Hasta La Gadget!

If this image doesn’t have you completely dumbfounded, scroll down and watch the video. Sufficiently awestruck? Good. Now, for a little background on exactly how someone got a pile of Legos and a smartphone to solve the devil’s puzzle Megaminx. The aptly titled Megaminxer enlists the Mindstorms NXT kit to do the dirty work and an HTC Desire, running a custom Android app, as the brains of the operation. Said app uses the phone’s camera to take individual images of each of the puzzle’s 12 faces, then processes the information and sends a signal via Bluetooth to the NXT controller, which in turn goes to town. Unfortunately, there’s no explaining how they got the Android to dance like that, but, really, why ruin the magic?

[Thanks, Stuart]

Continue reading HTC Desire solves dodecahedron Rubik’s Cube, will blow your mind (video)

HTC Desire solves dodecahedron Rubik’s Cube, will blow your mind (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SS Lego took a week to plan, and three days to build

There are a few ways to get an oversize object through the skinny neck of a bottle. A model ship is made to collapse its masts and sails and then be slid through the open mouth. Once the ship’s inside, you tug on a string to re-erect the rigging. The pears inside bottles of brandy and Poire William are actually grown inside those bottles, and you can see the surreal sight of them hanging off trees in orchards. (Some bargain brandies resort to a screw-off base to the bottle, but that’s cheating.)

When Julia Morley decided to build a Lego ship in a bottle, she did it in the most straightforward, and possibly most frustrating way: one brick at a time, using special long tools to build the model inside the bottle.

The work consisted of using a long, flat-bladed tool, like a miniature pizza peel, to put the bricks into place inside a big (empty) wine jug. A stick with what looks like a Lego Technic joint on the end was then used to push the bricks into place. Best of all, she made a time-lapse video of almost the entire process.

Julia says she took a week to plan the ship, using Bricksmith software, all the while being careful to make sure she could “build it back to front using only bricks that were able to fit through the neck of the bottle.” Building it took three days.

I can only stare open-mouthed at the patience required here. My attention span is so short that I often call out to order pizza when I get bored waiting for my microwave TV dinner to heat up.

SS Lego [MOCpages via Brothers Brick]

See Also:

• Lego Minifig USB Thumb Drive Is Humanity's Highest Achievement
• Gadget Lab Notes: Wireless Monitor, Lego-Like PC Tower Case, Retro iPhone Case
• Lego Pens Done Write
• Awesome Lego Printer Uses Felt-Tipped Pens, Tiny Workers

The Lego minifig thumb drive is the ultimate evolution of the form

All USB thumb drive makers should stop what they’re doing right now. Go home, update you resumé and start looking for a different line of work. The perfect USB stick has finally been made. The zenith of novelty storage technology has been reached. Behold: the Lego® Minifigure 2GB USB Flash Drive.

The genius of this drive is that it us a regular Lego minifig, with detachable hands, head and legs. The only difference comes when you pull down the little chap’s pants and find that he, for once, is wearing underwear. Not boxer shorts, either, but a pair of briefs in the shape of a USB plug, ready to be slotted into a computer port up to his waist, like a horror-movie victim sinking into quicksand.

Actually, there is one other difference in this industry-shaking figure: his normally bald head now sprouts a pair of thick dreadlocks with a keyring at the end.

The Lego minifig thumb drive will cost an expensive but oh-so-worth-it $25. Available now.

Lego Minifigure 2GB USB Flash Drive [Lego store via Oh Gizmo!]

See Also:

• Han Solo Lego Minifig Encased in Carbonite
• Lego Antikythera Mechanism
• Lego Pens Done Write
• Awesome Lego Printer Uses Felt-Tipped Pens, Tiny Workers

Star Wars! Ninjas! Pirates! Aliens! Race cars! Mummies! Castles! Dragons! All made off delicious bricks. Hot off the magical Lego Factory in Billund, Denmark, here are all the Lego sets for the year 2011 in one epic roundup. More »

Lego Mindstorms NXT is robotic democratization, DIY designing for the everyman, but being stuck with only Bluetooth or IR wireless can put a bit of a damper on your egalitarian goals. No more. Dexter industries (who previously brought us solar-powered Mindstorms) has created the NXTBee, which uses the an Xbee radio to send data much further: 300 feet for the base $55 NXTBee, up to a mile if you opt for the $78 NXTBee-PRO. You’ll probably need two of the things, though, so make sure you budget appropriately. There’s definitely some lag evident in the video of a long-range RC car below, but we’re not sure if that’s the wireless or the machine itself. Regardless, that’s surely a design challenge that won’t stop you from having fun with this one.

Continue reading NXTBee enables long-distance wireless for Mindstorms NXT, funny little RC cars (video)

NXTBee enables long-distance wireless for Mindstorms NXT, funny little RC cars (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 13:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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