film

Think how awesome it was the first time you saw a lightsaber in action. Or how your mind was officially shredded when Neo mastered the Matrix. Technology in movies is cool. When artfully filmed, gadgets, gizmos, robots, and computers can captivate and amaze audiences.

But for every thrilling example of cool tech, Hollywood seems to produce a tired, dated cliche. There's the obligatory no-cell-phone-service scene in horror flicks. There are robots with ATTITUDE in science fiction. There are impossible user interfaces in action films. The list goes on and on.

Here, then, are the top-10 tech tricks that are officially played out.

10. Zoom in! (aka, enhance!) You know the scene I'm talking about. Someone (usually a detective) loads a fuzzy photo or video into some sort of software that can manipulate images in implausible ways. Pan left! Zoom in! Bam! There's the clue we were looking for, now clearly visible. This scene was cool in "Blade Runner." Anything after 1982? Not so much. BoingBoing alerted us to this smart montage showing just how cliche this image-mapping tech trick is.

9. AI with attitude Computers and robots that talk with any sort of personality are a terrible cliche. They are also a bad idea. Examples of this tech tragedy include evil computers (HAL from 2001); sad robots (Marvin the Paranoid Android from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"); neurotic androids (C-3P0); and annoying holograms (the doctor from "Star Trek Voyager"). Even Jarvis, the computer program from "Iron Man," can get snippy.

The presence of emoting robots begs an important question: why would anyone make a machine that was capable of getting angry? Or sad, depressed, lonely, and vindictive? If taken to its logical conclusion, emoting machinery would produce a future kitchen in which my coffee pot got jealous of my tea kettle because I use it more often. I have enough problems in my life without fighting with my toaster. Leave the emotions out of machines. … Read more

First it was the lawyers. Then it was the politicians. Now debt collectors may be coming after people accused of film piracy, even before they have their day in court.

A group calling itself the Copyright Enforcement Group (CEG), which according to its Web site specializes in media rights enforcement, appears to advocate the use of debt collectors even before the courts have rendered a judgment against accused copyright violators. CNET has obtained a copy of CEG's "service contract," which specifies the terms the group offers to client copyright owners.

"In the event that the opposing … Read more

Materials technology developed at IBM's research labs is inching closer to commercial solar panels.

Japanese manufacturer Solar Frontier said yesterday it has signed a deal to develop thin-film solar cells originally designed by IBM.

IBM researchers last year showed they were able to improve the efficiency of solar cells made from a combination of copper, zinc, tin, sulfur and selenium (CZTS), hitting an efficiency mark of 9.6 percent in the lab. Although they are generally less efficient than silicon, thin-film solar cells promise to be cheaper because less material is needed.

Solar cells made from other thin-film materials … Read more

An unmistakable strain of compassion runs through Cindy Cohn's voice when she talks about the plight of Internet users she says are wrongly accused of copyright violations or tech companies she believes are being abused by large entertainment conglomerates.

She sounds like a nurse or an understanding second-grade teacher. But that's just one of her gears. Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, likely the most recognized technology advocacy group, can throw it into high and become a skilled courtroom brawler.

To protect the privacy of Internet users, she faced off with the Bush administration over the … Read more

Few film companies are assailing piracy with the vigor of Third World Media.

Third World Media (TMW), a porn studio headquartered north of Los Angeles, filed a lawsuit two weeks ago against 1,568 unnamed individuals, accusing them of using peer-to-peer networks to unlawfully share copies of "Miss Big Ass Brazil #4," records show.

"Each of the defendant's acts of infringement have been willful, intentional, and in disregard of...the rights of plaintiff," TWM's attorneys wrote in their filing of October 4.

The suit came just two weeks after TWM filed a similar complaint against an additional 1,243 … Read more

I am sure that, when creating Web sites, people still think long, hard, and late into the night about the URL behind which they will stand.

In the case of one organization, perhaps it thought too long, too hard, and far too late into the night.

The National Schools Film Week is the "world's largest festival for cinema and young people." Its home page has a very interesting picture of many children wearing dark glasses. Perhaps they are 3D. Perhaps it's because the URL of the National Schools Film Week is, you got there, didn't … Read more

Thin-film solar manufacturer First Solar announced Thursday it's building two new manufacturing plants to accommodate an expected influx of work.

One plant will be built in the U.S. and the other in Vietnam, but the company has not released any details on exactly where it plans to build them within those countries.

Both plants are scheduled to be completed by 2012 and to create jobs for 600 people apiece. Together the plants, once fully operational, are expected to produce 500 megawatts' worth of thin-film photovoltaic modules annually, according to First Solar.

The introduction of the new plants, coupled … Read more

Opinions were mixed as to whether the film "The Social Network," which topped the U.S. box office charts for the second week in a row, would have a positive or negative effect on audiences' perceptions of Facebook as a company. On one hand, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is depicted as a harsh megalomaniac; on the other, the well-received movie is a sexy, stylized look at Silicon Valley that certainly makes hacking and engineering seem a bit more titillating than it is in real life.

YouGov, a market research firm that's been monitoring Facebook's "brand perception" for some time now … Read more

"Star Wars" is entering the third dimension, LucasFilm announced today.

According to the studio, "Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace" will be released in 3D to theaters in 2012. As with the original releases, Twentieth Century Fox is backing the movies.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which cited unnamed sources, LucasFilm will release one of the original six "Star Wars" films in 3D each subsequent year. The films will be released in chronological order by episode.

In the meantime, Star Wars fans will be able to get their hands on Blu-ray versions of … Read more