So life got a little crazy after April Fool’s. My sister got married (congratulazione) and because I was in the bridal party, my life got put on hold. Lovely day, my sister looked a treat and my new brother-in-law is a top bloke. To infringe upon my life further, the Daydreamer was off swanning around Jamaica AND the Big Apple. And just to top it off, the last few weeks at work have been quite demanding. So take a guess who couldn’t be arsed banging out a blog post?

If you guessed either Donnie, MonkeyBoy, Jade or Jimmy Whatsisnem… you’re absolutely correct!

So now I have the formalities out of the way, let’s get straight to the begging. I’ve been quite an avid supporter of MacHeist. Not necessarily on the blog but definitely within my circle of Mac friends. Well, the guys at MacHeist have another bundle up for sale thought this one is more a “best-of” sort of affair. If you bought the last bundle, then this probably isn’t for you but for a recent switcher (or even a potential switcher) or a seasoned Mac user looking to add some unexplored apps, this bundle offers a great introduction to life in OSX.

So what’s in it for me? Well, click through the picture and every bundle you buy will give me a referral point. Three points is all I want so I can get myself a copy of RapidWeaver, a really beautiful app for web design ‘cos this little bee is getting tired of the blog’s appearance. I might just be motivated to redesign, especially considering I’ve been working my way through an enormous manual on XHTML and CSS.

Come on Beezhouse readers. Help a brother in need. Show me just how low I have sunk…

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.

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…