Weekend Reading: Gadget Show Live Christmas, Real-Life Transformers And Portal On A Calculator
Let's be honest, it's a Sunday and everyone is feeling one of two conditions: hungover or extremely lazy. Since I'm feeling both of these, I shall be brief. The last thing you want to do is go on a content discovery mission through our vast back catalogue of original news, reviews, interviews and features. So, with this in mind, welcome to 'Weekend Reading.'
This is a selection of pieces on New Rising Media from the week gone by, compiled by the Editor-in-chief (the hungover man, me), which you may have missed, or fancy reading again.
Gadget Show Live Christmas
We went in with a plan, and left with a plethora of coverage, which we continue to add to on a daily basis. Gadget Show Live @ Christmas was an amazing weekend long expo for the tech-faithful, and our staff had a look at loads of innovations. From the Microsoft Surface to UK-based Gemini Devices tablets, the Makerbot Replicator to the Rotolight, and everything in between.
Everyone's collective tastes in tech are satisfied in what has been our most successful expo as a team. Thank you to all the people we talked to, the PR agents who put up with our relentless emails, and to my fellow staffers, Richard Birkett and Joe Burt, for everything. We created a video playlist for your delectation, in which we have much more to add over next week. It makes for a good Christmas present guide...except for the £23,000 LG television!
Zoe Redfern had the pleasure of attending a conference for females studying IT and computing: a career path which has fallen to the wayside of gender equality. What advice can Dr. Sue Black, blogger and advocate for women in the computing industry, give for aspiring students looking to enter this area? What do companies like Microsoft, Bloomberg, Cisco, Logica, Deliotte, IBM, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Sky want from a graduate? All questions any student could have about entering the working world of IT are answered in this insightful feature.
Brave Robotics Create Real-Life Transformer
Skynet is closer than we thought, as Japanese developer 'Brave Robotics' have built a 3D-printed car-to-bipedal Transformer robot. Equipped with working headlights and armed with a foam dart gun (machine gun coming soon), this represents 10 years of hard work.
Take a look at a video of it functioning, and Richard's report into what could be the end of mankind. Let's just hope it doesn't choose allegiance with the Decepticons!
Portal Ported To Graphing Calculators
Out of all the devices I expected to play portal on, a TI-83 Graphing Calculator wasn't one of them. Reddit user BuilderBoy2005 has created 'Portal Prelude,' an amazingly detailed adaptation of Valve's blockbuster for the calculator. Great side-scrolling action!
NASA Announces Multi-Year Mars Program. New Rover Mission In 2020
After NASA's underwhelming discovery on Mars, which would've seemed amazing if they didn't tease it so much, they announced future plans for the red planet, for the rest of the decade. These include further analysis of the atmosphere & ground, and a second Rover to be launched in 2020. They also talked about this in a press conference, which you can take a look at in our report.
Petition To Build The Death Star By 2016, Plans To Construct Full-Size Millennium Falcon Unearthed
Anyone who ever wanted to experience the Star Wars IRL, your dreams maybe answered. An online petition on the White House 'we the people' platform has been launched, urging the U.S. government to “secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.”
Beyond this, Star Wars enthusiast Christ Lee intends to begin construction on a full-sized Millennium Falcon on an 88-acre plot of land in Tennessee, making up for the selling of Lucasfilm to Disney in quite an amazing way!
Trailer Released For Star Trek Into Darkness
*Insert Inception Sound here.* The teaser trailer for the next Star Trek film is here, and from the looks of it they've got the checklist covered. A threatened home planet, Khan (if nobody shouts that name with forced contrition, I'll be unimpressed), and the standard adaptation of 'Christopher Nolan' tactics. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are reprising their roles as Kirk and Spock, with Karl Urban as Bones, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, and Simon Pegg as Scotty.
Have a watch, let us know your thoughts.
'Pokémon 3D' Remakes Gold/Silver As First-Person RPG
More dreams answered, this time for Pokemon fans. Fan 'Nilllzz' has built a 3D adaptation of Pokemon Gold/Silver, and it looks weird in a rather beautiful way. The same universe you've gotten so used to in a top-down perspective, introduced to you in the first person. It's an amazing feat, and one that has been long overdue from Nintendo (Hint Hint).
Jason England
