I was surprised by the number of women that appeared at the Manchester Geek Girl Dinner last week.

I don’t generally go in for gender specific events, as I’m sure an all boys meeting would cause some industry bra burning, but I was invited by one of the organisers, Valerie De Leonibus, who is one of the founders of i2m Online Business, so I figured a night of food, drink and geek chatting couldn’t hurt too much.

I was surprised by the similar stories though, much the same as I’ve experienced. A lot of women I spoke to were the only one, or amongst a small minority on a technology course or in a techie job.

Much of the geek stereotypes hold true, but there are obviously exceptions. They showed this video… I love the IT crowd.

You can find out more about Manchester Geek Girl Dinners here.

Well… I broke my blender.

And whilst looking to order a replacement; the first website to appear in the list was Blender.org.

Blender is a 3D open source modelling program with some great features and fab examples of images created using the tool.

If you’re interested in design, you’ll probably be aware of the high prices for 3D software programs such as 3D Studio MAX, Maya and Cinema 4D.

So it’s nice to know there’s an alternative for people to practice with

I’ve not tried it myself yet, but I’d be interested to hear if you’ve used it, or have any alternatives that you prefer (and why).

(Examples are by Calvin Culy and Robert J. Tiess).

Just a short post to say I love the design of this blog!

La vie en rose

I’m loving Deviant Art, the site is amazing, it’s a niche community site for designers, artists and photographers. It’s a place to display your work, a community of shared interests and a vast source of design resources.

I’ve been playing with Gimp, which is an Open Source equivalent to Photoshop, and I’ve found some amazing plugins and brushes designed for use with Gimp, and links to tutorials which are great for inspiration.

I’m pleased to have recently been accepted to Blogrush, which is a referral program for bloggers. I say “pleased”, because this is my second attempt!

Initially I was disheartened that I didn’t cut the mustard, but the filtering does mean that the chances of links to poor quality blogs shown on your site are reduced. And to be honest, I hadn’t published many quality posts at the time of my first application.

I’ve been a member of ‘my blog log‘ for some time. This is a similar service, which has been recently bought by Yahoo. I have to say it does generate traffic and subscribers from people with a similar interest. It’s quite nice to see the faces of your readers too!

So far, I like Blogrush - some of the links in the sidebar have sent me to some interesting blogs, in particular this one from Unlocked Profits - How To Get Free Web Site Traffic In 2008. My New Years resolution will be to write some guides for work’s website available for download…

If anyone has any opinion let me know…

• Is it easy to use?
• Does it generate traffic or subscribers for you?
• Do you think it looks spammy?
• Have you used other services to better effect?
• Is traffic not important for your blogging?

I love the design of the iGoogle Carbon footprint page.

As well as the nice design, they have added some very smart features, and use a good mix of media to make the page interesting and informative.

Sky have got involved with their “Green Shoots” competition.

It’s a great way to increase awareness - getting people involved by encouraging people to create their own content, and it’s also an excellent branding campaign for Sky.

It’s clear to see that Google have Sky in their pocket (or vice verca); the Sky search and SkyCasts are powered by Google search and Google Video respectably.

But it’s nice to see them using their powers for a good cause!