-
io9AMP Suits, Bio-Labs, And The Dragon: The Military/Scientific Hardware Of Avatar
The Samson helicopters: TyRuben Ellingson was lead vehicle designer on Avatar, and he worked on all the vehicles except the Valkyrie shuttle and the ISV VentureStar (which brings Jake to Pandora originally.) People often talk about the Samson helicopters being based on Hueys from the Vietnam war. But Ellingson says the Huey was an influence, … Continued
-
io9
Floating Mountains And Strange Vegetation: The Landscape Of Pandora
The Floating Mountains: According to the tie-in book, The Art Of Avatar, designer Steve Messing actually visited China and traveled around photographing mountains there to get photoreferences for Pandora’s floating mountains. Designer Dylan Cole says the team looked at “many different types of mountains, but mainly the karst limestone formations in China. There were three … Continued
-
Tech NewsApple
Serafinowicz: Five Reasons I Love Apple and Five Reasons I Hate Apple
Guest editor Peter Serafinowicz is back to talk about his storied relationship with Apple—one that leaves him frustratingly polarized. (We asked illustrator Wendy MacNaughton to help convey the madness.) Peter Serafinowicz, a celebrated British writer/producer/director/actor/musician/comedian/voice model, is joining us for a few weeks to talk about the tech issues that delight, frustrate and motivate him … Continued
Peter Serafinowicz -
io9Movies
28 Days Later screenwriter taking on Logan’s Run?
Could the upcoming Logan’s Run movie actually be better than the campy 1976 original? Alex Garland, who wrote the Danny Boyle-dircted films Sunshine and 28 Days Later, is in talks to write the screenplay, going back to the original 1967 novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson for inspiration. And Carl Erik Rinsch, … Continued
-
Tech NewsGoogle
Samsung Captivate: AT&T’s First Serious Android Phone
Between the Motorola Backflip and the HTC Aria, AT&T hasn’t exactly been leading the charge on Android phones. But the Samsung Captivate, coming in the next few months, signals that the carrier is finally getting serious about Android. As a Samsung Galaxy S phone, it’s got impressive hardware: a 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, 1GHz Hummingbird … Continued
-
io9Books & Comics
With “Zendegi,” Greg Egan plunges us into the techno-future of Iran
In Zendegi, Greg Egan has created a beautiful, brilliant, near-future world that expertly explores the consequences of mind-mapping technology in the politically volatile world of Iran. Zendegi is two stories told in parallel. The first is the story of Martin Seymour, an Australian journalist sent to Iran to cover another disputed election (this one in … Continued
By Chris Braak -
io9Black holes, fictional characters with real problems, BLARPs and more!
Every week, we round up the best tips that you post in io9’s tips forum. This week, we’ve got a mash-up of black holes, fictional psyches, getting things in perspective, plastic antibodies, BLARPing, weeping angels, adorableness, and much more! If you want to post a tip, just click on the #tips link on our navigation … Continued
-
Tech News
Clearwire Adds a Dual-Mode 4G/3G Modem for Macs
Sticking to their word about not giving up unlimited data plans, Clearwire’s new 4G/3G dongle is compatible with Macs for the first time, and dances out alongside two more new modems offering up 4G unlimited data/Wi-Fi. A couple new Wi-Fi/4G CLEAR hot spot sticks have also been unleashed, all with unlimited data usage. Data plans … Continued
-
Tech NewsGoogle
Verizon’s Droid X Site Is Live
It’s not June 23 yet, but Verizon has lifted the veil off the “next generation of Droid.” The Droid X—apparently boasting a 4.3″, 720p screen(?) and HDMI out—has an official Verizon site and is “coming soon.” [Verizon] As suspected, someone at Verizon was a little bit confused—the official page has been updated to say “Captures … Continued
-
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
This Is the Sharpest Deep Space Picture Ever Taken From Earth
On the left is a picture of a region globular cluster M92 taken by Hubble. On the right, that same cluster as captured by Arizona’s Large Binocular Telescope. That’s three times sharper. And we’re not even at full capacity yet. The secret to the LBT’s amazing star-gazing is its new adaptive optics system that compensates … Continued
-
Tech News
Sony Outfits Vaio Z and Y Series Laptops as MiFis
It’s not just phones that can act as personal hotspots anymore. Sony’s Vaio Z and Y series laptops will soon start shipping with Share My Connection (SMC), which turns your notebook into a MiFi for up to five devices. The service will be offered through Verizon, and you’ll obviously have to pay extra for a … Continued
-
Tech NewsFirst The Mouse, then Mighty Mouse, then Magic Mouse, and Now the Invisible Mouse
There are no pictures of the invisible mouse, because the mouse itself doesn’t exist. It’s just an infrared laser beam and an infrared camera tracking your hand from the side of a laptop. Could this be the next Apple mouse? If only to be able to use the name Invisible Mouse, I can imagine Steve … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
A Vinyl-CD Hybrid To Keep the Hipster-Yuppies Satisfied
Can’t vinyl and CDs get along? That’s the reasonable question posed by electronic/techno musician Jeff Mills, who has released his latest album on a two-for-one hybrid format. Thoughtful mediation, or sixth sign of the apocalypse? Check out the flip side: Personally, I’m always fan of the convergence of analog and digital. The album, called The … Continued
-
Tech News
Imagine Toshiba’s 128GB NAND Flash Memory In Your Next Phone
They invented flash memory, so it’s only fitting that Toshiba has now produced another world first for NAND memory: the first with 128GB of capacity. Just think what media you could store on your phone with that module. It squishes 16 64Gb of NAND chips together, and should be shipping out to manufacturers this September. … Continued
-
io9Movies
Return to Narnia with Voyage of The Dawn Treader’s first trailer
Check out the first ever trailer for the third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia, Voyage of The Dawn Treader — now with more Jesus Lion. Watch very closely and you’ll see the first ever monopod! The film which is based of the novels by C.S. Lewis, brings back sexy long-haired King Caspian and the … Continued
-
io9
The two coolest galaxy pictures we’ve seen in ages
The Whirlpool Galaxy crashes into its dwarf companion, NGC 5195, and the insane forces of the collision form the galaxy’s distinctive spiral “arms” of stars. Note the bright pink, showing hydrogen. That’s just one of two insane new galaxy pictures. The image above comes from the German-Spanish Astronomical Center at Calar Alto, Spain, and the … Continued
-
Tech NewsGoogle
HTC Incredible Bug Stores Browser Screenshots Even After Factory Reset
As incredible as the, err, HTC Incredible may be, there appears to be a pretty serious bug locked in the Sense UI which takes screenshots of the web browser’s content, storing them even after a factory reset is done. You can imagine how major this could become. Banking history, private messages, even your preference for … Continued
