The Viewer 2 Beta is finally here, and with it comes a whole host of amazing improvements and new features. There’s so much to be excited about that it’s impossible (and unnecessary!) to pick a favorite. But — if I really had to pick — I’d choose Shared Media, since I’m the Product Manager for Shared Media. So, let me tell you about it.

Shared Media Brings the Web Into Second Life

Second Life Shared Media, a new Viewer 2 capability, makes sharing standard Web-based media in Second Life easy and seamless. It enables content creators to make more compelling, interactive experiences. Basically, Shared Media brings the Internet inworld.

For the more technically inclined, what this means is that you can now put media textures on any prim in Second Life. More specifically, the viewer uses WebKit to create a fully interactive, dynamic texture from a Web URL. This even includes support for Web-browser plug-ins, like the Adobe Flash Player. And, you can place dozens of them on the same region. (We still don’t know what the upper limits are. I’m sure that you’ll let us know.)

A World of New Experiences and Businesses Possible

By seamlessly integrating the Web into Second Life, Shared Media unleashes a new wave of creativity and new business opportunities. Imagine the richness of a SL store with interactive signs and displays. Think about Flash-based games, theaters, and innovative Web-based services appearing inworld. Display your Twitter feed on the front of your house! (Okay, don’t.) Build a HUD to read your email inworld. Interact with walls that encourage graffiti or use your signature to sign guest books. Educators and their students can now interact in even more immersive classrooms. For the enterprise community, online collaboration tools (such as Google Docs, EtherPad, Webex, and Acrobat Web Connect) combine with the power of Second Life to make working inworld much easier and more powerful.

You’re in Control of Shared Media

Viewer 2 introduces a new UI for controlling Shared Media. Shared Media authors have the option to offer a 2D menu bar (similar to a browser-like URL bar) that will appear in front of a Shared Media object when any Resident mouses over it. Also, a new Nearby Media control will enable Residents to more easily control what media is allowed to play.

Web Skills Will Drive New Inworld Building Techniques

There are also new Second Life build features for Shared Media: assigning URLs to objects and faces, controlling auto-play, auto-scale, size settings, etc. With Shared Media, SL building now extends well beyond SL into the vast and varied skill set of Web development. Suddenly, skills like PHP, SQL, ActionScript, Apache and FMS can be used to create compelling inworld content. Flash and Flash Media Server (FMS) become particularly useful tools for creating animated, interactive Shared Media that can be kept in sync. Flash media server hosting services, such as Influxis, offer low-cost hosting.

Synchronicity is Content- and Context-Specific

Behind the scenes, Shared Media is different. Second Life always stays synchronized for all Residents. That is, the simulation takes place on our servers, and each person’s viewer renders their perspective on that simulation — everyone is looking at the same thing. Shared Media, on the other hand, can look different to different people — sometimes. Everyone’s instance of the Shared Media is always presenting the same URL. However, not everything will stay in perfect sync unless the content is specially designed to do that. For example, a simple Web browsing session will keep the pages synchronized, but not the position of the scroll bars. We may both be looking at the same Web page on the same inworld object, but I might be looking at the top portion, while you might be viewing what’s below the fold.

Consider a URL that doesn’t always serve the exact same page, perhaps a Web page that displays a random background color each time it loads. If an inworld object’s surface displayed that page, I might see a green background while you might see a blue one. Even more striking: if an inworld object’s surface was pointed at a site with user login like Gmail, you and I could both log into it, and we’d be looking at our own inboxes, not at each other’s.

What’s really cool is that sites that are specifically designed for synchronous collaboration, like EtherPad, for instance, will stay in perfect sync. So if it’s the intention, it is possible to design content that uses a back-end server to stay perfectly synchronized in all cases.

In short, synchronicity is content- and context-specific, making possible a world of new applications and interactions.

LINDEN LAB LAUNCHES GOLD SOLUTION PROVIDER PROGRAM FOR SECOND LIFE
International Program Identifies 31 Firms with Proven Success
Helping Organizations with Projects in the Virtual World

SAN FRANCISCO, May 27, 2009 – Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world
Second Life, today announced its new Gold Solution Provider Program. A first for
the virtual worlds industry, the new program is designed to identify highly
qualified firms that offer services and develop content for enterprises,
governments, educational institutions and individuals in Second Life. Second Life
has a large Solution Provider community that includes more than 250 firms
around the globe, with varying areas of specialization and experience. Following
a thorough application and vetting process, 31 Second Life Solution Providers
have today been accepted into the new Gold Program. These firms, roughly half
of which are based outside of the United States, are recognized as particularly
well qualified for enterprises or educational institutions planning immersive work
or learning environments in Second Life.
Today, many large global organizations and educational institutions, such as
Adobe, BT, Xerox, Michelin and Imperial College London, are creating custom
immersive workspaces and applications in Second Life that increase productivity,
creativity and innovation while cutting the costs and ecological impact of travel.
Additionally, many organizations are using Second Life to provide unique
opportunities to engage with their brands, raise awareness of and money for
charitable causes, experience works of art that may not otherwise be accessible
and more. Many organizations turn to members of Linden Lab’s Solution Provider
Program to help them get started and achieve their objectives in the virtual world.
Linden Lab’s Solution Provider Program is unique to the virtual worlds industry,
with more than 250 organizations and individuals around the globe providing a
wide range of consulting, design and building services in Second Life. Firms in
the program help organizations new to Second Life get started by providing
services that can range from developing environments, producing events and
conferences and marketing to Second Life communities. Linden Lab has today
accepted 31 Solution Providers from the US, the UK, Europe and Asia into the
new Gold Solution Provider Program, confirming these firms as being particularly
well qualified.
“Innovative enterprises, military organizations, government agencies and
educational institutions are actively using virtual worlds for distance learning,
training and simulation,” said Tom Hale, Chief Product Officer at Linden Lab.
“The Gold Solution Provider Program makes it easy to find experienced partners
that can deliver high-quality experiences for a wide range of Second Life
projects.”
The following firms have been accepted into Linden Lab’s Gold Solution Provider
Program:
• A&D Consultants (Italy)
• Avatrian, LLC (US)
• Beta Technologies (US/Portugal)
• Bokowsky + Laymann GmbH (Germany)
• Chant Newall Development Group LLC/FutureWork Institute (US)
• Clarity International (Italy/UK)
• Community Chest (France)
• Corporation Pop (UK)
• Cranial Tap, Inc. (US)
• Daden Limited (UK)
• depo USA, LLC (US/UK)
• Designing Digitally, Inc. (US)
• Firesabre Consulting (US)
• Gronstedt Group (US)
• Hermes-PPMM (UK/Netherlands)
• Ill Clan Animation Studios (US)
• Indusgeeks Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (India)
• Involve, Inc. (US)
• ISN Virtual Worlds (Italy)
• MadeVirtual Ltd. (UK)
• Metabirds Co., Ltd. (Japan)
• Moderne Interactive (US)
• New Business Horizons Ltd (UK)
• Popcha! (US)
• Siterma VWP (US)
• Stonfield InWorld (France)
• The Magicians (US)
• virtual-e Ltd (UK)
• Virtualis Center/Corporation Planners Unlimited (US)
• VirtualMind (formerly SecondMind) (Spain)
• Youin3D GmbH (Germany)
For more information about the Gold Solution Provider Program, and to find
information on each Gold Member and more than 250 Second Life Solution
Providers, please visit the directory at: http://solutionsproviders.secondlife.com