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Geeks and LEGO seem to go together like mac and cheese (or Macs and Apples, even) with tons of fan-made geek-inspired creations to be found in every corner of the interweb, including the LEGO Flickr group.

From both full-time, professional LEGO artists to those who just have a penchant for the colorful little Danish building blocks, we bring you a great gallery of LEGO sculptures that are inspired by the world of tech, online and social media.

Have a gander now and let us know your favorites – or any others we’ve missed that you think are worthy of mention – in the comments box below.

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1. PS3 Controller

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This PS3 controller was bricked up for a Sony advert for the Chilean market. Aside from the LEGO-themed video games link, the thinking behind it is reported to be that the console is as classic and recognizable as LEGO itself. Just a bit more pricey.

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2. Apple iPad

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Flickr user jmenomeno created an Apple iPad after watching the keynote in which it was announced. Some nice attention to detail comes in with the Apple logo on the back.

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3. Twitterrific’s Ollie

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LEGO builder Fredoichi took a break from more hardcore LEGO creations to make Ollie, Twitterrific’s avian icon, because his little girl thought it was “a cute thing to have.” Awww!

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4. Google Logo

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Apparently Larry and Sergey are “avid lovers of the LEGO brick” and as such commissioned LEGO artist Sean Kenney to piece together two Google LEGO logos which are currently on show in the online giant’s New York and Copenhagen offices.

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5. Twitter Fail Whale

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One of the online world’s sweetest error messages gets rendered in 3D in the medium of LEGO by Bjarne P Tveskov who cunningly Photoshopped the once-yellow “eye” brick – as it’s really a smiley LEGO mouth.

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6. More Google LEGO

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Google staffers themselves got in on the brick-building action with this Google Talk sculpture made from LEGO. We only hope it was built during their 20% time.

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7. Young Woz and Jobs Playset

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PodBrix’s Apple-themed scene is set back in ‘72 and shows the two young Steves in minifig form – Steve J already dreaming of the iPhone and Woz, wrench in hand fiddling with a circuit board.

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8. Nintendo DSi

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Another Sean Kenney creation, this gargantuan LEGO DSi was commissioned by the Japanese gaming giant to grace the Nintendo World Store in New York. You’re looking at 51,324 LEGO pieces in this 7-foot wide construction which makes most home-made efforts look a little puny.

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9. iPhone Unboxing

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A slightly different take on the LEGO angle, as well as on your usual unboxing, this Flickr photo-set sees minifigs merrily unpacking an Apple iPhone – until tragedy strikes, that is. Don’t fret, there’s a happy ending.

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10. VIDEO: Google Chrome Logo

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Made for Google’s contest that asked users to create a video of themselves building the Google Chrome icon in any medium, this construction site, stop-motion effort is a clever use of the LEGO bricks, and minifigs, which brought it special mention.

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More Geeky Fun posts from Mashable:

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- 5 Must-Have Geek Collectibles
- 10 Fabulous Romantic Gifts for Your Beloved Geek
- 10 Best Geek Movies for a Cozy Night In
- 10 Incredibly Geeky YouTube Videos

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Reviews: Apple Ipad, Flickr, Google, Google Chrome, Twitterrific, google talk

Tags: apple, geek, Google, ipad, iphone, Lego, nintendo ds, PS3, twitter

Individual stats like Facebook passing the 400 million user mark, Twitter hitting 50 million tweets per day, and YouTube viewers watching 1 billion videos per day are impressive on their own, but what if we looked at Internet-related stats collectively? Jesse Thomas did just that in his video State of the Internet.

The video — created and animated by Thomas with data from multiple sources — highlights some remarkable figures and visually depicts the Internet as we know it today. It’s a must-watch video for anyone trying to wrap their minds around just how immersed web technologies have become in our everyday lives.

You can watch the video below, but we’ve also included some of the most intriguing figures shared in the video:

- There are 1.73 billion Internet users worldwide as of September 2009.

- There are 1.4 billion e-mail users worldwide, and on average we collectively send 247 billion e-mails per day. Unfortunately 200 billion of those are spam e-mails.

- As of December 2009, there are 234 million websites.

- Facebook gets 260 billion pageviews per month, which equals 6 million page views per minute and 37.4 trillion pageviews in a year.

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Reviews: Facebook

Tags: stats, trending, video

I just finished reading a very unsettling blog post by serial entrepreneur Jason Goldberg, whose new startup fabulis has apparently had its bank account blocked by Citibank over posting "objectionable content" on its company blog, at least according to a bank employee he spoke to on the phone. Fabulis is described on the blog as "the social network that helps gay men connect with amazing experiences nearby and around the world". Could that be what Citibank is objecting against rather than the content on the blog, which is perfectly innocent any way you look at it?

In late 2006, students at a school in Turin, Italy filmed and then uploaded a video to Google Video that showed them bullying an autistic schoolmate. The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian police. We also worked with the local police to help identify the person responsible for uploading it and she was subsequently sentenced to 10 months community service by a court in Turin, as were several other classmates who were also involved. In these rare but unpleasant cases, that's where our involvement would normally end.

But in this instance, a public prosecutor in Milan decided to indict four Google employees —David Drummond, Arvind Desikan, Peter Fleischer and George Reyes (who left the company in 2008). The charges brought against them were criminal defamation and a failure to comply with the Italian privacy code. To be clear, none of the four Googlers charged had anything to do with this video. They did not appear in it, film it, upload it or review it. None of them know the people involved or were even aware of the video's existence until after it was removed.

Nevertheless, a judge in Milan today convicted 3 of the 4 defendants — David Drummond, Peter Fleischer and George Reyes — for failure to comply with the Italian privacy code. All 4 were found not guilty of criminal defamation. In essence this ruling means that employees of hosting platforms like Google Video are criminally responsible for content that users upload. We will appeal this astonishing decision because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the video in question. Throughout this long process, they have displayed admirable grace and fortitude. It is outrageous that they have been subjected to a trial at all.

But we are deeply troubled by this conviction for another equally important reason. It attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built. Common sense dictates that only the person who films and uploads a video to a hosting platform could take the steps necessary to protect the privacy and obtain the consent of the people they are filming. European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal content once they are notified of its existence. The belief, rightly in our opinion, was that a notice and take down regime of this kind would help creativity flourish and support free speech while protecting personal privacy. If that principle is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them — every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video — then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear.

These are important points of principle, which is why we and our employees will vigorously appeal this decision.

Posted by Matt Sucherman, VP and Deputy General Counsel - Europe, Middle East and Africa

Skype has just gone on the record confirming that a version of Skype for iPhone that supports calls over 3G is coming “real soon now.”

Skype for iPhone currently supports calls over Wi-Fi, which severely limits how useful the Skype application can be on the go. In a blog post this morning, however, Skype’s Peter Parkes confirmed that a 3G-capable version of the application is on its way, which will make Skype for iPhone “totally mobile.”

The Skype for iPhone team is also asserting that call quality — especially for Skype-to-Skype calls — has been drastically improved and will have near CD-quality sound. The application will also maintain the call quality indicator, which will be either be green, yellow or red depending on your 3G network coverage.

We also know that the team is looking at developing a new version of Skype for the Apple iPad.

Here’s what Skype had to say about the pending application:

“Last Thursday, Apple introduced the iPad, which we’re very excited about here at Skype. David Ponsford … and his team are reviewing the device and its specs, and you can expect to hear more from us about Skype for iPad in due course.

What does this have to do with calling over 3G? The SDK (Software Development Kit) that Apple provides to developers like Skype has been upgraded for the iPad. The new version, 3.2, removes the restrictions on calling over 3G, which is great news.

You may have seen other apps offering calls over 3G, but we’re holding ours back for a little bit longer. Why? So that we can give you the very best audio quality we can. When our 3G-capable Skype for iPhone app is released, it’ll let you make calls in wideband audio, giving you greater clarity and fidelity – because that’s what you expect from Skype.”

You can also watch the video below for more information:

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Reviews: Skype, iPhone

Tags: 3g, iphone, Mobile 2.0, Skype, voip