The pals

Meet the pals

Every Desktop Pal: Dot from The Modern .NET Show, The Cynical Developer, and the Norns, Grendels and Ettins of Creatures 2.

Podcast pals

Tips, jokes and news of new episodes

Dot

For The Modern .NET Show

Reads the podcast feed
500 tips
Light & dark

The Modern .NET Show's roving co-host. Wanders your desktop with a microphone, 500 .NET hot takes, and news of every new episode.

Meet Dot

The Cynical Developer

For The Cynical Developer podcast

Reads the podcast feed
500 tips
Light & dark

James's podcast, in pal form. Sunglasses on, optimism off: 500 weary truths about sprints, estimates and Friday deploys – plus a phone, headphones and a microphone.

Meet The Cynical Developer

Company pals

Made for the businesses behind them

Loopy

For Clear Loop

Never goes online
500 tips
Light & dark

Clear Loop's cyber security assistant nobody asked for. Wanders your desktop with 200-odd security tips, terrible advice and a worrying interest in port 8080.

Meet Loopy

Creatures pals

Pixel-art creatures – completely offline

Norns

From Creatures 1 & 2

Never goes online
Pixel art
Herds of up to 8
Sound

The curious, cuddly stars of Creatures 1 and 2 – all 30 breeds – babbling in Norn, dancing, napping and saying hello to each other across your desktop. Up to eight at once.

Meet the Norns

Grendel

From Creatures 2

Never goes online
Pixel art
Herds of up to 8
Sound

The green troublemaker of Creatures 2. Grumbles, growls, kicks things, wants buttons pressed – and gets lonely too. Comes as the classic Grendel or the Eryx Grendel.

Meet the Grendels

Ettin

From Creatures 2

Never goes online
Pixel art
Herds of up to 8
Sound

The gadget-obsessed desert dwellers of Creatures 2. Small, curious and forever looking for machines to fix – or take.

Meet the Ettins

Creatures, Norns, Grendels and Ettins are from Creatures 1 & 2 by CyberLife Technology / Creature Labs. Fan-made breeds by their creators, credited on each pal's page.