I think all the other little bees are dead. In all actuality, I know they’re alive because I see most of them on a daily basis. Guess that leaves me to hold down the fort and try to punch out a post in a quasi-regular fashion.

I get my ADSL2 through iPrimus and my two main options for a download limit are either 6GB or 21GB. $10 difference in plans but I see no need for a 21GB limit that I have no hope of reaching. If I can’t use it all, I don’t feel like I’m getting value for money.

I got an email from iPrimus today, stating I was nearing my download limit. Actually, I wasn’t but that’s a completely different issue. I’ve thought about using a webclipping from Safari to turn my usage page into a widget, and have also considered using something like Fluid but both these options, whilst quite elegant in what they do, serve me no purpose when my information is behind a secure login. Enter Lemonjar.

This Melbourne-based tech company have put together several widgets for some of the major broadband suppliers in Australia. Sadly, they don’t have one for iPrimus and I don’t feel inclined to ask… yet. These widgets are donationware so if you can find a use for them, they make your life easier or they bring your cat back from the dead, strongly consider making a donation. Independent developers are the reason my Mac experience (20 years and counting) continues to rock.

Every Tuesday, I hang out for the IT section of The Australian. Most weeks it’s filled with crap I’m just not interested in or really techy articles that shoot way above my experience. This also assumes that someone has not stolen it from the café before I’ve had a chance to read it. Newspaper theft is, to this day, something that still baffles me.

My point of interest today was an article regarding business and Web 2.0 - or rather, their lack of a relationship with one another. To save some reading (though please do, just because) the general gist is that business isn’t quite sure of what Web 2.0 is or of how they can use it, but there are lots of businesses that want to. They’re just not sure of how to implement it. Oh, and some guy named Andrew Keen feels “the biggest danger in business terms is that everyone assumes they should be doing Web 2.0, so companies should be blogging and whatever, and a lot of it is just a waste of time. Companies should be maximising their profit.”

Perhaps if business is interested in the power of Web 2.0, it can have a look at Mini-Microsoft. Probably one of the more famous examples, Mini-Microsoft was instrumental in effecting change within management processes at Microsoft all through his blog. Read the blog if you’re interested in specifics but if you’re not, just know this guy openly and publicly criticised Microsoft and its business policy whilst still employed by the company.

There are times when I feel like Web 2.0 is my little secret. I had my eyes opened a few years ago by a good friend who gave me a copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto, probably one of the most amazing reads of my life. A concept so simple, yet so easily misunderstood. And then I wonder whether I should share this revelation with others, or keep it to myself Gollum-style. But that wouldn’t be very Web 2.0 of me, would it?

Then to business I offer this: if all you’re trying to figure out is how you can make money out of it, you won’t. But if you’re interested in enhancing the experience of your customers, well maybe we’ll meet you there…

I love LEGO. It’s totally awesome and a collector’s edition AT-ST (of Star Wars fame - explained for those who have no idea) proudly sits on one of the bookshelves in my living room. I have always been fascinated by LEGO and fear I always will be.

There have been LEGO graphics apps available for years. Point your browsers at LDraw.org if you want to see the grandaddy of all LEGO design sites. Everything you could want, from applications through extensions to custom piece libraries, can all be found here. And believe me when I say there are a wealth of model editors out there. Bricksmith was the best editor I found.

So it was with a great deal of anticipation that I downloaded the LEGO Digital Designer. This is the editing app that LEGO provides for interaction with it’s Official Factory web site. With respect to functionality, I found Digital Designer rather awkward to use: when I wanted to place a piece on top of another, the program wanted to put it underneath. Exact mousework seems to be required. I was also quite disappointed with the parts library: given the number of models LEGO boasts at any one time, I should have access to a full range of pieces and colours. Goddamit! I want to build my own Star Wars vehicle!

If LEGO can sort out these (IMHO) inconveniences, I will happily use the feature that grabbed me the most: upload your model to the LEGO Factory site and then order it!

Now that is cool! And pricing can be done from within the app itself, so you don’t even need to go to the site.

So get cracking readers. If we ask the Queen Bee nicely, perhaps she might be kind enough to allocate some room on the house for a creations gallery! Or, maybe not…