Bricks in my Pocket (BimP) BimPCast

This to incredibly awesome...

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:08:00 PST

Combining two of my favorite things, LEGO and SketchUp, this video was created to demonstrate the SketchUp plugin SketchyPhysics. It is simply incredible and more fun than a box o’ bricks -- well...almost.

I’m Sooo Sorry Folks (a LEGO iPhone Rotating Dock Update)!

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:55:00 PST

BimP Readers...I owe you a huge apology. I just logged into my Blogger dashboard today and noticed that there were MANY unmoderated comments. Some from as far back as November. Well, I’ve finally moderated all of them and they are now online. Most comments asked one simple question. When will I be posting instructions for the LEGO iPhone Rotating Dock. There’s a long story behind this project, but I won’t bore you with it. What I will do is tease you with a couple of pages from the package I am producing.

So what’s been taking so long you may ask? Well, I was using LPub and while it is very useful for producing building instructions, I wanted to add a bit of BimP branding. This required some page layout. Many of you said that you would be willing to donate a couple of bucks and I felt that I should add a personal and semi-professional touch to the instructions.

I’m about half-way through the project and things are going much faster now that I have a workflow. I just need time now – a very valuable commodity in my world. Would love to hear your initial feedback on the two images provided (leave a comment, I promise to moderate them!) and rest assured...this thing will get done!

Snow meets LEGO

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:28:00 PST

We had a touch of snow and Nikki just had to run out and build a snowman. She needed eyes and a nose. Where’d she turn? That’s right, LEGO. Simple, small and elegant. Now that’s winter fun.

Last minute LEGO Gifts for AFOLs that will still arrive by Christmas

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:26:00 PST

As you all know, we are huge fans of LEGO (of course) and we are huge fans of Amazon. Almost yearly we provide a list of items that would make every AFOL happy Christmas morning.

Since we are drawing close to Christmas, this list will include those LEGO gifts that Amazon still guarantees for Christmas delivery. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can get each of these in two-days with free shipping. These are the LEGO products that we have enjoyed over the past couple of years as a family. So let’s begin our Christmas 2009 AFOL Christmas shopping list after the click (and be sure to let us know if we missed an important addition by leaving a comment).

Job opportunity for an enterprising and creative UK AFOL

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:10:00 PST

I received the message below from Ms. Nikki Girvan and told her I would help spread the news on this exciting opportunity for those AFOLs in the Manchester, UK area.

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre is currently building up to the launch of our first LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in the UK, which will open in Manchester in March 2010. As your site has members all over the world I thought that it might of interest to some of your UK users.

This month we are holding open auditions at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester (on 27th November 2009) to recruit a model builder for the new centre. The audition aims to find a potential model builder who is skilled enough to be responsible for developing new features, exhibitions and building new models as well as working with the thousands of children expected to visit the attraction.

Auditionees will need to show how skilled they are at building LEGO models by creating an animal model in just five minutes. The successful builders will then pass to the second stage of the auditions when they will need to create a famous face out of LEGO.

The successful candidate will become a fully employed model builder for LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Manchester. Auditionees need to register in advance by emailing:

register@legolanddiscoverycentre.com

If you are UK BimP reader/listener and you give this a shot, drop me a line or leave a comment below and share your experience. We would love to read your story.

BimP is giving away a free trip to LEGOLAND!

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:25:00 PDT

Click for your Free Trip.

Ok, while not exactly what you were expecting (It did get your attention though...didn't it?), the link does provide you with a “virtual” trip to LEGOLAND California inside of Google Maps. Not the real deal, but in times like these, a virtual tour is better than nothing. Enjoy and remember, this trip is on us! :D

You can learn more about how Google used cameras mounted to trikes and Street View to provide this trip by clicking here.

Call to Action: Google Wave for AFOLs

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:12:00 PDT

I recently received my Google Wave invite and have to tell you, it is interesting technology but without additional folks, it’s kind of lonely. So here’s the deal. I have eight invites and I am looking to conduct an experiment. I am going to share these invites with AFOLs only and see how Google Wave can benefit the community.

So I’m throwing these invites out to BimP readers. If you are an AFOL and have a great idea for ways we can use Wave to develop a healthy AFOL Wave community, send me your proposal. It helps if you have 4 or 5 others who can join in the fun. If I select your proposal, together we’ll research the technology. Along the way we will share our findings with the AFOL community on BimP and/or your site(s).

So get those Technic gears a turning and submit your ideas via e-mail to:

steven@bricksinmypocket.org

You can also post a comment below. Please do not simply request an invite as these requests will be ignored. Only well thought out project recommendations with a perceived commitment will be considered. If I receive more than one great plan, we'll put it out there for a vote.

Already have your Wave account and lonely? Send me your address and I’ll add you to the AFOL Wave community we’ll be developing together.

Rapid Prototyping...LEGO Style

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:19:00 PDT

My AFOL and manufacturing background collided today when I discovered the video below. Take a quick peek and then continue reading.

According to Hack a Day:

[Ned] tipped us off about his project for a class at Carnegie Mellon. Utilizing a Denso 6-AOF robotic arm they have built a rapid prototyping machine that uses Lego as the building material. LDraw, the open standard Lego CAD program, is used to build a model which is then translated into MATLAB files that the robotic arm can use for placement commands. Right now pieces need to be placed on a template for the robot to find and pick up.

This is a very interesting project and one that I need to delve into further as I may want my Advanced Manufacturing students taking a stab at a similar project.

Rotating LEGO iPhone Dock Instructions Update

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:17:00 PDT

Hey readers! I thought I would drop a quick post and let you know that the instructions are coming along nicely. I’ve been using Bricksmith to construct an LDraw model. There has been a bit of a learning curve involved, but it has been a whole lot of fun. So much so, I am giving up on LEGO Digital Designer in favor of Bricksmith for all my LEGO modeling. Bricksmith provides just too many options for fine tuning the model and its components. Since it uses the LDraw library, I also have access to many more elements. If are a Mac and LEGO fan, you must download this software. I’m considering doing some tutorials on this software, so if this is of interest to you, drop me a comment and let me know.

As a sneak peek, I’ve dropped in an image of the Bricksmith model below so you can view my progress.

Next up is learning to use the Mac version of LPub4 to create those professionally produced instructions. I used the software many years ago, but have learned that there are many changes and additions and I’m really looking forward to giving it a shot. Stay tuned for further updates.

And the vote is in...

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:44:00 PDT

Engadget wins the award for the most creative repost of my recent LEGO iPhone/iPod Touch Rotating Dock moc. Their incorporation of the late great Howard Cosell highlighting my and Ted Jarvis Ang’s (age 11) “competing” LEGO dock is just classic. My hat goes off to my competitor. Those shocks rock (pun intended). Nice work Ted!

Rotating LEGO iPhone Dock Instructions...

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:24:00 PDT

First, let me thank everyone for the enthusiastic support for my latest creation. I have been overwhelmed by comments and e-mail. My moc (my own creation) has even been featured on several popular mainstream gadget blogs such as Gizmodo, Make and Engadget. One of the frequently asked questions in comments and e-mail is whether I have a list of parts or instructions available. I even received one request to purchase the dock. My reply is always the same, "sorry...but."

So in the interest of giving back to the community, I want readers to know that I am working on a set of plans. I am currently using Bricksmith to create the virtual model and to produce the build steps. Then I will to take the step images and do a little layout in Pages. Once complete, I will save as a .pdf and make them available on BimP. Now, here's where I would like some feedback.

Would the creation of these instructions and the time involved be of value? What I mean, and struggle with, is if I were to make them availalble for an extremely low cost, say $.99 or $1.99 (we are talking iPhone app prices here), would anyone be interested in purchasing? Or should I simply place them out there with a Creative Commons license and ask for donations.

I know many may see this as a money grab, but one of my interests is continuing with some other projects and getting a bit of monetary reward is a way to fund these projects without having to dip into the family budget. So what do you think? I've posted a poll in the upper area of the right column. So take the poll and let know what you think. You can also leave a comment. I'm here to tell you that I have made no decisions and your feedback means a great deal to me.

LEGO iPhone/iPod Touch Rotating Dock

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:23:00 PDT

Awhile back I had a couple of hours of build time (shocking but true) and a project that has been on my mind for some time was to create a nifty dock for my iPhone. As I began to create this little contraption I said to myself, “How could this be a bit cooler and more functional?” The answer was to make it a rotating dock so I could watch movies and apps in landscape mode.

I think my LEGO dock turned out quite well, if I do say so myself. After the click, you'll find video demonstrating the dock in operation.

Simply click to play. Below the video is a link to more detailed pics that can be viewed on my Flickr feed.

See the Flickr feed for more detailed pics

Some additions I am considering:

Non-slip surface on the bottom – slides around too much (any recommendations for official LEGO parts I can use?)
More stable base with reduced parts
Motorized rotating device – gonna require a bit o' engineering on my part
Instructions to build your own – although the pics may provide enough info

So what do you think? Leave me a comment below and let me know. Be sure to check out my other LEGO/Apple amalgam: the LEGO Apple iSight Camera Mount.

LEGO profits rise...

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:55:00 PDT

Bloomberg is reporting the following:

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Lego A/S, Europe’s biggest toymaker, said first-half profit jumped 60 percent as it sold more building block products based on the “Star Wars” movies and classic “Lego City” series. Net income increased to 684 million kroner ($130 million) from 427 million kroner in the same period a year earlier, the Billund, Denmark-based company said in a statement on its Web site today. Sales rose 23 percent to 4.37 billion kroner.

Lego, which estimates that children spend 5 billion hours a year playing with its multicolored bricks, has bought licenses from movie makers including Lucasfilm Ltd. to fend off competition from electronic toys and computer games. The closely held company said today it has expanded capacity with new block- molding machines in Denmark, Hungary and Mexico because of “sustained” growth expectations.

Good news for we AFOLs. Now, let's see if this trend continues once the new LEGO movie is release. But that's a topic for another blog post. :D

Read the rest of the story.

BimPCast 3 is now Available and a Plea for Assistance

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:59:00 PDT

As I continue to slowly, and I mean slowly, get our older shows online, subscribers will see today that BimPCast 3 from April 23, 2005 is now online. You can find it by clicking on the BimPCast label. If you click on the shownotes link, you'll find that there weren't any for this show, however, there is a plea for someone who might be listening to this old show to write those up for us. If interested, drop me a line at steven@bricksinmypocket.org. You can check other shownotes to see how much work is involved.

As for a new BimPCast, hang in there, Nikki and I have several large projects that are pulling us away. In the meantime, we are looking for someone who might be interesting in assisting us in pulling together the latest LEGO news from around the web and becoming a BimP contributor. If you are interested in this opportunity, drop me a line with samples of your writing. Oh and be advised. This is NOT a paying gig. At least not for now.

Spybotics Internals

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 14:48:00 PDT

This is a repost of a page I created in 2003 on LUGNET. While the Spybotics line has come and gone, I thought it important to archive this information for anyone who might still be tinkering with these little guys. I know I break them out every once in awhile myself. If you have something to add to this post, drop me a line or leave a comment.

This is not an official LEGO® document or web site. LEGO® and Spybotics® is a trademark of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor, authorize, or endorse this document. Copyright © 2003-2009 Steven B. Combs & Bricks in my Pocket (BimP) except where noted. All rights reserved. All photos taken and manipulated by Steven B. Combs unless noted. Images hosted by Brickshelf L.L.C. and LUGNET.)

Purpose:
The purpose of this page is to document and present the internals of the Spybotic Programmable Controller and the Spybotic Programmable Remote Controller. With the assistance of the LUGNET community the internals of the Spybotic Programmable Controller will be dissected, analyzed, and documented. This page will also serve as a links clearing house for Spybotic related control software and hardware additions/modifications. It is not the intent of this document to reveal any trade secrets but rather provide the LEGO Robotic enthusiast with additional information that will allow them to stretch the limits of this device and add to the enjoyment and service life of the product.

This page is inspired by Kekoa Proudfoot’s RCX Internals page, however, the amount of detail presented is based on the contributions of the LUGNET community since I do not have the technical expertise to completely document technical specifications of the firmware and hardware.

All LUGNET readers are encouraged to assist with the development of this resource and provide feedback. If you have technical skills and/or information to provide, please contact me at steven.combs@gmail.com. At present I am looking for the assistance of an embedded systems professional or EE to provide firmware and electronic information.

Note: This is a working document with much work to be done before it is complete.

The thread of discussion about this project can be found at right.

		Spybotics Programmable Controller Internals	Steven Combs
In my free time (yeah...sure Steven) I have begun a little project. It will require the assistance of this group, so if you have some time please visit: (URL) offer some feedback and assistance by responding to this post or e-mailing me at (...) (6 years ago, 4-Jan-03, to lugnet.robotics.spybotics) «

Introduction:
The Spybotics Programmable Controller (SPC) is programmable, microcontroller-based device that can simultaneously operate two motors, one touch sensors, one light sensor, an infrared serial communications interface, and a light output device.

The Spybotics line consists of four differing Spybots shown below (images ©2002 LEGO ):

Gigamesh G60 w/212 elements

Snaptrax S45 w/201 elements

Shadowstrike S70 w/193 elements

Technojaw w/ 244 elements

All four sets contain the same SPC and SPRC. Included are additional LEGO elements to make each Spybot unique in appearance and function.

Primarily geared toward the 10-16 year-old market, the Spybot concept is quite unique. Part computer game and part remote controlled vehicle, the Spybotics system is a an original product. The user or “Agent” first builds his/her Spybot from scratch, using the instructions displayed on the computer screen, and is then presented with missions that can be completed for points. These missions generally involve setting up a physical obstacle course (using spot lights, books and/or other heavy objects) in a large area, downloading a program to the Spybot, and attempting the objective. To control the Spybot during the mission, the Agent uses the Programmable Remote Controller (SPRC). Once the objective is completed (or not) the results are then uploaded back to the computer where the score can be compared to prior missions or uploaded via the Internet to compare against other Agent’s scores.

SPC External Features:
Like most electronic devices that are encased with plastic, the SPC plastic housing protects the internal components (printed circuit board (PCB), motors, batteries, and sensors) and provides the product’s visual aesthetics. For the Spybot, the case also provides LEGO component connection functionality.

The SPC’s overall bounding dimensions are found in the table below.

Description	English (in)	Metric (mm)	LEGO (studs)

Width	2.50	63.50	8

Length	4.75	120.65	15

Height	2.00	50.80	6

The SPC housing is manufactured and molded from a special blend ABS polymer (see news articles at right for more details).

		Re: ABS... but which one?	Jim Hughes
Pedro: Your assumptions are absolutely correct. Most of Lego's plastic is a special (top secret) version of Bayer Novodur. Lego also uses a version of Lustran and, more recently, a version of Makrolon. If you spend enough time on the Bayer site they (...) (6 years ago, 3-Jan-03, to lugnet.general)

		Re: Melting Point of ABS (Re: Strengthening Gears)	Jim Hughes
Thomas: Lego uses primarily Bayer Novodur (and apparently to some extent Bayer Lustran) for its bricks. The exact composition of the Novodur is of course, like the recipie for Coke, is top secret, but it is probably closest to Bayer Novodur P2M-V A (...) (7 years ago, 6-Mar-02, to lugnet.technic)

SPC Disassembly:

Disassembly of the SPC is very simple and requires only a small Philips screwdriver. Use the steps to the right to open the SPC.

1. Turn the SPC over.
2. Remove the screws found at the locations shown in the figure at right.
3. Carefully separate the top and the bottom (SPC is not sealed with any adhesive).
4. Turn the bottom half over to reveal the SPC internals.

Click to view super size image

SPC Internal Description:

Once the cover is removed and the bottom half is turned over, the internal components of the SPC are revealed (see image at right).

Click to view super size image

The SPC consists of the following hardware and firmware features (information taken from the LEGO Mindstorms 2.5 SDK available at http://mindstorms.lego.com/sdk2point5/default.asp)

Storage	Functional Blocks	Events	Inputs	Outputs

ROM. 7 tasks, 96 engine subroutines, 64 sound effects, and 8 LED animations	Sound control	bump	1 light sensor	1 piezo speaker

CPU RAM. 32 global variables (including 3 counters), 4 local variables per task, 80 stack entries shared between tasks and subs	Motor control	vll	2 IR receivers	2 motors

4k EEPROM. 256 byte scratchpad, 8 tasks, 32 subroutines, 16 sound effects, 8 LED animations	LED control	opto	1 touch sensor	1 laser LED (VLL)

	VLL output	counter		7 display LEDs

	ping control registers	timer		4 IR transmitters

	communications registers (link, RC, and UART registers)	world change

	world relations tables (other robots and controllers)	IR/PC msg

	3 counters

	4 timers and timer controls

SPRC External Features:
Programmable Remote Controller information coming soon.

The SPRC’s overall bounding dimensions are found in the table below.

Description	English (in)	Metric (mm)	LEGO (studs)

Width	n/a	n/a	n/a

Length	n/a	n/a	n/a

Height	n/a	n/a	n/a

The SPRC housing is manufactured and molded from the same blend of ABS as the SPC.

SPRC Disassembly:

Disassembly of the PRC is also simple and requires only a small Philips screwdriver. Use the steps to the right to open the SPRC.

1. Turn the SPRC over.
2. Remove the screws found at the location shown in the figure below (coming soon).
3. Carefully separate the top and the bottom (SPRC is not sealed with any adhesive).
4. Coming Soon

SPRC Internal Description:
Send e-mail to steven@bricksinmypocket.org to contribute to this section.

Related Links:

Lego Spybotics Homepage		The official LEGO Spybotics homepage. Very little technical information is present.

LUGNET Spybotics Newsgroup		You probably found this page while browsing this newsgroup. Use this link to discuss all things Spybotics.

Spybot (Hack)		A Japanese site similar to this one. The link automatically uses BabelFish to translate the contents into very broken English.

Not Quite C (NQC) Homepage		Variant of the C programming language modified for the RCX brick. Newer versions of NQC also provide support for Spybotics.

NQC 2.5 Spybotics Support		Up to date information on NQC and Spybotics.

Joybrix		JoyBricx is an application that allows the remote controll of Spybots and the Bionicle RC Fighter using a joysticks, game pad, keyboard, or mouse. It also allows the user to save the events for later playback.

Bricx Command Center (NQC IDE)		The best integrated development interface (IDE) available for NQC. Automates and structures coding. Allows real time manipulation of RCX. Supports Spybotics.

Apress’ LEGO Spybotics Secret Agent Training Manual Page

New BimPCast Hotline

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:39:00 PDT

Have something to say? Want to make a recommendation for future shows? Want to share a MOC? Have an event that you want advertise? Give us a call on the new BimPCast Hotline, powered by Google Voice.

Please remember that any message may be used in future shows. Long distance charges may apply. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

Spring Break is here!

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:04:00 PDT

And we won't be recording this weekend, but rather spending time relaxing and enjoy friends and family. We'll be back in a couple of weeks. In the meantime I've uploaded our second show (and it's almost as bad as the first) to put a smile on your face. You'll also notice that we now have Show Notes for episode 1 and 2. You can find past show by clicking here.

As always, feel free to send us feedback. We've been receiving some wonderful e-mails from our listeners, both old and new!

Unexpected LEGO Goodness

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:02:00 PDT

One of the blogs I review regularly is Darren Rowse's ProBlogger. While reviewing a recent post I was greeted by the following image credited to Helico. I just love finding our favorite brick used in obscure and useful ways. The Juggler is being used here in a way that is very relevant to our lives as I try and juggle our commitments and our love of the LEGO community.

Learn more by clicking on over to Helico’s Flickr page and where he states:

The juggler is the most popular of my shots with LEGO bricks here on Flickr. Therefore, I place him in a better resolution in my photo stream.

And if you want to get serious about blogging, make sure you take a look around ProBlogger.

Message to RSS Feed and BimPCast watchers

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:32:00 PDT

I'm slowly beginning the process of uploading older shows. As an experiment, I recently posted my first show which occurred March 23, 2005. This will show up as a new podcast if you are subscribing to the feed so disregard unless you want to relive the old days of the BimPCast.

Boy, we sure have come a long way. The audio and production value on that first show were atrocious; however, it is a fun listen if you want to laugh with me at myself! I'll also be including some show notes for this first episode a bit later and possibly some "inside baseball" additions for historical posterity. If there's other content from the past that you would like to see, drop me a line.

As I've said in past posts and during the BimPCast, it will take some time to get the site back up to speed, but when we're done, I think you'll enjoy having access to our past shows with interviews from some of the best AFOLs out there.

"Keep on Building"

We have vignette!

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:27:00 PDT

Nikki and I were tickled to find an e-mail message from Swedish AFOL listener Stig-Erik Blomquist. Stigge began listening to us right as we began our four-year hiatus. Here's his story...

Sometime, a long time ago, I somehow found my way to your site and podcast...The last three years I haven't visited the site everyday, but like once every few months, and so, one day last week I found the headline that you had started casting again, so I quickly got the two new files (the test and #25) downloaded, and into my cell phone...

Like most of you, Stigge was probably shocked that we even came back! He continues...

One of the first things I heard on the first "real" show, was that Nikki has been TIED TO HER CHAIR. I decided that called for a vignette, but didn't get to do it before I heard the first half of the second show (#26), which gave a few more details about your tech set-up, and thus this little thing was made and photographed, in order to let you know that someone acctualy listens to your show.

Really? Someone actually listens to our show? Well now, there's one of the three listeners! Here's the fun part. Check out the vignette that Stigge created based only on information we relayed during our last two BimPCasts. Pay particular attention to the rope around “Nikki's” waste (a reference I made during BimPCast 26).

This was so much fun, we wondered if anyone else had it in them to recreate our “studio” as a vignette. So, if the other two listeners would like to create a vignette with your idea of our setup, give it a shot and send it to us. We'd love to feature it! Who knows, if you really encourage us, we might take an actual picture and share later.

“Keep on Building!”

BimPCast 26 - Ticket to Ride {repost for iTunes}

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:00:00 PDT

Our second episode since our hiatus. We didn't use TalkShoe for this one due to some technical issues, but never fear, we were able to get an episode out this morning. You can click the links below to download, listen and view the show notes.

BimPCast 26 - Ticket to Ride

View the Show Notes

PRODUCTS DISCUSSED DURING THIS SHOW:

Ticket to Ride (Days of Wonder)
LEGO Death Star Play Set
LEGO Death Star II ($100 off at LEGO Shop at Home)
LEGO Clone Wars
Forbidden LEGO
Zamor Spheres

BimPCast 26 Schedule

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:51:00 PST

Alrighty folks. It's time to prepare for the next BimPCast. Nikki and I will be recording live on TalkShoe this Saturday (March 7th) at 11am CST. We didn't have anyone join us last week and would love to have our listeners come join us and be a part of the show. You can listen live and chat with us while we record or become a part of the show by phoning in using your mobile phone, land line phone, Skype or the TalkShoe client (learn more by visiting our TalkShoe page). We'll take calls at the end of the show. So, consider joining us for a leisurely Saturday morning of LEGO chit chat. It'll be just like our own little virtual LEGO Users Group meeting!

Leave a comment below or drop us a line if you think you might be joining us. We have new e-mail addresses:

Steven: steven@bricksinmypocket.org
Nikki: nikki@bricksinmypocket.org

And lastly, your homework assignment. Recommend stories to us via Delicious by simply adding the tag bimpideas. You can view current bimpideas submissions using the following URL:

http://delicious.com/tag/bimpideas

{Update} Recommend a BimP Featured MOC to us via Delicious using the bimpmoc tag. You can view recommended MOCs using the following URL:

http://delicious.com/tag/bimpmoc

BimP has a new logo...again!

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:15:00 PST

As we mentioned in our last post, we've been working on a major design mod for the BimP site. As part of that mod we've modified the logo...again. Here's a preview of the new BimP logo being used as part of our new iTunes album art image. Compare this one to the one in the header. Let us know what you think.

BimP 2.0 redesign underway

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 11:29:00 PST

As discussed in our last Podcast, we are slowly, but surely, redesigning the BimP website and you can follow along. The BimP 2.0 design updates can be found at:

http://bimp2.blogspot.com

Help us along the way by visiting occasionally and providing feedback via the comments or e-mail (bricksinmypocket@gmail.com). We also mentioned on BimPCast 25 that we were slowly adding all the old content that has not been transferred since our move to the Blogger platform. This content may (not sure) appear on the BimP 2.0 design before finally making it's way here. There's not much to look at now as we are in the layout phase of the design process. After that we will move to content inclusion and then on to branding. Bare with us as we build a fresh new home for the BimPCast. This is going to take some time.

Celebrate 10 years of LEGO Mindstorms

steven@bricksinmypocket.org (Steven & Nikki Combs) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:19:00 PST

Head on over to Amazon or Shop@Home to get your own limited edition Mindstorms Intelligent NXT Brick in glorious shiny black. That’s right, for a limited time, LEGO is offering their NXT Brick in black. Technically these little guys are the same as their gray and creme cousins save for the color. There will only be 1,998 of these little guys available to celebrate the year of the Mindstorms line release, 1998. So if you’re one of those folks who love the LEGO collectibles or need a black NXT Brick for your utlimate MOC, this is a good one.

We wonder how many AFOLs will actually open the box on this one and destroy the mint condition. At $169.99, we’d be more inclined to create the ultimate dark-side robot than have it remain in its hermetically sealed packaging. Either way, it’s a very interesting product release to be sure. Pre-order now to ensure you don’t miss this one. What are your plans for the Black NXT brick? Drop us a comment and let us know.