Most of us enjoyed turning our imaginations into semi-reality through Lego (and who hasn’t drooled over those large city reenactments when they were younger?). Looks like Nathan Sawaya continues doing so, at a entirely new level. Some details courtesy of Abduzeedo:

Nathan Sawaya is a New York-based artist who creates very nice pieces using some unlikely things, mostly LEGO bricks. Sawaya has some portraits, logos, large and small sculptures … all made of bricks. As you will see here, his work is very amazing since he puts together lots of bricks to form very nice and unique work. He is currently touring North American museums in a show titled The Art of the Brick, an exhibition focused exclusively on LEGO as a way of art.

Click on any image for more details on each creation, from the mouth (or hands?) of the man himself!

So much more pics follow. [Read more]

Seems scientists have isolated the chemicals responsible for creating and maintaining memories. More interesting is the discovery of a chemical that can suppress memories. As reported:

Fenton, who specializes in spatial memory in mice and rats, devised a way to imprint animals with memories for where things are located. He taught them to move around a small chamber to avoid a mild electric shock to their feet. Once rats learn, they do not forget. Placed back in the chamber, they remembered how to avoid the shock.

But when injected with ZIP (a Zeta inhibitory peptide) directly into their brains, they had to start over again and learn how to avoid the electric shock. “When we first saw this happen, I had grad students throwing their hands up in the air, yelling,” Dr. Fenton said. “Well, we needed a lot more than that one study.”

[Read more]

At first glance, the Nokia N97 can do-it-all, literally featuring every cell phone functionality Nokia has come out with to date. But a particular feature will cause owners of this phone to be more careful with their stuff (and, not to mention, the phone itself).

You see, the N97 uses a proprietary port for both its USB cable and charger (which is weird, since Nokia agreed to implement standard USB for future phones). This means older Nokia chargers won’t work with the phone—unless the bundled adapter is used. At least this means the phone can also draw power through a computer’s USB port.

At least the adapter accepts the older, thicker charger-pin, and the much thinner one found in newer models. This should serve as warning for N97 owners to keep track of what comes with their phone, because if they lose the included charger and adapter, they’ll have no choice but to rely on the USB cable for charging, buy a new charger from Nokia (which comes at a price of course).

Unless of course, this new USB-based charging format represents Nokia’s plans for future models. You never know.

• Not Computer Literacy, But Literal Literacy
• Samsung Mini S2 External Hard Drives Out
• Nintendo DS Undergoes Transparent Makeover
• Nokia N97 Up-Close First Impressions
• Official Windows 7 Prices

Here’s a key to getting more people to adopt Nokia’s software (and in turn, the Ovi suite of online services):

Running the Ovi Suite installer of the Nokia N97, it’s clear that Nokia’s PC software could use improvement. A lot of improvement.

At first glance, it’s nice to see the installer provide the user with some options during setup. Install Nokia Photos? Leave out Nokia Music? But in hindsight, this approach—separating the various facilities into different applications—does not work. Not only does it come off as cumbersome (What, I have to install all of this?!), it lets users potentially miss out on functionality required to maximize their phones.

The rant/article continues on Philippine-affiliate Technograph.

From Business Mirror:

Courtesy leocub of sxc.hu

Enterprises that extend service life of notebooks beyond the prescribed optimum performance of three years will pay more in the long-run than buying new computers, according to a recent study conducted by market research firm J. Gold Associates.

In its report entitled Keeping Notebooks Past Their Prime: A Study of Failures and Costs, J. Gold said adding two more years in the laptops’ prime usage may cost a company $1,050 per device as older, slower and less reliable machines result in productivity loss.

While the study focuses on the corporate situation, not on your Every Joe gadget user, it’s still a warning: I know that manufacturers are less enthusiastic with their support for consumers, so it’s likely multi-year warranties are totally useless for non-corporate customers. At least, that was my experience with my first Dell laptop.

What do you think?

Announced today, the official pricing of Windows 7 is as follows:

Retail

• Home Premium $199.99
• Professional $299.99
• Ultimate $319.99

Upgrade Packages

• Home Premium $119.99
• Professional $199.99
• Ultimate $219.99

Courtesy Wikipedia

In other words, $120, $200, and $220 respectively. Before you get excited about the lower prices (when compared to Vista), remember that only 1% actually buy retail OS copies. The rest download bootleg copies from torrent sites get the OS when they buy a new computer.

Still, it’s great seeing Microsoft slashing their flagship product prices a bit. Maybe we’ll see less people call the company “M$” on online forums.

Some bad news for Windows XP users though: Windows 7 will insist on a clean install, allowing no upgrades. Any Windows 7 upgrade package will work with XP though, checking first if the XP installation is legit before installing itself onto the same partition as XP.

One more thing to keep in mind: upgrading to Windows 7 from a higher edition of Vista will also require a clean install, as in the case of a Vista Ultimate user wanting to install Windows 7 Home Premium.

Finally getting a to play with the Nokia N97, here are some first impressions:

• The N97 is very similar in size to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic in terms of thickness and width, and slightly longer. Will cause pocket bulge but is still impressive for a flagship.
• Compared to the N96 and N95, the N97 is more responsive. Still a bit slow though, especially when trying to run apps that use connectivity a lot (Maybe using a phone under better 3G or 3.5G coverage will provide better results?
• The sliding mechanism of the N97 is very solid and feels well made. A ribbon cable connects the upper part of the phone to the rest of the device. Very inaccessible, but this is a worrying vulnerability—cut the cable, goodbye phone?
• The QWERTY keyboard feels a bit flat. Maybe the next model should take a cue from the E-series keyboard and use slightly rounded keys?
• Why drop the plectrum/guitar key, used as the stylus for the 5800, and replace it with a detachable pen? Detachable = easily lost.

That’s all I’ve got now. A full review to follow when possible. For now, pics! (Click them thumbnails for the full-size editions)

The (XCM Eye-Candy shell) the replacement shell for NDSi console is awesome. Unfortunately, it’s “coming soon”, so no definite price or availability info is available yet. In the meantime, enjoy the product photography below (click on the thumbnails for larger-size versions):

XCM also has accessories for other popular consoles, but this eye-candy shell seems to be made only for the DS Lite. At any rate, I’m sure cheaper versions have been available from China for quite a while now.

(Images courtesy XCM)

Anyone with over $16,000 to spare can follow in the footsteps of Noah Fulmore and Erin Finnegan, who’ve made one small step for their relationship, and one giant leap for matrimony, in a weightless environment. A 209,500 pound flight gadget made the zero-gravity wedding possible.

Courtesy Reuters

$16,000+ apparently gets you a trip on a modified Boeing 727, designed to climb and drop quickly (the latter part to negate gravity for weightlessness), under the supervision of NASA. Bornrich.org reports the entire flight took 90 minutes, and involved 16 climbs and dives.

The newlyweds, both from New York and science fiction fans, said the next step was to deliver their first child in zero-gravity, to test the effects of weightlessness on neonatal existence. That was a joke, of course.