sci-fi

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's a bunch of pixels?

Superheroes and villains from some of the most beloved comic and sci-fi franchises are the focus of "Pixel Heroes" by artist Pahito.

This elaborate piece features 78 legendary characters immortalized in stylish low-resolution pixel form, arranged in no specific order. It is amusing to see some of my favorite friends and foes from X-Men, Batman, and "Star Wars" in glorious low resolution.

Pixel Heroes is available in various print sizes, ranging from a miniature 8x10-inch portrait, at $22, up to a large 21x28-inch masterpiece, conservatively priced at $45. The collection of caped crusaders and masked marauders is available on hoodies, T-shirts, framed art, stretched canvas, iPhone and iPad cases, and laptop skins (Mac and PC).… Read more

While the consumer technology industry nursed its post-CES hangovers this weekend, 600 Star Wars fans in Boston were nursing something else: Stormtrooper cake!

Attendees at this year's Arisia sci-fi convention were treated to a "life-size" 6-foot Stormtrooper cake. Of course, if the second trilogy is to be believed and they're all clones of "Once Were Warriors" actor Temuera Morrison, they'd all be 5 foot 7 inches...but anyhoo.

This Stormtrooper, in a classic Mos Eisley "Stop!" pose, was created by Oakleaf Cakes and consists of 300 pounds of frosting, cake, and … Read more

A funny thing happened when I sat down to test out Mass Effect 3's ability to shout out orders to my virtual squad mates: I resisted. Big time.

As a longtime Mass Effect fan (I'm almost embarrassed to admit I've played the previous two games enough times to see virtually all of the different endings), it was difficult not to fall back on to old habits. Despite some tweaks and additions to the game, Mass Effect 3 played similarly to its two predecessors, so the temptation was there.

But I persevered and actively avoided using buttons and pausing the game, instead barking my orders via the Xbox's Kinect peripheral, which powers the feature. After the initial awkward few minutes in which I learned the different commands on the fly, I was routinely telling my squadmates to fire singularity warp fields and throw grenades just as naturally as if I asked my co-worker to hand me an extra notepad. The result was a more satisfying experience and a stronger personal connection to the virtual characters flanking me in combat.

Gamers will get their own chance to try out the game on February 14, when EA and Bioware will release a free demo online to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, as well as the PC. The game hits stores on March 6. … Read more

Techies have more money than anyone but the bloated, floating egos on Wall Street.

Who, then, could not admire the enterprise that is melding the carnal joys of the brothel with an atmosphere that will make the most nervous nerd feel at home?

The Alien Cathouse is the name of a soon-to-be sci-fi brothel just northwest of Vegas. The way the Las Vegas Review-Journal teases it, this pulsating brainwave will offer "girls from another world."

Whether this world will be Chico or the Planet Cha-Cha-Muluumba is not yet known.

What is clear is that this is the work … Read more

Samsung's latest salvo against Apple and its attempts at barring the company from selling its line of Galaxy phones and tablets in the U.S. involved a bold trick earlier this week: saying Apple's iPad design patent should be tossed on the grounds that others have gotten there first.

The proof for that claim? Science fiction, of course.

Samsung last week cited Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey" wherein two of the astronauts watch video on two separate tablet devices while eating a meal. (See above.) In its brief, Samsung says those tablets share design similarities with the tablet depicted in a granted Apple design patent, and the patent should therefore be tossed from Apple's effort.

That very idea opens up a wealth of other gadgets to scrutiny of "what came first?" Without further ado: a handful of gadgets that could be targeted for trailing their fictional media counterparts.… Read more

Why is it that we seem to be so fascinated by past visions of how the future would look?

There are probably many reasons (some simple, some complex), but one might be that such visions cause us to experience a kind of nostalgia for the forms of our own present--as they never turned out to be.

Instead of the architectural exoticisms of Amazing Stories, we got tract homes and industrial parks. Instead of Gort, we got AVA. Instead of Robby, we got the Roomba.

Whatever the reasons, it seems we can't get enough of these past futures. In fact, … Read more

The world can never have enough guns--at least not if they embody exciting new ways to destroy people and things that look wonderful in movies. So here is a weapon that seems to be the sheer personification of gun fun.

It is being tested by the U.S. Navy, and it seems to have some pulsating technical features. It doesn't rely on an explosive charge to propel a bullet toward a bad guy. Instead, Fox News informs me, it expels bullets along parallel rails. The bullets, thanks to the cheery push of an electromagnetic current, spring out at speeds … Read more

This is a "repeat" of a deal that first appeared about a year ago.

Normally $19.99 and originally twice as much, the PC version of BioShock is on sale for just $4.99. (Today only!)

Update: Sorry, but I guess Steam decided not to honor the "through Nov. 1" language that accompanied this deal. The $4.99 price is no longer available.

There's no shipping or sales tax (except in Washington)--it's a digital download. It's also one of my all-time favorite games. BioShock is like a suspense novel come to life, … Read more

There are those who fear that aliens are bellicose beings, ready to swallow us whole and spit us out towards the moon.

Stephen Hawking appears to be in this pessimistic camp.

However, testimony offered by seven former U.S. Air Force pilots Monday makes me feel giddy with anticipation at contact with beings from afar. For it seems they might be the sort who put the fist into pacifist.

The pilots declared that they had either seen UFOs personally descend on nuclear establishments, or had received related reports from their colleagues.

According to CNN, Robert Hastings, a UFO researcher, declared: &… Read more