Lego gets fans' help

Do you have bins and bins of only occasionally Legos lying around your house too? At least we're supporting a very forward-thinking company that supports Lego designers of all ages. CNET tells of Lego's Mindstorms developer program, which harnesses customer power. "The 100 Lego fans named last week have a chance to help develop the product by road-testing it in ways Lego never anticipated, and then share their impressions with Mindstorm executives." More than 9,600 people in 79 countries applied (Lego execs told CNET they thought it'd be "really cool" if 1,000 applied). The 100 winners are in 26 countries (40% US), "range in age from 18 to 75, and are heavily technical. Only six are women. Mindstorms NXT is "a sophisticated and open-ended robot development kit masquerading as a kid's toy," CNET reports in a separate story. The box says it's for kids 10+, but Mindstorms obviously appeals to grownup kids every bit as much.