Friday, May 29, 2015

60 Groups for Second Life Premium users



Second Life now supports 60 groups for its premium members.   Linden Lab writes today:

Today we’re thrilled to be rolling out another perk for Premium members: now you can be a member of 60 groups! Groups have been a consistently popular feature among the Residents of Second Life. It may not be obvious, but group membership can have an impact on the performance of a number of systems. That's why in Second Life's early days, Residents could only join a maximum of 10 groups. Over the years, we've made improvements that enabled us to raise the group limit to a maximum of 42, but we know that for some power users, even that isn't quite enough, and today we're happy to raise the bar for Premium subscribers.  We must make sure that the recent gains in group performance are not jeopardized, so for now the new limit is a pilot program. If there are no problems, we will look forward to raising the limit further (stay tuned!).

Premium members can immediately take advantage of the new limit. Downgrading from Premium membership will not remove you from any of your groups, but it will mean that you cannot join any new groups until you remove yourself from enough groups to get below the Basic account limit, which remains at 42.


Before you upgrade solely for this feature, make sure your viewer supports 60 groups. Many do not support more than 42 at this time.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Bank Holiday




It is another Bank Holiday here in England which means us Brits get another day off work.

According to Weatherman 'Aint', there is a big old storm brewing and moving across central England, so although it may not be Barbie weather in real life, here in London City it is sun, sea, and surf at the Beach Scene.

So come and hang out with the bathing beauties and soak up some virtual sunshine rays and enjoy extra events around the London City Estate today. 


"Beauties"

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Eurovision Song Contest - We didn't win




Although not entirely dead, Brotherhood of Man would be spinning in their graves if they had witnessed last nights results debacle.

Now it's true that Bonnie Tyler deserved to come 19th when she represented us in 2013, but even screeching Bonnie managed to get 23 points.

Poor Electro Velvet, the UK entry for 2015 scored just 5 points finishing 24th of 27.   The song, whilst perhaps not the strongest entry, certainly merited more than it got.  We was robbed.

Even so, The Eurovision Song Contest is a great spectacle every year, and is the ultimate in camp tv. 

Worth every penny of the £310,000 that BBC pumps into it from licence fees.   If you think that is extortionate, then bear in mind, that during that four hour show, it cost the UK another £9.1 million of the £55 million we plough in each and every day, just to be in this select European Union, which clearly worships the water we walk on.



In London City the revellers supported the acts they thought were the best, not those who were likely to drop a bomb on us if they lost.  Although disappointed at our result, the crowd cheered as Sweden scooped the main prize, thus preventing the Russians from winning :)







Saturday, May 23, 2015

Eurovision Song Contest - Live from London



The stage is set and it's a green light for Eurovision 2015 today at 12pm SL time (8pm UK).

We have full coverage of the show on video and audio streams.

At the intermission Brotherhood of Man and Bonnie Tyler will take to the stage to thrill the audience.

We'll be playing a selection of the historic winning songs, British winners and some of the  unforgettable disasters.

Win 250L for being the Best in Your Country's Colours.

To get the most from the show we recommend you watch the in-world stream with the sound turned down, but with the Audio stream turned up.  That way you can see the show and also hear it, but be able to break away to listen to the tribute acts during some of the enormous history lessons they always give us, when we're too lathered up to possibly care!


Join us for Eurovision today at 12pm SL here:
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/109/102/23

Friday, May 22, 2015

Linden Bear digs grave



At first glace of the free teddy bear and gravestone from Linden Lab, you could be forgiven for thinking that Linden Lab has finally done it and killed off Second Life.

But relax, its just the death of something else, the merchant outbox, signalling that Linden Lab have changed the way merchants upload their wares to the Market Place, which in itself has largely killed off in-world stores and hundreds upon hundreds of regions.

When Linden Lab announced a year ago that there is a new grid in development to succeed Second Life, many of us thought, surely it must be near completion.  No company with an ounce of marketing sense would so dismissively herald the end of their one and only flagship, thus immediately poisoning the well of investors, without having something extremely impressive to wow us with... and quickly.

Yet here we are, a full year later, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Still no sign, or single pixel of our new paradise has been released into the wild.  Nothing to wet our appetite.

Meanwhile, some master of merchandise and promotions has put on their front page of market place, a Linden Bear, digging a grave.

Nice one Linden Lab.  You inspire our confidence with your expert branding.


Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Eurovision Song Concert - Saturday



Join us on Saturday at 12pm SL (8pm UK) in London City for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The event includes:

- Live streaming of the competition
- Vintage Eurovision
- Previous Winners
- and Brotherhood of Man and Bonnie Tyler on stage during the intermission.

The complete Eurovision package runs all evening, with the results as they happen from 3pm SL / 11pm UK.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Madame Lala's The Movie



We love it when our visitors enjoy the attractions so much that they film them.  Check out this great user created video of Madame Lala's in London City Soho.    It was filmed by Lysi Myrtle.  Enjoy.




Friday, May 08, 2015

Cameron wins Best in Number 10



"I have a tiny majority but my wife still loves me"
All hail the outright winner of Best in Number 10, David Cameron.

Cameron squeaked home this morning being able to form his own government and kicking Liberals to the kerb.  He no longer needs them, nor does the rest of the country it seems as they look set to pick up just 8 seats in total.

Don't forget your pledge Dave.  An In/Out Referendum on Europe in 2017.

Thursday, May 07, 2015

Best in Number 10 - The Results




Unusual results here in the London City General Election..  A Labour Win!

Labour 41, UKIP 25, Others 20, Conservatives 15 and Liberal coming last with 14.

In our election, Labour would win and form a majority government.

In reality Labour look to be in for a truly terrible night.   Voters in our election predicted Liberals would do badly.  This looks set to be an accurate prediction.

Real life exit polls which are always iffy at best predict  (326 seats to win):
Liberals 2, Labour 239, Conservatives 316, SNP 58 and UKIP with 2.

If this happens, Conservatives would be 10 seats short of being able to form a majority government so would need to form a coalition.  If Liberals win the forecasted 10 seats, then it is just enough to squeak them through and back into power.

Best in Number 10 - The Results




Today is the day where we all get our say.

It is Thursday 7th May and today is the General Election day in the UK.

Don't forget to vote.   Polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm.

Election Result coverage begins at 10pm on most networks, with some early results around midnight and a picture emerging of which way the election will go, from around 2am Friday.

Be online and in the London City Hub to dissect the results as they happen!



Monday, May 04, 2015

Vote now: Best in Number 10



With less than a week to go before the General Election in the UK, our poll here in London City is far from reflecting the real life current trend.   The community is watching this with interest.

The real life polls have no clear winner, with Conservatives ever so slightly in the lead, but still needing to form a coalition in order to form a government.

The London City poll has Labour out in front (dream on Ed) and UKIP close behind.  "Others" are in third place, presumably the SNP and  Welsh Plaid Cymru Party with a smattering of Green votes. Bizarrely at the bottom of our poll is Conservatives with the Liberals doing marginally better.

In our poll, the UK Independence Party very much holds the balance of power being able to form a government with any of the main parties.  Of course this could never happen in real life due to our strange seat allocation system in the House Of Commons, where UKIP could do better than any other party but still get far less seats.

It does seem that this election will see the very same people returned to power for another five years, with perhaps a referendum sometime between now and death.  More likely than a referendum, is that we shall all be singing the Anthem of the European Union and waving their flag instead of our own, as the next boat load of people from Europe arrive on our shores and uncontrolled immigration is allowed to continue.  Depending on where from Europe you come from, the streets of London can truly be paved with gold.

Sing along now...



There is of course still two full days of campaigning before the big day itself and if you have not voted already, please come on over and select who you think would be "Best in Number 10".

Voting Station:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/80/245/24

Saturday, May 02, 2015

It's a girl!




Congratulations William and Kate.  Mother and Daughter are 'doing well' says Palace.