clone

'Clone Wars' premiere party goes underwater

LONG BEACH, Calif.--The Force has never been as damp as it will be when season four of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" kicks off on Cartoon Network with two undersea storylines. So it made sense that Lucasfilm swam with the fishes at the Aquarium of the Pacific for the show's big premiere party this weekend.

The show's voice cast joined costumed characters from the 501st Legion fan group for the first screenings of "Water War" and "Gungan Attack," the undersea stories kicking off season four 8 p.m. Friday, September 16. Both adventures feature Anakin Skywalker and his Clone Troopers taking on Separatist forces to save the likes of Captain (soon to be Admiral) Ackbar and his fish-like race.

The episodes were shown in a special "4D" screening room, complete with wind, water, and lightning effects to enhance the onscreen mayhem.

Those in attendance were asked to bring along a new, unwrapped Star Wars toy to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of America. Kids from local chapters of the youth-based charity were on hand to meet their favorite characters, enjoy the aquarium attractions, and take on light saber lessons from on-hand Jedi Masters and video games from a galaxy far, far away. Even the aquarium's main tank hosted "Clone Wars" props and divers doing battle with their Jedi weapons. … Read more

Crave 52: Big dreams, small clones (podcast)

Jordan's King Abdullah wants to build a $1.5 billion haven for Trekkers and artist Chris Burden creates a 30-foot-tall dream city filled with racing Matchbox cars. Also, Tokyo paves the way for creepily realistic clone dolls, Apple innovates in headphone design, and Gummi bears make your ears smell.

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Tokyo's Clone Factory thinks you're a doll

Think the world needs another you but can't cough up the $225,000 for your own android clone? Japan's Clone Factory has an alternative in the form of little doppelganger dolls that will set you back a mere $1,770.

The Jibun-san (me) dolls won't model your voice, facial expressions, and upper-body movements like Kokoro's lifelike robots do. But they might make good gifts for friends, family, and fans who can't seem to get enough of you in person.

To get a doll made, you'll need to stop by the Clone Factory office in Tokyo's Akihabara district. The staff will take high-resolution photos of your head from multiple angles and feed the resulting detailed 3D model into a 3D printer.

It, in turn, will spit out a plaster head that's painted and styled to look like you, down to teeth, makeup, and hairstyle, and put atop a body wearing clothes that reflect your style.

Clone Factory is pitching the dolls as souvenirs of special occasions, such as weddings. They stand up to 20 inches tall.

Sadly, we couldn't convince CNET to send the Crave staff to Tokyo just to get dolled up, so we had to settle for Culture Japan writer Danny Choo's firsthand account of the experience. That's him below in flesh form and doll form--and other than the plastic packaging and Stormtrooper body, it's kind of hard to tell the difference. … Read more

Another dimension

Minesweeper is right up there with solitaire as a classic time waster. But if you think you mastered Minesweeper in middle school, think again; Minefield 6D takes the popular strategy game and adds several more dimensions. Although it uses the same basic gameplay as traditional Minesweeper, it takes a while to wrap your head around it, and it will challenge you in a way that Minesweeper never has.

The game's interface is plain, looking quite similar to the original Minesweeper with a slightly different color scheme. Since we weren't sure exactly how Minefield 6D worked, we started with … Read more

The 404 860: Where we're selling Spotify invites (podcast)

Spotify has finally made its way to the U.S., successfully striking deals with all four of the major record labels to provide a unique music-streaming service, and Wilson's already a member with a premium account. If you're weren't lucky enough to get an invite to the party, we'll be selling them to the highest bidder.

In other news, Jeff's friend brings us news about a man in China who built an iPad clone from scratch, except I already have my eyes set on a Buy.com deal for an Archos 7" Android tablet for $90 shipped! If you already have the Archos, let me know if it's worth the money, or if I should wait for Amazon's tablet to launch in October.

All this plus e-mails from the public on today's podcast!

The 404 Digest for Episode 860

Spotify lands in the United States. Chinese "hacker" makes iPad clone from scratch. Amazon to launch its own tablet in October.

Episode 860 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Differences between file-level and block-level cloning

When discussing options for backing up or migrating data to new Macs, we frequently mention cloning as a way to do this. While Time Machine and similar backup schemes can create fully restorable backups of your system, the backups themselves are not bootable, so in order to use them as such you must restore them to an available hard-drive partition, which can take a number of hours to complete. Clones, on the other hand, do allow for immediate booting to the backup, and therefore are quite appealing as an option.

Cloning is when you basically make a mirror copy of … Read more

How to manage malware in OS X backups

In yesterday's article on protecting your Mac from recent malware developments in the Mac community, I mentioned briefly to exclude specific download folders from your Time Machine backups or other backup options to prevent any downloaded malware installers from being retained in a backup. In response to this article, MacFixIt reader "Harry" wrote in wondering what to do if malware or other unwanted items do get backed up to Time Machine.

Time Machine runs every hour, so if you have installed the recent malware or another unwanted item and your backup routine has run, then it is … Read more

Q&A: MacFixIt Answers

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers. This week there were questions about reconfiguration requirements after cloning OS X, how to access iPhoto library contents in the Finder, how to change font sizes in Safari, and the benefits of using a Combo updater in OS X. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: Reconfiguration requirements after cloning MacFixIt reader "Ron" asks:

I want to [upgrade … Read more

The Force is strong with 'Clone Wars' writer

Every job has its advantages and its disadvantages, but Christian Taylor's may have one of the best perks around: regular creative meetings with George Lucas.

You may not know who Taylor is, but if you've got kids who watch TV, they almost certainly know his work. He's the head writer on the "Clone Wars," the animated series that picks up the "Star Wars" universe where the movies leave off.

After previous stints writing for shows as diverse as "Lost" and "Six Feet Under," Taylor began writing three years ago … Read more