Lego of Choice: Digital Designer

http://ldd.lego.com/

With the free Digital Designer software you can build absolutely anything with virtual LEGO bricks right on your computer. Then you can buy the real bricks to build your creation and you can share it with thousand of other LEGO fans.

One of the problems I used to face every time I wanted to make my own lego models was that I never had enough bricks of the kind I was needing. It must be one of those “Murphy´s laws” that the brick you just need is the one you lack!

Until now, there was a partial solution to this issue: the L-cad program allowed you to design your model in the computer so that you could afterwards order the pieces you wanted. This walkaround was (is) very useful, but if there were an easier option to custom design-custom order models which was backed by lego, that would be amazing, and if it were user friendly… whoa!

Well, so a big WHOA! to lego, since they have done exactly that. Besides giving the users an easy way to design models on the computer, they have made it just as easy to order those models as custom sets. Again, WHOA!! 😀

Announcement

I am glad to announce that from tomorrow on this site will feature translations of articles written by author Carlos Bellido. Here is a little about him:

Carlos holds a MS in Computer Science by the University of Zaragoza. He writes articles related to Computer Game Development in his own blog, The long Tomorrow (in spanish). Most of these articles are of a technical nature; however, from time to time he also writes on his reflections about gaming and games. We will periodically feature translations of these articles.

Look forward to Carlos’ articles, starting with “Girls and video games”.

Virtual Stapler

http://www.virtualstapler.com/

Ka-chunk! click! Ka-chunk!
No sound satisfies me more
Than staplers at work!

“Vanitas vanitatis, et omnia staplers”: VirtualStapler is a little lovely site which covers everything you ever wanted to know about staplers, including some aspects that you probably never thought of. The site´s main attraction is the interactive piece featured on the front page, which brings attention to an underrated yet often indispensable action, and will relieve many compulsive staplers out of the office. Several virtual staplers are included for a staple-of-the-art recreation, and many others are covered in a comprehensible gallery. Even more, you can download several stapler-themed computer desktops, and I highly recommend reading the Stapler poetry, from where I took the haiku above.

All in all, a must- visit! 😀

ps. virtual stapler + virtual character = http://www.littlefreak.com/

Announcement

First of all, I would like to wish you all the best in these days and the following year 2006. 🙂

I am also pleased to announce that from tomorrow on this site will feature articles written by author Ángel Nogueira. Here is a little about him:

Ángel is an entrepreneur who works in his own consulting company, edan xestión. He has written many short stories and articles for magazines and the radio, and is a talented songwriter too.

Look forward to Angel’s articles, starting with “Christmas: a lovely bad dream”.

Blogging with WordPress: my favourite plugins

(Last Updated 18.09.06) A few days ago I talked to a friend about the convenience of changing his site into a blog format. He liked the idea, and since I had told him about the benefits of using plugins to add functionality and customize the blog, he later wrote me an email asking me if I could save him some time by telling him which plugins I use. Here is the list (I’m using WordPress v1.5): Continue reading Blogging with WordPress: my favourite plugins

Adding an image to Black-Letterhead theme

Last Updated 23.02.06

Black-Letterhead is the name of the theme that I’m using as the layout for this site. It took me quite some time to figure out how to add the image for the header, and when searching for information I couldn’t find an “easy” answer; that’s why I decided to show here the code that I changed in case it may be of help to others. (disclaimer: I’m anything but an expert in this field, so I don’t know if it will work for you -but it has worked for me). Continue reading Adding an image to Black-Letterhead theme

It´s raining tags, alleluia!

Last Updated 28.02.06

I have been interested in tag clouds since I first knew of them, as they are a very effective way to highlight relevant elements among a cluster. As you may see in the cloud I added to the Archives section, there´s a number of words which correspond to topics I have written about. At a glance, you should be able to know which ones are more relevant, the more frequent ones the bigger and brighter, and clicking on any of the words will get to the list of related articles. Continue reading It´s raining tags, alleluia!

Small, but playful

www.guimp.com

World´s smallest website

This statement poses the weblogsophical question about the background as part of a website or not, since the visual effect is attained by the solid colour which fills most of the space. Is then the container a mere shell or does it merge with the object inside? Whatever the answer, this site is a successful study in minimal usable design, with everything you would expect from a full- grownth site, and more. You can even practice piano! (it comes with a metronome too).

Related Article: As big as it gets