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LEGO: Traditional Toys with Modern Tech Twists

Jon
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LEGO: Traditional Toys with Modern Tech Twists

We recently introduced you to Disney: Colour and Play, a great a traditional children’s past-time is adopting technology, but how are LEGO, one of the world’s favourite toys for kids and adults alike, using technology to stay relevant?

Perhaps the only thing to hurt your foot more than getting stood on by an elephant,  LEGO has been the toy that has moulded many a childhood and I count myself among them. From spending hours a day sitting on the floor constructing my latest “flying machine” or attempting create something that I could bate my brother over the head with, LEGO was possibly my favourite childhood toy.

LEGO block gifThese tiny little insignificant blocks have been used as a gateway to open a child’s ability to create, build, interact and play for nearly 80 years and I am absolutely delighted that LEGO has made a massive comeback in recent years due simply due to their willingness to move with the times. As technology has progressed so has the LEGO experience, as big cinematic releases from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings are now accompanied with LEGO games on the biggest consoles and mobile platforms.

Seeing the potent threat LEGO posed to the feet of the general public, the Danish company began investigating creation without actual bricks through the LEGO Digital Designer app for PC and Mac. Essentially this is a virtual LEGO box, a free virtual LEGO set you don’d have to tidy up after you empty the box out. This application allows you to build hundreds of different LEGO models on the computer screen and share them with others. The Danes also teamed up with Google to create an online virtual LEGO building platform through Chrome, and once again its free!

LEGO and Tech

Lego Life of GeorgeThere are now a number of LEGO themed apps that merge the traditional creation and building experience of the bricks with an interactive mobile experience. One former experiment was LEGO: Life of George, a game where players are timed to create a model from the bricks while simultaneously experiencing a digital element through your smartphone. After one of the 250 LEGO models was finished, a quick scan from the phone app would check it for accuracy, before assigning a score to the player and keeping track of progress. Unfortunately, LEGO closed Life of George for new players in December last year.

lego movie makerLEGO really have been at the cutting edge of merging technology with the physical, just check out the free LEGO Movie Maker app. Using this app and the camera on your phone it is easy for anyone to create a stop-motion animation, with the Mini-Figures and play sets. There are also loads of YouTube videos to help your along your way too. If you have seen The LEGO Movie then you already have an idea what the end product will look like. The app creates an animated sequence from your set in a similar look to that of the movie, The app includes all the tools required to create a cool animated sequence from virtual effects, music and sound effects. Once you have your raw sequence the app will then offer an editing suite and add the ability to upload to YouTube, perfect for a young budding Spielberg.

In fact the interface is simple enough that an 8-10 year old will be able to figure it out, making the only limitation the user’s imagination. Even an adult LEGO enthusiast or movie-making buff will appreciate what’s possible using nothing but the LEGO Movie Maker app with traditional LEGO toys.

Build your own Robot
Lego MindstormSo it’s obvious LEGO are no strangers to tech, but they really excel when it comes to Mindstorms. Mindstorms are a simply amazing robotics kit which basically allows a user to make and program a fully functioning robot designed around the famous little bricks.

There are roughly 17 different customizable robots which are capable of being programmed through an app that links to the robot via Bluetooth. The 3D building app offers interactive, step by step instructions for creating the various robots.  It is here where the app will also offer you the tools to program the robots to handle a wide range of tasks such as walking.

The Bottom Line

Although LEGO is older than my dad and me put together, its global appeal has never been bigger. There is no other toy in history which has managed to position itself in such a way as to create a product that transcends age and gender barriers to create cutting edge entertainment.

Whether you prefer to dig out the old box from the loft and start clipping pieces together or playing an interactive and action packed video game the underlying mentality and ethos of the brand remains a constant. The focus on unleashing creativity and capturing the imaginations of children and grown ups alike has and will always be a key focus for LEGO.

Now excuse me while I break out my old box and attempt to make my very own bat mobile and play “Everything is Awesome” on loop.

5 Pieces of Bond Tech that Really Exist

Jon
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5 Pieces of Bond Tech that Really Exist

In the past 50 years there have been 23 James Bond movies, all off which have featured lethal, futuristic, innovative and sometimes wacky gadgets. With the latest edition, Spectre, soon to be released we have decided to have a look at some of the tech which has transcended the silver screen and became residents of the real world. Here are our top 5 pieces of Bond tech that really exist.

Gyroplane, You Only Live Twice (1967)

real James Bond techThe Wallis WA-116 Series 1 gyroplane (AKA Little Nellie).  If you have seen movie you would know that this piece of kit has rockets, flamethrowers, guns, missiles , the works.

Little Nellie was actually flown in the film by its designer, Ken Wallis, the president of the British Rotocraft Association. Though only released in limited quantities to the public, this little flying machine was most definitely real.

Ring camera, A View to a Kill (1985)

real james bond techA device from the Roger Moore era, the same ring allowed Bond to covertly investigate Max Zorin’s home during a garden party, the ring camera is tiny even by today’s standards.

real james bond techHowever nowadays miniaturized camera are everywhere like in the “Camer-ing”, a discreet digital camera built into a ring. Designed by Hveonsik Studio & Jean Yengwon. All we await is for this secret agent tech to reach production.

Sony Ericsson K800, Casino Royale (2006)

real james bond techCrazy to think how far phones have come over the last decade, as in 2006 Daniel Craig was show cases the latest and greatest in phone technology the Sony Ericsson K800i cyber-shot. Now this was an amazing piece of equipment, it has GPS and a fast 3.2 mega pixel camera, a new revelation at this time.

In Casino Royale, it was one of the few times Bond relied on a gadget anyone could get their hands on. It was such hit a limited edition was released to cash in on its supporting role in the movie.

real james bond techAs usual the movie version had some features such as an injectable sensor that could monitor Bonds vital signs (when he poisoned in the casino). This might sound odd but there has been talk of particular manufactures (Apple) hoping to make this feature a reality.

Remote-Controlled Doors, Thunderball (1965)

real james bond techOk, nothing new to us now but at the time this was astonishing stuff. The tech at this time was only roughly ten years old, so you can imagine the audience reaction when Emilio Largo pushes a button on a pocket size device and the doors to the SPECTRE briefing room open.

As I said this is not new to us now as it can be seen on most American garages, and private home gateways. Sure now there’s even apps that will do the exact same job but none of this is  the same as the opening up of the gateway to the world’s best spies world.

Polarizing Sunglasses, A View to a Kill (1985)

Roger Moore really did get some awesome gadgets and the Polarizing sunglasses are no different. In “ A View to a Kill” these special sunglasses allowed Bond to see through tinted windows. Something that is very handy for Bond to have in his repertoire.

real bond techHowever Oakley , the sunglasses manufacturer’s not only created a pair of glasses with polarized lenses but it also included integrated headphones, a 128MB music player and Bluetooth! They don’t look half bad either, just imagine Mr. Bond in the Aston Martin wearing a set of these.

Roaming Charges to be abolished in EU

Marty
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Roaming Charges to be abolished in EU

When going on holidays, there is always the fear you’ll bring home either a nasty itch or a shocking mobile phone bill. Thankfully half of these problems will be abolished by a new EU initiative.

By mid-June 2017, new orders from the EU will have roaming charges curtailed across the European Union. While caps have been put in place in recent years and the cost of using your mobile reduced, these new initiatives will allow you to use your mobile phone while within the EU just as if you were at home.

So now that Instagram post of your snails in France won’t have to wait until you get back to the hotel, but it will have to wait until 2017.

5 Times Tech has been completely shite

Marty
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5 Times Tech has been completely shite

We live in a world of high speed broadband on the go, with devices in our pockets providing more power than computers that put man on the moon. Bearing this in mind, there’s be a fair few times technology has simply been complete shite.

Smart Watch Nonsense

useless apple watchWe’ll be the first to admit to hypocrisy on this one, as we’re Pebble users and Huawei Watch fanboys. Moving that to the side, smart watches are a load of balls. They do little more than tell the time and update you on friends Facebook statuses. What do you get in return? A device you most likely forgot to bring to work because you took it off to charge, just like you have to every single day. What do you pay for this chore? A huge amound of moola, with the entry level Apple Watch costing over 400 bucks!

Google Glasses

useless google glassTechnology sometimes fails at “The America Stage”. That is where tech doesn’t get to the point where the states exports it. Google Glass kind of fits this bill, as it was extremely uncommon to see these devices out and about. We spotted two people at Web Summit last year and from that very moment, we vowed that glasses are one wearable we will not adopt. Man those lads looked so incredibly stupid. That’s all we really have to say about that. Stupid creation, looked stupid and has since gone away.

Handsfree Kits

useless headsetNothing says I’m a really busy and grumpy courier like wearing a bluetooth earpiece while you drive from A to B. Now don’t get us wrong, we’re big believers in the importance of road safety and don’t think you should be using your phone at all while driving. Handsfree kits are a distraction when you drive but they also make you look like the aforementioned angry courier. Then you forget to charge it once, or lose the charger etc and then it’s thrown in the glove box forever. No thanks.

Xbox Kinect

useless kinectComing home and shouting “Xbox On” about three or four times is great craic, but it’s not the most efficient way of powering on the old home entertainment system. You could be alone at home and you’ll still feel a bit of a pillock trying to coax the console into doing what you what by shouting at it. That said, it’ll cool when it does actually work, but you’ll have already wasted at least five times the time taken to do the job with a controller. There are also barely any games that need or use Kinect, although we’ve picked up a few yellow cards for abusing refs in FIFA 16.

Arguably, you could add all things that use voice control. Looking at you Siri.

Electric Cars

clamp
Yup, just off Aungier Street was an electric car charging and got themselves clamped.

See also, gas cars. We recently spotted an electric car parked in front of a charge station. That car was clamped. What’s funny about this is.

  1. We saw an electric car
  2. We saw a charge station
  3. The two of these were together being punished

You’re likely to never see the above yourself, as electric cars don’t like leaving Dublin. These elusive beasts feed on extremely rare charge stations only found in the most useless of places. Even upon finding these charge stations, the cars could be then held captive. A horrible life, most would rather stay away from by sticking to the tried and tested. If you hope to see the likes of Tesla on Irish roads becoming more common, we’ll be waiting for quote some time. Don’t forget, most of the electricity comes from fossil fuels…so you know…swings and roundabouts.

And yes, it’s the exact same for gas that was tried out a few years ago by like 12 people. Awful shame.

Update: Tesla and electric cars have since made fairly massive strides in Ireland, so open mouth, inster humble pie. You can read more about it over here.

The Internet VS First World Problems

Marty
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The Internet VS First World Problems

Every day, we encounter the slight inconvenience inducing threat of First World Problems. Thankfully, the creation of the internet coupled with smart phones have built bridges for us to stroll over these minor day to day inconveniences.

Ordering Takeaway

ordering takeaway over the phoneWhat is it about actually calling takeaways we all hate so much? Perhaps it’s the fact there are 5 other people in the room that could have taken the responsibility and you’re raging that it fell to you to make the call. Perhaps instead it’s the fact they’re likely to not hear you, mess up and all your friends will blame you. What ever the reason, ordering takeaway online has grown in popularity with two massive names currently battling it out for our custom at the minute in JustEat.ie and Marvin.ie.

More than likely owing to the fact everything is written in black and white, the chances of your order being messed up are less likely online. There’s no messing around with cash and there’s no awkward shouting “number 45” down the phone a million times. Yay for ordering takeaways online.

Getting a Taxi

hailing a taxiSticking out your hand and having the taxi drive passed, is perhaps the greatest rejection many will experience since not getting the shift at a teenage disco. Well fear rejection no more, as apps like Uber and Hailo mean you can sit in the warmth of your gaff as the taxi does the chasing.

If you’ve had a few too many scoops and left your phone in the taxi, Hailo lets you contact your driver the next day. Sharing a taxi with friends? Uber lets you split the fair across different cards. And then there’s once again the fact you don’t need cash, just a card that’s linked to your account.

Renting a Movie

3f4e41b472f8d40aea4cb1e73f0167bbFirst of all, why was there never a parking spot near the video store? Why was there always that creepy guy who came out of the adult section just as you were dropping back your movies? And why did they always assume you didn’t rewind the video while giving you evils? Ah yes, the humble video store. Many’s a time you’d rock in excited to watch the latest movie only to find they’ve rented out their two copies before recommending a sub-par alternative. DVD came along with a new threat; getting a scratched DVD. Christ, the horror of it all.

Enter Netflix. Sure enough, Netflix comes with its own problems, such as a burning desire for everyone to access US Netflix, but it has really made watching movies and TV simple. Leaving the house and interacting with people is fast becoming a thing of the past. For the price of one or two rentals a month you get access to the entire Netflix database. If you haven’t already signed up, download Upflix, an app that lets you peruse the entire catalog of movies and see if it’s for you.

Queuing for Beer

giphyThe loud hearty roar of “HEAVE” is heard only during a game of rugby or ordering pints on the weekend. Getting to the bar to grab a pint can be like trying yo get U2 tickets. Even for the likes of these, there is an app. Yes, you too can avoid the queues for beer if you are in the right place. Currently in around 30 Dublin bars, Orderella allows you to have your pints and cocktails delivered straight to your table.

We’ll be living the life of Wall-E in no time!

Has technology made your life ever so slightly easier? Let us know how in the comments below.

Goos3D takes Bronze and the Blog Awards 2015

Marty
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Goos3D takes Bronze and the Blog Awards 2015

In just under two years, Goos3D has experienced some ups and downs, but last night we had one of our latest highs. At a ceremony in Dublin’s Tivoli Theatre, we were announced as the Bronze Winner in the Best Digital and Tech Blog category.

bronze

Given the competition that was present in this category, we’re absolutely over the moon and just wanted to take a second to thank everyone who’s got us to this point. Huge thanks to the Blog Awards Ireland, who put together and amazing roaring twenties style show.

screenFinally, we’ve gotta tip caps to the competition we came up against, in particular Ireland’s Technology Blog who brought home silver and the amazing Game-Smack who nabbed the gold. Congratulations to everyone!

From ourselves, we’re going to be pressing on from here to get Goos3D into an even stronger position and bringing you even more news, reviews and genuine tech tips and tricks that will improve your live a little – all while being a bit of craic.

Back to the Future: Now the present

Marty
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Back to the Future: Now the present

30 years ago, a brave young man by the name of Marty McFly, blasted into 2015 at 88 miles per hour in a DeLorean time machine. While we’re waiting for Marty to arrive, we’ve taken a look at the predictions the Back to the Future II movie made in 1985. The film got a lot more right than many give it credit for!

Fashion

The biggest let down were the fashion predictions from the Back to the Future movies. We still tie our own shoelaces, our jackets don’t fit perfectly or dry at the touch of a button, but most importantly, we, with the exception of Miley Cyrus,  don’t look like these guys…

Automatic Dog Walkers

Okay, so we’re calling this a near miss. While we still have to take our madras for a walk ourselves, we do have hoovers that roam the house while we’re away…not a bad try Back to the Future.

Technology

Of course, this had the biggest margins for error, but Back to the Future did immensely well.

Biometrics

What is biometrics? Most new phones are stuffed with biometrics. They’re basically fingerprint scanners or retina scanners. Yup, it’s really grown in the past few years, making its way onto the biggest handsets on the market, while generally becoming quite popular with users. Chances are most people use biometric scanning at least once a week to clock in at work, unlock a laptop or unlock their phone.

Phone Glasses

One of the gadget world’s biggest failed glories in recent years has been Google Glasses. Granted, everyone looks stupid in them and they don’t do a whole lot, Google Glasses were still quite a distance from their Back to the Future counterparts. Nonetheless, a fair attempt from the guys 30 years ago.

Hovercams

Back to the Future was frightfully accurate with this one. The past year has seen a massive surge in the use of Drones for capturing still and video images. At the recent Web Summit in Dublin, it was said that these will grow steadily in Ireland as US aerospace laws are extremely strict. Regardless, they are already being used to capture media and could replace traditional cameramen at some stage!

Hoverboard

This is the biggest wish of everyone. Sure we would all kill ourselves off a skateboard in two seconds, but we’d all be able to master a HOVERBOARD. Would you believe these things are closer to reality than you may think.

So yeah, hoverboards exist. While there is an abundance of fake videos, a real company going by the name Hendo has a real working Hoverboard. Hendo has just completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and enlisted Tony Hawk to demo their product. There are flaws, but I’m pretty sure this video would have blown some minds back in the eighties…

While we’re still a bit away from the Back to the Future Hoverboard, maybe this single wheel board will do for another while.

Truth be told, Back to the Future didn’t so much predict hoverboards. They more created a massive demand for the technology leading to companies researching the skateboard-like devices for plausibility.

Flying Cars

Miss. Unfortunately, cars are well and truly planted on the tarmac, with the exception of those weird aero-cars, but that’s another story!

So there you have it. Back to the Future II didn’t do too bad of a job predicting at all. Granted they didn’t predict mobile phones and thought fax would be the next big thing, but still, some of their predictions are a hell of a lot better than Keith Barry’s Christmas predictions.

The Student Games: 100m scroll

Marty
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The Student Games: 100m scroll

Every now and then there’s a game that students will worship like a god, simply because this is was the Uni library computers are for. For me it was 8 ball pool, but how about testing your fingers versus Usain Bolt?

The 100 Meter Scroll is an amazing idea and also an extremely well executed one. You’re at the start of the 100 meter sprint, but you’re legs are no good to you now. Instead, your success will be measured by scrolling ability. Once finished, you should definitely post on our Facebook page and share a screenshot with friends to see if you can be beaten.

Now we’ve set our time with no practice and most importantly no mouse. We used a touch pad, leaving us at an obvious disadvantage. Think you can beat us?

100 meter scroll

Why is #BoycottStarWarsVII trending?

Marty
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Why is #BoycottStarWarsVII trending?

People are all over the tweet machine right now wondering why in the namea jaysus is #BoycottStarWarsVII trending. It’s a fair question with a simply stunning answer. Apparently, the new Star Wars movie is racist.

Yup, no word of a lie. A small group have emerged claiming that the new Star Wars movie should be boycotted as they have perceived an increase of multiculturalism, leading to the only logical conclusion that there was a white genocide and the Star Wars franchise is now anti-white.

While @genophilia is sticking to their guns and refusing to pay to see the new Star Wars movie in support of their #BoycottStarWarsVII campaign, no one can blame them for still wanting to see it right? That might explain why they re-tweeted this competition to get tickets! You couldn’t make it up. boycottstarwarsVII   So let’s take a moment to think. White supremacists have taken offense to a perceived increased multicultural cast in the new Star Wars movie, and are vehemently boycotting the new movie. Gobshites. We’re with this guy.

 Surely Jar Jar Binks was the best chance to boycott the franchise?

Fallout 4: Limited Edition Xbox One Controller

Marty
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Fallout 4: Limited Edition Xbox One Controller

We’ve made no secret of our child-like excitement for the impending launch of Fallout 4, with mini games like Fallout Shelter doing little to quench our thirst for rad infected Nuka Cola. Bethesda would appear to be onto us, and are drip feeding the masses with small nuggets of nerdgasmic Fallout bits and bobs, such as a phone holding Pipboy which will be compatible with an in game mobile app.

Well they aren’t finished yet, as the latest piece of limited edition gear started appearing online today. Xbox One users would appear to be getting a limited edition Fallout 4 controller…behold the beauty…

Fallout 4 Controller

This controller will be part of a sale on the Bethesda store itself, and currently there is no sign of an equivalent controller appearing on PlayStation.

Everything is pretty boggo-standard with the controller except the fact it ditches the custom Microsoft microphone interface and replaces it with a much more user friendly 3.5mm jack (the same one your phone has). This should make the use of headphones much simpler with Fallout 4, so when you’re playing at 5am in the morning, you won’t wake the house.

Fallout 4 is set for launch on November 10th.

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