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lego

Help Lego master builders make a giant Santa Yoda

You may not be a Lego master model builder, but if you're in San Francisco this weekend, you could help one make a giant Santa Yoda.

Starting Friday, the public is invited to visit San Francisco's Union Square and lend a hand as Lego's master model builders take thousands of the iconic bricks and shape them into a 12-foot-tall, 10-foot-wide Santa Yoda.

The event, which is partly a fundraiser for the Bay Area Boys & Girls Club, is also partly about promoting the Monday launch of the new Santa Yoda Web site (which will have no content … Read more

Giant Lego Man emerges from Florida sea

What would you do if you happened to be walking along a beach and discovered a man lying there, looking the worse for wear?

What if the man was 8 feet tall and made of Legos? You might think it was you who was the worse for wear. However, a giant Lego man did appear on a beach in Sarasota, Fla., and he was helped to his feet by public-spirited passersby.

As often happens with the discovery of giant Lego men, no one seems sure where he might have come from. News crews have, naturally, found locals who speculate that he might have dropped from a spaceship.

Suspicions immediately fell upon the folks at the recently opened Legoland Florida.

However, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office released a statement from Legoland, one that was brimming with amusement.

It read: "This activity is in no way sponsored or endorsed by The LEGO Group or Merlin Entertainments, who run LEGOLAND attractions. Hope you've given Mr. LEGO Imposter his one phone call and an attorney!" … Read more

The 404 933: Where it's the nightmare before Nokia (podcast)

What's an 8-foot-tall Lego man doing on the beaches of Siesta Key Village, Florida? We don't have the answer, but it's the third one that's washed ashore in the last three years--similar occurances were reported three years ago in Brighton, England, and Zandvoort, Holland; each bearing the same cryptic messaging: "NO REAL THAN YOU ARE."

Yahoo News did the dirty work and inquired about the phenomenon to Lego's assistant brand relations manager, who vehemently denied, on record, any affiliation with the stunt, eliminating the possibility of it being a viral stunt. Who knows, maybe it was printed on a 3D imaging device by the folks at MakerBot!… Read more

Great stop-motion vid of favorite '80s toys

From Hot Wheels to Legos, this stop-motion video by French Web designer and animator Micael Reynaud provides a wonderful trip down memory lane.

The two-minute clip, titled "The King of Lego Land," is simply brilliant. And I'm ecstatic that Magic 8 Ball made it into the roundup, along with Nintendo games, Transformers, and of course, Legos.

How many of these toys did you play with as a kid? … Read more

Perfect Xmas gift: The Lego assault rifle

Like banking, love, and cooking with beets, Lego must move with the times.

The times, in case you hadn't noticed, are somewhat troubled. Who can be surprised, therefore, that a vast and imaginative mind has found a way to take its little bricks of Lego and make an assault rifle out of them?

My mind went entirely Boing-Boing when that publication revealed to me this act of ingenuity.

The creation of the Plum Brothers, this Lego Lancer assault rifle was inspired by Gears of War, a very fine game in which you can kill people, destroy a lot of … Read more

New Lego game combines physical bricks, iPhone app

For Lego, it was a question that clearly needed an answer: how to build an interactive iPhone app that involves playing with real Lego bricks?

With "Life of George," the iconic Danish toy company on Thursday unveiled its solution: an iPhone app that challenges users to quickly build small models using real bricks and then take pictures of them using the device's camera.

The game features 12 levels, during each of which players will be tasked with building a series of models based on images provided within the app. Each time they finish a model, they will … Read more

Lego Ford Explorer made of 380,000 bricks, but you can't drive it

This is definitely not your average Ford Explorer rolling down the lines at the Chicago Assembly Plant. The bright red, full-size re-creation is made of 380,000 Lego bricks.

Ford today announced the unveiling of the Lego Explorer; a lifelike replica that took 2,500 hours (about three and a half months) to create.

The Legoland Florida-edition Explorer debuted in Chicago, but will soon be headed to the new 150-acre Legoland Florida theme park just outside Orlando.

According to Ford, the vehicle will be loaded onto a trailer with transparent sides so motorists can see the Lego Explorer on its … Read more

Four-deal Friday: iPods, Kinects, and pirates, oh my!

After the alliterative disaster that was five-deal Wednesday, I couldn't let Friday go without correcting that disturbance in the Force. Plus, a lot of really good deals appeared on my radar today.

Many of them are today-only and/or limited-time, but all of them are still available and in stock as I write this. In no particular order:

1. Newegg has the 32GB iPod Touch (4th gen) for $269.99 shipped when you apply coupon code EMCKAHG29 at checkout. To clarify, this is the latest model, the one with the retina display and built-in cameras. And it'… Read more

Crave 53: Enough already (podcast)

Eric and Donald reveal their TV watching habits and the lies behind tablet marketing. Also, the bionic arm just got cooler, the human computer interface is a temporary tattoo, and plans to put the Crave show in a van... a small one.

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VW camper spreads peace with Lego pieces

It's not too late to experience the 2011 Summer of Love--at least in Lego form. A red Lego VW camper van set will soon be hitting the highway for some psychedelic road-tripping.

Modeled after the T1 Camper from 1962, also known as the "Kombi" the Lego version includes the "V" shape three-way color split at the front; rounded roof and window frames; and opening "splittie" safari front window. All of the doors open and the roof pops up in this re-creation of the iconic vehicle.

The designers at Lego thought of everything. The exterior sports three subtle curves around the front and contouring that continues along the sides. A representation of the flat-four air-cooled VW boxer engine fits above the rear axle--as it would in the original. And the interior of the camper comes complete with Lego versions of a fold-down bed, a kitchen sink, a cupboard that opens, a mirror, and a lava lamp.

Lego hippies, however, are not included. … Read more