As technology continues to advance, iPhone users are constantly seeking ways to enhance their device’s efficiency and functionality. The introduction of third-party applications like Toolbox Pro and Actions has opened up a world of possibilities for customization and automation that go beyond the built-in features of iOS. This article delves into a range of innovative […]
The post 13 Amazing iPhone Shortcuts You Need To Try appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.
While all Transformers fans are tripping over Optimum Prime, it’s time to give the leader of the Decepticons his due chance. Yes, this self-transforming Megatron will win you over to join the bad side of the Transformers universe, the toy is that good. Created by Robosen Robotics in collaboration with Hasbro, the high-tech interactive collectible will force the inner child out of even the most serious middle-aged men.
Everything about this autobot is impressive, right from its design to the cool moves it is capable of. The Megatron is released as a limited edition collectible to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Transformers. Be informed that this thing comes at a steep price tag of $800 during the initial pre-order phase, and after that period the price is expected to shoot higher at around $1,200.
Designer: Robosen Robotics and Hasbro
With a simple voice command, the 21-inch Megatron transforms from a walking bipedal robot to a rolling tank. The way it changes personality in an instant is the most satisfying thing to watch. The voice commands further extend into triggering actions like firing plastic darts from the cannon or doing other cool tricks. It can also play out famous scenes from the franchise in the voice of actor Frank Welker with visual actions. Voice commands can be used to wake up the robot or even play Happy Birthday tunes. The servo motors and microchips let the user control it remotely from a smartphone with the companion app.
Get too close to the Autobot and it reacts to your touch, thanks to the touch sensors placed on the body. Don’t be surprised if it shouts out loud “You Fool” when touched on the front plate and picked up off the surface. In the tank mode, it can fire plastic cannons on voice commands and do a lot of other cool stuff you’ll love. The robot has a lot of servos and they are well concealed behind the clever spring-loaded flaps. Attention to detail is apparent here with small details like the automatically rotating logo when it converts from a tank to a standing robot.
The post Smart Megatron transforms into a tank, responds to voice commands and shoots projectiles first appeared on Yanko Design.
The Milky Way is estimated to have anywhere up to 400 billion stars, so it only made sense that LEGO’s reinterpretation of the galaxy was a chaotic combination of thousands of bricks too, right?! Designed for ages 18 and above, the LEGO Milky Way Galaxy (#31212) is a galactic hot-mess of plastic. With over 3000 bricks coming together to make the artpiece, this box-set is as challenging as it’s beautiful. The pieces are color-coordinated and come together beautifully to create the different bands of the galaxy we call home. There’s even a specific point on the painting where a ‘You Are Here’ tag marks the general location of our solar system, and by extension, us.
Designer: LEGO
Like most LEGO artpieces, this rendition of the Milky Way comes with a level of depth that a 2D printout can never have. The galaxy quite literally pops out of its frame, with the use of different bricks from all across LEGO’s catalog, creating beauty and unity in a kind of chaos that seems emblematic of our galaxy. No star or solar system is the same, which is why all the bricks are different too, with barely a few matches. Putting this artpiece together should either feel extremely confusing or rewarding!
The entire painting comes together with a staggering 3091 bricks, featuring popular celestial phenomena such as Trappist-1, The Pleiades, The Crab Nebula, and The Pillars of Creation. Given how detailed the entire artpiece is, it’s split into five panels for easy assembly, each accompanied by a dedicated instruction booklet, fostering a collaborative assembly experience for families and friend groups. To elevate the journey, each booklet unveils a curated soundtrack filled with fascinating Milky Way facts accessible via QR code. When complete, the entire piece measures a staggering 15.5 inches tall and 25.5 inches wide.
The LEGO Milky Way Galaxy starts at $199.99 and begins shipping on May 18, 2024.
The post This 3000+ brick LEGO Milky Way artpiece captures the chaos of our cosmic home first appeared on Yanko Design.
One of my plans in life when I eventually retire is to live somewhere near the beach and just have a daily walk along the shore. Aside from nature and people watching, another thing that I enjoy is to look at some of the things that people leave, intentionally or unintentionally, by the shore and in the water and wonder what’s the story behind it. Of course it’s not a good thing that these trash are left there so it will also be part of my routine to clean this up and think of ways to encourage people not to litter on the beach.
Designers: Shoma Furui and Kem Kobayashi
One idea that came from someone who has been seeing all these tiny pieces of trash left on the Makuhari Beach in Chiba City is to create a game out of them. Debris is a tower-stacking game similar to Jenga and Uno Stacko but is made from the marine plastic collected from the area. The tiles have different color patterns based on the season and the collection site where these microplastics came from. It uses VOC-free (no volatile organic compounds) and water-based acrylic resin as a binding agent.
While you’ll have fun playing the game (if this is your thing), the designer also wants to make Debris a way for consumers to engage with environmental issues. Regular beach clean ups do help keep the shore and water clean but there are also those tiny pieces that remain buried and erode into invisible microplastics. They have an effect on the marine environment that sometimes may not be so visible or obvious to us. Having a game made from these pieces can help us think about our effect on our environment.
It can also be interesting to think about what these colors and shapes were in their previous life as trash. But the important thing is that the materials and process in creating Debris is fully sustainable and it can be disposed of properly when you no longer need it. And hopefully, you get to think about what you’re doing to help preserve marine life and keep places like beaches a safe haven for all.
The post Tower game made from marine plastic helps you think about environmental impact first appeared on Yanko Design.
Architecture is more than just bricks and mortar; it’s a canvas for expressing cultural nuances, socio-cultural issues, and environmental concerns. From the grandeur of Romanesque cathedrals to the intricate designs of Gothic structures, architecture has long served as a medium of storytelling. In contemporary times, architects continue to push boundaries, as exemplified by architecture studio Wallmakers’ latest creation: Toy Storey, a circular home nestled in the verdant landscapes of Kerala, India.
Designer: Wallmakers
Established by Daniel in 2007, Wallmakers has earned acclaim for its innovative approach to design. However, their latest project takes innovation to a whole new level. Toy Storey isn’t just a residence; it’s a living monument to nostalgia, childhood, and environmental consciousness.
The concept behind Toy Storey is simple yet profound: repurpose discarded toys as structural components and decorative elements within the home’s walls. Approximately 6,200 toys, considered unsuitable for recycling, find new life in this unique dwelling. Plastic, a ubiquitous material in today’s world, particularly in the realm of toys, takes on a new identity, serving as a reminder of simpler times and prompting reflection on our consumption habits.
Located in Vadakara, North Kerala, Toy Storey’s design is deeply rooted in its surroundings. The circular layout, accessible from every side with a verandah supported by toys and old Mangalore tiles, harmonizes with the local landscape. The use of compressed stabilized earth blocks (CSEB) and Mangalore tiles, alongside toys, creates a visually striking facade that blends tradition with contemporary sensibilities.
The architectural ingenuity doesn’t end with the exterior. Inside, Toy Storey is a testament to thoughtful design and community-centric living. Divided into public and private segments, the home fosters a sense of togetherness while respecting the need for personal space. Japanese-style shoji screens serve as translucent partitions, allowing light and visual connectivity to permeate the interior.
The incorporation of a central courtyard and composite CSEB-Toy Jaali wall enhances cross ventilation and insulation, ensuring a comfortable living environment year-round. Additionally, a secluded basement level, accessed via a central staircase, offers space for a library and bedroom, further enriching the home’s functionality.
Toy Storey isn’t just a dwelling; it’s a conversation starter. It challenges conventional notions of architecture and consumption, urging us to rethink our relationship with the built environment and the objects that inhabit it. In a world saturated with disposable goods, Toy Storey stands as a beacon of sustainability and creativity, reminding us that even discarded items can find new purpose and meaning.
As Toy Storey demonstrates, architecture has the power to transcend mere functionality and become a reflection of our values, aspirations, and collective memories. In repurposing childhood relics to create a home, Wallmakers has not only crafted a physical structure but also woven a narrative that resonates with people from all walks of life. In the heart of Kerala, Toy Storey stands as a testament to the potential of architecture to inspire, provoke, and delight.
The post A Sustainable Circular Home that displays Discarded Toys on the Walls as Unique Decor first appeared on Yanko Design.
Arguably one of the best games from the last decade, Portal 2 still holds its own against games today. Sure, it isn’t open-world, doesn’t have NPCs, and the graphics aren’t bleeding-edge, but the game is a brilliant combination of storytelling, premise, and clever gameplay. For the uninitiated, Portal 2 is a game that has you escape from a dystopian prison using nothing but a teleportation gun. You can create portals that allow you to ‘tunnel’ through reality, and the game relies on your understanding of physics and geometry to help you navigate this futuristic labyrinth filled with occasional surprises and enemies. The portal gun is all you have, and it’s arguably the only thing you need.
Now sure, such a gun clearly doesn’t exist in real life, but this LEGO recreation from Hooded-Blaze sure has captured our fancy! Styled to be a perfect replica of the cyberpunk quantum gadget from the game, the Portal 2 Quantum Tunneling Device is made entirely out of LEGO bricks, and comes with its own stand, as well as the ability to alternate between shooting blue or orange tunnels, just like in the game!
Designer: Hooded-Blaze
Although Hooded-Blaze doesn’t specify how many bricks are used to build this MOC (My Own Creation), chances are the portal gun is just a smidge tinier than the real deal. With its cyberpunk stylings, the gun boasts a uniquely blobject-ish form, looking almost like a stormtrooper ant, with three pincers right in front of the repulsor. The repulsor feeds off a cell that sits in the middle of the gun, and altering the cell allows you to switch between blue and orange portals.
“This would be no doubt a fantastic LEGO set because of how large the Portal community is. Since its release, over 40 million players have played Portal 2 worldwide,” says LEGO builder Hooded-Blaze. This isn’t the first time they’ve submitted the portal gun to the LEGO Ideas forum. The previous fan-made submission crossed the coveted 10,000 vote mark on the LEGO Ideas website with overwhelming support from the communituy, but was rejected by LEGO’s internal team. “Since the last time this LEGO Ideas project was released, it has been redesigned to be stronger internally and externally and more aesthetically pleasing, with some key components staying the same,” Hooded-Blaze mentions. “I have built a physical prototype of the Portal Gun from what LEGO I had. I have learnt a lot from the mistakes I made on the previous version, and it has been significantly improved since.”
With over 7,000 votes, the LEGO Ideas Portal 2 Quantum Tunneling Device is well on its way to crossing the 10,000 vote mark yet again. You can vote for the entry on the LEGO Ideas website too. Maybe this time the LEGO gods will listen to us and turn this into a box-set that we all can buy and secretly ‘pew-pew’ with when we’re bored!
The post This LEGO version of the Portal 2 Gun won’t help you teleport, but it looks stunningly real first appeared on Yanko Design.
They say you shouldn’t play with your food… but that’s precisely what the Gummyquest was designed for. These mouthwateringly mythical treats were designed to make your game nights fulfilling as well as filling! Meet Gummyquest, an all-encompassing kit of more than 150 characters straight out of a fantasy roleplaying tabletop game. You’ve got dragons, goblins, heroes, dice, potions, everything needed for a rewarding game… but the best part? All the characters are edible! Made out of a chewy gummy gel (like your gummy bears or worms), every character or element in the Gummyquest is edible, with each individual piece having its own distinct flavor. Play your turn, kill a character, use a potion, and destroy the evidence by eating it. It’s a fun new twist on your favorite game with 25 different flavors to keep every single round uniquely tongue-tinglingly fun!
Designer: Jay
Click Here to Buy Now: $42 $60 (30%) off. Hurry! Limited availability! Raised over $310,000.
Stories make everything fun, especially food. Whether it’s your parents turning a spoon of veggies into a plane that flies into your mouth, or whether it’s a Michelin-star restaurant weaving stories through their intricate dishes, where there’s a story, there’s a memorable experience. That’s sort of what the Gummyquest series builds on, with its set of 151 characters and items (with more being added to the collection every day) that make for a perfect tabletop gaming day with friends, colleagues, or family.
The collection encompasses practically every element of a roleplaying game like DND – you’ve got heroes and villains, orcs, goblins, dragons, knights, wizards, paladins, and even Dune-style sandworms. Along with players are potions and polyhedral dice to make the game even more interesting. All these elements encompass 25 rather mouth-watering flavors, from specific berries and fruits to more vaguely tropical flavor profiles, to even marshmallow-flavored items. “Some of our favorite fantasy flavors include Orcish Creamsicle, Paladin Piña Colada, Owlberry, and Death”, says creator Jay. Each box is packed with 151 gummies including 76 monsters, 15 heroes, 25 potions, and 35 dice.
The edible set is truly a work of art. Each single gummy was designed and sculpted by a meticulous team of people who fill shelves in every game store in America with miniatures from Dungeons & Dragons, Reaper Bones, and Warp Miniatures. The gummies were designed as a part of a broader story and theme, and were crafted to perfection, with details that would make you want to never eat a boring gummy bear or worm ever again.
Tragically, the set only lasts one or two, or maybe three games. Once the gummies run out, you’ll either have to revert back to playing with non-edible characters, or buy another set. Luckily, the Gummyquest box sets are on discount, priced at $42 for a set of 151 pieces. As the crowdfunding campaign gains speed (they’ve raised over $300k), the kit will include even more characters and items like gryphons, slime monsters, warrior princesses, and even a Kraken! Grab your Gummyquest while you can… I’m pretty sure they don’t expire, but don’t quote me.
Click Here to Buy Now: $42 $60 (30%) off. Hurry! Limited availability! Raised over $310,000.
The post These Edible Gummy Dungeons and Dragons Characters raised over $300,000 on Kickstarter first appeared on Yanko Design.
You may not be familiar with Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s entire body of work, but chances are you’ve definitely seen one of his paintings. About as iconic as Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, or Munch’s The Scream, ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is just one of those paintings that’s entered the hall of fame for being one of the most memorable paintings ever. The artpiece features a chiaroscuro-style artwork of a girl in a headgear and a pearl earring, with dramatic lighting from one side that creates dramatic contrast and highlights/shadows. It’s a remarkably captivating painting, and an impressive one at that, considering it was painted in 1665. After getting its own Scarlett Johansson movie in 2003, the iconic painting gets its own fan-made LEGO set! Designed by LEGO builder ‘alanboar’, this MOC (My Own Creation) features roughly 1600 bricks, and comes with a Vermeer minifigure to match!
Designer: Alanboar Cheung
Built from precisely 1619 LEGO bricks, the set wonderfully replicates the painting, bringing it to life by giving it actual depth too. Of course, the use of LEGO bricks results in a lack of fine details, but therein lies the charm! The girl in the LEGO set mimics her inspiration beautifully, with the same blue and yellow headscarf, contemplative expression, and that gorgeous pearl earring that is easily a highlight of both the painting as well as this set.
Alanboar’s little brick mosaic utilizes LEGO’s art bricks, which allow making intricate colored artpieces without those studs getting in the way. The final set measures 17.6 inches tall, and 15.1 inches wide, and even features a uniquely baroque frame to go with the painting. I’m not entirely sure whether LEGO manufactures silver hemispherical bricks, but it’s possible that Alanboar took a few liberties with the pearl earring part.
The entire set comes with a plug-to-assemble design, and even features a miniature replica of the painting along with the Vermeer minifigure and a tiny pedestal that aptly labels the mini diorama. The LEGO Girl with a Pearl Earring is currently a fan-made submission to LEGO’s Ideas forum, an online platform for LEGO enthusiasts to build and showcase their own unique creations or MOCs. Users can then vote for their favorite MOCs, which LEGO then reviews and turns into box-sets that anybody can buy. If you want to vote for Alanboar’s entry, visit the LEGO Ideas website here!
The post The Iconic ‘Girl With A Pear Earring’ Painting gets immortalized with its own LEGO build! first appeared on Yanko Design.
The idea of LEGO sparked from bricks, the concept of Minecraft sparked from pixels – but the Souper Connect has a much stronger metaphorical background. You see, each individual Souper brick is shaped like a human with a hole in them, and a single human brick can’t stand on its own. However, fill that hole with another human brick and the two can stand together. Build on this concept and you create a self-standing self-sustaining community, reflecting the power of human connectivity and the indomitable spirit of a healthy family or society. The cleverly designed bricks aren’t just great to play with, they’re also an overall lesson that we’re stronger together than we are alone. Quite a brilliant metaphor for what’s essentially just a set of building blocks, right?!
Designer: Peter Minsoub Sim
Click Here to Buy Now: $25 $42 (40% off). Hurry, only 8/35 left!
Created by visionary designer Peter Minsoub Sim, Souper Connect brings a new dimension to building blocks. The bricks are both the characters as well as the individual blocks, making them an incredibly creative toy for children as well as for adults. They’re a great way to stay entertained, learn valuable social and moral lessons, and the fact that all the Souper Connects are different colors just teaches an incredibly powerful aspect of human society – that people are different but they can still come together to build and grow.
Let your mind wander
Find focus at work
Have fun with the family
Take it with you wherever you go!
“These blocks offer a minimal and identifiable form that inspires imaginative play, collaboration, and with enough pieces can bring out the building engineer in any of us,” says Sim, who co-founded Souper Studio – the company behind the Souper Connect blocks. Each block is shaped like an abstract human, with two arms, two legs, a slight stub for a head, and a hole running through the chest. Two ‘humans’ can be connected simply by plugging an arm into the chest hole, bringing them closer together, but also giving you the ability to make complex shapes and forms. The overall gist is no different from LEGO, and you can use Souper humans to make a variety of shapes from towers and bridges to crowns. However, there’s also a unique fidget quality to the human bricks too, and they make rather decorative pendants for necklaces or bracelets.
Each Souper Connect is 1.9 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide, and 0.8 inches thick, making them incredibly safe around younger children too. The human bricks are molded from polypropylene plastic, making them incredibly durable and long-lasting, although there’s the ability to get them in aluminum too, sort of as a more premium toy for collectors. The bricks come in either a single unit as a keychain (or double if you choose the aluminum variant), or in playable sets of 12, 36, and 72, featuring an entire colorful bunch of Souper humans that you can bring together to create the utopia of your dreams! The Souper Connect is available at a special early bird discount on Kickstarter using the link below.
Click Here to Buy Now: $25 $42 (40% off). Hurry, only 8/35 left!
The post Move over LEGO… These human-shaped bricks plug in together to showcase the power of unity first appeared on Yanko Design.
LEGO has spread its wings in almost every genre and arena. And if you’re a movie lover, then this list is for you! Some of your favorite movies have been immortalized in LEGO form! And, we’ve curated a collection of immaculate and precise LEGO builds inspired by and based on your favorite movies. From a Godzilla in LEGO form to a LEGO build of Kung Fu Panda – LEGO has managed to incorporate your favorite movies in LEGO format. Which LEGO build would you want to try at home?!
LEGO builder Matthew Esposito decided to make a LEGO version of Godzilla since we almost have ten or more movies, but not a single LEGO Godzilla! It is a small-scale version of the city-smashing reptile, and it is modeled after the ‘King of Monsters’ Godzilla’ (from the 2019 movie). It stands only a few inches tall, but it is amped with a hefty body and, a super long tail, and can blow blue flames in any direction, burning down entire cities in minutes!
If we’re talking about LEGO builds from our favorite movies, then we obviously need to include something from Harry Potter! The LEGO Group finally launched the Sorting Hat! It is a dedicated LEGO version with a concealed sound box that will let out loud and randomized phrases in English, which we’ve all heard before. It stands at 9.5 inches tall and is 7.5 diameters in length, and can be displayed proudly on a stand that features Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw house symbols.
This submission to the LEGO Ideas Forum features a LEGO Kung Fu Panda from the first movie in the franchise! The adorable Po is armed with a dragon scroll, and a bowl of noodles, and he can even perform the epic Wixu Finger Hold. The brick character has a completely positionable body with movable hands, legs, head, fingers, and even eyebrows. In fact, Po even has a jiggling belly that bounces if you touch it!
LEGO has brought the Seven Dwarf’s Cottage from the iconic Disney animation The Snow White movie to life! The lavish and intricate build is made using 2228 pieces and features 10 mini figurines. The cottage has been detailed with a lot of care and precision, creating an intriguing little structure that reminds us of all the interesting and memorable bits of the tale. The LEGO house is also equipped with Snow White’s glass coffin, the Evil Queen with the forbidden red apple, the Prince, and of course the Seven Dwarfs.
This life-size LEGO Captain America shield is built using 3000 pieces and measures almost 18.5 inches in diameter. The shield is also accompanied by a tiny Captain America Minifigure! The shield isn’t made from vibranium, of course, but it really does look and feel like the real deal, and if you’ve ever accidentally stepped on a LEGO brick, you know it is as tough as vibranium when you take the shooting pain that courses through your body in consideration.
LEGO immortalized another beloved character from the Harry Potter world! Dobby the House Elf got his own little LEGO kit. It is built using only 403 bricks, making it one of the easier LEGO builds. It features a few heartwarming and distinct design details, such as moving limbs, a rotating head, adjustable ears, and repositionable fingers that let Dobby snap fingers, point at things, look around, or even grip little items like the sock that freed Dobby.
The LEGO® Jurassic World Dinosaur Fossils: T. rex Skull (76964) is a fantastic LEGO set intended for museum-like display. In fact, it is one of the first Jurassic World sets designed for such a style of display. It includes 577 pieces and contains a T. Rex skull with an opening jaw and a stand to present and display it. It includes an info plaque, an amber piece at the back, as well as an intriguing fossilized footprint.
The LEGO Avengers set is 35.5 inches tall and was designed as a part of the 60th anniversary of the Avengers. It is meant to be one of the tallest sets when it is put together. If you look closer, you will notice the Quinjet, Leviathan, and two Chitauri flyers from the 2012 Avengers Assemble. The interior showcases scenes from the Infinity Saga, Age of Ultron party, and Endgame.
The LEGO Quidditch Trunk may not be the most complex or difficult Harry Potter build, but it is quite interactive and entertaining! It involves 599 bricks and features a comprehensive Quidditch setup that includes various brooms, players, hoops, and a launcher that allows you to shoot disc-shaped qauffles through the hoops.
Designed by LEGO builder Minibrick Productions, the iconic Miller’s Planet scene from the Interstellar movie has been immortalized in this little LEGO-based build and showcases the ranger aircraft, astronauts Cooper and Brad, and the shapeshifting robots TARS and CASE. The two robots feature repositionable arms that let them walk like humans, while Hathaway and McConaughey wear their space suits.
The post Top 10 LEGO Creations Inspired By Your Favorite Movies first appeared on Yanko Design.