show #146: social vr – facebook style

facebook has done it – with the help of many former lindens including jim purbick aka babbage linden to name just one random genius visionary sl resident – facebook aka the 500 pound gorilla has entered the social vr space. we discuss the implications with a panel of longtime second life enthusiasts: reading stuff and…

show #124: ocd at oc3

are people getting tired of oculus? no fear: half of the show deals with second life and panoramic photos and videos. enjoy: and now for the visual stuff:   our guest deeprifter aka chris madsen from morph3d I used to pride myself on playing every VR experience. Those days are long gone and that's awesome….

show #122: sl13b [and then we on vacation!]

[****news flash: jo and drax are on podcast vacation until 10/15 > please enjoy the archives & thx for your support***]   our last show before the summer break = we were LIVE celebrating 13 years of our wonderful, gigantic, mad, creative, frustrating, beautiful world… great guests, great exhibits, still up for you to check…

show #112: the state of vr = ready for primetime? [pt2]

…and we continue taking stock of the vr “movement” as it stands today, of course from a sl vantage point. and that means: old grumpy pioneers complaining about new kids on the block. or not. judge for yourself: we discussed a lot of things and were generally all over the place [what’s new?] so here…

show #109: wainbrave bernal

a show about how vr was hyped in 1989, a show with a sl pioneer and his idea on learning in virtual environments, a show that is great and pretty much an hour long. take a listen [and sorry for the mediocre audio – was a noisy recording venue]: reading material below: our guest wainbrave…

show #107: your memory on open sim

a show about open sim = yes we can & it is scientific to the max! but we most certainly address recent revelations about project sansar and the bans of content creators in sl. enjoy: reading stuffs below: syrian refugees are greeted by furries [no: not luskwood = canadia ;)] our sponsor dutchie [just came…

show #106: the full monty drax

we are going into serious over-time today with an edited version of drax appearance on “the real virtual show” hosted by malia probst, talking sl and how sl is important for the advent of consumer vr… …and we address the recent bans of prominent content creators in sl, with more in depth discussion to follow…

show #105: gamer motivation demystified

fascinating talk this week with nick yee, psychologist and researcher  of why gamers [and slers] do what they do! you want to know why you are in sl? jump to the main interview at 26min to get the answer or get the whole awesome hour from the top: and below for the people who like…

show #100: one-hun-dred

we made it to show 100 just before the end of 2015 = special live to tape program with the folks from firestorm, talking about the gateway testing and their orientation experience …of course a couple of special linden guests talking about the future of the sl avatar. fun fun fun at year’s end, enjoy!…

show #97: lab chat response

a brief show in response to the emotionally charged comment threads which started after the first lab chat broadcast…who would have expected that a few were of the nasty kind? enjoy out post mortem analysis: and just handful of links this week as we are out the door already: ciaran laval is writing on the…

show #92: trilobite

oh the breadth of topics = a fairly new hire at linden lab – senior product manager for project sansar – talks sl, vr and women in tech: read on dear listener, readeth on: you know it by now: the login page is up  women in vr met at linden lab [in the basement usually…

show #90: voices of vr

the ultimate show, where a former radio person – now podcaster drax – interviews a former documentarian – now podcaster kent – about podcasting. and all that happening on a podcast sans goggles although the frame around it is vr and vws. enjoy & be inspired by the fabulous kent bye who seems to have…

show #86: curious george

back in the glorious days of ’08 the scilands archipelago of sims was home to MICA which stands for meta-institute for computational astrophysics. among many thriving exhibits run by a number of other institutions, MICA held public lectures and was focused on communicating with the enthusiastic science “amateur”. our guest today is curious george aka caltech professor…

show #85: vrla redux

the vrla summer expo was big and full of gear that thousands of nerds salivated over on august 29th in the los angeles convention center. does the fact that the huffington post and other media reported on the event mean vr has arrived in the mainstream or do we need palmer luckey on the cover of…

show #81: sansar anxiety

season 3 of the podcast is here and the next generation virtual world linden lab is building [working title “project sansar”] may or may not cause anxiety in second life users. our panel discusses emotions and speculates about the future of the metaverse. enjoy: sponsor spotlight: cube republic makes fabulous thingies the [infamous?] qz article that…

show #70: all about vw therapy [rerun]

our guest [licensed marriage and family therapist]tammy fletcher aka avalon birke in sl dispels some myths about providing counseling services in virtual worlds. fascinating: we hope you enjoyed the show, more on tammy’s rl operation is here. while drax files radio is on summer mode – make sure to read the relevant blogs linked here to…

show #66: fantasy faire

…and we taped live from the massive operation called fantasy faire 2015 which benefits relay for life and runs through this weekend. go there after you listened to the show [which also features bill glover from bright canopy]: and a few things to read up on are below as per usual: – bright canopy is…

show #63: sl go = sl gone…

the amazing cloud streaming tech developed by onlive is now part of the sony family and today for the hour we have former senior product manager at onlive, dennis harper [also known as game geezer in sl], on what happened and what might happen: [aside: we debated to name this show “it’s dead jim” because we…

show #62: roleplay all the way

[***breaking: sl go is no more since sony purchased onlive on april 2nd & discontinued all streaming services the company provided. we address it in the show at the end & have former onlive insiders give more context next week***] harry potter inspired role-play: if that is your cup of tea, the ONLY place to…

show #60: oz + ebbe = full steam ahead

today on the show = linden ceo ebbe altberg reveals next gen vw secrets & director of sl engineering oz linden [at 35:25] confidently addresses educators at vwbpe. exciting times: detailed reading linkage below as per usual: – daniel voyager summarizes the main points of ebbe linden’s keynote – inara pey transcribes ebbe’s speech [how…

show #58: beau hindman has seen it all!

game journalist beau hindman has been in second life since 2004 and knows what he is talking about. that is why we have him, finally! also = gdc is full of head mounted displays and free render engines. good or bad or neutral news for sl/ll? you be the judge: read, watch, listen: – our…

show #52: sl looks good today!

a fab reaffirming show with some second life enthusiasts from madpea games. that is it! enjoy: and now read on to get the gist: – our new sponsor maven homes – get a leap motion by telling us a bad marketing idea from sl [and read all about dragonfly on roadtovr] – news from daily…

show #50: dmca

our 50th anniversary has tracy redangel and kitty o’toole discussing legal matters with us & fatima mekkaoui tells us her stories imvu. fascinating: now on to more reading if you will: – firestorm is on sl go and sl go can enter multiple grids – congrats to rob [who are you though?] for winning a leap…

show #45: the good old days

a show full of oldbies today, talking about the rich media landscape in second life ca 2005-2009, led by – in the print section – the intrepid publishing and reporting team at the metaverse messenger. enjoy & get some perspective, my dear n00bs: and now please read on for more: – a sl griefing video gets…

show #44: what about belgium?

oh what a special guest today =  jaimy hancroft – super talented designer and business woman in sl, where she actively shapes the world that we love so much. and she does that all the while living in tiny tiny rl belgium! enjoy: – an fb group for sl folks who don’t go into sl –…

show #40: chris, the money guy!

christopher colosi was once the ben bernanke of the virtual universe second life, setting policy, dealing with land barons and guiding a team that handles a 500 million us$ annual economy. now he is back with gloebit, a digital currency platform, ready to facilitate any [virtual] goods and services transaction. a fascinating conversation about “real” vs….

show #39: argyle alligator

we have a new addition to the second life community: it is a tiny alligator from florida who engages in guerilla [or is it gorilla?] reporting on the ground all across the grid and he seems to capture the core of sl culture with his respectful questioning. or does he? we examine the man. plus a…

show #38: nothing but oculus!

sorry folks but we will talk second life and dk2 today & then we move on to oculus connect and crescent bay. that is it. oh wait: no, we also talk how to tackle sl messaging in the age of vr resurgence and teleporting in 4d. intrigued? well then, have a listen: good show? we…

show #35: jacki morie

season 2 has landed and we get an overview of 25 years of vr from none other than dr. jacki morie – she sends avatars to outer space, she is a maker of virtual humans and inventor of a scent collar to enhance your virtual life. enjoy [interview starts at around 20:30 if you want to…

show #33: tony parisi…again [because he is that good!] [rerun]

just as i finished putting the show together, guest tony parisi informed us that he has joined philip rosedale’s high fidelity virtual world venture as advisor. indeed perfect timing to replay the interview with tony from episode 26! enjoy & let us know in comments =  who should control the metaverse of the future? philip, tony…

show #32: what about opensim? [rerun with maria korolov]

another rerun folks, a good one though: maria korolov from the hypergrid business blog talking about how open virtual worlds will fit in with the metaverse of the future. enjoy: some linkage below: – maria’s open letter to the lindens – raph koster at wikimania on online communities: – visit frau jo’s new hotel adlon…

show #29: terms, terms, terms AGAIN [rerun]

linden lab has updated its controversial terms of service while we are on summer break and therefore we are running again an extensive interview with artist and activist richard a. goldberg. enjoy and join the discussion: for the most current news on the tos issue [until we are back with weekly live-to-tape shows] please check…

show #25: sl11b

what a week [again]: ll announces a new virtual world is in the works while second life turns 11. the situation seems akin to a young family welcoming another child into the world while the first born is not sure if he/she should be thrilled or depressed upon this news. anyhow – jo and i were…

show #18: lindens are people too! [part 3]

you wanted more linden interviews and what are we going to present this week? yes exactly: a conversation with a linden who enjoys quality tv shows like “macgyver”! plus race-car driving sl pioneers…. ….and of course karl krantz who is tirelessly educating vr youngsters about a little known [albeit vast] digital universe: more reading material to deepen…

show #17: lindens are people too! [part 2]

yes there was more raw interviews with linden lab engineers and we are airing it all. plus: vr news as usual and the beauty of fantasy faire explained. listen up [preferably on stitcher]: …and read/watch some more for context: – leap motion giveaway: watch the new TDF episode, find the answer and let us know…

show #15: reconnecting with education

i am sure we can all agree that education in virtual worlds – the immersion into science, art and/or history – is one of the most important “unique affordances” of second life [and other such platforms]. only natural then for the new regime at linden lab to emphasize their eagerness to embrace the diverse community…

show #12: the proprietary metaverse?

yes we most certainly are discussing the facebook/oculus deal however maria korolov from hypergrid business is also in the house. she gives us a fab history lesson [AND advice for the future ] in regards to open source worlds and  leadership in digital platforms [is linden lab listening?]. this big hour is filled to the brink,…