Tuesday, September 30, 2008

9-30-08

Neil Gaiman begins his book tour for Graveyard Book this week. Each city has him reading a chapter, and it looks like they may put them online here. You can already hear Chapter 1 at the publisher's website.

TCM is planning a 12 movie tribute of Paul Newman on October 12th. I'll have to check it out since I think I've actually never seen most of these.

NASA is delaying the final maintenance trip to the Hubble Telescope while they prepare to do the more extensive repairs that are now necessary after a relay system failed.

DVRs for tonight:
Greek
House
Fringe

Monday, September 29, 2008

9-29-08

A solar cell developed by scientists for the US Department of Energy has set a world record for efficiency.

RIP Paul Newman. The legendary actor died of cancer on Friday at age 83.

Greek is adding a couple of characters next year: Jesse McCartney (who I've never heard of) and Ken Marino (who played one of the demons next door on Reaper and Vinnie Van Lowe on Veronica Mars).

DVRs for tonight:
8pm Chuck (NBC)
8pm Big Bang Theory (CBS)
8pm Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
830 How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
9pm Heroes (NBC)
9pm 2.5 Men (CBS)
10pm Life (NBC)

Friday, September 26, 2008

9-26-08

European Space Agency scientists have created a 3D model of a Lunar site where they propose landing and possibly setting up a base.

Researchers have developed a new and safer way to make skin cells into embryonic stem cells for research and treatments.

DVR for tonight:
Stargate Atlantis
--- for Saturday:
Primeval
--- for Sunday:
True Blood

Thursday, September 25, 2008

9-25-08

The Portland Press Herald (a Maine newspaper) has an article about Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's online serialized novels.

A Russian town calculated the timing of the Google Earth satellite flyby and arranged townpeople into a smiley face in the middle of the town. While the image was later replaced, they got their 15 minutes of fame. See the article about it (which shows the Google page) or the event page with lots of other pictures.

Johnny Depp will make 3 more movies for Disney: a 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie, he'll play Tonto in a new Lone Ranger movie, and he'll play the Mad Hatter in a Tim Burton 3D motion capture version of Alice in Wonderland.

DVRs for tonight:
8pm My Name is Earl (NBC - 1 hour)
9pm Grey's Anatomy (ABC - too soon - I'm not caught up yet)
9pm Supernatural (CW)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

9-24-08

Technologizer lists their 13 Greatest Error Messages of All Time. I'm very familiar with "Abort, retry, fail", 404, and the blue screen of death, but some of these are on platforms I never use.

DVRs for tonight:
8pm Bones (FOX)
8pm Knight Rider (NBC - this will probably be really bad, but I'll give the 1st episode a try)
10pm CSI: NY (CBS - long awaited end to the horrible cliffhanger)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

9-23-08

RIP Brian Thomsen. The SF editor (consulting for TOR) died Sunday of a heart attack.

DVRs for tonight:
6pm Eureka (SCIFI - summer "finale" encores at 9pm)
6pm Greek (ABCFAM)
8pm House (FOX)
9pm Fringe (FOX)
9pm The Mentalist (CBS - might be worth a pilot)

Monday, September 22, 2008

9-22-08

Gateworld has the character descriptions for the new Stargate: Universe series as they were given to casting agents. Currently, this is at the level of rumor, and may change as they actually pick people, but it gives us a point of reference for where they are planning to go.

Pushing Daisies won the only Emmy by a sci-fi show not in the Creative Arts category (Best Director for the pilot). Creative Arts Emmys went to Pushing Daisies, Battlestar Galactica, Tin Man, Chuck, Lost, and Smallville.

Scientists now understand why the southern polar ice cap on Mars is off center.

CNet Crave has an image and article on a very strange new clock. The Corpus Clock (tribute to The Grasshopper Escapement) was designed by John Taylor and introduced by Stephen Hawking.

Outside.in has a new cool looking map tool for blogs. If I ever have a reason to include location information in my blog, I might try it.

DVRs for tonight:
8pm Big Bang Theory (CBS - season premiere)
8pm Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
8pm Heroes: Countdown to the premiere (NBC - catch up special)
8:30 How I Met Your Mother (CBS - season premiere)
9pm Heroes (NBC - 2 hour season premiere)
9pm 2.5 Men (CBS - season premiere)

Friday, September 19, 2008

9-19-08

SciFi has greenlit Warehouse 13 to start airing next July.

Cable companies are considering network DVRs (no additional equipment in customer homes but functionality would be the same).

DVRs for the weekend:
--tonight:
Stargate Atlantis (SCIFI)
--Saturday:
Primeval (BBCA)
--Sunday:
Spaceballs: The Animated Series (G4 - pilot and next 3 30min episodes)
True Blood (HBO)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

9-18-08

New music by Mozart has been found in a French library.

DVR for tonight:
7pm Burn Notice (USA)
9pm Supernatural (CW - 4th season premiere)

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

9-17-08

There will be a 6th book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. Douglas Adams' widow has sanctioned a new book to be written by Eoin Colfer (the writer of the Artemis Fowl books).

10 days after airing the first episode, HBO has renewed True Blood for a 2nd season!

Ender's Game is going to have a graphic novel version, and Wired has a preview.

Tor.com has brought back their free e-books for registered users. The first ones are War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (fabulous book) and Dogland by Will Shetterly (which I've been meaning to read for a while).

China is planning to build a space station in 4 parts. Slashdot has a link to the original article in Chinese (or the bad translation), and Space.com has an article about the astronauts that doesn't go into details of the space station building.

FutonCritic has a press release from NBC detailing all the different ways you can watch their shows other than during the regular timeslot on TV (NBC.com, Hulu.com, Yahoo!, Amazon, DishNetwork, Xbox, etc.)

DVR for tonight:
8pm Bones (FOX)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

9-16-08

IMDB.com is going to start allowing free viewing of some movies and TV shows.

NBC has announced their content lineup for NBC.com (webisodes, featurettes, etc.).

The Smithsonian will start digitizing its collection.

Does nobody read cautionary tales anymore? Scientists are exhuming the body of a man who died of Spanish flu in 1919 in hopes they will learn how to prevent a pandemic from avian flu. (I just remember how well contact with old flu strains turned out in Doomsday Book.)

DVRs for tonight:
Eureka (SCIFI 6pm or 9pm)
Greek (ABCFAM 6pm)
House (FOX 8pm)
Fringe (FOX 9pm)

Monday, September 15, 2008

9-15-08

E! has a photo and short video clip from George Takei's wedding. Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols were best man and maid of honor.

The Hubble telescope has found an identified object that may require a new classificaton.

NASA is going to auction off 25 of their patents.

RIP Richard Wright, co-founder of Pink Floyd.

CNet shows a great deal on an 8GB flash drive today, and along with it a link to some great ideas on how to use thumb drives.

DVR for tonight:
The Closer
Sarah Connor Chronicles

Friday, September 12, 2008

9-12-08

NBC has picked Katee Stackhoff (Starbuck on BSG) to star in their next crime drama, "Lost and Found" (presumably planned for midseason).

It looks like the BBC is planning to make a movie version of Doctor Who. The talks for renewing David Tennant's contract may actually require it.

Happy birthday to the microchip. The first integrated circuit was demonstrated to Texas Instruments on this day 50 years ago.

Some rare good news for people who like freedom and privacy: a federal court has ruled that the 4th amendment requires the government to get a warrant before accessing cell phone stored GPS location records.

Amazon is going to start selling wine online.

A former NASA scientist has beamed solar power from one Hawaiian island to another in preliminary experiments he hopes will lead to satellite-based collectors beaming power down to Earth. Discovery Channel paid for the experiment and will broadcast their special tonight.

DVR for tonight:
Monk (USA)
Psych (USA)
Stargate Atlantis (SCIFI)
--for Saturday:
Primeval (BBCA)
--for Sunday:
True Blood (HBO)

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

9-10-08

Entertainment Weekly is listing their version of the 20 Greatest Scifi TV Shows. I might change up the order, but it had a lot less glaring omissions than these lists usually have (see Max Headroom at #10!). They clearly aren't including Fantasy/Horror though since there is no Buffy.

And, while thinking of which old shows have aged well, and which haven't, here's one that is coming back. It has been confirmed that they are making a movie of Greatest American Hero.

CT2 has a copy of the form letter Robert Heinlein used to respond to fan mail. Amusing.

HP has developed a laptop with a 24-hour battery life.

DVR for tonight:
Bones (8pm Fox)

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

9-9-08

Google is digitizing newspapers, making content previously only available in newspaper morgues or library microfilm now available online.

A melting glacier in the Swiss Alps is revealing objects that are helping researchers understand more about the neolithic era and the effect of climate changes.

Apple and NBC have come to a new agreement, so NBC Universal TV shows will now be available on iTunes again.

CNet's Green Tech has an article about a new company building microinverters to more effectively transfer energy collected from solar panels into current used by electrical outlets.

Late tonight, near Geneva, the Large Hadron Collider will be switched on and amazing physics experiments will begin (assuming the world doesn't end like the people sending death threats believe).

Primeval bad news and good news: Season 1 ends this Saturday on BBC America, but Season 2 starts next week and will air straight through til November (7 episodes).


DVRs for tonight:
Greek (6pm ABCFAM)
Eureka (6 or 9pm SCIFI)
Fringe (8pm Fox - 95 minute premiere episode)

Monday, September 8, 2008

9-8-08

SF Signal has a look at all the network genre TV shows starting soon. Remember, if you want to see what non-genre shows are opposite these in the timeslots, check out the schedule grid at Futon Critic.

Apple has admitted the idea for the iPod came from a product which was patented in the UK in 1979 and had the rights expire before ever being developed. The inventor is now getting acknowledgment and compensation.

CNet Crave has a slideshow of a hybrid car that comes as a kit you can build at home.

It sounds like there will be a 3rd Ghostbusters movie.

SciFi Wire has 10 SciFi movies guaranteed to make you cry. I've only seen 5, but I tend to agree with the moments they highlighted in those.

NBC isn't allowing their actors to appear in the Scrubs finale since it will be on a different network. Petty.

Fossils of forests up to 300 million years old have been found in an Illinois coal mine.

DVR for tonight:
The Closer
Sarah Connor Chronicles (2nd season premiere)

Friday, September 5, 2008

9-5-08

HarperCollins has put 2 books online as free ebooks (for online reading or download, but they will expire October 31st). One is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. The 2nd is Odalisque by Fiona McIntosh. Source: SF Signal.

SciFi Wire has an interview with Amy Acker about her role on Dollhouse.

Zuleikha Robinson (from New Amsterdam) will be a recurring character on Lost next season.

Amazon has started their Video-on-demand service. You can download or watch online, and they have stuff for free, to rent, or to buy.


DVR for tonight:
Stargate Atlantis
Monk
Psych
--For Saturday:
Primeval (BBCA)
--For Sunday:
True Blood (HBO)

Thursday, September 4, 2008

9-4-08

TNT is planning a spinoff of The Closer.

Subterranean Press has a new short story online by John Scalzi.

Skeletons found on the Yucatan peninsula have been dated as 13,600 years old (the oldest yet found in the Americas) and are bringing all previous theories about how people came to this continent into question.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

9-3-08

SF Signal has an article about next month's final mission to upgrade the Hubble Telescope. In it, they link to a great site, The Big Picture, that I may need to visit more often.

It sounds like there's a possibility that Red Dwarf may be coming back with new material.

Hulu.com has announced their fall lineup, and some of the shows (including Chuck) are going to be available from them 1 week before they air on TV. They also have some episodes and recaps from last season for those shows you want to catch up on (like the last 1/2 season of Life I missed).

The final Stephenie Meyer Twilight book will be delayed. Part of the early manuscript was leaked online, and it upset her so much she's holding off on finishing the book.

CNet has an analysis of alternative fuels by Toyota.

DVR for tonight:
8pm Bones (new season starts tonight with a 2-hour show!)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

9-2-08

RIP Don LaFontaine. You may not know the name or face, but if you've ever watched TV or movies, you've probably heard his voiceovers.

SF Signal has an Otherworld marathon in honor of Labor Day. I remember watching this show back when it originally aired.

Wired has 10 Geeky Movies to Raise Your Kids On. I've seen 9 of them and definitely agree with some, but not all, of their choices.

The DC-X rocket ship was honored for its contributions during a 15th anniversary gathering.

Google is releasing their own browser today. It is called Chrome, and should have an impact on the other browsers, if only to spur them on to improve and innovate faster. Sources: CNet article looking at key features, early review, CNet article looking at browser impact, and SFGate article.

New enzyme research may lead to a new way to treat cancer.

DVR for tonight:
Greek