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Did you ever attempt to build the tallest LEGO tower in the world when you were a kid? I did and I always thought I did a pretty good job…until now. If you thought you did, too, then you should take a look at what the students and teachers from Dickinson High School in Milltown built.
The school’s community didn’t just build a tower that was several feet high; instead, they built a LEGO tower that’s 11 stories high! The tower measures 112 feet and 11.75 inches and is officially the tallest LEGO tower in the world, as affirmed by Guinness World Records.
The uber-tall LEGO tower took months to build and consists of over 500,000 bricks! It was all made possible thanks to the cooperation of students, teachers, parents, and planners. Several fundraisers and brick drives were even held in order to gather all the needed materials.
Pretty awesome, huh?
VIA [ C|NET ]
After nearly nine years of writing about near field communication (NFC), we honestly thought the tech had maxed out with things like baggage tracking and business cards. Not so, however: Guinness, the company that produces some rather tasty Irish stout, is running a promotion in the UK that gives Android and BlackBerry users with NFC enabled devices the chance to win a free pint. As a bar patron, you simply tap your phone on the Guinness logo at one of twenty participating pubs, fill out some information on your phone, and if you're lucky, you get one on the house. Technology is rarely this frothy.
Via: NFC World
Source: Guinness
Starting to get bored of the ThinkPad's classic look but not keen on the Edge series? Then we have good news for you! Earlier today we received a couple of photos that show off two upcoming Lenovo Ultrabooks: the 13-inch ThinkPad S3 (codename "Labatt") and the 15-inch ThinkPad S5 ("Guinness"). As you can see above and after the break, both aluminum laptops feature a new "floating design" that might have taken a page out of Samsung and Vizio's book: shaving off the front outer edges of the bottom side to create that slim and floating illusion. Also, these will apparently come with either a black or silver lid.
Some folks on Sina Weibo have received other teaser photos of the ThinkPad S5, with one confirming the presence of JBL stereo speakers. The funny thing is Chinese website Yesky reported on a charity auction that actually sold limited editions of the S3 and S5 earlier this month, but those unannounced Ultrabooks went under everyone else's radar. If you're curious, Yesky speculates that a launch is due in China at the end of this month, but you'll have to stay tuned for the prices and specs.
Last fall, four autonomous Wave Gliders set out from San Francisco Bay to begin a two-fold mission: gather data about the oceans' depths and break records. The vessels, crafted by ocean data services provider Liquid Robotics, were launched in pairs, with one set headed for Australia and the other, Japan. Now one year later, the first of this fuel-less flotilla -- dubbed Papa Mau -- has completed its intended journey, reaching the land of Oz this past November 20th and beating out the remaining three Gliders at sea (one of which malfunctioned and had to be pulled from the water).
As the PacX project's team is quick to point out, the culmination of this record-breaking 9,000 mile trek was less about gaining a Guinness entry and more about generating publicity for the mass of hitherto unrecorded oceanic information. But though the initial run of the project is currently winding down, the outfit's SVP of Product Management Graham Hine expects further trips to Antarctica, the poles and the Northwest passage will follow at some point in the future. Without a doubt, the whole experiment's a master class in using the power of PR for the greater good, while giving marine biologists a treasure trove of useful data. Check out the source below for an expanded look at the project's roots and be sure to skip past the break for a video of the vessel's retrieval.
Continue reading Liquid Robotics' Wave Glider breaks Guinness record, does it in the name of science
Via: CNet
Source: Liquid Robotics
And why wouldn't it be? That's how the Kraay family of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada gets down, as evidenced by the family's past 13 years of elaborate corn maze designs -- from a logo of the Edmonton Oilers to a 25th anniversary commemoration of Rick Hansen's "Man in Motion" tour. Said QR code sends adventurous scanners to a website for the Kraay's family farm website. The code also got the Kraays into the Guinness Book of World Records for "World's Largest QR Code," which was really what drove this whole project. At approximately 29,000 meters (1.1 square miles), that's quite a bit of carefully crafted corn designing. It's certainly more elaborate than the previously claimed record holder, and a lot more official.
"It was something that we didn't think would happen. There were a lot of little things we had to do and Guinness is pretty picky with how you collect your evidence. We were a little bit on edge on whether it would come through so we were very relieved and very excited," Rachel Kraay told CTV News about the project. To verify that the code works, the Kraays had to commission a helicopter to fly them over their own farm, allowing them to scan it while hovering hundreds of feet above. And then, at the end of last week, the Guinness folks sent over a package certifying the bizarre world record. "They didn't even call. I just went to the door and there was a large package and inside was the certificate and a letter. I guess that's how they do it."
[Image credit: Facebook]
Filed under: Misc, Internet, Alt
Visualized: World's largest QR code is a Canadian maize maze originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We know Quebec well for its maple syrup, poutine and fresh mountain air, but the French Canadian province also has a more sprightly side, renewing our neighbor to the north's status in the athletic arena from time to time as well. This month, it's BC native Mischo Erban, who broke a Guinness World Record for the "fastest skateboard speed from a standing position" with a 129.94 km/h (80.74 mph) downhill run. Better yet, Erban caught the record-breaking journey with his custom-built Recon heads-up display / camera combo mounted inside a rather beastly jet-black helmet. The Android-powererd HUD theoretically enabled Erban to know he broke the record before he even came to a stop, while also motivating him to keep pushing as he approached that 130 kilometers-per-hour top speed. There's no way to replicate the feeling of flying down a hill aboard a skateboard at 80 miles-per-hour without hopping on some wheels of your own, but you can get a taste of the action in the new record holder's POV video after the break.
Mischo Erban breaks skateboard speed record, captures the run with camera-equipped Recon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jun 2012 11:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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