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Krypton Radio & Its DJ’s Nominated For Avi Choice Awards!

 Krypton Radio  No Responses »
Dec 112012
 
avi-choice-banner-v2

As some of you know, we got our start in the online MMO called Second Life – and now we and our DJ’s have been nominated for the Avi Choice Awards for 2012!

From the web site:

The Avi Choice Awards is the premier annual awards presentation recognizing the people and talent of Second Life’s™ amazing creations, completely chosen and voted on by Second Life™ residents.  2011 Avi Choice Awards response was tremendous and the websites saw an amazing 35000 visits and an staggering number of votes.  This year we expect even more.

The Avi Choice Awards will be presented during the Avi Choice Program held at The Christmas Expo, in the Auditorium (in Second Life – we’ll try to get more specifics on exactly where), on Friday evening, December 14th, at 6pm SLT.  NOTE: This is a black tie/formal event. 

To contact us, please email: AviChoiceAwards@gmail.com.

* The nominations and voting results do not reflect the opinions/choices of Christmas Expo coordinators, Avi Choice Awards coordinators or staff members. These were nominated and voted on by website visitors and SL™ residents. Staff of the Avi Choice Awards or Xmas Expo are not permitted to nominate or vote on Avi Choice Award candidates*

If you’re a Second Life resident, you can vote for our DJ’s Gary DaBaum (“Fuzzball Ortega”) and Willow Leafstorm, and for Krypton Radio itself as the best radio station.  Wouldn’t it be neat for your favorite sci-fi / comics radio station to win an award? We think so.  Of course, there’s a certain amount of bias there…

The Avi Awards are hosted by the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life organization within Second Life.

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Linden Lab Leaving ‘Second Life’ Behind, Announces ‘Patterns’

 Games, Net Culture  14 Responses »
Sep 242012
 
Linden Lab hopes that 'Patterns' will be the next big thing. But isn't this just Minecraft with some corners cut off?
an editorial by Gene Turnbow

Linden Lab hopes that ‘Patterns’ will be the next big thing. But isn’t this just Minecraft with some corners cut off?

SAN FRANCISCO – On September 19, Linden Lab announced their new game for the XBox 360 called “Patterns”. From the announcement video, it looks like a cross between the wildly popular Minecraft and a few carefully selected elements from their previous big success story, Second Life.  In it, players create objects and environments by sticking together not blocks, as in Minecraft, but triangles.

The addition of physics and the concept of keying the behavior of the user-created world to the patterns of triangles the user creates makes it distinctive – but not exactly unique.  Minecraft has the same concept of creating new objects and devices by aligning user-placed primitives made from certain materials into certain configurations.  One creates a portal to the Minecraft netherworld (the “Nether”) using blocks of onyx, for example. Patterns adds physics, and the elements are more abstract – and by default, as in Second Life, you see yourself as an avatar that moves around in the triangle world building or destroying, operating and using what you make.

Unfortunately, except for it being in triangles, Mojang has a huge head start on Linden Lab.  Mods for Minecraft have had years to become rich and varied, to the point where you can build complex virtual technology from raw materials in-game, and since it’s got an extensive API you can make it do nearly anything you can imagine.  Linden Lab is not creating something new an innovative; quite the contrary.  They’re chasing the ideas Minecraft left in the distance years ago.  Even the idea of porting it to handheld devices like phones and tablets isn’t new.  Mojang was there first, releasing versions for iOS and Android in November of 2011.

Obviously Linden Lab is beginning to move on from Second Life.  They’re hoping their new game Patterns will be the Next Big Thing.  They’re certainly entitled to spin off their success with Second Life, and borrowing core concepts from Minecraft to do it is certainly allowable.  Though the new game looks like it might be fun, and their new iOS-only offering, Creatorverse has a certain appeal as well, there’s something critical that Linden Lab has overlooked.

Its own customers.

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3Di To Launch Free Unity-Based MMO World

 Games, Net Culture  No Responses »
Jul 172012
 
3di Cloud Beta - it's roughly like SL, but whatever company runs the back end has nearly all the control. You'll be just a visitor...
3di Cloud Beta - it's roughly like SL, but whatever company runs the back end has nearly all the control. You'll be just a visitor...

3di Cloud Beta – it’s roughly like SL, but whatever company runs the back end has nearly all the control. You’ll be just a visitor…

Linden Lab’s original intent was to create a standard for 3D massively connective virtual worlds, and while many Second Life users know something about OpenSim, SpotOn3D and other SL substitutes, they may not be aware of just how far beyond Second Life this technology has gone.

OpenSim was one of the first “Second Life-alike” platforms, and the only one that depended on individuals running their own servers.  And now, Japen’s 3Di, Inc., best known for their browser-based OpenSim viewers, will be testing a new, free, public, Unity-based virtual world this weekend, called 3Di Cloud.

It’s browser based, meaning that  individuals and groups will be able to embed a window into their private virtual world right onto their websites, like they can now embed YouTube videos. This part isn’t new — ReactionGrid’s Jibe is also a Unity-based world that runs in the browser and can be embedded in a webpage, and so can the OpenSim viewer plugin from SpotON3D.

What’s different here is that the 3Di Cloud product has a free version.

According to 3Di senior manager Norman Lin, just by pasting an HTML tag into their home page users will be able to setup a 3D shared space or chat room, using 3Di’s free cloud servers.   Free users will be able to change the appearance of their avatars, and to modify their rooms in some limited ways.  Text chat is included, but no voice is available on the free version.  There’s a limit to how many free accounts will be made available, Lin said, but did not specify what that limit would be.

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Linden Lab Changes Second Life Third Party Viewer Policies

 Corsair's Chronicles, Cybercrime, Games, Internet, League of Heroes (LoH), Net Culture, Sci / Tech, Special Reports  2 Responses »
Feb 272012
 
Linden Lab, creators and operators of the popular MMO 'Second Life', is based in San Francisco, California.

New Policies Have Potential To Hamstring Third Party Developers

by Samantha Lowell

Linden Lab, creators and operators of the popular MMO 'Second Life', is based in San Francisco, California.

Second Life is in the news again, with a recently announced policy change by Linden Labs regarding Third Party Viewers (TPVs).  This new policy may have stifling effects on not only the third party “after market” viewers, but may also drastically impact merchants and content creators grid wide, creating unforeseen threats to personal privacy in the popular online service as well as the platform’s already faltering virtual economy.

Acting in response to concerns about in world tracking of avatars, Linden Lab, creators of the popular Second Life platform,  has announced sweeping changes to its formerly live-and-let-live policy regarding TPVs, which were formerly allowed to innovate as they wished, offering features not supported by the standard Second Life viewer so long as they adhered to the Second Life Terms of Service and did not violate core functionality for the viewers used by players to connect to the service.

The new terms forbid TPVs  to have any function that tracks another player avatar.  Changes will will be rolled out with the next rolling restart of Second life which nerf many of the features upon which much of the online population has come to rely.  In a separate but related move, the scripting language may be limited as well.  This could spell disaster for content creators  and merchants who use these features honestly, as hundreds of legitimate devices involving avatar tracking and related features are suddenly non functional, a serious blow to creators who have invested considerable time and real-world money into their work.

Going one step further, the new terms forbid TPVs from having any feature the base Linden Lab Second Life viewer does not already have.  This directly conflicts with the stated purpose of TPV creators, which is to offer innovations and options not featured in the base Second Life Viewer. On occasion, LL has chosen to incorporate these features,like avatar physics. Though LL has stated it encourages innovation and will work with TPV developers, the era of versatility and innovation by TPV developers will be effectively at an end as numerous special features offerd by TPVs, such as Singularity’s role play mode, will suddenly be ended.

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Full Mesh Doctor Who Sim Under Construction in Second Life

 Community, Games, Science Fiction  1 Response »
Nov 152011
 

Entire Katrina Sim Goes Mesh: Doctor Who Expo and Millenium Center Pioneers in Second Life

By Samantha Lowell
Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction television series in history.

Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction television series in history.

The entire Katrina sim, home of the Doctor Who Exposition and Millenium Center- Second Life’s oldest Doctor Who sim, is now undergoing a complete conversion to an all-mesh format, the first sim in Second Life history ever to do so on such a scale.  Linden Lab recently introduced a new feature to its Second Life platform: the ability for users to upload their own models created in 3D programs such as Maya, Max or Blender and use them in-world.

One of those responsible for placing the sim on Second Life’s cutting edge is co-owner Victor1st Mornington, who described the inception of the ground breaking project four years ago.

“It was something the owners have been talking about for a while,” Mornington said, “In the first 2 or 3 seasons of the new Dr Who (Eccleston and Tennant era) Cardiff Bay featured heavily, and it was also featured in Torchwood, but now Cardiff is not seen in any of the shows. Plus, Katrina has had the same look for 4 years, it’s become a bit stale…so it was time for something refreshing and new.”

Though the owners and staff had hoped for an earlier release in November, the current anticipated date of completion is in now around Christmas, owing to the enormity of the project. Now that Mesh is an established part of second life, the project is beginning in earnest and Mornington is quick to point out that the massive rebuild is very much a collaborative effort. Though initially largely the brain child of such innovators as co-owners to EzY McAlpine, Marinedalek Tomorrow, Cobalt Neutra and Shortpeiceof String, the conversion is being undertaken by the entire Katrina staff, a truly monumental undertaking.

Most of the original construction has been deleted and Blender, 3dsmax and other 3 modeling programs are being used to create the new structures. The only technical difficulties are discrepancies in Levels of Detail (LODS) between the various 3D programs, and Mornington describes those problems as fairly minor.

 

Amelia Pond, on the news that the Second Life Doctor Who sim at Katrina was going to be entirely rebuilt using mesh models.

Amelia Pond, on the news that the Second Life Doctor Who sim at Katrina was going to be entirely rebuilt using mesh models.

So why all mesh? “It worked out easier and more prim economic to do it in mesh,” Mornington explained, “Mesh still hasn’t had a massive impact in SL (especially with the problems of clothing) but we are seeing a vast majority of folks using a mesh compatible viewer…so we went with mesh.”

 

The new sim construction will be unveiled in a massive Doctor Who Expo in late December, with content creators unveiling new and exclusive Doctor Who related creations for the occasion. Mornington himself is undertaking the mesh rebuild of the mammoth Zenobia Station, a Gallifreyan Themed space station.

Mornington alluded to a surprise, “something very big” that would be unveiled for the exposition, but declined to give any hints. Second Life now watches and waits eagerly for the bright future of the oldest sim in Second Life’s Doctor Who fan pantheon. Krypton Radio will provide more news as it develops.

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Drug Cartel Kidnapping of “Anonymous” Member Likely A Hoax

 Cybercrime, Games, Special Reports  1 Response »
Nov 052011
 

Krypton Radio Special Report“Anonymous” Fizzle After Fizzle as Arrests Continue

Krypton Radio Newswire
Dumpster Knights of LulzSec

Dumpster Knights of LulzSec

On October 6, 2011, the group Anonymous released a video stating that Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel, had kidnapped one of the group’s members.  Anonymous threatened that unless the hostage was freed, they would publish personal information about members of the cartel and their collaborators in politics, police, military, and business, which might lead to their persecution by rival cartels or Mexican authorities.   However, according to the U.K. Guardian, two hacker members of “Operation: Cartel”  have now indicated that they are “stopping their scheme to identify collaborators and members because they don’t want anyone to be killed as a result”.  This sudden backpedal is very likely in response to the discovery in September of  the torture and murder of two bloggers found hung from a bridge in Mexico along with the message, “This is going to happen to all of those posting funny things on the Internet, you better (expletive) pay attention. I’m about to get you.”

It now appears that there may never have even been an abduction.  No police reports of an abduction have surfaced.   The retraction by the British members of Anonymous may simply be a rethink on the real world consequences of going up against drug lords with nothing to lose armed with nothing more than pixels and electrons.

Anonymous, the self-proclaimed ‘hacktivist’ organization, is known primarily for criminal acts of illegal entry into commercial and government computer systems, but usually carrying out acts of retribution for what they perceive as injustice.  These acts of retribution often consist of mass theft of tens of thousands of personal or financial records, defacement of web sites of branches of both the United States government and governments abroad, and denial of service attacks using their LOIC (“Low Orbit Ion Cannon”) distributed attack software.  The group has no apparent leader, instead seeming to act on whatever idea seems to be popular in various chat sites such as 4Chan.org, and often takes actions that appear contradictory to statements made by Anonymous spokesmen.

From Altruism to Crime & Punishment

Anonymous first gained significant attention from their opposition to the Church of Scientology’s questionable practices, staging both online attacks and real world protests.  Protests in February and March of 2008 gathered thousands of protesters in more than 93 cities worldwide.  While the protests were conducted in a relatively peaceful and legal manner, however, the attacks on the web site were not, and in October of that year 18-year old Dmitriy Guzner from New Jersey and self-proclaimed member of Anonymous was indicted and pled guilty to the internet attacks on the Church of Scientology websites.

In 2009, a wave of attempts by various governments to attempt to censor content on the internet captured the attention of Anonymous.  Australia in particular was attempting to enact laws that would require ISP’s to filter internet content to restrict the distribution of  child pornography.  The rules were widely considered unworkable – though while citizens’ groups within Australia worked through the proper channels to resolve the matter and were eventually successful, Anonymous took another approach:   they declared war on Australia.  On September 10, 2009 Anonymous took down the Prime Minister’s website. It was offline for approximately one hour.

On February 10, 2010, Anonymous launched a more prepared attack, called ‘Operation: Titstorm’ and defaced the web site of Stephen Conroy, Australia’s Prim Minister, attacked the Parliament web site and took it offline for three days, and nearly taking the Department of Communication’s website down. The Australian press later said that the attacks were not considered a serious crimes by information security consultants, who suggested they only had an impact because the government “knew the [second] attack was coming but was unable to stop it.”  Anonymous then began discussing assassination of Stephen Conroy as a possible next move.

Public opinion swayed sharply against Anonymous.  In a furious back-pedal move, they changed the name of the operation to “Operation Freeweb”, and began staging real life demonstrations through March – however, the thousands of marchers in the streets promised by Anonymous materialized in the form of only dozens of participants and not the thousands they promised. In the end, it was public opinion that the new rules would do little to protect children online and would stifle free speech that put Conroy’s plans on the back burner.

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Ancient Rome Lives On in Second Life

 Activities, Community, Games, Special Reports  1 Response »
Oct 132011
 

Krypton Radio Special Report

ROMA Greets Its Five Year Anniversary on the Grid October 15-16

by Melanippe of Thymascyra
Lumeralia Festival in Roma, Second Life

Lumeralia Festival in Roma, Second Life

Imagine you are making your way along a narrow, yet sunny alleyway. Carts and boxes crowd the open spaces, causing your sandal-shod steps to be taken carefully. Finally, after ducking under one last awning, the alley empties out into a fountained square, where a snow leopard in a purple-striped toga (not unlike the one draped around yourself), a Legionary in full armour and a woman in a bright peplos hold a lively conversation. At that same moment, an announcement rings out about a ‘Magical Mercury Tour’ while Apollo supplants his twin sister in watching over the large sundial next to the fountain.

Welcome to ROMA in Second Life.

During this month of October, a special anniversary will take place — ROMA will celebrate its fifth anniversary as a community. Not only is it the oldest Classical-period sim on the grid, five years is an extraordinary age for any themed community at all.

The visitor’s Roma experience begins in the heart of the city itself, arriving at the Customs House, where they may acquire a set of the Twelves Tables (the local rules) as well as some free clothing if they wish to dress in appropriate style. Roma’s theme is optional for visitors, but most find it fun to buy their first toga and explore in sandals rather than jeans and high heels. Uphill are the Capitoline Hill which includes the Temple of Jupiter, and the Imperator’s gardens, all open to view.

To the east is Subura, the residential neighbourhood. Although the homes are private, there is a public latrina and laundry, temples which may be visited, and gardens to enjoy.

North of the city proper is Transtiberim, which starts with the River Tiber, the Street of the Dead and is home to the rural settlement of Ostia. Ostia is the home of the Legio XIII Gemina, the Collegia Religio Romana, the Ludus for the gladiator school and the port, from which both pleasure vessels and naval forces sail. Transtiberim also has several special educational displays – an interactive archeological dig, authentically-constructed baths, and a burial site. The more adventurous explorers will find the Sybil’s seat, the hot springs (free towels!), the Medusa’s mirror and the Lupercal Cave.

Maritima is also north, connecting Subura and Ostia by means of a sea. Small islands are scattered through the waters, which also lap the private homestead of Diania (owned by one of the ‘gens’, or great Roman families) further east, and the business sim of Insula, home of Ars Avete/Ars Toga, forming a northern shore.

One of the most striking features of Roma as a whole are the two newest additions – Vicus and Vinovium. Sponsored by Stanford University and Durham University, these two sims exist as a living reproduction of ongoing archeological work at Binchester in northern England. The Roman fort and town are being recreated in Second Life as pieces and structures are uncovered, bit by bit, by the excavators.

Torin Golding, the Prefect (and owner) of Roma, has a PhD in Classical Archaeology, which is what inspired him to create Roma in the form it has. Roma exists not just as a vital themed community, but also as an educational tool, seeking to enlighten and inform by entertainment. Roma’s buildings are not necessarily exact copies of historial sites, but evoke the building style of the period and allow interactivity with the sites in a way not possible short of visiting a First Life location. With the addition of the various citizen groups – the senators and curia members, the roleplayers, the military, the priesthood, the families – Roma’s vitality brings a sense of the Imperial city to life.

Roma’s Fifth Anniversary and the festivals of Armilustrium and Lemuralia will be celebrated on the 15th and 16th of October, along with Roma’s annual Halloween party. Please see the calendar linked to the Roma Citizens blog for a detailled schedule of events.

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Welcome to JOY – Joy Estates in Avination

 Business, Games, Interviews  No Responses »
Sep 192011
 
Joy Solutions
Joy Solutions

Joy Solutions

On Saturday, the 17 September 2011, JOY Estate and JOY Solutions opened their doors on Avination®

Krypton Radio Newswire

The inarguable success of Linden Lab’s Second Life online virtual world has spawned many spinoff platforms, such as SpotOn3D, InWorldz, Avination, OpenSim and roughly a dozen others.  While none have the sheer mass and complexity of the original, these other MMO’s have features that make them attractive.  Few are robust enough to support the full gamut of possibilities offered by Second Life – but one that’s getting close is Avination.  So close, in fact, that companies are starting to move into t his secondary virtual world with the anticipation of actually being able to turn a profit.  One of the greatest obstacles facing business trying to stay viable in Second Life is the monthly fees associated with owning and operating a private, non-mainland  region on that platform.  Avination makes a very tempting platform on this basis alone: a mere $60 USD per month for a full region, as contrasted to Second Life’s $295 USD.

One of the first businesses to jump into Avination with both feet is Marc Montague’s JOY Estate is opening its doors with two sims in Avination, called “Joy” and “Alameda”.  The sims recall a seaside village on the coast of the Mediterranean, with what founder Marcus Kretschmer (Marc Montague is his avatar name in Avination) describes as luxury amenities not found elsewhere.  The Joy Solutions store is on the “Joy” sim and features prefabricated homes and low prim furniture. Their  house music club is also there.  It’s called ‘The Wave’, and it’s the first club of its kind in Avination.

It’s always interesting to see how new businesses start out and how they’re using their energies and resources, so we caught up with Mr. Kretschmer and talked to him about his new venture:

Krypton Radio: Tell us a little bit about who you are and what shaped your interest and involvement with online virtual worlds.

Marc Montague: In virtual worlds, I have chosen to use the name Marc Montague, as I really like the name Montague from the Shakespearean play ‘Romeo & Juliet’. In the physical world my name is Marcus Kretschmer, I am German born and raised, but spent the last 10 years in the City of London in the United Kingdom.

I came to virtual worlds during an evening show of ‘Channel 4 News’ whereby a report about Second Life ran. I signed up in ‘Second Life’ at the end of October 2006 to have as my very first experience being an endless freefall out of the sky and bumping into the ground in front of a club.  I was very confused as nobody seemed to have a clue or interest in talking or helping me to understand what I should do next.

But as much as I was confused, I was hooked at that moment and I was intrigued to learn and fully understand what this environment was good for. I was never really what you’d call a gamer or code monkey. I taught myself HTML, Javascript and a bit of PHP, but I would not call myself a programming genius, but what I saw was for me breathtaking, as I learned very quickly  that I could communicate, collaborate and exchange with people all over the globe on things that I found interesting, like building, designing, business and education.

Between 2007 and 2008 I was primary involved in several projects, such as the islands for Bad Puppy.com – ‘CLC’ and Nokia and several mainland projects.  I also contributed complete sim designs for several years for  Remembering Our Friends – first as a renter, then later as a sim owner.  I also owned in-world businesses like BDMM Design, which I feel contributed contributed strongly to the inworld economies, in part by actively supp0rting various media outlets such as Metaverse TV, Treet TV,  and BOSL Magazine.

In 2009, I took my pure in-world business the first time officially off-world and created with a business partner a physical world based registered company called ‘V-Innovate Ltd.’

KR: Do you have a background in art and design?  Game development?  Programming?

Marc: I do not have a degree in art and design, game development or programming. In the late 80′s I studied architecture and got my degree in City Development.  In the 90′s I studied economics and marketing nad have advanced degrees in that, public relations and human resources.

I was drawn to Second Life in 2006 partly because the platform gave me an outlet for my creativity with respect to architecture.  During my scholastic career, you did everything on paper, not computers, so this was a very strong lure for me.

KR: What is it that ignites your imagination about virtual worlds, and why Avination specifically?

Marc: My own experience has shown me that you can only come to a full understanding of how beneficial a virtual world can be for problem solving and project visualization by getting hands-on experience and seeing the tools for yourself. I think if you can see it, you can understand it.

I have been in Second Life every day, since 2006, as I am a whole hearted believer that this kind of environment is a solution tool for multiple challenges that people or even human kind is facing. I see Second Life as a representation of a lot of great advances that will aid business, education, the arts, media and the entertainment industry. I don’t believe that Second Life alone will be the only tool usable, or Avination, or Reaction Grid, or even SpotOn3D will necessarily be the solution to these problems, but they do give us more tools for dealing with them..

I see all virtual worlds more as tools in a larger tool box and I use the correct tools for the job to achieve my desired outcome for my customers and myself. I am not only looking into the direction of OpenSIM based platform solutions, but also toward a move back to the web.  Unity 3D, for example, is another prospective tool in my ever bigger growing tool box, as this industry is growing by the hour.

KR: When did you found Pixel Lighthouse?

Marc: I worked during the year 2010 alone as a single entrepreneur on Pixel Lighthouse and we incorporated Pixel Lighthouse Ltd. on the 1 February 2011. Pixel Lighthouse is founded by people that see this ever growing industry of virtual and augmented reality as a means to solve problems. Our challenge is to find solutions using finite  human resources and capital and achieve the best possible outcome.

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