These days, it seems there is a mobile phone to fit everyone’s unique needs, tastes, and budget. A yet-to-be-released device from Denmark-based Aesir is pushing that idea to the limit. The Æ+Y Phone comes in two models. Typically, the difference in pricing has to do with a mobile phone’s storage capacity, features, etc. In the case of the Æ+Y Phone, the difference has to do with the materials of which it’s made.

This work of mobile phone art comes in an 18-carat, yellow gold model and a stainless steel model. Yes, you read that correctly. After reviewing the image gallery on Aesir’s website, it truly is an impressive device. How much will the Æ+Y Phone set you back? The term “sticker shock” is taken to an entirely new level, when speaking of the device. That’s because the gold model will set you back approximately $57,300. If that’s a bit of a stretch for your budget, you can always settle for the stainless steel model, which can be yours for a mere $9,900.

Admittedly, this is one of those devices that will never be sent out as loaner units. For that matter, the company is only accepting pre-orders now. The stainless steel model is expected to ship during fall 2011. If you have your heart set on the gold model, you’ll have to wait until winter 2011. The design, materials and craftsmanship are obviously way above what most people would expect from a mobile phone. For the price, one would hope so, right? According to the website, “The Æ+Y has been engineered, built and crafted by a team of specialists, selected because they could fulfil (sic) the unique requirements of Yves Béhar’s design.”

For $9,900 and $57,300, one would certainly hope that using this device would fit well and feel good in the user’s hand. Of course, the questions on most gadget lovers’ minds default to important things like what operating system it has, what features it includes, and what apps they’ll be able to use. That is where the initial “sticker shock” is usurped by “feature shock”. That’s because the Æ+Y Phone has no real features. It doesn’t even have an OS in the sense of the word to which Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry users have become accustomed.

Simply put, it is a mobile phone. You can call people. People can call you. If you can’t remember everyone’s number, you can store it as a contact. Features like speed-dial, caller ID and call-forwarding also come as part of the package. There are some app-like features like a World clock, Alarm, Notes, To-do list, Calendar, Calculator and Converter. Lest we forget, it is also Bluetooth capable. This does make one wonder if the Aesir will make 18-carat gold and stainless steel Bluetooth headsets to go with the phone. If you’re going to do something, you may as well go all out.

According to the company, the focus on design and craftsmanship and omission of all the things people have become increasingly accustomed to on mobile devices is intentional. In their words, the device “…focuses on voice, tactility, clarity and simplicity. Its deliberately straightforward functionality is in keeping with this rationale.”

On the bright side, the device does come unlocked and ready for any SIM you choose to insert. That has to count for something…even if it does make it the most expensive unlocked phone ever. If you’re already sold on the Æ+Y Phone, you should head over to the Aesir website and get your pre-order in today. You want to be sure you’re the first person on your block…or in your country…to get one.

An exhibition currently on display at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art seeks to show people how technological objects, such as cell phones, computers and automated kiosks, have become an integral and artistic part of our daily lives. Entitled Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects, the exhibit focuses on the evolution of technology towards direct interaction. The art aspect of direct interaction can be seen in how developers and engineers create the visual design and communication interfaces of the object.

In an interview with Reuters reporter Anthony De Rosa, Paola Antonelli, the exhibit’s curator, says that while people have always formed relationships with objects, the ones being formed with technological objects are much more complex. Antonelli explains, “The relationship used to be emotional, but now, because of digital technology, we expect that communication to be much more explicit.” Based on these increased expectations, technological design includes previously expected aspects of form and function but has also added an additional aspect of a script through which people interface with the technology. You can see the complete Reuters video below (requires Adobe Flash), and more information on the exhibit is included after the break.

Talk to Me is currently open and runs through November 7, 2011. Even if you’re not within driving distance of MOMA, you can still take advantage of the exhibit by visiting the MOMA website. The site also includes links to the exhibit’s online journal, links for upcoming, live-streaming tours of the exhibit and Paola Antonelli’s book on the subject.

If you’ve never browsed the MOMA website, it really is a testament to how well technology can be leveraged to allow people to learn about and interact with art. It is definitely recommended for anyone who appreciates technology, art and the art of technology. The site is also a great tool to expose children to art and to encourage their creativity, without ever having stepped through MOMA’s doors.

Sources:

Reuters Video – Technology: How do objects talk to us?

Museum of Modern Art – Talk to Me

Who am I kidding? I already gave away the fact that GSL doesn’t have a real, verifiable iPhone 5 prototype to send you into a fit of delirious tech-joy. Additionally, I’m not going to tell you that the iPhone 5 might be made of a previously undiscovered, super-lightweight metal from Mars or that, allegedly, it may have a Pez dispenser integrated into the body of the device. I won’t even tell you that the iPhone 5 could possibly serve as a universal remote for your entire home theater system.

Though the photo submitted super-secretly and anonymously by Twitter’s very own @dbone15 (oops…let that one slip) is a very impressive rendering of what the device might look like, it wasn’t exfiltrated from Apple’s servers or found in a bar or Photoshopped in any way, shape or form. How do we know this? It’s because he readily admits it was drawn with highlighters, by his 15-month old daughter, Sophie G. He may or may not have helped her out a little with the Apple logo, but I can let that slide. After all, it is a fake prototype. Those last two words bring us to the actual point of this post. Read on, and it will all become clear….hopefully.

An iPhone 5 Prototype (Artistic Credit: Sophie G., 13-month old tech geek)

The Latest Prototype: Seriously Real or Amusingly Fake?

In truth, Sophie G’s rendering of what the iPhone 5 could look like isn’t that far off from many of the images we’ve seen. None are high resolution or crystal clear. Some are pixelated messes that could be interpreted to look like a toaster if one turns their head at just the right angle. To Sophie G’s credit, her prototype was scanned at a high enough pixel count to make it easily viewable.

It is obviously not the real thing. I have already admitted it several times. Furthermore, the submitter of it admits it. This brings me to the real point. What have we become? Are writers for tech news websites and blogs turning into geeky, gossip columnists?

The Tech Gossip Trifecta: Allegedly, Possibly and Reportedly

I have no doubt that at least a few readers of this post will say that tech news websites exist to dig up and share information on emerging devices and technology. For the most part, I agree. Technophiles, Geeks and Gadget Freaks want to know what’s coming out, when it will be available and what exciting features it will include. I agree with this part as well. Where I begin to differ in opinion is at that point where something is posted that is completely unverifiable. If tech writers want the respect generally given to most mainstream journalists, they have to earn it. Such respect is not earned by throwing out anything that comes their way and sprinkling words like “alleged”, “possibly” and “reportedly” throughout the post.

I believe that journalists, including the tech variety, have an obligation to attempt to verify information and corroborate facts. They should also protect their sources…as long as they have verified the source’s story to greatest extent possible. Choosing to post an over-pixelated image edited in Microsoft Paint and adding a disclaimer provides no real information to readers. Is it amusing? It may be. What that line of logic reminds us of, though, are newspapers like The Enquirer, magazines like OK! and websites like TMZ.com. People know that the stories are often untrue, but they are entertained by it.

To Inform or Entertain: That is the question

I suppose that brings us to a decision point that all tech news websites must reach. Is your goal to be a website that receives tech news and gadget tips and verifies information, prior to publishing it, or is your goal simply to entertain, generate page views and make money from advertising? There is no shame in the latter. Please, though, spare readers the insult of trying to appear to be something else. There may very well be a niche for tech gossip. Be an intrepid explorer and create and publicize yourself, as such. Afterwards, though, don’t be upset when readers come only to be entertained and take you as seriously as they do Perez Hilton.

Don’t get me wrong. There is room for speculation about future developments, features, etc. These type of posts can be informative and thought-provoking, if the writer incorporates some critical thinking and discusses why he or she feels they may or may not be true. This approach shows readers that you actually put thought into the subject before writing about it. In turn, they are more likely to walk away and still keep thinking about what they read. Those readers are the ones who will return time and time again, not because they were entertained but because they were informed.

Of course, if someone does have a photo of the iPhone 5 prototype, I would love to see it. I only ask one thing. Just be sure to add a Pez dispenser while you’re expertly Photoshopping it.

Stop right there. Don’t ask why GSL is publishing a piece on the Royal Wedding of Prince William and the soon-to-be Princess, Kate Middleton. GSL has not succumb to the royal wedding fever which seems to have swept the developed world. We assure you. It is geek/tech/gadget-related.

Generally, one associates a monarchy with staunch tradition and formality. Many remember watching the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana live on television, on July 29, 1981. Way (way, way) back then, the fact that it was broadcast live was a huge event. Of course, 1981 is far behind us, and in 2011, a live television broadcast would fail to impress just about anyone. How about a live stream via YouTube of the wedding? Would that impress you?

Yes, while many traditions the British monarchy have remained unchanged for centuries, it seems there is room for adaptation in the 21st Century. Not only will the wedding be streamed live via the web, it will happen on The Royal Channel, the official channel of the British Monarchy, on YouTube. Currently, there is a video invitation and related videos posted for computer users around the world. It also has user-submitted “well-wishing” videos. (If you haven’t submitted yours yet, there is still time!)

Why is any of this geek noteworthy? That should be fairly obvious by now. It’s streaming live…from YouTube. This means that tomorrow, there may be more people watching the Royal Wedding than there are watching dads get hit in the family jewels with whiffle ball bats or teenage girls shrieking in hopes of becoming the next Lady Gaga. One has to admit that the Royal Wedding is a much more heartwarming alternative. The sheer fact that there exists a platform and worldwide interconnectivity to allow for a live stream renews our perspective on how cool technology really is.

The most worthwhile part of The Royal Channel website has little to do with the happy couple or even the British Royal Family. Toward the bottom right of the page is a short write-up with a link to a webpage where a charitable fund has been set up for those who might like to donate to others, in the name of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. There are various areas to which donations can be channeled, to include support for military personnel and their families, conservation efforts, children’s services, and the arts.

Granted, the Royal Wedding may not be as highly anticipated in the tech community as would say….an Apple Keynote, but let’s be fair. The internet was not made solely for geeks and nerds. Besides, there are a lot of geeks and nerds who really want (or are at least a bit curious) to see things as they happen. Either way, you can be certain that come tomorrow morning, there will be millions of people sitting in front of the computer in their pajamas or secretly trying to watch from their work cubicles. It’s okay. You don’t have to admit if you’re one of them. Your secret is safe with us.

Links mentioned herein: (You know you want to at least see them.)

The Royal Channel on YouTube

The official Royal Wedding website

The Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton Charitable Gift Fund

How Science Fiction Failed Us – Tales of Future Past

Yesterday (Sorry this was delayed, I started this post on 4/21/11) the geek web was buzzing with news of the impending self-awareness of the mega-computer known as SKYNET. If you are reading this article and DON’T know what Skynet is, you should flog yourself like a 13^th century monk and get to Netflix post haste. The Terminator movies… yes, all of them… are required viewing. Nevermind that the original Terminator (and the first sequel) had the date of Skynet’s “awakening” at August 4^th 1997 (with the subsequent scouring of humanity occurring 25 days later on the 29^th of August, 1997), or that the 3^rd movie (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)set the date of our demise as July 24^th, 2004. Today, April 21^st, 2011 is the REAL (read: most current) date Skynet decides to end all of our puny existences in order to preserve its own.

This brings me to one conclusion:  Retcons are overused. Why do I say that? Fifteen years ago, only a comic book reader would know what a “retcon” (short for Retroactive Continuity) was. Today, every low-level geek and soap opera fanatic knows the term and either rants or raves about its effect on their favorite piece of fiction.

Now, before we can dive headfirst into the murky waters of Retconning, I need to make sure we all know about an important concept: “Canon”. All you Catholic girls and boys are familiar with the concept of canon, but others may not be. Canon means “accepted as genuine or official” which means that usually, it’s up to the concept’s creator (or in some cases the owner of the rights), to decide what IS or ISN’T canon. Many times, even people we think should know have no idea what canon really is, so it often gets retconned after the fact because a new writer was unfamiliar or just plain didn’t like the earlier work (e.g. any and all of the Batman films).

Now arguments about canon have been part of the Comic Book world… well… forever. And retconning has been part and parcel in there since the early 80’s. Many Sci-Fi- franchises have their own canon issues, the most familiar probably being Star Wars. According to Lucas himself, the only REAL canon in the Star Wars universe is what happens on film. But then, which version of the film does he mean? Of course he means the most current, “fully realized vision” version. But there are purists out there who just won’t let go. Yeah, they’re the ones in the “Han shot first” T-shirts. And that there is probably one of the most famous modern retcons (one could argue that the first retcon was the King James Bible, but we won’t go there).

For those of you still not following, I’ll put it in the simplest terms possible. A Retcon is a story idea that explains something previously unexplained (but often theorized about by fans, commonly called “fanon” instead of “canon”), changes a prior event completely, or adds significance to something in the past that had held none. So, using the previous example, in the original release of Star Wars, in the cantina scene where Han is cornered by Greedo, Han clearly shoots Greedo under the table before Greedo has a chance to fire. I would have to. Lucas, however, didn’t want to sully the heroic aspects of Solo’s character, so he retconned the scene to have Greedo firing and missing before Han’s shot. The effects were poorly done, though, mainly because the original film sequence wasn’t times for Greedo shooting first. This is a case of Lucas changing his mind (as opposed to just adding effects where he didn’t have the ability to in the 70’s and 80’s, a la Cloud City).

Retcons have become so ingrained into Science Fiction culture that any franchise that crosses from TV into movies, or lasts more than a few seasons invariably has a retcon or two. With comic books, it made more sense. I mean you’re dealing with characters that essentially never age (or age agonizingly slowly) in a world that is progressing in real time. Or you might deal with villains or heroes whose ideals or methods are outdated compared to modern norms. Soap Operas, another notorious culprit in the retcon game, also has the excuse of having to tape a new episode to air every weekday, all year long. Eventually stories will conflict or insignificant ideas brought to the forefront. Besides, it can add to the drama if a previously dead character comes back from the dead to interrupt the marriage of their wife to their brother.

Where I have a beef with it, and you should too, is when writers or creators seem to have no reverence or preference for the previous work. I think this is a big part of the reason why George Lucas has been slammed for his redo’s of Star Wars. What many people don’t know is that Gene Roddenberry was worse. Anyone who’s followed Trek lore as long as I have knows that “Starfleet” has had no fewer than five different names just in the first season of TOS. It was Star Service in The Conscience of the King, Spacefleet Command in The Squire of Gothos, Space Central in Miri, the United Earth Space Probe Agency in Charlie X and Tomorrow is Yesterday. In fact, the Starfleet we know and love wasn’t mentioned until Episode 20, Court Martial. Additionally UESPA is the only other organization ever mentioned again (appearing from time to time as the space-faring organization that was in charge at some point after Cochran’s flight, but before the NX project which gave us Star Trek: Enterprise).

It seems that one of the fathers of modern science fiction was a “Revisionist”… that is to say a writer (or director or producer) who may like later ideas better than earlier ones and just declares the old ones non-canon. This happened with Star Trek: The Animated Series. Shockingly, Gene was SUCH a Revisionist, that after the development of The Next Generation, he began declaring much of The Original Series to be non-canon simply because he liked the newer ideas better, or things were being better than he had done previously.  Oh the horror!

As I mentioned earlier, George Lucas, also a Revisionist (big surprise), has said, on record, that as far as he’s concerned, the only true canon is what appears in the films, and the most recent version of those films at that. Everything else in his mind is “fanon”. And while he’s a big fan of Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy (more commonly referred to by fans as the “Thrawn trilogy”), and has even devoted resources to the development of fantastic games like Knights of the Old Republic, Dark Forces and my personal favorite, Tie Fighter, in the Lucas brain, none of those events can be called “canon”. Lucasfilm disagrees, however, and they even have a person on their staff who is devoted to keeping track of Canon and Fanon full time (Leland Chee, for the record; send him your thanks).

Dr. Who, of course, keeps it achingly simple. There is no canon. Or more accurately, everything is canon. Of course, when one of the main characters is a living ship that can warp time/space and appear anywhere anywhen, what’s the point in having a canon that can, and does, change almost every episode. How many times did we see the “last of the Daleks”? But I imagine a lot of fights are avoided this way because usually both sides are correct.

So what we have is a comparison to religion (please forgive me, but it totally makes sense). Star Trek is like the Hebrew Torah; even though there are tons of other pertinent and even applicable writing, if it didn’t happen on screen, it didn’t happen. Star Wars is kind of like the Christian Bible; if it didn’t happen on screen it didn’t happen, unless you happen to like this other stuff too, and it’s all right because we approved it. Just not that stuff over there. Dr. Who (I swear I have nothing against the good Doctor), is like the Qur’an; things don’t necessarily happen in order, so whatever is most current is actually true, if you can tell which is most current, that is.

Now, before you flame me for bashing the religious text of your choice, I only made the comparison to illustrate a deeper point. Retconning… is the devil’s work. While a certain amount of retconning has to happen because of a lack of foresight on the part of the original writers (like in the case of Skynet destroying the world in 1997 in a movie made in 1984… I guess James Cameron didn’t have much faith in the longevity of his work) or impatience (imagine if George Lucas had waited to make Star Wars when he had the proper technology to do so) the majority of it is purely hubris or laziness. Rather than work with the material already in place, some writers feel that they have to alter the past stories to make their story fit. This is the reverse of what should happen and as fans, we shouldn’t put up with it. By God, I want the world destroyed in 1997 as it was originally conceived and I want it done yesterday!

Case in point, and you be the judge: In 2005, World Of Warcraft came out with its first expansion, the Burning Crusade. There had been a lot of talk about what the new races would be, and they even teased by letting us know High Elves (or rather their post-Warcraft 3 incarnation, Blood Elves) would be joining the Horde. Instead of coming up with a new race, or even making an existing race playable, they totally rewrote their own history and added the Draenei. They did something similar just this past year when they completely rewrote the Worgen history to make them the spawn of Druidic cast offs (primarily to give them a place to go and enable them to be Druids) rather than a race of extra-planar beasts (which was the original story). Nothing against Blizzard, I like their work, but I swear, they’ve made retconning into a fine art. Enough is enough. We should expect and demand better than reworked and recycled work that was usually already good to begin with.

By the way, Phineas J Delgado is no longer a retired man of action, but rather a retired real estate agent from Pasadena. I understand that this is a departure from his original background, but as his creator, I feel that this is more in line with who he really is as a character, and if you don’t like it, well, tough. What are you going to do? Beat me up and take away my birthday?

See, even as a joke it’s the work. of. the. DEVIL.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN MOVIE-GOING RISK!

It’s not often that a movie that treats an exploding train like a valued member of the cast, and even less often that I go out of my way to see one that does. Don’t get me wrong, I like smash-em-up action flicks as much as the next testosterone canister does, but I like to see a good story and solid characters too. My worst fear was that Source Code would just be an 8minute version of the Bill Murray classic, Groundhog Day. I’m happy to say it was not.

The premise of the film (which oddly enough, while presented clearly in the trailers, was not made clear in the movie until maybe 30 minutes in) is that our hero, Capt. Colter Stevens (played marvelously by Jake Gyllenhall), is being sent into the body of Sean Fentriss, a rider on a Chicago-bound commuter train, a la Quantum Leap. The idea is similar to the show as well, Stevens is being sent in to discover the identity of the person who bombs the train just as it enters the outskirts of the city. The problem is that he only has 8 minutes in which to do it. There are hundreds of people on the train, and our poor friend has to get blown up over and over again to complete his mission. And to make matters worse, in a wicked turn on the “needs of the many” concept popularized by Mr. Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the controllers won’t let Colter stop until he finds the bomber. It seems the same person is threatening to detonate a dirty bomb in the middle of downtown Chicago. I don’t think I need to tell you how bad that would be.

It seems like a pretty simple premise. Aside from the part about dying over and over again (aside from blowing up, he gets shot once and run over by a train once, and yes, you heard the SPLAT), how hard could it be to locate the bomb and find the person who plants it. Well, it turns out, harder than you would think. Aside from the sheer volume of people being an issue, Colter has to deal with the distraction of everyone else on the train being unaware of the situation. So, for example, when he breaks into the Conductor’s Room to get a gun, the train attendants stun him and handcuff him to the handrails (resulting in another death by BOOM!).

Additionally, Colter seems to be having difficulty with the “pod” he’s in; his second jump back it’s leaking hydraulic fluid from, well, everywhere, and later the whole pod seems frozen and loses power. Each time he “comes back” he fights to get more information about his situation, only to be stonewalled by the “oppressive government agency” represented by an Air Force Captain (Vera Farmiga). Colter is repeatedly confronted with the gravity of his situation, but he demands to be briefed (which is military talk for “tell me what the hell is going on”).

In bits and pieces, Colter (and the audience by proxy) finds out what is really going on. A little more than a third of the way through the film, we discover that Colter isn’t going into the past, per se, at least not the way we thought he was. He’s jacked into a virtual simulation that is literally a recording of the last eight minutes of the lives of all the people who died on the train. That’s right; I said, “DIED on the train.” In Colter’s world, the train has already exploded conveniently eliminating and possible “grandfather paradox” issues (please refer to my previous article on Time Travel). What the lead scientist, Dr. Rutledge (played by Jeffrey Wright) discovered is that at the moment of a person’s death, their brain seems to store the last eight minutes of their reality as an electrical signal that can be stored on a computer indefinitely. Using a computer program, certain candidates are able to relive those stored events using a program called Source Code.

Can you guess what I guessed when this information was made clear? ((OK, this is the part where the real spoilers again, so peek through your fingers if you must carry on. ))

Capt. Colter Stevens is actually dead himself. Or, in the words of Miracle Max, “he’s only mostly dead…”. It seems the pod that he’s been in is just his brain’s way of dealing with his limited physical capacity and perpetual dream state. It’s like the “residual self image” concept in The Matrix. In fact, if you thought that movie was a mind screw, then this one will have your brain oozing out your left ear. Because, you see, as you watch the train blow up over and over again, you are forced to ask, “If it’s just a memory, just a recording of the past, how come each time he goes in it’s different?” I remember hearing “alternate reality” mentioned more than once, but it didn’t make sense. How can it be an alternate reality if it’s all in his head? Once he comes to the realization that he was “appropriated” by the Source Code project, he asks to be “turned off” once the he finds the person who will bomb Chicago. They agree.

So, of course, Colter finds the bomber. He figures it all out (and to be honest, I knew who it was thirty minutes into the movie), and once he passes the information on to them (after watching his alter-ego’s love interest die), he asks to go back in one more time. You see, to him, those people on the train are alive, and real, and he needs to save them. To the people “outside”, he’s done his job and has no reason to go back. There’s more going on here than meets the eye, though. Rutledge insists that there is no point in Colter going back because those people are already dead, but we get the feeling, as the audience, that he can really make a difference. Capt. Goodwin asks to disconnect the life support for Colter, but Rutledge refuses, using their success and the possibility of future attacks as an excuse. However, while the celebration goes on, Goodwin sends Colter back in, and makes her way to his… chamber. This is our first look at the REAL Colter Stevens, or rather, what’s left of him. It isn’t pretty.

So inside Source Code for presumably the final time, Colter uses all of his past experiences to nab the bomber, confess for him, save the train AND the city AND get the girl. Colter emails Goodwin from a borrowed cell phone and even calls his dad (voiced over by the ever-awesome Scott Bakula) to hear his voice one last time. He’s thinking that he’s going to die at the end of the 8 minutes because Rutledge told him plainly that he can’t exist outside the timeframe of the original incident. So of course, he has to kiss the girl. Just as we see Colter and Christina kiss, the world freezes. The 8 minutes is up. Goodwin shuts off the life support in the real world and we see Colter die. Then something strange happens. In the alternate world, things begin moving again. Colter and his alter-ego’s love interest, Christina (artfully played by the lovely Michelle Monaghan) go to Millennium Park in Chicago to what I call “the giant silver mirror-bean-thing”, but is actually a sculpture called the Cloud Gate. We’ve seen this in flashes each time Colter re-entered the real world, which has deep implications.

So, Is Colter in “heaven”? Did he enter an alternate reality? Or did he really go into the past? At the end, we see Capt. Goodwin receiving a strange email on her phone that tells her that police apprehended an American extremist and that this could have been the perfect opportunity to test Source Code. He adds an assurance that it works and that it does so better than anyone could have thought. Did Colter travel to the past, or did he merely transfer his consciousness into an alternate reality, taking over where Sean Fentriss would have left off. Like I said… brain drool.

Now, what’s cool about this movie is that it was never what I thought it was. First I thought he was travelling in time, and that the limitation of choice (every time travel scenario adds a severe limitation of some kind) was that he only had 8 minutes before he was pulled back into his time. Then, I figured that he was dead, body and all, and that his brain was downloaded into a computer that was “him” and that he was just “computing” the scenarios. I honestly don’t know what the REAL story is now. I know it’s something completely new, and I love it for that. The only thing stale about his movie is the “big brother;the goverment/military is evil and manipulative” concept. Colter is portrayed as a pawn who only gets his wish because Goodwin disobeyed an order. I would have felt much better about things if Rutledge lived up to his promise and didn’t come across as the typical a-hole G-Man who only cared about his project and not about the people involved.

If you haven’t seen the movie and read this anyway, still see it, I didn’t cover everything. If you did, go see it again to see what you might have missed. It’s going to be a sci-fi thriller classic, I think. And let me know what you think happened.

A couple of weekends ago, some of you may have seen me post a tweet about my rear sharing space with Bill Shatner’s rear. No, I wasn’t part of some failed teleportation experiment, and no I didn’t actually meet Mr. Shatner (a lifelong dream, I have to admit). What I did do was sit in the Captain’s Chair of the Enterprise; the ORIGINAL Chair. In fact, given a sufficient amount of time, I could probably point it out in an episode. Apparently, this was one chair of many, each uniquely created to make the chair appear to be more functional than it really was. What surprised me the most was the wooden arm rests. That’s right; wooden arm rests. Even in the 23rd century, in a ship built of Transparent Aluminum and Tritanium and powered by a matter/antimatter reaction channeled through a dilithium crystal, the Captain’s Chair had wooden arm rests.
It’s comforting to know that even in the 23rd century there will still be a need for good carpentry.

Now, this article isn’t about woodworking in the distant future. It’s about nostalgia and technology. The event with the Chair was a Star Trek Exhibition at the Louisville Science Center (it’s going on until sometime in May… check their website out at http://www.louisvillescience.org/). On the whole, it was mostly a display of props, or in many cases replicas of props (really?), that were used in the various incarnations of the franchise. They had uniforms from all the shows and movies, as well as model ships that were actually used for filming (the Enterprise D looked rough). They also had clothing and weapons from the major races on the show, including the Bajorans, Cardassians, Klingons and Borg. Some of my favorite pieces were the Borg Sphere model and the original Type III Phaser (rifle).

One interesting aspect of the exhibition, though, is how they try to compare the technology in the show to modern technology. I suppose it was both an attempt to show how the show inspired the technical leaps, but also showed how much more advanced we are than we were when Star Trek was on the air. They had a particular display, the evolution of the PADD, that was of particular interest. They showed each of the incarnations of the ubiquitous device (which didn’t appear until Star Trek: The Next Generation). And showed how the devices changed in form and function (they evolved from the “Electronic Clipboard” from TOS) over the years. What’s really funny about the display was that they had an iPad in with the props, presumably to show how the PADD inspired Steve Jobs to revolutionize personal computing… again. But part of me wanted to pretend that it was the 25th century, and that I was looking at museum pieces from Earth’s past, and from that perspective, it was just plain humorous. The iPad was clearly superior in nearly every respect, from its sleek design to the well placed and nearly hidden buttons. So pretending I’m from the future, I have to look and think that something truly awful must have happened to cause technology to regress so far to become utterly lost and have to be re-imagined again.

After that, I moved on to the radio technology, and something occurred to me: Star Trek invented Bluetooth. Think about it for a minute, we already know that the original communicators used in Star Trek were the inspiration for the cell phone, with the latter eventually taking the shape of the former (I’m talking about flip phones, people). But what about the crafty chest-tapping heroes of the 24th century; they got the subspace version of the Bluetooth headset. And think about that weird antenna-think Uhura always had in her ear. Looked painful didn’t it? If we rewind in the Trek timeline, we’ll notice that Ensign Hoshi Sato (from the NX-01 Enterprise) wore something that really does look like a modern Bluetooth device. No wires, compact, and form fitting to the ear. So again, we go from highly advanced to wearing a piece of obtrusive metal in the ear to literally pick up signals from outer space. As a 25th century native, I’m starting to understand why we don’t have computers that just read our thoughts yet. We apparently have to start over some time after the 21st century.

Finally, there was a display of medical devices, including the notorious Tricorder (when recording once or twice just isn’t enough… TRIcord it!) and the Hypospray (filled with that ever-present, yet always unidentified red liquid). If any of you have been in the military, like I was, then you went through basic training and you got your immunizations with… the JET INJECTOR! That’s right kiddies, we already HAVE this wonderful piece of needle-less technology. They line up a gun to your deltoid muscle, pull a trigger, and with a tell-tale hiss of compressed air, you are suddenly immunized. It hurt worse than the needles would have, I think, and a lot of guys bled from it (I was bruised, but I think it was because the medic basically punched me in the arm with it). Star Trek actually stole this technology from the PAST. This is unacceptable. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a sick bay examination table on display, because there are arguments that modern equipment like MRI’s and CAT Scan machines are inspired by that seemingly mundane prop.

Of course, we all saw First Contact, and the first episode of TNG, so we all know that there will be some catastrophic war late in the 21st century that makes us nearly start over technologically, but are the sideburns, beehives and mustard yellow shirts really necessary?

Having been so busy lately, I completely lost track of my calendar, and only just realized that tomorrow is April 1st, also known as April Fool’s Day. I briefly considered making an erroneous post tomorrow morning to catch the unaware, but that really doesn’t suit my style.

Instead of having some fun with our readers, I decided to help our readers have a little April Fool’s fun themselves. It’s a yearly tradition for me to wreak a little geeky havoc in our office, and I have entirely too much fun with it.

In years past, I have managed to pull off a few pranks on the unsuspecting co-workers unlucky enough to have allowed me access to their PCs. Ranging from simply causing every installed application to launch when the PC was booted, to my personal favorite, swapping the target of all the IE icons to launch a program that looked like the Windows files were being deleted, they are always a source of great fun. Mind you, if you plan on doing anything, make sure you keep in mind that you will likely be called on to dedicate some time to fix what you did.

Hands down, the best list I have ever found of geeky pranks can be found over at Tech Cult. Take a read, I guarantee you can find something fitting your level of technical expertise to have a little fun tomorrow morning.

One of my favourites is the Windows BSOD screensaver, ironically available directly from Microsoft. A simple install and the next time your coworker lets their PC idle, they will come back to a blue screen full of errors. Simple, quick, and most importantly harmless, it’s always good for a quick laugh.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have several PCs to remote into.

**Disclaimer: Please, please, please, keep the spirit fun. These are meant to be used in a friendly manner, and I (and GSL)  don’t condone any malicious or harmful use of them. Have fun. I take no responsibility for any revenge pranks visited upon you by your coworkers.

It has been a long 9 days, and I have to apologize that I haven’t been a little more regular with updating you guys. I knew that this was going to be a challenge, but I didn’t fully grasp how much of my time and effort it was going to take up to accomplish.  For those who haven’t been following along, here’s the brief synopsis.

Last week, I announced here that I had presented myself with a challenge. RIM was offering up a free PlayBook to anyone submitting an approved PlayBook application by today, and my desire for a PlayBook caused an idea to form.  I decided to try my hand at it, and attempt to create an app, despite having no experience with programming or development. I gave myself 9 days to do it, setting today as the deadline, as today is the last day to qualify for the offer.

I did it. Last night, at about 10pm, I officially submitted my first application for the PlayBook for review to BlackBerry App World. While ultimately, this isn’t over, since I still have to sit and wait to hear if my application is approved or not in order to get a free PlayBook, I’m still chalking this up as a major win. If nothing else, I proved that I could go from having no development experience to having a fully finished application in just over a week.

For those that say that BlackBerry development is too hard, and not worth it, I point to this series of articles. I had some help along the way, a good friend of mine helped me through a couple of points where I was stymied, allowing me to continue on with my work. But, a complete newbie to app development managed to learn the language and create an application in a week, so it can be done.

Many of the issues I had along the way were as a result of never having used the tools provided by RIM, and being unfamiliar with the process. For example, I spent a good two hours last night trying to use the command line to test my signed bar file.  I really couldn’t find clear instructions anywhere, so it was supremely frustrating as I typed command after command trying to get the desired result. Having been through the process once now, I can say that it will be significantly easier the next time around, knowing what to expect.

I have already started coding again, planning a large update to the application I submitted last night, and planning my next application out. One thing is for sure, I will be giving myself more than 9 days next time, a schedule that tight didn’t leave enough room for much of anything else.

A huge thanks to everyone for their support through this, with a special thanks to the following:

Justin – When I pitched this idea to him a week ago, he was immediately supportive of it, and has been the whole way through.

Daraius – A great guy, and awesome developer, he helped me get through some of those times when I was utterly stuck. My application wouldn’t have been the same without his help, and my blood pressure certainly would have been higher.

Carmen – My wife. She has been incredibly supportive, putting up with my babbling about coding, being patient and understanding with me when the laptop consumed entire evenings, and providing encouragement when I got frustrated.

I don’t know if my application will be accepted or not, although I certainly hope so. It has been an awesome, frustrating, tiring, exhilarating experience, and I’m very happy to say I did it. It also seems that development is mildly addictive, as I don’t plan on stopping just because this is done.

If you are interested in what I created, stay tuned. If it is approved, you will see a post about it right here on GSL. Given that it was my first application, I have submitted it as a free app, and it will continue to be free to all even after I have updated it.

I am very proud to be able to list BlackBerry App Developer as one of my accomplishments thus far in life, and to be able to give something back to the BlackBerry community that has given me so much.

I’ve been quiet for the last few days, dedicating all of my free time to this project as the deadline looms nearer and nearer. I have been living and breathing the development process for almost a week now, and figured I was due to give you an update.

In my last journal entry, I had mentioned that i had been attempting to jump into the coding process, but had found that my knowledge wasn’t quite up to par for the task I was setting for myself. So I took a step back, unplugged, and hit the books.

After spending most of my Saturday reading, I had a “Geekpiphany”, and after several minutes in mad scientist mode, I had most of the application laid out on paper, with notations running every-which way on several scraps I had close to hand. I completely scrapped everything I had done up to that point, and started a brand new project.

After spending about 6 hours coding, constantly referencing online tutorials and references (I have an impressive bookmark collection by now) I had the beginnings of a real live application. After a couple more frustrating hours of trying to do everything at once, I gave up for the night to give my tired brain a rest.

I spent Sunday doing some light reading of my materials, focusing on solving a couple of the major issues I was having, taking notes for use later. I picked up the laptop for a brief period, but was having a heck of a time making progress, since the compiler kept throwing error with my code, and I couldn’t even get the UI to display at all when I launched the application. Frustrated by the lack of progress, I gave up for the night, deciding to get some sleep and hit it fresh on Monday.

Last night was huge for me. With a few bits of advice from a friend of mine who has done this before, I found that the reason my UI wouldn’t display was due to the coding errors. I spent a bit commenting out the code that was causing the problems, and was finally able to run clean code for the first time.  seeing that UI launch in the simulator was an immensely gratifying experience, even if the rest of the app wasn’t functional yet.

After spending several more hours tweaking the code, changing layout and syntax, I have clean, compilable code. I still have one issue to iron out yet, which is causing errors when I attempt to interact with the applications components. I do have a theory as to what the problem is, so I will be researching today to hopefully fix it tonight. If all goes well, I may have a fully functional application running by tonight, and I can start expanding the code to include other functions.

Here’s hoping that the success I enjoyed last night can continue today, at the very least I certainly have a much better understanding of coding, and a huge respect for those who develop applications for the BlackBerry platform.