How Science Fiction Failed Us Goes To The Movies – Inception (2010)
Over the weekend, I let my curiosity get the better of me and I went to see the latest Leonardo DiCaprio epic: Inception. Normally, I’m not a big Leo fan. He’s just got one of those voices that’s hard to take seriously in a dramatic role. That and I will always see him as the snot-nosed Luke in “Growing Pains” or the mentally handicapped brother of Johnny Depp in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”. I just don’t see him as all that dramatic. I got so sick of see his awful New York accent in the trailers for “Shutter Island” that I decided against going to see a movie I would have probably enjoyed.
That said, I went into Inception with mixed hopes; I knew it had been well –received, and anyone I knew that had seen it had enjoyed it, but could I take Leo seriously in what was likely an action role? The players in action movies really require the right mix of comic book absurdity and real life believability. I mean would “Predator” have been as easy to swallow with Adrian Brody playing Dutch? OK, bad example. I suppose this topic related to a recent article in which Sylvester Stallone blamed Tim Burton’s “Batman” for the decline of the muscle-bound action hero of the 80’s. I’m not sure about all that (even if I am sure that casting Michael Keaton was the worst idea in the history of cinema… after, of course, anything to do with “Ishtar”), but he does have a point. The advent of the “muscle suit” meant that action stars could be more cerebral, while still giving the appearance of being muscular and sturdy, even if they weren’t. Toward the end of the 90’s and into the 00’s, we started seeing a pleasant combination of both, which allowed for Toby McGuire to pull of being Spider-Man AND Peter Parker, and for Ryan Reynolds to do… well… whatever he effin’ wants to do.
Virtual Reality – How Science Fiction Failed Us
Over the past fifteen or so weeks, we’ve covered a myriad of topics on “How Science Fiction Failed Us”, but we still have so much ground to cover. As I was pondering what Brain was pondering (Pinky was way off… I think he was pondering how lederhosen makes his butt look big), I began to wonder what it would be like to be able to experience these worlds without ever leaving Earth, or maybe even the comfort of your own home. It was obvious that I needed to talk about… Virtual Reality.
The ability to separate one’s self from the drama, rigors and mundane nature of everyday life would be desirable to say the least, though if it were to happen now, it would likely be something only the extremely wealthy could afford to do regularly. Eventually, though, technology like this could replace entertainment venues as we know them today. But before we start speculating on the possibilities in the real world, let’s take a look at how Science Fiction has treated the subject.
Medicine – How Science Fiction Failed Us
As I was writing last week’s article and the one before it, I started thinking about all those future space men (and women) who would invariably end up injured in these epic battles. Most of the time, we only see the odd flying body and seemingly dead Stormtrooper or Borg Drone, but that many people don’t even die in modern combat.
In fact, even with today’s warfare, a combatant is far more likely to get injured than killed outright (although, sadly, injuries are often grave enough to cause death if not treated properly and immediately – something I know from experience). So what happens when you only get grazed, or if you get a case of the Interstellar Sniffles? We’ll explore that, and more, as we talk about – Medicine.
The iPhone 4: Five Big Bruises on Jobs’ Shiny Apple
As always, Apple is prepared to take bat and knock another one out of the park. Even before GIzmodo’s early breaking of the iPhone 4’s design and features, the tech world was buzzing with rumors. Or will they pull a Casey and strike out? Not likely, but I’m not looking for the iPhone 4 to live up to the hype. Unlike previous models, there is strong competition against the iPhone coming from HTC (in the form of Verizon’s Incredible and Sprint’s EVO) and Motorola (which was already cool with the Droid but will be even more so with the new Droid X). Even with that shadow over the gleaming white Apple Logo, many analysts are looking for Apple to make a huge splash with the iPhone 4, especially with older iPhone users looking to trade up. Apple has made consistently good products and even with the recent release of the iPad, many fans are looking expectantly forward to the new phone.
Apple has done something unexpectedly negative, though, with all their success; they’ve created discerning users that are picky not just about their apps, but the gadgets that run them. In the past, Apple has consistently put out a superior product, but with the competition gaining ground, one has to wonder why Apple released a product with so many apparent flaws? Flaws, you ask? Yes, flaws. Not necessarily bugs or difficulties, but certainly some design mistakes and lack of foresight. At least, that’s how it seems from my chair. So that said, let’s look at 5 bruises on an otherwise shiny Apple.
Star Wars vs Star Trek – How Science Fiction Failed Us
Well, friends, I apparently got some people fired up with last week’s article on Space Battles. Apparently, I broke an unwritten rule that says that you can’t pit one universe’s technology against another’s without committing the worst faux pas since Princess Leia unwittingly kissed her brother after calling her future husband a “scruffy-looking Nerf herder”. But I’ve never been one to follow the rules, really, particularly ones that no one has ever bothered to write down. So that said, it’s time we settled this age-old dispute once and for all.
Parallel Worlds – How Science Fiction Failed Us
“What if…?” It’s just two words, but they are powerful when joined together. There is an idea that persists within the scientific community that our Universe is only one of a nearly infinite number of possible alternate or parallel universes, where, like Quinn Mallory said at the opening of the TV Show Sliders, “… it’s the same year, and you’re the same person, but everything else is different.” We talked briefly about this concept when I addressed the concept of Time Travel. Each time a decision is made, it creates alternate timelines where other choices were picked instead of the one you picked, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum. That’s right kids, this week we talk about Parallel Universes.
WWDC 2010: Where to watch the Apple Keynote live
Update: The features and specifications of the newly unveiled iPhone 4G are here!
Today, Apple kicks off World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2010 with one of the most highly anticipated keynote speeches of the year. The big man himself, Mr. Steve Jobs, is scheduled to take the stage at 10:00 AM PST and at long last debut what both Apple fanboys (and girls), as well as many casual observers, have been waiting for all year: the iPhone 4G (or HD…we’re still not sure what it’s called exactly.)
Veterans of Apple’s keynote events know that bandwidth, from the sites that live blog it, is at a premium. With millions of curious onlookers waiting to see what surprises Jobs unveils, it’s best to get connected early, via at least three different sites. Sometimes the connections drop, and, face it, you don’t want to miss that highly anticipated moment of gadget sweetness. Accordingly, Geek Shui Living is here to help you out. Below we list the time for various zones and a solid list of links, from which it can be watched.
Skype for 3G -or- How to Keep Calls From Being Free
It’s a red letter day for anyone who owns an iPhone and has been itching to use Skype over AT&T’s 3g service, rather than over Wi-Fi. The latest version (2.0) of Skype for the iPhone will at last let you do just that. And yes, it means what you think it means. Since Skype is a free service, accessing it over 3G means you can call other Skype users for free, saving your precious cellular minutes (and making AT&T’s already flexible minute plan, which includes rollover, even more flexible… like Romanian gymnast flexible).
But wait! As if reading the collective minds of their customers, both Skype and AT&T have made announcements that will ensure that customers never get a chance to save that money. I mean it took Federal muscle to get AT&T to even allow Skype calls at all, even over Wi-Fi; they feared that it would eat into their profits on rate plans. But now, with the new version, you can by-pass the AT&T voice network completely, giving user access to calls when perhaps that didn’t have it before (i.e. because of poor reception or coverage). Additionally, Skype offers “Skype-to-phone” calling WORLDWIDE for about 2 cents a minute, meaning that a Skype user could lower their minute plan to the minimum and still have a viable communication device.
Space Battles – How Science Fiction Failed Us
So for the past few weeks, we’ve delved into some of the deeper and more truly scientific concepts tackled by science fiction. Of course, since the main point of science fiction is to entertain an audience, and (let’s be honest) most people could give a Ewok’s hind end about the science, all too often the realistic is replaced with the fantastic. The end result can vary from the surreal to the sublime to the ridiculous, but often, regardless of the quality, far from the mark. This is probably the most true when it comes to the climax of most any science fiction epic: The Space Battle.
Now, most geeks already know the major problems with depictions of battles in space: the noise and explosions. Since space is a vacuum, and sound waves require substance to perpetuate them, the sounds would never be heard, even within your own cockpit or flight deck. The most you might hear is a bit of noise when you fired your weapons, but you would never hear enemy fire (we’ll address the issue of lasers in a moment). Imagine the Battle of Endor where the only sounds you heard in the space battle were the actors talking, the drone of the engines and the occasional hum of their lasers firing. No “pewpew” no Alderaan-shattering “KABOOOOOM!” Just silence. Boring to say the least.
Star Wars: Battle over Coruscant
Has the Slate gone the way of the Flintstones?
Picture it: Rock Vegas… I mean Las Vegas, 2010. It’s the Consumer Electronics Show (which we’ll call CES2010), and Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, shows off a slick new gadget that is poised to take the world by storm. The excitement in the PC world around the HP Slate was difficult to hide. Apple had been teasing its loyal fans with word of a tablet-style device for months, and due to Steve Jobs apparent (and apparently justified) paranoia, no one had any idea what it would be like. Microsoft and HP, true to form, were more than willing to fill that void.
What we saw was impressive. While there are certainly pro’s and con’s for each, the idea of a highly portable Windows-based tablet seemed to make PC buffs froth at the mouth a little. Of course, after suffering years of “device-envy” (let’s face it, the Zune doesn’t even touch the iPod), this was the PC market’s chance to build a truly competitive device that was based in Windows, but wasn’t a traditional PC.
For weeks, HP kept offering teasing glances at the Slate, keeping the hype about stiff competition with the Apple iPad at a feverish pace. Heck, I’ve been waiting to see myself what the Slate can do. And then the change happened (sounds ominous, yes?). HP saved the sinking ship that was Palm, and thusly, acquired the rights to the Palm OS operating system. And then… like the fading lights of the Titanic… the updates stopped.
