I can’t even begin to describe how sad and disappointed I am… I think I will make this post shorter so I can cry even more…

I did however recieve a Pre-Order link, so perhaps it will arrive before the summer is over…

Dear LEGO fan,

Thank you very much for your interest in participating in the LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ Developer Program. We are very sorry but unfortunately you have not been selected to take part in the Program. Over 9000 fans sent in their applications and it was extremely difficult selecting 100 people only.

Gamasutra reports that Cedega 1.5 has been released for Linux gamers looking for a Civ IV fix. From the release: “TransGaming Technologies has released Cedega 5.1, which features support for some of the newest PC titles such as Sid Meier’s Civilization IV, FIFA 06 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. Cedega allows games originally created for the Windows platform to run on Linux, straight out of the box. Other titles supported on Cedega 5.1 include Battlefield 2, Dungeon Siege II, City of Villains, Madden NFL 2006, World of WarCraft, Half-Life 2, Guild Wars, and many others. Cedega 5.1 builds on this growing list of game titles with new features that improve overall game play.”

• Slashdot | Cedega 5.1 Released

When I first tried out the NetBeans GUI Builder Matisse, I was as skeptical as I would be with any Java GUI builder. They never turn out to be exactly what you’d expect; even IDEA’s designer, simplifying GridBagLayout to just a few clicks and properties, doesn’t have the same feel as Visual Studio 2005.

Whatever my feelings were before trying Matisse, I was surprised after using it: Not only did Matisse do everything I expected a GUI editor to do, it even offered new features that really made me raise an eyebrow wondering, “Why did no one else think of this before?”

In this article I will present the features I enjoyed best in Matisse, and then suggest a few features I would like to see in future releases.

• VisualStudio User Tries Matisse

A Chinese astronomer from the University of St Andrews claims to have fine-tuned Einstein’s theory of gravity. Dr Hong Sheng Zhao has created a ‘simple’ theory which could “solve a dark mystery that has baffled astrophysicists for three-quarters of a century.” This new law seeks to discover whether Einstein’s theory was correct and if dark matter actually exists.

• Slashdot | Einstein’s Theory Improved?
• Einstein’s Theory ‘Improved’?

zimage writes to tell us that Andrew Carol has designed and built a working Babbage Difference Engine out of LEGO. From the article: “Before the day of computers and pocket calculators, all mathematics was done by hand. Great effort was expended to compose trigonometric and logarithmic tables for navigation, scientific investigation, and engineering purposes. In the mid-19th century, people began to design machines to automate this error prone process. Many machines of various designs were eventually built. The most famous of these machines is the Babbage Difference Engine. [...] Babbage’s design could evaluate 7th order polynomials to 31 digits of accuracy. I set out to build a working Difference Engine using LEGO parts which could compute 2nd or 3rd order polynomials to 3 or 4 digits.” In related, but not quite as functional, news DigitalDame2 writes to tell us that PC Magazine has an interview with LEGO “brick-artist” Nathan Sawaya, creator of their commissioned LEGO PC. There are also several pictures of the creation in addition to a contest to win the snap-together sculpture.

• Slashdot | LEGO Tech Still Going Strong