NZVWGrid Upgrade – VLENZ Update, No 179, January 24, 2011

NZVWGrid  news Auckland  U Portal ‘upgrades’ OpenSim  hardware Will host 30-50 sims The  “virtual world team” at the University of Auckland will be “productionising” its  Opensim installation – Hypergrid address: akl.nzvwg.org.8002.aotearoa – over the  the next couple of weeks which should see the university’s portal on the New Zealand Virtual World Grid ready to accept [...]

‘Full Perms?’ – VLENZ Update, No 178, January 18, 2011

Virtual World Commerce and transport Second Life: where you can pay through the nose  but never ‘own’ your skin … I have never had a real problem with individual creatives who protect the intellectual property in their product: Just with  those who want to regionalise the real world and the virtual worlds so  they can [...]

OpenSim Worlds– VLENZ Update, No 177, January 09, 2011

OpenSim Grid worlds are spreading But do you want to pay ‘twice’ for your skin? … and  everything else just because you want to ‘travel’ the worlds The Lindens have rightly been concerned about guaranteeing intellectual property creator rights and Second Life’s place in the sun (Let’s lock in the users to a closed world by [...]

MUVE education at NMIT– VLENZ Update, No 176, August 11, 2010

New Zealand  MUVE activity NMIT launches  course covering 3d immersive environments The Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology  has successfully launched and is into the fourth week of an online course on multi-user three dimensional virtual environments (MUVEs) and their relationships to other multi-user technologies. The 16 students, enrolled in the course (A&M624, Immersive 3D Environments), [...]

Disability and MUVEs – VLENZ Update, No 175, August 10, 2010

“Forget what you can’t do … virtual worlds are about what you can do.” Disabled can have a new  ‘ real life’ in  a virtual world … The ability of virtual worlds such as Second Life to  provide new experiences as well as  “a real life” to those  with disabilities  has to my knowledge not  [...]

Games that teach – VLENZ Update, No 174, June 28, 2010

Thinking Worlds puts ‘reality’ that works into  simulations A  military simulation in “Thinking Worlds,” a browser-based, 3D virtual world technology,  had reduced – by more than 50 percent -  the need to carry out  remedial or  “Brought Up To Speed” training in one cohort that trained on the UK Navy’s Maritime Warfare School simulation,  according [...]

MUVE Research – VLENZ Update, No 173, June 08, 2010

1. ‘Turning’ boys into girls, virtually speaking Transferring body ownership to  your virtual avatar … The real Avatar: body transfer turns men into girls – video 85429678001 – life – 13 May 2010 – New Scientist. Second Lifers or World of Warcrafters, who have become fully immersed in those environments,  would be unlikely to doubt  [...]

NZVWG – VLENZ Update, No 172, June 03, 2010

Does the Emperor have any clothes? New Zealand’s NZVWGrid  ‘newbies’ get free avatar skins, hair, eyes and clothing A ‘noobie’ appearance is no longer necessary in the  NZVWGrid … free avatarskins, eyes and hair have been made available for users  … New Zealand academics, researchers and  virtual world builders,  using and testing the alpha phase [...]

KAREN, VLENZ Update 171, June 01, 2010

KAREN goes  ‘independent’ NZ high-speed research/education network in new partnership … All NZ education to get real Broadband speeds A year-old YouTube view of the FX Networks network  … 2200 kms of optical fibre and still counting. Heralding a new era for online education and research  in New Zealand, Research and Education Advanced Network New [...]

SLENZ, VLENZ Update, No 170, April 22, 2010

Latest  SLENZ  Project/NZ VW news SLENZ Project  may be over but lecturers still use the builds Foundation Learning  in use, free builds popular, viewing  by Indian Minister The Wellington-based  Natraj School of Dance welcomes the Hon. Minster Sibal and Indian delegates to WelTec. The Second Life Education New Zealand Project may have been concluded but [...]