If you haven't yet, go explore the new Bay City area in Second Life. Just west of the city of Nova Albion, the mid-twentieth century styled Bay City is Linden Lab's experiment in providing infrastructure that residents can build on. They've provided not just streets and canals, but factories, a cafe, a movie theatre, a bowling alley, and even a dilapidated "mental hospital".



The roads, incidentally, are great for vehicles. They're straight, level, and at ground level, which is ideal for hovering vehicles. Drop by the vehicle rezzing areas in Molesworth and New Port.

Ever thought to yourself, "Gee, I wish I had an Abbotts Aerodrome tee shirt in real life"? Well, you probably haven't. But I did, and so now you can get the official Abbotts Aerodrome tee shirt at Cafe Press. I have one of these myself (though it has the older logo on it), and it's indeed a high-quality shirt that I'm happy to say covers every part of my upper body that I'd expect to be covered while I'm clothed.

Not only that, but I'm drinking coffee at this very moment out of an official Terrabucks Coffee mug. Mmm. You can really taste the plywood.

Link: Terra Aeronautics shop at Cafe Press

Someone approached me in Second Life the other day and was astounded that I'd been in SL since 2003. "Whoah, the oldest person I'd met until now was from 2005!" What keeps me in the metaverse year after year? In SL I can create anything I can imagine.



In the past week, for example, I've been prototyping the next-generation Terra hoverbike. This means playing ideas and themes, sculpting shapes in Wings3D, and realizing the creation in three dimensions in Second Life. From there, all I have to do is drop in one of my scripts and I have a fully functional vehicle.



This latest hoverbike is a prototype of a racing bike, destined for a racing sim. It's a first draft, to be revised and improved upon, but I'm happy with the direction it's taking.

For the last little while, I've spent some time playing with shapes in Wings3D, a mesh sculpting tool. It's easier to learn than Blender, whose UI looks like it was vomited by a team of drunk chimps, but it's still a little tricky. Despite a few setback, the results are encouraging.

My first mostly-sculpted vehicle is this hover bike -- an early prototype now, but in time it should eventually evolve into something that I'll sell. And why would a hover bike need shock absorbers? To absorb all those hovershocks, of course.

So when I do eventually sell it, what do I call it? I already have a Terra Hoverbike and a Terra Skybike. I think I'm running out of names.

Nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel, and other uncomfortable positions: I'm back in Second Life and wading through hundreds of waiting messages. If you messaged me in the last week, please be patient as I work through them all.

I've decided to run away from Second Life for a week for some R & R someplace warm -- a place where I can lie on a beach and drink things out of coconuts all day. I've settled on Winnipeg as my destination. That's tropical, right?

If you need any help with your aircraft or skydiving equipment while I'm away, just leave a detailed message by IM in Second Life. Messages are forwarded to my email, so I'll take care of them when I'm back.

Now where's my sunscreen? I hope I don't get all sunburned on those toasty Winnipeg beaches.

According to the official Second Life blog, a problem at their ISP has forced them to take Second Life offline "until further notice". Further notices have been posted already, but they're pretty much the same as the previous notices: SL is borked, come back later.

As US senator Ted Stevens pointed out a couple of years ago, the Internet is in fact a series of tubes. I'm no expert, but I think a really long plumber's snake would probably clear the problem right up. See, whenever someone's hair goes missing from their inventory, it just ends up clogging the tubes.

This weekend, Linden Lab announced plans to roll out the long-awaited Havok 4 physics engine across the grid. As soon as Monday, up to 2000 regions will have their simulator code updated to include Havok 4. If all goes well, the rest of the grid should see the new physics engine by Tuesday.

The implementation of Havok 4 in Second Life is expected to vastly reduce the number of region crashes and incidents of "deep think" -- a state where the simulator is simply overloaded by physics calculations and slows to a dead crawl. It also means that most items that rely on physics, including vehicles and skydiving equipment, may or may not work correctly starting this week.

To ensure that all of my products will survive the transition, I am spending extra hours in the beta grid testing each and every product for H4 compatibility. If there's a problem, I'll update the script to adapt to the new physics engine. At Abbotts Aerodrome, you'll start to see the "H4 Tested" icon appearing next to products that I've tested and updated for use with Havok 4. If it has the icon, you can be certain that it's OK for Havok 4.

Already, I'm in the process of testing products.

[UPDATE: All products but the Abbotts Float Plane have been tested and are fine for Havok 4. Thanks to the Linden devs who ensured that the transition would be so easy.]

Skydiving

• Skydiving Pod - OK
  
• TerraSport parachutes - OK
  
• SkySurf skyboard - OK (updated to version 3.4)
  
• Terra E-Chute - OK
  
• Terra Skydiving Target - OK
  
• BubbleTargets skydiving game - OK

Hovering aircraft
All hovering aircraft are presently broken due to a buoyancy bug in Havok 4 (see bug SVC-1947). These include: CLAWW, Futura, SkyBike, Terra Taxi, and all helicopters. As soon as the Lindens fix that bug, they should work fine again.

• CLAWW - OK
  
• CTH-100, CTH-100M, CTH-200 - OK
  
• DS3 Drop Ship - OK
  
• Futura - OK
  
• SkyBike - OK
  
• Terra Taxi - OK
  
• Magic Carpet 5 - OK

Airplanes

• Abbotts Float Plane - Floats low in the water due to H4 buoyancy bug
  
• Airco DH.2 - OK
  
• Cormorant plane-sub - OK
  
• Cricket tiny plane - OK
  
• Dogfighters - OK
  
• Kingfisher - OK
  
• Manta - OK
  
• Nieuport 17 - OK
  
• Orca plane-sub - OK
  
• Ornithopter - OK
  
• Sparrow - OK
  
• Stearman - OK
  
• Starling ultralight - OK
  
• Tachyon - OK
  
• Tachyon M - OK
  
• Talon - OK
  
• Tigershark - OK
  

Lighter-than-air craft

• Wind Rider hot air balloon - OK
  
• Terra Airship - OK
  

Speed boost

• Terra Z scooter - OK
  
• Terra Speed - OK
  
• Rocketeer pack - OK
  
• Infinity pack - OK
  

Bookmark this post: I'll keep this list up-to-date as I go.

On Easter Monday the Lindens announced radical new policies regarding the use of their trademarks, including the Second Life(tm) logo, company name, and product name. According to the official Second Life(tm) blog, any website that mentions or uses their trademarks (or even acronyms that refer to their trademarks) are subject to their new license agreement:

Read these guidelines if you'd like to use any of our trademarks on your website, in a URL, in advertising, in an article or book, in a film or television show, in a software product, or anywhere else. You likely need our permission. (link)

Those affected most by the revised rules are owners of websites that begin with the product's acronym, "SL"(tm) or "Second Life"(tm), like SL Universe, SL Exchange, and Second Life Herald. The new rules also affect the press, who are required to comply with the license guidelines in order to show the Second Life(tm) logo in an article:

We've given journalists and media outlets special permission to use the Second Life Eye-in-Hand Logo in published articles, blog entries, and news programs specifically about the Second Life virtual world, subject to our Guidelines and Terms and Conditions. (link)

These guidelines include a requirement to have a business presence in-world or an "association" with the product -- a requirement that would prevent the logo from appearing in casual gaming reviews or news reports about Second Life(tm) or Linden Lab(tm). From a marketing perspective, it's strange to me that the company would seek to limit references to their product in the media, or try to enforce seemingly arbitrary rules, especially at a time where the popularity of Second Life(tm) appears to be waning.

Since 2003, the company had a relaxed attitude towards use of the SL(tm) logo (see the old guidelines), in which many third-party websites established themselves using the product name or an abbreviation thereof. One such example is the low-brow rumour-mill, Second Life Herald, which not only includes the product name in their domain name and site name, but also features the Second Life(tm) eye-in-hand logo in the banner. One can only wonder: after the 90-day amnesty, will the company take retroactive legal action against these well-established websites?

Cristiano Midnight, owner of the popular user forum, "SL Universe", points out, "it seems completely arbitrary, and impacts sites that have been in existence for years and fully in compliance of naming rules, which have now suddenly changed." (link)

In the case of cubeyterra.com, I can't afford to tackle the Linden Lab(tm) legal department, so I'll do my best to comply with the new rules.

DISCLAIMER: Second Life, SL, and inSL are trademarks of Linden Research, Inc. Cubeyterra.com is not affiliated with or sponsored by Linden Research. Further, cubeyterra.com hopes that Linden Research will not hurt cubeyterra.com legally, physically, or emotionally, using any means including but not limited to rabid lawyers, hit men, vicious attack penguins, or ninja assassins for any inadvertent infringement either real or perceived. Please don't hurt me, I beg you, I didn't mean to damage your trademark by mentioning you in my blog.

Starting today, I'm giving away the Terra Race Track Kit -- a box with everything you need to build your own vehicle race track. This kit helps you get more out of your vehicle purchase, and helps island owners create a new attraction. Hold air, land, or sea races, using any vehicle at all.

The kit includes:

• A multi-lap start/finish line
  
• Race gates
  
• A race clock
  
• Unscripted race course markers

Pick up the Terra Race Track Kit free at Abbotts Aerodrome. You can try out the track at 450 meters above Abbotts Aerodrome (free planes available at the start line).