Brickshelf closes down 2007/07/31

Well, it looks like there is both good and bad news on Brickshelf. I still don't know why it is closing, but it seems more certain: the site has opened with a somewhat more informative message stating

"Notice: Brickshelf will be shutting down on 2007/07/31.
Please save your files to your computer."

So it looks like one of my favorite LEGO sources, a place where more than a decade of wonderful building has been cataloged, and the only source of some of these images on the net (from folks who have left the hobby for one reason or another) is soon to be no more. The slightly good news is you have a final chance to grab at least the stuff you already know where it is... before it is sadly gone forever. Gallery contains 1,907,738 files in 197,568 folders as of 16 Jul 2007, 3:28 PM... a really terrible loss.

I'm not sure where I'll move for my on-line image hosting. some have suggested Maj.com, but given this rather sudden departure of Brickshelf, I'm not sure I'm confortable with that route at this time. Flickr? Others?

Update, 4:07 PM: there is a bulk backup utility, developed by Bob Kojima, that you can use to download and save Brickshelf galleries. BZPower is hosting it currently, and you can download it here:

http://www.bzpower.com/downloads/BSBackup_0013.zip

Note that it can be configured to pause between downloads, and also I believe can be scheduled to download at certain times. Please, if you use this, put a couple of seconds in the "seconds between" field so that the server is not swamped by a thousand simultaneous requests. Thanks to Bob for writing this, BZPower for hosting it, and Brickshelf for giving the community this window... as well as many many years of wonderful service!

--
Brian Davis
(who now has to figure out how to patch hundreds of links in this blog, other forums, etc. But I'm certainly not alone on that count).

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Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we take a trip through history. Please also visit ROBOTMAK3RS Community every week as we highlight different projects all through 2023 in celebration of the anniversary. Some of the early history is based on the content shared by Coder Shah in our MINDSTORMS EV3 Community Group . Some of the text and links may have been edited from his original posts for consistency and clarity. 1984 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen watched a TV program called "Talking Turtle," where MIT professor Seymour Papert demonstrated how children could control robot "turtles" using LOGO, a programming language he developed. 1988 - The collaboration between MIT and LEGO resulted in LEGO TC Logo in 1988, which allowed students to control LEGO models using computer commands. The video shows Papert demonstrating TC Logo. 1990 - LEGO TC Logo was hampered since the robots you built had to be tethered to a personal computer. LEGO and MIT

MINDSTORMS Retires!

2023 is the 25th Anniversary of the MINDSTORMS brand. For 25 years, MINDSTORMS has educated and inspired a generation of robot builders, both children and adults. Unfortunately, the LEGO Group decided to end the line on December 2022. Many ROBOTMAK3RS have been passionately involved with the development of MINDSTORMS through the MUP and MCP programs. Even with the newest Robot Inventor line, several ROBOTMAK3RS were invited to submit additional bonus models that were included in the official app. Regardless of the retirement of a major LEGO robotics product line, ROBOTMAK3RS continue to MAKE-SHARE-INSPIRE using all LEGO robotics platforms available to us. Here is the official statement from LEGO. Since its launch in September 1998, LEGO MINDSTORMS has been one of the core ‘Build & Code’ experiences in the company’s portfolio, carrying with it significant brand equity and becoming a stand-out experience for the early days of consumer robotics and leading to current Build & Code

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