A month of Carnival

This month is all about Carnival, Sunshine, Reggae, Beach and Surf.   Enjoy the height of Summer here in London City.

We start the month with Summer Beach parties with acts including Cat Stevens, The Drifters, The Beach Boys and then later in the month, into the Notting Hill Carnival scene for the bank holiday; with Simply Red, UB40, John Holt and Bob Marley.

London City Carnival

August is a busy time in London City, with real life tie-in events including the London Carnival, Beer Fest, Reggae street bands, concerts and beach scene. Get the most out of summer! More details at mainlandlondon.blogspot.co.uk

Visit in Second Life

Shirl on Stage, Saturday

Dame Shirl is a Welsh lass born in 1937.  Her career started in the 1950s and has gone from strength to strength since.  She became famous in the early 60s singing the theme song to the James Bond film, Goldfinger in 1964 (and Diamonds Are Forever in 1971 and Moonraker in 1979).

Enjoy our concluding Best of British event this Saturday from 12pm SL (8pm UK) with Shirley on stage at 1pm SL.

Second Life: Premium Member offer

The half price premium offer is back again.

At just US$11.25 for 3 months (£7.31).   Add back the stipends you receive, worth £3.35 a month and the 1000L bonus worth £2.59 and you get £12.64 in Linden Dollars for the £7.31 you pay for Premium membership!

Just some of the benefits of Premium Membership include:

A Linden Home -or- a 512 sq meter parcel for you to build on supporting 117 prims.
Expanded Support, now including Live Chat
Exclusive Activities including Dune Buggy Racing in Racer's Gulch
Free Premium member gifts
Access to Premium member only Sandboxes
Increase from 42 to 60 groups!
Increase from 25 to 50 offline messages!
Other offers and incentives offered constantly.


Don't forget, VAT is no longer applied to European membership.   So now is a great time to jump on board.  Hurry.  It's a limited time offer.

Head on over to here:  https://secondlife.com/premium/

Make London City your Home

Privacy configurable:
Change media settings ,  Control Allowed/Banned Residents list , Set Home to Here, Deed to group, Set privacy (see & chat with others), Set land to public/private access.

Brand new houses in London City West. 100 prim allowance, priced 325L p/w for as long as you stay.

Teleport: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City%20West/142/241/23

The Weekend in Video Review

Here is the video of the weekend antics in London City.  It's in hi-def so click the little cog to choose your playback preference.

Last night everyone enjoyed Willie here in London City and there was more than enough to go around.  Next week, get your cossies sorted because the beach scene returns for the height of summer and the start of the London City Summer Show.

New hub layout

Check out the new hub layout, complete with Olympic sized swimming pool!

Bento demonstration

Here is an impressive demo of the new Bento bone system in Second Life from Medhue Animations.
Project Bento went live last month.  See the blog story here

Pokemon in London

You have probably already heard about the wildly popular, Pokémon Go.

The game uses your smartphone’s camera, GPS, and position sensors to tell the game what to display and where, creating the illusion that cute little cartoon “pocket monsters” are standing in your living room, on the pavement outside, or in the park nearby. You grab free Pokéballs at local sites of historical interest.

Well you too can begin bagging these little critters in London City.

Here Comes The Sun...

The great British Summer.   It's cloudy and miserable for months, and just when you think Summer is cancelled, it arrives with a vengeance. 

Brits will be baking this week as temperatures soar.  So check out the new summer fashions whilst you cool your heels in the pool.

The ice cream van will be along shortly.

Whatever you're doing, enjoy yourself and make hay while the sun shines.

London Proms, Today!

Nobody does pomp quite as well as the British.  Celebrate a patriotic concert as the Proms return to London City for one night only!

Today's London Proms is an interactive show and you are invited to take part.   You need a white powder wig (Ruby Jones has some spare ones) a ball gown and an instrument (one that doesn't make sounds please and preferably one that a brass band would use, ie not a guitar).

Hope to see you at the party!

Party starts at 12pm SL (8pm UK) with the show an hour later at 1pm SL.

Located here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/99/113/23

London City Community Gateway News

Since the beginning of the year, London City Community Gateway has offered an in-depth tutorial showing many of the aspects of the Second Life Viewer.  The complete tutorial is great for people who want to have a broader understanding of game-play before embarking on their adventure, but we also recognize that many want to get involved and meet people straight away.

From today, we're pleased to include our brand new Quick-Start Initial Experience, for residents 'born' directly into London City.   The aim of this new portion of the gateway, is to have residents up and running and to teach them the basics quickly.  They can then choose to go on to the full tutorial, or immediately enter the community, with the option of visiting the in-depth tutorial at a later time.

We hope you will agree that this new layout, giving better choices for new residents, offers the best of both worlds.

Interactive - The Last Night Of The Proms Show on Saturday

London Proms, the  most sensational classical and classic rock concert on earth is back on Saturday.

Celebrate the tradition founded in 1895 with this Orchestral Concert in Regent's Park,

This year we are inviting all our guests to be in the proms too.  All you need is a turn of the century gown similar to those above and an instrument (not one that makes noise please) and we'll give you a free powdered wig so you can take part in the show!

Alternatively, proudly wave the flag of your country and unite in the universal language of classical music.

Party starts at 12pm SL (8pm UK) with the show an hour later at 1pm SL.

Located here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/99/113/23

Summer in The City

London City Summer

The great British Summer is here, so celebrate summer in the City. A month of outdoor summer-themed concerts and poolside parties to get you in the spirit for the holidays. For more information see mainlandlondon.blogspot.co.uk

Visit in Second Life

Lab suspends Oculus Rift development for Second Life

Linden Lab has announced that they have pulled their Oculus Rift viewer, citing limitations within the platform and the desire to concentrate on other priorities within Second Life.

Bugs including the ability to render some objects, loss of 3D stereoscopic perspective and colour distortion were amongst some of the show stopping problems leading to their decision.

The announcement by Oz Linden says:

Thank you for experimenting with our Oculus Rift Project Viewer and offering your feedback. Unfortunately, the Project Viewer that we recently made available didn't meet our standards for quality, and so we've now removed it from the Alternate Viewers page.

By definition, Project Viewers aren't ready for primetime. The purpose of these experimental Viewers is to share with you the earliest possible version of what we're working on, so that you can see what we're up to, help discover problems, and provide feedback. In this case, though, we're not ready for that, as those of you who tried it have seen.

We can't say at this point when or even if we may release another Project Viewer for experimenting with the Oculus Rift in SL.

We want to prioritize our development efforts around initiatives that we know will improve the virtual world and bring more value to SL Residents, and due to some inherent limitations with SL, it may well not be possible to achieve the performance needed for a good VR experience. (In fact, this is one reason why we're creating Project Sansar, a new, separate platform optimized for VR).

We greatly appreciate the interest in trying SL with the Oculus Rift and are grateful that several of you took the time to try the Project Viewer. We regret that the quality was not up to our standards, and we will of course keep the community posted if we release a new Project Viewer for VR in the future.

Madness on Saturday

Formed in 1976, Madness is one of Britain's most enduring bands still performing almost 40 years later.

Having spent over 200 weeks in the charts, they are perhaps best known for songs House of Fun, One Step Beyond, My Girl, Baggy Trousers, It Must Be Love, Embarrassment and Our House.

You can enjoy this tribute show with us in London City this coming Saturday.   The Party starts at 12pm SL (8pm UK) with the concert an hour later at 1pm SL.

Concert Area: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/London%20City/123/110/23

Trash or Treasure?

As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure.  It is amazing what some people throw away. 

For instance, if you check the bins throughout London City you might be surprised at what you find, from hats, necklaces, wallets, headphones and gadgets to all kinds of other useful things.  Sometimes people are really careless and even throw out Linden Dollars.

So it's always worth taking a look in the bin by going right up to it for  a moment and seeing if there's anything useful inside.

To keep Britain tidy, there are a number of bins located throughout the estate.  Happy hunting!

Be the envy of your friends with this stylish wearable motor car.

It will have you whizzing through the streets of London City impressing anyone who sees it.

Being only 3 feet in length, it is low on emissions, can squeeze into any parking space and can get you from London to Brighton on a thimble full of paraffin.