Showing posts with label open sim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label open sim. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Upgrading our grids


SpotOn3D® is happy to announce we will be upgrading our grids to OpenSim version 0.71 this week. Lots of important bug fixes will be deployed to the grid, to give you all an even better experience. We do anticipate to put the grids offline for 24hours in order to be able to properly deploy these updates.


Therefore please note that our grids will be put offline on Thursday January 13th, 1am central time. We've scheduled 24 hours to deploy this update to all of our grids, though chances are that we will be ready-to-go-online again earlier. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cost you, but we're confident that this will be a major improvement for all of our users, especially designers and content creators.

Bug fixes include the edit/undo-bugs that happened when editing prims or aligned prims, and the invisibility problem that sometimes happened when editing attachements. For a full list of bug fixes in this upgrade, please refer to the OpenSim wiki at http://opensimulator.org/wiki/0.7_Release, though do note that HyperGrid and FreeSwitch changes do not apply to the SpotOn3D grids. (SpotOn3D® does not connect to HyperGrid, and we use our own voice system instead of FreeSwitch.)

Happy upgrading all!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Crash my Cloud - OpenSim Stress Test

You're cordially invited to come crash our server... Yes, you read that right - we're gonna try to crash a cloud serviced region in our Web Worlds™. Sounds like good fun, no?

Come join the SpotOn3D® team on December 15th 2010 between 2 and 3 pm pacific time for a "crash the cloud" OpenSim stress test. We're looking for over a 100 avatars to join us for this pre-upgrade benchmark test on the performance difference of OpenSim v6.9 vs v7.1 backend on a dedicated cloud instance.

If you're interested in joining us, but you don't have a SpotOn3D® avatar yet, please contact Tessa at tessa@spoton3d.com for a free and fully functional disposable account and don't forget to download our SpotOn3D client at https://spoton3d.com/pages/downloads. Otherwise - log in to your avatar and come join us!

Why are we doing this? Another benchmark test will be conducted after the first of the year, upon completion of our 7.1 upgrade and those present on this test will be invited to the next to help, plus asked to bring a friend as we'll be testing up to 200+ users on that benchmark test. All results will be published to the OpenSim Wiki for community use.

Like in any games, there are a few rules however;
  • NO GRIEFING, NUDITY OR INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE - Seeing we're a very diverse and mixed population we will probably have minors as well as adults helping out.
  • NO new and/or unapproved/untested scripts. You will be provided with a box of test items. Please only use those so we can accumulate successful testing benchmarking results for the OpenSim Wiki.
  • NO PHYSICS until it is time for the physics test
  • DO Dance and enjoy the music and just HAVE FUN! *-)


CALLING ALL SIM DEVELOPERS! HotSwap Scenes™ a Comin’!

The team at SpotON3D® is most happy to announce the introduction of HotSwap Scenes™, expected first quarter of 2011. HotSwap Scenes are one of the upcoming revolutionary features SpotON3D® offers their residents, as well as being a new source of income for sim developers.

With HotSwap Scenes™ SpotON3D® users are able to swap the whole region setup for a new one, choosing from pre-designed sim builds by professionals. With just a few clicks you’ll be able to transform your sim into a tropical paradise, meeting and conference center, discotheque... The possibilities are endless. Users will also be able to add their own items to the scenes, and save their personalized version of each scene.

HotSwap Scenes is slated to be launched first quarter of 2011 and will have a introduction subscription of just $4.99/mth for the basic package. This provides the user with five freebie default HotSwap Scenes and hosting for up to 20 more scenes. Of course this means that there will be a big demand for prefab sims from region renters and hourly cloud rental services giving sim developers a a free ‘try-it-before-you-buy-it’ showcase option.

So content creators? Ready to get back to work making gorgeous regions. Just drop an email off to spoton3d but this time are invited to join us in the SpotON3D Web Worlds™ and to create scenes and collaborate together. To get started email us at simdev@spoton3d.com to fill out the sim developer group registration form, get added to the inworld group and get your Sim Developer’s Packet, which will explain everything else you need to know. Participating sim developers will be able to offer a lwo cost subscription for their scenes, usually $100-$500 $SO per HotSwap Scene, or a once time purchase price of $1,000 to $5,000 $SO through the SpotON3D® marketplace, SpotOnSynergy.com.

Thanks to this subscription system, content creators can rest assure that their content is well protected, as the user never gets possession of that scene’s files. In turn, the users get a low cost solution for a whole sim build at a pricing point that encourages them to invest in more scenes. As a whole, this will make SpotON3D one of the move diverse and compelling virtual world experiences on the web.

And remember, if you don’t want to have to share a development space with your peers, then remember that SpotON3D® still is going strong with its Land Rush offer. At $39.99/mth for a 5K prim region and $59.99/mth for a 15K prim region it's still one of the best products on the market on one of the most stable grids out there and a guaranteed low price for as long as your subscription is in good standing. Don't wait any longer and go to http://land.veesome.com to find out all about it.

More exciting news to come soon - Keep an eye on this SpotON3D® blog, we might have something to tell about a certain VERY POPULARE VIEWER that is rumored to be coming to the SpotON3D grid ... shhhhhhh.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Educators - Why choose SpotON3D®?



It's a commonly asked question - why would you, as an educator, choose for SpotON3D®? In this blog post we'll line up the most important characteristics of our Web Worlds™ for you.
EZ Presentation Tools
SpotOn3D® is ready-to-go, out-of-the-box - no need to start looking for special presentation tools - with our standard presentation toolkit, you're teaching your class in a matter of minutes with native support for all your favorite document creation tools, such as PDF’s, PPT’s, MP3 vides, png, jpg and gif images, and even the ability to take a snapshot of our desktop and post all to one presenter as easily as you would post a picture of to FlickR; browse your hard drive, find the file, upload then click display and your sharing with a whole room of up to 100 people.
EZ Inventory
Thanks to our multi-grid inventory, you can access your assets from any of our Web Worlds™, whether you're in SpotON3D®, VeeSome™, Edu-Merge™, or the Biz-Grid™ – you’ll always have access to your inventory. And with Double Dutch Delivery™ this your purchasing power can extend your inventory even to compatible and approved virtual worlds outside the SpotON3D Web World Network. Never buy something twice!
Universal Registration and Avatars
Use your avatars on any of our Web Worlds™. Make a field trip with your students, move between Web Worlds™, all with one avatar - no need to register another avatar for each grid!
Micro- Communities = Cohesive Complementary Communities
They say fences make great neighbors, but until now that simply wasn’t possible in the 3D web and virtual worlds. It was either all or nothing – a big melting pot of everything or exclusively to on genera with no room for other groups to be expressed.
Lord Chaos’ 60ft fire breathing dragon avatar might make for a great avatar, but would definitely prove a tad distracting walking down the main street of the Biz-Grid or edu-Merge. As might a stuffy professor prove to be a fish out of water in a medieval role play Web World.
SpotON3D’s Web Worlds are designed to eliminate these conflicts in genera simply by creating defined community micro-web worlds that by default create tight knit social bonds between its residents. And by giving each community their own branded web site, registration and avatar selections, they can then express and implement their own community standards. This is what SpotON3D calls Responsible Tolerance. This allows everyone to easily interact together, exchange experiences and best-practices from one Web World experience to another without trampling on the other’s right to self-expression. The rule of the day is, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.
Community Conference Center
No need to rip apart you class rooms and set-ups when you need to have a large conference - our community conference center is there for you to use 24/7. Simply go to your community conference center and fire up the Cloud Powered Conference Suite to host up to 100 students.
Free4Ever accounts
SpotOn3D® also offers Free4Ever accounts - no need to have a premium account! Your 18 and over students are able setup their own Key Account to come in-world, attend your classes, participate with programmed objects, build with primitive building blocks you supply, go to social events like drag racing as our free racing part, and even to shop on our market place on the SpotONSynergy website to customize their avatars - all without upgrading or paying for a premium membership. When they sign-up for classes with a specific school then they could request their preferred avatar account to be temporarily moved onto the educational institution’s Key Account to gain access to their facilities and classes, or be assigned a new avatar through the school’s administrative department.
5 Avatars per premium account with full production levels
Premium accounts have up to 5 avatars, each with their own inventory and wallet with full production levels. No need to pay for another premium account for your alt! Enjoy all of the features our Web Worlds™ have to offer, starting at only $2.99USD/Month!
Protected Intellectual Property
SpotOn3D® takes great pride in their IP and Web world Security Systems. SpotON3D reserves the right to restrict access to the main areas of their Web World system through unknown third party viewers. This is to ensure the highest level of ease and functionality is experienced by the user through the 3D Web Browser. It's also designed to thwart any potentially malicious clients from gaining access and causing technical and social instability on our Web Worlds.
SpotON3D also sends a very clear message about the do’s and don’ts of content use through their community driven Dispute Resolution Panel made up of randomly selected volunteers from the community to hear their peer’s complaints. If that doesn’t do the trick, then through an exclusive agreement with VirtualCourtHouse.com the users can go through and real world arbitration with a real world judge whose decisions are legal and binding in over 150 countries starting at just $150 USD. No longer is justice meted out by the fatness of one’s wallet, but rather by the state of their arguments.
This allows the issues of content and contract disputes to be put to a rest, so that everyone can concentrate on doing what they set out to do on the 3D web without the distractions and drama seen previous in virtual worlds.
Still have questions? Want to know more? Don't hesitate and contact our team at support@spoton3d.com - We're most happy to answer any of your inquiries.
Do not that SpotOn3D®'s land rush action is still going strong! Visit http://land.veesome.com/ to find out all about our special low prices!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Growth figures - We're growing fast!

The SpotOn3D team is happy to share with you the latest figures on our grid users. It's been an exciting month since the grid first launched, and we're even more excited about having been able to welcome so many people to our new web worlds.

In the last 30 days we had a 15% growth in total registered users, bringing the total to about 1300 registered users. Maybe even more important is our conversions of FREE4EVER accounts to our $2.99 a month Premium Memberships have also went up with 15%, making the total percentage of paid members a whopping 50% of our user base – a remarkable response for such a new grid with very different platform structure using the OpenSim community.

Please note that the figures mentioned above are a reflection of our registered Key Accounts that can hold up to 5 avatars under them. Therefore, our total number of avatars wandering around on our grids varies between 1292 and 6460 avatars.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Press Release: Announcing Edu-Merge




Press release
for immediate release

Press contact
Tessa Kinney-Johnson (tkinneyjohnson@gmail.com)

Announcing Edu-Merge

The SpotOn3D team is proud to announce its Edu-Merge project, a web world that will
be dedicated to education. Thanks to focusing specifically on education, this web world
will provide an easier ground for collaboration between educators. Edu-Merge will be a
cloud driven service, making this web world scalable and capable of supporting many
more avatars per region when necessary. On top of all this educators can already start
building up and using their region on one of the other web worlds, making it possible
for them to enjoy Spoton3D’s special land rush action!

SpotOn3D believes in specialized web worlds between which users can teleport with
one key account for all of these worlds. One of these specialized web worlds soon to
be launched is the Edu-Merge world, specifically focusing on education. Thanks to
specializing the purpose of each web world, SpotOn3D is able to reach out to a clearly
defined target audience, and the effort required of new residents is much lower as
they immediately find what they came for.

Although the Edu-Merge grid is not launched yet, educators can already start building
their sim and having their classes on the SpotOn3D or Veesome grid. Educators will
be offered the option to move over to the Edu-Merge web world when available. This
means they can fully enjoy the special land rush action SpotOn3D currently has going
on - no set-up fee, and a guaranteed low tier for as long as they own the region.

SpotOn3D also takes great pride in customer service, and is most happy to help you
set up your educational facilities in our web worlds - whether you own just a parcel or
your own private grid. For all info on Edu-Merge or Veesome’s special land rush action,
please contact the SpotOn3D team at info@spoton3d.com. You can also visit the
special land rush website at http://land.veesome.com or follow
http://twitter.com/spoton3d to keep up to date with all of our news and
special actions.

# # #

For more information about this topic, or about SpotOn3D in general, please feel free to contact us. Our team is most happy to answer any of your inquiries. (info@spoton3d.com)


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Tools.Jam visits SpotOn3D - the movie

At 3PM PDT yesterday, the kind people from Tools.Jam came over to SpotOn3D to do a field trip, exploring our web worlds. We were all very excited about it, and it has also been a very encouraging experience for all of us at SpotOn3D, seeing our systems remain stable and reliable all through the field trip.

Shamblesguru aka Chris Smith was so kind to make a video of the field trip; Tessa was the host on duty and took people from the central landing point over to the Pathfinders village, afterwards crossing the sim border and walking to the learning path - where also the bug zapper can be found. The video stops at the teleport to the could system demonstration. Thank you very much for the fine video Chris!