We have some amazing residents and merchants at ZoHa Islands. Several merchants who have businesses on ZoHa Islands land or in the business district have graciously offered to place Toys For Tots Kiosks in their stores. Please stop by and drop some lindens in their kiosks, and have a look around their stores. We have some amazing creators at ZoHa Islands, and we can’t wait to show them off.
We also have Toys For Tots donation kiosks at both ZoHa Island tier payment offices.
• Designer City: Their Christmas sim opens December 1st, but there are currently some awesome little free gifts and Toys For Tots. There shall be more added each weekend up until December – then the sim will be full of goodies.
• Daddy-O’s Entertainment Area and Shops: They will having a few Toys For Tots Events, also. Please go to their store for more information, or contact Mark Ussy in-world.
We will be adding locations as they are given to us. If you have a kiosk at your store and wish to be included in this list, please IM me or contact Deelish Wishbringer in-world.
Please support these ZoHa Islands business merchants and the Toys For Tots charity.
For our US residents and merchants, we at ZoHa Islands wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, Social Media Manager
The first 3-D motion using your hands for virtual reality is born. One of the complaints about Oculus Rift has always been that it is difficult to manipulate a mouse with the headset on, making doing anything in a virtual environment rather difficult.
Oculus Rift and Leap Motion technology have come together and birthed a product that promises to solve that problem. Introducing Leap Motion For Virtual Reality. This marriage has created a baby that will eventually grow up and become the future of virtual reality.
On the blog “Motherboard,” there is an excellent article and video of the interface (obviously it is in it’s very early infancy) that gives a hands-on (pun intended) experience with the Leap motion-enabled Oculus Rift headset.
This new headset will give you hepatic feedback — which “virtually approximates the feelings or sensations of movement, vibration, and other tactile forces we take for granted in our three-dimensional reality,” states the author of this article on Motherboard.
As with any technological infant, it has to learn to crawl, walk, and grow, refining it’s skills and abilities as it goes along. But this is the first foray into a world of virtual interaction in any virtual environment. I can’t help but think that this is the direction they will be going in the Second Life 2.
According to the website for Leap Motion, this device enables you to interact with objects using your RL hands without using any gloves or wearable sensors. Can you imagine being able to actually “touch” things in world? Imagine being able to hold your lover’s hand, cuddle your virtual child, fight in a battle by wielding a sword with your own hand, or picking up a glass and drinking from it? The possibilities are endless.
Here’s a video from the Leap Motion website:
In summary, the article on Motherboard states, “Looking forward, as cameras and sensors for tech like Leap Motion improve, along with with virtual GUIs and environments, the sense of control will improve, and we’ll all take a big step towards living in the old Metaverse. All it should take is some creatively ambitious developers using this technology to make it happen.”
We live in exciting times!
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZoHa Islands Social Media Manager
Second Life is famous for it’s ability to raise money for various causes — be it feeding hungry children in Africa with Feed A Smile, or raising money for cancer research for Relay for Life. These causes raise serious RL money in SL by holding periodic fundraisers. One of those that is most popular this time of year is Toys For Tots (TFT).
Obviously Toys For Tots is a RL charity that has been around for years. You can see the video about the beginnings of Toys For Tots and how US Marine Corp Cpl. Gary Miller began this wonderful charity. It’s a very touching story. Here’s the video:
“Toys for Tots is a program run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve which distributes toys to children whose parents cannot afford to buy them gifts for Christmas. The program was founded in 1947 by reservist Major Bill Hendricks.
The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity located in Triangle, Virginia, serves to fund, raise funds for, and support the program.
“Toys for Tots began as a Los Angeles charitable effort in 1947. William Hendricks was inspired by his wife Diane when she tried to donate a homemade Raggedy Ann doll to a needy child but could find no organization to do so. At her suggestion he gathered a group of local Marine reservists, including Lieutenant Colonel John Hampton, who coordinated and collected some 5,000 toys for local children that year from collection bins placed outside of Warner Bros. movie theaters. Their efforts were so successful that, in 1948, Toys for Tots was launched as a national campaign. Hendricks used his position as director of Public Relations for Warner Brothers Studio to enlist celebrity support, as well as have Walt Disney Studios design the red toy train logo.
“Until 1979, Marine reservists (frequently in their dress blue uniforms) and volunteers would collect and refurbish used toys. In 1980, only new toys were accepted, as reservists were no longer able to dedicate drill hours to refurbish toys, as well as legal concerns and the mixed message of giving hand-me-downs as a message of hope.
“In 1991, the Secretary of Defense authorized the creation and affiliation with the non-profit charity foundation. In 1995, the Secretary of Defense approved Toys for Tots as an official mission of the Marine Corps Reserve.
“Noting in 1996 that many communities did not have a Marine reservist presence, the commander of Marine Forces Reserve authorized Marine Corps League detachments and other local organizations to fill the gaps in toy collection and distribution. In 2009, the program received support from Michelle Obama, who placed the first collection box at the White House.
“As of 2009, the Toys for Tots Program and Foundation have collected and distributed almost five hundred million toys. In December 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama took part in a Toys for Tots activity at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.
“As for Toys 4 Tots in Second Life, this is our 6th year. We started with a meager undertaking with the live music groups and venues and raised $2500.00 USD. Toys 4 Tots in SL was founded by Pat Wunderland of Wunderland Records, who came up with the idea to help all we could by using the live music talents to create a CD to give with a donation. It was figured that $500L would buy one toy in RL and that was the set price of the CD donation. The second year became more successful and we gained more musicians and venues in our endeavors. Since the 3rd year, Rocky Hillburton, of Smokin’ ACEs, took the reigns and we started venturing into a different direction with the breedables and bikes. In the 4 years we have endorsed this program we have raised over $60,000.00 USD for Toys 4 Tots. Our excitement has grown this year with our first annual expo. There has been some hurdles that we have had to overcome and we know that next year will be an even bigger success with the knowledge we have learned this year. We cannot thank you enough for all your support in such a great organization.
“Mission:
The mission of the program ‘is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.” The stated goal is to “deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.’ ”
On November 1st, the 6th Annual 2014 Second Life Toys for Tots Drive officially began. This year the collaborative effort of Second Life builders, scripters, venue owners, musicians, entertainers and residents promises to be bigger and better than ever.
Amaretto & KittyCats Breedables will kickoff the yearly campaign this year by hosting the SL Toys for Tots Breedables Expo & Fair. The nine day affair (Nov 15th thru Nov 23rd) will feature some of Second Life’s top breedables, many of whom will offer a limited edition Toys for Tots creations. Last year’s Expo was a resounding success, adding over L$1,600,000 to the Toys for Tots coffers. So far this year, L$1,729,665 has been donated — which is roughly $6,919 USD!
Just as the five previous years, Second Life entertainers have come together and donated their time and talent in the production of a Christmas CD that will be given to anyone who makes a donation to any kiosk. For information about the CD and those artists participating, click here.
ZoHa Islands is proud to be a participant in the Toys For Tots fundraising program. You can find donation kiosks in the main ZoHa Islands Sales Office, and the business district sales office, and in our very own Deelish Wishbringer’s store here.
If you have a business anywhere in ZoHa Islands, please contact Deelish Wishbringer in-world and she can make sure you get a kiosk for your store. I will be happy to add names and SLURLS to your business to a post for all participating merchants.
Here are some pics I took at the Breedables Expo and Fair, which runs through November 23rd. You can click to enlarge the pictures.
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZoHa Islands Social Media Manager
Linden Lab has announced a new and improved Second Life experience, due to some much-needed updates and completion of projects that should make your Second Life experiences faster, smoother, and more reliable. Of course, using the latest version of the official SL viewer will ensure that you will see the benefits of the improvements, but I have no doubt that Firestorm and other TPVs (third party viewers) have already done so, or will catch up very soon. As you know the folks over at Firestorm meet regularly with the SL team at Linden Lab and work hand-in-hand with their technology.
We all knew they were working on something, because Second Life has been hiccuping and burbling more than usual lately. It will all be worth it, however, if we can see significant improvement to performance. Hopefully without having to run out and buy a new computer to keep up with the technological changes!
In an article posted in the Featured News blog on the Second Life website, Linden Lab indicated the following had undergone serious improvement. You will note one thing they worked on, which has been the bane of every group’s existence, is the quirky and unreliable group chat.
(the following is a direct quote from the article on the blog)
1. Speeding Up the Marketplace
If you visit the Marketplace today, you should be seeing a much snappier experience than in the past. We recently deployed infrastructure upgrades for the Marketplace, and the site has since shown some of the best performance we’ve ever seen from it. Even during peak usage periods over the weekend, when in the past performance would degrade, we’re seeing response times that average 70% faster and page load times that are 30% faster than before the changes.
2. Improving Group Chat
Last week, we also deployed new group chat server configurations. Our internal metrics are showing dramatic improvements in group chat performance, and we hope that you’re seeing that in your own experience as well. We are still seeing some cases in which performance for some groups degrades for shorter periods of time than before, and we are continuing to investigate and make changes; the project isn’t finished, but we’ve made a lot of progress.
3. Faster Texture & Mesh Loading
The entire grid is now using a CDN service for textures and meshes. This change means that textures and meshes should load more quickly, particularly for those who login to Second Life from places that are far from our US data centers. Our testing showed dramatic improvements: average download times for textures and meshes have been reduced by more than 50% on average, and the improvement is even more dramatic outside of North America.
4. Quicker Viewer-Server Communications
Another way we’re enhancing Second Life performance is through our HTTP project, which improves the way your Viewer communicates with grid services. With the HTTP Project Viewer out now, the faster content download times you’ll see thanks to the CDN change get even better – we’re talking 80% faster!
As you look for these improvements, please bear in mind this important note from Oz Linden:
“The CDN (and HTTP in those viewers that have them) improvements for texture and mesh data are improvements to how long it takes to download the data. Once they’ve been downloaded, your viewer caches them locally so the next time you need that data it doesn’t need to download them at all. What that means is that these improvements mostly affect how quickly you see new things: places and objects you’ve never seen before. You probably won’t see a big difference in familiar places because your viewer should be using cached data for those.
So… now’s the time to try checking out places you’ve never seen before!
The use of pipelined HTTP for the initial load of your inventory when you log in matters every time, since while we cache some inventory data locally we always make sure it’s correct by loading it all at the beginning of your session.”
So, How’s Second Life Performing for you? Linden Lab wants your feedback! Linden Lab recognizes that performance improvements are not as sexy as a new feature, but these changes will (hopefully) improve your experience in world and lessen your frustration. These changes directly impact all our Second Life experiences and our daily lives in world. If you are noticing these improvements, they would like to know in the Forums, on Twitter, or however you prefer.
******
On a side note, thank you all once again for helping make our 7th Anniversary Celebration last week a success! We wouldn’t be here without you, our residents and merchants. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping make ZoHa Islands one of the top estates in SL!
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, Social Media Manager
If you weren’t able to attend, you really missed out on a fabulous celebration! ZoHa Islands’ own DeeLish Wishbringer planned and executed and fabulous day of amazing live singers, a tribute band, and a DJ for eight straight hours. The stage and landscaping were amazing and really made for a fun atmosphere and lots of partying and music!
It was a great line up of music from several different genres of music. First we kicked off the event at Noon with Gweeb, a live musician who sang a variety of songs for our enjoyment. Our second entertainer was a no-show, and so Gweeb graciously stayed for a second hour. His gentle humor and wonderful songs made for a fun time.
At 3pm, Quartz took over the stage and entertained us with his rockin’ tunes. He is fun to listen to, and had some great music.
After Quartz, we were entertained by Wytchwhisper, who was a replacement for another artist who had to cancel at the last minute. We appreciate Wytch stepping in to fill in for us. Her unique music and silly humor was very entertaining.
At 4pm, the stage was set for Lightning Strikes, a tribute band who played head-banging tunes by Black Label Society. They rocked the stage until 5:30 and provided a wonderful show.
DJ Buzrd Draconia took over the mic and brought us some classic rock tunes to round out the evening. Those who didn’t stick around for DJ Buz missed out on a lot of awesome, rockin’ tunes. He spun his music until 8pm and finished up a fabulous day of rockin’ entertainment.
Thank you to Dee for pulling together this amazing day. Thank you one and all who attended the event.
I pulled together some video I took throughout the day. I tried to include an entire song from each entertainer. I don’t do machinima; this is strictly a capture from the Xplit Gamecaster, so it’s not as smooth as machinima is, but it gets the job done. It was long enough that I had to split it into two videos.
I hope you enjoy, and I look forward to seeing everyone next fall as we celebrate our 8th anniversary!
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZoHa Islands Social Media Manager
Here are some pics of the venue that our awesome ZoHa Islands staff are working on! They’re polishing the pixels and getting ready to party this weekend!
You don’t have to be a resident of ZoHa Islands to attend. Please come; and invite your friends! It’s gonna be a blast!
See you Saturday!!
I remain respectfully yours,
~ Suzanne Piers, ZoHa Islands Social Media Manager
We have some amazing residents and merchants at ZoHa Islands. Several merchants who have businesses on ZoHa Islands land or in the business district have graciously offered to place Toys For Tots Kiosks in their stores. Please stop by and drop some lindens in their kiosks, and have a look around their stores. We have some amazing creators at ZoHa Islands, and we can’t wait to show them off.
