Shoppers Line Up Outside Land Store

Shoppers eagerly await Linden Labs to throw open the doors to the Big 1 Day Only Server Sale.

Don’t forget, Tomorrow Linden Labs will be selling off it’s last 150 servers at the old price starting at 1:00 PM PST/SLT.

Get in line and wait for your TMX Elmo Class 4 Servers HERE! Doors open at 1 PM SLT, And as long as supplies last!

LL Confirms Private Island Price Hike

In a statement released Sunday night, Linden Labs confirmed after the next 150 remaining servers are sold, new islands will cost  US$1675.00 per region and monthly tier will be US$295.00.  LL Says the reason for the price increase is that the equipment will be “Class 5″, however sources say the servers are only more energy efficient.

Read the blog post here.

Linden Labs Explores Pricing Islands Higher.

Hoping to make islands affordable for only Big Business?

In a move that is probally shocking Anshe Chung, Linden Labs recently said that it may raise prices of private islands as high as US$1695 each with US$295 monthly tier.  Rumor has it that these prices will go into effect November 1st. There is no word yet if the current monthly tier of US$195 will remain in effect for current land owners.

A Week In Review!

Is Second Life having it’s “Best Week Ever”? Probally not, but here are the big newsmaking items this past week!

-Version 1.12.3(1) In Beta!

W00T! This update looks promising, let’s look at the new key features…

• News and other information is now pulled and placed onto the startup screen.
• New “Web” profile tab takes visitors to a web page.
• New “Spoken Languages” box added to Profile.

-Second Life: Over 1 Million Served

The day after the 300,000,000 American was born, at 8:05:45 AM SL Time, the 1 Millionth account was created. Unverified registration leaves people wondering if the two are related.

-Urienzus Returns To The Herald

The founder of the Second Life Herald has returned to the Herald because “I just can’t freaking take it. Any. More.”

-Linden Labs Chops The Premium Stipend, Again

Once again, LL has lowered the Premium Account stipend from L$400 to L$300, A cut of 25%. Just months ago the stipend was lowered from L$500 to L$400.

Vivox Phones Security Notice

From the Second Life Herald…
by Pixeleen Mistral, Herald National Affairs desk

Herald investigations confirm a serious privacy problem with Vivox phone booths in Second Life. A reliable source recently informed the Herald that shoulder surfing in SL makes it easy to observe the calling habits of unwary metaverse citizens. With the phone number being called in hand, Google and any number of reverse phone directory web sites make it a simple matter to connect the phone number to a real person - and their address as well. Casual observers in the metaverse may then connect the dots between SL avatar originating the call and persons they associate with in RL.

All of this may come as a surprise to impoverished metaverse citizens who want to make a free call to meatspace. But if the real-life HP phone record pretexting scandals are any guide, private investigators will try to obtain phone records by any means necessary - TOS violation or not. Some people are likely to have concerns about this information being used to harass or blackmail those who make or receive calls from some of SL’s more colorful characters. I really hope we never see someone - say a member of congress - responding to questions about contacts with an underage furrie call girl from the metaverse - as a purely hypothetical example.

How hard is it to observe a phone number dialed on a Vivox phone? Take a page from the RL surveillance technique known as shoulder surfing. In SL, shoulder surfing is easy, since you can zoom your camera - or viewpoint - independently of your avatar’s location. By waiting near a phone and zooming the camera to focus on the phone number display, it is easy to see the number dialed. In the Herald investigations, I found the bright green phone number seems to automatically position itself to display in front of my camera, so precise camera work is not necessary. This makes it easier for noobies to see the display when they make a call - but also makes it impossible to block the view of the number with an avatar’s body.

There may be lessons here for RL companies as they move their services into the betaverse metaverse. While SL make look a lot like the real world, there are some important differences that may work against a literal translation of RL objects into SL - particularly for phones and ATM machines. One might suspect that issues with Vivox’s phones are due to limits in the technology of SL itself since Second Life seems to be somewhat limited in providing user interface tools for private dialogs.

Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox, said, “The line between the virtual and physical worlds is becoming thinner every day” in a Vivox press release announcing the million free minutes give away. As that line becomes thinner, and Second Life’s technology is put to new uses, RL privacy issues - and surveillance techniques - are likely to become more common. Let us hope that Vivox heeds the call to address these issues quickly.

When Grey Goo Attacks!

According to the Official Linden Blog, there has been 2 grey-goo attacks in the last 3 hours. Stay tuned for updates…

Editorial: The Novus Ordo Imperialis

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN EDITED. IF YOUR NAME APPEARS IN THIS ARTICLE AND YOU WANT IT REMOVE, CONTACT US.

“The Ordo is… designed to enforce proper military etiquette throughout the world, whilst defending our homeland from hostile insurections. ” -Novus Ordo Imperialis Charter

Hello! And welcome to the first ever Second Life Times Op/Ed post! Today’s topic is the Novus Ordo Imperialis, and the griefing crusaide they are waging against resident (and friend) Areth Gall. They have set up fake donation accounts in her name, griefed her, and even ’set fire’ to her home in SL.

Ordo personnel stand in front of Areth Gall’s house after setting fire to it and prim-littering it.

Why would they do this, you ask? According to the “Ordo”’s Kill on Sight list, it is because Areth “Conspir[ed] to commit harm to the Ordo. Caught spying on Ordo territories on numerous occassions.”

The “harm” is trying to create a standard set of rules and regulations that SL millitaries should follow. The Novus Ordo Imperialis was not following their own charter. They were shooting from safe land, using sim crashers, and the stuff that is against the anti-griefing standards already in place. Their response: ignore it and begin targeting Areth.

Areth Gall sits in front of the house that was burned by the Ordo.
Linden Labs has done little to stop these attacks and scamming, and the Ordo continues to harass Areth. Even crashing the sim we were in when working on this Op/Ed.

Below the fold are some Ordo documents for you to read.

What’s your opinion on this? E-mail metaversemedia@gmail.com or leave a notecard in the mailbox outside our Areumdeuli office. Responses must include your SL Name for confirmation. Responses are subject to editing.

October Is Here!

It’s October! And on October 27th, The Second Life Times will be 1 year old! We’re planning some kind of event for this occasion that will take place October 28th! Keep your calendars open!