The LEGO Brick Turns 50

You'd think this isn't related to tech, but without LEGO, we wouldn't have LEGO Mindstorms - or LEGO Star Wars. Even Google recognized Monday, January 28th, as the 50th anniversary of the patenting of the iconic LEGO brick.

LEGO Group founder Ole Kirk Christiansen named the bricks LEGO after the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well".

This year is also the 30th anniversary of the LEGO minifigure (minifig) and 10th anniversary of LEGO Mindstorms. Note the minifig on top of the Google logo, BTW.

Despite the addition of Mindstorms, the core portion of the business is still the brick. It's amazing after all this time that the simple LEGO bricks still manage to attract the attention of children, particularly in this age of gadgetry and electronics.

Let's hope LEGO and children always maintain their special relationship.

Here's a special LEGO-produced video celebrating their 50th anniversary.