In a world in which Hasbro’s Transformers and G.I. Joe are adapted into movies that gross hundreds of millions of dollars, to say nothing of sales of DVDs and tie-in products, it seems inevitable that more movies based on toy lines should be on the way. But… a movie based on LEGO?

According to a report in Variety, Warner Brothers is developing a movie based on the interlocking blocks that will be a “family comedy that will mix live action and animation.” The movie will be produced by Roy Lee, the king of the Hollywood remakes, who has previously made, or remade, The Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water, The Lake House, The Invasion and Shutter in addition to the Oscar-winning remake The Departed. Lee and screenwriters Dan and Kevin Hageman have reportedly been working closely with the Danish toy company to create the premise for the film.

With Major Matt Mason, Stretch Armstrong, View-Master and Hot Wheels movies also in the works, it looks like toy adaptations might be the new trend in movies, supplanting remakes. The new He-Man movie will, admirably, manage to be both a toy adaptation and a remake.

This post is from our sister site, Sci Fi Wire. Head on over for more entertainment news.

Continue reading...

Yamamoto Katsura, a graduate of Waseda University in Japan, has created an oversized costume of Honda’s beloved Asimo that you can wear as a suit. Well, that is, if you don’t mind shelling out $400 to build it, which is what it cost to make (mostly out of wood).

Plastic Pals has the scoop:

Apparently, one of the most famous events held by Waseda University is the annual Honjo-Waseda 100km Hike, which takes 2 days and typically gathers a thousand participants. In keeping with the hike’s spirit of pushing one’s physical limits, some participants decided to take it one step further by donning costumes as a kind of handicap. Pretty soon people were trying to one-up each other to see who could make the best costume, and the World’s Longest Costume Parade was born, with the hike’s organizers fanning the flames by handing out awards.

Hmm, walking over 60 miles in a suit made of wood? Sounds like fun! Click Continue to check out a video of Katsura’s Asimo costume in action.

Continue reading...

This is a foot massager. It looks like a gigantic slipper, and that’s kind of what it is. A slipper for two feet at once that also massages your feet. Did I mention it has two hippos on it? That’s because it’s from a company called Farting Hippo. But of course!

But hey, despite the weirdness you’ve got to admit that it wouldn’t be too bad to get your feet massaged every now and then. And hey, hippos are cute, right?

Farting Hippo via NerdApproved

Continue reading...

crafted by one James White and comes complete with cake (and, of course, a scrawled sign about the cake being a lie). If you fancy trying to make one yourself, he’s offered up a ton of picture detailing the process on his blog, and in the comments he’ll even give out the specifications.

This isn’t the most useful cube we’ve seen today, but it sure is the cutest.

James White, via Wonderland

Continue reading...

WARREN, Mich.–General Motors’ announcement on Tuesday that it expects that the Chevy Volt will get an eye-popping 230 miles per gallon begs an obvious question: how can the mileage of electric vehicles be compared to gasoline cars?

It’s a problem that the Environmental Protection Agency is working on …

Continue reading...

It used to be that if you made a gadget pink, it was obviously for women. That’s not going to fly anymore, so Sony did some serious research for its new cellphone for women, scouring the fashion world, art, architecture, and furniture trends, and came up with this: Jalou.

Consulting with an actual woman who’s also a fashion-conscious runway model, we got an overwhelmingly positive response to this new design. That emerald-cut shape looks like an attractive makeup case, the 2.7-inch-long clamshell will fit nicely in a purse, its cobalt blue color doesn’t insult, and then there’s the ability to turn its 2-inch screen into a mirror with a touch of a button. All those features get a big thumbs up.

Our special woman consultant was unimpressed by its Walk Mate step counter, sensing an implication by the phone’s designers that if women would just get into shape they’d be acceptable. On the other hand, Jalou scores points for being a clamshell phone, avoiding that greasy and automatically fingerprinted exterior of a once-used iPhone.

While more intelligent women might scoff at Jalou’s horoscope-loving user interface, at least Sony Ericsson is trying. For those women who are intrigued, look for Jalou sometime in the next quarter, selling for an undisclosed price.

Sony Ericsson, via Gizmodo

Continue reading...

Now you can associate a number with how badly you’ve burned that $20 steak. These Digital BBQ Tongs pierce the meat, and in 5 seconds give you an accurate reading on its backlit LCD display of the interior temperature of that hunk o’ animal flesh.

This $40 thermometer aims to please, also including an attached LED flashlight for those late-night grilling sessions. It has presets for divining that ideal temperature within seven different kinds of meat, and then you can set one custom preset temperature.

There’s even a raucus alarm that tells you when the meat is done. Great. You can go through all this trouble with gadget assist, or you can just learn how to grill by rough estimation, slightly risky at first, but with experience pays off with uncanny accuracy.

Taylor Gifts, via 7Gadgets

Continue reading...

Do half of your pictures look like they were taken from a slanted surface due to you always holding the camera slightly askew? Not mine. But hey, if that’s a problem you run into, this camera cube level will solve it for you in no time.

Simply snap the cube on top of your camera on the flash mount and you’ll always know exactly when it’s perfectly level. It’s great for holding the camera in your hands, but is probably even more useful when you’re using a finicky tripod. This way you’ll know for sure when you’ve got the legs out at the proper lengths. It’s available now for $15.

Photo Jojo via Book of Joe

Continue reading...

We can’t travel to any of the other 100 billion galaxies in the universe yet, but their photons can travel to us. Capturing those photons over a ten-day period results in the most profound and humbling image ever created, the 2004 image known as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Now it’s brought to life in 3D, letting you fly through 10,000 galaxies as they were 13 billion years ago.

As you float through this Hubble Space Telescope image (watch it in HD for the best view), consider that last galaxy — it’s the farthest-away object anyone has ever seen. It’s hard to believe each one of those shapes contains billions of stars. Are any of them home to other lifeforms? Are any of them aware of the existence of any others? Anyone out there?

Feeling small enough yet? Here are more Hubble Space Telescope images.

Via Gizmodo

Continue reading...

WARREN, Mich.–For all the attention on the electric Chevy Volt, General Motors has big expectations for another key car segment: small cars.

The auto giant opened up its design studios and testing grounds to the media on Tuesday to showcase its product pipeline of 25 new models over the …

Continue reading...

Finnish photographer Markku Lahdesmaki would. His robots can be seen trying to make calls at payphones, just trying to get some laundry done or even stumbling home drunk after a wild night. Silly robots. They think they’re people. Check ‘em out in the gallery below.

You can buy the pieces for yourself, but at a hefty price. The offerings begin at $900, and cost up to $4,800 — and that’s for a crocodile that isn’t even robotic!

Continue reading...

(Credit: David Gardiner & Associates/NRDC)

The effects that fluctuating oil prices have had on the average American vary widely by state, according to a report released Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Fighting Oil Addiction: Ranking States’ Oil Vulnerability and Solutions for Change,” a report (PDF) prepared for the …

Continue reading...

Anders Huus’ Living Chair Number 1 rather reminds me of the ultra-languid, hookah-smoking caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. Part furniture, part robot, the ash and copper wire chair unfolds and wags each end whenever anyone approaches, as the electronic innards of the chaise longue react to light, time and the presence of life around it.

The chair remains curled up all night, but unfurls itself as the day gets lighter, as well as rotating slowly through a 24-hour period. But it’s Number 1′s canine properties that have got to be the most fun — although, with a couple of upgrades, you might find it getting a bit miffed with its name — so miffed, in fact, that it envelops you like a Maki roll.

Via MoCo Loco

Continue reading...

Want to surf the Internet while you’re on a plane? You’re not alone — there’s a growing demand for in-flight Wi-Fi, and the airlines are stepping up to meet it. Currently there are three separate services — Gogo, Row 44 and LiveTV — that provide Wi-Fi on planes in U.S. airspace, and which ones that are available to you depends on your airline.

What are the differences between them? How much do they cost? And what can you do with that connection? We talked to reps from all three services, putting together all the information in a handy table. Hit the jump for the info, and the answer to the biggest question about airline Wi-Fi: Can it do VoIP?

Continue reading...

So far in 2009, battery companies have received over $600 million in venture capital funding, compared with $478 million garnered for 2008, according to research analyst Lux Research.

The investment isn’t without reason. In a report released Tuesday, Lux predicted that the energy storage market will grow to become …

Continue reading...

Art Lebedev, famed creator of vaporware such as this, and real stuff such as this — hands up if you think that $1,500 is a reasonable amount to spend on a keyboard — has gone into the GPS business. Well, make that the vapor-GPS business.

The Russian designer has gone retro on his fans, as his Navigarius GPS looks like one of those round wing mirrors you’d find on a Fifties or Sixties car, although its skinny stand is detachable. The black or white navi also rocks touchscreen controls, a USB port, microSD slot and a cigarette lighter adapter.

It remains to see whether Lebedev’s studio manages to get the Navigarius into production — although some of his products do make it into the real world, I suspect a tie-up with a GPS manufacturer will be needed before we see this unit around the place. (See what I just did there?) Bonus shot below.

Via Engadget

Continue reading...

WARREN, Mich.–Got an opinion about how General Motors designs its cars and trucks? Let them know.

GM on Tuesday unveiled a blog Web site called The Lab that it hopes will give the struggling auto giant a bead on customer preferences. It’s part social-marketing campaign and part product …

Continue reading...

Logitech’s MK700 wireless desktop (mouse + keyboard) includes a QWERTY keyboard that sports a new curved-key design called Incurve that promises to “gently cradle” your fingers. C’mon, guys — it’s a keyboard, not a mattress; how much cradling can you get? The keys are said to be “concave, low-profile and softly rounded.” Eliot Spitzer and I will take two.

The keyboard also has an LCD dashboard that shows, among other things, the status of your pair of AA batteries, which Logitech claims to last up to three years without a recharge. I suspect your mileage may vary here. Still, the package includes a mouse with hyper-fast scrolling, and the 2.4GHz wireless tech includes 128-bit encryption and a 30-foot range. Not too bad for $100, though it’s kind of mystery why this system doesn’t work with Logitech’s new Unifying dongle tech. Guys…?

Continue reading...

Oliver is a fan of bread and marmite – or maybe a bit of cheese, so if you don’t mind making him the odd sandwich as a treat, you’re well on the way to being a friend for life. 12 year old Oliver is looking for a loving forever home where he can spend his retirement . He loves children and would probably be able to live with another dog.

Continue reading...

If you are among the more modest green energy advocates with no plans to replace your entire roof with solar glass, you can still save the planet on a smaller scale thanks to the new Sun Drive. Created by Korea’s Zyrus, the tiny device is a USB solar charger that can easily be used to recharge your digital camera, cell phone or MP3 player.

Despite its small footprint, the Sun Drive can supply most portable devices with up 35 hours of power, and can charge your cell phone with up to 100 minutes of talk time. The unit comes in black or white and packs varying memory capacities of 2,4,8, and 16 gigabytes. While these kinds of solar chargers are still in their infancy in terms of dependability, for a mere 29,000 won ($23) being on the cutting-edge will be relatively affordable.

Via Aving

Continue reading...

In this simulated image of Saturn’s rings, color is used to present information about ring particle sizes in different regions based on the measured effects…

Continue reading...