Archives for February 2007

Australian part of photo exhibit at gallery launch

At SLOz we’ve managed to avoid self-promotion, but for no good reason we’re going to breach the rule to let you know that yours truly has four photos on exhibit at the Coyote launch commencing at 9am Eastern Australian Time, Sunday 4th February.

Come say hi 😉

Aussie developer needs all hands on deck

Developer Estrelle Fauna of Big-Bit has posted on our discussion forum asking for Australians with building / scripting / programming / sales experience.

With the enormous interest in SL, Big-Bit have the need to expand their talent to deal with the large number of prosposals being requested by Australian organisations interested in what SL may have to offer.

Cafepress launch in-world search engine

Cafepress.com have upped the ante with their SL presence with the following announcement (directly quoting the press release):

Second Life, METAVERSE (01 February 2007)

Tretiak Media, LLC announced today that Cafepress.com will use its SLQuery platform as their search engine in the 3D virtual world of Second Life. By using the SLQ infoStation, a free public search and chat kiosk, residents of Second Life can browse from millions of products in the Cafepress.com inventory.

Search results are displayed in the virtual environment of Second Life by text and thumbnail images, so the initial viewing of products does not require the launching of an external web browser. Previous Second Life search systems lacked product pictures and only supplied limited text link results. This diminished the usefulness of a search within Second Life idea, and required outside web pages as support. The SLQ system keeps the user in Second Life and utilizes it as a true 3D internet.

This search feature is just the first step for the entry of Cafepress.com into Second Life. The next phase will be a virtual marketplace, that takes the Cafepress.com web storefront and brings it completely into the metaverse. Shopkeepers will be able to design and then sell their Real Life Cafepress.com products from Second Life, keeping the product creation process, purchases, and payment transactions entirely inside the virtual environment.

Until a Real Life teleportation system is developed, however, product fulfillment will continue to rely on traditional shipping methods. Second Life is already the perfect venue for the Cafepress.com community, which is very loyal and has many social events worldwide. As an extension of the Cafepress.com marketplace, it gives the several million active shopkeepers a new environment to network, learn, and promote their products.

Tretiak Media is also adapting its SLQ image viewing technology for use with its amazon.com search feature. The eventual goal will be to offer a prim-based internet search/browser platform. This system is just the start of future vBusiness initiatives to come.

The SLQ infoStation, SLQ infoHUD, and other infoProducts can be found on SL Exchange, SL Boutique , or in Second Life at: SLQ HQ

Grid down, rolling restart underway – frustrations grow

The Linden blog reports a global restart is underway after login issues arose.

This comes on top of the unresolved teleport issues since the new version update. Be warned – reading comments on the blog paints a picture of open frustration on the part of longer term users.

New version of viewer and immediate problems for some

Linden Labs released a new version of the SL viewer today and fairly quickly had to explain some workarounds for issues evident when using the new version.

Some issues include video stutter and the inability to offer teleport to anyone not on your Friends list, which is linked to one of the goals of the upgrade, to remove the ability to determine if someone is online or not (who isn’t on your Friends list). It’ll be interesting to see how quickly Linden offer an upgrade to this version.

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