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Lego Olympics
Lego Scenes Celebrate 2008 Olympic Summer Games with Star Wars Stormtroopers
It's no small secret that Lego holds a spot near and dear to many an editor here at Gizmodo, and if you somehow managed to combine those little blocks with Star Wars and the 2008 Summer Olympics (concluding today), well, you'd have our attention faster than it takes to pull the legs off a minifig. Flickr member 713 Avenue did just that, and like those remarkable Lego scenes from history and Lego Beijing Olympic buildings we brought you a while back, these are pretty magical too. More »
thank giz it's friday
10 Gadgets That Help You Play Like an Olympian
It has been quite an Olympics hasn't it? From the spectacular opening ceremonies, to the amazing performances by Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt (not to mention all of the controversy stirred up by the Chinese government). In years past I can't say that I was all that excited about the Olympics—but I will be kind of sad to see this one go. The good news is that just because the games are over doesn't mean you can't carry the torch...literally. So, check out the following ten gadgets to learn how to play like an Olympian.
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4:00 PM on Fri Aug 22 2008
By Sean Fallon
17,749 views,
41 comments
Latest by DaSmith: Here's what Phelps was listening to! --> [gizmodo.com] LOL more »
olympics
Full-screen this beautiful high-res panorama cooked up by the New York Times's top-notch interactive graphics folks and find out. [NY Times via Kottke]
What's It Like To Stand On the Water Cube's High-Dive Platform?
Full-screen this beautiful high-res panorama cooked up by the New York Times's top-notch interactive graphics folks and find out. [NY Times via Kottke]
itunes
iTunes Blocked in China Over Free Tibet Album?
Over 60 comments on one Apple forum thread relate to problems downloading music from iTunes in China, and now it's believed that China has blocked access to Apple's store altogether. Apparently there's some correlation with the restricted access and the release of a pro-Tibet album by The Art of Peace Foundation, "Songs for Tibet." More »
on the cards
Guy Builds Olympic Village Replica with 140,000 Playing Cards
This Olympics Village model made by an expert card-stacker makes the Lego Olympics look just naff in comparison. I mean, that model's just a lot of plastic parts snapped together: This guy had to avoid shaky hands, sneezing and stepping incautiously for a whole 20 days while he put the card model together, detailing even the woven-girder shapes of the Bird's Nest. Yup— that's 20 days, 140,000 cards and 100% craziness. [Random Good Stuff]
speedo
Speedo Now Selling LZR Racer Swim Suit to the Public, U.S. Whale Sightings Way Up
Even though Speedo is now selling its controversial LZR Racer swim suit to the general public for $550, we doubt the beer bellies at the local community swimming pool are going to spontaneously turn into a congregation of eight gold medal-winning Olympians any time soon. In fact, here at the Gizmodo weekend desk Jesus and I agree that instead of creating a slew of Michael Phelps copy-cats, a readily available LZR will probably just make poolside look like the walrus exhibit down at the aquarium. More »
retromodo
For the longest time I thought the black sinewy thing on Olympic beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh's shoulder was either a confused Alien face sucker, a horny spider, a bad tattoo decision (a la Mike Tyson), or all of the above. Turns out I was way off, and it's actually Kinesio athletic tape from a company in Albuquerque. And upon further inspection, the hype surrounding the $15 tape appears justified, and goes way beyond helping athletes.
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Tattoo? Symbiote? What the Hell is That Thing On Olympian Kerri Walsh's Shoulder?
For the longest time I thought the black sinewy thing on Olympic beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh's shoulder was either a confused Alien face sucker, a horny spider, a bad tattoo decision (a la Mike Tyson), or all of the above. Turns out I was way off, and it's actually Kinesio athletic tape from a company in Albuquerque. And upon further inspection, the hype surrounding the $15 tape appears justified, and goes way beyond helping athletes.
More »
beijing olympics
Quarter Million Dollars of Digital Photo Gear in a Single Photo
Here's a common scene—but still impressive—at the Beijing Olympics: dozens of photographers firing the most expensive digital photography gear available on the planet at full speed. The sound of all those shutters re-clacky-clicketing alone must give goosebumps to any photo aficionado, but the total price of all this machinery would actually make anyone faint. How much does this all cost? More »
olympics
Little Girl Substituted By Cuter Little Girl In Olympic Opening Ceremony Karaoke
We can understand why the footprint fireworks were digitally faked into the live broadcast of the Olympic opening ceremony—because it would have been too dangerous to actually fly a helicopter through those projectiles—but allowing a cuter little girl to karaoke while the originally chosen little girl stood behind the scenes and sang? That's gotta make you feel sad for the slightly less good looking little girl. More »
olympic fail
Blue Screen of Death Strikes Bird's Nest During Opening Ceremonies Torch Lighting
Well, this is just perfect. At the exact moment Li Ning was rounding the lip of the Bird's Nest during the amazing torch-lighting climax, someone snapped this photo of our good friend the BSOD nestled among the Nest's steel twigs. Perhaps an Opening Ceremonies IT dude spit out his coffee on the machines in the server room when Li took to the sky? Another question is what a projection screen is doing inside the Nest at that location, but I think the better question is what wasn't going on inside the Nest's roof—did you see that thing during the ceremonies? Lights! Fireworks! LED screens! Everything! Anyway, if only one image of this perfectness existed we'd be skeptical, but thankfully, someone has grabbed more from a different angle that pretty much seal the deal. More »
olympics
A local Beijing paper has revealed that some of the amazing fireworks in the Olympics opening show were digitally-crafted fakes, inserted into the live TV feed. The Beijing Times quotes the head of visual effects, who says that the 28 giant footprints that stomped through the air above the city, ending at the stadium, were advanced CGI. Though the pyrotechnics really were set off, the airborne camera view that the rest of the world watched was fake. Why go to these lengths? Apparently the Olympic committee decided that to follow the real trail of firework footprints was too dangerous for a helicopter camera. Instead a team spent almost a year crafting the fake segment, paying attention to even get the smog lighting effects correct. [The Telegraph]
Footprint Fireworks Were Faked into Olympics Opening TV Show
A local Beijing paper has revealed that some of the amazing fireworks in the Olympics opening show were digitally-crafted fakes, inserted into the live TV feed. The Beijing Times quotes the head of visual effects, who says that the 28 giant footprints that stomped through the air above the city, ending at the stadium, were advanced CGI. Though the pyrotechnics really were set off, the airborne camera view that the rest of the world watched was fake. Why go to these lengths? Apparently the Olympic committee decided that to follow the real trail of firework footprints was too dangerous for a helicopter camera. Instead a team spent almost a year crafting the fake segment, paying attention to even get the smog lighting effects correct. [The Telegraph]
diy
The Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed “The Bird's Nest,” has already become an icon in the country of 1.3 billion. But for some farmers close to Hangzhou (located in the southeast of China), the Herzog & de Meuron structure was just too darn far away... so in a fit of DIY ingenuity, they built their own replica out of bamboo. Steel's apparently kind of hard to get when you're living on a couple of dollars a day.
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Chinese Farmers Build Birds Nest Stadium Out of Bamboo
The Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed “The Bird's Nest,” has already become an icon in the country of 1.3 billion. But for some farmers close to Hangzhou (located in the southeast of China), the Herzog & de Meuron structure was just too darn far away... so in a fit of DIY ingenuity, they built their own replica out of bamboo. Steel's apparently kind of hard to get when you're living on a couple of dollars a day.
More »
olympics
A Glimpse At the Tech Behind the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies
So for those of you who caught the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony last night—Holy crap, right? The synchronization, the music, the timed fireworks; it was a spectacle so awesome that for entire stretches of it, I couldn't really think of anything to say but “woah.” The show owes a lot of its splendor to the absolutely amazing amount of technology that went into it and Chinese news sources now have a breakdown of what was employed to create something that'd make a billion nationals proud. Some crazy stats: More »
olympics pictures
When Technology Becomes Art: Photography of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremonies
While we're waiting until tonight to see NBC's delayed rebroadcast of the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, we can show you some of the most beautiful images from the event. An incredible full-field scroll, projection sphere and LED suits transcend to create what looks to have been one of the, if not the, most stunning mass displays of lighting technology in history. Read on for the full jaw-dropping gallery.
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Today in Tech History
Mindblowing Fireworks Celebrate Olympic Games and 08/08/08
Today is August 8, 2008: 8/8/8. A special day in history because of many reasons, starting with today's opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. I've been watching the ceremony live all morning here in Sweden, and it has been truly amazing at moments, like when the whole city lighted up with the biggest display of fireworks I've ever seen. And apart from the fact that the date itself looks cool (it could have been perfect for the apocalypse) in the technology world, 8/8/8 is also special for other reasons: More »
olympics
Freedom Stick Brings Bigger Browsing to Beijing
If you're reading this, odds are against your attendance at the Beijing Olympic Games, but we wanted to make sure that you knew about the Freedom Stick just in case—a USB dongle preloaded with all of the traffic routing software you'll need to browse the internet unencumbered (specifically, The Onion Router). It's available now until the end of the Olympics for $30, and please don't send us tips about the freaky shit you're using it for. [FoeBud via GadgetLab]
architecture
