Can You Hear Me Now?

Vivox today announced that it will be working with Linden Labs on its new integrated voice component. Vivox, based in Massachusetts, describes itself as "leading provider of integrated voice services for virtual worlds and online games".

In their press release, Vivox CEO Rob Seaver said "Live voice is essential to realizing the full potential of this environment, particularly for collaborative, academic and economic purposes. We are thrilled to provide this vital part of the Second Life Grid with our integrated voice service. With the intuitive design of the solution, Linden Lab will continue to set the course for virtual worlds."

Features planned for the Vivox system in second life include spatial audio, "technology licensed from DiamondWare, (which) will allow residents to hear each other based on their positions — on their left, right, far away or nearby."

Other tools will be made available within Second Life, possibly through the friends list, where members can manage their participation in conversations. Landowners will have tools to manage voice conversations on their parcels, as well.

One can only hope that the presence bugs are worked out so that those tools may be adequately utilized.

Congratulations, Del and Emma!!

Fashion Consolidated Group

Some of the best ideas seem to be the simplest ones.

Honey Fairweather has come up with a way to work around the 25 group limit for all of us fashion mavens. She's created a group called "Fashion Consolidated" and the idea is truly a stroke of genius. For folks who constantly hit the group limits and have to decide which of your truly necesary groups to drop, this group is for you!

The group is growing by leaps and bounds, over 500 members so far to date, and the vendor and designer participation is expanding. I've only been a member a short time, and I've already learned of a few new designers I didnt know before, gotten a few freebies I would have missed out on, and gotten some really good updates!

Designers and vendors are limited to one notice per week so it's fairly spam-free but the amount of information is phenomenal. And, if you don't like the notices, you can always shut them off and peruse them at your leisure whenever you wish.

As of today, this is the list of vendors and designers that participate in FashCon:
(Compare this to the list less than a month ago on Second Style)

Sol Columbia (Luminosity)
Fallingwater Cellardoor(Shiny Things)
Six Kennedy (Gurl6)
Kit Maitland (CKS)
Roslin Petion (Tete A Pied)
Carryn Concord (Tickled Pink)
Ameshin Yossarian (Curious Kitties)
Keishii Roo (Goth1c0)
Rose Columbia (Wilted Rose)
Calyx Starr (-C-itten)
Jackal Ennui (Lassitude & Ennui)
Jennyfur Peregrine (Deadly Nightshade)
Nicky Ree (Nicky Ree)
Vivianne Draper (Bare Rose)
Zorena Deckard (Bare Rose and Ookami)
Miriel Enfield (Miriel)
Callie Cline (caLLie cLine at Funk)
Digit Darkes/Kelly Dilweg (X3D Apparel)
elka Lehane (Boing Fromage)
Random Calliope (Shy Neon)
Antonia Marat (artilleri)
Kaysha Sion (WRONG)
Shai Delacroix (Casa del Shai)
Canimal Zephyr (Canimal)
Elwe Eldrich (Lesser Mortals)
Aleri Darkes (Diversity Hair)
Julliette Westerburg (Tres Blah)
hyasynth Tiramisu (silentsparrow)
Yuka Itamae (Lapointe Designs)
Zoe Llewelyn (Temenos Island)
Kenny Sleeper (Kalico)
Barnesworth Anubis (Barnes Boutique)
Solange Cerveau (Solange! Fashions)
Kingston Augustus (turnstyle)
Lucas Lameth (EARTHTONES boutique)
Alaska Metropolitan (OPIUM)
Haver Cole (Lemon)
Sparkle Skye (Allure)
Etain Peregrine (Dark Eden)
Zoey Pinkdot (Digital Dragon Designs)
Gita Gaea (Shine)
Tigerlily Koi (Calla)
Popfuzz Bamboo (The PopFuzz Space Station)
Nonna Hedges (Nonna Hedges)
Blaze Columbia (Blaze Fine Fashions)
Nat Taiko (NATH Style)
Sioxie Legend (Second Wave Apparel)
Caliah Lyon (Muse)
swaffette Firefly (SL Designs)
Luve Schack (White Rabbit)
Haedon Quine (Calla)
Sarabi Spatula (Sarabi Spatula)
Stephania Marx (Synthetic Dreams)
Tenshi Vielle (Tenshi's High Fashion)
Charlotte Morellet (Soda)
Lily Valentino (Lily's Touch)
Samantha Gide/Jay Shriner ([AE] All Emerican Outfitters)
Rosemary Galbraith (OH! What a Neat Boutique)
Fiachra Lach (Essentia)
Sasy Scarborough (House of Zen)
Relika Itamae (Relika)
Pushbutton Skolnick (Pushbutton Industries)
Arielle Ceres
BooBooKittie Haight
Arkesh Baral (About Ephemeral Creations)
sachi Vixen (Dickens)
Pukk Abel (IndustriElle)
Irelyn Christensen (IndustriElle)
Mimi Syaka (Spectrum Couture)
Nephilaine Protagonist (PixelDolls, LoveLave Lingerie)
Cattrina Careless (Catt's Creations)
JW Russell (Down Undies)
Kru Flan (Kru's Boutique)
Draconic Lioncourt (Draconic Kiss)
Selena Gateaux (Goldie Locks)
Bunnee Varmint (Bunnee's Fashions)
Mimi Therian (Hello Beautiful)
Rowan Carroll (She's So Unusual Shoes)
Francesca Poppy (Poppy Designs)
Mystikal Faddoul (Mystikal Hair)
Luth Brodie (Reel Movement)
Nessinger Loveless (TART)
Ketzal Frankfurter (Radical Wook)
Mare Lu (Paper Couture)
Neferia Abel (Ivalde, Embla, Ask)
Phaylen Fairchild (Phantasy)
Chloris Hather (G.L.A.M.)
Andromeda Raine (Coconut Ice)
Yukiko Michinaga (YMNY Design Elegance)
Garbage Prototype (Random Industries)
Tori Heart (Tori-Wear, Bare Rose)
Nyte Caligari (Nyte'N'Day)
Ameshin Yossarian (Curious Kitties)
Mallory Cowen (RaC)
Radical Twang/Breezy Biddle (Reaction)
Laynie Link (LaynieWear)
Teagan Blackthorne (SYD)
Persephone Milk (Persenickety)
Launa Fauna (LF Fashions, LoveLace Lingerie)
Cleopatra Sun (Designs by Cleopatra)
Alexia Goddard (Julex Boutique)
Euterpe Zagoskin (Zagoskin Haute Couture)
Dnel DaSilva (Xessories)
Xaria Concord (Quixotic Trance)
Cailyn Miller (Cailyn's)
Kaejo DaSilva (Renegade)
Lestat and Itarille Kyomoon ( French Spirit Shop)
Caroline Apollo (Caroline's Jewelry and Lo Lo Accessories)
Noam Sprocket (Gritty Kitty)
Todd Starbrook (Last Stand Animations)
Szentasha Salome (Szentasha Fashionable And Feminine)
Ciera Bergman (Vitamin Ci)
Angelina Burali (Mad About)
Tierlia Ayres (Tier's Designs)
Aurora Walcott (Dollparts)
Angel Sienkiewicz (Angel's Designs)
Lissa Lowell/Leland Lowell (Lowells Fine Jewelry)
Morgana Fillion (Fillion-James Designs)
Iris Searle (Punch Drunk)
Autumn Heyse (Autumn Elements)
Satine Dot (Old Gravy)
Enktan Gully (enkythings)
Eponymous Trenchmouth (Jeepers Creepers)
Moire Georgette (Bossa Nova)
Creeper Creeley/Xelephine Lock (Xelephine Boutique)
Melandra Brown (Meluminations)
Marlene Simon (Sweater Girl)
Talyn Barrett (Analise)
Ana Boogiewoogie (L.A.M.E.)
Saeya Nyanda (Kyoot)
Tag Mulligan (Color Me Couture)
Analogue Montagne (Acedia)
Sally Cleanslate (Antix)
Dragontat Zagato (Desert Moon)

And, if that's not enough, there's FREE CHEESE!

$$Lindens$$

How is the Linden doing these days?

Reports vary. Everyone seems to have an opinion, however.

The Register out of the UK, calls reports about the booming SL economy downright "phony".

Meanwhile, the Dutch Bank ABN is setting up a branch in SL according to this Reuters report. All kinds of companies are lining up to get a piece of the pie.

Handy dandy little financial tools abound, along with various ways to purchase or sell Lindens. Rates vary as well, of course.

The Lindex today was offering a rate of 266L$ per $USD.

SLExchange was offering an exchange of $L290 per $USD.

Reuters was listing the exchange rate at $L267, which they pull from the SL site.


The Reuters site has a few handy dandy tools, including a nice currency converter. It uses Lindex numbers.

Second Life has a nice little economic graphs page, of note is the number of user hours shooting through the roof at SL.

Draw your own conclusions. However it does seem indisputable that a lot of activity, economic and otherwise, is happening in Second Life.

**Meow**

I saw this new dress on the Analise Fashions Blog and just had to slink over there and take a little peek. It's called, appropriately enough, the Cat's Meow, and it comes in multiple jewel toned colors on a fun leopard print; a deep Red, a teal Blue, a rich Purple and an emerald Green.

I couldn't resist the teal blue and so I snatched it up. The leopard print is fun, and the flexi prim skirt is poofy without being explosive. The satin corset gives it just a little bit of retro sass, I might even dig around to see if I have some long satin black gloves to give it that extra '40s Hollywood glam look.

I just love the detail at the dual layer hem and it matches my favorite Lassitude and Ennui mules. Bonus!

TP to Analise secondlife://Plush Kappa/215/210/22

Cat's Meow Dress by Talyn Barrett of Analise Fashions

Cats Eye Glasses by Frameworks

Silver and Blue Opal Jewelry by Lassitude and Ennui

Midnight Blue Leather Mules by Lassitude and Ennui

Pixie Black with Blue Hair by ETD

Hybrid II Skin in Spectral tone by Nevermore Studios

Shape is homemade :P

Go East, Young Avie

Well, now that First Land is cancelled, the Great Eastern Land Rush has begun.

Sims such as Midar Fell are in auctions for up to $USD 2801.00 and only 20 hours to go, boys and girls! Chopped up sims in 512 sq m plots are selling for around 8k L$ each on average.



I guess I just don't get land speculation.

If you spend $2800 USD on a sim that you then split into 128 parcels of 512 sq m,
which you then sell at approximately 8k L$ each,
are you not selling land that you bought at
($2800 USD/128) ~ $21 USD and change
for approximately $20 USD
(assuming a current exchange rate of $4 USD for 1000L$) ?

Seems to me this bubble is about to burst and I aim not to be holding the landbag when it does.

Irrational exuberance, indeed.

Edit: OK, I think I do have a mathematical blind spot! The volatility of the Lindex doesnt help!

Turns out you'd be selling land at @ $30 USD that you bought for @22 USD.

That does seem a bit clearer. :D Plus, it's still the lowest priced land around.

I love the Heathster!

It took me a while to line up this shot - I found it by serendipity. This is Heath performing at the Mowry Bay Pavilion. I backed up my camera just a tad too far and ended up shooting through my avie's neck and framing him in the heart of my necklace.

Heath Elvehjem is a wonderful live keyboardist in SL - he plays at a lot of venues all over SL and is getting quite popular. He's part of the group ElectrAcoustic Fusion, which has a growing list of live musicians in SL. Much of what Heath plays are his own compositions. I love attending his performances whenever I get a chance, and someday, Heath, I *will* get those Lucky Charms!!!

The wedding invitation

Pretty much anyone who knows me knows I'm not big on SL weddings.

But is this not the nicest wedding invitation you've ever seen?

My friends Del and Emma are getting married this Sunday, and Del whipped up this gorgeous invitation. The invite part disappears if you click it, it blows purple heart particles, and if you look very closely, you can see a mini Del and mini Emma in an embrace on the platform. Here's a closeup:

It's very sweet! Good luck, Emma and Del!

The eternal noob

Not everything works the way you expect in SL!


Another skin experiment that turned out well. Rowr!!


Meditating or plotting trouble - it's so hard to tell the difference.


Sometimes you just have to let your inner child out.


I like to make things that are useful. This asshat comes in handy.


Puff likes to sail with me.


You just can't take everything so seriously.


One of my favorite profile pics.


Occasionally I am a blonde, but not very often. Someone I can't stand told me once I make a good looking blonde, so I tend to stay auburn or brunette. :P


My very first homemade avatar. She has a baaaad attitude.
And she smokes. Naughty faerie!

Enjoying Loth's particles in Mocha.

One of the very first pics of Lillie in SL.

On Blogging