Posted by
Dan
at
9:38 PM
| Name of Model: LEGOLAND Windsor (official site) |
| Created by LEGO master builders |
| Found at: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=legoland+windsor&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=legoland+windsor&hnear=&ll=51.464002,-0.651981&spn=0,0.002401&z=19&layer=c&cbll=51.463973,-0.651837&panoid=XRJqwFcq_2nztA5zCm0jWA&cbp=12,18.2,,0,0.04 |
Details:
View Larger Map
Remember last year when Google made LEGOLAND California available on Google Street View? As of this week, they've now done the same for LEGOLAND Windsor. I'm not sure what's different, but I seem to be having an easier time getting around this park and finding interesting things - perhaps they've worked out some kinks since they first started trying to do park tours on their street view trike. As usual for these Google maps based jaunts, various photos from other sources of the park can be seen alongside the photos taken by Google.
Those of you not running flash are seeing a standard map embedded here - you'll want to open the link above in a web browser with flash to take this tour of LEGOLAND Windsor.
Spotted through Google Sightseeing, who also mentioned additional non-LEGO easter eggs found at the park.
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
10:07 AM
| Name of Model: Street View | | Created by: Google | | Found at: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Carlsbad,+California&sll=37.217206,-121.091309&sspn=2.340206,4.916382&ie=UTF8&ll=33.126568,-117.312092&spn=0.002403,0.004801&z=18&layer=c&cbll=33.126565,-117.312148&panoid=8ABq3zICFTOC-wYLJnhLdw&cbp=12,14.77,,2,3.94 | Details:
Here's the latest in mind-blowing news: Google has brought Street View into LEGOLAND California. The iframe below is a decent preview pane, but you should click on the link to see the full interface, complete with a walking minifigure where the Street View man would be. This is a pretty spectacular "easter egg" for Google's software, and a great way for those of us not near California to look around the park. You can see a pretty wide variety of things here - rides, stores, sculptures, miniland, etc. This is also a pretty great use of the "User Photos" feature - Google automatically cross-references locations and images in their virtual rendition of the park with photos taken by tourists, and you can pull them up as you browse around.
View Larger Map
Sorry if the preview pane doesn't show up - to put it bluntly, there are reasons I try to avoid using Flash (it never seems to work quite right, and I hate making people install a plug-in before they can view things). With any luck, it will show up properly on your end. In any case, I can see the full Street View web interface at the link above and it looks great there. You probably want to try this with that bigger viewing window anyway - you could spend a few hours doing a proper browse of the park!
| | ...and we're using this as Thursday's model of the day. Figures that mind-blowing news would break right while we're getting ready to head out to BrickFair! |
|
Posted by
Dan
at
10:30 PM
| Name of Model: Google Logo | | Created by: Sean Kenney | | Found at: http://www.seankenney.com/portfolio/google/ | Details:
 When Sean Kenney was commissioned by Google to create a mosaic of the Google logo out of LEGO, he decided to do something a bit different with the idea to make a more whimsical display. Look closely at this one and make sure you scroll down - there are quite a few bizarre things going on here. Most obviously, the mosaic is made out of a variety of LEGO parts and not just standard bricks. Further than that, though, parts are used to create shadows that give the illusion of a more curved appearance. It's like the great impressionistic painters' technique - it looks like lots of little random bits up close, but it looks like a traditional painting from afar. Oh, and there's studs-not-on-top details and a few actual rare colors thrown in there too.
| | This is Saturday's model of the day. |
|
|
|
Naturally, pretty much everyone who has heard of Google's "Android" platform has been disappointed that it's not even remotely related to the android-style robots it has taken its name from. Recently, they've been working on making it easier for robotics hobbyists to use the Android platform with various popular robotics platforms - including the NXT
. Since these are text heavy already (and you can browse through the links above to read about this at whatever level of depth you'd like), I'll leave it at that - start browsing at the links above for the news on the new App Inventor and Cellbots for Android. 
