Updated at 4:00PM EST

Another big, multiple post day from the Second Life Blog, with the biggie being Age Verification, like it or not, it’s now in beta.

From: Second Life Blog Knowledge Base Article of the Week #7: Age Verification Beta Quote from the site - Brace yourselves. The Knowledge Base Article of the Week, much like last week, is actually multiple articles this time (two, to be precise). Our subject: The Age Verification beta.

From: Second Life Blog New Release Candidate Viewer: 1.18.6 RC0 Available Today! Quote from the site - Today’s Release Candidate Viewer (1.18.6.0) contains more important bug fixes and new functionality that we welcome your feedback on. As a reminder, Release Candidate viewers are optional updates that contain the latest round of bug fixes and/or soon-to-be-released new features.

From: Second Life Blog Age verification enters Grid-wide beta Quote from the site - The Age Verification feature (now available in beta) will be included in our release candidate today. This means that estate and parcel owners can now voluntarily flag their land if it contains adult content, and Residents can choose to access these restricted parcels by verifying that they are, in fact, adults. Age Verification is the latest of a number of tools and services to help Residents control and manage their own Second Life experiences.

From: Java Technology Fundamentals Java Technology Fundamentals Second Life Chat Quote from the site - The Java Fundamentals chat within Second Life was a Huge success! We had about 25 attendees, and everyone was enthusiastic with their questions. We had a great discussion. In case you missed it, I’ve posted it below with minor editing.

From: Counting Sheep Second Life Secret Santa! Quote from the site - Phil’s Supermarket and Kraft Foods is sponsoring a Second Life Secret Santa.

Give a gift and you will get a gift!! Here’s how it works:

1.) Give a gift to SantaClaus Criss (make sure transfer is allowed).
2.) Attend the Christmas party at Food Island on Thursday, December 20th from 5PM-7PM SLT to receive another donated gift from SantaClaus.

From: Santarchy & Santacon Santarchy In Second Life Quote from the site - The Cacophony Society presents Santarchy in Second Life this Sunday, December 9th at 4pm SLT at Pier 109/139/23 in Second Life. See the Santa in Second Life: A Crash Course for more info.

From: Massively Major Second Life grid failure Quote from the site - At 5:10PM SLT (US Pacific) the Second Life grid suffered an unexpected subsystems failure, resulting in the disconnection of approximately 7,000 of the 45,000 users online at the time.

From: Counting Sheep Bantam Dell Podcast & Trivia Night!! Quote from the site - It’s that time again! Head to Bantam Dell Island on Tuesday, December 4th at 6PM SLT (9PM ET) for this month’s Podcast & Trivia Night!

This month’s podcast features Dean Koontz, author of The Darkest Evening of the Year.

From: Tupple vs. Kipple Ogilvy: Back to the Future with IBM Quote from the site - The recent IBM Avatar commercial has been getting some talk time amongst us Sheep. (Hat tip to Chosen Few for bringing it to our attention.) Have you seen it? You can, here.

From: Massively Age verification arrives on the Second Life grid (updated) Quote from the site - Age verification is now in beta on the Second Life grid. We think it’s called Age Verification, anyway. It’s undergone a couple name changes since inception. Initially, Linden Lab were calling it Age Verification, then Identity Verification (IDV) and now we’re back to Age Verification again.

From: Massively University of Leicester: vision of the future

From: CNBC Virtual Love. Virtual Land. Real Riches Quote from the site - There’s real life and then there’s Second Life - a vast online universe of more than 10 million residents who build virtual houses, buy virtual clothing, and make money that couldn’t be more real.

From: MediaShift Hype and Backlash for Second Life Miss the Bigger Picture Quote from the site - In May 2006, BusinessWeek ran a cover story on the virtual world Second Life (SL) by Robert Hof called My Virtual Life. The tagline breathlessly said, “A journey into a place in cyberspace where thousands of people have imaginary lives.

From: What Is This Crap? The Other Clockwork… the original one! Quote from the site - Finally made it to Myg’s Clockwork club on Topgol to check out hings, since Ikeep meaning to head over there.

Good music by Hawk, good crowd, good times…

From: New Wrold Notes Sponsoring Spaceflight: Virtual Spacecraft on Ebay to Subsidize Second Life’s Spaceport Alpha Quote from the site - Normally I’d wait until Mixed Reality Monday to mention this, but it’s too damn brilliant and worthy to wait on: The real world aerospace engineers and scientists who own Second Life’s Spaceport Alpha and the International Spaceflight Museum, an multi-island tribute to space travel past and present, with scale model recreations of legendary rockets and spacecraft built with expert care, need funds to cover their land costs, and application fees for their 501c3 non-profit status.

From: Story of my Second Life Faz and Jpskater777’s dangerous Schome Park sports (unfinished) Quote from the site - One of my students showed me this machinima he and a member of Schome Park made the other day just playing around. It’s great fun for me to watch these friendships evolve and the skills that naturally develop. Faz Schomer is one of the most talented members of Schome Park and JPSkater777 is quickly ramping up as a competent designer himself.

From: Muve Forward Second Life Instructional Designers Group Quote from the site - I’ve encountered more than a few instructional designers working in Second Life, but until recently, I hadn’t encountered any specific network of instructional designers within Second Life.

Added:

From: Associated Press Professors Learn in Virtual World Quote from the site - It’s tough to teach a college class when your students are constantly flying around the room.

Just ask any professor who has opened a classroom in the online world of Second Life.

From: Virtual Learning Worlds Second Life Design? Or Usability? Quote from the site - I’ve written a lot in the past about Second Life and design, specifically the Second Life Design Notebook posts.

But the more I think about this, talk to people, and listen to my students’ experiences…I’m starting to think this has more to do with usability than design.

From: Millions of Us Your challenge: create a machinima film in 48 hours! Quote from the site - I’m excited to announce that Millions of Us has partnered with the 48 Hour Film Project to bring this exciting competition to Second Life!

The 48 Hour Film Project (48HFP) invites filmmakers from all over the world to compete in an exciting, fast-paced, virtual reality filmmaking contest to be held in mid-January 2008.

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