Day: July 8, 2012

SL Web profiles: my.secondlife.com errors

Posted on by Inara Pey

Update July 11th: Those impacted by the errors are reporting that their web profiles and feeds all appear to be displaying the correct pictures / information.

Update 16:35 UTC, July 9th: Some users appear to still be experiencing issues; LL have confirmed that the problem is not related to any compromise to their systems (which was unlikely anyway), but rather to a database issue. Soft Linden has requested that if anyone contacted SL Support about this issue, could they e-mail him with the details

Update 12:15 UTC, July 9th: The Grid Status page reports the “unscheduled maintenance” completed at 02:29 UTC. Again, it is unclear as to whether this work was in any way connected to the web profiles / my.secondlife issues, but my own feed history now appears to be displaying the “correct” information. Others are similarly reporting their own feeds seem to now be OK.

Update 01:47 UTC, July 9th: At 11:46 UTC (16:45 SLT) LL commenced a period of “unscheduled maintenance” on SL. Shortly thereafter people again reported that the my.secondlife.com feed were inaccessible (which had been the case on an intermittent basis alongside of the problems reported below). Whether the maintenance work – which references in-world services – also includes web profiles and my.secondlife.com is unclear. At the time of writing the maintenance work is still ongoing and feeds remain inaccessible. 

Update: People from the US are reporting they are experiencing the issue as well, confirming the problem is more widespread than initial Twitter reports suggested. 

Second Life users are reporting issues with my.secondlife.com. The problems are currently taking a number of forms:

  • The wrong pictures are showing up in people’s my.secondlife.com profiles
  • People’s posts are appearing in the wrong feeds
  • People are seeing posts from those they are not following appearing on their feeds.
Pallina60 Loon reports her Profile image appearing in Tifa Kobichenko’s my.secondlife.com feed

It is not clear how deep the problem runs, but many of those initially affected appear to be users based in Europe and there are concerns about accounts being compromised as a result of the issues. Issues are apparent whether viewing web profiles either via a browser or within the viewer.

There are some security concerns being voiced as well. While it is more likely that the issues are the result of a database error within LL’s servers rather than a deliberate hack or the result of the servers having been compromised, if you are affected and of a nervous disposition, you may want to consider changing your password.

Part of the issue on my feed: I’m receiving information on users I’ve not actually friended or am following

A JIRA has been raised on the issue – WEB-4844 – and you may want to check on your own feed and see if you are affected, particularly if you are in Europe. If you are, please ensure you WATCH the JIRA (votes do not count) and supply any information you can as to how the issue is affecting your web profile / feed in order to help bring it to LL’s attention.

Lumiya adds OpenSim support and more

Posted on by Inara Pey

Alina Lyvette continues to develop Lumiya, the Android client that offers 3D rendering capabilities. This week saw the roll-out of two releases in quick succession: versions 2..1.0 and 2.1.1 on the 5th and 6th July respectively.

Version 2.1.0 saw Lumiya expand its reach with support for OpenSim grids being added. Also included in the release where:

  • Significantly improved 3D view performance
  • Support for multiple accounts
  • Highlighting picked objects in the 3D view
  • New Teleport Home and Close Chat options.

Version 2.1.1 was released around 24 hours after 2.1.0 to correct some issues found in the latter.

OpenSim Support

Lumiya now supports a number of OpenSim grids by default and provides an option to add further grids yourself. The grid list can be displayed by tapping the grid selection button (which also displays the currently selected grid), sitting below the user name and password entry fields of the sign-in screen.

To select a grid, enter the user name and password and then tap the grid selection button to open the grid list. Tap the radio button for the grid you wish to access. The grid is selected and you are returned to the log-in screen an. Tap Sign In to log in.

Grid selection button (L), default grid list (c), manually add a grid (r)

To add further grids to the list, tap the Add Another Grid option at the bottom of the grid list. This will open a custom grid screen (above right), which prompts you for the name of the grid and the URI.

I tested Lumiya on InWorldz and Kitely. Accessing both was straight-forward, although you will need to use the plug-in independent method in order to log-in to Kitely. Once in-world, things rezzed OK in the 3D view, and I was able to move around with ease. As I was at a sandbox in InWorldz and a little pushed for time, I didn’t stay too long. With Kitely I took extra time as I was logging-in to my own place there, Fallingwater, and was impressed with the way the client handled rezzing the house – but did notice that it seemed unable to handle the system trees, which were completely absent from my in-world view.

Fallingwater on Lumiya

Multiple Accounts

Lumiya will now store passwords for multiple accounts and for different grids. This means that once you have entered the log-in credentials for an account and providing you’ve checked the box, you only need to enter the user name (and select the required grid if necessary) – the client will automatically associate the required password based on user name / grid selected, making signing-in to your grids less typing intensive, which is always a boon when working on compact virtual keyboards.

Other Goodies

Lumiya will now highlight objects that are picked in the 3D view, making it easier for you to see when you have selected the item you require – particularly useful if you are touching objects from a distance. Selected items are highlighted in red, and if any associated event triggered, the chat screen is displayed, allowing you to take the required action / select from the associated menu.

In terms of rendering the 3D view in Second Life, Lumiya does seem somewhat faster. While previous releases weren’t exactly slow on my Galaxy S2, it could take a while for some textures to rez. With 2.1.1, the delay is a lot less noticeable – if it happens at all. Even when jumping around several sims, things within my draw range rezzed and textured very fast, and the client handled distances of 96 metres somewhat easier than I remember from previous tests.

Object Filtering

Object filtering options

The object list now has an enhanced filter capability. To be honest, I’m not sure when this was added – I don’t remember seeing it in the last releases of Lumiya I reviewed, but I may have simply missed it. The new filter options are displayed by accessing the Objects list and then tapping the More button alongside the text input box. The options allow you to control the range at which Lumiya will scan for objects and define the type(s) of objects you wish to have listed via a set of check-boxes. Combined with the use of an object description or keyword, this can significantly reduce the number of items displayed in the Objects list, and is a good step forward.

Finally, Lumiya 2.1.1 also adds a couple of new options: Close Chat and a Teleport Home button. The latter appears to get your home location from the server – this is the first time I’ve used Lumiya since moving to a new region, but it had no problem in teleporting me back to my new home as I jumped around the grid.

All-in-all another great set of updates, tightly packaged and which significantly adds to Lumiya’s capabilities and appeal – particularly with regards to the addition of OpenSim support.

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