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Clogged intertubes keep SL offline

According to the official Second Life blog, a problem at their ISP has forced them to take Second Life offline “until further notice”. Further notices have been posted already, but they’re pretty much the same as the previous notices: SL is borked, come back later.

As US senator Ted Stevens pointed out a couple of years ago, the Internet is in fact a series of tubes. I’m no expert, but I think a really long plumber’s snake would probably clear the problem right up. See, whenever someone’s hair goes missing from their inventory, it just ends up clogging the tubes.

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Linden Lab to roll out new physics engine this week

This weekend, Linden Lab announced plans to roll out the long-awaited Havok 4 physics engine across the grid. As soon as Monday, up to 2000 regions will have their simulator code updated to include Havok 4. If all goes well, the rest of the grid should see the new physics engine by Tuesday.

The implementation of Havok 4 in Second Life is expected to vastly reduce the number of region crashes and incidents of “deep think” — a state where the simulator is simply overloaded by physics calculations and slows to a dead crawl. It also means that most items that rely on physics, including vehicles and skydiving equipment, may or may not work correctly starting this week.

To ensure that all of my products will survive the transition, I am spending extra hours in the beta grid testing each and every product for H4 compatibility. If there’s a problem, I’ll update the script to adapt to the new physics engine. At Abbotts Aerodrome, you’ll start to see the “H4 Tested” icon appearing next to products that I’ve tested and updated for use with Havok 4. If it has the icon, you can be certain that it’s OK for Havok 4.

Already, I’m in the process of testing products.

[UPDATE: All products but the Abbotts Float Plane have been tested and are fine for Havok 4. Thanks to the Linden devs who ensured that the transition would be so easy.]

Skydiving

  • Skydiving Pod – OK
  • TerraSport parachutes – OK
  • SkySurf skyboard – OK (updated to version 3.4)
  • Terra E-Chute – OK
  • Terra Skydiving Target – OK
  • BubbleTargets skydiving game – OK

Hovering aircraft
All hovering aircraft are presently broken due to a buoyancy bug in Havok 4 (see bug SVC-1947). These include: CLAWW, Futura, SkyBike, Terra Taxi, and all helicopters. As soon as the Lindens fix that bug, they should work fine again.

  • CLAWW – OK
  • CTH-100, CTH-100M, CTH-200 – OK
  • DS3 Drop Ship – OK
  • Futura – OK
  • SkyBike – OK
  • Terra Taxi – OK
  • Magic Carpet 5 – OK

Airplanes

  • Abbotts Float Plane – Floats low in the water due to H4 buoyancy bug
  • Airco DH.2 – OK
  • Cormorant plane-sub – OK
  • Cricket tiny plane – OK
  • Dogfighters – OK
  • Kingfisher – OK
  • Manta – OK
  • Nieuport 17 – OK
  • Orca plane-sub – OK
  • Ornithopter – OK
  • Sparrow – OK
  • Stearman – OK
  • Starling ultralight – OK
  • Tachyon – OK
  • Tachyon M – OK
  • Talon – OK
  • Tigershark – OK

Lighter-than-air craft

  • Wind Rider hot air balloon – OK
  • Terra Airship – OK

Speed boost

  • Terra Z scooter – OK
  • Terra Speed – OK
  • Rocketeer pack – OK
  • Infinity pack – OK

Bookmark this post: I’ll keep this list up-to-date as I go.

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Linden Lab(tm) drops trademark bombshell

On Easter Monday the Lindens announced radical new policies regarding the use of their trademarks, including the Second Life(tm) logo, company name, and product name. According to the official Second Life(tm) blog, any website that mentions or uses their trademarks (or even acronyms that refer to their trademarks) are subject to their new license agreement:

Read these guidelines if you’d like to use any of our trademarks on your website, in a URL, in advertising, in an article or book, in a film or television show, in a software product, or anywhere else. You likely need our permission. (link)

Those affected most by the revised rules are owners of websites that begin with the product’s acronym, “SL”(tm) or “Second Life”(tm), like SL Universe, SL Exchange, and Second Life Herald. The new rules also affect the press, who are required to comply with the license guidelines in order to show the Second Life(tm) logo in an article:

We’ve given journalists and media outlets special permission to use the Second Life Eye-in-Hand Logo in published articles, blog entries, and news programs specifically about the Second Life virtual world, subject to our Guidelines and Terms and Conditions. (link)

These guidelines include a requirement to have a business presence in-world or an “association” with the product — a requirement that would prevent the logo from appearing in casual gaming reviews or news reports about Second Life(tm) or Linden Lab(tm). From a marketing perspective, it’s strange to me that the company would seek to limit references to their product in the media, or try to enforce seemingly arbitrary rules, especially at a time where the popularity of Second Life(tm) appears to be waning.

Since 2003, the company had a relaxed attitude towards use of the SL(tm) logo (see the old guidelines), in which many third-party websites established themselves using the product name or an abbreviation thereof. One such example is the low-brow rumour-mill, Second Life Herald, which not only includes the product name in their domain name and site name, but also features the Second Life(tm) eye-in-hand logo in the banner. One can only wonder: after the 90-day amnesty, will the company take retroactive legal action against these well-established websites?

Cristiano Midnight, owner of the popular user forum, “SL Universe”, points out, “it seems completely arbitrary, and impacts sites that have been in existence for years and fully in compliance of naming rules, which have now suddenly changed.” (link)

In the case of cavers.ca, I can’t afford to tackle the Linden Lab(tm) legal department, so I’ll do my best to comply with the new rules.

DISCLAIMER: Second Life, SL, and inSL are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. Cubeyterra.com is not affiliated with or sponsored by Linden Research. Further, cavers.ca hopes that Linden Research will not hurt cavers.ca legally, physically, or emotionally, using any means including but not limited to rabid lawyers, hit men, vicious attack penguins, or ninja assassins for any inadvertent infringement either real or perceived. Please don’t hurt me, I beg you, I didn’t mean to damage your trademark by mentioning you in my blog.

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Build your own race track

Starting today, I’m giving away the Terra Race Track Kit — a box with everything you need to build your own vehicle race track. This kit helps you get more out of your vehicle purchase, and helps island owners create a new attraction. Hold air, land, or sea races, using any vehicle at all.

The kit includes:

  • A multi-lap start/finish line
  • Race gates
  • A race clock
  • Unscripted race course markers

Pick up the Terra Race Track Kit free at Abbotts Aerodrome. You can try out the track at 450 meters above Abbotts Aerodrome (free planes available at the start line).

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Freebies for newbies: The GNUbie Store relaunches

This week, Ingrid Ingersoll completed the move of the popular freebie shop, The GNUbie Store, to it’s stylish new digs in Powder Mill.

Previously located in Indigo, The GNUbie store has been a repository of free items from Second Life’s leading designers, including Juro Kothari, Fallingwater Cellardoor, Forseti Svarog, Jai Nomad, Barnesworth Anubis, Ingrid Ingersoll, among many others. Oh, and me too.

The concept is to provide new Second Lifers with quality free items from hand-picked designers that they can both use and even learn from should they try their hand at content creation. The walls are covered with great free examples of homes, vehicles, clothing, and gadgets. It’s a popular approach, because even after relocating, the shop is already buzzing with activity.

(Link to The GNUbie Store)