legos

Some of us at Crave are waiting in line for the new "Twilight" movie, so it falls to those of us who hate sparkling vampires (read: me) to bring you our weekly roundup. It'll be someone else's turn when "Tron 2" comes out this winter.

• iPhone 4 problems? Use a rubber wristband.

• The world of "Futurama" like you've never seen it.

• Those "clacky" keyboards of your youth are back.

• And check out the sexiest keyboard (a lot) of money can buy.

• Microsoft Kin, we hardly knew ye.

• Great deals now on the Kindle DX. … Read more

"Futurama" is a show that just won't die. Since premiering in 1999, the animated sci-fi sitcom has been cancelled, revived, syndicated, made into movies, and then revived again on three different networks (new episodes started up last week on Comedy Central) and over a collection of DVDs. Now it's in Legos.

Lego builder and graphic artist Matt De Lanoy has spent more than two years reconstructing the 31st-century world of "Futurama" out of the plastic bricks. The display measures about 5x7 feet and is incredibly detailed; you can tell the man knows his Legos. … Read more

This week, Donald and Jasmine have a lot to crave, not the least of which is a pair of health-monitoring tighty whities. And yet we are somehow much more impressed by a giant chess set made from robotic Legos, a swarm of hovering honeycombs, a massive LED art display that moves to the music, and a roving solar-powered car disguised as a shrub. On the list of things not to crave? Trading drugs for gadgets. Come on people...you're smarter than that! (Right?)

I hate playing chess. I don't hate the game; in fact it's pure strategy, something I love. But despite years of practice, I still almost never win. And now, it would seem, I have further cause to be pessimistic about my chances of a victory, as even robots made out of Legos are here to beat me.

Observe the video below. That's a huge, 156-square-foot chess board and pieces made entirely out of Lego Mindstorm parts--more than 100,000 of them. It's called Monster Chess, and it's awesome.

The battery-operated, Bluetooth-controlled pieces use downward-facing sensors … Read more

Many around the world were deeply moved by Saturday's World Cup encounter between England and the United States. While many Americans feared their team might be outclassed, perhaps they weren't fully aware that the England team flatters to deceive more often than a telemarketer.

The game, which finished 1-1, was highlighted by one of the most glorious English goalkeeping errors (enacted by the latest English net custodian, Robert Green), in a veritable pantheon of glorious English goalkeeping errors.

Should you have missed the game, or merely found the experience unbearable, some very enterprising Legoists would like you to enjoy a more, well, playful version.

I thank the Guardian for bringing us all closer to these highlights (there were really only a couple), performed by little Fussball men in Lego World.

The movement of England captain Steven Gerrard is beautifully realized. The joy of his teammates is captured in a manner entirely appropriate to stiff upper lips.

And when America's Clint Dempsey wanders forward and shoots with all the strength of ginger ale and Green allows the ball to bounce off his hands and into the goal, it is an exhibition of vast poignancy. … Read more

Jasmine's (mostly) back from vacation, and already hates the iPhone 4. To balance out her blind rage for the as-yet unreleased device, Eric and Donald tackle Crave stories ranging from monkey-controlled robots, laser drug injection, and a Lego printer that drives ladies wild (or not). Stick around for the end, and you may just see Darth Vader's cleavage.

Check out this video of a home-brew printer designed and built entirely by some guy on the B3ta forum.

He rigged together a sensor, a USB interface with a wiring board, and a series of analog motor electronics to put together the device that can legibly spell out whatever he wants, in this case the existential message "HELLO WORLD," although since it uses a printer driver to put ink on paper, it should also spell out "LOW INK LEVEL, PLEASE REPLACE AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN."

For more detailed information, check out a list of FAQs with the inventor after the jump.… Read more

Before the Netbook even existed, there was the Intel Classmate. A rugged, child-oriented notebook intended for worldwide educational use, the Classmate was and is Intel's global initiative paralleling what One Laptop Per Child and other programs have promised in terms of getting computers and the Internet into the hands of children.

The new Intel Convertible Classmate PC is a tablet Netbook with an Atom N450 processor, and it's also a touch-screen tablet, like its predecessor in 2009. Though the overall look is similar, the new Classmate adds a rubberized outer shell, spill-resistant keyboard and screen, a more impact-resistant body with shock-absorbing corners, and a shock-detecting hard drive.

Intel chose to introduce and demo the new Classmates at the Central Park Zoo in New York City, along with hardware peripherals and software from some of their multitude of partners (McGraw-Hill was just announced as yet another). Wisely, Intel has realized that the product itself is only half the story; good software for both students and school administrators is equally critical. We watched a few dozen children using them for math quizzes, to test weather conditions with an attached Pasco climate-detecting peripheral, and to take photos and sketch birds in the rain forest exhibit. Lego also has robot kits that work via USB, which looked like clever systems for teaching mechanical principles.

We received one of the new Convertible Classmate PCs from Intel to try for ourselves, in a plain white box with a simple instruction manual aimed at teachers and parents. We saw the Classmate used with various educational peripherals, but those weren't included. The Classmate is, however, preloaded with some useful software, at least on our test system. A label indicates it's made by Royaltek, but Intel is planning to manufacture these Classmates around the world with a variety of local OEMs.

The Convertible Classmate is, basically, a Netbook: an Atom N450 processor, 160GB hard drive, and a higher-res 1,366x768-pixel 10.1-inch screen are nothing new. Our Classmate also had VGA out, two USB ports, two headphone jacks, a microphone jack, and an SD card slot. An optional GPS input is blocked off in our unit.

Covered in gray silicone-type rubberized surfaces, the Classmate retains an institutional feel, but it's comfortable and easy to hold. A pull-out handle in the back is a welcoming touch. In tablet mode, the Classmate is comfortably grippable, too. The matte 10.1-inch screen uses a resistive touch interface that's meant to be used with the thick, penlike stylus tucked into the left side of the Classmate. We tried an included painting program and navigated Web pages, and found the touch to work pretty well. It's not gesture/multitouch enabled, but it works fine for basic functions. … Read more

Having trouble picturing what that Lego monster castle/spaceship/robot will look like when assembled? Lego is rolling out augmented-reality store displays that show shoppers, in 3D animation, what a completed kit will look like. The move follows other toy makers bringing AR to action figures and baseball cards. I'm waiting for cereal boxes in my supermarket to start spewing 3D cornflakes.

The Danish toy giant, known for cool stuff like Mindstorms robot kits and wacky apps like the Lego-illustrated Bible, is currently installing the Digital Box (PDF) displays in its stores worldwide.

When customers hold a box up … Read more