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Can't get an iPhone? Fabricate your own
There are people with too much time on their hands, there are fanboys with too much time on their hands, and then there's this. It seems some enterprising fella over in iPhone-less Japan took it upon himself to build his own dummy iPhone. Yes, "build," as in "fabricate from scratch." As opposed to, say, flying to the States and picking one up -- at considerable expense, yes, but consider his chosen alternative. To his credit, the dummy looks absolutely superb right down to every minor detail -- if you forgive the old-school fake display with Cingular branding and a missing YouTube icon. Click on for the full pictorial from sketch to finished product.[Thanks, Dale]
German robotics group crafts LEGO factory to build... LEGO cars
It's one thing to craft something remarkable all by your lonesome, but constructing an entire factory to handle all the dirty work for you is really doing something. A robotics group assembled (ahem) at a German "grammar school" (VHG) in lower Bavaria has fabricated a feat that even Toys R Us would marvel over, as the group's expansive LEGO Mindstorm factory was built entirely out of LEGO blocks, and moreover, programmed to assemble LEGO-based vehicles. Taking a note from every other major assembly plant in the world, this automated construction site feeds blocks from one end to the other, carefully pushing, pulling, and connecting pieces as necessary to completely assemble a LEGO car. While we've no idea how you'd even begin concocting this same masterpiece at your own domicile, nor how tough it is to be admitted into this apparently incredulous university, you'll reportedly need at least 2,000 man hours and €3,000 ($3,937) just to get started, but feel free to click on through for a lengthy video demonstration.[Via MetaFilter]
