There is No Banking Crisis

No, the Linden ban on fake "banks" that offer high interest rates and other such events in-world has nothing to do with a banking crisis. The problems and panic at JT Financials either.

Why? Because, as I have written in this newspaper last year, no banking has taken place with these institutions. There was nothing but an old-fashioned scam to take advantage of people's innocence in SL.

For some reason that I never understood, there were people who deposited money and who thought that their "banks" were legitimate. Did they fall for the promise of "high risk, high return"?. Did they fail to realize that 0.15% interest daily means almost 55% annually, a kind of unsustainable interest rate? No matter what, this kind of investor behavior shows that rules have always been and always will be necessary in finance. It is not because finance is bad, or that even finance in SL is bad. It is because a skilled minority will always look for ways to pig out with people's savings. It is a human condition.

As for what this could mean for Second Life and Linden Lab, this is a first step forward in terms of financial credibility. But for heaven's sake, why did they wait so long to act? How could the Lindens fail to step in earlier when some of their honest citizens were exposed to highway robbery?

This question remain unanswered.

I hope they will set up an official governing body called the SL Exchange Commission.

The invention of Television Time Travel (3T).

Now, since all the network problems are fading away in memory and I accepted the assignment for being a freelance reporter for the SL-newspaper, I believe it's time to tell you my real ambition.

- Read on in the Extra Extra section

Can "big business" overtake Second Life?

I recently got in a discussion with a truly business-savvy guy who has come up with one of the best ideas for businesses in SL. (The discussion was private, therefore I am not mentionning the name.) We talked about the future of SL and explored the danger that "big business", meaning the corporate world, could "take over" this environment as they did with the Web when they got involved.

We had the impression that it is not likely. Of course, companies are looking at Second Life and its potential for growth. They definitely want to find out whether they can use it, start some activities in it and make money. According to the businessman I was talking to, it could take companies a year or two to actually understand what can be done here.

On the other hand, he could not deny that I had a point when I told him how limited the potential was for a company. Imagine paying staffers with real-life salaries to set up a sim, build places and design products that they cannot sell at real-life prices.

If you pay up to L$2000 for a skin from an in-world creator, you are paying about 8 US dollars. Which is considered expensive around here. Will you pay 50 US dollars (more than L$13000!) because the cost or production forces a real-life company to charge higher prices? Will it be infinitely detailed to justify dumping the L$2000 skin you already wear?

What kind of model could businesses adopt? They established their Web presence by investing heavily, and advertising followed since this is the kind of ad-friendly media. Second Life is not.

So there is a big hole in the argument that favors expansion of "big business" around here. How far can they go with a model that doesn't provide them with much revenue potential unless prices rise extremely high?

Media On A Parcel / Prim

Finally we get HTML displayed on a prim ?

More info in our design section.

Reminder !

Only 6 more days to go before the newspapervendor-contest ends. Make sure you have submitted your vendor to jamest juno before the end of the month september. All submissions will be rezzed in the kiosk on our island and the winner will be announced only few days after the closing of the contest.

On the picture below you can already see a part of the submitted venders thus far.

Advertisement : secondpages.com

Second Pages is a big search engine, filled with about 600 companies and their locations in SL. RL companies are marked with "REAL". Search by category or free-text. Add new entries and rate your favourite location with so called "FLIPS"!

The website www.secondpages.com is a collection of all the secondlife places you will ever need.

The database to be compared with the yellowpages in RL. The featured locations and companies are all on separated pages with images, maps and links. A must for everyone who wants only the best out of secondlife ! Make sure you have a look !

(btw sl-newspaper.com is also featured in their listings)

Special feature is the HUD you can use ingame. With their HUD you can search everything in SL directly. Try it!

New feature is the Activity Scanner. The Activity Scanner shows you how many active avatars are at a Second Life location right now. The most active locations are listed at "Now Active", so you can see where the party is going on. Add your entry to SecondPages, fetch their Activity Scanner and get more traffic to your second life location! The Activity Scanner transfers only the number of active Avatars, not their names!