Lego

The Lego robot revolution is unstoppable. From Mindstorms development kits to puzzle-solving machines, the blocks seem to be going where no toy has gone before. Now a Polish tinkerer has thrown down the gauntlet, as it were, by building a robot hand out of Lego.

Polish Web designer Paul Ian Kmiec loves tinkering with Lego Technic kits (he even blogs for the brand).

Not content with building tanks and excavators out of plastic bricks, he has created a motorized human arm entirely of Lego parts.

Kmiec describes the electric/pneumatic arm as something he built over a weekend. It has … Read more

Robots--even toy robots--are sometimes frighteningly adept at specific intelligence tasks. A new machine built out of toy parts is nearly as fast as the fastest human at solving Rubik's Cube puzzles.

CubeStormer is a cube-solving device built by British engineer Mike Dobson out of Lego Mindstorms parts hooked up to a computer.

Lego machines have also been programmed to solve sudoku puzzles, but the speed at which CubeStormer takes on a scrambled cube is pretty awesome.

As the video shows, Dobson's device solves a 3x3x3-inch cube in less than 12 seconds with a blinding display of automatic scanning … Read more

Natali joins the dark side and immediately offends Justin and Wilson; Google introduces a new social network and gets pissed at Chinese copycat site Gojje; and GoldenEye makes its triumphant comeback--all this on today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast, now featuring co-host Natali Del Conte!

Today marks a special milestone on the show as we welcome the newest co-host of the show, Ms. Natali Del Conte! She'll join in the fun every Thursday (with the exception of today), offering a fresh perspective on our usual collection of stories. Right off the bat, Natali sparks a little controversy and reveals her one true weakness, so tune in to hear it all unfold!

The 404 is also the perfect outlet for Natali to speak freely on topics like Google's newest social-publishing tool, Google Buzz. Announced yesterday, the service lets you explore status updates and automatically adds your contacts via Gmail, which we're still trying to figure out. Interestingly enough, messages can be made public or private, but Natali is justifiably hesitant to give out her e-mail address to everyone in her network. The service also has a recommendation engine that allows Google to "learn" your tastes and recommend incoming items--sounds suspiciously intrusive, we'll keep you updated on this story as we play around with it.

Speaking of Google, the site is adding another log to its flame war with China over a copycat site subtlety dubbed "Goojje." We're not sure what's up with the cease-and-desist letter since its logo looks nothing like Google's, but Goojje already pulled down the original site, so no harm no foul, right guys?

Finally, big thanks to everyone who's sent in a sticker picture submissions, we're trying our best to stuff and send all the SASEs back in a timely fashion, so please be patient! If you already got your sticker pictures, it's your turn to do work for us! Take a picture of where you stuck it, hopefully in a public setting, and send it to the404(at)cnet[dot]com. We'll show it on a future episode of The 404!

LEGO Photo is a free photo-manipulation app that automatically creates pointillist versions of your snapshots using virtual Lego blocks.

As with similar fun-with-photos apps, you can either use pictures from your device or you can snap a new pic from directly within the app. Once you choose (or take) a picture, the app spends a few seconds "Lego-izing" the image. You then tap the screen to see the transformed image, and then continue tapping to cycle through numerous different palettes, from primary colors to shades of gray. Once you're done, you can save your creation to your … Read more

I'd like to give a tiny Golden Globe to all the fine people who put together these incredibly detailed Avatar Lego dioramas. That's my kind of 3D.

Many of these are repurposed from older Lego sets, such as Halo and (gasp!) "Toy Story," which in a way is an apt metaphor for Avatar itself, no? Either way, another win for the hobbyists! (More photos after the jump.)

… Read more

Admit it, you've often wondered what you'd look like if someone were to build you out of Lego blocks. Unless you're a celebrity (or a famous, inanimate object) chances are slim someone's gone through the expense and effort to do so. With a firm grasp on your inner desires, Lego has come up with an iPhone app called Lego Photo that re-creates the multicolor, brickscapes based on any photo you've taken, or have stored on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

All you have to do is pick a photo from your library, or snap one … Read more

It wasn't all keynotes, lectures, and roundtable discussions at last week's BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco. Programmers, business folk, and even some journalists got a chance to test their skills maneuvering a motorized robot through an obstacle course--using a BlackBerry Storm as the controller (video below).

A development group within BlackBerry-maker RIM conceived of the Robot Challenge, and constructed four bots from a Lego Mindstorm set. It also built four identical obstacle courses that include a zig-zag gauntlet, a ramp, and a shooting gallery. Players who weren't able to get their robots over the finish line … Read more

Do you feel like you need one more music game for the holidays? It's getting pretty strained, isn't it, between The Beatles: Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero, Band Hero, and now this very family-friendly-oriented spin on Harmonix' franchise, Lego Rock Band. Taking two gaming hits--games based on Lego, and Rock Band--and combining them sounds like a slam dunk, but how does this all work out? We played it and have our thoughts.

Good news: you won't need new instruments. Lego Rock Band uses the same drum/mic/guitar compatibility system that's finally starting to become an industry norm. The other fun thing about Lego Rock Band is its weird, whimsical settings and sense of humor. All the Lego games, from Indiana Jones to Star Wars, have shared a Charlie Chaplin-ish winking humor with frequently cute/bizarre overtones, and the rock "battles" aboard pirate ships and other settings makes for music videos worth watching in the background. Other than that, it's standard Rock Band stuff. The game is developed by TT Games, the group responsible for all the other Lego titles, so it feels consistently similar to what you might be expecting, except with a Rock Band engine attached.

Bad news: 45 included tracks span pop and mainstream, and the game will also access the online catalog of Rock Band DLC tracks--but only ones that are considered family-friendly. That means some songs won't make the import cut. The censorship is annoying, but the Lego versions of rock stars almost make it worth it.… Read more

SEATTLE--In one corner of the exhibition hall, hands sift through bins searching for rare pieces missing from vast collections. In another area, a giant Lego person rides in circles atop a brick rendition of the Segway scooter. In between are myriad Lego creations large and small.

It was all part of BrickCon 2009--a four-day festival devoted to Lego, the Danish creation that celebrated its 50th birthday last year.

On display were pieces of Lego art, replicas of real cities and even visions of an apocalyptic future crafted from the signature blocks. For those seeking to build on expansive collections, … Read more