Devoted Ben Caulkins, 15, is a huge fan of the computer game Halo and has made a wearable replica of the costume worn by the main character Master Chief. Despite being made of plastic bricks, the outfit is entirely flexible and Ben can proudly walk around in his bespoke outfit.The schoolboy was inspired to create the suit after attending his first Lego convention in Chicago, USA - and six months and $1,000 (£615) later it's finally completed. Ben proudly shows off his Lego Master Chief outfit and on the right, how the warrior looks in the game He said: ‘I was wowed by some of the most elegant and massive Lego creations I'd ever seen. ‘I wasn't sure at first what I wanted to construct so I started thinking about it on the train journey home from a convention.‘The idea of a Master Chief costume came to me very easily as I'm sure it does for a lot of Lego/Halo lovers, but the only difference is that I decided to act on it.’ Devoted: Ben Caulkins, 15, spent the past six month meticulously building a lifesize Master Chief suit using more than 10,000 Lego bricks
Spaced out: Incredibly, despite being made of bricks the Halo uniform is weavable Ben, from New York, now has a loyal online following after documenting the gruelling process on Flickr page.Halo is an enormously succesful sci-fi video game series with more than 35 million copies sold worldwide since 2001.A 'cybernetically-enhanced human super-soldier’, the Master Chief is a silent character whose face is never revealed from behind his gold visor. Game on: The Master Chief in action in Halo 3Do You Need Extra LEGO City Figures? imageLEGO figures , which are also called minifigures, or minifigs for short, are one of the most captivating aspects of this beloved building toy. On one hand, minifigs are just small, articulated figurines...Read More about Do You Need Extra LEGO City Figures?StikBot is the world’s first social media sharing toy. What exactly does that mean? StikBots are posable figures that kids and adults can use to create stop motion videos that are then shared to sites like YouTube and Instagram.
It’s a fun idea to get kids interested in film making, but are StikBots the way to do it? Note: Images can be clicked to view a larger size. StikBots can be purchased individually or in the Studio Pack like the one that was sent to me that includes a tripod for your smartphone and two StikBots. The StikBots are simple little jointed figures that come in a variety of colors and are made of plastic with suction cups on their hands and feet. Their body is held together with elastic cords that make the posing easy, but not real accurate. The suction cups work best on very slick surfaces like glass. They will stick on other smooth surfaces but tend to detach within a few seconds and fall over. So the slicker and shinier the surface, the better they will stick. This is important because the stop motion video depends on the figures staying in the same location with very slight movements. Using the free iOS or Android StikBot Studio app, you pose your StikBots and snap a picture. Then you move them very slightly and snap another picture.
Move them again and snap another photo and on and on and on until you have created your full video. To avoid camera shake, you can use the volume control on your headphones to “snap” photos. The app’s interface is very simple. There’s a shutter button in the right corner (the red StikBot head) and a zoom slider. When you take an image, the viewfinder will change to show a ghost of the last image you snapped. This helps you see how much or little to repose the figure for the next image. The app then takes all the single photos and strings them together into one video. Because StikBots animate best at lower frame rates, the app is set to shoot at 10 frames per second, making it easy to know how long your video will be (60 frames = 6 seconds). When you’re done, you can add music or sound effects to different frames. You can then watch or share your videos. Wow, that one second video was totally epic wasn’t it? StikBots are cute and the app is simple enough for even small children to use.
But here’s the thing, you can create these types of videos with your existing toys and other posable figures like LEGO minifigs. Your existing toys might not have suction cups for feet, but I found the whole suction cup feature to be lacking because they only work best on surfaces like glass. There are other free apps out there that you can use to create stop motion videos. Heck, you can use the StikBot app since it’s free. Final verdict: Cute, and promotes creativity, but I don’t think they are worth buying unless you want to collect the different colored StikBots for some weird reason. Source: The sample for this review was provided by Zing Global Ltd. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order. Other articles that we've written that you might like... Price:$4.99 and up for one StikBot, $9.99 for StikBot Studio PackManufacturer:Zing Global Ltd.Retailer:AmazonPros:Promotes creativity Helps kids learn about stop motion animationCons:Suction cups don't stick very well or very long
Expensive for what you getGoogle is on the point of updating Search Console infrastructure; this makes a matter of possible delays in data registration in some of reports. This information was stated on Data Anomalies service webpage. This situation will take several weeks. "Analysis of the search terms" report will not be affected. Infrastructure Update was launched on November, 1. At the moment, some webmasters lack data in "Links to your site" report. It’s more likely that is has to do with the current changes. Google has updated the «How Search Works» page, adding the actual data on the number of indexed pages. At the moment this number exceeds 130 trillion and is still growing. In March 2013, the number was equal to 30 trillion. In less than 4 years Google has added more than 100 trillion pages into the index. It should be reminded that now the company is testing a new mobile-first index. This means that in the near future the search algorithms will primarily assess the relevance of a mobile version of the page, and if not, it will use a desktop.
Find more inforation regarding these changes in FAQ. Google opened access to resource sets in the Search Console by means of the Search Analytics API. Mike Sullivan from the United States was the first one noticed this innovation. Google launched a new feature "Resource Kits" in the Search Console in May this year. It allows you to connect up to 200 resources of any type (either the web pages or applications) into a sole group and receive all the data on clicks and impressions in a single report. From now on the resource kits are also available through the Search Analytics API. A total of 30.4% of online sales were placed on mobile (phones and tablets) during the 2015 holiday shopping season (Nov. 1 – Dec. 31), up from 25.9% of sales in 2014. Ranking near the top of search results is great, but if you want the click, your title and description better be top-notch also. In 2005, searchers spent just under 2 seconds, on average, viewing each listing; in 2014 that has dropped to 1.17 seconds.