By using a combination of Bionicle, System, and Technic, I have created an adorable mouse.

It gets better.  More cute pictures are on MOCpages.  Go on, click the link.

Adventures in the Aviation Hub in Campus with Mecha Musume Tsukasa.

Spent some time inside the aviation hub over at the School of Engineering as the plans for a outdoor shoot was scrapped due to bad weather =/

Before you even enter the area, you’ll be greeted with this Plane! No idea what plane this is though.

Soaring indeed! i caught no ball in there!

The hub sure ain’t lacking anything to teach the students or even the visitors about the operation of air planes.

Talk about 1/1 Scaled Landing gear!

Some engines lying around.

The fancy designs are not just there for show. The students will do some complex operations on the gear which are actually displayed in the area.
Talk about efficiency!

0_0! I was just as confused as Tsukasa while i was in there.

The place is seriously overflowing with the jargon of aerospace junkies!

Apparently the students study charts of airplanes and whatnots. Above is the chart of an Airbus A380.

Part of an Airplane aluminum body.

As much as Tsukasa is a Mecha Musume, her Klutz-lessness ensures that she does not know how to disarm the armor without permission! ;P

Blending the background a little ^^;

Tsukasa on the controls

Posters of cockpits on the wall couldn’t stop me from defying gravity!

As far as model planes go, they too have quite alot of them! Need to get my hands on some of these in an attempt to improve my Girls!

No! Tsukasa! no!!!

DON’T DRAIN OUT OUR AIR! *Dies*

Spent the rest of the time with Scorch&Roses in multiple attempts to slay a HR 9 Rathalos – Failed in every single attempt though!

This is Part of the “School Life in Singapore” Series.

01 – Back to School

02 – Greenery in School

03 – The School’s Library

As a default, Foxit would be executed as an Administrator.
Search Foxit Reader.exe in Program Files, and
check off Administrator option.

This is Mecalix, lone Glatorian.  He was Once the mighty leader of the b0ne hunters, untill they rebelled agianst his rule.    Hunted by his former subjects, an unknowing agori invited him to fight for his tribe.  However, once the agori found out his past, he was banished and has roamed the wastelands since, taking captive any agori or bone hunter he crosses.

I tried multiple, more creative approaches to the legs and arms, but this simply looked best.  He’s actually an entry for the glatorian building challenge in the Lego Club Magazine.

This is a Pterodactyl skeleton that I built.  In all honesty, were it green, it could be a live pterodactyl.

This model also demonstrates the difference between the new and old ball joint ball pieces (parts 4286267, new, and x201 [full piece number unknown], old).  This picture shows the elements better.

Both elements, of course, can fit into ball sockets and be stuck on the end of a x axle.  But each of them also have a few unique qualities.  The older version can fit a stud (see the pterodactyl’s neck) and has a x axle opening on only one end- giving it a rounder look, like a cannonball.  Standard lego builders find this version of the piece more useful.

The new version is known for its ability to have a x axle stuck entirely through it.  This makes it invaluable as a bionicle knee and elbow joint, as demonstrated countless times on Bioniblog.  It cannot, however, fit a stud.

Neither element sd more useful than the other in general- both element’s usefulness, like any element’s usefulness, is governed by situation and creativity.

I am reading Jeff Leatham’s books about floral design and his famous floral decoration at the hotel Georges V in Paris. One of Jeff’s signature statement is to display a bunch of flowers sideways in a big glass vase.

On the left is one of Jeff’s creation, and on the right is mine of glads and grass imitating his style.

Florists are inventing technic more and more difficult and complicated to create gorgeous floral sculpture. However, what I prefer personally is always simple and natural bouquets without complicated technique but with good taste for color and harmony.

Picture on the left: Courtesy Jeff Leatham

If you’ve paid attention to any of the multitude of LEGO blogs, forums and photo sharing sites lately, you’ve probably started hearing rumors or seeing thumbnails of what will be available in 2010. Several of the much talked about themes are the new LEGO Toy Story, Prince of Persia, and Atlantis. Although I like to see the newest sets as soon as possible. sometimes the thumbnail images are so small and blurry that its almost not even worth trying to decipher what they are supposed to be.

At a recent sponsored event in Russia called Festival Rossiyskogo Fan Forum LEGO Alexander posted pictures of some of the 2010 sets that LEGO displayed.

Update: Looks like all the images were taken down. I guess we’ll just have to wait a little to see the official images.

He took several pictures. From what I saw, 2010 is going to be another great year for LEGO.

THE STRANGEST WRITING MONK I’VE EVER MET

robotlab . Matthias Gommel, Martina Haitz, Jan Zappe

bios [bible] . The Bible Scribe
2007

The installation ‘bios [bible]‘ consists of an industrial robot, which writes down the bible on rolls of paper. The machine draws the calligraphic lines with high precision. Like a monk in the scriptorium it creates step by step the text.

Starting with the old testament and the books of Moses ‘bios [bible]’ produces within seven month continuously the whole book. All 66 books of the bible are written on rolls and then retained and presented in the library of the installation.

‘bios [bible]’ is focussing on the questions of faith and technical progress. The installation correlates two cultural systems which are fundamental for societies today – religion and scientific rationalism. In this contexts scripture has all times an elementary function, as holy scripture or as formal writing of knowledge.

In computer technology ‘basic input output system’ (bios) designates the module which basicaly coordinates the interchange between hard- and software. Therefore it contains the indispensable code, the essential program writing, on which every further program can be established.

www.robotlab.de

In den letzten Tagen wird die Handhabung von Tools welche man im Zusammenhang mit Web 2.0 erwähnt immer wieder diskutiert. Zum einen im Zusammenhang mit der persönlichen Benutzung von Tools wie Facebook, StudiVZ oder Twitter wenn es um die eigene Karriere oder Bewerbung geht. Ein Großteil der deutschen Unternehmen “durchleuchten” ihre Bewerber vor dem eigentlichen Bewerbungsgespräch im Internet. Die Bedeutung solcher Tools welche dem Unternehmen als zusätzliche Informationsquelle diesen, ist nicht immer jedem Benutzer oder Kandidaten klar. Es gilt aber hier auch wieder festhalten, daß jeder einzelne für die Dinge verantwortlich ist welche er in irgendwelche Tools stellt. Man sollte sich also vor dem upload von irgendwelchen Fotos Gedanken machen, ob es wirklich gut und notwendig ist diese Fotos ins Netzt zu stellen. Die Transparenz wird immer mehr zunehmen und den Vorteil welchen man vor einiger Zeit noch als Bewerber hatte, sich Online über das Unternehmen seiner Wahl zu erkundigen besteht nun auch für das Unternehmen. Es ist also nicht zwingend ein Nachteil für Leute die diese Tools benutzen, wenn man dies mit Überlegung tut.

Es gibt aber auch andere, wie ich finde positive, Beispiele für die Einbindung von Web 2.0 Tools in den (neuen) Alltag. Die Wahlsendung auf Sat1 “Ihre Wahl” hat den Anfang gemacht, was die Einbindung von Twitter in die Fernsehwelt angeht. Die Interaktion mit dem “Volk” nimmt dadurch zu und es ergeben sich mit Sicherheit in Zukunft ganz andere Sendungskonzepte. Der Wähler nimmt direkt an der “Runde” teil und fühlt sich vielleicht auch mehr “gehört” und verstanden. Dies hilft vielleicht auch dabei, die Politikverdrossenheit in Deutschland etwas einzuschränken. Die Methoden aus den USA welche mit B. Obama begonnen haben, scheinen nun auch in Deutschland angekommen zu sein. Vielen Parteien und Politiker haben einen Twitteraccount und machen durch auch Gebrauch davon. So wird auch der Bundestagsabgeordnete etwas transparenter und evtl. auch leichter erreichbar für den Bürger welchen er ja am Ende vertritt.

Auf jeden Fall werden die kommenden Wahlen (ob Bundes- oder Landtagswahlen) mehr und mehr auch von diesen Tools beeinflußt und evtl. sogar entschieden werden. Es ist schön zu sehen, daß auch die Politik sich auf Neue Wege der Kommunikation einläßt und die Kommunikation anzunehmen scheint welche die Bürger vorziehen.

…I make the most fragile pianos available.  This piano is a combination of system and technic.

I apologize for the bad photo quality.  Here’s a picture showing how I connected the black baseplate to the rest of the creation.

Of course, lego pianos aren’t new.  Look here, here, and here.

That’s what HAM V stands for.  With three concealed weapons, it’s quite formidable.

Dry Ice Bubble

The last British veteran of the First World War is dead.

Dictionary editors have to balance kitsch and the development of language.

Artificial intelligence scares many computer scientists.

Cruise ship impales whale.

Assisted suicide is up for debate at the British Royal College of Nurses.

ผมเคยเขียนเรื่องเกี่ยวกับ Product Development ของ LEGO มาครั้งหนึ่ง แต่เห็นว่าเรื่องของการทำ Market Segmentation ของ LEGO นั้นก็เป็นกลยุทธ์ที่สำคัญของเขาในการที่จะ ตีตลาดของเล่นเด็กนะครับ เรื่องของ Product Development กับ Segmentation มันก็ควรจะไปด้วยกันอยู่แล้วหล่ะ LEGO เขามีวิธีการทำเรื่องพวกนี้อย่างไรบ้างพอทราบกันไหมครับ ^^

ในส่วนตัวของผมนั้นมองว่า LEGO เขามีการ Generate Product ออกเป็น 3 Segment ใหญ่ๆ ได้แก่ เด็กทารก (ดูโป้) เด็กวัยประถม (เลโก้) จนกระทั่งเด็กที่เรียนมัธยมต้น (เทคนิค) ซึ่งผลิตภัณฑ์ของทั้ง 3 Segment เนี่ยจะมี Character ที่แตกต่างกันในเชิงของ Product to Customer และ Sub-Segmentation ด้วยละครับ หมายความว่าในตัวของเลโก้เองก็ยังมี Product ที่จะ Serve Segment ย่อยๆในจตัวเขาอีก

ดูโป้ (Duplo) จะเป็น Segment ของเด็กทารกจนกระทั่งเดินได้ สินค้าของดูโป้นั้นจะทำเป็นตัวต่อแบบใหญ่ๆ ต่อง่ายๆ มีไม่กี่ชิ้น นั่นรวมถึงเป็นอุปกรณ์ที่อยู่บนเปลของเด็กและสิ่งที่เป็นพัฒนาการของเด็กวัยแรกเกิด ที่เขา Design ให้เป็นชิ้นใหญ่ๆก็ประจวบเหมาะกับวัยของเด็ก เพราะเด็กบางทีไม่รู้เรื่องอะไรหรอก เอาเข้าปากทุกอย่าง ยิ่งช่วงฟันขึ้นก็จะกัดๆๆๆ ดูโป้จึงออกมาเป็นตัวต่อแบบใหญ่ๆ ถ้าในวัยนี้ให้เด็กเล่น LEGO อาจจะติดคอตายก็ได้

เลโก้ (LEGO) อันนี้จะมีหลาย Sub-Segment เด็กที่เล่นเลโก้นั้นจะเป็นวัยประถม ซึ่งในวัยนี้จิตวิทยาของเด็กมันเปลี่ยนจากตอนทารก คือเด็กเริ่มจะเล่นกันหลายๆคน ชายไปเล่นกับชาย หญิงไปเล่นกับหญิง เลโก้เลยออกมาเป็น Segment ที่แบ่งกลุ่มในแนวราบ เป็นส่วนของ  City เล่นได้ทั้งชายและหญิง Paradise สำหรับเด็กผู้หญิง อันนี้ก็จะเป็นลักษณะของดินแดนแห่งความหรรษาของผู้หญิง มีแบบกลุ่ม Middle Age ที่เป็นกลุ่มอัศวินและกลุ่มของ Space ที่เป็นยานอวกาศที่เจาะกลุ่มเด็กผู้ชาย รวมไปถึง LEGO ที่ออกแนว Fantasy ที่ไป Co-Production กับพวกภาพยนต์ต่างๆ

กลุ่มสุดท้ายจะเป็น Technic อันนี้จะเป็นการต่อลักษณะที่ลง Detail ซึ่งมี Logic ที่สูงมาก เหมาะกับเด็กวัยที่โตในระดับหนึ่งเช่นกลุ่มของวัยรุ่น เริ่มมีเรื่องเครื่องจักรกล กลศาสตร์เข้ามาเกี่ยวข้อง ผมว่าเหมาะกับการโตไปเป็นวิศวะกรอย่างแรงเลยนะเนี่ย ต่อเป็นรถ อุปกรณ์ เครื่องจักร อันสุดท้ายไม่ค่อยมี Story เท่าไหร่ และผมก็ดูว่ามันไม่ค่อยน่าสนใจมากเพราะเด็ก มัธยมนั้นเริ่มจะไม่ค่อยเล่นของเล่นแล้ว ไปเล่นฟุตบอล เล่นกีฬา เล่นดนตรี จีบสาว ตัว Technic จึงเป็นตัวที่ค่อนข้างออกแบบเป็นของเล่นเฉพาะทางสำหรับกลุ่มที่สนใจจริงๆ

อันนี้ก็เป็นการวิเคราะห์ของผมเองนะครับ ลองนำไปศึกษาดูกันต่อนะครับ

Some very funny tricks to make better pictures

There was a time when I was almost positive that I wanted to be an architect or an engineer. Much of this belief stemmed from the many childhood years I spent in a little corner of my room, rummaging through a large box of cluttered and mismatching LEGO pieces. From building doorbells so that my parents would have to ‘ring’ before entering my room, to TECHNIC robots that completely demolished my younger brother’s DUPLO castles – I had a blast of a time coming up with all sorts of random inventions.

Some kids followed the instruction manuals step by step, page by page, and after wards left their finished masterpieces out on display. I on the other hand, would build it once, then demolish it and mix up all the pieces into my pit of ‘Lego doom’ (to my parents dismay), destined to never find their matching pieces ever again. On the positive side however, they would soon find themselves a part of something completely new and exciting, like… a pencil sharpener! If Lego pieces could talk, I’m sure they would’ve thanked me for giving them a refreshing take on their otherwise boring and generic plastic life.

Would love to know what people’s preferences were with Lego as a child. Please answer my poll below if you have the time. And no lying now… (you should know better! tsk tsk).

Looking back, and seeing the amount of Lego creativity I had mustered up at such a young age, I think I would have made an amazing industrial designer, or at the very least, a creator of uber trendy postmodern Lego fashion.

Who knows – it’s never too late they say. But in the meantime, I’ll just continue drawing inspiration from the inventive, surreal Lego artwork by Nathan Sawaya (shown at top).

LONG LIVE LEGO!

The day for the official download of apple’s OS 3.0 for the iPhone was coming yesterday. Initialy I was not fully convinces to start the download right away on the first day based on two facts. First of all I don’t want to have the stress in the evening when something is not working as it should. The second point that stopped me initialy was that based on the experiences from the previous upgrade, where most iPhone user around the globe pushed the download button in sync. I don’t want to struggle with the download but at the end the story is different as expected. The download runs very smooth about app. 15 mins or so and at the end everything was working fine. The Sync happends and there it was…. OS 3.0 with all the little but nice enhancements.

For persons with the first edition without and ‘G’ or ‘S’ in the name it is “only” a software upgrade but even in this case the functions are very nice and helpful. As mentioned in the last post here also the expectations about the longer battery life after you have fully charged exists. The Audio Memo function to made some minor audio memos and in fact maybe an interview for a podcast and the ability to rework it on the phone is amazing.
I think I don’t need to mention the copy&paste function again and the fact that this function was strongly needed regardless of the version of your iPhone.

Besides the good improvements above and from the other blog entry here I don’t see any other major improvments so far for user of the initial edition (‘2G’). The other real improvements like the Video, better Camera and MSS is only available for the “3G” and/or “3GS”.

One thing I am not happy about is the fact that even the MSS-function is not available for “2G”-User.

I don’t know if everybody out there knows that in some german cities you have to buy a badge for your car which is available in three different cours. In green, yellow and red. When you have a new car and the emission should not be high you would get a green badge and you are allowed to enter the middle of the city. There are zones all over the city when you have to look if you are allowed to enter this zone with your particular badge. Yellow badges are for cars with a little higher emission and also allowed to enter the center of the city. When you have a old car and the appropriate red badge on it you are not any longer able to enter the middle of the city (only with special permission to do that). These zones are so called the “Umweltzone” and should indicate that all of these efforts mentioned before will have any benefit for the nature, people and climate. During the last couple of weeks and months there are ongoing discussions if this is realy the case. To be honest I don’t think so and after I saw e.g. the video from the Stockholm Project together with IBM I am quite sure there could be a better solution as a so called “Umweltzone”.
What are the benefits from such a badge? There are no real measurements where we see any progress. The only progress we may see is the growing business for car manufactors selling new cars to people who need to drive in the city but they have an old car and need the green badge. What will be when more and more people will not be able to buy a new car in the future due to her job situation? We have right now some areas of regression within the car industry, in the banking sector and on the jobmarket sector and all of that would build a never ending cycle. But the most important fact is that all of our current efforts will not bring enough benefit to the nature and the health of people and the earth.
Today was the first time I saw this Video attached here about the Stockholm Project and I think this should be a base for all the upcoming Projects in terms of Smarter Cities. The system, the idea and the process makes much more sense as the current german model with the “Umweltzone” (ironic word somehow) because you have here a real connection between the project, the effort and the result. I think we have to pay anyway somewhere in the future to drive into the city and in other cities this is allready the case. People are willing to pay for that but not without any sense behind it and without the chance to see any value by doing that.

I would like to see more projects like the Stockholm one in germany (and of course all over the globe) and let’s spend the money for the right Projects. These kind of Projects shows the real benefit of the combination of IT and humans and the vision of people starting any action.

When we in Hannover would have such a traffic system like in Stockholm we would also be able to manage the hard traffic during the Cebit, Hannover Fair etc. even better then now.