Digital Digressions

Don't Have a Band? Don't Worry - Get a Robot!

This is just the best take on Christmas carols ever - my colleague Flemming Sorensen at LEGO who is simply a genius with all things mechanic, robotic or LEGO, decided to see just what a Mindstorms robot was capable of and here is one great take - Flemming and the robot playing Jingle Bells together. He's one of those people when you think you've hit a brick wall and an impossible task, ask Flemming and he'll do one of those wistful looks into the horizon and say: hmm... let's see.. and before you know it, he will have thought of something you didn't think could even be done. So get yourself in a Christmassy mood:

Or get the full Xmas medley here Christmas Medley with Mindstorms NXT Robot where the Mindstorms robot also plays a bagpipe solo all by itself!

Helmets aren't just for Astronauts.

Nick Larsen, the man behind the uber-cool Charge Bikes and the Charge Plug fixie I keep staring at longingly whenever I see one, just sent me this great video explaining the importance of wearing a helmet when cycling. I couldn't agree more as my run-ins with squirrels and most recently a car (!) are ample testament to the fact that helmets do work, they save your precious noodle and if you do bang your head, rather the helmet take the impact than your brain. We can get new teeth, new arms, skin will heal and bones will mend, but brains are harder to fix and since we only have one it's worth looking after as the kids in this video explain -

Exoforce for Real: Fully Functioning Exoskeleton for Humans

Some years ago I worked on LEGO Exoforce and inspired by the exoskeleton that Sigourney Weaver uses in the Alien movie, in addition to the Manga inspirations of Gundam and NeonGenesis Evangelion, the exoskeleton robots operated by tiny mini-figures took form.

Little did I know that only a year or two later, the technology would be available not just to play with as an idea in a toy, but something for us to try out for real. This video demonstrates the exoskeleton and sadly, here it is shown as something for the military to use, whereas I could see tons and tons of uses for it to help people in their day-to-day activities. Imagine no longer needing a wheel chair, just step into your exo and off you go.. dancing, running, walking up the stairs, playing ball - you name it.

The Death Star Canteen

Just en route to the States I came across this sent to me by both Alex Nisbett and Tracy Suff on Facebook so I owe you both for cheering me up in the midst of airport security, online check-in and bag-drops (here we come!!).. Imagine Darth Vader in the Death Star.. going down for some food..

For those of you who aren't familiar with the comedian doing the voice-over: check out Eddie Izzard and your world will never be the same!

Priceless comedy for a Monday

Many thanks to Mark over at Herd for reminding me of some of the classics in LEGO stop frame animation. These two were created by the chaps at Spiteyourface.com where you can find plenty more of their handywork.

A LEGO Factory making LEGO Cars..

I just couldn't resist this one - pure genius!

Imagine the time, talent and skill it took to create this. I'm humbled! My hat off to LEGO fans world wide!!

And to all those who would like the real factory making a LEGO car of their very own, don't forget LEGO Factory.

Robots on Candid Camera

Ever wondered just how much havoc you could cause by rigging up a robot in a shopping mall with a shouting challenge? This brilliant 'you've been framed' is simply hilarious.

Or how about trying to guard a bowl of sweets in a Supermarket - harder than selling ice cream to eskimos? Another hilarious candid camera feast with some finger-licking fun :)

LEGOworld 2006 Highlights

Earlier this month I attended LEGOWorld 2006 in Zwolle (19th - 24th October 2006), the Netherlands - the biggest annual LEGO event in the world, pulling together fans from all over Europe and visited by over 50 000 people over 6 days. It is an amazing feat of organisation, orchestrating many different groups and companies to deliver wonderful activities and experiences to all those who come. No, it is not just amazing models on display, but also tons of bricks for you to immerse yourself in and build whatever comes to mind, a true celebration of imagination where only the sky is the limit! Here's a short movie giving you a taste of the event:

Top 25 Video Sharing Sites

Having become a Youtube regular almost a little bit too soon, I decided to do a little investigation into what other sites are out there and how they rank in terms of the traffic they receive. They are ranked using Alexa traffic ratings as of October 03, 2006. Alexa traffic ratings are imperfect in several ways and measure page views not video views, but they do provide a good estimate for ranking purposes. Ranking numbers after each entry are for all sites on the web. (i.e. YouTube is the 10th most popular of all sites on the web, not video sharing sites.)

There are a several very popular video sharing sites that Alexa does not break out for ranking because they are sub-domains of larger sites. These include Yahoo Video, Goggle Video, MySpace, and AOL Uncut. All of these sites would rank high in the Top 30. Interestingly, Youtube leads the pack although I have seen reports recently of Google surpassing Youtube as the most popular video sharing site. This I cannot verify using the Alexa information, but could very well be. Given this amount of traffic it must cost Youtube about 1 million dollars a month to finance the bandwith required to service all the views, a considerable achievement for a company which still only employs around 60 people. Youtube claims to finance their activities solely through advertising, but that is still a tall order.. anyway - my musings aside, here's the list:

#1 www.youtube.com (Alexa Ranking #10)

#2 www.grouper.friendster.com (Alexa Ranking #40)

#3 www.photobucket.com (Alexa Ranking #73)

#4 www.metacafe.com (Alexa Ranking #141)

#5 www.break.com (Alexa Ranking #318)

#6 www.dailymotion.com (Alexa Ranking #709)

#7 www.ifilm.com (Alexa Ranking #1,062)

#8 www.bolt.com (Alexa Ranking #1,260)

#9 www.putfile.com (Alexa Ranking #1,294)

#10 www.vidilife.com (Alexa Ranking #1,813)

#11 www.buzznet.com (Alexa Ranking #1,960)

#12 www.grouper.com (Alexa Ranking #2,762)

#13 www.revver.com (Alexa Ranking #3,084)

#14 www.vsocial.com (Alexa Ranking #3,808)

#15 www.guba.com (Alexa Ranking #4,022)

#16 www.veoh.com (Alexa Ranking #4,041)

#17 www.yikers.com (Alexa Ranking #6,308)

#18 www.maniatv.com (Alexa Ranking #7,932)

#19 www.addictingclips.com (Alexa Ranking #8,352)

#20 www.vimeo.com (Alexa Ranking #9,043)

#21 Phanfare (Alexa Ranking #10,910)

#22 vMix (Alexa Ranking #15,252)

#23 CastPost (Alexa Ranking #15,376)

#24 Jumpcut (Alexa Ranking #19,689)

#25 Clipshack (Alexa Ranking #25,874)

Brickfest 2006 High-lights

LEGO is not just for kids - it's a creative medium capturing the imagination of people regardless of age and background and a means of showcasing some true talent and ingenuity - just check out these MOCs (my own creations) from Brickfest 2006, a recent gathering of LEGO enthusiasts in Vienna, Virginia, USA.

What made this event so memorable for me was how warmly and kindly we LEGO people were greeted by all and how everyone was so open and willing to share thoughts, ideas, experiences, suggestions for improvement etc. This was enormously inspiring and has injected all of us with bags of enthusiasm and passion to do more to support the amazing talent, creativity, skill and ingenuity that frankly had me humbled.