Pokémon, America’s all time best-selling computer game series, is still going strong 15-years on. The two newest editions, Pokémon Black and Pokémon White, are renewing the call to trainers everywhere. Released in the US simultaneously on Sunday March 6, Black and White’s combined sales totaled over one million copies on the first day, besting the 780,000 units sold on the day of release for 2007’s Diamond and Pearl by a considerable margin.
“Things have been on a long downhill slide for science…”
-Phil Plait
Dr. Phil Plait comes at science blogging with some heavy credentials, having actually worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and, to a lesser extent, the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) programs. His blog, Bad Astronomy, began life as an outlet for his frustration at the misuses and misunderstandings of astronomy in popular culture, but soon became a venue for his advocacy of all things science-based.
When I was asked to write a weekly column for Suicide Girls, my immediate questions was, “About what?” Because, truly, I didn’t know what the fuck anyone reading this would want to hear from me.
“Anything,” they said.
Well, alright. But I’m pretty sure they didn’t mean How to Make and/or Buy Weapons Grade Narcotics: A Guide In Multiple Parts, which is what I wanted to write about. But court sucks, and you know it. So instead, I’m calling this “Things I Like That You Might Like Too.” It’s exactly what it says it is.
In this vid (originally posted on The Feast by their Bay Area Food Ed Tamara Palmer) the chocolate makers behind the scientifically and ethically-minded artisan brand TCHO explain how they can operate the essential functions of their factory remotely via a custom iPhone App. The space age Willy Wonka responsible for implementing the technology is TCHO’s creative director and CEO Louis Rossetto, who was one of the founders of Wired Magazine.
To celebrate the release of his groundbreaking Level 26 app, Anthony Zuiker is giving away an iPad 2 pre-loaded with Dark Prophecy via Twitter. SuicideGirls is also throwing in a year’s membership to make this a truly killer prize.
For your chance to win, follow @zuiker on Twitter and RT:
To celebrate his new book app @Zuiker is giving away an iPad2 loaded w/ it http://bit.ly/f0Wspu Follow him & RT to enter! #DarkProphecyiPad
No purchase necessary. Entrants must be 18 & over and live in the US. The contest will run for 12 days, starting Monday (2/28) morning at 9:00 AM EST and ending Friday (3/11) night at 11:59 PM PST. The winner will be chosen at random from those who have posted qualifying tweets.
“I think that Dark Prophecy is really the book of tomorrow that’s available today,” says Anthony E. Zuiker. The creator of the incredibly successful CSI TV franchise, has just launched an iPad app for the second installment of his Level 26 fiction series. It follows the adventures of a detective, Steve Dark, who, with a similarly tortured soul, can get into the minds of the worst of the worst killers – those worthy of Level 26 status.
Like the psychopaths Dark hunts, who are no ordinary killers, the Level 26 books are no ordinary thrillers. Dubbed “digi-novels” by Zuiker, the multi-platform murder mysteries combine traditional text with web-based movie “cyber-bridges” and community elements.
However, with the launch of the Dark Prophecy iPad App, Zuiker has kicked his digi-novel concept up to the next level (if you’ll pardon the pun). “Whereas last time we talked it was read the book and watch these 20 individual bridges, now we have 3 levels of engagement,” explains Zuiker. “The traditional Kindle-like version, the digi-novel, which is the book and the movie, and the ultimate digi-novel which is the book, movie, effects, and activities, such as collecting evidence, and unlocking new storylines.”
Omni Consumer Products is helping to ensure that the city of Detroit will always have a Robocop to watch over them. In lieu of an active cyborg patrolman, they are settling for erecting a statue of Robocop in Detroit. Omni Consumer Products is a real company, which takes its name from a company of the same name featured in the Robocop franchise. When Pete Hottelet, owner of OCP, discovered there was a fund-raising effort in the works to build the statue in Detroit, he matched the $25,000 already raised, bringing the grand total of funds to in excess of $50,000.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’m a massive Doctor Who fan. The longest running science fiction series in the world, it was first broadcast in 1964. It’s an idiosyncratically British institution, whose longevity is cleverly assured by one of the fundamental principals of our protagonist, the Doctor. He is able to ‘regenerate’ his physical form to cheat death – and to keep the show fresh and give writers wiggle-space, allowing the character to develop and change.
The program went on hiatus between 1989 and 2005 (with the exception of a movie, released in 1996), and when Russell T Davis revived it (with Christopher Eccleston and then David Tennant in the role of the Doctor), he was quick to say that it was the enduring affection of fans that helped convince the BBC to give it another shot.
Current writer Steven Moffat, who produced some of the most memorable shows of the Tennant era, has gone one further; he has actively sought to bring the fans into the experience with somewhat of a stylistic flourish. Late last year we were treated to Doctor Who Live, a stage-show big on audience participation, where monsters such as the Scarecrows, clockwork androids and Cybermen roamed the floors of the O2 Arena in London, terrifying small children and delighting older Who fans in equal measure.
The Doctor Who Experience, currently showing at London’s Olympia, is another gift to fans young and old; the audience become the story, and who was I to resist? I grabbed my Tom Baker scarf and my faithful companion, and prepared to indulge in some hardcore Who-dom (if you’re planning on seeing the show and are sensitive to spoilers, I’d discourage you from reading any further).
