Linden Lab

Highlights from the Second Life Destination Guide - March 14, 2013 Are you looking for some last-minute decorations, festive costumes, or new Spring fashions to refresh your wardrobe? Come scratch that shopping itch over at the Second Life Marketplace. Check the celebrations section for seasonal fashions, Easter egg cake pops, green beer water slides, and a whole lot more. Spring is in the air, and it’s a great time to celebrate in Second Life! We here at the Destination Guide combed through all the awesome submissions and pulleda few we really think embody the spirit of this season. They could’ve had evil bunnies, sunny pastel colors, green rivers, or just embodied the spirit of something fun and a little wild. This time around, we’re bringing you a garden Easter egg hunt, a soothing strawberry forest, a fluorescent take on Alice in Wonderland and a few wild and green festivals. Whether you’re looking to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Passover, Hōnen Matsuri, Easter, or just springtime in Second Life, get ready to throw off those winter clothes and bask in the sunshine. So join in the fun and submit your own destination, or just jump below and start exploring. Botanica's 2nd Anual Easter Egg Hunt Come to Botanica for the Second annual sim-wide Easter Egg Hunt. The Easter Bunny rocketed though Botanica, hiding 12 special prize eggs. Find all 12 eggs hidden in the gardens and win the Retro Rocket Bunny Grand Prize! Best hurry, this hunt only lasts until May 5th. Visit in Second Life Saint Patrick's Day Weekend It's Saint Patrick's Day Weekend in in London City with a city-wide party all week long! Featuring Irish bands, pub crawls, even prizes for best in theme, come celebrate all things Irish. For more details, visit http://mainlandlondon.blogspot.co.uk. Visit in Second Life The Green Festival Come to Tribute City as they celebrate all things green with a month-long festival to honor St. Patricks Day! Events include contests, raffles, live DJ's, tribute bands, fun rides and much, much more. For more information, be sure to visit http://tributecity.blogspot.com/. Visit in Second Life 2013 St. Patrick's Day Town The festive atmosphere of St. Patrick's Day Town blows through the senses like a virtual Irish breeze. Ride flying gold coins, dance a jig with Leprechauns, drink green beer while, sing along with friends at the outdoor pub piano and fill your basket with all things Irish. Follow the rainbow to the most colorful party around: St. Patrick's Day Town. Visit in Second Life Almost Wonderland Welcome to Almost Wonderland, a magical and mystical place filled with a darker inspiration from Alice in Wonderland and other weird, twisted and fun elements of fantasy. Marvel at the wondrous sights, ride dark carnival rides or visit creepily interesting store. there's truly something for everyone in Almost Wonderland. Visit in Second Life Erdbeeren 2013 It's that special time of year again! The creators invite you to a hidden grove in the strawberry forest. You will discover many gifts, hunts, plants and so much more. Have fun! Visit in Second Life

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "@The Arcade❤" , photo by Oakley Foxtrot. Don't foret to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "The Tea Garden" , photo by ♛ RicoRacer Flux~Clarity ♛. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Laroo - flthitops" , photo by jσleиe. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

As you may have noticed, we recently added some banner ads to SecondLife.com. Today, we’ve also added them to the Marketplace, and we’ll soon expand the program to other Second Life web properties as well. The placement of these ads is designed to be unobtrusive, as we don’t want them to interfere with your Second Life experience on the web, and we’re taking care to keep the content appropriate. These ads are a great opportunity for advertisers to reach the large, global audience that visits the Second Life web properties every day, and we want to extend that opportunity to Second Life merchants as soon as we can. For Merchants, advertising on the Second Life web properties will be a new way to get their offerings in front of potential customers, while at the same time making the ads extremely relevant to every Second Life user who sees them. We have some work to do before we can make the ads purchasable by Second Life business owners, and it’s too soon to say precisely when we’ll be able to, but we wanted to let you all in on this plan early on. We’ll blog again when we have more info to share, so keep an eye on this space!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Old Japan Roleplay" , photo by Lady Fandango. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Photo by: Ramses Meredith It’s that time of year again! Fashion for Life 2013, held March 9-17, features nine amazing sims created by some of the top creators in Second Life. This year’s theme, which aims to raise funds and awareness for the American Cancer Society, is “The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.” Fashion for Life will feature a full schedule of live events, fashion shows, exclusive designs and artistic wonders that you won’t want to miss! There’s so much stuff to see and do that you’ll want to visit all of the nine event sims, including the following themed areas: Great Pyramid of Giza - Built by Thoth Jantzen - Sponsored by Chop Zuey Couture and Jewellery Hanging Gardens of Babylon - Built by Patch Thibaud - Sponsored by Tres Beau Designs (built in honor of loved ones lost) Statue of Zeus at Olympia - Built by KarlinJames Zepp - Sponsored by Sonatta Morales *8* Vintage Couture Temple of Artemis at Ephesus - Built by nexuno Thespian - Sponsored by Leri Miles Designs Mausoleum at Halicarnassus - Built by Kaya Angel - Sponsored by LAZURI Colossus of Rhodes - Built by Rebeca Bashly - Sponsored by .:EMO-tions:. Lighthouse of Alexandria - Built by Bryn Oh - Sponsored by [sYs] Design FASHION FOR LIFE International Plaza - Built by Eshi Otawara - sponsored by Miss Mundo Virtual Organization FFL Event Sim - Built by Eshi Otawara - Sponsored by Christianraven Resident Looking for a complete schedule? You can visit the official event site for the latest updates, but here is a list of things to see and do: SATURDAY MARCH 9TH 12:00 PM (Pacific) - Grand Opening of Fashion for Life 2013 SUNDAY MARCH 10TH 10:00 AM (Pacific) - Fashion Show (produced by KV Dream Agency) MONDAY MARCH 11TH 4:00 PM (Pacific) - Fashion Show (produced by Solo Evane) TUESDAY MARCH 12TH 4:00 PM (Pacific) - Fashion Show (produced by AVENUE) WEDNESDAY MARCH 13TH 4:00 PM (Pacific)- Fashion Show (produced by Elegance Agency) 6:00 PM (Pacific) - Antonio Galloway in Concert THURSDAY MARCH 14TH 4:00 PM (Pacific) - Fashion Show (produced by UEMA Agency) FRIDAY MARCH 15TH 12:00 PM (Pacific) - Changhigh Sisters Fireshow of Light, Life and Love 4:00 PM (Pacific) - Fashion Show (produced by Opium Evolution Agency) SATURDAY MARCH 16TH 10:00 AM (Pacific) - Galliano Couture Inspired Collection (Produced by BLVD Agency) SUNDAY MARCH 17TH 9:00 AM (Pacific) - Grand Finale - SL Top Model Competition 11:00 AM (Pacific) - Closing Party - Raffle Winner Announcement In addition, BOSL Radio will stream across all nine sims in partnership with the Second Life club The Velvet. There will also be a public “Best FFL” Photo Contest for the duration of this event. The winner will receive items from participating FFL designers. For more information, visit the Fashion for Life 2013 website.

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Oh no! " , photo by Kimbra Iridescent. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "The Shants" , photo by Jon Vetinari. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Second Life is fun — but sometimes you might encounter a problem inworld. Need help with your land? Have a billing question? We want to help you make the most of your Second Life. This week’s QuickTips video tutorial walks you through the many support options available to both basic and premium Second Life users. Learn more about our Knowledge Base and Support Portal, as well as Abuse Report options and more. Watch the . v_BpRQNa5To Learn even more in about Second Life Support in our Knowledgebase:How to Contact Customer Support Filing an Abuse Report Did you miss our previous QuickTips videos? Check ‘em out!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Danger in Evolution" , photo by Aliza Karu [AD Creations Doll House]. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Where's My Ride?" , photo by Reema Xue. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Burning Sky" , photo by Ellesmara. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Need a place to call “home” in Second Life? This week’s new QuickTips tutorial video introduces the basics of getting your own home in Second Life. You can rent a home directly from other Second Life residents -- or get a Linden Home as part of a Second Life Premium subscription. Either way, you’ll get a private space to decorate and design that shows off your style. It’s also a place to share — invite friends over to hang out, chat and even party... then head out for a night on the town. With your own Second Life home, you can try on new clothes privately before you explore. Watch the QuickTips video tutorial : y8glDNhbbSA Learn even more in about Second Life homes in our Knowledgbase: Renting from other Residents Linden Homes from Linden Lab Did you miss our previous QuickTips videos? Check ‘em out!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Vintage Springtime" , photo by Bean Melnik. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Mixed-reality filmmaker extraordinaire, Draxtor Despres, today launched “The Drax Files: World Makers” - a new web series that profiles Second Life users. After watching the first episode, we’re extremely excited for the series, and we think you’ll enjoy it as much as we do. You can watch the first episode .Gbu2HN_aY7w Here’s Drax’s description of the series: “The Drax Files: World Makers” will be a monthly show on YouTube examining the creative people behind the avatars who continue to move the virtual world of Second Life forward with their passion and persistence. Mixed reality interviews form the basis of very personal stories that profile designers, game-makers, role-players and fashion aficionados, musicians, artists and social-issue activists: for these dedicated residents the avatar is not just a separate pixelated entity, but a true extension of their identity with which they navigate the digital space. The show will utilize real-life footage and Skype interviews as well as machinima from within Second Life and feature a range of creators from self-taught hobbyists to dedicated pros from all walks of life, from all over the world, cutting across gender, ethnic and generational divides. This is a world solely made and nourished by its residents - therefore truly only their imagination can be the limit! For more info on the series, be sure to check out Drax’s website at draxtor.com.

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Floorplan" , photo by bethyheart. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

We wanted to update you on the continuing improvements we are making to Second Life. We have recently released fixes that improve the user experience and performance. Here’s a quick progress update on some of the projects we’ve been working on: CHUI Beta Viewer We’ve made lots of changes to streamline and improve your experience communicating with others in Second Life. CHUI (the Communications Hub User Interface) is getting ready for primetime. When we last blogged about it, CHUI was only in a Project Viewer; now it’s available as a Beta Viewer, and the next step will be rolling it out to everyone as part of the main Second Life Viewer. The big goals of CHUI are: Bring all communication functions and conversation text into a single window Provide a single notification system, with more detailed user controls Stop losing IMs -- keep a log of all conversations, including attempted conversations and IMs received while not logged in View chat transcripts inside the Viewer, and control them more easily Replace Busy mode with Do Not Disturb mode, a richer and more consistent feature Check out the overview video or go to the forum post for more details. If you are unable to view the embedded video, you can view it .t8IUxCMyElU Region Crossing We have made several improvements to region crossing that allow a smoother transition between regions, instead of the jerky transition some users experienced in the past. This change also reduces the rate of teleport failure rate. This went out the full grid on January 25, 2013. Since that date, the number of reported teleport failures has dropped by 91%. Email Updates on Marketplace A new version of Marketplace was released on February, 5, 2013, which adds new emails and provides the ability to opt out of each type of email. This will allow Merchants and Shoppers to be better informed about Marketplace activity -- or choose not to be notified at all. In addition, infrastructure changes were made to improve reliability of email delivery. Cocoa Project Viewer The Cocoa Project Viewer has updates to streamline development and improve Viewer performance on a Mac. Check out the new full screen mode and more. Coming Soon Wondering what’s next for Second Life? Here are a few things you can expect to see soon: We will have a Project Viewer for the Normal and Specular Mapping project for content creators to try out. More performance improvements are in the queue as well, specifically related to threaded object rezzing. As we hit milestones, we’ll post updates on these and other projects in the works that will help make Second Life better and better. In the meantime, whether you’re experimenting with Project and Beta Viewers, shopping or selling on the Marketplace, or just exploring and having fun inworld, we hope you’ll start to notice the impact of our initiatives to improve your Second Life experience.

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Sugar Battalion" , photo by Willow Zander. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Tuscan Home Exteriors" , photo by Felicity Blumenthal. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

MTV’s Catfish: The TV Show brings together couples that have online relationships to meet offline for the first time, often with surprising results as the differences between online personas and offline lives are revealed. MTV is now casting the show’s second season, and they’re interested in hearing from Second Life users who have fallen in love inworld, and would now like to meet their love in person. If you’d be interested in being on the show, you can apply online here.

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "#756_l" , photo by mokatana.boa. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Tour round SL No 1" , photo by ☸ڿڰۣ--°°photoloco☸ڿ ڰۣ--°°. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!

Looking for something to do in Second Life? With thousands of places to visit, how do you find the one you’re looking for? This week’s QuickTips video tutorial provides tips on using Search, Events and the Destination Guide to seek and find the cool places you want to explore. Watch our newest QuickTips video tutorial .gBby8R5axRA Every week our Destination Guide editorial team pores through the many awesome submissions for new locations and events. Below are a few of the newest Destination Guide entries that stuck with us. They could be an alien invasion through darklit corridors, an intricately detailed fantasy setting or even a surreally romantic metallic swamp. So if you’re looking for something to stimulate that creative spark, why not take a look below? Or join in the fun and submit your own? Marathon Caye Spring Awakening Hunt Welcome to the newest installation at the Woods of Marathon Caye: the fine arts gallery. Come here for featured Second Life artistry and an enjoyable place to socialize. Marathon Caye is in full spring season mode as well, so why not try their Spring Awakening Hunt. Explore the sim to find spring daisies bearing gifts. Happy hunting! Visit in Second Life Tainted Dreams Tainted Dreams is a romantic fantasy sim built for anyone looking to go on a fantastic date. Dinner under the stars, dancing on the moon, cuddling under love trees, everything is perfectly designed for you and that special someone. Come explore this dreamy custom built sim, together. Visit in Second Life Dragonlolth Dragonlolth is a fantasy realm for those seeking to lose themselves and explore this most magic of realms. Perfect for dragons, fae, elves and more, all are welcome in this intricate sim and dazzling sim. Visit in Second Life The Sounds Lounge The Sounds Lounge is an open-stage music venue with a laid-back, indie vibe. Come and play your own music whenever you want, listen as live performers showcase their talents and rocking DJ's mix a wide range of sounds. The Sounds Lounge is an open and free hangout for all who enjoy a sense of home, comfort, individuality and appreciate great live music. Visit in Second Life

Check out the Second Life Pic of the Day, "Enchantée" , photo by La Bouchère. Don't forget to check out Second Life on Tumblr, Facebook and Google Plus!