Lego Wiimote bricks your Wii faster than tainted homebrew

You love Lego don’t you? Those tiny bricks of colorful acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic are what keeps you going in-between George Lucas’ fits of cinematography. Then check this out, the official Lego Play and Build Remote for Nintendo Wii. Of course, only bits of the remote are suitable for Lego brick you silly silly man, otherwise it wouldn’t be compatible with standard chargers and attachments like the battery cover and Wii MotionPlus. Still, if you can imagine playing Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga using nothing but The Force and this controller then you’re already half way home to living the dream — a journey you can complete on October 16th for $39.99.

Lego Wiimote bricks your Wii faster than tainted homebrew originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lego’s MINDroid Android app remotely controls Mindstorms NXT robots

Hardcore hobbyists have been controlling their Mindstorms NXT creations with all sorts of paraphernalia for years, but now Lego itself is stepping in to lend a hand. The new MINDroid app just splashed down in the Android Market, and it enables Android 2.1 (or greater) handsets to dictate Mindstorms NXT robots over Bluetooth. According to Lego, tilting / turning the phone can make the robot move forward, turn to the sides, and by pressing an action button on the phone’s screen, activate the ‘Action’ motor. Given that the download will cost you absolutely nothing, what are you waiting for? Your robot army awaits your commands.

Lego’s MINDroid Android app remotely controls Mindstorms NXT robots originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lego Mindstorm NXT enlisted for shirt-folding robot

All we have to say about this shirt-folding robot is that it does a better job than we could ever hope to. And for that, we love it. Video is below.

Continue reading Lego Mindstorm NXT enlisted for shirt-folding robot

Lego Mindstorm NXT enlisted for shirt-folding robot originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 11:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft sends out Lego Windows Phone 7 mockup to executives

A helpful tipster hit us up with this little photo today: a Windows Phone 7 mockup styled of Lego bricks. The fake phone is apparently being sent out in real invites to real executives for Microsoft’s upcoming sure-to-be-swanky Executive Event for Windows Phone 7 in November (not to be confused with the sure-to-be-pretty-great launch in October). Our question: where’s the Duplo version for Windows Mobile 6.5?

Alternate groan-worthy end zingers:

  • “We suppose that puts a whole new spin on ‘bricked,’ huh?”
  • “Where’s the Technic version for Windows Mobile 6.5?”
  • “Micro$oft? More like Blacktron!”

Continue reading Microsoft sends out Lego Windows Phone 7 mockup to executives

Microsoft sends out Lego Windows Phone 7 mockup to executives originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Farewell Gallery of Powerpig’s Beautiful LEGO Scenes [Guest Artist]

We’ve had a lot of wonderful guest artists on Gizmodo these last few months. Chris “Powerpig” McVeigh is one of the best. Let’s take a look at his work again as we bid him hyvästi, including five new behind-the-scenes shots. More »

A Look Inside the Obsessive Mind of a Fanboy [Fanboys]

Are you a Mac? Or are you a PC? Are you an iPhone guy or a soldier in the Android Army? If you feel strongly about any of these questions, chances are, you’re a fanboy. More »

Lego Loses Battle to Trademark Brick

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The Lego brick is one of the most iconic products in the toy industry–not iconic enough, however, for the company to score the trademark rights to the design. Not in the European Union, at least. A Luxembourg-based judge upheld a 2008 ruling, which struck down Lego’s trademark claims.

Lego argued that, without the trademark, the door is wide open for copycat products. “It is naturally a matter of concern to us that use of the brick by others can dilute the trademark,” Lego intellectual property executive Peter Kjaer said of the ruling. “But the worst aspect is that consumers will be misled.”

Lawyers on the other side of the argument, meanwhile, argued that the shape could not be trademark as it “precluded people from using the same technical function,” meaning that owning the trademark to the snapping pegs would prohibit other from creating a product that had the same feature.

“The court effectively took the view that all the essential characteristics of the Lego brick did perform a technical function–to enable bricks to be connected and stacked–even if other minor features did not, and this precluded registration,” the lawyer, Shireen Peermohamed, explained.

The court agreed, stating that such a trademark over the “technical solution” would essentially constitute a monopoly.

Build away with magnetic Nanodots

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Raise your hands if you used to build using Lego, Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, or the very cool Lego Mindstorms. The Nanodots are for you.

A new set of strongly magnetic building materials resembling beads, each
of these little spheres are magnetized. Just line up the spheres and
they will stick together in any shape you arrange them in.

Each set comes with 216 balls, of which 211 are pre-assembled into a diamond shape. There is also a carry pouch and an instruction manual with building tips and product care information. Considering the geek factor, the folks over at Nano Magnetics should have upped the count to 256 balls in a set.

You will need multiple sets for elaborate designs. Some of the designs in the building kit require over a thousand Nanodots.

The beads come in four different colors: original nickel, black, silver, and gold.

Pricing varies, ranging from $29.99 per set for the original colored beads to $39.99 per set for the gold Nanodots and are available online.

Hollywood’s Racism Exposed … by Lego [Lego]

While discussing the art for last week’s OKCupid post on the preferences of different races, guest artist, Chris “Powerpig” McVeigh dropped an astonishing fact: “Almost all non-white faces in Lego are scowling.” Easy now: It’s not Lego’s fault. More »

Lego bipedal bot takes several small stairs for man, one big fall for robotkind (video)

Climbing stairs is one of the hardest physical tasks for a bipedal collection of motors and circuits, as Honda’s ASIMO can relate, but one man’s managed to achieve just that with this head-banging Lego Mindstorms NXT robot. After spending years tinkering with the plastic blocks, 222Doc’s X-2 Chicken Walking Biped can autonomously walk up and down flights of small steps with relative ease, perform headstands and even scale five-inch cinder block cliffs if precariously pushed. The robot requires only seven Lego servo motors plus a touch sensor and gyroscope in each foot, but also uses a pair of third-party multiplexers (also spotted in that transforming Wall-E) for fine control of the extra motors. Watch it perform after the break, but stop the second video at 3:20 if pain makes you queasy — the bot takes a pretty ugly spill.

Continue reading Lego bipedal bot takes several small stairs for man, one big fall for robotkind (video)

Lego bipedal bot takes several small stairs for man, one big fall for robotkind (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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