It looks like PayPal will no longer be the only option for international Second Life payments. As business for Linden Lab continues to stretch across the globe and multiple languages it is becoming increasingly more important to be flexible when accepting payments from international customers using different currencies and under different financial regulations.

In that spirit Linden Lab is working on a partnership with Gisland Dragonfish. Perhaps better known for taking online gambling payments, Gisland Dragonfish is experienced in taking multiple currencies and enforcing tighter fraud prevention measures as well as retaining customers.

Chief Executive Officer of Linden Lab Mark Kingdon stated: “Second Life Residents log into the virtual world from nearly every country around the globe and participate in a virtual economy that will exceed USD500 million this year. Dragonfish has a strong track record in unlocking new markets through its unique and secure payment processing solutions, and as Second Life continues to grow internationally, we’re pleased to work with them to provide easy and secure payment options for our users outside the United States.”

We wrote before that Liden Lab was looking for a new PR firm. It looks like Edelman has been chosen as the new company to try and reinvigorate the public image and advertising of Second Life.

Time will tell if this can be a highly beneficial move for Linden Lab and Second Life.

Linden Lab has announced a new freebies policy for listing products on XStreet SL. There will now be a fee for listing freebies. Within the next 90 days the policy will become active. While freebies will not actually be removed completely, they seem to be highly discouraged.

Basically the Monthly Listing Fee will be L$99. But that is not all. Here is the full list of fees.

New XStreet SL Fees & Changes:

1. Monthly Listing Fee L$99

2. Minimum L$3 monthly commission on all items L$1 or over (not for freebies)

3. Monthly Listing Fee of L$10 for all items L$1 or over

4. Freebies no longer show up in searches or categories other than Freebies

Read the full release here and the faq

Phillip Rosedale, the founder of Second Life is hiring an Executive Assistant for his new P-Squared company. The job was posted on craigslist yesterday. It is a little bit unorthodox.

In order to apply you have to be a unique person capable of working in a different kind of workplace. And there is a test in order to apply. You must find a word written on the Linden Lab sign, take a screenshot of a meeting with a Linden Lab employee in Second Life, provide information on running a bar in San Fancisco, and create a facebook event for the interview.

Do you have what it takes?

We have written before about the Virtual King Tut exhibit. Rezzable is now sponsoring a photo contest of the virtual King Tut on the OpenSimulator Grid.

The top three winners get $100 USD each. There will be one winner for each category:

1. Avatars exploring

2. What in King Tut Virtual would you show to your friends?

3. What’s real in a virtual world?

The image must be high resolution and 2000 by 3000 pixels. The photos must be submitted by December 4, 2009 and there is no limit on entries.

Enter the Virtual King Tutankhamun exhibit.

3d King Tut Exhibit in Heritage Open Sim Video Tour:

Read the full rules here

AVESS which is the Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space will be launching to help the amputees in the United States Army. The project is a partnership with Virtual Ability Inc. Funding is provided by the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center. The project will use the Second Life Enterprise Platform.

President of Virtual Ability, Inc Alice Krueger said “For individuals with disabilities, virtual worlds are a powerful way to connect with others, to access peer support, and to participate in activities that might not otherwise be possible”.

It seems like we just finished Burning Life 2009 and Halloween in Second Life but already it is time for Winterfest.

This means snowball fights, snowman building contests, ice skating, and Christmas decorations. And of course the Winterfest Spotlight is taking submissions. The deadline for sellers of virtual items is November 11, 2009 at 12:00 pm PST.

What are your plans for a Second Life Christmas?

There is a huge benefit to virtual meetings and 3d training. But even I was surprised to learn that the secure Second Life Enterprise version costs an astonishing $55,000. Of course this does include the hardware (two 1RU rack-mount servers) but the price seemed a bit of a shock given it can be obtained at a much lower cost in Second Life or even in OpenSim.

The Second Life Enterprise version was tested by 14 companies along with the Second Life Work Marketplace which is an app store. The Enterprise version should be available for sale in March with beta testing continuing till then.

Here is a list of some of the features included:

Second Life Enterprise Features:

1. Two 1RU Rack-Mount Servers

2. Secure behind firewall

3. 3d modeling tools

4. 3d Browser client

5. 7 Virtual regions including conference centers, auditorium, sandbox areas, etc

6. Set of Business avatars

7. Import from main Second Life environment

8. Use real life names

9. Support up to 8 regions and 800 concurrent users

Read the press release here

Bettina Tizzy is shutting down the Not Possible in Real Life blog after almost 3 years (the Not Possible IRL blog was started on July 4, 2007). This blog covered Second Life and other 3d virtual worlds and focused mainly on art, fashion, architecuture and content in the virtual world.

Goodbye to the NPIRL blog and Bettina Tizzy. Good thing SecondLifeUpdate.com is here to stay.

Read her farewell post here.

Nokia and IBM are creating a virtual reality conference system in Second Life. The system uses cameras mounted on your head and incorporates actions and objects into Second Life. Charles Woodward from the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland is leading the project. Check out the below video demonstration of the Augmented Collaboration in Mixed Environments. The video is about two minutes and thirty seconds long.

Virtual Reality Conference System from IBM and Nokia:

Read more here.

We have written before about 3d Meez Avatars. This popular free service even made our list of the Top 10 ways to create avatar.

Meez is a social networking site that allows you to create 3d Meez avatars, play over 80 meez games online, chat, and more. Meez is free but offers premium services as well as virtual items which you can purchase using Coinz.

Meez also offers a browser based virtual world called MeezNation made up of personal Roomz (rooms) and public areas. This was launched in June of 2008.

The service was launched in March of 2006 by Donnerwood Media.

With 13 million users, 30 employees, and millions in monthly traffic, Meez reached profitability in April with increasing revenue since than.

Meez Chief Executive Officer John Cahill stated that Meez is developing a MySpace application and Facebook app: “We are working on a Facebook app as well, but every time we surveyed our audience, our audience was very much more MySpace-based than Facebook.”

Check out the below high definition gameplay video.

Meez HD Gameplay Video

In case you missed it, Burning Life 2009 started in Second Life on Saturday, October 17, 2009.

The first high definition below features some footage of the virtual art festival happening in Second Life right now.

Check it out.

SL Burning Life 2009 HD Video:

The below high definition video features footage from the Tungsten Burning Life exhibit. Teleport there now.

Tungsten HD Video from Second Life: Burning Life 2009:

Burning Life 2009: Cabaret of Flames HD Video:

PixleProphet Lane Burning Life 2009 HD Video:

We have written many times about Philip Rosedale the Creator of Second Life and Founder of Linden Lab. In 2008 Philip Rosedale stepped down as CEO of Linden Lab with Mark Kingdon replacing him and Rosedale became Chairman of the Board of Directors.

A year later Rosedale has announced he will no longer work at Linden Lab full time and will be limiting his Chairman activities. He will also be starting a new company. Details are confidential for the moment. Teleport to Philip Rosedale’s office in Second Life.

Video Tour of Rosedale P Squared Virtual Sim:

Podcast Discussing Philip Linden Leaving Second Life:

Read the blog post here.

We have written about Burning Life 2009 before.

The date is quickly approaching on Saturday, October 17, 2009. Below you can see a promotional video and a schedule of events.

Check it out below and do not miss this major event.

Burning Life 2009 Promo Trailer:

Virtual Burning Man Festival Schedule: BurningLife 2009 in Second Life:

1. Staffing & Volunteer Positions Open: September 1 – 10, 2009

2. Vendor Application Period: September 4 – 14, 2009

3. Vendor Setup: September 14 – 21, 2009

4. Volunteer Training: September, 14 – October 15, 2009

5. Rehearsal: October, 15 – 16, 2009

6. Virtual Burning Man Festival Opens: Noon SLT, October 17, 2009

7. Burning Man Lighting: Saturday, October 24, 2009

8. The Temple Burn: Sunday, October 25, 2009

9. Cleanup November: 1, 2009

Read more here

It is just a matter of time. Eventually the 3d maps in Google Street View and Google Maps will Combine with Google Building Maker to allow you to explore the virtual world similar to Second Life. That is why it is so surprising that Google Lively was shutdown. But Google will most likely continue to move forward eventually creating an experience like Second Life but allowing you to explore actual buildings that match the real world maps.

Just watch the below high definition video of Google Building Maker and tell me you do not see it coming too.

Google Building Maker is a 3d modeling tool allowing you to create virtual buildings for Google Earth. This integrates with Google Scene Caster and the Google 3d Warehouse Repository.

Google Earth 3d – Google Building Maker: First Steps to Explore the Virtual World:

In the below high definition video Dr. Leon James and REbecca Meeder discuss the virtual world of Second Life as well as 3d avatars. This video is about 5 minutes long and was created by the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The video is called: Avatar, The Virtual You.

A magazine article was also written at Malamai Ama Online.

Check it out below.

Video: University of Hawaii Dr. Leon James on Virtual Second Life Avatars:

Linden Lab is now hiring Second Life Destination Guides who are community experts. These residents will locate the best virtual locations in Second Life. Linden Lab has partnered with LiveWork to create a Destination Guide. Ongoing projects will be outsourced to teams. After signing in to LiveWork you can apply for a copywriter position.

You must have a Second Life account that is over six months old. Payments will be made with PayPal. The candidates will be contacted by mid October to be tested on English profeciancy.

You can sign up here or read more here.

Intel has been active in Second Life for some time. Intel has now created their own 3D Internet OpenSim Project based on OpenSimulator. Science Sim is being promoted and Intel is now a very real competitor to Linden Lab and Second Life.

In the below Sponsors of Tomorrow marketing campaign Sky has created the below Open Sim commercial. Check out the below video. It is about 4 minutes long.

Intel Open Sim Video:

In the below video we see a mixed reality machinima promo for a thriller book titled Virtually Dead. This is a Second Life mystery from Peter May. It is set in the virtual world of Second Life. The book will be out on hardcover and paper back on December 1, 2009.

In the book Crime-scene photographer Michael Kapinsky deals with the death of his wife by venturing into the virtual world of Second Life for some virtual group therapy. He finds that a financial scam and murders are linked in the virtual world and in the real world.

The video is about one and a half minutes long.

Virtually Dead Peter May Second Life Book

I am sure you remember the media storm that followed Second Life 2 years ago. The press releases and media coverage was incredible and whether or not they were responsible, the Linden Lab PR firm Lewis Global Public Relations took the credit. Fast forward 2 years and most mainstream media will not touch a story about Second Life unless it includes negative lawsuit information. Twitter and Facebook are all the rage. The media cycle continues and Linden Lab must not be happy with the lack of good press despite increased stability and growing profits.

The rumor is that Linden Lab is looking to make a change and switch PR firms. At this point a switch can not hurt things. If it can be timed with some major technological advances such as the ability to run Second Life in the browser instead of the client, full support for mobile phones, or the launch of a Second Life Apps Store, then all the better.

In the below video we see a discussion featuring the women of The Full Circle discussing avtars and virtual worlds. About 3 minutes into the 6 and a half minute tv show they start talking about virtual worlds and Second Life. They talk about some common uses of the virtual worlds as well as some of their concerns and impact on socializing and social media.

Of course the older ladies are against it and the younger are for it.

Check it out below.

Second Life Discussed on The Full Circle TV Program:

Orange Island, a long term project by Orange and a familiar face to Second Life residents has announced it will close down. The Orange Island virtual sim opened in 2007 in the virtual world of Second Life. Orange Island most recently hosted the Second Life live virtual music concert Rocking the Metaverse Tour.

The closing of Orange Island is scheduled for Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 11am.

Teleport There Now.

The Orange Island team will discuss the project and their experiences and will be publishing a report.

Check out the below video tour of Orange Island. The video is about 3 and a half minutes long.

Orange Island Video Tour & Remembrance:

Submit your entry to the Machinima Artist Guild by September 27, 2009 for your chance to win prizes in a L$250,000 contest. (The amount of money is currently up to L$305,000). There are 5 categories and 5 winners in the Machinima Artist Guild for the Machinima Award 2009. Pre-selection will take place on October 11 with inworld voting from October 12, 2009 until October 16, 2009. The awards ceremony will take place in Second Life on October 17, 2009.

You may only enter one film per person with an entry fee of L$2,500. First prize receives 50%, 2nd receives 30%, 3rd receives 20%.

Machinima Award 2009 Categories:

1. Art

2. Drama

3. Fun

4. Love

5. Newbie

Find out how to enter here

There is a L$25,000 Photo Contest going on right now. Submit your entries by September 28, 2009 and 1st and 2nd place get L$12,500 each. The photo contest is sponsored by the RMB City virtual sim in Second Life. This virtual sim opened on January 9, 2009 and re-launched on September 12, 2009. Photographers must take photos of the RMB virtual city created by Cao Fei that reflect culture or life in two categories. The categories are Natural Virtual and Synthetic Virtual. No post processing is allowed for the Natural Virtual category but is okay for the second one.

Submit your photos by Joining the Koinup RMB Photo Contest Group.

Take your photos at RMB City. Teleport there now.

Second Life has seen it’s share of stupid lawsuits. From Taser suing Linden Lab and Everyone Else in Second Life (which was dismissed) to a Lawsuit over virtual land in Second Life (this one was settled out of court).

Stupid lawsuits are being taken to an all time level as Kevin Alderman Strokerz Toyz/Eros LLC is trying to start a class action lawsuit against Linden Lab and Second Lifen over some copyright infringement and knockoffs of his SexGen sex bed. Shannon Grie of Nomine has joined over virtual clothing designs.

Guess What? You Made Millions of Dollars – Go After the Theifs Not the Company that Made You Rich!

This is so ridiculous. Second Life was a new marketplace that allowed these virtual businesses and others to make millions of dollars. And now instead of bothering to report or sue the actual theives they are suing the company that made their millions of dollars possible?

The University of Texas is launching a virtual system in Second Life across their 16 different campuses in order to promote virtual education, reduce costs of instruction, collaboration, and utilize developer tools. This was made possible by a recent grant.

The virutal education sims of University of Texas will occupy over fifty regions including 9 campuses and 6 science and medical research campuses. The University is looking for new ways to learn and wants to explore the cost effectiveness of virtual learning.

The Virtual Learning Community Initiative has been formed.

Read more here

We have written before about the many virtual 9/11 memorial sites in Second Life. Let us take a moment to remember and pray for the victims of the terrorists attacks of 9 – 11 eight years ago in 2001.

Below are two memorial videos created in Second Life as well as a list of locations where virtual memorial sites have been created.

Second Life 9/11 Memorial Video: Never Forget:

Second Life Memorial 9 11 Locations:

1. Memorial at WTC in NYC sim: streaming video Teleport there now

2. Memorial Blue Angels – Live music. Teleport there now

3. Poetry and music remembering 911 Teleport there now

4. 6pm – 9pm: Discussion and Talking Teleport there now

5. WTC memorial site Teleport there now

Moments of Silence 911 Memorial Video:

It seems that Copybot has some competition. No we are not talking about BuilderBot. We are talking about the Second Life CryoLife Browser which is demonstrated in the below video downloading prims, skins, shapes, and more with one click with full permissions. The video is about 1 and a half minute and the Cryolife Second Life Browser (which functions like copybot) is aparantly being sold for L$1,000 ($3.5 US). Please note that this is completely against SL Terms of Service and it should never be used. The only instructions on how to get it are to pm the author. Use of CryoLife will most likely get you banned and repeated attempts will get your computer hardware banned.

Copybot Has Some Competition: CryoLife Second Life Browser:

We wrote recently about Burning Life 2009. The dates were rescheduled from October 3-11 2009. Burning Life 2009 will be from October 17, 2009 until October 25, 2009.

Check out the below promo trailer for the Virtual Bruning Man Festival in Second Life. Also check out the schedule below.

Burning Life 2009 Promo Trailer:

Virtual Burning Man Festival Schedule: BurningLife 2009 in Second Life:

1. Staffing & Volunteer Positions Open: September 1 – 10, 2009

2. Vendor Application Period: September 4 – 14, 2009

3. Vendor Setup: September 14 – 21, 2009

4. Volunteer Training: September, 14 – October 15, 2009

5. Rehearsal: October, 15 – 16, 2009

6. Virtual Burning Man Festival Opens: Noon SLT, October 17, 2009

7. Burning Man Lighting: Saturday, October 24, 2009

8. The Temple Burn: Sunday, October 25, 2009

9. Cleanup November: 1, 2009

Read more here

We wrote before about the public beta of AvaLine which gives an extension to your Avatar in Second Life. The AvaLine: Dial an Avatar beta began in May and will now be launching on August 31, 2009 with a cost of L$1500 a month (about $5) or L$14,400 a year (about $48).

You can signup at http://secondlife.com/avaline. Free voicemail will be available for the rest of 2009. For a limted time the first month is free and the first 500 subscribers get an exclusive hula-dancing bear.

You can read more about it here