As part of its strategy to increase collaboration across the industry and academic sectors, Intel Labs announced it will release source code for its Distributed Scene Graph 3-D Internet technology. This code is part of an ongoing effort to augment the OpenSim open-source virtual world simulator and will enable developers to build virtual regions where people can work or play online with a cast of thousands, instead of being limited to less than a hundred today – a more than 20 times improvement. Virtual environments have applications from entertainment and education to social networking. Intel showed an example of how the technology could enable a massive multi-player “game” to train first responders for different disaster scenarios.

Wonder why those sculpties look distorted and blobby? Here is a simple fix! Bring up the 'Advanced' menu with Ctrl-Alt-D, or Opt-Ctrl-D on a Mac. A new tool bar item "Advanced" will appear at the top. Select the menu for 'debug settings' near the bottom. In the blank space, copy and paste the word: RenderVolumeLODFactor, and set the value to 4 to get all sculpts looking great.

STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, is an educational initiative dedicated to helping high school and college students prepare for the workforce and the post-secondary educational system. STEM education is designed to knock down barriers to learning by integrating the four distinct subjects into one for teaching and learning. The idea is to allow students to explore math and science in a more interactive, hands-on manner so they can develop critical thinking skills to solve problems.