Thursday, June 25, 2009

6-26-09

RIP Farrah Fawcett. The actress died Thursday morning of cancer. Sources: CNN, NYT, SF Gate, BBC, NJ.com

RIP Michael Jackson. The singer died Thursday afternoon following a heart attack. Sources: Yahoo, Tor.com, Mercury news

Happy 35th birthday to the barcode. It seems like so much of my work revolves around barcodes that they should be older.

BBC has a slideshow of new Cassini Saturn images with audio. They also have an article on a new fossil discovery that shows some of the evolution of dinosaur hands into bird wings.

SF Gate has an interview with Steve Kloves (Harry Potter screenwriter) about Half-Blood Prince.

What's Alan Watching has an interview with Russell Davies about Torchwood and Doctor Who.

CBS announced fall premiere dates, ranging from 9/17 to 10/4.

SF Gate has an interview with Lewis Black, since he will be performing in SF this weekend for a benefit.

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing has an interesting post about e-book pricing.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

6-24-09

RIP Ed McMahon. The actor died Tuesday at 86 after a long illness. Sources: Zap2It, SF Gate, and many more.

RIP Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald. The doctor who diagnosed and treated her own cancer at the south pole 10 years ago died this week at 57.

The Best Picture Oscar will now have 10 nominees (like it did ~60 years ago). I'm sure they will still nominate stuff I don't like and leave off movies I think are great even if they get more slots. Sources: NY Times, SF Gate, etc.

Bryan Fuller is leaving Heroes (again), at least as a writer, to focus on his new projects for NBC.

Scrubs will change format a bit to cover for staff availability issues in the 9th season.

Ronald D. Moore's pilot that Fox didn't pick up, Virtuality, will be airing this Friday night.

SciFi Wire has an interview with Michael Bay about how they handled Shia LaBeouf's hand injury while filming Transformers 2.

The Chelsea Award nominees have been announced. Follow the links for some great artwork. Source: SF Signal.

Concept art for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is now available.

Stanford researchers have found a new compound that might replace silicon for smaller, faster computing as we reach the limits of Moore's Law.

The iPhone 3G S and 3.0 software were released.
* Improvements in software update.
* Review of the new phone from SF Gate.

Recent space.com articles of interest:
* Evidence suggests that Saturn's moon, Enceladus, has an ocean under its crust.
* "Definitive" evidence of a shoreline of an ancient lake has been found on Mars.

Health news:
* Studies show the most common pediatric cancer (lymphoblastic leukemia) can be successfully treated without radiation.
* Apparently stem cells from placentas are just as useful as from cord blood, but in larger quantities (enough to treat an adult, not just an infant).

Friday, June 19, 2009

6-19-09

I updated the DVR listings I made earlier this week to include the new Poirot movie playing on Masterpiece Theater on Sunday. PBS has an interview with David Suchet, who appears close to playing every Poirot story that Agatha Christie wrote. I've probably only seen about half of the 61 he's filmed, but I usually like them.

CW has released their fall premiere dates. Supernatural on 9/10 is the only one I care about.

Space.com has an article today I would expect to see at The Onion. The switch to digital TV is depriving aliens of their access to TV shows. I love that approach to the story.

Today was the groundbreaking for Spaceport America.

Monday, June 15, 2009

6-16-09

Researchers find that lasers can make incandescent light bulbs twice as efficient. Sources: CNet, University of Rochester via Slashdot

Fox has announced start dates for fall shows. Bones is the first I care about on September 17th. Sources: Ausiello Files, NJ.com. They followed up this announcement with the interruptions that baseball will bring to the new shows.

Steven Spielberg and Noah Wyle are working on an alien invasion series pilot for TNT. I'm picturing this as a cross between V and Librarian - could be fun.

Primeval has been officially canceled. (Apparently leaving a cliffhanger too. If they do end up making a movie, I hope they resolve that.)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

6-14-09 catch up post

DVD news:
* Torchwood season 2 & 3 will both be released on DVD on July 28th for Comic Con.
* There is a new boxed set of Jack Lemmon films. How is that I like Jack Lemmon but have somehow not seen any of these movies?

RIP David Eddings. The fantasy author died June 2nd at 77. Source: Locus, Tor.

Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder is available as a free audiobook from Audible for a limited time. This was a fun book. Check it out. Sources: Tor, SF Signal.

The Suvudu Free Library has 3 new ebooks (including Terry Brooks and Alan Dean Foster).

Apple unvieled the new iPhone 3G S:
* The older 3G phone dropped in price to $99. Source: Zap2It.
* Overview of features for 3G S hardware and 3.0 software (available for existing iPhones June 17th). Sources: SF Gate,
* Specs have been leaked online that imply it might really be twice as fast as the current iPhone.
* CNet look at the new camera.
* In-app microtransactions. Source: Pocket Gamer, CNet

List of the 10 Best TV shows for nerds. I like 6 of these, dislike a couple, and have never seen the rest. YMMV.

We just passed the 25th anniversary of Tetris, a game that has absorbed many hours of my life. SF Gate has a retrospective article. CNet Digital Home article. Guardian article.

USA announced the start date for Psych and Monk: August 7th. ABC also announced fall start dates for all their shows, ranging from September 5th to October 16th.

My Name is Earl
isn't going to change channels after all, so it is now officially dead.

3 interesting recent articles on teenagers:
* Meteorite hits a 14-year old boy. Source: Space.com
* An 18-year old girl diagnosed her own long term illness in AP science class. Source: CNN
* A 14-year old student identifies the weakest supernova yet identified. Source: Space Fellowship

DVR timers for the week:
Sun 6pm? True Blood (season premiere)
Mon 5pm Greek (season finale)
Mon 6pm The Closer
Tue 10pm Cupid (if no NBA game)
Thu 6pm Burn Notice
Thu 7pm Royal Pains
Sat 6pm Primeval
Sun 6pm True Blood
Sun 8pm Merlin (2hr pilot - NBC)
Sun 9pm Masterpiece Theater: Poirot: Cat Among the Pigeons (PBS - encores several times over 24 hours)

Monday, June 1, 2009

6-1-09

July 20th will be a big day for BBC America: it will have the season finale of Primeval, the premiere of Torchwood and Being Human, and the latest Doctor Who special. The Doctor Who Christmas Special will air on BBCA on June 26th, which is only 6 months later than it should have played (better than SciFi usually manages).

The new companion for Doctor Who has been announced, and i09 has a picture. I've seen her in one episode each of Doctor Who and Rebus, but can't remember her offhand.

Continuing the Doctor Who news, io9 lists some of the ways we can still see David Tennant as the Doctor after the specials end.

SciFi Wire has a little information on Paul, the next movie from Simon Pegg & Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead & Hot Fuzz).

Warehouse 13 is going to have some great guest stars from Battlestar Galactica, Eureka, Stargate: Atlantis, and others you'll recognize.

Hollywood is planning a new Buffy movie without Joss Whedon. More info at SciFi Wire. What can they be thinking? On another note from Joss Whedon, he is already looking for the right role for Summer Glau on Dollhouse.

SciFi Wire has a nice chart of all the network TV changes for genre shows next season (cancellations, renewals, time changes, and additions).

Space.com has an article on the recent improvements to the Hubble telescope. They also have a picture of a galaxy cluster I think is great.

itnews.com has a list of what they consider the Top 10 Industry Changing Applications for computers. I might argue with a few, but it is interesting.

2 recent articles on stem cell advancements: cells developed to kill cancer cells and a company using a protein mixture to turn a patient's skin cells into stem cells for treatment.

SF Gate has a review of Spamalot, playing locally through July 5th. I want to see this.

DVR timers for the week:
Mon 5pm Greek
Mon 10pm Medium (season finale)
Thur 6pm Burn Notice (season premiere)
Sat 6pm Primeval
Sat 10pm Pushing Daisies