Geek culture

Sooner or later, every object in existence, including you and me, will be re-created out of Legos.

Fans of the bricks have limitless passion. But beyond creating cool dioramas, Lego modelers truly impress when they make functional tools.

Case in point: the Hippmikser 2000 by Flickr user Hippotam, whose real name is Marcin Danielak.… Read more

If Starfleet Academy has a Marketing 101 class, these commercials must surely be on the syllabus.

Twice in recent days, Earth's ad agencies have dispatched officers of the "Star Trek" franchise on missions not to seek out new worlds, but to sell new products.

First came a video clip from PC maker Acer using clips from the imminent "Star Trek Into Darkness," docking soon in a movie theater near you, to pump up the excitement for its new flagship Aspire R7.

Then Audi flew into view with a two-minute Spock vs. Spock spiel for its … Read more

As the father of a 5-year-old girl who adores all things princess but also digs stars and comets and mastered the user interface for both Android and iOS in about half a day, I'm always on the look out for Geek Grrl role models. So the new hero in my household is Jennie Lamere.

This 17-year-old grrl loves both reality television and hackathons and tapped into those two passions to win the grand prize at the TVnext hack event in Boston last month. Her brilliantly simple hack, first detailed on evolver.fm, is designed to prevent spoilers on Twitter while watching live TV.

Surely we've all shaken our fists in the air when a fellow "Walking Dead" or "Game of Thrones" fan in a different time zone tweets about the latest character to get eliminated while you're still popping popcorn and getting the couch ready for the evening's gore-fest.

Lamere's Google Chrome app, Twivo, allows users to block any tweets related to a certain keyword or words for a specified period of time, allowing you to keep up with the rest of the Twitterverse during commercial breaks without ruining the show you're watching.

… Read more

The 3,000-mile Gumball 3000 rally turns 15 this year, and there are some pretty impressive cars in the mix.

We have an absolutely clear favorite, though. Saudi Arabian Team Galag, two brothers and second-time Gumball 3000 racers, have built something new to the rally table: a scale model of Batman's Tumbler, built by Florida-based bespoke car builder Parker Brothers Concepts, at a cost of around $1.55 million.

"Every year, the Gumball 3000 plays host to some of the most expensive vehicles in the world," Team Galag said on their Web page. "This year it was decided that we wanted to drive something a little more original. Enter the TG1." … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Wolfenstein: The New Order set for current, next-gen consoles.

- How a 17-year-old girl hacked her way to a spoiler-free "Game of Thrones."

- Downloadify lets Chrome users copy MP3s of Spotify songs for 24 hours.

- Nintendo's big problem, according to CNN.… Read more

What do you get the kid who has it all? A robot mecha suit wouldn't hurt.

Japan's Sakakibara Kikai has a new crushworthy robot exoskeleton that would turn a few heads at school.

The bright green Kid's Walker Cyclops is an 800-pound, 7-foot-tall drivable mecha suit with a cockpit and moving arms.

The front of the machine opens to become a ladder to the cockpit. As seen in the vid below, one hand has a hook to grapple foes and the other has a power drill to smite obstacles. … Read more

It feels good to own a new Mac notebook. You're on top of the world until you haul your laptop someplace and let your battery run low before realizing that you're a MagSafe adapter short of juicing up. If only you hadn't lost that tiny, but critical, piece of equipment.

Apple changed the MagSafe power adapter hookup for its laptops in 2012, leaving consumers with a few gazillion out-of-date power adapters. To remedy the situation, Apple offered a $9.99 MagSafe to MagSafe 2 converter. It works, but it's small and easy to lose. … Read more

We can't help but leave our DNA all over the place. If you drop a chewed piece of gum or a cigarette butt, it might get picked up by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg. She may mine it for DNA, analyze the results, and generate a portrait based on the data. That's either really spooky, really cool, or a bit of both.

Dewey-Hagborg's Stranger Visions project combines artistry and science while raising questions about genetic privacy. She starts by collecting genetic material from public places. She then analyzes it at a lab, mining the DNA for information like gender, ethnicity, and eye color.… Read more

When you're young and observing or experiencing abuse, especially when it involves people close to you, it can be hard to find the strength to talk to someone about it. An innovative new advertisement could help direct children -- without alerting their parents or others who may be threatening them -- that there's a way to seek help.

Spain's ANAR Foundation (Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk) created an anti-abuse ad that uses lenticular printing to display two pictures that differ based on the viewer's height. The group created the ad to reach abuse victims who might be accompanied by their aggressor. … Read more