Back when I was a wee newblet (the second time around), Secondcast was the Second Life podcast to listen to. Since that time, almost two years ago, they've recorded 63 total episodes, of which only about 13 of them were in the last nine months. One fifth of the cast, Lordfly Digeridoo, recently pronounced Secondcast dead, after months of inactivity.

While I can't speak for them, I can speak as someone who has been on the show four or five times, with the latest being an episode that never aired in July. I heard the tone of the program change before me. What was once a fun project ended up taking a backseat to their own personal projects. Walker Spaight wrote a book, Johnny Ming and Torrid Midnight went to work for the Electric Sheep Company, Lordfly Digeridoo for Millions of Us, among others, and Cristiano Midnight busy as ever with SL Universe.

Instead of focusing on the fact that it's gone, though, I'd rather relate a happy memory I have from the show. After having been on a couple of times, Johnny asked me to make an episode into a Machinima. It turned into a total disaster. The rest of the cast was really bored and did not hide that fact. They goofed off when I needed screenshots, then got cranky before they were to watch all the Machinima.

Read on for the rest of the story ...

Now, before you all start shouting at me, lemme 'splain what I mean. Two of the hallmarks of the Web 2.0 experience are Interconnectivity and Transparency. Interconnectivity in the sense that it's becoming increasingly possible to share information between online applications -- store photos on Flickr, share them with Tumblr, link to them with Pownce, etc.

Transparency is the ability to see, at a glance, what a connected user's life contains. You can see what music they listen to, read their opinions, know who they call friends. Think of the networking involved in MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Now, try to imagine SL with these concepts in place. I'd like to see which residents you and I have in common. I want to see your Snapzilla photos in a window in your profile. I'd love to stream my iTunes music directly into my avatar, not my land, for others to hear by simply subscribing to my stream. I need to be able to IM my friends from without SL. If people are going to keep touting SL as the 3D Internet, and LL isn't going to disabuse them of that notion, then these things need to be done. What will it take? What coding is required? Someone tell me I'm smoking hash just by thinking this is possible!

I had a bit of a surreal moment on my first day of visiting the Teen Grid. I was flying around when I spotted Kit Axon, a teen I recognized from her pictures on Snapzilla. She was gathered with a group of friends and they were all in a somber mood. Kit turned 18 that day, which should have been a celebration, but instead, meant that she would be torn away from all of her friends. She stayed logged on to TG for as long as she could, but knew it was time to let go after saying her tearful goodbyes. Once she logged off, there would be no going back.

Several hours later, I was messaged by Kit on the Main Grid. The area she'd first ended up in was not only Mature, but left her standing next to a naked statue. This was a bit of a shock for her, as transferring could be compared to having tea parties all of your life and ending up at a strip club. I tried my best to show her the wonders of the grid, from Baku to ETD. I think that she'll survive the transition just fine, but what about the others that arrived before her and will arrive after her? The Main Grid is a scary enough place for new adults.

Are you a former Teen Gridder? Leave a comment or IM me in-world about what your experience was like. In the future, I'd like to feature new transfers so that readers can get to know a little bit more about their new fellow residents. Please contact me if you're interested.

Here is a quick follow-up on the Michael Crook case. As part of his settlement with 10 Zen Monkeys Crook was required to make a public apology for his misuse of the DMCA ... on video! Some of you may recall that Crook was the one who filed a take-down order against Cristiano Midnight because his image appeared on Snapzilla. The case lacked any merit whatsoever, but because of the flawed nature of the Safe Harbor rules, Cris was forced to comply by his ISP without any due process.

Since Crook's settlement, his image has been restored on Snapzilla and we are treated with the following video of Crooks rather defiant apology.

Michael Crook is the quintessential attention-seeker, hosting sites that deny the holocaust, disown the troops, and publicly expose private photos and e-mails from respondents of his bogus sex ads on Craigslist. Sadly, the troll profession is, in a word, viable. We see this in the Second Life community often in the form of people with little or no real skill launching themselves to fame simply by bashing others and making outrageous remarks. On the other hand, maybe "viable profession" isn't as apt a description as "circus freak-show act." Sure, people are flocking to see what you have to say, but does that really make you important?

(Thanks to David Cassel for bringing this video to our attention!)

Finally, the answer to 'How do I make money in SL?' Cristiano Midnight, of SLUniverse.com and Secondcast fame is looking for an Advertising Sales Manager for SLUniverse, to sell ads on-site. From the Forum:

"The site has over 450,000 monthly visitors and a targetted [sic] audience of SL enthusiasts. The position is pure commission based upon ad sales - the more aggressive you are at selling and renewing ads, the more money you can make. Experience with SL is required, particularly knowledge of businesses within SL and also other SL related sites. The site does not accept non-SL related advertising. Experience preferred. If you are interested in the position, please contact me at cristiano@sluniverse.com."

I'm a fan of Cristiano's from the podcast, and of course Snapzilla is the Flickr of SL. I hope someone jumps on this quick!

To help celebrate Halloween in Second Life, Snapzilla is having its 1st Annual Halloween Costume Contest. By submitting a snapshot of your best Halloween costume, you will be eligible to win great prizes, including a Grand Prize of $10,000L and 6 months of advertising on the SLUniverse.com site (worth $30,000L). Full contest details including how to enter are available here.

I chatted with Snapzilla's Cristiano Midnight about the contest, and he had this to say: "I was actually inspired to do it by looking back over the images users had submitted as part of Second Style's Reader Style feature, and thought it would be a great idea for people to show off their costumes in the same way."

Personally, I have always loved Halloween and in some ways I feel like Second Life is Halloween all year around. So when SL actually celebrates Halloween, it's EXTRA fun! I'm looking forward to seeing what people come up with!

Second Life's beloved photo repository, Snapzilla, has hit 100,000 photos! To celebrate, Snapzilla creator Cristiano Midnight has created two handsomely bound compendiums featuring all those wonderful moments in Second Life's recent history. The two books are 100 pages and 118 pages respectively and the images appear in chronological order.

If you would like to decorate your coffee table with nostalgia, you can find these items on sale at ANOmations in Mavericks, and at the SLUniverse Center in Sistiana (both of which can be found in Search.)

Podcasting is the new Black. There is a metric tonne of podcasts out there, dealing with the gamut of topics from Aliens to Zebras. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before Second Life had its own. Developed and hosted by Johnny Ming, Secondcast is a wonderful example of the breed. Commenting on all issues relating to SL, Johnny heads up this podcast alongside usual suspects Walker Spaight of 3pointD.com, Torrid Midnight of TorridWear and Midnight City, Lordfly Digeridoo of Digeridoo Designs, and Cristiano Midnight of Snapzilla and SL Universe.

Covering a wide range of subjects, these outspoken members of the SL community bring a show filled with insight, sarcasm, and a heaping helping of hilarity (Damn my predilection for alliteration!). Frequently featuring a guest speaker (past episodes have brought Elex Dusk, Mistress Midnight, and our own Aimee Weber, as well as RL guests such as Philip Linden and Randy Moss of the American Cancer Society), the show continues to educate and entertain. It's well worth your time to dive into the archives, and hear how the show has developed over time to grow more accomplished and professional. Now, if they'd only consent to interview werewolves...

Cristiano Midnight reports on the resident-run website forum that live panels have been added to Snapzilla.  This enables website owners to place panels of photographs that will update from the Snapzilla site, either your own photographs or a random selection of the newest from the site.

This could be a very good way of publicising your sim or newest builds ... or giving everyone a virtual tour of your latest discoveries in SL.