Tag: technology

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Convention tip: Keeping in touch

As nice as it would be to have your convention buddies at your side 24/7, we know it doesn’t always work that way.

→ Get as many phone numbers as you can before the fact. Add them to your phone at leisure and avoid typos.

→ Practice basic phone courtesy in panels. Turn your ringer to silent or vibrate, don’t be afraid to send people directly to voicemail. Make sure your alerts and rings are unobtrusive or set to silent/vibrate. No one is going to be impressed by your ‘awesome’ ringtone if it disturbs the panel.

→ Texting is generally better than actually phoning someone. It’s much less disruptive, and that way your pals have the info when they do check their phone, instead of having to call you back to get it. (And also, some of us may be live-tweeting panels!) Diane: “It’s much much easier to get a good-enough cell signal to text than to do phone calls or email.” (Be warned that if you don’t have unlimited texting, you might go over your limit. It might be worth it to call up your provider and see if they can switch you to unlimited texting for just one month. It’s also a good time to unsubscribe any text alert subscriptions you may get from local news and such.)

→ Group messaging. If you’ll be with a large group, and most of them have smartphones, have everyone sign up for a free app called GroupMe. Eliz: “Instead of calling 10 people, you send out one text to a defined group and have them respond to the text. The app is available for most systems.” Bonus: It uses a lot less memory (at least on iOS) than Facebook Messenger.

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Celebration VI: Mobile app, donate figures, shoot troopers

Got a mobile device? Reed has posted their mobile app for the con. It’s free and available for Apple devices, Android, and Blackberry, and it downloaded well enough on my iPhone. It seems okay so far, but there’s still a lot of info to be filled in.

Spare a Jawa? Diorama Workshop is looking for action figures for this year’s Tatooine diorama. Even if dioramas aren’t for you, you can help them by sending in toys or Paypaling a donation so that all the kids can go home with a figure. Be sure to check out the past dioramas.

For charity! Well, it’s not a cage match, but you will have the chance to shoot a 501st Legion member with Nerf at the Shoot a Trooper event. They’re raising money for the Peter Mayhew Foundation

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Sorry, nerds: Tupac hologram at Coachella was not actually a hologram

A lot of George Lucas jokes have been made over a ‘hologram’ performance by dead rapper Tupac Shakur at the Coachella music festival on Sunday, but it wasn’t a hologram at all.

Coachella’s Tupac was a 2-D creation of Digital Domain Media Group, who won a visual effects Oscar for aging Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And it was projected using technology dating from the 19th Century:

The effect relies on an angled piece of glass in which a “ghostly” image is reflected. “A piece of glass can be both transparent and reflective at the same time, depending on how it’s situated relative to the audience,” said Mr. Steinmeyer, pointing out the secret.

In the Victorian version of the trick, the glass reflected an actual actor, situated out of sight in near the orchestra. On Sunday night, the image was projected on a piece of Mylar—a highly reflective, lightweight plastic—stretched on a clear frame.

A similar effect was used in 2003 to project an image of Frank Sinatra. Virtual Tupac may go on tour later this year with other (living) hip-hop stars

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In the news: Will 300 sequel make a movie star of Joel ‘Uncle Owen’ Edgerton?

Rising star. Joel Edgerton has worked steadily in Hollywood since Attack of the Clones, but a big name he isn’t – yet. He’s currently in talks for a role that could change that, Vulture reports – the lead in the sequel to 300, Battle of Artemisia. (UPDATE: Vulture is now saying Edgerton is also being offered the role of Ilya in Steven Soderbergh’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. remake. )

Edgerton starred in September’s Warrior, last month’s The Thing and will play Tom Buchanan in next year’s high-profile adaption of The Great Gatsby alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan.

Home entertainment sales up. A trade group reports that home entertainment spending has risen 5% in the third quarter – the first increase since 2008. Helping drive the rise are Blu-ray sales, up a whopping 58% from a year ago. I can think of one recent release that may have helped with that…

Science! NASA has awarded three scientists $100,000 to “study the ability to trap and move objects using laser light,” aka tractor beams. Evil overlord wannabes everywhere are plotting in joy. For inspiration, check out Gadget Review’s list of Star Wars tech that now exists.

Commercials. British electronics retailer Dixons is the latest business to borrow Darth Vader for an ad campaign. The spots will debut Saturday.

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George Lucas: Steve Jobs saw “true potential in everything he touched”

The news that Apple co-founder and technology titan Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. The news was hard to miss last night, and while I generally try to stay away from posting ‘real’ news here on Club Jade, I couldn’t let it pass without some mention.

Jobs’ connection to Star Wars is tenous at best – he bought Pixar from George Lucas for $4M in 1986. Lucas said in a statement, “The magic of Steve was that while others simply accepted the status quo, he saw the true potential in everything he touched and never compromised on that vision. He leaves behind an incredible family and a legacy that will continue to speak to people for years to come.”

I’ve been using Apple products since 1999, and much of the site you see here was produced on them in one way or another. Whether or not you’re a fan, it’s hard not to admit that the Apple Jobs created and later revived has been a driving force in technology and pop culture. Thanks, Steve.

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iOS users get first peek at Star Wars Blu-ray extras

Those of us with iPhones and iPads will the first to get a closer look at the Star Wars Blu-ray extras. The Star Wars Blu-ray: Early Access app will be up for free in the Apple Store on Wednesday. If you’re lacking an iDevice, you can always check out booth #3528 at San Diego Comic-Con. Or, well, it’ll be all over the internet by Thursday, I’m sure.

UPDATE: The app is live now, but only for iPad users. (via)