Topic: Science Fiction

Science Fiction Books

Science fiction is one of the 20th century's most characteristic and dominant literary forms. Despite serious criticism and misunderstanding, it has millions of readers worldwide and has established itself at the heart of popular ...READ»

Star Trek: Enterprise, the Mission Ends

The First crew of the starship Enterprise shall fly no more. Paramount has announced they are canceling the most recent iteration of the Star Trek franchise and will not bring the show back for a fifth season. This version featured ...READ»

Rebel Alliance

How a small band of sci-fi geeks is leading Hollywood into a new era.READ»

• Why You'll Be Watching More and More TV On Your Computer
• The Wide, Wide World of Heroes

Researchers Invent Eye-Tracking Eyeglass Display, Star Trek-Style

It may not be quite up to the spec of Geordi La Forge's visor on Star Trek TNG, but researchers in Germany have come up with an eyeglass-mounted display that's so freakily high-tech you may need only to move your eyes to control a PC.READ»

Give Me a Hand

Fujitsu has announced a device that scans the veins in a person's hand as authentication. So the hand is joining the growing list of security identifiers: fingerprints, eyes, face proportion, heat signature, voice recognition, and ...READ»

Dear SyFy, Imagine Greater - Please!

The Sci Fi channel announced that it was changing its name to SyFy a few months ago, and the switch happens tomorrow. Unfortunately Bruce Willis is not going to rescue us from this colossal attack of bad branding and phonetic foolishness.READ»

• Ken Carbone's Yes to Less blog

'Kingon' Invasion: Burger King and Paramount Ink Blockbuster Marketing Deal

After going three-for-three in drawing public criticism for its Whopper Virgins, Texican and Square Butts campaigns, Crispin Porter + Bogusky has scored another trifecta: a three-picture Burger King marketing tie-in with Viacom's Paramount Pictures, starting with Friday's release of Star Trek.READ»

Flying Cars

Sitting in Samuel Schweighart's garage in Watertown, Massachusetts, is the stuff of science fiction--and soon reality. Schweighart, an engineer with Boston-based Terrafugia, is part of the team leading the charge to get a ...READ»

The Nuts and Bolts of Business

The MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab is building the future of business -- literally. Think C-3P0 with degrees in astrophysics, marine biology, and home economics.READ»

Watch: Harry Potter 6

Accio ticket sales! The Hogwarts crew returns with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on July 15. So far, the films' grosses have been stunningly consistent. Here's how other major franchises compare.READ»

• Now July/August 2009
• Drill: The U.S. Oil Industry Turns 150
• Numerology: Hawaii Five-O

How Billionaires Can Save the World

Last week I attended The Future In Review (FiRe), an intriguing annual conference hosted by Mark Anderson, the publisher of Strategic News Service. Mark asked each of the attendees--a bunch of brilliant scientists and influential ...READ»

Paul Krugman, Nobelist

"Economics is as close to psychohistory as you can get."     -- Paul Krugman "Incidents from My Career" This year's winner of the Nobel prize in economics is one of the finest scholars in the field, ...READ»

CPR Can Fix Android Phones like Science Fiction

Androids like Data, a Star Trek character, have recently been recycled into devices less humanoid but more functional – like Motorola’s new Android phone.READ»

Technology, Whiz

In our September issue, Scott Kirsner considered five technologies that will change the world. In the October Technology Review, science-fiction author Bruce Sterling identifies 10 technologies that "deserve to die." Among them: ...READ»

Navy's Future Command Center Looks Just Like the Star Trek Enterprise

A research lab inside the U.S. Navy tasked with dreaming up the future of the armed force has been busy working on a new command center design. It's suitably high tech--and is undeniably influenced by Star Trek.READ»

The Web Supremacy

About the web's supremacy against machines and tools: " There is an endless list of technologies with us today that forty years ago only science fiction writers, and professors at MIT, could have imagined imagined. But ...READ»

War and Peace (Sponsored by Northrop Grumman)

Another sign of the crumbling wall between traditional media and advertising... MIT's Branding Cultures blog reports on a Russian advertising firm that sells product placement in pulp fiction and sci-fi novels. The firm keeps a ...READ»

The Legacy of Arthur C. Clarke

Another great bringer of inspiration has passed. Arthur C. Clarke was the author of several famous science fiction works, from 2001 to Rendezvous with Rama. I have written that Gary Gygax inspired others to creativity. Clarke did ...READ»

Could Real-Life Tricorder Inventions Combat the Next Pandemic?

Swine flu still rumbles on in the background, and it is still dangerous--but could two new inventions revealed this week give us Star Trek-like medical technology to help us combat future pandemics? Claims that scientists have ...READ»

12 Leadership Lessons From the Bridge of the Starship Enterprise

Between liaisons with Pantone hued alien females, conflicts with empire-building cyborg killing machines, and encounters on new planets that always results in the death of a red shirted security officer, koans of management ...READ»

Jean Machine

Staff StuffREAD»

Money No More

It is an interesting strategy, make purchasing with credit cards easier. Of course, I get visions of Minority Report and other science fiction. But it is a logical progression. It would provide more ease of use for customers, and ...READ»

Take That, Toy Story! Mattel's 'Avatar' Action Figures to Offer Augmented Reality [VIDEO]

Mattel's new line of characters, creatures, and vehicles licensed from James Cameron's highly awaited 3-D opus will come to life on-screen--your screen.READ»

Microsoft's Courier And Norhtec's Tablet: The Impossible And The Possible?

"Forget Apple's Tablet!" That's what gearheads are shouting from the rooftops after Gizmodo's leak of a new Microsoft product--"The Courier"--appeared last night during the opening of the Gizmodo Gallery. READ»

BMW Gina: Shape-Shifting Car

This car is like something out of a sci-fi flick: a BMW prototype with a flexible textile skin that reflects the carmaker's new design philosophy. READ»

• Intercell’s Needle-Free Vaccines
• Eight Concept Cars That'll Never See Production