a review of the second episode of The Drax Files Radio Hour but to be honest, Inara Pey has already done a smashing job there. I’ve also briefly talked of some of the issues in a previous blog post. Instead I’ll talk about the show in general and why Linden Lab should take note of how the conversation can be extended.

The show is worth listening to, so if you have a free hour of time, really, this is good stuff and this week’s show has a lot about that late Osprey Therian in it, interesting stuff too. The show starts with Strawberry Singh’s introduction, which I could listen to over and over and over again. Strawberry has a very charming voice, really really charming …. anyway! I’m pretty sure Strawberry pronounces Jo properly.

There are also interviews with Marianne McCann, the artist formerly known as Babbage Linden and clips from Philip Rosedale and Judy L Tyrer amongst others. We also should not forget the fact that Jo Yardley of 1920’s Berlin fame is the assistant.

These contributions, interviews and discussion topics make a show that extend the conversation. Draxtor is quick to point out that they are not the BBC, they are not investigative journalists, they have a small budget but the fact that people who listen to the show join in the conversation on other blogs and platforms shows the power of a show like this. This isn’t the first show of this type, more on that in another post. However Draxtor manages to get plenty of people to talk and is a very friendly host, as is Jo, although she does call Draxtor “A big girl’s blouse” at one point, there’s something very funny to me in hearing two continental Europeans engaging in a conversation like that.

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Did Andrea Linden Call Rod Humble A Fascist And Live To Tell The Story?

The Drax Files Radio Hour episode 2 is largely a wonderful tribute to Osprey Therian, I’ll review it properly over the weekend. However one or two other items caught my eye. There’s more news on former Linden Lab employee Judy L Tyrer’s Ever,Jane MMO, set in the world of Jane Austen. The creators of this must be kicking themselves that #VictorianFacebook is all the rage this evening on Twitter, instead of #GeorgianFacebook, maybe they will save that for launch hey 😉

However the really striking issue on this week’s Drax Files Radio hour is the claim that Andrea Linden called Rod Humble a fascist! The issue is tenuously linked to the NSA/GCHQ spying scandal whereby it was reported that spies had been in Second Life. The issue revolves around the off the record (OTR) messaging system that some third party viewers for Second Life have provided in the past and goes all the way back to 2011. The thing is, when The Guardian revealed the information around spying in Second Life, there was discussion about this feature in the comments. A user known as Ubermensch claimed:

“Second Life has its own internal OTR instant messaging system with its own encryption keys that ( allegedly ) not even the makers of Second Life are able to hack into. The keys are generated locally on the user PCs and ‘agreed’ on by those in an IM.”

There’s then some healthy discussion about whether this is true or not and the traditonal surprise that Second Life is still around. However it’s the OTR system that is the centre of the story, allegedly from Andrea Linden.

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Linden Lab Improving HTTP Communications

In a welcome, but maybe geeky language blog post, Linden Lab provide information that they are Raising The Roof : The HTTP Project. This is good stuff and is the sort of blog post that I personally wish Linden Lab had been publishing for many a year. I appreciate that for some people the information isn’t easy to follow, but the bottom line is that this project should improve people’s Second Life experience.

The blog post includes a graph, which is extremely important because it demonstrates how the HTTP project has improved performance, particularly in areas such as texture fetching. This is where we come back to a pet peeve of mine, Linden Lab’s lack of communication. The reason I raise this is because when people have been having latency issues in Second Life in the past, one piece of advice has been to turn off HTTP textures. When you see where performance started with fetching HTTP textures, you can see why that may have made sense. However with the performance improvements the Lab are blogging about, turning off HTTP textures becomes less of a good piece of advice, although as the blog post points out, some matters are outside of LL’s control and therefore your mileage in performance may vary.

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Catch Up With Season 2 Of The Blackened Mirror

Blackened Mirror poster should be here
The Blackened Mirror Poster

Season 2 of The Blackened Mirror is currently taking a mid season break, which is good because it gives people time to catch up with the series before the next episode is aired.  So far three episodes have been aired, a further three episodes are scheduled to start from Sunday January 26th.

For those of you who don’t know, The Blackened Mirror is a machinima based series filmed in Second Life. The show is written by Da5id Abbott and directed by Saffia Widdershins of Prim Perfect fame. treet.tv also happily put their name on the credits.

I’m a big fan of storytelling in many forms and The Blackened Mirror certainly uses the Second Life well as a means of telling a story, but credit has to go to Da5id Abbott for scripting that story.

To get the best from the show you really need to visit the website. The news section in particular is an excellent resource as it gives you background and information on the episodes. The episodes themselves can also be viewed from the episodes page, there you will get a little bit of blurb about each episode. I’ll embed the first three episodes below the cut.

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ID Still A Big Challenge In The Digital Age

Another confusing issue with providing information to Linden Lab has reared its head this week, this time in the shape and form of a forum post from a resident who was confused as to why she had received an email from Linden Lab asking for account information and ID.

The reason was soon explained by Linden Lab in the form of a blog post : Required Account Documentation in which Linden Lab announced:

“In addition to required tax documentation (which we blogged about in November 2013), US law separately requires that institutions such as Linden Lab obtain, verify, and record information confirming the identification of account holders who submit a certain volume and/or amount of Process Credit Requests.

We have recently begun emailing users who need to submit this information. If you receive such a notice from us, you will need to follow the instructions and provide the required documentation within thirty (30) days.”

Now ignoring the usual issues such as people finding out and being confused about matters before people have been informed about said issue by Linden Lab, this raises another issue, that of ID in the digital age. The email the user was sent asks for the same forms to be filled in as in the case of those being asked for tax documentation, but the required account information also asks for the following in this particular case:

“In addition to the form itself, we are required to obtain a copy of your government-issued photo identification (ID). The information on the ID must be current (i.e. not expired) and must match the information you submitted on the form.

Please attach a copy of your identification to this Case. The copy must be clearly legible (full color, no smudges or blurs) and must be fully intact (no cut-off portions, no redacted information).

The following are acceptable forms of photo ID:

• Driver’s license
• Military ID card
• Passport
• Any other form of government-issued photo ID

If your photo ID does not display your address, you must also provide us with a copy of a current utility or telephone bill. The name and address to which the bill is addressed must match the photo ID.

In the meantime, it is necessary for us to place a hold on any and all Process Credit Requests for your account until we receive your form and supporting documentation.”

This therefore goes further than the required tax documentation. Why some people are being asked for this is a little cloudy, but it appears to be due to the amount of money or number of times they process credit. This is required by US law so Linden Lab must comply, so Linden Lab are doing their job here. However why do so many different companies need the same information to be submitted over and over and over again in this day and age? This should be less complicated but there are large hurdles in the way.

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