Legos

"Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves." (Exodus 5)

Imagine trying to build structures out of Lego-style bricks without being given plastic ingredients, and you'd appreciate what life was like in Old Testament Egypt. In modern-day Netherlands, however, Lego enthusiasts built themselves a block church that most kids would freak over.

The Abondantus Gigantus church was constructed last year in Enschede for the Grenswerk Festival out of concrete Legioblocks, which are used to build walls and industrial buildings.

As seen in the vid below, the pavilion sported a 65-foot tower and bricks that were painted in common Lego colors. … Read more

This week, Lego goes crazy for Minecraft (even if we don't); the Death Star gets a real-world estimate; DARPA invests in making "Avatar" a reality; and Eric and Bonnie make their Barbie dreams come true. In Geek News, Eric is obsessed with Mass Effect 3, and shows off a mashup of "The Prestige" and the latest "Dark Knight" trailers.

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video … Read more

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson and Mojang employees today unveiled the first set dedicated to the building game at Lego World in Copenhagen.

The 480-piece Lego Minecraft Micro World set (due in summer) features four different areas that you can link together with cylindrical connectors.

While the miniature take on the popular game is a bit pricey at $34.99, we admire the attention to detail in recreating the Minecraft experience. It's also neat that this came together from a community-driven movement, but we hope there will be bigger and better sets soon. Resource gatherers can take joy in exploring the "hidden resources, extra pieces for wood, dirt, and stone," according to the official product description. We strongly recommend you avoid the lava area, though.

Do not miss the hilarious launch video created by Notch and friends: … Read more

My greatest Lego triumph was the creation of a miniature monorail that required pushing the car down a little Lego track. YouTube user sumthinelse5790 (real name Max Shepherd) has blown my childhood creation out of the water with a Lego robotic arm.

Admittedly, this isn't the first Lego arm on the planet, but it does show off a high level of sophistication.… Read more

Cast your eyes on the freshly unveiled set of Lego "Lord of the Rings" miniature figures.

All of the major characters from the first movie (and a handful of villains) are included in the collection, which debuts this summer. Lego unveiled 14 characters in total yesterday, and the brick maker has done an outstanding job re-creating the characters' iconic appearances. … Read more

Why build a Gingrichian lunar colony, which would cost billions, when you can send a man nearly into space for only $400?

That's what Canadians Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad did with an albeit plastic man from Lego and a modified weather balloon.

The 17-year-olds from Toronto bought an $85 weather balloon online and rigged it to a Styrofoam box equipped with three point-and-shoot cameras and a wide-angle video camera.

They threw in $160 worth of helium from a party supply store, a dash of superglue, and voila, a Legonaut was born.

The toy ascended 80,000 feet over Ontario, recording the awesome footage in the video below, before floating back to Earth some 97 minutes later on a homemade nylon parachute. … Read more

As a child, I played with Lego sets incessantly, and as an adult, I have built many creations in the game Minecraft. Fans of both will be pleased to know that Lego has confirmed an official Minecraft collection.

Details are scarce at this time, but this all came together after Minecraft founder Notch posted the idea on Cuusoo, a site officially created by Lego that allows fans to vote on brick-based concepts (similar to Kickstarter). If a proposition gets 10,000 votes, then "a Lego Jury evaluates the idea's feasibility as a product and makes a decision."

Last month, Lego Minecraft eclipsed 10,000 votes in 48 hours, and Lego's decision makers finally confirmed the development today.

After a month and a half of internal discussion, the Cuusoo site confirmed that the brick maker is working on "a concept that celebrates the best aspects of building with the Lego system and in Minecraft and we can't wait to show it to you." … Read more

First personal computers crept into the classroom, followed by smart phones and tablets. Now, it's robots.

Media research company Latitude finds that robots have great potential as education tools. A study published today, which was done in collaboration with Lego Learning Institute, said robotics open up new ways of learning by blurring the line between play and work. Robots can also help students work at their own pace and enhance their ability to be self-directed, according to the study.

"Education and learning are moving, at least in many children's eyes, beyond acts of knowledge transmission toward acts … Read more

There are a million ways to signal your everlasting love for someone. You could propose while skydiving. Or you could get married in Second Life. But asking someone to marry you with Legos in a wonderful, poetic, stop motion video may take the cake.

Over at the Huffington Post this evening, there's the very touching story of Walt Thompson, who "invested 22 hours shooting and 'God knows how long' editing this stop-motion LEGO marriage proposal for his girlfriend of four years, Nealey Dozier."

Thompson told the HuffPo that he'd kept the project a secret from his … Read more