The Lego Group has unveiled its Smart Play system, which uses “Smart Bricks” and “Smart Tags” to bring Lego sets to life. The Smart Bricks are powered by a custom ASIC chip that is smaller than one standard Lego stud and is highly specialised for the features of the Lego Smart Play system.

LEGO Smart Play platform involves patented sensor- and tech-packed 2 x 4 brick that brings interactive lights and sounds to life.

Fortunately, Lego didn’t just drop an idea, call it a day, and leave fans waiting. The company has already announced the first three “All-in-One” LEGO Star Wars sets range from 473 to 962 pieces, each including at least one Smart Brick, a number of Smart Tags, and Smart Minifigures to unlock interactive features.

In the Star Wars sets launching with Smart Play in March, the Emperor minifig will play the Imperial March when you sit him on this throne. Ships can blast at each other with laser noises, and lightsabers will hum and whirl when figures holding them are moved.

The maker of the Mini Lego Computer has just published details about a cheaper, smaller Micro Lego Computer. True to the spirit of Lego, the new computer offers modular expansion 'bricks' including an external hard disk and a card reader with USB Hub.

Want a small computer that you can use in the office or the living room, but don’t want a model with a boring plastic or metal case? How about one made from LEGO bricks? Not good enough? How about if you make it stackable… just like a LEGO brick?

Students, hobbyists and tech-savvy parents who use–or plan to use–the LEGO Mindstorms kits with the NXT computer module usually program the device through a graphical language such as a subset of LabVIEW from National Instruments. But ambitious ...

Second grade is not too soon to start preparing for a career in computer engineering. That’s the Danish company Lego ’s message in introducing a robotics program designed to teach children as young as age 7 how to make simple machines and write ...