Hasta La Gadget!

Hands down, one of my favorite things to do at Toy Fair is to check out the Lego booth. It’s easy to feel old around all the new-fangled toys, but nothing transports me back to my youth like Denmark’s building-block company–well, that and Star Wars. Fortunately, the Lego booth had it all.

The company has produced a handful of new sets the franchise. They had kits for both The Clone Wars and the original trilogy–and the latter has new Ewoks and Tauntaun figures.

Check out a video of the sets, after the jump.

Can you guess what Alcatel’s trying to do with this one? Yeah, Lego’s products are some of the most recognizable in the world — and while we can’t tell if there’s any official Lego brand tie-in here, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised if there was in light of Lego’s recent foray into the bleeding-edge frontier of consumer electronics. What we’re looking at seems to be a render of a device Alcatel hopes to introduce in 2009, borrowing heavily from Denmark’s favorite export to provide snap-on faceplates sure to bring a smile to any 6-year-old’s face. We don’t have any information beyond the screen cap, but there’s no compelling reason to believe it’s not real — other than the fact that Legos don’t make for the best phone ergonomics, we suppose. Theme devices like this tend to be more Modelabs’ territory, but that’s not to say Alcatel isn’t perfectly capable of pulling this off, either. Next up: a Duplo-based DynaTAC, perhaps?

Filed under: Cellphones

Alcatel assembling a Lego (or Lego-esque) phone? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lego’s just announced that it’s teamed with Digital Blue to bring out a line of digital cameras, PMPs, and walkie talkies for children. As you can see, the products will have the familiar “Lego” look to them (though not constructed out of actual bricks), and though we haven’t heard anything in the way of specs yet, they’re said to be arriving this summer with prices ranging from $19 – $60. Our opinion of these is currently hanging out in the “not really excited” file, but outfit these suckers a set of wheels and we’ll probably be sold. Second photo after the break.

Continue reading Lego announces line of digital cameras, PMPs, etc. for your teeny human friends

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Portable Audio

Lego announces line of digital cameras, PMPs, etc. for your teeny human friends originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 02:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here are the winners of the Go Miniman Go video contest, that celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Lego minifig. Choosing was difficult, as many were simply amazing, but here are the best five.

Fifth place
Title:
Attack of the Second Amendment
Author:
Zach Macias

Fourth place
Title
The Archeologists
Author
Dobromil Nosek

Third place
Title:
The Creators
Author:
Jumpei Mitsui
Prize: A special set designed by Lego owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

Second place
Title:
Weltraffer
Authors:
Christian Denkhaus
Hendrik Denkhaus
Kilian Helmbrecht
Lukas Helmbrecht
Prize: Lego Yellow Castle

Winner
Title:
Train to Catch
Author:
David Boddy
Grand Prize: Lego Galaxy Explorer

Congratulations to the winner and the rest of the top five entries.

Special thanks to Julie Stern, the Lego company, and the judges—Lego movie directors Nathan Wells, David Pagano, Nate Burr, and Lego’s director of Marketing Communications Keith Malone.

And to all who participated, thank you very much. The creativity and time you put into this was amazing. Stay tuned for another post with the rest of the entries, 33—and the five runner ups, who also get prizes. [All the posts related to the contest]