Welcome to AvaStar Beach

We are again pleased to announce that we have added a fourth island to our rental portfolio. AvaStar Beach is as beautiful as our other three parcels. The plot has been beautifully landscaped in a tropical theme, offering idyllic surroundings plus all the privacy and space provided by 16336 sq. m. (a quarter of a sim).

All offering superb water-frontage, our islands not only provide a sunny beach to sunbathe and party, but also plenty of sea to enjoy water sports. I could go on, but I think the image will speak for itself:



Visit our vendor in-world to find out latest prices and availability:

Rental Offices

If you have any questions, please IM Orion Raymaker.

Linden Lab and IBM join forces with OpenSim: 'Metaverse' event notice

Start: 08/04/2008 - 12:00 PDT
Timezone: Etc/GMT-7 (8pm UK BST)

The collaboration between Linden Lab and IBM on OpenSim may be the most direct step taken so far toward a true ‘metaverse’. You will be able to hear IBM’s Zha Ewry and Linden Lab’s Zero Linden talk about the progress they have made, and the implications of their work at Metanomics, Noon PST on Monday, August 4th. They will start the show with Dusan Writer announcing the follow-up to his much-lauded competition to create a better Second Life client viewer.

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About OpenSimulator

"The OpenSimulator Project is a BSD Licensed Virtual Worlds Server which can be used for creating and deploying 3D Virtual Environments. It has been developed by several developers. Out of the box, the OpenSimulator can be used to create a Second Life(tm) like environment, able to run in a standalone mode or connected to other OpenSimulator instances through built in grid technology. It can also easily be extended to produce more specialized 3D interactive applications."

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WATCH ON THE WEB!

You dont have to be in Second Life to Watch!
See the live video and to engage in the chat via ChatBridge technology.

As seating in our main location is limited, visit METANOMICS for a list of our event partner locations, or use the references below:

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JOIN US IN SECOND LIFE :: EVENT PARTNER LOCATIONS:

METANOMICS, Muse Isle (164, 178, 29)

METANOMICS Ampitheatre, Colonia Nova (193, 240, 49)

METANOMICS NMC, Outreach (127, 131, 23)

METANOMICS MetaPartners Conference Area, Grieg (205, 48, 32)

METANOMICS, Rockcliffe (149, 233, 68)

Beam me up, Scotty ! or is it down, left right...

I was fortunate to be able to attend a really quite excellent presentation @Science Friday - 'Teleportaion Tuesday' by Prospero Frobozz a.k.a. Prospero Linden (Dr Rob Knop) giving a 1 hour talk on Quantum Teleportation.



Yes, as part or the AvaStar Empires keen interest in all things Sci-Fi and scientific the idea of instant transportation between two points 'Star Trek enter your mind's eye...' was too great an opportunity to miss. Prospero used voice while others typed questions in chat to delve into the incredibly unusual world of Quantum Mechanics.




I asked Prospero a question (referring to an electron being observed): "...when we measure and find say a spin "left" the other particle will be "right" we can reconstruct?" To which I had an affirmative YES! This bizarre reaction to a particle being observed was actually the key to teleportaion - allowing a reconstruction of an electron in another location. Probability played a big role in this: left spin would yield right spin and visa versa - also spin up an down as exampled above etc...

The Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, (EPR) paradox explains this well: '...a phenomenon predicted by quantum mechanics, known as quantum entanglement, to show that measurements performed on spatially separated parts of a quantum system can apparently have an instantaneous influence on one another.' You could say what the right hand is doing the left hand does the opposite lol.

Well for the sci-fi people, the real 'downer' was you can't do it faster than the speed of light - You cant win them all. Einstein is safe for the moment...


Hope to see some more talks of this caliber soon :)

Assimilating Terrains in OpenSim

More OpenSim experiments... This time I was testing the compatibility between SL (TM) raw terrain files and OpenSim files. Essentially I downloaded a raw terrain file from my simulator in SL (TM) and then uploaded it into OpenSim. It worked! But with a strange transfer effect. OpenSim appears to produce a mirror image of the terrain:

This image shows the SL (TM) actual terrain (note that this island's simulator left hand corner is located in the NNW on the mini map)

This is how the same raw terrain file looks in OpenSim (Note that the corresponding sim corner is in the SSW corner of the mini map - when compared to SL (TM) above)

So its scratch head and back to the drawing board. I suspect that it is to do with coordinates, but more testing required. Still it is fun experimenting :D

For the OpenSim developers, I was using: OpenSim 0.5.6-build

Google Lively : a Second Life (TM) alternative?

Leonor and I both had a go at running our own Google Lively "simulator" - yes you guessed it a tropical island :D Well if you are interested in visiting there is a link on the right hand bar of this blog. Anyways, here are a couple of screen shots to wet your appetite:

Leonor and I at our island in lively We have added a phone box and TV recently, lol.

Pathfinder Lindens plot in Lively nice - but you cant beat SL (TM) really ;)

¡¡¡¡¡Campeones, campeones!!!!!

We are quite civilised in RL (honest, guv!) but could not resist joining in on the dementia that followed the Spanish win at Euro 2008 last night. After all, we've been waiting to win a major football tournament for no less than 44 years!!!

It has been a long wait indeed but it has to be said that, when victory came, it did so in style. Well done Spain!!! ¡¡¡Así se hace!!! :D :D :D

OpenSim Revisited

Well I thought I would post a few more picks of my experimenting. I just cannot resit. A word of warning, although OpenSim is an excellent piece of programming it's not Second Life. SL is still miles ahead of this simulator. However, I cannot help but get excited at the prospects.


Added an extra Island ROFL.




Here is Happy, the sim I created, but no one is around :( - not so happy, or am I? Well you cant have it all, but this is the one limitation of running it on your own PC. It is possible to link other PC's via network cables, something I am experimenting with at the moment. The next step is to link your sim with other grids and share your simulator with others.





Put some clothes on Orion and tried some sculpties :) There is no content with OpenSim, you have to provide this yourself and it is not possible to transfer your things from SL. You can only use items you have created offline, you own, and are able to re-upload to this simulator. There are pieces of software available that allow you to reproduce items you have created in SL(TM) but these have limitations. Recognise the auto-rez barrel?

Check out the Ping Sim :D on the top right - zero Lag lol

Re - Noobed Again

What can I say, I cannot help but fiddle with computer software. Orion Raymaker is re-noobed in OpenSim. My own sim, running on my PC - thats a full sim :D But before everyone starts running for the link, the software is in alpha not beta, so you will have to scratch your head a little to get it working. Plus alot of functions do not work. Appart from that, if you're an open source person who loves to tinker, then this is for you!



Ok, in standard mode the physics is missing and you will not be able to script until you change some .ini settings. But you can fly, terraform, build, make sculpties and upload infinite textures :D

You'd be MAD to miss this!

We are selling two limited edition hats that will be available for a short period of time only.

Mad Hatter Hat - Ed's Edition (Plum)



iDOL Black Trilby Hat - Ed's Edition (Plum)



All proceeds for the sale of these items will go to our friend Ed Bumstead. Ed is a superb bloke and a top SL builder. Sadly, he has been going through some hard times lately, so we just want to do our little bit to help him along the way. :)

In addition, these hats and a number of other items are available at an in world sale organised by Kesseret Steeplechase.

Visit the sale location: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Amira/97/95/21

or check Kess' post for more information.

Island living in Second Life

We had a lot of fun this weekend filming our latest video. We wanted to make a kind of promo to showcase the rental islands. Still learning, but we think it's come up quite well :D