I had to laugh awhile ago when a friend wondered if my homepage was set to HappyNews.com. I hadn't even heard of the 'site before, but it may have only been a matter of time. I'm going to bed shortly 'cuz I gotta get up for work (in the same place I play), and I'm looking forward to a great week.

Second Life 1.9 is planned to be released this Wednesday. You can play with the Preview. I know how hard many Lindens have been working on it, and I hope it'll prove rewarding for many more Resis. I can't wait to see it roll onto the Main Grid because of longtime annoying problems which have been fixed!

Among them—and I take personal note of these things—are the following:

  • FORCE SUN now under the WORLD menu instead of being hidden in DEBUG. It's so commonly-used that easy access is a must! Already I've heard cheery reactions, and further suggestions to make the daylight persist across sessions like an "Always On", and a way to reset the sun position to what it actually is without having to relog! We'll see.
  • You will now see what attachments are worn to which point, both in inventory and the EDIT menu. And, beyond showing names, if you try to attach something to a slot that's already taken—for example, you're wearing a watermelon on your head and want to attach a zebra—you will now get a well-meaning warning message!
  • Teleports should be overall FASTER and BETTER. Even when I attached a whole slop of schtuff onto me in Preview, TPs were way smoother—less time wasted on that scary black screen. Someday I hope we'll have a crossfade or other kewl transitory effect! Also, if you return lots of objects, Pending Downloads and Uploads should no longer block your TPs! I'm optimistic we'll be saying goodbye to the days where this was said: "HELP I'M STUCK ON AN ISLAND AND CAN'T TP OUT!"
  • Planar textures, which was requested for a long time I know before some peeps went quiet, thinking it would never happen. But the time has come! Do it for yourself and see what it does.
  • Estate managers and many more estate tools, strong steps towards better land controls. A big plus for busy estate owners who want to delegate power to take care of their islands… and in some cases, continents. BTW, WORLD menu —> REGION/ESTATE now has all these little — buttons explaining the features. They may seem a little unsightly, but I'd prefer having them than no help at all.
  • One-click functionality! This has actually been taken out of the initial 1.9 release but it will be back after it's refined. Ever wonder why sitting in Second Life was such a pain in the ass (hehe)? Wonder no more, because with this, you just use a popup menu, and you can sit on the object with a SINGLE click without having to face away from it, right-click, in some cases awkwardly manuever your cam, etc. EASY PEASY!
  • Little tweaks that make a big difference. I had a dream that "Show Me" on the map was changed to "Show My Location", and indeed it has been! ('Cuz the former made no sense… show me what?) Also, the cold "Clear" in inventory is now a more accurate "Show All". In case this boondoggles you, worry not—there was a time when "Abandon Land" was a more ambiguous "Release Land", and accidental land releases were a source of grief for many involved. Now, it's like "HAW HAW, REMEMBER THAT?"
  • Speaking of the map, the Zoom slider no longer mashes into the buttons when you resize the window.
  • FollowCam follies! The FollowCam allows the camera to be automatically scripted, allowing for better moviemaking, vehicular mayhem, and a plethora of features I'm sure I haven't even considered yet—but I'll love them when they're out! Some Resis wondered where the heck did this come from, but really, it's been bubbling under the surface all along and will lead to future progressions. I remember when I was new, I was told that one of the reasons vehicles sucked (aside from bad sim crossings) was that the camera was so stiff and jerky. (I have my Camera Springiness set to 10, BTW.) A lot of current content may stand in good graces to be updated with FollowCams.
  • Aaaand… check this out:

YES THAT'S RIGHT! After what seems like eons, arrows will not be so badly obscured while building! Previously, the red, green, and blue axis arrows were difficult to see against, well, red, green, and blue objects. Being a watermelon-lover, this proved problematic for me. They'll now get darker dynamically, depending on what they're overlayed on. One problem I did notice with this, tho—is against a black prim, they'll be harder to see. I will bug report this, but have technofaith it will get even better…