So a little background on this feature... Joe Meno and I were talking the other night about the idea of 'shared' calendars. I was explaining to him about my 'Central Florida Tech' calendar, that I had invited a person or two to add events to it & before I knew it, there were 10-15 people that were adding events to the calendar -- it grew beyond my expectations & took on a new life of it's own.
Joe was talking that his LEGO calendar was getting hard to maintain with all his editorial jobs with BrickJournal and would like to see something like that for the LEGO calendar. So last night we came up with 5 different types of LEGO calendars: (1) LEGO Club Events, (2) LEGO Conventions, (3) LEGO Contests, (4) LEGO Displays, (5) LEGO Mindstorms & FLL Events -- I had a shared LEGO calendar for GFLUG/GFLTC anyway, so Joe merged all of his events into my calendar, then we started moving events into the different types of calendars (we still have more work to do, but it's looking better).
Anyway, if you maintain a web-site, or a part of a LEGO group that would like to get the word out about your events, or would like to contribute to the shared calendar, send me a e-mail or Flickr mail me & I'll send you an invite, so you can start adding events.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
New iPaB Wall View on BrickBuildr
I was so exicited when I first released iPaB. When I told my LUG-mates about it, their only criticism (in jest) was "you should make a wall view where you can see everything on one page." Grrr... I thought.
So now, a few months after the fact, here it is. There's still a few bugs to work out with it, but for now, enjoy.
So now, a few months after the fact, here it is. There's still a few bugs to work out with it, but for now, enjoy.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Some Problems with BrickBuildr
So I got up this morning to check BrickBuildr and there seems to be some problems... A lot of what you see on BrickBuildr is due to Flickr's API... I have a process that runs every Sunday that checks all the photos to see if the photo still exists and if it's still "public" viewable. If something changes, the reference to the photo gets deleted from BrickBuildr... looks like Flickr's API reported A LOT of photos as being deleted.
Good news is, I wrote BrickBuildr so that if something ever happens to the database, I can rebuild it with no problems. So that's what I'll be looking at later today.
So until further notice, consider BrickBuildr broken, until I post otherwise here. :( Sorry for any the inconvenience!
Good news is, I wrote BrickBuildr so that if something ever happens to the database, I can rebuild it with no problems. So that's what I'll be looking at later today.
So until further notice, consider BrickBuildr broken, until I post otherwise here. :( Sorry for any the inconvenience!
7:53AM UPDATE: Looks like it wasn't Flickr's API, but some changes I made over the weekend to the back-end of the web-site -- I've got some new projects planned, but before moving forward, I wanted to do some clean up on the code. Anyway, long store short, I'm rebuilding the photo database. I should be restored sometime around lunch today (EST).
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
And It Begins...
In Episode #53 of LAMLradio, Matt Forcum and Mike Huffman join James Wadsworth to talk about the recent LEGO news. We also interview Heather (aka LEGOgirl on Flickr) about her latest MOC, the dollhouse. Of the news topics the #7979 Castle Advent Calendar gets the most discussion.
I haven't promoted LAMLradio here enough; if you haven't listened to it, go check it out now! James manages to get some really great interviews & great people on the show, that I find his podcasts very fun to listen to. And to support James, please buy his CD that includes all 27 episodes that were released on the podcast in August 2008, only $12USD.
I haven't promoted LAMLradio here enough; if you haven't listened to it, go check it out now! James manages to get some really great interviews & great people on the show, that I find his podcasts very fun to listen to. And to support James, please buy his CD that includes all 27 episodes that were released on the podcast in August 2008, only $12USD.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
LEGO Batman Happy Meal
So I got a Happy Meal for dinner tonight & got a LEGO Batman Happy Meal toy. I've seen pictures already on-line & the toys are a lot like the previous Bionicle McDonald's promotion -- big pieces of molded plastic in the shape of a Bionicle characters, no real LEGO. I got a BatBoat; molded plastic again. :(
Now, I know there's a lot that goes into these types of promotions. You've got some big players -- McDonald's, LEGO, Warner Brothers (DC Comics), and the video game studio. They've got to sit down and sign a contract to do the promotion. Artwork needs to be supplied for the boxes & to make toy models based upon. Approval needs to go into the models in different stages. The physical toys need to be produced, enough to go into Happy Meals world-wide. And it all has to be timed with the release of the video game. And I'm sure there's several steps that I'm missing.
In the back of mind, I know LEGO has made sets for McD's promotions in the past. And since Batman has been out for a number of years, the parts still have to be in production. So, why wasn't real LEGO used in this promotion? It has to be cheaper on some level... to model something in real LEGO parts vs. having to design molded plastic toys based on models & minifigs.
On some level, it blows me away that instead of receiving 'LEGO' as my Happy Meal toy (which is a toy in of itself), you get a molded cheaper plastic toy based a real toy -- very surreal. Or is this the new toy collector mentality seeming to invade the LEGO fan collective consciousness?
Now, I know there's a lot that goes into these types of promotions. You've got some big players -- McDonald's, LEGO, Warner Brothers (DC Comics), and the video game studio. They've got to sit down and sign a contract to do the promotion. Artwork needs to be supplied for the boxes & to make toy models based upon. Approval needs to go into the models in different stages. The physical toys need to be produced, enough to go into Happy Meals world-wide. And it all has to be timed with the release of the video game. And I'm sure there's several steps that I'm missing.
In the back of mind, I know LEGO has made sets for McD's promotions in the past. And since Batman has been out for a number of years, the parts still have to be in production. So, why wasn't real LEGO used in this promotion? It has to be cheaper on some level... to model something in real LEGO parts vs. having to design molded plastic toys based on models & minifigs.
On some level, it blows me away that instead of receiving 'LEGO' as my Happy Meal toy (which is a toy in of itself), you get a molded cheaper plastic toy based a real toy -- very surreal. Or is this the new toy collector mentality seeming to invade the LEGO fan collective consciousness?
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