Found this video over on TechCrunch. They occasionally mention SL, usually with a slightly negative tilt. Kind of funny to read the comments every time TC posts about SL as many of the commenters have no clue what SL is all about.

Anyway, in this short interview Philip talks about the new round of 3D, browser based chat environments like Lively and Vivaty and whether or not they pose a threat to Second Life. I always like to hear Philip talk about his baby, and he makes some great points here – especially stressing how the standards and protocols behind these virtual worlds must be interoperable with each other and the Web.

“Virtual worlds, to achieve the immersive properties that are key technologically to the experience they create, require a piece of client software – in the same way I think that you had to download Mosaic or Netscape in the early days to experience the Internet. But I think that problem of say…getting those bundled onto machines or making that download very small, or very easy, is a very straightforward process.”

I like the fact that he compares Second Life to the beginnings of the Web. I was an early adopter on the Web and SL has always had a similar feeling for me. We’re all still experimenting, getting a feel for what we can do with Virtual Worlds and how they might improve out lives.

Popular Places is now gone from the main Second Life client. Woohoo! Maybe this means that people will stop trying to artificially inflate their Traffic numbers with hordes of undead bot avatars. Maybe not. At any rate, I think it’s a step in the right direction. After just a quick trip through the list I see many more sites that are interesting to me than with the old Traffic based system.

Popular places has been replaced with the Showcase tab, which features (hopefully) interesting spots chosen by Linden Lab. Glad to see that they are including an Arts & Culture tab in the Showcase, although I think an Education tab would be nice, too. I’m sure there is a huge rush at the moment, but you can submit your own suggestions for places to add to the showcase.

This is a short demonstration of how to use one of my newest FloraPrims products. Undergrowth makes it easy for you to add sculpted, realistic detail to your land. You just rez a single prim object and use the built-in menu to control the shapes, colors, and textures. Each package, Leaves or Flowers, also includes over a dozen custom, full permissions textures for you to use on your own creations. With just a few clicks and a few prims you can add a layer of variety and realism to your existing builds.

I found this tool thanks to a tip from Jesse Barnett on the LL forums. LSLEditor is a Windows application that makes it easier to script in LSL. All sorts of neat features:

• Auto completes while you type LSL commands, including your own defined variables
• Gives you tips and info about each command – as you type!
• Instant help on any keyword using LSLwiki.net
• Keeps your code neat and clean – or tidies up your existing code
• Compiling, Execution and Debugging outside of SecondLife
• Plus a bunch of more technical stuff that I don’t quite understand :)

Definitely worth a try for anyone who wants to make their scripting life a bit easier. Oh, and did I mention it’s free? Of course you are also free to donate to LSLeditor’s creator, Alphons Jano. Happy scripting!

Here’s a quick tip that can sometimes hurry along a sculpted prim that is slow to rez. If you see a big spheroid that seems like it should be a tree or a rock – or anything besides a big sphere – give the object a quick right-click. If you are lucky the sculpted shape will pop into view. There is a long standing bug that occasionally causes sculpted prims to load very slowly, and for some reason this right-click trick can be a quick fix.