On November 3rd, a blog post appeared from Commerce Linden, referring to a further Beta of Direct Delivery. Unlike the first Beta, this appears open to all merchants. The blog post, appearing in the Commerce section – which doesn’t appear on people’s account dashboards, states:
“To improve the quality of upcoming releases, we are launching a Beta program for the Marketplace. Starting today, Aditi will be used as the Marketplace Beta testing grid.* All merchants will be able to test new features and bug fixes at least five days before each Marketplace release. In addition to the Marketplace Beta release notesthat are produced on the wiki, updates will be posted in the “Technical Announcements” section of the Marketplace Merchant Admin to alert merchants of current beta tests.”
The post continues:
“In December, all merchants will have the opportunity to purchase and list items using Direct Delivery on Aditi. We will be allowing a limited number of merchants to Beta test Direct Delivery in production before the official launch, which will not occur until after the New Year. If you would like to learn more about Direct Delivery, please see the updated Direct Delivery FAQ.”
This last paragraph will come as a relief to many, who were fearing LL might roll-out DD ahead of the Christmas season and inadvertently create issues for merchants as a result.
As most know, changes to the Google translation services are coming. The v1 service was depreciated in May of this year while free access to v2 service was discontinued for “new” application requests on the 24th August (access switching over to their paid service), with all existing access to the free service started prior to the 24th August due to be discontinued from December 1st.
The Lag – via Oz Linden mulled over alternatives for a time, via JIRA, and this has resulted in two options for continuing to use an in-built translator in the future, by using either the paid-for Google Translate API, or by using the Microsoft Bing translation API.
The new translation options are not live as yet, but can be seen in the latest Development Viewer (3.2.2 (224260) or above or the latest Beta Viewer (3.2.1 244227 or above and which also has the new Viewer UI incorporated in it).
Accessing the Translate Options
To access the translation options, go to PREFERENCES -> CHAT and click on CHAT TRANSLATION SETTINGS. This will open a further floater:
New translation service options
As can be seen, the Google translate option is retained – but you’ll have to sign-up and pay for the service yourself.
The Bing option provides a means to continue with a free translation service, but will require you register for a WindowsLive ID, if you don’t already have one.
Using the Bing Translator Service
To obtain a Bing AppID:
Click on the Bing AppID link in the floater. If you have a WindowsLive account and are logged in, you’ll be taken to the application registration page
If you don’t have a WindowsLive account or are not logged in, you’ll be taken to the sign-in registration page
Once you are signed-in or have gone through the registration / verification process, you’ll be taken to the application registration page. This isn’t a terribly helpful page, but essentially:
In Application Name type “bing” or “bing translator” (although I get the impression just about anything will work)
Fill-out the rest of the required fields and accept the terms & conditions
Clicking SAVE takes you to your Applications page – this may take a while to load, (and may even time-out – did on me the first time) – but it should eventually display the application name you gave, and an ID – highlight and COPY this
In the Viewer Chat Translations Settings floater:
Check ENABLE MACHINE TRANSLATION WHEN CHATTING
Click the Bing Translator API radio button
Paste your copied AppID into the Bing AppID field.
Click OK
Close the floaters and away you go!
Note that as this is a Development Viewer, as such details on the Chat Translation floater may change between now and it reaching a formal release (work was still on-going last week).
I actually missed this at the start of the month (blame it on my birthday and work…). The new Viewer UI has taken a step closer – it’s now at Beta (3.2.1 244227), and includes all the latest revisions, including:
Interestingly, the Direct Delivery Received Items section of Inventory, that was present in the Development Viewer is not present in the Beta release (nor is it visible in the latest Development Viewer release (3.2.2 (224260)). Is this an indication that LL are heed calls from merchants not to release DD before the New Year, or that the code slipped into the earlier Development releases in error?
I’ve taken it for a quick spin, and found performance to be equitable to earlier releases, and other than the translation and Destination Guide tweaks, I’ve not come across any significant changes – but it was a quick spin.
Given the UI is now in Beta and caveating the DD situation and – more importantly – the progression of the OpenGL fixes, this could be taken to mean the UI will be in a release update sooner rather than later – although admittedly not as soon as part of me thought LL might shunt it out.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can strike anyone at any time. While its occurrence is less frequent than acute stress response, its effects are far more enduring. Fearless Nation is US 501c3 organisation dedicated to helping and supporting those suffering from, or impacted by, PTSD.
This week, Fearless Nation is hosting a festival in Second Life aimed at raising awareness of PTSD for suffers and the families of suffers alike, and, in line with the aims of the foundation, removing the stigma associated with the illness.
The festival includes a huge range of live and music events scheduled for this week – details of which can be found on the Festival Calendar, as there really is too much going on to list here. You can also find out more about PTSD by joining-in a hunt that will continue through until the 20th November, and which features a range of gifts, or by visiting the impressive information centre, where static and video presentation boards present further information.
Fearless Nation: Oak Beach
There are also two sims of amazing artwork to be viewed through until the 30th November, and which include works by:
The art exhibits are spread across two neighbouring sims – Jones Beach and South Side. I would add a note of caution on the sim crossings; I did find them unusually rough during both my recent visits. However, the art displays more than make up for any roughness you may experience – they are magnificent.
Fearless Nation: South Side
Truth be told, the Fearless Nation installation itself is a work of art – and hugely informative about a condition that still carries far too much stigma and which is no respector of background, profession, gender or age. It can strike at any time as a result of exposure to extremely frightening or distressing events; estimates suggest that around 5% of all men and 10% of all women suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives, and up to 40% of cases are as a result of sudden bereavement*.
So, please take the opportunity to understand more about PTSD both during the coming week and the rest of November. Should you wish, you can contribute directly to the work of Fearless Nation through one of the many donation boxes placed around the sims.
Duché de Coeur enters a very busy phase in their calendar today, with the first day-long series of events that will be held almost every weekend through November.
These promise to be a fabulous round of concerts and events held within equally fabulous venues in the Duchy’s regions. If you’ve not yet taken time to visit Duché de Coeur, I suggest you take a good look at the activities here and consider popping along; you might also like to read-up on the Duchy itself and join in with the period feel of the regions by wearing suitable attire (not a strict requirement, but a good reason for costumes or formal wear!).
Here’s a brief run-down on the concerts; as always, all times SLT:
Until the LEA Full Sim Art series, I confess (and to my lasting shame) I’d never heard of Tyrehl Byk. Now I can’t get his work out of my head.
Catharsis is one of two pieces that have taken over at LEA6 from Rebeca Bashly’s stunning and evocative Inferno (the other being Quadrapop Lane’s Retrospective Highlights of 4 Years in SL).
In many respects, trying to review this piece is counter-productive because no amount of words is ever going to achieve the wonder of actually going along and experiencing a performance. Indeed, saying too much may actually serve to spoil things – so I make no apology if the rest of this review is light on details – although the images should hopefully speak volumes and serve to whet appetites.
Catharsis commences in a wonderfully scripted theatre that is very mindful of a planetarium. It’s best to go as lightly scripted as possible in order to reduce the server-side load: there is an awful lot going on throughout the show. Once seated – and in case you don’t get the notecard – set your draw distance to 250 metres, set particle count to maximum, sun to midnight, close all on-screen floaters and then tap ESC a couple of times to free-up your camera controls.
This last item is important, as it allows Tyrehl to take control of your camera and move you through various settings in order to witness the piece. I’d also add that if you can, watch the presentation in a darkened room; the effects are magnificent.
“Catharsis” itself is a term used in dramatic art to describe an emotional cleansing. In essence, it refers to an extreme change in emotion brought about through the experience of strong feelings and / or responses – fear, pity and sorrow being the most common forms, although it can equally come through laughter as a result of comedy.
As an immersive experience, Catharsis uses an eclectic mix of music and images to create an amazing visual and aural ride carefully and cleverly balanced – not that you are aware of it at the time – designed to guide you to a certain emotional point. Through the first half we are treated to images that inspire awe and which, with their irreverent pokes, also incite the audience to have a little laugh or two.
However it is in the latter half of the show that one is completely blown away. It is here that the clever deception – if I can use that term – comes to light. There is no warning of the coming change in emotional focus and context; as a result, the impact and the response it generates are both that much deeper. Here is the reason for the title of the piece, and I will only say that it is a perfect mix of images coupled with an inspired choice of Hans Zimmer’s most evocative soundtrack. They are brought together in a manner that left me – and others in the audience – in tears.
As the performance finished, so it also left many of us feeling intensely aware, alive, renewed.
Catharsis – emotional, cleansing and utterly superb. See it.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 