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The total number of standard region equivalents dropped this month on OpenSim’s public grids due to a large cleanup of orphan regions on Metropolis. The grid removed around 1,600 unused region reservation slots from its grid map. The total number of standard region equivalents on the public grids is now 56,535,Read More →

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The Kitely Market reported a new high in the number of product listings, and the share of those listings that are exportable to other grids was also higher than ever. The Market currently offers 13,703 different variations on 7,201 products. Of those variations, 8,909 are exportable to other grids. ExportablesRead More →

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More than 100 people responded to our survey of how people use OpenSim, and the results are in — the majority of people use OpenSim for work and for creative self-expression. The first question of the survey asked people who they were. The single biggest group of respondents, or aboutRead More →

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The Great Canadian Grid and DigiWorldz have been hit by a cyber-attack that has taken the grids offline on Saturday. There should be no damage to the grids themselves. Both grids are now back up. “Everything is good and I am now in the process of doing updates on all the serversRead More →

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Corrections: Well this story made people mad! But when I’m wrong, I’m wrong. Here are three corrections: 1. The question of who is handling the finances is a he-said, she-said situation. If the she-said side of it is right, then associating an innocent person’s name with this mess is theRead More →

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The Mobius Grid is seeking $2,000 in donations in order to port the Phlox script engine to standard OpenSim. The Phlox script engine was created by the InWorldz grid and donated to the community last fall. The open source community page for Phlox is located here, on GitHub and is distributed under theRead More →

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Merchants who sell virtual goods on the Kitely Market can now automatically share the revenues they receive with third parties, both for individual listings and for individual variations of those listings, the company announced this week. “Merchants have been asking us to add support for automatically splitting marketplace store revenue betweenRead More →

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OSgrid cleaned out about 1,000 dead region reservations from its grid map, but there was still a net gain in land area this month, with the public OpenSim grids adding the equivalent of 679 standard regions, for a new land area total of 57,612 standard region equivalents. OSgrid is the largest andRead More →

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Dan Banner was appointed president of OSgrid at the end of March, following a previous term as treasurer. Former president James Stallings, who is also known as Hiro Protagonist in-world, has stepped down from that position, but will remain a board member. “I have gone back to working full timeRead More →

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Rochester Institute of Technology‘s Magic Spell Studios which recently announced that it will partner with Crytek, a Germany-based video game developer, to bring virtual reality laboratories in universities around the world is also exploring other technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting to make kits that offer a rangeRead More →

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The results of our free land for hypergrid newbies survey are in, with over 60 responses. Here are the top seven grids mentioned by our readers. DigiWorldz This grid was mentioned by 17 different readers, even though it has one of the most restrictive offers — only 30 days, onlyRead More →

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Hypergrid inventor and OpenSim core developer Crista Lopes, also known as “Diva Canto” in-world, just won the $10,000 prize for software in the public interest from the Tides Foundation, a social justice and sustainability-focused organization. Lopes, who is the first woman to win this award, is also a professor of informatics at the DonaldRead More →

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Press Release: Seanchai Library Announces new EXPLORE in Kitely EXPLORE, Kitely – Seanchai Library pleased to announce the next phase of its EXPLORE program in the OpenSim metaverse, and its real world-virtual world partnership with Tacoma Little Theatre. After the great success of last year’sEXPLORE The Great Gatsby, the partnersRead More →

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ZanGrid and other OpenSim grids are hosting a number of events this Easter weekend, featuring live music performances, games, and DJ parties. Aachen’s Easter Party 2016 on ZanGrid ZanGrid is hosting Aachen’s Easter Party 2016 and Egg Hunt with prizes on March 27. Check out the ZanGrid event listing and aRead More →

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I regularly get emails from new grid owners looking for publicity but very few grids can answer the first question I ask: “What makes your grid different?” Instead, I get generic answers, which could apply to any of the 300-plus active grids I’m currently following. Such as community, support, lowRead More →

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3rd Rock Grid program director Zinnia Frenzy shares lessons learned 3RD ROCK GRID — As soon as the holiday festivities are over and the New Year is welcomed in, a single word pops up on 3rd Rock Grid, and that word is ROBstock, the yearly charity event for Doctors WithoutRead More →

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The popular and fast-growing Great Canadian Grid is rapidly nearing 1,000 named regions — but it won’t grow any larger than that, grid founder Roddie Macchi told Hypergrid Business today. This is the first OpenSim grid to formally announce that it will limit its land area. New user accounts will continue toRead More →

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The total land area of the public OpenSim grids increased this month, as did the number of registered users and active users. OpenSim now has the equivalent of 56,933 standard regions, 521,735 total registered users and 33,707 active users on 313 different grids. Kitely was the biggest gainer this month, withRead More →

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The Kitely Market is now offering more than 12,500 different items, 64 percent of which are exportable to other grids, with exports growth continuing to outpace Kitely-only content. “We’re very happy with Kitely Market’s current growth,” Kitely CEO Ilan Tochner told Hypergrid Business. “Last month we reached a record highRead More →

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In mid-December, we were tracking 117 active Google Plus communities related to OpenSim and the hypergrid. As of today, that number has hit 166, of which 53 are new to our list. The largest new communities, with more than 100 members each, are Blender for OpenSim, Opensim Technical, ARiELSIG, Immersive World LearningRead More →

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Hypergrid Business readers recommended fifty different hypergrid performers in our latest survey, with a total of 98 votes submitted. Here are the top ten vote-getters. 1. Truelie Telling Also known as Ellen Olhsson, you can catch Truelie Telling at the Maritime Club on the Maritime Club Belfast region of OSgridRead More →

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The ninth annual ROBstock festival will feature 20 hours of music, poetry and storytelling from the hypergrid’s top performers next month on 3rd Rock Grid. The ROBstock Festival of Music and Literature is organized by The 3RD Rock Foundation and Community to raise money in support of the grid charity for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), andRead More →

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Cornflakes Week, a whole week dedicated to the work of OSgrid builder Cornflakes Woodcock, began on February 21 but you haven’t missed it all yet. It is that time to be silly and funny in your own way through building competitions, music concerts, dance parties, sims decorations and music concerts.Read More →

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Alchemy Beta 4.0.0 was released this week, with an updated Web browser, a better chat bar and numerous bug fixes. In addition, the viewer now has automatic updates to make it easier for users to stay current. The old built-in Web browser was the Qt Webkit Browser Engine, and it hasRead More →

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Kitely released a new starting template for customers renting land, the Kitely Evergreen Island, optimized for virtual reality viewers. “Virtual reality requires a high frame rate to maintain the feeling of presence without causing the user to start feeling VR sickness,” Kitely CEO Ilan Tochner told Hypergrid Business. VR sickness, similarRead More →

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The people have voted, and the results of the avatar outfitter survey are in. More than 50 destinations were submitted, and the top ten are the following. Clutterfly Linda Kellie’s new grid easily earned its first place. Located at clutterfly.world:8002, this is a huge collection of CC0-licensed content — clothing, avatars,Read More →

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The total land area of the public OpenSim grids fell by 16,771 region equivalents after Virtual Worlds Grid took down its variable-sized regions, but the total number of active users rose by 1,374 to 33,574 this month. Without the Virtual Worlds Grid statistics, OpenSim would have gained a net of 1,589Read More →

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The Island Oasis grid turned on hypergrid connectivity last weekend, and opted for a unique solution to the question of exporting content to other grids. “We have done things a little different,” grid founder and COO Nicole Dreyer told Hypergrid Business. “We put the power in the hands of our contentRead More →

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While most OpenSim hosting companies are cautiously optimistic about the new Gloebit currency, currently in beta testing on Hyperica and ZetaWorld grids, grid owners themselves are split on how they want to see payments evolve. Dreamland, Zetamex testing platform Dreamland Metaverse was one of the early testers of the GloebitRead More →

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Gloebit needs your help. Getting as many people in to use the system will help the company catch and fix bugs and make the system easier for everyone to use. Plus, if you like it, you can ask your grid if they can add Gloebits to their supported currencies. InRead More →

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By all indications, the hypergrid is hopping. As of mid-January, 68 percent of all active users, 75 percent of all public OpenSim grids, and 93 percent of all regions were on the hypergrid, and the number of hypergrid events and communities is exploding. The Kitely Market now delivers to moreRead More →

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Last Sunday we reported that Kitely Market‘s top-selling merchant, Ozwell Wayfarer, has made all this content exportable to other grids and has seen no evidence of bootlegging. I have long been reminding content creators that closed grids don’t provide any additional security for content, except for scripted or rigged content, becauseRead More →

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Island Oasis, a three-year-old closed commercial grid, is turning on hypergrid connectivity today. The transition will be discussed at a Town Hall Meeting today. As part of the transition, the grid will also be hiring a part-time events coordinator. Island Oasis’ transition brings the total number of active OpenSim gridsRead More →

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A treasure hunt involving 16 different grids begins today and ends March 1, with prizes ranging from virtual content, to small cash awards, T-shirts and MP3 players, to a $130 Fibrum virtual reality headset. Sponsors include TanGLe Grid, TanGLe Builders , Fix Meister, Selby Evans, Sunbeam Magic, Tmac Entertainment and Hypergrid Business. Participating grids include 2Open, Craft World, Dreamscape Grid, GreatRead More →

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DigiWorldz has donated unfinished code for the Mumble voice system to the OpenSim community, the grid announced this week. Mumble is an alternative to the proprietary Vivox voice system. Boston-based Vivox Inc. provides high-quality spacial voice to Second Life, the Elder Scrolls, Eve Online, Everquest and many other large multiplayerRead More →

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Jessica Lyon, the head of the Firestorm Viewer project, is now recommending the rival Alchemy viewer for OpenSim users. “Alchemy may be the most compatible viewer to OpenSim right now,” she said, thanks to the efforts of viewer developer Cinder Roxley. Lyon was speaking at a taping of the InWorldRead More →

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The total land area of the public OpenSim grids rose slightly this month, and there were nearly 10,000 new registered users, but active user numbers dropped slightly over the holidays. OpenSim now has a record-high of 71,557 standard region equivalents, a record high of 503,152 registered users, and 32,200 activeRead More →

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Merchants continued to expand the number of exportable items listed on the Kitely Market this month, showing an increasing tolerance for selling to the broader metaverse. Meanwhile, the number of items limited to just being used on the Kitely grid shrank for the second month in a row. There areRead More →

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The United States Copyright Office will, from next month, begin taking opinions from the tech industry and members of the public regarding Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that allows OpenSim grids and other content-sharing sites to take down infringing material and penalize repeat offenders.   The application of the infringementRead More →

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The Adult Metaverse community was the fastest-growing this year, reaching 1,255 members by the end of 2015, followed by OpenSim Virtual, which reached 1,649 members and retained its spot as the top OpenSim-focused community on Google Plus. Four grids made the top-fifteen list growth list: Kitely, OSgrid, DigiWorldz, and the GreatRead More →

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OpenSim gained a record-high 10,013 active users in 2015 — more than double the increase of any previous previous year. By comparison, last year, OpenSim’s public grids gained 2,189 active users last year, 3,652 in 2013, 2,652 in 2012, and 2,671 in 2011. OpenSim also gained 80,702 registered users thisRead More →

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With winter in full swing, there are a lot of events coming up on the metaverse. Christmas parties, winter festivals, and New Year’s parties are all things to look forward to. So here is a list of some of the upcoming events for you to mark on your calendar. ChristmasRead More →

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Dreamland Metaverse outscored the two other major providers in every category in this year’s OpenSim hosting providers survey, while CloudServe, the new kid on the block, scored a close second. Zetamex scored last in four out of five categories. Zetamex also had an ownership change this past year, and hadRead More →

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Mozilla, which helped pioneer WebVR last year, is making virtual reality development even easier with this month’s release of A-Frame, a tool that allows developers to create experiences for the desktop, the Oculus Rift, and smartphones with Google Cardboard headsets, Mozilla said in its announcement last week. “WebVR has shippedRead More →

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Just in time for the holidays, Exo-Life Virtual World has released a set of IAR inventory export files, to accompany its collection of ten free OAR region export files. The IAR files include three fully-functional in-world calendars featuring Exo–Life‘s staff and residents. There is also an IAR file of women’s dresses, andRead More →

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The on-demand Kitely grid passed 10,000 regions this month for the first time, and the Great Canadian Grid hit the 1,000 region mark. They helped boost OpenSim to a new record high of 71,360 standard region equivalents, an increase of 326 regions since last month. Overall, OSgrid, Kitely, the Great Canadian GridRead More →

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The Kitely Market saw the first downturn in its listing numbers this month, a result of some housekeeping on the part of management. “We were forced to remove the listings of several merchants who repeatedly failed to follow our product listing guidelines despite our detailed instructions on what needs toRead More →

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Frame, a company that can run any software in a cloud-based browser window — for a fee — is taking over Texas-based Bright Canopy, which offers browser-based access for Second Life and OpenSim viewers. Bright Canopy founder Bill Glover has told Hypergrid Business that he has accepted a position fromRead More →