star trek

Filmmaking at the atomic level? IBM nets Guinness world record

If you're looking to attract attention, setting a Guinness World Record is probably a good way to start.

That was the goal -- attracting attention, that is -- for a group of IBM Research scientists who recently set out to make what turned out be the Guinness World Record-certified smallest stop-motion film ever.

Called "A Boy and His Atom," the animated film features a small boy having a good old time as he bounces around, playing catch, and dancing. The twist? The film was shot at the atomic level and features 130 atoms that were painstakingly placed, atom by atom, as the researchers shot 250 individual frames. The images were created at a temperature of negative 268 degrees Celsius and were magnified 100 million times. … Read more

How to sing a cutesy love song in Klingon

The Improvised Star Trek podcast has recorded in Klingon what is perhaps the most twee love song ever written: Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me."

OK, so we may have lied a little. We don't think it's actually possible to make Klingon sound "cute," never mind "cutesy." This video is hard evidence. Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me" is possibly the cutesiest romance pop song written (although, feel free to disagree in the comments). In Klingon, it sounds like a mouthful of glitter-sprinkled gravel. … Read more

A $12,000 music box for the Sith Lord who has everything

We've seen a number of drop-dead beautiful watches this week from Baselworld 2013, but meanwhile watchmaker MB&F has introduced this delightful spaceship that plays music.

The Musicmachine, part of the brand's Performance Art series, is a music box that plays your favorite melodies from science fiction and classic rock on rotating cylinders.

Produced with high-end music box maker Reuge, the 18-inch-long craft has a walnut sound amplification chamber that doubles as a fuselage, and two aluminum outriggers. The two music-playing brass cylinders are powered by mainsprings wound by turning two attached propellers. Each cylinder has 72 notes per comb. … Read more

'Star Trek' Wikia fan portal warps into cyberspace

A new enterprise was born today. The Trek Initiative brings together wiki host company Wikia and Roddenberry Entertainment, the creators of "Star Trek," in a brave new Web site dedicated to offering fans a home planet on the Internet. It offers communities for fan interaction, fan fiction, fan films, and rare images from the Roddenberry Entertainment archives.

Hard-core Trekkies will particularly enjoy a 55-minute audio clip of Gene Roddenberry discussing his motivations for "Star Trek" and his views on the future of humanity. The "Star Trek" franchise is currently under the ownership of CBS, publisher of CNET.… Read more

Acer teases new laptop in 'Star Trek' promo

In advance of a planned May 3 press conference, PC maker Acer is teasing a new laptop as part of a tie-in with the upcoming film "Star Trek Into Darkness."

In the (somewhat cheesy) video, clips from the film are intercut with rendered images of what looks like a massive new laptop. Separately, Acer says this is going to be a "unique" laptop that "approaches touch and type in a new way."

As seen in the video above and these screenshots, this unnamed laptop has an unusual hinge that pivots the entire lid out, … Read more

Crave Ep. 116: Bubba Watson's BW1 hovercraft golf cart

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Oakley and golf champ Bubba Watson have teamed to build the world's first hovercraft golf cart. A physicist invents a way to write e-mail using a guitar, and a "Star Trek" phaser rifle from the original series sells for a staggering sum. … Read more

'Star Trek' phaser rifle sells for $231k

Never underestimate the purchasing power of a "Star Trek" fan.

Beverly Hills, Calif., auction house Julien's has sold -- for a whopping $231,000 -- a one-of-a-kind "Star Trek" phaser rifle wielded by William Shatner in the second pilot episode (and some publicity stills) for the iconic late-'60s sci-fi TV series. Aside from obtaining the weapon and its original case, the winner of the auction also received an original schematic and associated letters signed by Gene Roddenberry and other "Star Trek" producers.

If you're wondering what's so special about this mock rifle, well, in 1965, "Star Trek" series creator Roddenberry had to impress NBC after network executives told him the first pilot needed more of an action-packed adventure vibe. What would any enterprising creative genius do in that situation? Outfit your Captain with a bigger gun, of course! … Read more

Crave Ep. 115: First look at the feature-packed iKazoo

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On this week's Crave, we take a first look a gadget that truly blows, an optical game controller that looks like a kazoo. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield gives us some more cooking tips from space. And Hotello is a hotel room in a box. Sounds uncomfortable, no? All that and more on this week's episode. … Read more

LED quadrotors form 'Star Trek' logo over London

I can't say I'm a fan of the "Star Trek" reboot, preferring the days when the franchise was so bad it was good, but I have to admire this marketing stunt for "Into Darkness."

We've seen LED quadrotor displays before, and there's no denying that lighting up the night sky with small flying machines has enormous potential.

Ars Electronica Futurelab, the same outfit that illuminated the skies over Linz, Austria, last year, launched 30 quadrotors near London's Tower Bridge and flew in a formation that any Trekkie would salute.… Read more

'Star Trek' inspires BlackBerry founder to launch quantum fund

BlackBerry co-founder and former CEO Mike Lazaridis has veered from mobile devices and set his sights on quantum technology.

This technology is so fascinating to him that he and fellow BlackBerry co-founder Doug Fregin have launched a $100 million investment fund, called Quantum Valley Investments, to work on commercial applications for breakthroughs in quantum science, according to the Wall Street Journal.

But, what exactly are breakthroughs in quantum science?

According to Lazaridis, one need look no further than Star Trek.

"There's this buzz around the world that this quantum information science is starting to bear fruit," Lazaridis … Read more