Beam Me Up Science Fiction in the news,on tv,at the movies or in print. Whatever is of interest to you and to me is fair game. I also discuss cutting edge science that just might influence new sci-fi Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 0 5471

Articles from Beam Me Up

SFSignal's TRON remake poll 2007-09-24 14:15:00 Oh this is funny!!!SFSignal.com blog ran a poll asking "Is a remake of TRON a good idea?Is a remake of Tron a good idea? Yes 18.0% (20) No 35.1% (39) I don't know 17.1% (19) I don't care 29.7% (33) Total votes: 111 ...

Parallel Universes do exsist says new research 2007-09-24 11:38:00 Parallel universes really do exist, according to a mathematical discovery by Oxford scientists described by one expert as "one of the most important developments in the history of science". The parallel universe theory, first proposed in 1950 by the US physicist Hugh Everett, helps explain mysteries of quantum mechanics that have baffled scientists for decades, it is claimed. In Everett's "many worlds" universe, every time a new physical possibility is explored, the universe splits. Given a number of possible alternative outcomes, each one is played out - in its own universe. The number of alternative scenarios is endless. It is a bizarre idea which has been dismissed as fanciful by many experts. But the new research from Oxford shows that it offers a mathematical answer to quantum conundrums that cannot be dismissed lightly. According to quantum mechanics, nothing at the subatomic scale can really be said to exist until it is observed. Until then the object can have seve ...

Darpa working on power exoskeleton 2007-09-23 23:49:00 Backpacks are a mainstay of soldiers, hikers, firefighters and others who have to lug heavy loads, often over rough terrain where wheeled vehicles cannot traverse. But hauling them can be quite the chore, limiting wearers' mobility, especially over long distances. Scientists at M.I.T. Media Lab's Biomechatronics Group have, with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), developed an exoskeleton that promises to not only lessen the load of weary travelers but also to advance research that will ultimately lead to robotic limbs that improve the strength and mobility of amputees.Thanks to Shaun Saunders for the postimage: Courtesy of the MIT Media Lab ...

Arthur C. Clarke comments on the Google Xprize! 2007-09-23 17:39:00 Are you up for a rip rousing speech from the father of the communications satellite? Well here ya go! Arthur C. Clarke comments on Google's plans to offer 20 million in total prizes to the first private enterprise to land a craft of robotic nature on the surface of the moon and do useful science while there. Clarke comments, that he never thought he would live to see men on the moon and never imagined he would live to see the end. Here is his video speech and I hope you find it as extrodinarily moving as I did! Thanks to SF Signals blog for the heads up! ... Google

They like us! They really like us!! 2007-09-22 02:23:00 Wow, when I first read Harry Harrison's The Repairman, I was instantly reminded of The Stainless Steel Rat, one of Harrison's more infamous characters. The story is fast, inventive and very funny. I instantly thought this would be a great project for Ron who I feel can really emote his characters and brings his own charm to a read. I had Ron read the story and included it in episode 69 of the podcast.Well, it garnered some interest from Jesse Willis' very entertaining blog sffaudio.com! Here is the link ...

Fall TV premieres for SF and Fantasy shows 2007-09-21 15:35:00 Monday, Sept. 24 * Chuck: NBC, 8pm a one-hour, action-comedy series about Chuck Bartowski -- a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government's most vital secret agent. * Heroes: NBC, 9pm Ordinary people discover they have extraordinary powers * Jouneyman: NBC, 10pm a San Francisco newspaper reporter and family man who inexplicably begins to travel through time and change people's lives.Tuesday, Sept. 25 * Reaper: The CW, 9pm Everything in Sam's slacker world changes on the day he turns 21 and discovers his parents sold his soul to the devil before he was born. Sam must now serve as Satan's bounty hunter, tracking down evil souls that have escaped and returning them to Hell.Wednesday, Sept. 26 * Bionic Woman: NBC, 9pm A remake of the seventies spin off of the bionic man. Jaime Sommers didn't think life could get much har ...

3D RAMA fly through! 2007-09-20 13:04:00 Wow, have you guys checked out the Rama movie trailer student film I posted earlier? If not, you really have go to look it up. Amazing! Here is something almost as much fun. A graphic flyover inside a RAMA like object. If you ever wanted to see what the scale looks like, then click this video. I love it, and cant wait for a RAMA movie now. This is sweet! ...

Big Brother is watching us all 2007-09-18 16:08:00 Shaun A. Saunders writes....."Infopanels just around the next corner, somewhere in the 'Mallcity 14' zone:"BBC News online's Humphrey Hawksley reports:The US and UK governments are developing increasingly sophisticated gadgets to keep individuals under their surveillance. When it comes to technology, the US is determined to stay ahead of the game. At Maryland University just outside Washington DC, where Professor Challapa and his team are inventing the next generation of citizen surveillance. They are writing a program called Gait DNA. Their goal is to invent a system whereby a facial image can be matched to your gait, your height, your weight and other elements, so a computer will be able to identify instantly who you are. "As you walk through a crowd, we'll be able to track you," said Professor Challapa. "These are all things that don't need the cooperation of the individual." Since 9/11, some of the best scientific minds in the defence industry have ...

Karl Schroeder's Ventus now a free CC download 2007-09-18 15:45:00 Cory Doctorow had this to say, on Boing Boing: Award-winning sf writer Karl Schroeder has just released his debut novel, Ventus under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs license, meaning that you can download it, share it and copy it as much as you like. Cory says "It's an indication of just how far ahead he is that this seven-year-old book still feels like it's on the cutting edge, with its object-oriented sapient planet, bizarre copyright wars, and assorted grace-notes."Definitely worth a look with a strong recommendation like that! ... Download

Antipodean online SF magazine Sept & Oct 2007 issue is out 2007-09-17 18:26:00 SF Scopes blog reports that:Antipodean SF has posted its September-October 2007 issue, #112. The magazine's focus is Australian science/speculative fiction, and they publish mostly short-short stories. The current issue has several book reviews and fiction. This issue, the fiction includes: "Waiting for the Silence" by Steve Duffy"Susan" by David McVeigh"The Blood Choice" by Adrian Gibb"Space Drinks are Really Cheap" by Augusto Corvalan"Scarcity" by Shaun A. Saunders"Access" by Mark Tremble"Love Story" by Marcelo Rinesi"An Unexpected Solution to an Unexpected Problem" by Wes Parish"Deathmask" by Neil Cladingboel"The Colossal War" by Miles Hurt"A Universal Hole in One" by David Kernot ... Amp

Wheel of Time author Robert Jordan Dies 2007-09-17 13:23:00 According to Boing Boing and the Associated Press:Robert Jordan, author of the monster bestselling fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Jordan had been suffering from a chronic illness for some years now, making it hard for him to finish new installments in the series -- he died with the books unfinished.Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., died Sunday at the Medical University of South Carolina of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy. The disease attacks the body's major organs; in Jordan's case, it caused the walls of his heart to thicken.Jordan was 58 ...

A New Tron coming to a theater near you....maybe 2007-09-16 17:04:00 According to the Hollywood Reporter:Director Joseph Kosinski is in final negotiations to develop and direct "Tron,". The original movie was about a computer game programmer (Jeff Bridges as the programmer and Bruce Boxleitner was Tron), gets sucked into a computer game and forced to fight in games he helped create. Tron is remembered for its sci-fi over the top battles and groundbreaking special effects. Tron was the first movie to use computer-generated images instead of models and other optical effects in conjunction with live action. The arcade game based on the movie was so popular that it earned more than the movie. Kosinski, who last month signed on to helm the remake of "Logan's Run" for Warner Bros. Pictures, will oversee the visual development of the project.Also check out SyFy Portal's article ...

VeriChip to implant RFID in FL. alzheimer patients 2007-09-15 02:17:00 Shaun A. Saunders sent this in saying, "I predicted this in MallCity 14" I read the book, and this is only the start. For a piece of fiction, it is hitting way to close for comfort! (pac)The Delray Beach, Fla.-based company VeriChip Corp. has announced plans to implant 200 Alzheimer's patients in Palm Beach County with radio-frequency identification chips as part of a pilot study to test the new technology. According to VeriChip's CEO Scott Silverman, the VeriMed chip will eventually provide peace of mind to the families of Alzheimer's patients by providing a safety net in case a patient should get lost. The chip is not a GPS device, Silverman emphasized, and cannot be used to track people in whom it is implanted. All the participants in the two-year study are volunteers, and Silverman expressed pleasure with the study's reception so far.The article is and should be a warning of things to come. The cancer scare is obviously not putting off too many plans. ...

Google offering 30m to first private moon landing 2007-09-14 12:15:00 BBC News reports that search giant Google is offering a $30m prize pot to private firms that land a robot rover on the Moon. To claim the cash, any craft reaching the lunar surface must perform a series of tasks such as shoot video and roam for specific distances. The top prize of $20m will be given to the private firm that soft lands a rover on the Moon which then completes a series of objectives. These include roaming the lunar surface for at least 500m and gathering a specific set of images, video and data. A prize of $5m will be given to the second firm that manages to reach the Moon with a rover that roams the surface and shoots some pictures. Google said it would give bonuses of $5m if the rovers complete other objectives such as travelling further on the Moon, taking pictures of Apollo hardware, finding water-ice and surviving the freezing lunar night.Thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post ... Google

Saturn's Iapetus showing strange mottled features 2007-09-14 11:54:00 NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew within 1000 kilometres of the moon on 10 September, it saw much some complicated patterns on the surface of the moon Iapetus. Previous to this flyby, Iapetus was thought to have the strange feature of one bright side and one dark side. Not just from lighting, but composed of different materials on each side. Now the Cassini probe shows that the strange features are even more complex. Iapetus has a landscape unlike anything else in the solar system: sharp-edged islands of dark material within pale regions, and patches of white ice on the dark mountainsides. The coating of dark material is a puzzle. "We think it's thin, probably no more than a few metres, because we see an impact that's not very big but has punched through to show the bright material beneath," says Carolyn Porco. ( head of the Cassini imaging team at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, US.) "But that's about all we know right now." She suspects that the dark stuff ...