There’s a very interesting Interview on BoingBoing with Bjarne P. Tveskov, Classic LEGO Space Designer.
I grew up on some of these sets! I started collecting Space LEGO sets in the late 1970′s when I was a little kid, and spent most of my spare time building and rebuilding classic LEGO spaceships and bases.
I saw this picture on the MICROSOFT: KEEP YOUR EVlL GRUBBY HANDS OFF OF OUR FLICKR group on Flickr.
With Microsoft’s recent announcement of an offer to buy Yahoo! many Flickr users, including myself, are terrified about what will happen to our beloved photo-sharing site.
So I’ve started thinking about where I’ll host my photos in the future. I’m loathe to return to Brickshelf, with its decades-outdated user interface and absentee owner. Perhaps Picasa (Google) can fill the bill? Or maybe photobucket? Anyone have other suggestions?
My Track Layout Geometry page has been translated into Italian!
A few days ago I received an email from Alex Cordero of ITLUG (Italian LEGO® Users Group) saying that they were interested in translating the page into Italian. He just contacted me to let me know that it was done; you can view the finished page on the ITLUG Web site (EDIT 9/15/2008: updated URL).
This is the first time something I’ve written has been translated into another language, and I’m very flattered and pleased that it was deemed worthy for this treatment.
I don’t speak a word of Italian – though I do have some Spanish – so I don’t know how accurate the translation is, but I hope that it proves useful to Italian-speaking LEGO fans everywhere!
Yoshihito Isogawa, author of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT The Orange Book, has just released a new PDF book jam-packed with pictures illustrating a lot of Technic tips and techniques. It’s called LEGO Technic Tora no Maki and although the author and title are Japanese, the book itself consists almost entirely of pictures, so there’s no language or literacy barrier to use. The book is a free PDF download, but the author requests a $10 payment if you use it. I think that’s entirely reasonable, especially with the dollar as weak as it is these days!
I haven’t looked through the whole thing yet, but I glanced at a few pages and think it will be very instructive. I’ve always been pretty weak on Technic skills, so I think I can benefit a lot from this. Check it out!
Well, LEGO has finally made up their mind on the future of trains. Steve Witt has announced that the 9V system will be discontinued, to be replaced by IR-controlled, battery-powered trains.
The only silver lining is that the new system will be based on the new Technic Power Functions system rather than the much-maligned IR trains currently being sold. LEGO is working with AFOLs to design the new system, and I am really hoping they find a way to come up with a battery-powered system that has enough power for the needs of LEGO train clubs.
In the meantime, stocking up on 9V train parts might not be a bad idea….
Brickshelf.com owner Kevin Loch finally posted about the whole shutdown controversy. It seems that he has had enough people offering to donate that the shutdown of Brickshelf is, for now, not iminent. Still, I think it’s pretty clear that moving one’s pictures to a more stable place like Flickr or MOCpages (which has introduced a new feature of hosting images, in response to the Brickshelf shutdown), is a good idea.
For my part, I have all my Brickshelf photos on Flickr already, but I won’t be posting anything new on Brickshelf from now on. I might start using MOCpages though, as a lot of people tend to browse there for models apparently. What do you think is the right way to proceed? Post a comment and share your thoughts.
Technorati Tags: lego, brickshelf, image hosting
Brickshelf has returned, but with a prominent notice saying “Notice: Brickshelf will be shutting down on 2007/07/31. Please save your files to your computer.”
I copied all my LEGO photos to Flickr some time ago, plus I kept copies on my hard drive, so I think I’m OK for now – though I will take this opportunity to find out. I suggest everyone take advantage of this opportunity to make backups if you need to!
Technorati Tags: lego, image hosting, brickshelf
For many years, brickshelf.com has been the primary image hosting site for the LEGO community. But sadly, if you visit it today, you get nothing but this cryptic message:
“Brickshelf has discontinued operation. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Now I’m sure it must have been a very expensive site to operate, but its sudden disappearance has been a really traumatic experience for many LEGO fans.
Read more about it on LUGNET.
Technorati Tags: lego, image hosting, brickshelf
Every once in a while someone comes up with a new way to modify LEGO parts to do something unexpected.
The latest example is a USB flash drive by an Australian company called Zip Zip. They are taking 2×2 LEGO bricks and installing USB connectors and flash memory. For about US$50 you can have 1GB of LEGO for your very own. As much as I generally dislike modifying LEGO, I have to make an exception here, this is just too darn cool. I gotta have one! Don’t you?
Courtesy of Engaget, brought to my attention by my brother-in-law Jim.
