Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: NO CABIDE and Suna Design

In just two stops, you can pick up no less than 22 free outfits! Now that’s what I call really efficient freebie shopping 😉

The first stop is the NO CABIDE affiliate store on the Boulevard Illuminati. Just click on the box on the front counter to receive 12 free outfits! There’s no need to join any group.

The second stop is the Suna Design store, where you can pick up one gift at the front entrance, and another nine gift boxes behind the staircase (you will have to join the Suna Design group for free in order to get these free group gifts):

So, let’s take a look at some of the items in our haul. First up is the beautiful white-and-gold Ariel full-length ballgown from Suna Design, which features an attractive golden butterfly cut-out design on the back:

(The jewelry used here is the Arthurina gold pearl earrings and necklace, one of last year’s Advent calendar gifts from JUMO.)

Another Suna Design gift is the Nora dress, which includes the pumps:

A third gift from Suna Design is this daring Diana outfit, which includes the open jacket, jeans and boots. (Personally, I would probably wear this with an applier-based top of some kind under the jacket.)

Here is the Happy outfit by NO CABIDE, which includes the shoes. The outfit comes with a HUD to individually change the colour of the top, miniskirt and shoes to red, black, or white:

The graffiti-adorned Izzie Outfit by NO CABIDE includes the funky high-heeled sneakers:

And finally, we have the No CABIDE Jayne dress, which comes with a HUD to select 10 different colours and patterns for the dress, and 10 different colours for the straps:

This avatar is also wearing:

  • Mesh Head, Makeup and Mesh Body: Juliet by Altamura (former Valentine’s Day group gift; Omega compatible with the separate Omega system kit)
  • Omega Skin Applier: Flower by 7 Deadly S[k]ins (a box of Omega skin appliers was the June group gift)
  • Hair: Aria hair by D!va (free group gift; group is free to join)

Happy shopping!

Art Plunge: Step Inside Famous Works of Art in Virtual Reality

I just love VR apps about fine art and artists! Art Plunge is a short but satisfying program for the Oculus Go, Gear VR, and Google Daydream, which is now also available for the Oculus Rift VR headset.

Art Plunge allows you to actually step into three-dimensional versions of five famous paintings in the history of Western art:

You can’t move around while you are inside the painting, but you can tilt your head from side to side, look around you, etc. In the Mona Lisa, Mona’s gaze follows you are you move your head from side to side, a subtle but realistic touch! It almost feels as if Mona is patiently waiting for you to speak to her. Very effective.

The app is only CAD$2.29, so what have you got to lose? Give it a try! I loved it, and I only wish I could step into more paintings. Perhaps the developers will issue an expansion pack sometime in the future. I would definitely pay more to be able to step into some more famous paintings!

Sansar Store Spotlight: Livello Alto

Livello Alto (which means “High Level”) is a real-life Italian fashion brand (website) which is holding a concert to celebrate the opening of a virtual store in Sansar today, with Katia Portugal and Mimi Carpenter (both of whom are already well known from Second Life) performing on stage before an appreciative audience. Thank you to Alfy for organizing this concert! He always brings such talented musical artists to Sansar.

Here’s a couple of pictures of Mimi Carpenter playing her guitar and singing:

The new virtual store looks great, too! It’s still early days so there isn’t anything for sale just yet. Here’s a link to their world, so you can check it out for yourself.

For a limited time only, Livello Alto is giving away two different men’s T-shirts and a men’s necklace for free:

You can also buy the white skull T-shirt and the necklace for free at in-world kiosks near the stage. Here’s a link to the Livello Alto brand on the Sansar Store. Be sure to pick up the freebies before they’re gone!

XRSpace to Launch a Social VR Product—But It’s a Secret

XRSpace Logo (from their website)

There’s a very interesting article over on the CNET website by Shara Tibken about a company called XRSpace, titled My peek inside a secret VR headset shows a more social virtual reality. The writer got a chance to experience a new VR headset at a trade show, but unfortunately, she can’t tell you anything about it:

I pick up a virtual reality headset and place it over my eyes. Before I can even blink, it transports me to a world far away from the bustling IFA electronics show. I know that I’m in the bowels of the dismal Berlin Messe convention center, but my brain thinks I’ve managed to escape. I wish I could tell you more about it. I wish I could describe the experience, what the hardware felt like, what the software showed me, what I felt. But I can’t. 

That’s because XRSpace, the new mixed reality company from Peter Chou, co-founder and former CEO of HTC, won’t let me tell you. Chou, in partnership with German wireless giant Deutsche Telekom, plans to launch something in 2020, but the companies don’t want me to detail it until then. At IFA, I became one of the first people on the planet to use the technology, not that I can say much about it. 

All I can tell you is that I wasn’t alone in that virtual world. 

It sounds as if XRSpace wants to get in on both the hardware and software aspects of social VR, working with partners like Deutsche Telekom (no small partner!) and seeking to enable social VR experience developers:

The primary aim for XRSpace is creating a place for people to virtually interact and communicate with each other. The company isn’t making its virtual social environment on its own but instead is working with developers to get them to build experiences for users.

“We want to make social very good,” Chou said. “We want to develop really good digital avatars that can be everywhere, not just one little social app [where] you can only go chat.”  

Shara goes on to talk about various social VR projets to date, including Facebook Spaces, Rec Room, and High Fidelity. It’s a good article and I would encourage you to go over and read it in full.