Most of the Slinkies I see today aren’t the same. Being made from plastic, they don’t seem to walk down stairs as well. A geek with a real metal Slinky and an old ragged out treadmill decided to play with a simple, yet epic idea. He started the treadmill to rolling at an angle, and let the Slinky start walking and videoed the result.

Naturally, video ended up on YouTube with all the Slinky walking action. A few times the slinky appeared ready to jump off out of exhaustion, but the little metal guy kept on walking, and never gave up. Check out the video for yourself, and prepare to be mesmerized for the next 3+ minutes.

[via JWZ via BoingBoing]

The tower reminds me more than a bit of the Washington Monument. The tower is larger at the base in the tip and uses supporting guide wires along the way to keep it from toppling over onto the crowds. The project used over 500,000 LEGO bricks when all was said and done.

Among the builders were 4000 local kids conscribed into LEGO slave labor. By that, I mean the children won a contest and were allowed to help build the massive tower. Don’t expect to see LEGO release this tower as an off-the-shelf kit any time soon.

[via Huffingtonpost]

The most impressive thing about the build to me is the LEGO brick ocean. I can only imagine how many little gray bricks it took to create the very realistic waves and splashes in the ocean. You can almost see the water moving under the ships. Other than the sails and the ropes, it looks like the entire scene was made from LEGO bricks. Even the flags appear to be made from LEGO.

I think this is the coolest LEGO project I’ve seen with a nautical theme. This is one of those builds were you can look at the details for a long time and never see them all. Let’s hope that SlyOwl shares more detailed pictures for us to ogle over.

[via Brothers Brick]

The LEDs are activated when you tap the brick and are supposed to last for hundreds of hours, which is good because I’m not sure if the batteries inside are easily replaceable.

ThinkGeek sells Brick Brites for $10 (USD) per pair. You can choose from red/white, blue/white and green/white LED variants.

The 79 piece set includes every possible set-to-set transitional piece as well as one giant universal adapter brick that is just plain crazy. I have no idea what you would use that one for. You can download the kit here, and check out the complete grid of adapters on this cool wall chart [PDF].

It will be really interesting to see how people use these pieces to create new and amazing things. Happy building.

[via Boing Boing via Geekosystem]

The LEGO airplane model is cool on its own, but the coolest thing about little Raptor model is that the pilot is actually a velociraptor. The LEGO plane reminds me a lot of caricature of a real jet with its somewhat bulbous proportions, but I still really like it. I know that if this was around my house, the kids would crash it repeatedly in some sort of horrendous flying accident.

The head of the raptor apparently came from one of the new LEGO dinosaur sets. This is cool with the military and dinosaur mashup going on. I don’t think that combo happens enough. What do you think?

[via Brothers Brick]

Version 2.0 is still controlled using the iPhone, iPad, or Android devices using a companion app. It includes the quadrotor AR.Drone 2.0 device, an indoor hull, an outdoor hull, charger, and the battery. The battery is a lithium polymer unit, and the AR.Drone 2.0 can use the battery from the original if you have it.

The AR.Drone 2.0 has an improved stabilization system that makes it even easier to control than the original, and even has a single button “flip” control. It records photo and video and stores the media directly to your control device, and the video camera can be used as a FPV controller so you can see exactly where you’re flying. Flying range is about 165 feet, which isn’t too shabby, but you won’t be pulling of mile long journeys unless you chase along with it.

U.S. pre-orders started today over at Brookstone for $299.99, and the AR.Drone 2.0 ships on April 9, 2012. UK and Europe should be getting theirs soon – you’ll need to check Parrot’s website for more info.

[UPDATE 3/8/2012: Brookstone has informed us that the April batch is now sold out, but they are taking orders for three colors of AR.Drone 2.0 for early May delivery.]

I think the video below shows the box in action, but you’ll never know for sure until you play it:

ThinkGeek is selling the Schrödinger’s Cat Executive Decision Maker for $30(USD). Batteries are definitely not included.

Officially called the LEGO Minecraft Micro World, the set was developed by LEGO designer Steen Sig Andersen and the LEGO CUUSOO team along with four LEGO enthusiasts: Chris Malloy, Michael Thomas, Kyle Tingey and Bjarne Panduro Tveskov. Unlike normal LEGO pieces, each 1×1 plate in this set has a tile on top, mimicking the cake-like appearance of the blocks in Minecraft. The set can be split into four major parts and each part can be taken apart further to reveal mines and other resources underneath. As you can see it also comes with Steve and a Creeper. No axe though.

The LEGO Minecraft set is available for pre-order at J!NX for $35 (USD) and will arrive this summer. Up next, LEGO Minecraft: The Videogame. Wouldn’t that be priceless.

[via The Brothers Brick]

She will be beside herself when she sees what builder Mark Stafford has come up with using these little pink blocks and LEGO Friends characters.

Peter’s creation has little lipstick fingers, a gun, and it’s in the requisite pink that any seven-year-old girl requires. I suspect I will spend the night rebuilding this thing each time the monster Ken Barbie tramples it to pieces.

It reminds me more than a little of the recon Mechs from my favorite videogame growing up called MechWarrior. Check out the photos in the gallery and see for yourself.

[Flickr via The Brothers Brick]

However, if you’re way better than I was (and most of you probably are) and shoot hoops by yourself regularly, then you might want to get one of these SKLZ Shoot-Arounds. They’re basically chutes that fit standard hoop rims that guide the ball back towards your direction after you make your shots. The cool thing is that you don’t have to keep running back and forth to retrieve the ball so you can work on improving a single shot at a time.

The entire set includes the four-piece Shoot-Around ball return chute, attachment nuts and bolts, and rotating insert ring with four rim straps and hooks. If you’re interested, you can purchase one online from Amazon for about $39(USD).

[via The Green Head]

First released a few years back as the Nabaztag, and now reincarnated as Karotz, the little gadget has integrated microphone and you can speak to the rabbit, and then it will post what you say to Facebook for you. The wascally wabbit also has a camera inside and can take a picture of you to share on Facebook with your friends. In addition, an app is in the works that will also allow your friends on Facebook to take control of the rabbit and communicate with you by sending audio messages or even sending you a poke via the rabbit.

The thing will also read statuses or comments aloud to you from your Facebook profile. Karotz has voice recognition software inside and can play music for you, check e-mails, read weather reports, RSS feeds, and lots more. The device can also be made to notify you via e-mail when someone is in your home such as a child or a roommate – should they enter the room with the appropriate RFID tag on their keychain or backpack. There are also a few other apps, like one which lets you use Karotz as a remote spycam, since it has a webcam built in.

The rabbit sells for $129.99(USD) over at the Karotz website and from other retailers.

The figurine is about 1.5″ tall and is made of polyurethane resin, cast from a handmade mold. Isaac’s adorable black eyes and anguished mouth are hand-painted and the whole thing is sealed with a glossy finish.

Escape to Etsy and pre-order the Isaac figurine for $20 (USD). Each figurine comes with a sticker of pixelated Isaac. Who is also crying.

[via Edmund McMillen]

LEGO said that they’re “developing a concept that celebrates the best aspects of building with the LEGO system and in Minecraft” and have not yet mentioned a release date or media of the actual products.

The images above are not from any official LEGO sets though – they’re just mock-ups made for Minecraft‘s CUUSOO page. But they look pretty Minecraft-ish enough. What’s next? Indiana Jones in Uncharted 4? Space Ghost in Ace Attorney 6? Ash Williams in Dead Rising 3? Gobots in Transformers 4? I can do this all day.

[via LEGO CUUSOO Blog via Brothers Brick]

Apparently, a guy from the LEGO site Brickset was at the 2012 UK Toy Fair and while he couldn’t get pics inside the booth to share, he was able to shoot a pic of a photo on the side of the booth showing off the new LOTR minifigs. The photo clearly shows that the entire fellowship of the rings is coming in Minifig form.

We also have a few hi-res LOTR movie-inspired posters here which LEGO was kind enough to share with us recently, featuring Frodo, Legolas and Aragorn in minifig form:

Brickset also reports there are a number of LOTR LEGO playsets coming too, and not just the minifigs. The early pics look really cool, and I bet LEGO fans that also love the films and the books will be salivating when they arrive. I’d keep an eye peeled during the New York Toy Fair in early February for more details to emerge, or bookmark LEGO’s LOTR web page, which indicates that something is coming in Summer 2012.

[via BrothersBrick]

The first set onto the scene is called the tiny 1:64 scale Death Star Attack set, and it comes with both X-Wing and TIE Fighters, pimped out with wheels on the bottom so they can speed around the slot track, which measures in at approximately 149 inches in total length. The ships are both lighted and the track even glows in the dark. I can only imagine that Luke could have skipped using The Force to find his way to the chewy middle of the Death Star had his path been guided by a slot track.

The second set is of the slightly more appropriate Battle of Endor, which comes in a 1:32 scale kit. It comes with a pair of speed bikes – one with Luke Skywalker, the other with a Scout Trooper – zipping along through the forests of Endor (or is that the California redwoods?) Sadly, the kit doesn’t come with any Ewoks you can run over, but there are a few standing by the side of the track trying to knock down some AT-ST walkers. Total track length for the Endor scene about 169 inches, which means that when you take the larger scale into account, you actually more bang for your buck with the Death Star scene.

All of the flying craft are held to the track with Scalextric’s “Magnatraction,” tiny neodymium magnets – but I imagine they still have to have wheels to get around. I don’t think they’ve quite worked out the quantum levitation thing on slot car sets yet.

There’s no word on a release date for either set, but Scalextric has them both listed on their website now. The Micro Scalextric Death Star set will retail for £69.99 (~$109 USD), while the larger Battle of Endor set is listed at £99.99 (~$156 USD). Be sure to stop by their site to be notified when they’re in stock.

You don’t have to feed the electronic goldfish, but you’ll need to install three AA batteries to power the mechanism that makes it zip around like real fish don’t.

Wow. That is one distractingly lively fish. Swim to ThinkGeek and pay $20(USD) to order your own Electronic Goldfish in a Bowl.

Zdz… made the mod for the PC version of the game and all the scary dragons have now been replaced with a cute, yellow My Little Pony that flies around burning stuff. The mod is called the “Pony Dragon Mod” and can be downloaded right now.

My Little Pony aficionados will recognize the pony here as Fluttershy.

[via Eurogamer]

These papercraft toys are just like the real things, only if you aren’t careful, you will get tons of paper cuts. Also, they don’t actually work. Both of these little toys are anthropomorphic of course, making them extra cute.

They were created by Marshall Alexander, a “paper engineer” in the Netherlands, in tribute to his favorite childhood toys. I would say that he did an excellent job.

If you want to download these and make them yourself, just go here. Then once they are assembled, display them proudly.

[via Superpunch]

He took a bunch of LEGO and built himself a nice replica of the taxi that is very realistic and looks a whole lot like the one from the movie. You can see from the photos that the car has every detail that I can recall – from the license plate to the doors that are hinged to open from the top.

The only thing missing from the model are minifig versions of Korben Dallas and LeeLoo. What do you think of this model? Is it missing anything you can recall?

It never ceases to impress when geeks can build things so accurate with LEGO and their imagination.

[Flickr via Brothers Brick]