WEEKEND OPEN FORUM (Updated)

Got an SL-related issue you want to talk about, a grassroots event/project you want to promote, a gripe you want to air or praise you want to publicize?  Post here, and come Monday, I'll mention noteworthy items and discussions in a front page update.

Update, Monday 2/26:

- Using his innovative camera technology, Geuis Dassin showcases the awe-inspiring Chapel of Yule created by Xenius Revere.  High quality version here-- no post-production trickery, Geuis insists, the church "actually looks that good"-- lower quality YouTube version here.  Direct portal to Xenius' build here.

- What's the story behind the controversial, mysteriously high-yield Ginko Financial service?  Benjamin Noble announces a detailed blog entry on an analysis of Ginko from, of all places, the University of Illinois College of Law.

- Waiting on it with bated breath, Vincent announces the official arrival of SL's 4 millionth Resident.  (Be that Resident an alt, or a perennial "one try then bye bye" temporary citizen.)

- Gwyneth Llewelyn wonders when I'll looking into what Linden Lab's planning with my.secondlife.com.  (But I have the sense that Gwyn can guess far better than I.)

- Finally, "polygone" asks the machinima question few are brave to say in public:  "Isn't it weird how there's said to be so much sex in Second Life, but NO ONE has made a full-feature film porno with avatars?"

Comments

[Geuis Dassin]

Xenius Revere built an amazing work of art in the sim Yule.

Full video http://services.commoncache.com/chapel_of_yule.mp4

Simply stunning, glad I was able to film it.

Geuis

[Hamlet Au]

Wow, great build *and* film, Geuis. Is that straight video capture or are there post-production elements in it?

[Envoy Costagravas]

Geuis,

Lovely film of a stunning build, but... I went to Yule and covered the entire sim, and I couldn't find the Chapel? Any clues?

EC

[polygone]

pseudo-anonymous observation: Isn't it weird how there's said to be so much sex in Second Life, but NO ONE has made a full feature film porno with avatars?

[Benjamin Duranske ('Benjamin Noble')]

It's been said before (heck, Anshe Chung caused a big stir on this point over a year ago) but the University of Illinois College of Law's Business Law Journal recently weighed in with a fairly comprehensive analysis of Ginko Financial and reached the same conclusion as many others: there's a very good chance it's a ponzi scheme in a death spiral.

I just ran a long piece on this on Virtually Blind (I'm blogging "virtual law" there now and have been for about a month) adding some analysis, including a breakdown of the -- I think critical -- fact that Ginko's annual yield is down 60% from when they started.

Hamlet - if this isn't a the place for a link like this, I apologize and encourage you to unceremoniously dump it, but I think this is something that community members should be thinking about all over again even though it seems old news, given the new evidence.

[Geuis Dassin]

Here's the SLURL to the chapel:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Yule/16/107/311

Its up in the air. My bad.

Hamlet, I didn't do anything to the video itself beyond basic editing. It actually looks *that* good.

[Hamlet Au]

Excellent, Geuis.

Thanks for the link, Benjamin, that's totally appropriate here. (Click his name to read the post he mentions.)

[Adri Saarinen]

AMD is hosting a panel discussion and Q&A with SL open source leaders on Sunday at 1pm SLT at the AMD Dev Central Island. Details to follow.

AMD is also giving away an AMAZING computer to one lucky person who completes the AMD SL Treasure Hunt and Developer Challenge. Amazing as in, I sure wish I weren't ineligible. :D 4 gigs of RAM, people!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/AMD%2520Dev%2520Central/125/144/31/?title=AMD%2520Dev%2520Central

--

AMD and Metaversatility present: "Open source movements in Second Life: Challenges and opportunities"

Panel and Q&A featuring: Christian Prior (OpenSL), Gigs Taggart (OpenSL), and Frank Bogomil (Metaversatility)

Location: AMD Developer Central

Time: 1:00-2:30 p.m. PST/SLT

Join some of our community's leading authorities on open source projects in Second Life for an afternoon of substantive discussion. This event is bound to fill up quickly, so please be sure to join the AMD Developer Central group to secure priority admission. Panelists will answer the following questions as well as speaking on their projects' specific goals.

* In what ways might open source software enrich the experience of Second Life residents who do not consider themselves to be programmers?
* What significant initiatives have been launched within the development community since Linden announced it would open-source the client?
* What pathways will lead to the creation of standards-compliant virtual world programming tools?
* What will virtual worlds look like five, ten and fifteen years from now?

Audience members will have the opportunity to pose their own questions to the panelists. Don't miss this opportunity to speak with some of the leaders in the SL Open Source community.

[Vincent]

Ahem. 4 million users? Few more hours.

[Vincent]

Er... 4 million registered accounts rather. Still. A big deal! Just around the corner.

[Vincent]

Yay, that did it! 4 million.

[Gwyneth Llewelyn]

Hamlet, what about taking a look at what Linden Lab is planning to do with my.secondlife.com? :)

[Benjamin Duranske ('Benjamin Noble')]

Thanks, Hamlet. Just so folks don't have to click my name above, here's a direct link to the new Ginko Financial analysis piece I am running on Virtually Blind.

[Hamlet Au]

Cool!

Gwyn, I haven't followed the my.secondlife.com initiative much-- what do *you* think about it?

[Geuis Dassin]

Heh, I don't think the domain http://my.secondlife.com resolves yet... =)

Anyone in the beta program reading this that might be able to comment a little?

[Alastair Chamerberlin]

Maybe I am missing something, but what exactly is so spectacular about this chapel? Is it the stained glass? The torchlight? seen it and seen it. Help me out here guys, slow news day or what are you all seeing that I am not?

[Geuis Dassin]

Hey Alastair, it was a striking build when Xenius showed it to me. Here's a sense of what it was like.

He teleports me in to this dark, dark area. Xen's avatar was this tiny all-black shape that blended perfectly into the dark, with only these big glowing eyes showing. It was a little creepy actually. He says, "look around" and so I zoom out.

THEN these vibrant colors and amazing detail jump out of me as I actually see where I am. A further surprise came when I zoomed out further and saw this amazing vaulted ceiling with spectacular lighting effects.

One of the things that really makes it, the entire chapel is enclosed in a giant black box. so for a moment, I didn't feel like I was in Second Life, but rather was in a much prettier world.

It was an experience that gave it that moment of awe. I may not have been able to capture that sense in the video, but that was the goal.

[Christopher Lin]

I'd like to see a report/discussion on this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070224/ts_alt_afp/usitinternetattacks_070224005516
I'm surprised none of the usual SL sources have said anything about it yet (or am I just missing them?)

[Jenna Newton]

The film misspells Xenius Revere as "Xenius Reserve" but other than that, pretty cool