And if those prizes weren't enough to run to get your camera out, we have asked the best Lego movie directors—Nathan Wells, David Pagano, and Nate Burr—to create three exclusive movies to inspire you. Even if you are not participating, you really have to watch these.

30 Years of Music, by Nathan Wells

Go Miniman Go, by David Pagano

Living in Meatspace, by Nate Burr

Nate, David, and Nathan will be the three judges in this contest along with Lego's director of Marketing Communications Keith Malone, and myself. Here are the rules for the contest:

Theme
The videos don't have to be about the 30th anniversary itself, like the two great odes to the minifig that David and Nathan have created. They just have to use the Lego minifig. Nate's, for example, is a good example of an alternative theme: just one funny skit, like the famous Death Star canteen short that uses Eddie Izzard's monologue.

One good line of work could be a 30-second fun short on any moment of technology history. Like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak making the original Apple in the garage, the first astronauts arriving to the moon, Bill Gates retiring, a scene from a tech movie like Tron or War Games, or some famous advertising.

But don't be constrained by that. The bottom line is that, as long as it is original, creative, and revolves around the Lego minifig, you are in.

Technique
Remember that your videos don't have to use stop-motion techniques—although obviously these give the best results to tell a story—and we all are partial to stop-motion because it's just cool. However, keep your mind open and explore other possibilities.

Duration
A 20- to 30-second short—the duration of a typical TV ad—will be the minimum to enter the contest.

Due date
October 15th will be the limit.

Format
No need to go High Definition. A 520-pixel-wide video in crystal-clear MPEG-4 format will be enough.

How to send it
To send your video, we recommend you to use the free delivery service YouSendIt.com. Address it to jesus at gizmodo.com

Prizes
• First and second place: Galaxy Explorer or the Yellow Castle. Whoever wins first place picks the set he or she wants. The remaining set will go to the second place winner.
• Third price: A special set designed by Lego owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.
• Runners-up: a ton of smaller vintage space and town sets, new vintage minifigure series, and newer sets.

Do you have any questions? Write them in the comments and we will answer them. Standard Gawker contest rules apply. [Go Miniman Go]

You already saw part of the process in the article about the Lego Storm Troopers cloning facility, but here's the whole process:

• First, the raw plastic material is put into the molds to create all the parts: the head, the torso, the minuscule hands, the hips, and the left and right arms and legs, plus any minifig complements, like helmets or tools.

• The head and torsos are always decorated. This is a complicated process that makes the minifig the most expensive part of any Lego set. This is why sets like the Death Star diorama are among the most expensive. The stamping of the colors is usually made in several passes. In older times, the faces always had the same designs. Today, however, they have different features that require different layers (personally, I like the classic ones more than the ones with different faces).

• Once they are decorated, the torsos are put into the body assembly machine, where the left and right arms are put into them mechanically. The same machine then places the hands inside the arms with absolute precision at lightning speed.

• The torsos are then taken to the packaging production line, where they are put together in the bags along with the head, hair/helmet/hat, and legs with hips. Before, the machines also connected the heads and legs, so the Lego aficionado would find the minifig complete inside the box. Now, however, this is left for the player except for the vintage minifig set, which comes with the minifigs completely built.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's special features on the 30th Anniversary of the Lego minifig. We have some amazing surprises coming, including an exclusive Gizmodo contest that will let you win some of the most famous Lego sets in history. [Go Miniman Go]

I remember the first time I played with LEGO bricks. Shiny, perfectly smooth and with that unique smell of plastic, which back then I imagined was probably captured by magic elves in Denmark. Today it's almost the same—shiny and perfectly smooth, except the elves are now blue-eyed buxom Danish Valkyries in skimpy LEGO swimsuits.

As someone who grew in the Golden Age of LEGO, I just can't decide on any particular model as the Best LEGO Set EVER. I have to confess a soft spot for LEGO Space, yes, but also for TECHNIC. And Town. And of course, although this is way later in my LEGO career, Star Wars.

But the soft spot for all those old models from the late '70s and early '80s is the key here: even if I sound like a total nerd, seeing some of these give me a warm, fuzzy feeling in my tummy—some even make me teary. Seriously. It's not like the Galaxy Explorer, the Space Command or the big TECHNIC Helicopter were all that special. It's what happened around them what makes them special, the countless hours I spent with my brothers and father building a thousand combinations of vehicles and weird buildings.

It's all that fun, all those days of complete and most absolute happiness which comes back just by looking at the box photos of those sets. And that's what makes them so special, so emotionally charged. They bring back the best in me.

Today I marvelled again at the popularity of that simple LEGO brick timeline, and I guess this, the emotional link, must be the reason why LEGO stories are so popular among all our readers. Not because LEGO bricks are cool, which they are, but because they are inevitably linked to intimate memories, to happy memories, the best memories, shared with family or friends or completely personal.

For all that: happy birthday LEGO, and thanks for all the bricks.

So what's your favorite set? If you can't find it, what are we missing? Tell us in the comments (and don't forget to check Lugnet for all the LEGO sets in all lines in history. The ones in the post may be the best, but they are just a fraction. [Lugnet]

(Click on the image to access the huge version—remember to zoom in if your browser auto-scales it.)

It all first started in 1947, when LEGO bought their first plastic injection machine. The brick was not invented then but took final form in 1958, when the shape of the stud-and-tube brick was patented. Since then, LEGO sets have been going through dozens of iterations, from the younger version, DUPLO, to the most sophisticated LEGO TECHNIC and LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT sets, going through all the different themes of LEGOLAND and, of course, the most successful line of all times according to LEGO, LEGO Star Wars.

LEGO brick curiosities

• There are about 62 LEGO bricks for every one of the world's 6 billion inhabitants.

• Children around the world spend 5 billion hours a year playing with LEGO bricks.

• More than 400 million people around the world have played with LEGO bricks.

• LEGO bricks are available in 53 different colors.

• 19 billion LEGO elements are produced every year.

• 2.16 million LEGO elements are molded every hour, or 36,000 per minute.

• More than 400 billion LEGO bricks have been produced since 1949.

• Two eight-stud LEGO bricks of the same color can be combined in 24 different ways.

• Three eight-stud bricks can be combined in 1,060 ways.

• There are more than 915 million combinations possible for six 2 x 4 LEGO bricks of the same color.

• 7 LEGO sets are sold by retailers every second around the world.

• The LEGO bricks sold in one year would circle the world 5 times.

• 40 billion LEGO bricks stacked on top of one another would connect the earth with the moon.

• LEGO bricks are so much more than just toys. They are used in classrooms from preschool to university level to teach everything from math, language skills and science to engineering and technology principles.

• The LEGO brick has inspired generations of innovators, like Jonathan Gay, inventor of Flash.

• World-renowned author Douglas Coupland believes the LEGO brick represents a "language in itself."

• A January 2008 Google search produces 57.6 million references to LEGO bricks.

• There are 55,600 LEGO videos on YouTube.

• Google co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, used LEGO bricks to build the external low-cost and expandable casing for 10 4GB hard disks when they were busy developing the Google search engine (today, they have reportedly been used in Google's college graduate recruiting exercises to test potential candidate's creative horsepower).

The first LEGO I remember—which I shared with my brothers and which my dad built for us, obviously without being able to contain his excitement—was a huge fair wheel, yellow. I don't even know where that set is anymore, but I remember the armless minifigs. Or perhaps I'm dreaming. The very first LEGO we got, and which I remember building clearly, was the LEGOLAND Space Galaxy Explorer, which came along with three other sets, including a Rocket Launcher, the Space Shuttle and the Mobile Tracking Station. Do you remember your first LEGO set? Tell us in the comments. [LEGO in Gizmodo]

Sexy. If you want one of these gorgeous quartz chronographs celebrating Rado's 50th anniversary, you'd better have pals in high places. They're extremely rare, available in a limited edition of just 10 pieces. More scary is the price, which nobody's talking about. [Rado, via Yanko Design]

The secret to your success? I think it's not the "futuristic" silver finish, but a sweet spot of form factor that, while not as small as today's MP3 players, drove the success of DVDs and possibly next-gen DVDs as well. Happy anniversary/birthday Mrs/Mrss CD. Would anyone like to share their special CD moments with the rest of the class? I remember buying the Jewel "Pieces of You" for makeout music. I honestly don't remember if I ever "used" the CD. [pcnews]

True fans will recognize the above action figures immediately. They are based on the Fritz Lang-inspired original Star Wars concept art by Ralph McQuarrie. You can read more in the text above, but suffice it to say, I'm glad that guy is finally getting some recognition: nearly every one of his original drawings was revamped by someone else before shooting began.

Next up are the exclusive gadgets; which are a little underwhelming. I like the idea of a mechanical pen with both blue and red beams, but what would be really cool is if they were both lasers. Optics geeks, let me ask you: How far off are we from having true blue lasers in laser pointers? Or are we stuck with blue LEDs for reasons of health, energy or Sony-hoarding? And is that collectible frame superlame? Or am I missing something?

In case you want to see what else will be popping up on eBay in the days to come, you can download a very large (nearly 30MB) PDF at the page made for the open-24-hours-but-not-for-you Celebration Store. If you don't want to blow your inheritance on a collectible hoodie, there are always commemorative stamps. The US Postal Service's Star Wars 30th Anniversary stamps winner will be announced tomorrow. Yoda or Darth Vader? I vote Darth, to remind recipients of my snailmail correspondence that they should never, under any circumstances, underestimate the power of the Dark Side. – Wilson Rothman

The Official Star Wars Blog [Star Wars]

At last, here's the new MacBook Mini, complete with LED-backlit screen, optional 32GB Solid Storage Drive 8-hour battery life and Core 2 Duo processor in a slim 2.68-pound 0.88-inch glorious black design. It looks like at the end it wasn't announced last Tuesday, like the rumorlosersmongers predicted.

Oh, and it comes from Sony. With Windows Vista. And unfortunately, is Japan only.

It's the new Sony VAIO Type T 10th Anniversary which comes with everything that you wish in a modern sub-notebook: 1,366 x 768 11.1-inch panoramic screen, 1GB memory, 80GB hard drive and DVD dual layer recording. The HD and the DVD-R can be changed for a 32GB flash SSD and a 160GB hard drive respectively. In two words: I WANT. More specs and the price after the jump.

You won't get all that for the $1990 of the base model, though, which actually comes with a Celeron M 443 processor. More so-so news: like yesteryear MacBooks, if you decide to go the Core 2 Duo route the 10th Anniversary model won't come with Santa Rosa. However, with that battery life I don't think I would care much about it. Even less if I can plug the optional big battery, that will make it reach a 18-hour battery life according to Sony.

It uses a Intel 945GMS Express chipset, so no dedicated GPU or RAM. It comes with 2 USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire, ExpressCard/34 slot and SD/MMC/Memory Stick PRO/Duo, along with camera, 802.11a/b/g with a built-in extendable antenna in the display and external antenna connector on its side, fingerprint sensor and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. – Jesus Diaz

Press release (japanese) [Sony via Impress PC Watch]

The iPod gets so much adoring and worshipful press—we ink-stained (pixel-stained?) wretches are fawning over it 24/7—so we figured it was high time somebody took it down a notch or two. As my Gizmodo colleagues hide in the closet, they've shoved me out into the limelight to take the heat, offering my Top 10 Reasons Why I Hate You, iPod. So get your flamethrowers ready. Here goes:

There's no FM: we have some great FM stations around these parts, one jazz station in particular that I listen to all the time in the car. I can't do that with the iPod. How much more would it cost to put FM in that thing, maybe two bucks? Get over it, put the damn receiver and there and be done with it.

More haterage, after the jump.

Scratches: Yes, the new aluminum iPod nano is allegedly scratch-resistant, but it's retro, looking kinda like the old mini. We don't like going backwards. Our first-gen iPod nano looked like a skating rink on day two, and we were coddling it in microfiber most of the time. What, does it have a wax coating? What good is a beautiful design that gets all scratched up if you touch it? Meh.

Battery life: We still haven't forgotten about the first-generation iPod whose battery wore out quicker than a prematurely-ejaculating teen. Plus, it was nigh on impossible to replace there for a while. Now, the batteries still won't last long enough, even in the newest models. There are cheap Taiwan knockoffs that last twice as long. Fix that.

DRM: Digital rights management is shit, no matter how you slice it. Sure, Apple's DRM, called FairPlay, gives you a little more leeway, but we'd rather not have anyone telling us what we can do with music we've purchased. Makes us want to steal it.

iTunes is janky: iTunes is weird, and although we have no trouble using it, we're getting tired of teaching our grandparents all of its intricacies. We thought this was Apple, where everyone could use it and it would be easy. iTunes is not easy enough, and doesn't follow Windows conventions closely enough.

No Bluetooth: How hard can it be to put Bluetooth in the iPod? Then we could get rid of all those wires with their auto-tangle feature, seemingly wrapping around themselves while you're not looking, requiring an untangling session a few times a day. Bring on the Bluetooth.

Thief magnet: This is not really the iPod's fault, but the damn things are so popular, if you're wearing white earphones, you might as well have just painted a big target on your back. At least release some official black Apple iPod earbuds, or various colors...? Maybe that'll throw the muggers off for a little while.

My kid wants a new one every six months: Steve Jobs himself talked about how iPods must often be replaced. Sure, any consumer electronics device that's cutting edge will be obsolete quickly, but at least you can make them less appealing to my kid, whose nagging me for a new one on a regular basis.

No widescreen: You're making the mistake of the Microsoft Zune, sticking with that old-fashioned 4x3 aspect ratio. We want wide screen; that's the way of the future. While you're at it, give us better than 640x480 video on iTunes.

No WiFi: speaking of Zune, you could've put WiFi on the iPod a long time ago, and not crippled it seven ways to Sunday, too, as Microsoft is about to do. Another missed opportunity.

Oh well, happy birthday anyway, iPod. – Charlie White

Tell the diabolical proprietors when your anniversary date is when you order the ring, and they'll program it for you. Available in seven styles ranging from gold to silver, it has a lifetime warranty. We would like the company to add a special voice nagging option, kicking into an hourly whine about taking out the garbage once a week. – Charlie White

Product Page [Goldsmith Gallery]

Product Page [Via OhGizmo!]