Entries Tagged 'tv' ↓

When there’s a conflict between telling a good story and keeping the science accurate, the story wins — at least in Hollywood. I made that point in The Science of Heroes, and it comes up again in a podcast and article in ScienceNOW: Scientifically Accurate Superheroes? Don’t Count on It.

The podcast is an interview with James Kakalios, a physics professor at the University of Minnesota, author of The Physics of Superheroes, and a science consultant for the movie Watchmen.

I really enjoyed The Physics of Superheroes, by the way.

By now, I assume you’ve seen pictures, or videos, of Apple’s new iPad. And I have some thoughts about it, but first I want to mention another technology that got buried by Apple’s hype: An electronic newspaper.

Full disclosure: I get paid to websurf and then tell people (hopefully entertainingly) about news on the web regarding display technologies: computer screens, sure, but also 3D movies, cell phones, projectors, HDTVs, holograms, the whole gamut! (Want a free email newsletter on the subject? Take a look at some back issues or subscribe to “Display Technologies” for free!)

So, the iPad. For what it is, I think it’s great: if you want to consume any sort of media — movies or TV shows (like Heroes), books, the New York Times, and maybe music — it provides a big screen and a long battery life, for a light weight and relatively low price. For me, a laptop is too heavy and the screen of an iTouch or iPhone is too small for things I want to look at.

This is absolutely not a machine for producing with: it’s a portable high-definition video screen. And you can check your email and Google Maps on it.

I’m pretty happy with it being what it is.

But! I’m more interested in e-paper: the black-and-white display technology in the Kindle and Sony Reader and a bunch of other e-readers, which has advantages of power economy (because it only requires power to change the display) and better ergonomics (since it isn’t shining light at you the way most computer screens do).

LG Display demonstrated a really darn big (19-inch, or in other words, newspaper-sized) e-paper display that is both very thin and flexible. Unlike most of the e-readers we’ve seen, it uses a metal foil substrate rather than glass, and the electronics are handled fairly gracefully.

I think it’s really darn neat! Okay, and I remember episodes of Babylon 5, where people were reading the Daily Universe (?Was that the name?) e-newspapers, which just makes it that much cooler.

Two interesting bits of Heroes news out today:

• Heroes is going even more multimedia than it has been (which is considerably more multimedia than most TV shows): for 10 weeks, Digital Spy tells us, NBC will offer graphic novels for mobile devices, interactive SMS synced to broadcast, and a $25,000 sweepstakes linked to the interactive story. Also, NBC is gearing up games and online one-minute scenes tied into the airing episodes.

• Meanwhile, Hugh Hart at a Wired blog has an intriguingly titled post: Heroes Stars on Season 4: Deathbed, Yes; Lesbians, Maybe. The entry includes a video and phone interview with Masi Oka (Hiro), and Hayden Panettiere (Claire). ‘Ware spoilers!

It’s only one week to the new season of Heroes!

There’s a preview at the NBC site that shows some mix-and-match power-swapping, and it looks like Tracy is learning some new water-control tricks!

NBC has released some clips from the 2-hour opener for Season 4.

In other news, colleges have started again, and we in the Science-of-Heroes household have been surrounded by the usual student shenanigans. This morning’s favorite was a young man roller-blading towards campus, with a drink in one hand, a muffin in the other, iPod precariously dangling out of it’s holder, and some books tucked into the crook of an elbow. This would have been more adorable had he not been rollerblading in the street amid trucks and the usual crazed Boston drivers.

There are times when multitasking can kill you.

Oh Heroes, don’t ever stop bringing the cotton-candy-flavored crazy!

Season 4 “Redemption” is apparently going to feature the Carnival of Superpowered Guys, including tattooed Lynda. A spin on Ray Bradbury’s Dark Carnival?

Here’s what IGN’s Eric Goldman has to say about the new Season 4 characters: Heroes: Meet The Tattooed Lady.

I love Heroes, and geeking out about the superpowers that we see on the show.

But TNT’s Leverage is also wicked entertaining. Besides the plots, it provides case studies in psychology. All of our main characters manipulate people, in one way or another, Nate and Sophie in particular. There’s a lot of room to talk about addiction, misdirection and sleight of hand based on the show.

Besides, Hardison is hot like whoa! Brains and geekitude and people skills, oh yeah!