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Screen Grabs: Microsoft Surface goes to work on NCIS: LA
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. Just in case its dance moves weren't enough to move buyers, Microsoft's new slate is popping up in TV shows themselves, like tonight's episode of NCIS: LA. As seen in the clip, character Eric Beale confidently flips his Windows RT-powered Surface out (and naturally, makes use of its kickstand and Touch Cover -- gotta hit all the check boxes) to figure out what's going on and even multitasks with some simulated videoconferencing. All in all it's more realistic than when the other Microsoft Surface made a cameo in CSI: Miami (also included after the break), and is probably worth the promo fee by showing a use case enabled thanks to those features -- of course, with no cell access built-in, it's not immediately clear how he got online, but this is TV. So who did it better, tablet-style: this one, the PlayBook on White Collar, Cisco's ill-fated Cius on NCIS: LA last year or the iPad in Entourage? [Thanks, Mitchell]
The Perfect Ten: MMOs in movies and television
While 1982's Tron explored what virtual life might be like inside a massive video game, it wasn't until fairly recently that real MMOs have crossed the divide between niche and mainstream to be referenced in television and films. Depending on how you see it, this mainstream acceptance of geek culture can be a thing to be either celebrated or shunned. What's for certain, however, is that we've only started to see the beginning of such mentions. In today's Perfect Ten, I cobbled together a list of the first 10 MMO references that I know of from movies and TV shows. Some might be nothing more than a background detail or a throwaway line, while others are completely centered around the advertisement, er, massively multiplayer online roleplaying game. I tried hard not to use "cheats" such as fake MMOs featured in shows like The Guild, so this list is all about real-world titles with no sugar substitutes. Ready? Insert quarter and hit player one!
Naval gazing at crime scenes: NCIS game coming in October
Only Europeans are interested in seeing the US Navy solve crimes in 3D. At least, that seems to be the assumption Ubisoft is working under, announcing an EMEA-exclusive 3DS game based on NCIS, the long-running police procedural starring Mr. Shoop from Summer School. Don't worry, American fans of the show (of which there must be many, considering that it's been on for nine seasons) -- you'll still be able to "investigate crime scenes as agents Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo, conduct forensics analyses as Abby Sciuto, perform victim autopsies as Ducky Mallard, interrogate and break suspects as special agent Gibbs, and use satellite tracking to apprehend bad guys on the run as special agent McGee." Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC versions are planned for worldwide release on October 27 (according to the press release; October 28 in the trailer). Why is the 3DS version limited to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa? That sounds like a mystery -- to the NCIS-mobile! Split up, gang, we can find the answer in this spooky old press release! ... We haven't watched much NCIS. It's like Scooby-Doo, right? Maybe it's more like the trailer, which has The Sims investigating crime scenes.%Gallery-134553%
NC State builds self-healing structural stress sensor, moves on to other alliterative projects
"Sensor, heal thyself," goes an old saying, and North Carolina State University researchers have given it a new spin. Structural stress monitors can break during, say, an earthquake or explosion: just when you most need information about a building's integrity. So the NCSU crew added a reservoir of ultraviolet-curable resin; if their sensor cracks, the resin flows into the gap, where a UV light hardens it. An infrared light, which does the actual monitoring, then has a complete circuit through which to pass, and voila: stress data flows once more, aiding decision-makers. Obviously we never tire of UV-reactive gadgetry, especially for making safer buildings, and we're doubly glad to see self-healing that doesn't involve the phrase "he's just not that into you." To see the self-repair in action, check the picture after the break, and hit the source link for more info.
Screen Grabs: Cisco Cius plays bad cop on NCIS: Los Angeles (video)
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. Cisco may be aiming for the business crowd, but if we hold to NCIS: Los Angeles' golden standard of real-world gadget application, the Cius tabletphone is going to revolutionize interrogation. "I ain't telling you nothin' copper, not noth-- oh, is that a Cisco Cius you have there?! Yeah okay, I did it." Gee, isn't technology just fabulous? Hit the break to see Nell and Eric execute the future of tablet-based criminal interrogation. [Thanks, nmrules20]
Screen Grabs: Dell Streak recruited into NCIS:LA for some undercover duty, fights evil Adamo XPS
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. Dell's product placement deal with CBS apparently doesn't stipulate whether its gadgets will be used for good or evil, as illustrated by their cameo appearances on the network's NCIS:LA crime drama. In last night's episode, lead do-gooder Special Agent Callen is seen preparing a Streak tabletphone for some audio recording action before a meeting with the baddies -- who in turn whip out an Adamo XPS (yes, it's still alive!) to seal a deal for some ultra-advanced weaponry. Yep, it's a non-stop cliché extravaganza! [Thanks, James and Tarek]
Video game tacticians could save a lot of lives
From the medium that taught us a console is just a "hard drive with games on it" comes a new episode of NCIS (not to be confused with CSI FYI or CSI NY) that highlights the significant military advantage of employing a video game tactician. But don't even think about deploying them! As the episode's summary reveals, "a government think-tank filled with child prodigies" may be the only safe refuge for the killer's next victim. You know what else could save a life? Not being so smug.[Thanks, Danny]
Screen Grabs: Instinct HD captures evidence in NCIS: Los Angeles
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. It seems that LL Cool J is still too hip to be seen rockin' the latest and greatest from Samsung, but evidently Chris O'Donnell had no qualms doing the honors. The recently loosed Instinct HD was recently spotted handling all sorts of detective word on this week's episode of NCIS: Los Angeles, with the famed HD movie mode showing itself on a number of occasions. Truth be told, though -- we get how a guy of O'Donnell's affluence could swing $250 for a new featurephone, but is the average agent seriously in the same tax bracket?[Thanks, Josh]%Gallery-74430%
Found Footage: Good grief, NCIS, do you take us for fools?
Resident NCIS geek Tim McGee (the same character who, in a past episode, managed to download a taxicab security video directly onto his iPhone) unpacks a boxful of his childhood computer gear; he proudly announces the computer you see above as his "Mac SE," when you don't need HDTV to know that it's a Mac Classic -- but if you do have an HDTV, you can clearly see "Macintosh Classic" printed on the front of the machine. McGee either can't read, or he has a delusional disorder of some kind that prevents him from properly recognizing vintage Mac gear. Later in the episode, he gets taunted for his childhood Macloverdom. It's just trouble from Jump Street on down.McGee also unloads a PowerBook Duo and a nondescript PC laptop from his magic box. You can see the entire video, including the SE/Classic flub, in the continuation of this post.
NCIS features an oddly full-featured iPhone
People on TV really are different from you and me. Already we know that with the power of bionic hearing, they can use their iPhones upside-down; now apparently they've got special iPhones with mil-spec video capabilities as well. Evidence: last week's "Designated Target" episode of CBS's NCIS. You can watch for yourself on CBS's innerTube player or purchase the episode in iTunes.Shortly after the opening credits, as the team analyzes the brutal dual murder of a Pentagon official and a cabdriver, one of the NCIS agents (Sean Murray's "Tim McGee") analyzes the video captured from the cab's onboard camera -- by plugging the camera into his iPhone with what appears to be a combination RJ-45/iPod docking cable. Lo and behold, this frankencable allows the iPhone to display the cab video in strikingly high-res black and white. Perhaps Erica has been consulting for the Pentagon?If you see further examples of such blatant iPhone abuse, by all means send them in.Thanks Heidi
