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What's New
Wonderland: match-3 game
The game's mechanics are similar to those of games like Candy Crush Saga, Farm Heroes Saga and Diamond Digger Saga.
Join Hatiko and his friends in the Candy Land. Multiple levels, locations and interesting mechanics are sure to keep you entertained.
Wonderland is a completely free game, but some game elements like moves and lives can be purchased for real money.
Wonderland features:
- 450+ different levels.
- Colorful graphics, amazing effects and animation.
- able to synchronize progress with VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks.
- compete with your friends – score more points and find out who is the best in Wonderland!
- a completely free game.
- a popular match-3 game.
- You can even play without an Internet connection!
- An original mix of genres: classic Match3 + Building
- Compete with your friends on VKontakte!
- Rich bonuses and special effects
- 260 levels already released plus regular updates coming!
- 3D characters
- Quick to download (only 40 MB)
Make complex combinations of gems, use your bonuses, and make your way through levels of increasing difficulty. Outrace your friends from VKontakte through the game map. Build your very own Gem Planet!
Download right now to enjoy the best game in the genre!
Join the OFFICIAL GAME GROUP to stay up to date with the LATEST NEWS! http://vk.com/gemmylands
Also the other VK games https://vk.com/vkgames
The pure "minimal" puzzle gameplay is reminiscent of Tetris, but the game is more of a brain teaser than a fast paced arcade game.
- Very simple to learn
- 20 Levels to work through
- Relaxed Mode (Take your time!)
- Up to 74 different shapes!
- Auto-save and auto-continue
- Uses multi touch for rotations.
- Optimized for Tablets as well as phones.
Bouncy Ball
[Record Google Play] - (Republic of Korea)
Overall Top 2 free app
Top 2 Brain & puzzle games
[Introduction Game]
The best addictive brain games
You eat the stars to all the way. It's easier than any games.
various obstacle/trap will be the best control games to test your control.
And level of more than 20 world and 800 will be a great brain games.
※ Note: Bounce Ball is best killing time game. You will not stop the moment you begin. ※
[Game Play Service]
You can compete in social play with people all over the world by using the Google plus ID.
Do you have confidence to be the No.1 in the world?
[Online Map Store]
Bouncy ball is providing the map editor, the online map store for creative game.
You can to design your own levels in the map editor. and You can share it in the map store to world users.
Map editor has most addictive better than any games.
You feel pass one minute to create the map, but in fact one hour has passed. It's incredible killing time game.
Users in each country, play the map you've created, and give rating 1~5 point.
Map store has created more than 100,000 maps per day,
1 million maps in three days that users have uploaded map store, sufficient to establish the best addicting games.
Far more interesting than the official map, various, maps have been waiting for your brain in the map store.
To touch the left and right sides of the screen.
Bouncy ball is a most simple game.
You can feel the addictive nature of the best user simplicity, we did a lot of effort.
1.100% free brain games
2.Provide map editor and online map store
3.Official Map of more than 800
4.endless updates
5. So many various item.
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/RAONGAMES
Magnetic balls puzzle game
* 4 worlds with different physics, 384 levels with increasing difficulty
* 16 collection kittens with 80 items for the collection of which you gain experience
* new location "Vacation" (at the end of stage) in which you can help to make the penguin ski resort
* endless game mode with adjustable difficulty (nightmare included)
* amusing ball physics for different materials
* leaderboards
* friendly user interface
* mode for people with impaired color vision (in settings top-right button)
Game description:
There are two game modes — endless mode with adjustable difficulty ("Arcade" button) and campaign mode ("Levels" button). Game has four worlds with different physics and decorations, which can be switched by the «Realms» button in the main menu.
The gravity in the playing area is upward-directed, and this is taken into account for geometrical calculations of wall rebounds and ball drops.
In the game you can see the score, time and number of coins on the left, the players ball queue on the right and the current ball on the bottom side.
You can shoot the ball by pressing on the game field.
Special balls can be chosen by pressing on the current ball. Second pressing allows to change the ball type.
There is advertising in the free version of the game.
Game instructions:
Press the screen where you want to shoot the ball. The new line appears in the glass after several balls shot (amount depending on the level). Combine three or more balls in one line to destroy them.
You get coins for each line of four and more balls. You can exchange the coins for special balls to use in difficult situations (or just for fun).
You can get combo bonus for destroying of several groups of balls within 1.5 seconds.
3-combo will give you a special "mine" ball. If you combine it in line with 3 or more balls, you will get an explosion and an extra coin.
You will get up to 6 coins for 5-combo and higher.
Press the ball in the bottom of the screen to select a special ball. Press again to change the ball type.
Game supports all Android screen sizes (phones and tablets) .
Known Issues on http://www.100500games.org/#!support/c24vq
Free version on PC and MAC on site http://www.100500games.org/
We are in facebook https://apps.facebook.com/1451734005106054/
Cut the Rope: Experiments
The little green monster Om Nom is back and hungrier than ever! Team up with the Professor, a mad (but not bad!) scientist determined to study Om Nom's candy-loving behavior through a series of experiments. Use suction cups and other funny devices to collect shiny gold stars, uncover hidden prizes and unlock new levels!
Key features:
- 8 level packs with 200 levels
- Innovative physics gameplay
- Adorable character
- Outstanding graphics
- Om Nom animation shorts
- Superpowers
- Constant free updates with new levels and animations
About the game:
"Cut the Rope: Experiments from ZeptoLab follows the exact same formula as its predecessor, which means it's awesome." - IGN
"If Cut the Rope: Experiments uncovers one scientific truth, it's this: ZeptoLab knows how to put together a charming puzzle game." - Tapscape
"Cut the Rope: Experiments takes the original's addictive formula and adds a splash of deviousness, thanks to the addition of some cunning new items." - Pocket Gamer
Funny Farm
Funny farm is not just about collecting crop and fighting against pests! It is interesting match 3 game, that bring you lot of logic tasks and puzzles!
Play Funny farm once and you will see, that collecting fruits and vegetables three in a row is more interesting than collecting cold diamonds and gems. And of course, fruits are much more healthy than candy or cookie!
Funny farm can propose you:
- High quality HD graphic
- More than 500 levels
- Helpful props and boosters
- Bonus levels with great reward
- Amusing and funny fruits and vegetables
Play with your friends, compete, set your own records and have incredible fun!
Rick Run: Pave the Way Pro
Help Rick to collect all ancient tablets which open the door to countless treasures !
Moving from an obstacle to an obstacle, force the way through from one island to another. Use a variety of mechanisms to cope with enemies: mummies and ghosts, protecting the road to treasures; move boxes, deactivate traps, destroy enemies and many other things!
Collect the golden tablets, pave the way to the gems, scattered at level, destroy obstacles, or on the contrary, create your own road to the finish! Whole eighty free levels of an addictive gameplay!
• 80 excellent levels - puzzles
• The various enemies who are carefully protecting a way to treasures
• A lot of dangerous traps
• It is impossible to pass level for smaller number of moves? Destroy obstacles stirring to you or on the contrary – construct lacking by means of unique bonuses!
• Growing complexity: Collect tablets and earn stars so stone guards could pass you on more difficult stage!
• Any level can be passed by a huge number of various ways
• 'Immortality' Rick gives an infinite number of lives, but that does not make him completely immune to spikes and fireballs.
Thanks for playing !
Follow us on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PlanemoStd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/planemo_std
Youtube: www.youtube.com/PlanemoStd
Halloween Pow
- 100 challenging levels and more to come
- the clock is ticking and you have no time to waste, when you combine the halloween characters
- charming graphics and creepy sound effects
- easy to use and a lot of fun to play
how to play:
- herd at least three halloween characters of the same kind in a row together
- you have to solve new challenging tasks and puzzles in every level
- pay attention to the time: combine the halloween characters as fast as you can
to reach the aim of the game before the time is up
Balls (Lines)
Game is a clone of Lines'98
- Nice graphics & sounds
- 9x9 and 10x10 boards (9x9 is harder!)
- 5 6 7 8 colors (more colors is harder!)
- Unlimited undo of moves
- Combos in any direction
- Leaderboards
- Achievments
Swaminarayan Game
Inspired By : P.P. Sadguru Shree Prabhucharandasji Swami
Produced By : Shree Swaminarayan Temple, Ved Road, Surat.
Add.: Shree Sahajanand Chowk (Dabholi Char Rasta), Ved Road, Surat.
Contact: 96012 91604, 96012 91607
Sugar Candy Swipe Deluxe
From the developers who brought you the incredibly popular gem matching game 'Gem Collapse'!
☆ NO IAP whatsoever.
(You are looking at the deluxe version)
☆ Zen mode; relax, chill and play without the timer in the Arcade, Candy Collector and Score Panic modes.
☆ Time Attack mode; help the candy store collect enough candy to feed kids on the school bus.
☆ Lots more candy pieces
☆ Additional backgrounds for the boards
☆ Good karma for supporting an Indie developer!
Note: any game save from playing the free version can be used in the paid version.
☆ Super-charged match-3 puzzle game play.
☆ Stunning graphics, fully optmised for small, medium, large and extra large screens.
☆ Four uniquely different modes; Arcade, Candy Collector, Score Panic and Time Attack (deluxe only)
☆ Many different types of delicious looking candy - don't let your friends catch you lick the screen :)
☆ Each mode is easy to learn, yet hard to master.
☆ Explosive power ups.
☆ Separate leader boards for each mode and a combined board to show who's really the candy king or queen!
☆ Progress is saved in every mode - try out the different modes without losing your saves.
☆ Use Amazon cloud backup to play on all your mobile devices without losing your progress. Game saves work across iPhones, iPads, Android devices and Kindles.
Candy town has been attacked by a very sour tasting candy virus. The population are revolting, as are the sweets! The nasty tasting candies have occupied the board and injected their virus into the tiles, turning them sickly white. Your mission is to swipe and remove the rougue candies, killing the virus in the tiles and turning them back to their normal sweet color.
The candy monsters, Fungy, Freddie, Flora, Fury and Flimsy are very, very hungry. Their keeper took an unexpected holiday and has left them without any of their favourite food, candy! Your job is to collect the candy and feed the monsters before time runs out.
You've been charged with looking after little Billy. His Dad's gone shopping and left you to keep him happy! Don't panic! Billy loves candy, and you've got plenty.
TIME ATTACK (Deluxe Version)
Help! The candy store is low on candy and a bus load of hungry kids have just arrived! Your job is to make sure the store has enough candy to feed the kids, before time runs out and the kids have to get back on the bus.
The loyalty and trust of our customers is very important to us. If you are not completely satisfied with a MeYuMe product then please contact us at email@example.com.
☆ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meyumeapps
☆ Twitter: http://twitter.com/MeYuMeApps
☆ Tweet: @MeYuMeApps
☆ Web: http://meyume.com
☆ Sugar Candy Swipe on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SugarCandySwipe
Match 3 games are puzzle games. You need to match 3 or more candies by swiping them with your finger in any direction. Swiped candy are removed from the board and new candy dropped back onto the board. Matching more than 6 pieces of candy can trigger the spawning of power ups with special abilities, helping you clear larger areas of the board.
NR Shooter™ - Bubble Shooting
Create a combination of bubbles with same color to explode them! To make it more exciting, you will need to clear the level with minimal number of bubbles, before the shovel will crashes you.
Proud Reviews:
"Just aim and shoot bubbles ruthlessly" – AndroidOut [Rated 4/5]
"After I installed this game, my mom has my cell all the time!" – User [Rated 5/5]
"The goal of the game is to match all of the bubbles with its correct color before they reach the bottom. I Love this game at times it's difficult but its very time consuming (in a good way)" – User [Rated 5/5]
Awesome Features:
- 1000+ Levels!
- Exploding Bubbles – Just Point and Shoot
- Multiple Bubble Combinations
- Accurate and Simple controls
- Continuous updates
- And much more...
Widely played bubble shooter arcade game is fun to play and shoot ofcourse ;)
We would love to hear back from you!
Game On! :)
Bubble Shooter
It's possible to pass all levels (include level 19) !
Please think a little bit and try to pass it, and do not put a negative review because of this level !
Shoot Bubble
Challenge your friends to play, see who gets the most levels completed. This bubble shooter game even has time challenge so you have to be your best if you want to succeed. The time challenge option can be disabled from the menu if you find it uncomfortable. Shoot Bubble also has colorblind mode for those who can't distinguish colors.
★ 1000+ challenging levels ★
How to play:
1. Tap where you want the bubble to go.
2. Group 3 or more bubbles to make them pop.
3. Clear all the bubbles on the screen to get to a new level.
Peg Solitaire: Marble Puzzles
The objective of the Marble Solitaire game is to end up with just one marble using minimum time and moves. A demo is provided if you are new to Marble Solitaire puzzles.
The following boards are included:
1. English Board
2. European (French) Board
3. Wiegleb's (German) Board
4. Asymmetrical (Cross) Board
5. Continental Board
6. Diamond Board
7. Square 6x6 Board
8. Square 9x9 Board
You can easily customize the board with thousands of included themes.
The game is easy to master and promises hours of fun. Marble Solitaire games help to improve concentration, and strategic thinking skills of kids as well as adults. Use the Scoreboard to track and beat your best scores.
The game is also known as Brainvita and Solo Noble.
More from developer
Marble Bubbles
Shoot all bubbles before they reach the end point.
Use powerful bonuses to speed up the game.
For every 10,000 points you will earn an extra life.
Use bonuses to speed up the game:
Freeze - pearls do not move
Slowdown - pearls movement will slow down
Reverse - pearls will move in the opposite direction
Accuracy - you will get a sight and faster ball speed
Explosion - 3 next pearls will disappear
Same Color - pearls of same color will disappear
Touch the gun to change bubble color.
Mahjong Ace 2
Once two tiles have been matched, they will disappear.
When you click on a tile - it becomes highlighted.
You can select a tile, when it has at least one side edge free.
(no other tiles touching it, and cannot have any tiles on top of it)";
Mahjong Ace
Tunnel Fly
Fly as far as you can inside a tunnel.
Move your ship to avoid objects.
Ninja Mission
Cling to the walls with a hook
Collect coins and avoid traps.
Bubble Shooter
Bubbles can stick to the top border or other bubbles.
If bubble hits side borders - it will change direction.
If you attach 3 and more same bubbles - they will disappear.
Bubbles shift down after certain period of time.
When they reach your gun - you will loose a life.
Hidden Objects - Power Of Love
Help Mary to find her husband.
Explore different locations, talk to people.
Search hidden items and solve the puzzles.
Make lines of 5 and more.
The longer line - the higher score.
Make Words
Get a score for each found word.
Use a hint to find all words.
Dominoes Ace
Player and computer get 7 domino tiles.
14 domino tiles are placed into the base.
Player who has smallest double tile (1:1) starts first.
All your active domino have a mark.
Domino item automatically rotates to fit ends number.
To win you have to put all items first.
Domino numbers are counted on usual base.
Double zero gives you - 25 points.
Created square will disappear and you will get a score.
You will get additional score for speed of creation.
From level to level number of tubes will increase.
And number of squares you have to create will increase.
Word Search
Words are placed in three directions:
horizontally, vertically, diagonally.
For each ball you will get a score.
Set your new time record.
Slice And Cut
Cut blocks with a finger.
Help the tomato to grow ripe.


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Page 2 of 2 Previous
"I wanted something small and cute and near all the things that I liked," she said.
Historic structures
The St. Paul Pioneer Press opened its skyscraper in 1889, at 12 stories slightly taller than the nearby tower of the competing Daily Globe (four more stories were added in 1910). The two six-story Endicott buildings opened in 1890 on either side of the Pioneer; they were designed by Cass Gilbert, who kept his offices there for more than 20 years.
The buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. Gilbert drew up the State Capitol there, and Ecolab was founded there by Merritt Osborn. Northwest Airlines opened its first ticket office there.
"They are among the very few surviving late 19th-century office buildings in the Twin Cities, and the Pioneer is the last surviving light-court building in Minnesota," said Larry Millett, a local writer and historian who will publish a book on the Pioneer and Endicott buildings this year.
Longtime St. Paul developer John Mannillo, who once owned, managed and restored the buildings, applauded what Pakonen and Blaiser are doing.
"These old buildings built for offices don't serve that purpose anymore," he said. "They are taking something they could never rebuild, and reusing it."
Pakonen has successfully developed other downtown St. Paul office buildings that found new life as condos, such as the Rossmor and the Lowry.
"There's a lot of development in Minneapolis, but there are a lot of customers who when they say they're going downtown, they mean St. Paul," he said. "We're there serving those customers."
Kevin Duchschere • 651-925-5035

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Facebook Restores User Account Named After His Second Life Avatar - Here's How He Did It
Facebook seems to be bending its just-announced policies prohibiting the use of game character names for Facebook profiles -- at least in the case of Toysoldier Thor, which is the Second Life avatar name of a guy actually named Scott in real life. However, after getting his account suspended, Scott sought the intercession of Sister Roma, a famed San Francisco drag queen who has been helping Facebook improve its real name policy. After I blogged about this last month, Scott contacted Sister Roma with lots of supporting evidence:
"It seems Facebook NOW just wants ample proof that your name in Facebook is clearly used widely and consistently as a well known/used identity for the person," Scott tells me. "And I provided that with my screen shots of over 10 sites where I used Toysoldier Thor."
Scott did this through Sister Roma about 6 weeks ago, and frankly, I was skeptical he would succeed, primarily because Sister Roma herself told me "Your [Facebook] user name should reflect the name you are known by as use in your everyday life, on- and offline." So it seemed that showing that your Twitter/Instagram/etc. accounts also bore the same name wouldn't cut it for Zuckerberg's crew.
However, Sister Roma is known for doing wonderful things, and in this case, at least, she did for Scott:
Continue reading "Facebook Restores User Account Named After His Second Life Avatar - Here's How He Did It"
Posted at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Behind the Surreal and Highly Personal Second Life Art of Whiskey Monday
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
It seems like Draxtor Despres, the creator of the ongoing mixed reality (Linden Lab sponsored) mini-documentary series The Drax Files: World Makers, is working his way through a bucket list of his most sought after subjects. Last month it was the quirky but elusive designer Nylon Pinkney, now it's Whiskey Monday, one of the most recognized artists active in Second Life today (and a favorite here on NWN).
Continue reading "Behind the Surreal and Highly Personal Second Life Art of Whiskey Monday"
Posted at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
OpenSim Usage See Relative Monthly User Growth
OpenSim, the open source spin-off of Second Life, passed 30,000 active users last month, according to HyperGrid Business, which represents a relative growth spurt from 2012, when it was floundering with around 15,000 active users. The largest OpenSim world is InWorldz with 8,212 active users, which is not surprising, as that one is probably the most consumer-facing. Notwithstanding HyperGrid's "record-breaking month for OpenSim" language, it's still worth keeping in mind this is relative growth for OpenSim, but compared to the larger market for 3D avatar-based worlds, not so much. With 30,000 monthly OpenSim users, for instance, more people still use Second Life at any given moment than use OpenSim for an entire month. (Median daily concurrency for Second Life is around the 40,000 range, according to Grid Survey.)
Continue reading "OpenSim Usage See Relative Monthly User Growth"
Posted at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Monday, March 30, 2015
Businessman Gets 4 Months in Federal Prison Partly for Failing to Disclose $150K in Income Earned in Second Life
Gregg Kaminsky, CEO at Atlanta-based Circlenet, LLC, was convicted last year of hiding money in a Swiss Bank and for failing to report nearly $150,000 in taxable income earned from business activities in Second Life; according to the Wall Street Journal, he was just sentenced this month to 4 months in prison, even while claiming "'there truly was some confusion' about whether earnings from the Second Life virtual world were taxable." Reading the Biz Journal report on this story, the harshness of the sentence is not primarily over the unreported Second Life based income, but the Swiss bank shenanigans. However, the US attorney who successfully convicted Kaminsky did announce this:
Sally Quillian Yates said this sends a strong message that "U.S. taxpayers are required to report all of their taxable income to the IRS, whether that income is earned in the real world or in a virtual world."
Emphasis mine, because it bears emphasis. Linden Lab has been cagey about Second Life economics in the last few years, but back in 2009, the company reported that 50 Second Life users grossed US$100,000+ each from the SL Economy, with the top entrepreneur cashing out US $1.7 million yearly. Linden Lab's Robin Harper explained the numbers to me in even more detail:
"[S]everal people/accounts are cashing out US$ amounts in excess of $1M per year (with the highest amount estimated at $1.7M), based on annualizing one quarter of data. Most of the top 10 are in the real estate business, but the group also includes a company that does events and one that designs virtual goods including shoes."
So thinking on the fate of Mr. Kaminsky, I hope they're all reporting their taxes!
Continue reading "Businessman Gets 4 Months in Federal Prison Partly for Failing to Disclose $150K in Income Earned in Second Life"
Posted at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Second Life Fashion Bloggers Are Scrambling to Show off LeLutka's Upcoming Release (and I Can See Why)
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Over the past few days Second Life fashion bloggers have been scrambling to show off the new line of mesh heads that LeLutka will be releasing on April first. Aria, Ever and Leda (as the three available faces are called) have a high fashion look with fairly compressed features and expressions ranging from soft to stern. Apparently these mesh heads are all designed to work only in tandem with mesh bodies, which means that for a lot of us they'll be off the table for now. For others they're all the more appealing, seeming to guarantee an even more seamlessly augmented avatar.
So far no blogger has captured the expressions and elegance of each of these upcoming faces quite as well as Nana Minuet, who put together a post highlighting the upcoming release yesterday. Her shot of Aria, shown above, is easily my favorite of the lot. It's so bright and clean that you could almost expect to find it in a magazine with a perfume sample or some ad copy streaming down the side, rambling about jojoba or CC creams. And that's not a slight against her work. Her pics are vivid and polished, and easily picked out from a crowd.
You can visit Nana's blog to check out the rest in the set, though she doesn't have much to say about any of the heads in question. For that Strawberry Singh's blog post about Aria, Ever and Leda should be your next stop. As for reviews, well, so far most of the bloggers are sticking to the technical details. Expect stronger opinions to emerge after release.
Continue reading "Second Life Fashion Bloggers Are Scrambling to Show off LeLutka's Upcoming Release (and I Can See Why)"
Posted at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Top Seven New World Notes Posts from Last Week!
- 'MM' Versus 'TSR': The Feud That's Tearing The Sims 4's Fashion Modding Community Apart
- Will Improbable Transform Virtual Worlds?
- Can Steven Spielberg Do to Virtual Reality in Ready Player One What He Did With New UIs in Minority Report?
- MMO Takes Choice of Avatar Race Away from Players, Provoking Racism
- How to Get Started Creating Your Own Interactive Visual Novel with TyranoBuilder on Steam
- Watch it This Weekend: Virtual Fashion Designer Maylee Oh Works Her 3D Modelling Magic on Twitch
- Stroke Victim Reports Partial Recovery Playing Second Life
Posted at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, March 27, 2015
Stroke Victim Reports Partial Recovery Playing Second Life
Not too long ago, someone who works at Linden Lab (I'll call her Leah) happened to meet a bright and energetic woman at a party. As they chatted, it came out that Leigh is a Linden staffer -- and in fact, used to provide in-world Second Life support (that's her avatar pictured here). And when the woman learned that, she proceeded to tell an amazing story:
"About 8 years ago, she had a series of small strokes," Leah recalls, "which caused her to lose oxygen to her brain and to be medically dead for a short time before being revived. That resulted in permanent brain damage, with a range of symptoms from intermittent poor fine-motor coordination to forgetfulness to slurred or incoherent speech."
As you'd imagine, this was devastating to the woman.
"She became rather socially isolated, because she couldn't work or drive," Leah goes on. "But one of her friends encouraged her to join Second Life and chat with him there when they couldn't meet in person."
And this is what happened after the woman began playing in Second Life:
Continue reading "Stroke Victim Reports Partial Recovery Playing Second Life"
Posted at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
SL Flickr Stream of the Day: Anouk-Anna's Shadowy Second Life Fashion Photos
Anouk-Anna has a gorgeous and fairly dreamlike Flickr stream of Second Life fashion photos, and while I know next to nothing about virtual fashion (that's Iris' department), I do know an excellent aesthetic eye fixated on the play between light and shadow, sometimes for surreal purposes as above, and Anouk-Anna has it.
Hat tip: Marianne McCann, who has a whimsimical Flickr stream of her own.
Continue reading "SL Flickr Stream of the Day: Anouk-Anna's Shadowy Second Life Fashion Photos"
Posted at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Watch it This Weekend: Virtual Fashion Designer Maylee Oh Works Her 3D Modelling Magic on Twitch
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
In spite of streaming service Twitch.tv's relative hostility towards Second Life, they do still seem okay hosting developers and artists who are streaming their process while they work on game-related assets. I hope that never changes, because I love the idea of going to the same site to watch people making games (and things for games) as I do to watch people play them. For the time being there are still plenty of Second Life content creators using Twitch to share their creation process too, including designer Maylee Oh -- and she's been particularly busy there this week.
Maylee, who runs the adorable virtual fashion brand The Secret Store, has been streaming the process of modelling her latest design with particular voracity over the past few days. Through her Twitch archives, you can watch her manipulate basic shapes into a beautifully gathered top like magic. Complicated, incredibly technical magic. In the later streams she experiments with some more complex tools and techniques, so if you're a 3D modelling beginner you may want to avoid skipping straight to the end.
The downside to watching Maylee's archives instead of catching her live is that some sections of the video are muted because of the music she was listening to at the time. Then of course there's the fact that Twitch archives have a very limited life span, so you'd be wise to watch them while you can.
You can check out Maylee Oh on Twitch here.
Continue reading "Watch it This Weekend: Virtual Fashion Designer Maylee Oh Works Her 3D Modelling Magic on Twitch"
Posted at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, March 26, 2015
How to Get Started Creating Your Own Interactive Visual Novel with TyranoBuilder on Steam
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
TyranoBuilder, a user-friendly drag-and-drop visual novel/dating sim maker, will be launching on Steam tomorrow. It seems ridiculously easy to use, to the point that even if you've never dabbled in game-making or don't know a lick of code, you could fire it up on Friday and have a playable program for Mac or Windows (or both) by Monday. You could even whip up a last minute entry for NaNoReNo, a month-long event held every March where people develop and share their own visual novels.
But where to start? Just because you have an engine to build your game on doesn't mean you're even close to being ready, so here's what you'll need to start fleshing out a project in TyranoBuilder this weekend:
Continue reading "How to Get Started Creating Your Own Interactive Visual Novel with TyranoBuilder on Steam"
Posted at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Can Steven Spielberg Do to Virtual Reality in Ready Player One What He Did With New UIs in Minority Report?
So Spielberg is attached to direct Ready Player One, and while he's got his great qualities, he's seriously the last major director I'd have named to make the first major motion picture about the metaverse. (Chris Nolan not available?) It's certainly a challenge:
With this news, a question arises about how they will bring a key element of the book's virtual world to life for the big screen. After all, it seems imperative for the audience to feel like they were dropped into the middle of a video game.
At first I was skeptical Spielberg could pull that off. And then I thought about this other movie scene he did (thoughtfully annotated by an analyst):
Continue reading "Can Steven Spielberg Do to Virtual Reality in Ready Player One What He Did With New UIs in Minority Report?"
Posted at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Will Improbable Transform Virtual Worlds? With $20M in New Funding & DayZ Creator on Team... Probably?
Improbable is a new UK-based startup led by some extremely bright alum from Cambridge, and even if you haven't heard of it now, you likely will very soon. Here's their mission:
Improbable is developing an operating environment that makes building simulated worlds possible. Worlds which can be run in real time, simulating the behaviours and interactions of millions of entities. Spaces with their own rules and properties that a multitude of people can simultaneously change, explore and visualise in as many different ways as developers can imagine.
That's a bold statement, about as bold as anything Philip Rosedale has said about High Fidelity. But some very smart people are backing them, including venture capitalist Chris Dixon, who just led his firm to invest $20 million in Improbable:
Developers who use Improbable can write code as if it will run on only one machine (using whatever simulation software they prefer, including popular gaming/physics engines like Unity and Unreal), without having to think about parallelization. Improbable automatically distributes their code across hundreds or even thousands of machines, which then work together to create a seamlessly integrated, simulated world.
This actually sounds a lot like Philip's plan to deploy High Fidelity via distributed network, but leave that to one side. Point is $20 million is a lot of money, and Chris Dixon led his firm's investment in Oculus VR before Facebook bought it. And as compared to High Fidelity, Improbable has the lead on content creators so far. Take this endorsement by DayZ creator Dean Hall, who's now creating his game with Improbable:
Continue reading "Will Improbable Transform Virtual Worlds? With $20M in New Funding & DayZ Creator on Team... Probably?"
Posted at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
'MM' Versus 'TSR': The Feud That's Tearing The Sims 4's Fashion Modding Community Apart
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Every community has seams, and video game modding communities are no different. Each modder has their own priorities and its easy enough to see the borders that form around like-minded groups. Maybe one forum focuses more on visual mods, or a certain blog prefers to talk about systems mods. There's no harm in either. These borders don't really isolate anyone, nor do they indicate any inherent animosity between groups; in essence they just paint a line down the middle of the room, creating a superficial and generally unspoken divide.
That's how it's been in the modding community surrounding The Sims series for some time now, particularly when it comes to fashion mods. The principal divide between Sims modders exists between those who prefer crisp photo-realism and those who embrace a softer and more stylized look that blends into the vanilla game (like the dress pictured above from modder Anubis Under the Sun). But following the release of The Sims 4 this divide has only widened, and now things might be coming to a head. Here's why:
Continue reading "'MM' Versus 'TSR': The Feud That's Tearing The Sims 4's Fashion Modding Community Apart"
Posted at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
SL Flickr Stream of the Day: Apollo Scribe's Ambience
"Path of Love" by Amelie Fravoisse
Apollo's Ambience is a Flickr stream of whimsical and breathtakingly beautiful Second Life images curated by Apollo Scribe, and while I chose Ms. Fravoisse's above from there, Mr. Scribe has collected dozens that are just as smashing. Go here and see.
Continue reading "SL Flickr Stream of the Day: Apollo Scribe's Ambience"
Posted at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
MMO Takes Choice of Avatar Race Away from Players, Provoking Racism... and Frontier Justice Against Racists
Here's a very interesting Kotaku post on the latest update to Rust, a multiplayer survival MMO, in which the developers took away an avatar customization option that gamers have taken for granted for, well, basically since MMOs have existed: Race. So instead of getting to choose the avatar's skin tone and physical features, in Rust those are now selected for the players -- you know, like in real life. Which in turn exposed some real life attitudes about race among a lot of players:
Largely, said [lead developer Garry] Newman, the change has been received favorably, but it hasn't been without its growing pains. Some people have protested the fact that they suddenly sport skin colors that aren't theirs. There's also been a definite uptick in overtly racist language: "It makes me wish I'd set up some analytics to record how many times the N-word was used before and after the update," Newman said. "It was used quite a bit from what I've seen."
On the plus side, that racism led to a kind of virtual frontier justice in the wild west of the Rust game world:
Continue reading "MMO Takes Choice of Avatar Race Away from Players, Provoking Racism... and Frontier Justice Against Racists"
Posted at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
What Are Your Favorite Second Life-Themed Flickr Feeds?
As I mentioned earlier today, we want to devote more New World Notes coverage to great SL-related Flickr feeds. Flickr probably has the most SL-related activity (if not users) among all the major social media platforms, and as we saw today, some of the best SL-themed content. So please share your favorites in Comments (yes, including yours), and tell a bit about why you love them so. Bonus points for Flickr feeds with embeddable display widgets, so we can give readers a nice good look!
Continue reading "What Are Your Favorite Second Life-Themed Flickr Feeds?"
Posted at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Toca Nature: Lovely Open World Creation Game for iOS
Toca Nature is a lovely looking iOS game which launched a few months ago, and it's about creating and fostering a little world with your fingertips -- watch:
Here's the basics of play:
Shape nature and watch it develop. Plant trees and grow a forest. Raise a mountain and enjoy the view. Collect berries, mushrooms or nuts, and feed the different animals. Learn who eats what and discover how much it takes to winkle a bear out. Walk through different landscapes and become friends with a fox. Capture the moment of woodpeckers zigzagging between trees, and watch the day turn into night.
Haven't played it yet but Toca Boca, the studio that developed the game, is quite acclaimed for its sandbox games for kids. I interviewed Toca's CEO Björn Jeffery a few years ago, who told me about their design philosophy:
Continue reading "Toca Nature: Lovely Open World Creation Game for iOS"
Posted at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Meet 'Barely Round', the Bestselling Second Life Avatar Shape from Ample Avi (NWN Partner News)
Every month here on NWN we feature a shape from sponsoring partner Ample Avi, a Second Life store specializing in realistically curvy and plus-sized avatar bodies. Sometimes the shape we feature is brand-spanking-new, and other times that shape is an Ample Avi classic. This month we're looking at something from the latter category, a shape descriptively called Barely Round.
Ample Avi designer Xme Xue tells me that Barely Round has become one of her most popular shapes since it was released just last year, and it's easy enough to see why. Barely round features all the curves you'd expect from an Ample Avi shape, but bundled in a slightly slimmer package than usual. It's kind of the best of both worlds, giving you a sleeker figure without trading your statement-making curves for a rail-thin silhouette. Barely Round is also a personal favorite of Xme's that has made its way into her regular wardrobe rotation -- and may very well make it into mine too.
You can pick up Barely Round for yourself on the SL Marketplace, or swing by Ample Avi's in-world store [Teleport link] for much more.
Continue reading "Meet 'Barely Round', the Bestselling Second Life Avatar Shape from Ample Avi (NWN Partner News)"
Posted at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Flickr Pics That Make Virtual SL Homes Seem Utterly Real
I'm utterly besotted by the Flickr stream of Ms. Lemon Panda (yes), and I'll tell you why: Like a virtual version of Architectural Digest, most of her photos focus on Second Life interiors, and she shoots them with elegantly poised compositions and such perfect use of color and shadow that her 3D images seem entirely appealing and real. See many more here.
Also, a request for readers who also love Flickr:
Continue reading "Flickr Pics That Make Virtual SL Homes Seem Utterly Real"
Posted at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
How Do You Stop a Spambot Like EL Consulting?
Internet experts reading NWN, would love your advice: The blog is again being inundated by Spam posts from "EL Consulting", a bot based in Germany. We get literally dozens of EL Consulting Spam link comments like the above put in various posts, even though it's not clear what the bot is supposed to be promoting or even saying. (Seems to generate random text and links and spit them back as a comment, for unknown motivations.) These comments get automatically deleted, but can still be distracting to actual NWN readers interested in having a civil, back and forth conversation with other readers. (Which this Spambot clearly isn't capable of doing.) Using Typepad's IP address blocker doesn't work, so we're kind of at a loss. Any ideas?
Posted at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (40)
Monday, March 23, 2015
Test Driving Firestorm for SL Go on My Android Tablet
SL Go streaming from OnLive* is now available on iOS/Android tablets only via the third party Firestorm viewer, as Iris reported earlier today, so I took my Samsung tablet and my cat out on my balcony to give it a quick spin. So far, pretty smooth -- loads, streams, and plays somewhat faster than the official SL viewer on SL Go, seems to me. On a tablet, all Firestorm's cool/quirky UI features are somewhat difficult to access and tweak with your fingers, but it is possible. I prefer using SL Go on my old Dell laptop, but if you're a power tablet user, it could be worth giving it a try:
Continue reading "Test Driving Firestorm for SL Go on My Android Tablet"
Posted at 05:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Apple Used to Develop & Promote Virtual Reality Apps (But Would Probably Prefer Pretending That They Never Did)
Way back in ancient times (by which I mean 1996), Apple was just another cheesy computer company leaping on the latest tech-buzz bandwagon -- advance to 3:00:
Seriously: "Another multimedia capability that's raising a lot of interest nowadays is virtual reality. And Apple is leading the way with Quicktime VR."
Yet another example (like this 1992 video) illustrating how easy it is for major tech companies to become excited about a new technology -- and how quickly they can drop it.
Oh yeah, if you're wondering how the hell Apple would ever make a video as cheese-ass as this one, there's a very good explanation for that:
Continue reading "Apple Used to Develop & Promote Virtual Reality Apps (But Would Probably Prefer Pretending That They Never Did)"
Posted at 02:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Firestorm Replacing Second Life's Official Viewer on SL Go for Android & iOS Tablets
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
OnLive's just announced that by popular demand the third-party Second Life viewer Firestorm is available to users of SL Go on iOS and Android, starting today. Not only that, but Firestorm will be completely replacing the official viewer for SL Go on mobile devices. That means no more vanilla viewer, and given Firestorm's popularity that's not a bad thing.
Firestorm has been one of the most successful third party Second Life viewer for years now, and it became available through SL Go's desktop client for the first time last December. It did not see a mobile launch at the same time, however, because only one viewer could be supported in SL Go's app. Naturally this meant that the official viewer took precedent over the unofficial upstart. But Firestorm is a ridiculously popular viewer. Even in SL Go's narrower ecosystem that remained the case, and it's because of this popularity that Firestorm will be completely replacing the official Second Life viewer for SL Go on Android and iOS. It's another example of OnLive and SL Go listening to their community, coming hot on the heels of their recent decision to accept payment in L$. Of course viewer purists need not worry too much: You'll still have your choice of Firestorm or the official viewer when you log in to SL Go on your desktop or laptop.
You can check out SL Go by OnLive here (if you haven't already). If you're already fan of SL Go on your mobile device but have never dipped your toes into Firestorm on your PC, be sure to check out this video I did highlighting some of my favorite features. (Full disclosure: That video was sponsored by OnLive, though this post is not.)
Continue reading "Firestorm Replacing Second Life's Official Viewer on SL Go for Android & iOS Tablets"
Posted at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Watch Ebbe Altberg Speak About Second Life & "SL 2"
Here's video of Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg's avatar speaking to several hundred educators on the future of Second Life and "Second Life 2":
This is a follow-up to a post last Friday, where I initially misread the notes to interpret Altberg as talking about Second Life, when he was actually talking about Second Life 2 -- sorry, "Next Generation Platform". (So I figure you should get all this straight from the avatar horse's mouth.)
Speaking of which, "Next Generation Platform" is a really awkward mouthful, so until they give it an actual name, I'm calling it "NGL".
And gawd, whatever happens to NGL, I really hope they figure out a better way to do voice chat, because it's pretty painful watching what looks like a Team America: World Police marionette.
Continue reading "Watch Ebbe Altberg Speak About Second Life & "SL 2""
Posted at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Top Eight New World Notes Posts from Last Week!
- Explore in Second Life This Weekend: The Shire, Beautifully Textured Tribute to Tolkien's Green Realm
- Give Yourself a Very Unique Makeover With Avatars from Second Life Fashion Brand Tesla
- Linden Lab CEO Hints at Alpha Launch of "Second Life 2"
- Samsung Gear VR Review: Simple, Seductive, Scalable
- Five Skylines Photo Filter Mods to Make Your Simulated Cities Shine
- Twitch is Technically Correct to Ban Second Life for Adult Content Focus & Graphically Nude Avatar Feature
- Artist Spending Year in Second Life Before Killing Account
- Update: Twitch Responds With Their Stance on Streaming Second Life: "Game is Unrated and Often Sexually Explicit"
Posted at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, March 20, 2015
Explore in Second Life This Weekend: The Shire, Beautifully Textured Tribute to Tolkien's Green Realm
The Shire is a stunning and lushly lovely Second Life sim which, as the name suggests, is a tribute to Tolkien's greenest part of Middle Earth. Here's what it looks like from the longest view:
That tiny white spot in the middle-upper left is me, which should give you an idea of the scope of the place.
Click here to see it on the Second Life web map, or copy/paste this address into your favorite SL viewer: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Shire/143/152/33
As with Tolkien's novels, part of The Shire is devoted to Hobbiton, which is represented by cave-like homes, while other regions evoke other places. (I think the spot where the hobbits and Strider fight a Ring Wraith, which here also does double-duty as a nightclub spot.) The textures are lush and superbly detailed. For instance, the hobbit homes have glass windows which shift as you look inside:
Continue reading "Explore in Second Life This Weekend: The Shire, Beautifully Textured Tribute to Tolkien's Green Realm"
Posted at 04:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Give Yourself a Very Unique Makeover With Avatars from Second Life Fashion Brand Tesla
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Virtual fashion designer Tesla Miles has been having a bit of fun with her brand lately. Though she's most well known for creating high-quality mesh clothing and shoes, she's also been producing a series of rather offbeat avatars including a "Thing" style hand that walks on its first two digits, an anthropomorphic pile of poop and her most recent creation, the spray can avatar shown here.
According to Tesla, the spray can avatar works with your existing animations and as demonstrated in the video it shoots a fine particle mist on command. Additionally, if you have the artistic skills to make or otherwise acquire a replacement label, you can slap it directly over the one included for a touch of personalization.
You can pick up the spray can for a rather reasonable L$149 on the Second Life Marketplace, and browse Tesla's full (and cartoonishly NSFW) shop for plenty more unique alternatives to your everyday avatar. She also offers more than a few freebies there, including this itty bitty duck av in time for Easter.
Continue reading "Give Yourself a Very Unique Makeover With Avatars from Second Life Fashion Brand Tesla"
Posted at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Linden Lab CEO Hints at Alpha Launch of "Second Life 2" This Summer (UPDATED)
UPDATE, 2:15pm: In Comments, Linden spokesman Pete Linden disputes the CEO was hinting at Second Life land discounts in this speech, though the full context is ambivalent. Read the discussion here.
UPDATE 2; 11:20pm: Several trusty readers confirmed Ebbe wasn't talking about Second Life in the below quote, so I've struck it and changed the title accordingly.
Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg spoke to several hundred educators who use Second Life, dropped a number of hints about future policy shifts, and Second Life's successor, and young Daniel Voyager was there furiously taking notes. Assuming they're accurate, the top news items are this:
Linden Lab will discount Second Life land fees soon, andSecond Life's successor will Alpha launch this Summer.
Here's the salient quotes for that first item, regarding Second Life:"Yes we want land to be cheaper... and we don't want a model where content disappears. The cost of land will come down, but sales tax will go up."
In other words, land tier will go down, while commissions on SL Marketplace sales and other transactions will go up.
As for Linden Lab's "Next Generation Platform", which is the official name for what SLers have been informally calling SL 2, here's key points around the launch: First phase is this Summer, it's completely compatible with Oculus Rift, it will allow some kind of interoperability with Second Life, and it'll be open to anyone 13 and up:
Continue reading "Linden Lab CEO Hints at Alpha Launch of "Second Life 2" This Summer (UPDATED)"
Posted at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Samsung Gear VR Review: Simple, Seductive, Scalable
Last week at South by Southwest I got to make various gobsmacked expressions as I was hooked up to a very cool demo of Samsung Gear VR, the new head-mounted VR system from the company (created in collaboration with Oculus VR). The demo itself was a first-person shooter, where you're kind of a floating ball moving through connected corridors, blasting away at zombie robots (yes, really). And to be honest, it was the first time using virtual reality where I really felt a compelling sense of presence and immersion. I've used the Oculus Rift HMD in several demos, and found the "screendoor" effect too distracting. While powered by a Samsung smartphone (the Galaxy Note 4), the Gear VR graphics are a notch or two better than the original Rift. (The Samsung demo people themselves admitted that the next generation Crescent Bay from Oculus is better.) The significant difference is the lack of wires. It's a pretty big letdown to strap on a Rift and realize it's tethered to several cables and your heavy duty laptop/desktop. For VR to really go mass market, wireless seems like the only way to go.
So all that's a big plus in Gear VR's favor. Another advantage is even more compelling:
Continue reading "Samsung Gear VR Review: Simple, Seductive, Scalable"
Posted at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
These Five Cities: Skylines Photo Filter Mods Will Make Your Simulated Cities Shine
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
One of my absolute favorite features about the most recent (and most loathed) SimCity game were the Instagram-tastic filters you could apply to your game in real-time. They made for some great screenshots, but after playing for a few hours (some of us did actually play for a few hours!) they were also pretty good for giving your eyes a break and changing things up. You could look at your city with a new coat of paint, in effect, which is why I was a little bummed to hear that Paradox Interactive's Cities: Skylines had borrowed just about everything that made SimCity appealing, but left its visual filters on the cutting room floor alongside multiplayer regions and horrendous launch issues.
Thankfully, Cities: Skylines is an exceptionally moddable game that sold 250K copies in its first day on the market. It's therefore no surprise that it's already gathered an active community, which means that plenty of other players who have been pining for those filters have put that pining to good use. In amid all the maps and turnstyles and town saves there are currently about 100 color correction mods on the Steam Workshop for Cities: Skylines. Here are five of my favorites:
Continue reading "These Five Cities: Skylines Photo Filter Mods Will Make Your Simulated Cities Shine"
Posted at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Radegast, Light Client for SL & OpenSim, Seeking Successor
Radegast, a lightweight viewer for Second Life and OpenSim, ceased development a few months ago, as lead developer Latif Khalifa withdrew due to reported RL health reasons. "Radegast is open source," Latif noted in the departure announcement, "so if there is interest people could continue improving it." So far it seems no one has taken up the reigns, which is a shame, as it could be a good alternative for running SL applications on a low-end machine (possibly on mobile?)
Hat tip on this to Snickers Snook, who gave me some more background via Twitter:
Continue reading "Radegast, Light Client for SL & OpenSim, Seeking Successor"
Posted at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Twitch is Technically Correct to Ban Second Life for Adult Content Focus & Graphically Nude Avatar Feature
Twitch's policy prohibiting Second Life streaming has caused a lot of outrage among some SLers, but that annoyance overlooks an inconvenient fact: It's technically correct. Twitch's statement says Second Life content "is sexually explicit, which is content we do not allow on our services". And in fact, the majority of Second Life's most popular sims are Adult-rated for extreme sexual and violent content -- look:
Courtesy Louis Platini's Metaverse Business, these are the top 25 most active Second Life sims this month, listed by average avatar visitor count at any given period, visitor range, and previous position -- 13 of which are Adult-rated. So that's already a problem for Twitch.
Now let's look at the full statement from Twitch:
Content in [Second Life] is unrated and often sexually explicit, which is content we do not allow on our services. We also do not permit Adults-Only rated games and games where nudity is the core focus, feature, or goal.
Second Life is not rated by the ESRB, but if it was, it'd be rated Adults-only.
But what about the idea that nudity in Second Life is "the core focus, feature, or goal?" The fact that most popular Second Life sims are Adult-rated definitely suggests nudity is a core focus/feature/goal.
But here's an even more pressing point:
Continue reading "Twitch is Technically Correct to Ban Second Life for Adult Content Focus & Graphically Nude Avatar Feature"
Posted at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Find Your Niche: The Absolute Best Advice for Second Life Fashion Bloggers
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Canary Beck has posted a very interesting piece over on the [SL] Blogger Support site about the importance of blogging within a niche, particularly when it comes to Second Life fashion. As its name implies, [SL] Blogger Support is a group designed to help Second Life bloggers support each other with inspiration, knowledge and resources to make virtual world blogging a little easier. While there's a wealth of helpful info on their site, Canary's piece is an absolute must-read for anyone starting to dip their toes into blogging. Really, it will make your life so much easier.
But there's one thing that Canary left out. One more reason why finding the right niche for your blog is crucial.
Continue reading "Find Your Niche: The Absolute Best Advice for Second Life Fashion Bloggers"
Posted at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
It's Easier Than Ever to Commission a Distinctive Avatar Portrait from Popular SL Artist Nylon Pinkney
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
If you haven't been waiting for a chance to get your portrait painted by Nylon Pinkney, then you probably haven't been paying attention to this offbeat Second Life designer's artistic output (which I cover fairly regularly here on NWN). Then again, maybe you're as big a fan of her work as I am and you've just been trying to work up the nerve to shoot her an IM or an email. In that case, I've got some very good news for you.
Nylon, who brands her RL art under the name Elleinadart, has made it even easier to commission her work. You can drop by her website to check out all the details, including portrait options and pricing, and fill out a form to submit your request on the spot. Even better, you can pay for your glossy digital portrait with either Paypal or L$, depending on which is more convenient.
If you've been out of the loop, in addition to being one of Second Life's most enduring and recognizable designers (not to mention Drew Carey's favorite), Nylon was the subject of a recent episode of mixed-reality mini-documentary series The Drax Files: World Makers. Her work is even gracing the cover of upcoming book Anna the Powerful.
If you'd like to commission a portrait of your virtual (or real) self, just head over to Nylon's commission info page and scroll to the bottom to find the request form. Or, if you're stuck on the fence, check out more of her artwork on Tumblr.
Continue reading "It's Easier Than Ever to Commission a Distinctive Avatar Portrait from Popular SL Artist Nylon Pinkney"
Posted at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Artist Spending Year in Second Life Before Killing Account, Mostly Meeting Avatars With "Social Disorders and Creepy Sexual Vibes"
#secondlife365 65> lifetime ban from @ Blarney Stone Irish Pub 4 using this dildo on the dance floor. pic.twitter.com/un2WO4tKyH
— michaelgreenv6.0 (@metadiamonds) March 6, 2015
#secondlife365 is a Twitter hashtag stream which as the name suggests, is a year of Tweets from Second Life. Brainchild of a Portland conceptual artist (because of course), Michael Green (whose SL name is officialmichaelgreenv6) has some interesting ideas going on (and some obvious and frankly lazy biases). As he tells Good Magazine:
#secondlife365 is an investigation of virtual reality, the 'self' and time perception. I chose to work a full year because I am getting older, and am trying to change my perception of how I view time. For me, the project is like a meditation. A way to slow things down a bit, and I perceive time slower as a result. 2015 is taking forever and this is a good thing! Second Life, like real life, is what you do with it, and a year is a long time in there, so my goal is to do what it takes to survive. And there is a little death in there too, because I will deactivate my account on New Year's Eve, 2015.
But the stream is pretty banal so far, to be honest (but maybe that's supposed to be the point), and shows little interest in moving beyond the more obvious deadzone/consumerist/pornographic/fetish zones that clutter Second Life.
Because I mean, seriously? What's the deal with this statement:
Continue reading "Artist Spending Year in Second Life Before Killing Account, Mostly Meeting Avatars With "Social Disorders and Creepy Sexual Vibes""
Posted at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (52)
Monday, March 16, 2015
Update: Twitch Responds With Their Stance on Streaming Second Life: "Game is Unrated and Often Sexually Explicit"
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Two weeks ago I reported on popular game streaming site Twitch allegedly suspending users simply for streaming Second Life with their service. I contacted both Twitch and Hitbox (one of their top competitors) for comment. Initially only Hitbox responded, saying that they are "more than happy to allow broadcasters to stream Second Life on hitbox granted they are responsible about the content being presented to the viewers."
It's a little lukewarm, but it's a much more inviting response than the one I received from Twitch late last week:
Continue reading "Update: Twitch Responds With Their Stance on Streaming Second Life: "Game is Unrated and Often Sexually Explicit""
Posted at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
Facebook Expressly Forbids Avatar Game Name Profiles
Facebook is seeking to clarify its many contradictory policies, including ambiguity around "real names", and the new Community Standards are bad news for Second Life users who want to maintain a Facebook account named after their avatar:
Of course, a Facebook Page has less functionality than a Facebook account, so some SLers are unlikely to find this acceptable. The only solution may be to establish that your avatar name is known to people in the offline world, and ask Sister Roma for intercession.
"But wait," some readers are no doubt thinking, "Second Life is not a game, so how come Facebook doesn't have an exception for SL avatars?" Leaving aside the questionable assumptions behind the "Second Life is not a game" statement, a more obvious point still applies:
Continue reading "Facebook Expressly Forbids Avatar Game Name Profiles"
Posted at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Top Five New World Notes Posts from Last Week!
- Mesmerizing Second Life Dance Effects from Popular SL Singer ColeMarie (Who's Now a Rising Real Life Singer Too)
- Here's What a 'Good' Second Life Stream Would Look Like
- Gamergate Hasn't Hurt Academic Interest in Gaming, Say Leading Scholars -- If Anything, It's Increased Interest
- Remembering Terry Pratchett (and his Visit to Second Life)
- These May Be the Most Relaxing and the Most Breathtaking Minecraft Videos You'll Ever See
Posted at 05:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, March 13, 2015
Familiar Faces: Popular Second Life Skin Maker Tuli Asturias Relaunches her Store at Skin Fair 2015
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Skin Fair 2015 is open as of today, and it's a great place to go if you're looking for a new avatar face... Or a new face for your avatar face, what with the proliferation of mesh heads in Second Life fashion and all. Along with most of the usual suspects, it's a pleasant surprise to see designer Tuli Asturias back in the mix as well. After a brief hiatus, it seems like the popular designer is back with new skins and appliers of the same gorgeous quality.
In case you're not familiar, Tuli Asturias was a well established designer in SL for quite some time. While she initially specialized in clothing and accessories, after a few years she made a sharp swerve towards skin, eye, and shape creation. She saw tremendous success in this area because, to be perfectly frank, her skins were absolutely gorgeous. As a long-time customer, it looked like she'd really found her niche. Her skins were elegant, highly-detailed, and worlds away from the oversized red lips, smoky eyes and orange-glo tans that are still a little too common today.
Suffice it to say it's good to see her back.
You can check out what Tuli's offering at Skin Fair 2015 on her Flickr, or grab a map and drop by the event [Teleport link] for yourself.
Continue reading "Familiar Faces: Popular Second Life Skin Maker Tuli Asturias Relaunches her Store at Skin Fair 2015"
Posted at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, March 12, 2015
These May Be the Most Relaxing and the Most Breathtaking Minecraft Videos You'll Ever See
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Wait! Stop! Do not click play on the video embedded above until you have read this very important warning: This video is almost certainly going to make you drowsy. It may even make you fall asleep. If you're at work, this would make particularly bad break-time viewing. So save it. Save it for when you're at home, curled up, and juuuust about ready for bed. Why? Because it's one of the most ridiculously relaxing Minecraft videos I've ever seen. More than that, it's also showing off one of the most incredible builds I've ever seen, dubbed Imperial City. It's an absolute must-watch if you want to see the scope and scale of what can be accomplished with Mojang's humble little voxels. But it will knock you right out.
It's like if Jacques Cousteau was taking you on a tour of Paris... If he'd built Paris himself with a couple of friends... And had to keep his voice down to a soothing (and informative) murmur.
If you haven't guessed, this isn't your run-of-the-mill Minecraft video. It's an ASMR video by The French Whisperer, who's most well known for his soft-talking videos about world history. One of my first articles on Paste concerned ASMR Let's Plays, videos in which a player records themselves playing a game in a relaxing manner and speaking in a low or even whispered voice to help the viewer relax. The intersection of the ASMR and gaming communities is pretty fascinating -- or perhaps a little creepy, depending on your perspective.
Either way, if you can stay awake long enough to watch the whole thing, you may also want to check out the second and third parts of the tour. You can also download the Imperial City world file for yourself here.
Continue reading "These May Be the Most Relaxing and the Most Breathtaking Minecraft Videos You'll Ever See"
Posted at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Remembering Terry Pratchett (and his Visit to Second Life)
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
It's hard to escape the news that Terry Pratchett passed away today, particularly if you run in any fantasy or sci-fi enthusiast circles. Pratchett was a uniquely talented writer and a profoundly compassionate person, and his work has inspired (and will continue to inspire) countless others. But something you may not know about the acclaimed author is that he visited Second Life during the height of the SL media bubble in 2008 to promote his book, Nation. The live Q&A he hosted (as 'TerryPratchett Morpork') filled the sim, and thankfully for those of us looking back 7 years later several folks who attended preserved an abridged transcript along with a fair number of screenshots.
Of course Pratchett was as affable online as he was offline. "Sorry," he said the instant he popped onstage, "I'm new at all of this kind of stuff and so can anyone tell me how to get the rocket launcher?" I'll admit that my favorite quote from the event isn't the most flattering, even though it certainly made me chuckle. When asked if he would consider returning to SL, Pratchett (an avid gamer) replied:
I think you're going to have to improve the graphics considerably before I come back to Second Life. The graphics in Oblivion allow you to see the graphics in the bottom of a pond and I think that came out in 2002.
If you'd like to remember the Discworld author with a bit of laughter, you can read the transcript of the TerryPratchett Morpork Q&A session on Ciaran Laval's blog, and check out the group pool of screenshots from the event over on Flickr.
Continue reading "Remembering Terry Pratchett (and his Visit to Second Life)"
Posted at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Gamergate Hasn't Hurt Academic Interest in Gaming, Say Leading Scholars -- If Anything, It's Increased Interest
Gamergate target Brianna Wu speaking at UC Irvine (video below)
Gamergate has hurt academic interest in the study of games, according to an anonymous academic who recently posted this to the consternation of Gamergates' leading detractors on Reddit. Sample:
We have been working for years to make games a legitimate tool for education and for study, and we were making progress. People were starting to take games seriously. And then came GamerGate. I have seen the careful progress of a decade come crashing down, and now, when I go to talk about games to industry groups or fellow academics, GamerGate always comes up as an example of how terrible and immature people who play games are. It will take years and years to repair the damage, and it is absolutely devastating to the serious study and application of the power of games to real problems.
I put that point to three leading academics in game studies, however, and they had a very different story. If anything, their replies suggest, Gamergate has increased interest in gaming as an academic focus. Take Tom Boellstorff, Professor and Graduate Director at UC Irvine's Anthropology department and a staffer at the university's Institute for Virtual Environments and Computer Games:
"We just had Brianna Wu at Irvine and she gave an amazing talk that ended with a standing ovation," Tom tells me (video below). "There's a balance here: (1) Gamergate has caused problems, but (2) we don't want to blow that out of proportion to the extent that it reinforces a focus on only one type of gamer and also (3) there are other factors at play with all this including hype cycles and such.
"But," he goes on, "something else that Gamergate shows, indirectly, is that games and gaming are important. They are important to all human cultures throughout history (there is no society that does not have some form of play and games), and they are extremely important now. They are going to play a key role in shaping our new digital age. We clearly do not yet understand all the forms of that influence and their possible implications, but we can't give up working together to gain better understandings and strive for better, more inclusive and just futures!"
In this, Tom was reflecting on comments from Mia Consalvo, Canada Research Chair In Game Studies & Design at Concordia University:
Continue reading "Gamergate Hasn't Hurt Academic Interest in Gaming, Say Leading Scholars -- If Anything, It's Increased Interest"
Posted at 03:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Here's What a 'Good' Second Life Stream Would Look Like
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Another week has passed without a response from Twitch regarding their behind-the-scenes ban on streaming Second Life. But I haven't stopped thinking about it, because Twitch be damned, there's another lingering question that needs to be answered.
From the beginning of this streaming discussion here on NWN, there have been those wondering just what a Second Life stream should look like. It's worlds away from the usual fare being broadcast on sites like Twitch and Hitbox, so how do you keep that fresh and appealing without resorting to trolling? The quick answer has been content-creation, but that's not the limit of what a Second Life stream could do well.
So what would a 'good' Second Life stream look like? Here are my thoughts.
Continue reading "Here's What a 'Good' Second Life Stream Would Look Like"
Posted at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Mesmerizing Second Life Dance Effects from Popular SL Singer ColeMarie (Who's Now a Rising Real Life Singer Too)
The Teardrop Hand Dancer Set is a new item in the SL Marketplace and as the name suggests, it creates great effects like this:
They're built and sold by ColeMarie Soleil, who Second Life veterans will remember for her acclaimed in-world singing, her beautiful SL machinima, and for a time, her NWN column on the metaverse-based arts. She's since gone on to become a rising real life popstar (more on that below), but still goes into SL from time to time to create stuff like this:
"The lights are glow enabled particles with ribbon trailers with the new glow and ribbon additions to the particle system," she explains.
As for her rising RL pop career, there's some pretty impressive news to share there:
Continue reading "Mesmerizing Second Life Dance Effects from Popular SL Singer ColeMarie (Who's Now a Rising Real Life Singer Too)"
Posted at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Mourning a Lost Brother Through His Skyrim Avatar
Via Reddit, here's a very poignant tribute told in images, of a young man who died far too early, and the family member who remembers him by logging into the world of Skyrim, the game he loved so much: "I never move his character, save, or do anything since it wouldn't be his character anymore. He is frozen in time just like my young brother was." Reminds me of the gamer who races with his dead father's race car avatar, or from Second Life, the husband avatar that her widow made.
Continue reading "Mourning a Lost Brother Through His Skyrim Avatar"
Posted at 03:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
This Second Life Pilot's Machinima Shows the Surprising Details of Virtual Flight
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
File this one in the "Huh, I had no idea" box. I knew that people drove and raced all kinds of vehicles in Second Life, and that there were airports and landing strips specifically for a more realistic experience when flying virtual planes, but I'll admit that I had no idea that it went as far as controlling the articulated jet bridges passengers would be boarding through. But that's exactly what SL pilot Kevin McLaughlin does in the video above as part of his take-off procedures.
Just as interesting as this detail, however, is how the flight's take-off and landing procedures take twice as long as the flight itself. The flight from Second Norway to Hollywood. It's a notoriously short route, you know, what with all the jetstreams and such.
I guess it's a testament to how much is possible in Second Life that almost 9 years since I joined (March 12th, 2006) I can still be totally surprised by what other users are getting up to. So far this video is the only one on Kevin's YouTube channel, but with any luck he'll post plenty more of his flights in the future.
Continue reading "This Second Life Pilot's Machinima Shows the Surprising Details of Virtual Flight"
Posted at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Monday, March 09, 2015
SL Go Streaming Available for Linden Dollars (For Now)
SL Go, the Second Life streaming service from OnLive (which I occasionally consult and partner with) is now available for weekly subscription for Linden Dollars -- for a limited time, at least. "Paying for SL Go with L$ has been one of the most common requests we have received in our forums and chat rooms," OnLive's Dennis Harper notes in the announcement. You can buy weekly subscriptions for L$650 (i.e. less than 3 bucks US), and buy up to 4 weeks at a time. (For new user accounts only, for reasons explained below.) Click here to sign-up in-world, or put this Second Life map address into the 3rd party viewer of your choice:
While I'm not consulting or partnered with OnLive at the moment, I am biased about the streaming service for mobile devices and low-end laptops, I genuinely think it's a pretty great service, and it's cool that SLers can finally try it out for Linden Dollars. The sign-up process is fairly fun, too: After you go to the entrance lobby (above), you then need to teleport to a secure location. Which looks like this:
Continue reading "SL Go Streaming Available for Linden Dollars (For Now)"
Posted at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Iris Wants to Know: Where's Your Gacha Budget Going During the Latest Round of The Arcade?
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
The first round of The Arcade for 2015 opened its doors last week, and if you're fortunate enough to squeeze your way in through the massive crowds you'll be greeted with just as many unique treasures as ever. In case you need a refresher, The Arcade is one of Second Life's most popular shopping events, where designers stuff their gacha machines with sets of limited items and shoppers pay a pittance for a random chance at any of them. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but most virtual fashion and decor enthusiasts wouldn't miss it for the world.
I'm having a particularly tough time picking out which gacha lineup I like best this time around. Although I'm head-over-heels in love with the Downton-worthy ensemble that you can piece together from Erratic's gacha, a few other sets have caught my eye too. Anc Ltd.'s decor items are downright dreamy for example, while 8f8's Arcade items are like a Barbie's Tuscan Dreamhouse kit (some assembly required).
It's all a little overwhelming. That's why I want to know: Which gacha is at the top of your list for this round of The Arcade? Take a look at everything that's on offer in the official event catalogue, then leave your picks in the comments below!
Continue reading "Iris Wants to Know: Where's Your Gacha Budget Going During the Latest Round of The Arcade?"
Posted at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Survey Presented at GDC Reveals How Many Boys Don't Care About Character Gender (and How Many Girls Do)
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style
Last week at GDC the results of an interesting new study about gender and gaming were shared. The study, conducted by Ashly Burch and Rosalind Wiseman, asked students in middle and high school a variety of questions about their gaming habits, including topics like what gender characters they prefer playing, if those preferences effect how likely they are to play a game, and how they feel about how female characters are typically handled. The lesson Burch and Wiseman are hoping the industry learns from their study is that kids are more progressive than we tend to think, even when it comes to games lead by someone other than the standard grizzled white guy heroes. For instance, a surprising number of boys don't care whether their characters are male or not, compared to a much larger number of equally game-savvy girls who prefer playing as female characters.
While the bottom line is that these numbers should inform development decisions and help in the push for increased diversity in games, as I was reading about this study I couldn't help but let my mind wander a bit. Specifically, it wandered to all the people (mostly men) who have asked me in the past why I care so much about the gender of the characters I play...
Continue reading "Survey Presented at GDC Reveals How Many Boys Don't Care About Character Gender (and How Many Girls Do)"
Posted at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)


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|Half Baths
|Property type
|Minimum Stay
|3 - 7 nights
Located in one of Destin's most exclusive neighborhoods, this Destiny by the Sea home is a delightfully decorated vacation destination that is the perfect getaway for both families and friends. The guest suite is furnished with a king bedroom and a set of bunk beds that sleeps four. The full bathroom, complete with a standalone shower, services both the bedroom and common area, which includes a flat screen television, and two day beds conveniently hidden beneath the luxurious chaise lounges. The kitchenette includes a sink, a small refrigerator, and a microwave. The suite can also be accessed via the garage.
The second floor common area provides guests with a large balcony, complete with a grill and plenty of outdoor seating. The living area is equipped with a flat screen television, a concert quality audio system, and a fireplace. This professionally decorated home hosts an eclectic art collection, which adds to the whimsical and laid back atmosphere of this luxurious home. The gourmet kitchen is equipped with restaurant quality appliances, including a double oven, icemaker, and plenty of counter space. The formal dining area has seating for six, while the bar offers an additional 5 seats. The common areas are serviced by a powder room. A second floor king bedroom is furnished with a flat screen television and full bathroom with a standalone shower and traditional bath tub. A larger-than-average laundry room houses a high capacity washer and dryer.
The third floor is dedicated to the luxurious and spacious master suite. The king bedroom is outfitted with a flat screen television and has access to a private balcony with a view of the water. The enormous bathroom boasts a walk in closet and dressing area, a private water closet, a garden tub, and a standalone shower with multiple rain heads. The suite also offers guests a wet bar with a sink and fridge for their convenience and refreshment.
Located in Destiny by the Sea, this home provides visitors with private beach access, million dollar views, and unparalleled luxury in a fun and elegant home.
First Floor (sleeps 6)
Outdoor Shower
Guest Suite with king bedroom and bunk beds (sleeps 4) and flat screen television
Full bathroom with walk in shower
Living area with two twin sleeper-sofas
Kitchenette with sink, fridge, and microwave
Second Floor (sleeps 2)
Large balcony with grill
Living area with flat screen television, concert quality audio system, and fireplace
Gourmet kitchen with stainless steel, Kitchen Aid appliances, granite counters, and bar seating for five
Powder room
King bedroom with private, full bathroom, large walk in closet, and flat screen television
Laundry room with high capacity washer and dryer
Third Floor (sleeps 2)
Master suite (sleeps 2) with king bed, flat screen television, private balcony with view and wet bar with sink and small refrigerator. En- suite bathroom with walk in closet, garden tub, stand- alone, walk in shower, private water closet.
What a beautiful area... gated... Ocean Front Luxury Community... in my opinion there is no other place like DESTINY BY THE SEA.
Gated Community... beautiful tropical pool and hot tub. Beautiful Landscaping
This was overall a badass vacation. We were greeted by Five Star when we first arrived and even had wine delivered right to our door. Very pleasant experience. It was a spacious and comfortable home for our party of ten. Will definitely use Five Star in the future and Deliver My Wine as well! haha Already planned our next stay in Destin, FL.
Absolutely beautiful as described! Loved our stay and can't wait to go back!!
Payment is usually accepted in the quoted currency (US Dollar) unless the currency and the amount is specifically agreed in advance with the owner / advertiser.


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New iPod commerical airs
MacMinute is reporting that Apple has started to air new iPod television commericals. The spot features animated versions of the current print promotions featuring black silhouettes against colored backgrounds.
"The ad features black silhouettes with iPods dancing in front of vibrant colors to 'Hey Mama' by the Black Eyed Peas. It concludes with: 'iPod' then 'Mac or PC.' It was spotted during NBC's 'The West Wing.'"
Related Stories
- Apple releases iOS 8.3 beta 4
- FREAK security flaws still present in popular iOS apps
- Device able to access iOS 8.1 through brute-force attack
- Microsoft to bring Cortana to iOS
- Apple releases iOS 8.3 beta 3 to developers (Update: iOS 8.3 Public Beta also released)
- Apple releases iOS 8.2
the add started playing much earlier in the day i saw it on VH1
the commercial is not animated its video and its obvious
its funky and im sure it is very appealing to pop culture crowd
great colorful AD
Posted by Dennis Lloyd in Irvine, CA on October 9, 2003 at 3:18 AM (CDT)
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All rest homes are certified and audited to ensure they provide high quality care.Find rest homes and audit reports
Welcome to the New Zealand Ministry of Health
The Government's principal advisor on health and disability: improving, promoting and protecting the health of all New Zealanders
Feeding your baby
There have been recent reports of a threat to contaminate infant and other formula products with 1080.
If you have any questions about feeding your baby, call Plunketline any time, day or night, on 0800 933 922. If your baby is unwell, call Healthline 24 hours a day on 0800 611 116.
Watch GP Dr Arlene Smyth talk about feeding your baby infant formula.
Learn more about infant formula safety at the Government's Food Protection site.
Featured work
Information on Ebola
- Ebola readiness – what we are doing to prepare, including monitoring and screening
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Infant formula contamination threat
- Information for health professionals
- Advice for parents and caregivers on safe use of infant formula
- More information is available on the Food Protection website.
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Increasing immunisation rates and reducing rheumatic fever are part of the Government's 10 Better Public Services results. The Ministry's latest results show record immunisation coverage and a significant reduction in rheumatic fever. Read more
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Part 3 of the TED Radio Hour episode Press Play
About Stuart Brown's Talk
Dr. Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, and fantasy are more than just fun. He came to this conclusion after conducting some somber research about the stark childhoods of murderers.
About Stuart Brown
Dr. Stuart Brown is the founder of the National Institute for Play in California. Brown came to study play after studying something much more somber: the lives of murderers. He found a common thread in their life stories: lack of play in childhood. Since then, he's interviewed thousands of people to catalog their relationships with play, noting a strong correlation playful activity and success. His book Play describes the impact that play can have on one's life.
More From This Episode:
- Related TED Talk: Gabe Zichermann On "How Games Make Kids Smarter"
- Related TED Talk: Sir Ken Robinson On "How Schools Kill Creativity"
- Gever Tulley On "5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kid Do"
- Play Doesn't End With Childhood: Why Adults Need Recess Too
- Scientists Say Child's Play Helps Build A Better Brain
- Q&A: Blocks, Play, Screen Time And The Infant Mind
- Press Play
Copyright NPR. View this article on npr.org.


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28 Apartments for Rent Near Asheville, NC
Of the 28 apartments in the Western North Carolina metro, we found exactly 6 apartments for rent in Asheville and 2 apartments nearby. Also find 1, 2 or 3 bedroom apartments for rent in Asheville as well as cheap apartments, pet friendly apartments, apartments with utilities included and more. Use our customizable guide to narrow down options for apartments in Asheville and find exactly what you want during your Asheville, North Carolina apartment search.
No listings exactly match your search
Please see these nearby communities.
Berrington VillageExact - 1 Overton Way Asheville, NC 2880335.549058 -82.464838
Modern and spacious one, two and three bedroom apartment homes for rent in Asheville, NC. Located just off Charlotte Highway, our pet-friendly apartments feature ceiling fans, dishwashers, built in microwaves, walk in closets, garbage disposal, washer and dryer connections, and sunrooms are available. Our gated community includes playground, swimming pool, laundry facilities, pet park, cyber cafe, 24 hr fitness center, movie theater, and breathtaking mountain views! Stop by today!
- Brand New Community - 1, 2 & 3 Bedroom Apartments
- 24 Hour Fitness/Health Center
- Tropical Walk-In Pool w/ Poolside Bar
- Movie Theater with Stadium Seating
- Walk-In Closets
- Easy Access to I-40, 240 and Downtown Asheville
- Built in Microwaves and Modern Black Appliances
- Pet Friendly. On-Site Pet Park
- 24 Hour Laundry Facility
- Poolside Gas Grills and Fireplace
- Gated Community. Playground
- Cyber Cafe with Coffee and Tea Bar
Kensington PlaceExact - 200 Kensington Place Asheville, NC 2880335.492538437027 -82.518882646185
Kensington Place Apartments offers studio, one, two and three bedroom apartment homes for rent in Asheville, NC. Enjoy your rental in the peaceful scenery of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At Kensington Place, your apartment comes with washer and dryer hook ups, private patio or balcony, business center, clubhouse, lighted tennis courts and much more. Call Kensington Place today to tour your new apartment home.
- Studio, One, Two and Three Bedroom Floor Plans
- Private Decks & Patios w/ Additional Storage
- Heated Indoor/Outdoor Pool Open 9am-9pm Year Round
- Fitness Room. Lighted Tennis Courts
- Garages Available
- Pet Friendly up to 90 lbs, Breed Restricted
- 2 Laundry Centers, Cash Accepted
- Playground, Picnic Area and Trails
- Washer/Dryer Connections Available
- Woodburning or Gas Fireplaces (rate varies)
- Ceiling Fans, Cathedral Ceilings, and Much More
- Handicap Accessible
Ascot Point VillageExact - 23 Ascot Point Circle Asheville, NC 2880335.528422 -82.5275167
Ascot Point Village offers one, two, and three bedroom apartments homes for rent in Asheville, NC. Enjoy ceiling fans, built in microwaves, washer and dryer connections, and sun-rooms and patios are available. Our pet friendly lifestyle includes tennis courts, extra storage, garage parking, playground, swimming pool, fitness center, and laundry facilities. Located near I-40, I-26, downtown Asheville and the Biltmore Estate. Call, email, text, or stop by today for a tour!
- One, Two and Three Bedroom Floor Plans
- Ask About Our Preferred Employer Discounts
- Large Sparkling Swimming Pool
- 24-Hour Fitness Center
- Fully Equipped Eat-in Kitchens
- Pet Friendly Community. Ask for Details
- Sunrooms Available
- Clothes Care Center
- Playground and Tennis Courts
- Garages with Remote Access
- Easy Access to I-40 & I-26
- Washer and Dryer Connections
The Grove at AshevilleExact - 600 Bulldog Dr. Asheville, NC 2880135.610237121582 -82.570533752441
At The Grove at Asheville our two and three bedroom apartments offer all of the luxuries and comfort to make coming home to study easy. We are right next to The University of North Carolina, The apartments have walk in closets, private bedrooms and bathrooms, full kitchen, high speed internet access, premium cable access and washer and dryer. The community boasts a workout room, a clubhouse that includes a game room with pool tables, gaming system area, and a quiet study.
- Two and Three Bedroom Apartments Available
- UNC Asheville Shuttle Service
- Walk In Closets & Washer/Dryer In Unit
- High Speed Internet Access
- Premium Cable Package
- Clubhouse with Flat Screen TV
- Workout Room
- Game Room with Table
- Quiet Study Area
- Grilling Area
- Lit Parking Areas
- On Site Courtesy Officer
Hawthorne at the Peak formerly known as Cadence VillageExact - 50 Barnwood Drive Asheville, NC 2880435.670433044434 -82.58097076416
Just off of I-26, and located only minutes from Downtown Asheville and UNC Asheville, Cadence Village at Woodland Hills offers fantastic one, two, and three bedroom options at outstanding rental rates.
- Modern kitchens with dishwasher and disposal
- Relaxing patios and balconies
- Detached garages
- Free washer and dryer
- Free water and sewer service
- Wireless internet access throughout clubhouse and
- Business center with computers , copiers, printers
- Ample on-site free parking
- Handicapped accessible unit
- Professional on-site management
- 24-hour maintenance services
- Pet friendly environment featuring outdoor pet sta
Arrowhead ApartmentsExact - 100 Cheerio Lane Asheville, NC 2880335.570011138916 -82.516586303711
Conveniently located near the Asheville Mall, Biltmore Village, River Ridge Shopping Center, and Wal-Mart, Arrowhead Apartments has Efficiency, and 1 Bedroom apartment homes available.
- 24 Hour Answering Service for Emergencies
- Community Room / Activities
- Dedicated Staff Members
- Energy Efficient Low Maintenance Living
- Public Transportation On Bus Route
- Informal Social Gatherings
- Laundry Facility On-Site
- Gardening Plots
- Horseshoe Pits
- 2 Apartments within 10 miles of Asheville, NC
The AventineNearby - 1000 Aventine Drive Arden, NC 2870435.48624 -82.555463
Live as Nature Intended.
- NEW 1, 2, & 3 Bedroom Apartments Available
- Washer & Dryer in Most Homes
- Strength & Wellness Center with Yoga Rooms
- Resort Style Pool & Cabanas
- Playground and Pet Park
- Business Center & WiFi Cafe
- Elevator Access to All Floors
- Stainless Steel Appliances & Granite Countertops
- Attached and Detached Garages
- Electric Car Charging Stations
- Hardwood Style Floors & Island Kitchens
- Whirlpool Jetted Tubs
Audubon PlaceNearby - 1000 Flycatcher Way Arden, NC 2870435.453263 -82.538573
Audubon Place offers one, two and three bedroom apartments for rent in Arden, NC just south of Asheville. Conveniently located to I-26, I-40 and the Blue Ridge Parkway, Audubon Place Apartments is only minutes from downtown Asheville, the airport, shopping, dining and entertainment. Audubon Place apartment homes feature energy saving appliances, washer/dryer connections, large closets and spacious layouts. Audubon Place Apartments is where you want to be. Call today to tour your new apartment.
- Gate Community with 1, 2 and 3 Bedroom Apartments
- Sparkling Swimming Pool
- Detached Garages Available
- Fitness Center (24 hours)
- Convenient to I-26, I-40 and Blue Ridge Pkwy
- Laundry Facility (24 hour)
- Energy Saving Appliances
- Pet Friendly Community with On-Site Pet Park
- Clubhouse with Wi-Fi and Business Center
- Car Care Center
- Mountain Views
- Washer/Dryer Hookups
Your Search Returned 8 results.
To see more Apartments, try broadening your search.
See 28 more properties in Western North Carolina Metro (See All)
Berrington VillageAsheville, NC
Kensington PlaceAsheville, NC
The AventineArden, NC
Ascot Point VillageAsheville, NC
Ballantyne CommonsHendersonville, NC
The Grove at AshevilleAsheville, NC
Catamount PeakCullowhee, NC
808 WestCullowhee, NC
Mountain Village ApartmentsCullowhee, NC


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McKinsey Executive Rountable Series in International Economics: U.S. Capital Markets Competitiveness: Challenges and Choices
The McKinsey Executive Roundtable Series in International Economics is presented by the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies and the Corporate Program.
U.S. Capital Markets' Competitiveness: Challenges and Choices [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]
Harvey Goldschmid, Glenn Hubbard, Arthur Levitt, and Frank Zarb address Council members on U.S. Capital Markets Competitiveness as part of the McKinsey Executive Roundtable Series on International Economics.
U.S. Capital Markets Competitiveness: What are the Right Policies?
Watch leading global business experts discuss the challenges to competitiveness in U.S. capital markets as part of the Council's McKinsey Executive Roundtable Series in International Economics.
Documents of U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue
The U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue was created by U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pe�a Nieto in May 2013 and the first cabinet-level meeting was convened September 2013 in Mexico City.�Vice President Biden hosted the January 6, 2015 meeting in Washington. Participating U.S. agencies include�Departments of State and Commerce, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. In 2015, strategic goals are focused on energy; modern borders; work force development; regulatory cooperation; partnering in regional and global leadership; and stakeholder engagement.
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Follow FEMA:
Residents clean up their property after the storm in Tennessee
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Photo by David Fine - May 07, 2010
Bordeaux, Tenn., May 8, 2010 -- Residents and volunteers are removing household materials, furnishings and possessions that may contain molds or mildew after being saturated by dirty flood waters. FEMA is responding to the severe storms and flooding that damaged or destroyed thousands of homes and businesses across Tennessee. David Fine/FEMA - Location: Bordeaux, TN