Of course, if you are ever at a loss, you should check out LUGNET, the International Lego Users Group.
I've sat out the whole Lego mindstorms hacking mostly because of time constraints, but I'm thinking July 15th that may change. I'm very impressed by Lego for bringing in 100 consumers to do a closed beta and help figure out the final feature set. And you thought they just pressed plastic blocks...
You say Lego's latest sets are lame? Yeah, me too. Lego sets these days are all about funky, weird, non-reusable pieces. Like single piece palm trees that would look whack on your space station. Whadupwitdat Lego? Well Lego hears your intently angry mutterings at their own creative abilities and has dropped the Lego designer.
This little gem allows you to create your own Lego masterworks and upload them to Lego for others to peruse and buy. Of course, you yourself can buy the parts to make your creation as well. For me, I'm just going to use it as a prototyping tool to see if I really do want to be a Lego Certified Professional when I grow up.
If ever there was an ideal exit plan for the likes of many Lego enthusiasts, this would be it: LEGO Certified Professionals prgoram. That's right boys and girls...for a mere $1000 per year, you too, can be a Certified Geek..err...I mean Lego Professional. Don't laugh..it's real and it is now on my life goals list.
I don't remember a time when I didn't have LEGOs. Heck, I've even built a box to help store wireless adapters and a stacking system to isolate the IR signals from my IR keyboard so I can control 3 MSN TV 2 boxes in close proximity to each other. I wonder what people at other companies with IR devices use to aid their test efforts and sanity.
Anyway, I stumble upon JP Brown's Serious LEGO and it brings back memories and dreams of my LEGO adventures. I remember dreaming of going to the moon in my LEGO ship and running around my own LEGO city. I remember a LEGO space station that I hacked together from various sets. That was the thing that was so great about older LEGO sets...you could do just about anything you wanted with them. The newer sets have so many specialized parts that they are practically useless to build your own stuff.
The new LEGO stores that have been popping up seem to be trying to remedy the companies lack of flexible sets on their own by offering individual pieces in all sorts of colors. Too bad LEGOs have become cost prohibitive. They're basically molded plastic, but large sets hit over $100 these days. If you've got the scratch then go for it, but I'll be stuck reminiscing about the old days with my LEGO moon base.
Sewing Drawers on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I have so much Lego envy right now. I have a medium sized box full of Legos, but they're all mixed up. I'd love to have a nice setup like this dude.