George R. R. Martin, “that Game of Thrones guy” has recently been active writing on his blog. Which may not be exactly the type of writing many fans of the author were quite hoping for, but it is George R. R. Martin doing some writing nonetheless. With it has come Martin’s take on the recent Ant-Man (2015) movie, which he reviewed favourably, but he did also have the following more general point to make: “I am tired of this Marvel movie trope where the bad guy has the same powers as the hero. The Hulk fought the Abomination, who is just a bad Hulk. Spider-Man fights Venom, who is just a bad Spider-Man. Iron Man fights Ironmonger, a bad Iron Man. Yawn. I want more films where the hero and the villain have wildly different powers. That makes the action much more interesting.” Does it really improve the movie any, ...

The search for extraterrestrial life is to be dialled up several notches with Breakthrough Initiatives launching the Breakthrough Listen project. Set to span 10 years, the project will make use of the radio telescopes at both the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, USA, and the Parkes Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. Combined with help from the SETI@home project which makes use of the internet-connected computing power of participants’ devices to analyse the radio telescope data in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). The Breakthrough Listen project has been described at the biggest scientific research project yet in the search for intelligent life in the cosmos, and should cover as much as 10 times the area of sky as past projects, plus covering five times the radio spectrum, with 100 times faster processing of potential signals. It has also got a significant boost in funding with ...

As was recently reported on the Australian television channel SBS, on 7 July by The Feed, the superannuation system in Australia is apparently biased against women. Drawing upon the Australian Government Productivity Commission’s research paper for Superannuation Policy for Post-Retirement, the television show states that “there is a massive gap in super funds between men and women”. With the show citing estimates of average retirement payouts from superannuation for men were around $250,000 and for women around $150,000. Whilst The Feed tends to be a rather irreverent look at news and currents events – and is best treated and viewed as such – the suggestion that the difference in superannuation retirement payouts between males and females is because super is a “dude’s system” is utterly false. Even acknowledging and allowing for the tongue-in-cheek nature of The Feed, this line of specious reasoning that somehow the superannuation system unfairly favours males ...

Virtual reality (VR) has been a long time coming. Attempts have been made at it. Like Nintendo’s ill-fated Virtual Boy back in 1995, but as the red and black graphics demonstrated, the technology really wasn’t ready yet. Skip forward about two decades, and the distance has delivered better technology and various lateral thoughts on the VR matter. Movies have dabbled with 3D, and it has been a mixed bag. The glasses don’t exactly endear themselves to a lot of people, and the visual experience doesn’t always work. At times giving the sense of 3D films being the lovechild of a bad pop-up book and Mode 7 graphics from the 90s. Nintendo made the attempt to do away with the glasses entirely and still give the 3D experience, with its handheld 3DS. Of course the viewing area is tiny compared to the cinema screen. Others such as the Oculus Rift, have ...

Concerts and live music can be fantastic. The sense of not just listening to the music, but being there. Experiencing it. Feeling the music. Although the crowds and characters will vary with the style of music and concerts, there are bound to be the certain few which annoy. There could be more, but here are the six most annoying types of people at concerts: The Taller It’s not really this person’s fault. They were born that way. Quite simply, they’re tall. They’re also probably a male. And more to the point, not only are they tall – more specifically – they are taller than you. The Taller, somehow, also almost always manages to stand directly right in front of you. Like gravity, they’re almost always there, eclipsing the show. And somehow all you can do is futilely attempt to circle around them. The stage and band are the dark side ...

Following the USA challenging Japan to duel of giant fighting robots, the good news is: Challenge accepted, from the Japanese Suidobashi Heavy Industry. It looks like MegaBots Mark II versus Kuratas is actually going to happen. Talk about a prompt reply. Dozo. Much respect. Science fiction is fast becoming science faction. With the two robots set to duel, the Japanese have their own, cooler, twist on the upcoming robot battle though, and rightly so. Kogoro Kurata, the creator of Kuratas, notes that “building something huge and sticking guns on it” is all rather “Super American”. Further saying: “But you know, we really need… MELEE COMBAT. “If we’re gonna win this, I want to punch them to scrap and knock them down to do it.” Which as anyone versed in giant robot battles knows, guns and projectile weapons are all well and good from a distance, but the battle doesn’t truly ...

Question: How does Barnaby Joyce think Asia will see Australia if same-sex marriage is legalised? Answer: As “decadent”. It may have been difficult to believe that Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce could’ve topped his earlier comments about Johnny Depp’s dogs being “stateless” but clearly there’s a new contender. Joyce is arguably taking his cues on this matter from his fellow cabinet minister, Senator Eric Abetz whose views have included that same-sex marriage may lead to polyamory; and then there were earlier comments from Senator Cory Bernardi that same-sex marriage could lead to an acceptance of bestiality. In reference to Asian countries, Barnaby Joyce said the following regarding same-sex marriage: “When we go there, there are judgements, whether you like it or not that are made about us. “They see us as decadent.” When asked if Australia embracing gay marriage would be seen as decadent in Asia, Mr Joyce said: “I think ...

Separating technology and pop culture is often no mean feat these days, especially when it involves robots. Times that by two if it involves giant robots fighting to the death. Or the dysfunction, more correctly. In this particular case, the American MegaBots has challenged the Japanese Suidobashi Heavy Industry, to a robotic duel of epic proportions. This is not some backyard or hobbyist robot war with tiny machines, maybe packing a circular saw. Instead, this is potentially a battle of giant, humanoid mechs fighting it out. Science fiction, the future is here-style. If the challenge is accepted, which surely it will be, because it would be dishonourable for the Japanese to do otherwise, then two robots each standing around 5 metres (15 foot) tall are set to duke it out in June 2016. Again, that’s provided Suidobashi Heavy Industries accepts the thrown down gauntlet. Taunt. As MegaBots’ challenge video states: ...

Bubble Wrap without its pop may be a bit like soda pop without the fizz, sure it’s more compact, but where’s the fun? Bubble wrap and that oh-so-satisfying popping of its bubbles may be set to become a thing of the past. Keep calm. Deep breaths. Inhale, and, exhale. Inhale, and, exhale. Bubble wrap as known in its traditional form with the individually sealed blisters or bubbles of air was invented in 1957, and since 1960 and has been sold under the name of Bubble Wrap by the company Sealed Air. Although not the only company to sell bubble wrap, and variants do exist, Sealed Air is changing things up with its new protective packaging and wrapping solution. The name of the new product, rather uninspiringly, is iBubble Wrap. (Surely by now the bubble in iNames would’ve burst, but predicting that may have to wait for the benefit of hindsight.) ...

In a decidedly “whoops” moment for Google, the latest image app Google Photos which (mostly) tags images with names of the objects in the photos, mislabelled a picture of two black people as “Gorillas”. Not Google’s finest hour. With the company admitting its new image recognition technology has flaws. Image Credit: Jacky Alciné With his interests in equal rights, after seeing the image, Jacky Alciné of Brooklyn, New York, USA, tweeted: “Google Photos, y’all f****d up. My friend’s not a gorilla.” Yonatan Zunger, Chief Architect of Social at Google, responded with tweets of apologies and that there were problems with the technology. With the offending “Gorillas” tag likely caused by issues with obscured faces, skin tones and lighting. Google subsequently formally apologised. Google Photos has since removed the “gorilla” tag from its system. Microsoft got into a similar problem many years back when it labelled one of its clip art images ...