What if the pixels from your screen escaped and found themselves wandering around the real world? They’d look like these aptly named Bloxels!

Designer Jinha Lee came up with this concept while he thought about his monitor. These small devices are supposed to be the prototype of a new type of display, on which Lee began working on in Tokyo while at university.

His design uses a bunch of modules that consist of translucent cubes which are able to emit a glow that corresponds to one that is transmitted to it. Each Bloxel is influenced by the ones around it. The image that’s displayed transforms as the Bloxels are moved around.
Click to View Embedded Video Clip
This type of display is supposed to be used for multimedia artwork or educational purposes, but I think that they make some funky lights as well. You can find out more about Bloxels over on Lee’s website.
[via Designboom]

Written by range on December 23rd, 2009 with no comments.
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Before I go on, let’s get it out of the way. Yes, Rubik’s Cube art is nothing new, and in all likelihood Nick Hall and the rest of the Cube Works team are following on the footsteps of earlier Rubik’s Cubists. But that doesn’t make Cube Works’ pieces any less beautiful.

Thinking of how hard and complex something must have been to create – whether it’s a song, a bridge, or in this case a portrait – makes me appreciate it more, and with Rubik’s Cube portraits the arduousness of the process is just so apparent that upon looking at these pieces for the first time I was simultaneously thinking of how nice they look and of how frickin’ maddening they must have been to create.

If you’d like to commission Cube Works, contact Josh Chalom via e-mail. They’re willing to make portraits based on images submitted by clients, so if you want to immortalize yourself in a geeky way, now’s your chance. Check out their website for more portraits.
[via freshome and Vidafine]

Written by lambert v. on November 30th, 2009 with no comments.
Read more articles on Amazing and Pixel art and blocks and color and design and geek art & craft and just plain fun and pop art and puzzle and rubiks cube.
What do you get when you’ve got a crapload of Rubik’s cubes lying around the house, and some serious artistic talent? You make some major pixel art, that’s what.

These Rubik’s pixel portraits by Irish artist John Quigley are truly mind-boggling. Not only did he have to map out the precise pixel positions for each cube in these creations, he had to rotate the sides of each cube into exactly the correct color scheme to make it all work. To put it all in perspective, the Space Invaders scene above required a whopping 1,330 cubes.

And while Sonic only took 784 cubes to get his spiky blue hairdo, he’s still cool in my book. Not all of John’s creations require hundreds or even thousands of cubes either. Check out this Pac-Man scene, created from just 102 cubes – it still gets the point across just fine.

And Mario is no less fun, even though he only consumed 24 Rubik’s Cubes.

For obvious reasons, I’m drawn to his retro video game pixel creations, but I couldn’t leave you guys without showing you John’s unbelievable 2,622 cube portrait of Barack Obama.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip
Be sure to check out all of John’s amazing Rubik’s Cube creations over at the Neo-literal Cubist’s flickr page. He can also solve a Rubik’s Cube in 44 seconds.

Written by technabob on November 7th, 2009 with no comments.
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When most of us think of Tetris, we think of puzzle games. But this new variant of the classic brick-stacking puzzler isn’t about that. You see, Tetris’D is a platform game. Huh, wha?

The objective of Kobra Editing’s little Flash game Tetris’D is simple. Blocks fall from the sky just like they do in the original ‘tris, except instead of controlling the blocks, you move a little stick-figure dude who’s about to be crushed by them-thar falling blocks. You can move and jump over bricks, and with enough practice, you can even wall jump while you’re moving through the air. All you’ve got to do is stay alive without being smooshed or falling off of the platform. But don’t let the simple premise fool you. This game will seriously kick your ass when you first pick it up.

Wanna give a shot? Jump on over to StickPage and get to some Tetris’D platform’n now’n. While you’re over there, be sure to check out Kobra’s accompanying Tetris’d stick-figure animations for an added diversion.
[via DownloadSquad]

Written by technabob on October 17th, 2009 with no comments.
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This collaboration between UK mixed-media artist Chrissie MacDonald and photographer Dominic Lee envisions what Tetris might look like on some newfangled 3-dimensional computing platform that uses physical blocks to let you play the classic Russian puzzler.

The whole thing seems slightly impractical to me - with only that much height, and blocks that can rotate to any angle - I think the game would be over really quickly for me. For now I’ll stick to Topple.
[via Broccolicity]

Written by technabob on March 9th, 2009 with no comments.
Read more articles on 3D and Photography and Technology and art and blocks and future tech and geek art & craft and illustration and photo and puzzle and quickpix and sculpture and tetris and video games.
We mean works as in it does stuff like move and light up. It doesn’t suck gas. Proving that with enough time, Lego pieces and will, you can make anything, some guy made an actual Lego V8 engine. It took 4 months to complete.
Which is probably why GM and Ford choose not to use Legos. Plus Lego cars are super heavy and hard to sit in. Plus next thing you know, you’d have Lego and Duplo monopolizing the car market and that wouldn’t be good. Still I suppose they could arrange for the outside of 50% of Lego cars to have the bricks facing inward and half facing outward so that when they crash, they have a 50/50 chance of either crashing or interlocking which should be safer.
[Hackedgadgets]

Written by Conner Flynn on October 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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Remember the beginning of Donkey Kong? You know - the part where Kong climbs to the top of the building, stomps his feet, and the girders all fall diagonally into place? That’s sorta what this new version of Jenga reminds me of.

Shipping this September, Donkey Kong Jenga doesn’t monkey with the orignial Jenga block stacking and removing gameplay. But I couldn’t think of a better way to spice up those boring plain wood blocks that the regular version of the game comes with. Sure, it’s a few bucks more than standard Jenga, but put Mario and Donkey Kong on anything, and I’ll gladly pay a couple of extra bucks for it.
You can pre-order Donkey Kong Jenga over at Amazon
for $24.99.
[via Kotaku]

Written by technabob on August 22nd, 2008 with no comments.
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