OpenSim user growth cools down with chilly weather
The weather’s been getting cooler here in the US where I live — some days, at least. The weather’s been a little wonky lately. And there have been other things happening in the country that make me want to spend less time in the real world and more time inRead More →
Registration now open for December’s OpenSim Community Conference
The Opensimulator Community Conference is the annual conference that focuses on the user community and developers of the OpenSimulator virtual world software. This year’s conference will run from December 6 to December 8, 2024. Registration is now open, and is free. OSCC 2024 kicks off with a Friday pre-conference launch event featuring meetups, art,Read More →
OpenSim Worlds Fair will be held in March
The OpenSim Worlds Fair is set to launch on March 1, 2025, and will celebrate innovation, creativity, art, technology, fashion, and education in OpenSim. This event, a year in the making, will unite the OpenSim community under one roof, showcasing the talents and achievements that define our world. With nearlyRead More →
Kitely adds PBR materials support, larger textures
Kitely has added support for physically based rendering (PBR) materials in both its virtual worlds and on the Kitely Market, the company announced this week. The update also includes support for textures up to 2,048 by 2,048 pixels in size. PBR materials allow for more realistic textures by simulating howRead More →
OSCC 2024 Submission Deadline Approaching
The clock is ticking for virtual world enthusiasts and creators looking to share their innovations at this year’s OpenSimulator Community Conference. Potential presenters have until October 29, 2024 to submit their proposals for the twelfth annual gathering of the OpenSim community. “We hope that you can join us for ourRead More →
AvatarLife Viewer adds video calls, screen sharing
The AvatarLife Viewer now supports video conferencing for up to 5 participants, audio conferencing, screen sharing without video, and six-language support. “We believe in empowering our users with the tools they need to communicate and collaborate seamlessly. Whether it’s for a small group chat, a business meeting, or sharing workRead More →
Spooky season brings more visitors to OpenSim worlds
It’s the spooky season here in the United States, with Halloween coming up soon and all sorts of creepy scary stuff happening, and cooler weather outside. Also — we’ve got the elections. So, three reasons for people not to want to leave their house and spend time in OpenSim asRead More →
Virtual Worlds Ease Real Stress
One man’s journey into Tripp’s VR meditation and AI assistant reveals how digital tools can offer moments of calm amidst daily anxieties and rumination.Read More →
Storylink Radio plans spooky fall events in Kitely and Second Life
This year’s Storylink Radio’s October celebration is more ambitious than ever before, organizers told Hypergrid Business. There will be live in-world Halloween storytelling all month long and dozens of YouTube exclusive presentations, including short Halloween tales every night on Storylink Radio’s YouTube channel. All the videos were filmed in virtualRead More →
OpenSim active users rise with cooler weather
This time of year — in the northern hemisphere, at least — people start spending more time inside as temperatures drop and school starts. So it’s no surprise that the total number of active users on the public OpenSim grids is going up. According to their published stats report, thereRead More →
OSFest 2024 Opens for Builders and Participants
The virtual doors of OSFest 2024 have swung open, welcoming creators, builders, merchants, performers, and sponsors to begin crafting their digital spaces. This annual event, hosted on the OpenSim Fest grid, is set to run from October 4 through October 20, 2024, offering a diverse platform for virtual exhibitions, performances,Read More →
OpenSim usage stats down as summer comes to a close
Summer is generally a slow time for OpenSim, and virtual worlds in general, as people spend more time outside and on vacation and educational projects go on break. The total number of active users went down by more than 3,700, to 43,001. DigiWorldz, for example, lost 1,220 actives this month,Read More →
Kitely Mega Worlds on sale for $90 per month
Update (Sep 1, 2024): Several educators have asked to be able to order after the school year has started. To accommodate their request, Kitely decided to extended the offer until September 15. Only 10 more people will be able to take advantage of this deal, and there will be noRead More →
OpenSim regions up, actives down with summer heat
The total land area of OpenSim’s public grids jumped by more than 33,000 region equivalents this month, with the addition of a large new grid to our list. However, the total number of active users was down by nearly 1,500, due to several grids not reporting stats this month. MissingRead More →
People think AIs are conscious. What could this mean for bots in OpenSim?
I’ve been interacting with OpenSim bots — or NPCs — for nearly as long as I’ve been covering OpenSim. Which is about 15 years. (Oh my God, has it really been that long?) I’ve been hoping that OpenSim writing would become by day job, but, unfortunately, OpenSim never really tookRead More →
Kitely upgrades to enhanced version of OpenSim
Kitely, a leading OpenSim grid, has announced a significant upgrade to its virtual world hosting service, implementing an enhanced version of OpenSim 0.9.2.2. This update comes on the heels of a recent system-wide upgrade that doubled world performance. According to an announcement earlier this week, the new version of OpenSim includesRead More →
OpenSim users hit all-time high despite 3rd Rock closure
OpenSim active users are up by 1,039 this month, reaching a new all-time high of 48,234. The total land area also increased, by 489 standard region equivalents. However, the total number of registered users on all the public OpenSim grids fell by more than 10,000 since May. The biggest reasonRead More →
Kitely doubles region performance, keeps prices the same
Kitely, a leading OpenSim grid, has announced a significant upgrade to its virtual world hosting service, doubling the performance of all Kitely regions without increasing prices. The company has achieved this by adopting the latest Amazon server technology, the M7i generation, while maintaining its existing pricing structure. “This upgrade enablesRead More →
Classic metaverse books on sale now at Amazon
I don’t personally agree with the dystopian visions of the metaverse as presented by sci-fi writers. But if you want to understand where the inspiration for platforms like Second Life — and OpenSim — comes from, these books are a must-read. Plus, they might give us some tips about whatRead More →
All OpenSim stats drop on grid outages
The total land area in OpenSim fell this month by over 3,000 standard region equivalents, the total number of registered users fell by just over 1,000, and the number of active monthly users dropped by 425 compared to this time last month. The region loss was due to the factRead More →
3rd Rock Grid residents find new homes on ZetaWorlds
Today was the last day of 3rd Rock Grid, one of the oldest grids in OpenSim. The grid announced that it was closing back in March, and, since then, many of the former residents have found their way to other grids, with ZetaWorlds being a popular destination. Start at Sirocco,Read More →
Five things every grid needs on its home page
I have a new OpenSim grid stats report coming out tomorrow, so I’ve been surfing OpenSim grid websites these last couple of days, looking for errant stats pages. And that means that I’ve been looking at a lot of grid home pages. And there are some really pretty ones outRead More →
Virtual curating frees artist
One of my interests is the relationship between the real world and the virtual. If the virtual can inspire or inform the real, it then transcends its technical isolation. Curating an art exhibition is just such an opportunity. In the physical realm, curating is labor intensive, so decisions on placementRead More →
International singers gather on Alternate Metaverse Grid for first annual International Day
Alternate Metaverse Grid celebrated its first annual International Day on Thursday, March 7: Celebrating International Diversity on OpenSim. Grid co-owner Cataplexia Numbers said she was looking of a way to bring together the residents of various countries that are members of the Alternate Metaverse Grid and have them not onlyRead More →
OpenSim hits new land, user highs
The total land area on OpenSim’s public grids reached the equivalent of 138,831 standard regions this month, an all-time high — and the fourth month in a row that OpenSim land area has broken this record. That’s an increase of more than 5,000 regions since last month. The biggest gainerRead More →
Wolf Territories rolls out speech-to-text to help the hearing impaired
In a move to make the virtual realm more inclusive, Wolf Territories Grid, announced the launch of its new speech-to-text function today, in order to improve the in-world experience for hard-of-hearing and deaf community members. With the commitment to ensure equal participation for all users, Wolf Territories Grid’s new speech-to-textRead More →
3rd Rock, OpenSim’s second-oldest grid, is shutting down
3rd Rock Grid, the second-oldest grid in OpenSim, will be shutting down soon. “We have to shut down the grid due to a few circumstances that have technical consequences, making it impossible to further manage the grid,” said 3rd Rock Grid board member Florin Spanachi, who is also known asRead More →
Zuckerberg’s VR Vision: Will Rejecting Google’s Android XR Cost Meta in the Long Run?
Could Mark Zuckerberg’s lust-driven quest to own VR, AR and mixed reality end up costing Meta at the end of the day? That’s a question being posed after The Information reported recently that Google had approached Meta partner with its new software platform — Google Android XR — that is beingRead More →
How to use AI to write an opinion column
So. You have some thoughts about where OpenSim is going. Or there’s a cool new fashion designer in OpenSim you want to tell people about. Or there’s a feature you’d really like to see implemented. You’ve been thinking for a while about writing it up and sending it to HypergridRead More →
Wolf Territories gets better hosting, now top grid by size and users
In a move that promises a faster, smoother, and more responsive virtual world experience, Wolf Territories Grid has migrated to a new server cluster at a data center in Frankfurt, Germany. The upgrade is expected to significantly enhance performance and reliability for the grid’s thousands of users, who can nowRead More →
My keynote talk about ChatGPT
So, I’m back home — after flying to Lima, Peru for an AI conference last week. I was there to give a keynote speech about AI. The whole flight over I was worried that Nvidia or OpenAI or someone else would announce news of such major importance that I’d haveRead More →
OpenSim area continues growth streak
The total land area on OpenSim’s public grids reached the equivalent of 133,076 standard regions this month, an all-time high — and the third month in a row that OpenSim land area has broken records. There was an increase of 1,196 standard region equivalents compared to last month. Meanwhile, theRead More →
VWBPE 2024 Conference Mythic Origins starts this Thursday
The seventeenth annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education Conference, beginning on Thursday, March 14, 2024, will be an online distributed conference happening in multiple virtual spaces. This conference focuses on the use of immersive virtual environments for educational purposes including virtual and augmented reality. This year we are returningRead More →
AI to transform world-building
I cover artificial intelligence at my day job. Every week, I talk to the experts building the technology and deploying it, and to companies already finding value in it. The AI-powered transformation is bigger than anything I’ve ever covered before, in my two-plus decades of technology journalism. And it’s movingRead More →
I tried the Apple Vision Pro and saw the future, but don’t buy it yet
This past weekend, I went to the local Apple store and got a demo of the new Apple Vision Pro headset — the one where you’ll spend a minimum of $3,500 and more likely $4,000 if you buy it. A few years ago, I traded my iPhone for an AndroidRead More →
OpenSim area hits new high as usage grows
The total land area on OpenSim’s public grids reached the equivalent of 131,880 standard regions this month, an all-time high, with an increase of 369 standard regions compared to last month. Meanwhile, the total number of registered users went up by more than 2,100 and the number of active usersRead More →
Apple and the bane of VR gentrification
I recently read a CNN article on Tim Cook and the risk he’s taking with Apple Vision Pro. The gist of it is this: The Vision Pro will be Apple’s riskiest launch in years and could end up being the product that defines Tim Cook’s legacy. What struck me isRead More →
OSfest looking for 2024 conference theme — vote now
The organizers of OSFest 2024, an annual festival that will be held this coming October, recently opened voting for this year’s theme to their Discord community. Festival participants can vote by reacting with a specific emoji to indicate their preferred theme from a selection of options, either via the OSFestRead More →
OpenSim starts new year with record high land area
The total land area on OpenSim’s public grids reached the equivalent of 131,511 standard regions this month, an all-time high, on an increase of more than 1,000 standard regions compared to last month. However, the total number of active users went down by over 3,500. Part of the decrease wasRead More →
Do you want to buy an HP Reverb G2 VR headset? I’m also giving away three free VR headsets.
Hey there, Hypergrid Business readers. It’s the new year, and I’m moving my office and cleaning up, and have a few VR headsets sitting around that I’d like to get rid of. They work, are hardly used, and one is even in its original — UNOPENED — box. If you’reRead More →
OpenSim active users hit all-time-high for the holidays
OpenSim active users are up by 3,220 this month, reaching a new all-time high of 47,343. It was the biggest one-month increase in active users since May of 2022. The number of regions on all OpenSim grids is also up by 3,021, the biggest monthly increase since this past June,Read More →
I’ll be presenting at OSCC tomorrow
I’m giving two presentations tomorrow at the OpenSim Community Conference. First, I’m giving my usual state of the hypergrid talk at 3:30 p.m. Pacific time. I’ll be doing a roundup of this year’s top news and OpenSim statistics. Then, at 4 p.m. Pacific, I’ll be talking about how generative AIRead More →
OpenSim user activity ramping up for the holidays
As usual this time of year, activity on OpenSim grids is up as people spend more time inside on the computer, and grids ramp up for holiday events. Compared to last month, the number of active users is up by nearly 1,700. The total land area is down, however, byRead More →
Apple Takes on Meta in Race to Make VR Mainstream
Apple’s new Vision Pro headset aims to reinvigorate the virtual reality market and make the technology mainstream, though its high price tag may limit adoption.Read More →
OpenSim land area at a new high as grids prep for holidays
OpenSim land area is at a new all-time-high of 131272 standard regions, the fourth month in a row it has set a record. Meanwhile, several grids are hosting Halloween events this month and getting ready for other fall holidays. OpenSim active users tally is, however, down this month by aroundRead More →
Eleventh Annual OpenSimulator Community Conference set for December
It’s that time of year again when the open metaverse community comes together to share developments at the annual OpenSimulator Community Conference. The organizers have put out the call for presentation proposals for the 2023 event happening December 9 and 10. This will be the eleventh year for the community-runRead More →
Craft World’s Hypergrid International Expo starts Friday
This year’s Hypergrid International Expo kicks off at 11 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, October 6 at the HIE’s Auditorium on Craft World, featuring an opening party with music from Zoree Jupiter at 11 a.m., Arianna Nightfire at 1 p.m., and Forest Azure at 10 p.m. Pacific Time. “The three artistsRead More →
NFT crash wipes out nearly all collections, and the metaverse won’t save them
Well, the NFT craze certainly crashed and burned quickly. According to a new report by DappGambl, 95 percent of NFT collections now have zero value. That’s not a typo. Zero. Out of over 73,000 collections, only around 3,500 still have any market cap at all. And only a tiny fractionRead More →
Army orders more AR goggles post-pukegate
Remember those mixed reality combat goggles that Microsoft was building for the Army that made soldiers nauseous? (See our previous story here.) Well, they’re back. Microsoft got its hands slapped and had to go back to the drawing board after reports came out last year that its new AR gogglesRead More →
OpenSim land area at new all-time-high — again
OpenSim land area has passed 130,000 standard region equivalents this month, for a new all-time high. This is the second month in a row that OpenSim has set a land record. The total number of regions grew by over 2,000 over the past month. Registered users also increased, by moreRead More →