Hasta La Gadget!

Need something to go with your colorful new NEX-5 Lego viewfinder? How about a Lego shutter release? It’s the next project by the same dude, who goes by the appropriate handle “cubie” over at the Digital Photography Review forums. This one requires a bit more work, soldering a couple of IR LEDs to a headphone jack and positioning them to sit atop the camera’s IR sensor. Then, by playing the right sound through an audio patch cable, pictures can be taken. Overly complicated? Yes. Love it? Pika!

[Thanks, Marc]

Lego shutter release for Sony NEX-5 lets Pikachu take your pictures originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do you spend your days pining for a viewfinder with some Danish building-block flair for your shiny new Sony NEX-5? Well, your camera woes have been solved — while appealing to your childlike aesthetic sensibilities — by a DIYer who fashioned just such a viewfinder out of some Lego blocks and parts from an old CD-ROM drive. Its complexity doesn’t quite match that of an all-Lego camera, but it’s a slick little solution for those who want to add some pizazz — and functionality — to Sony’s favorite not-quite-Micro Four-Thirds shooter. Hit up the source link to see how to build one for yourself.

Lego viewfinder created for Sony NEX-5, lincoln log enthusiasts feel left out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The force, as they say, is strong with Legoland’s California amusement park. An army of stormtroopers interrupted the park’s annual business results press conference (similar to Darth Vader’s recent crashing of 20th Century Fox’s CES press conference) to announce the launch of a new Star Wars “mini-park” for the Carlsbad location.

The new park features seven scenes from the six Star Wars film and a scene from the Clone Wars animated feature, recreated with 1.5 million Lego bricks on a 1:20 scale. They also feature life size Lego recreations of iconic Star War characters like Darth Vader, R2D2, and Chewbacca.

The California version of the mini-park is set to open on March 31st. Mini-parks will follow in the Billund and Deutschland locations. The scenes were designed by eight Lego model engineers and two animation electricians.

SmallWorks BrickCase is just like any other open-faced plastic iPhone 4 case, except for one thing: the addition of awesomeness. The back face, and a small section of the top edge are covered in the familiar plastic carbuncles of Lego bricks. Yes, you can actually grab bricks from any Lego set and snap them into place on this case, and the two bumps up top are perfect for mounting a minifig.

The idea was born when the 12-year-old son of SmallWorks’ Jim Thompson saw his dad’s iPhone. Being a kid, he made the obvious connection at once. “This phone would be cooler if it had LEGO bricks on the back.”

Thompson got on it, and after tirelessly making samples and designing molds that would yield Lego-compatible nubbins, the BrickCase was born. You can have one for $20, in black, white, or clear.

BrickCase [SmallWorks]

See Also:

• Tiny Lego Men Assist in iPhone Unboxing
• Machine Made of Lego Builds Anything You Want — Out of Lego …
• Lego Chess-Set Costs More Than a MacBook Air

We’ve seen some remarkable and imaginative projects this year employing the iconic blocks, here are a few of our favorites. More »