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August 19 2011
No More ‘Jersey Shore’: New TV Tells Advertisers, Retailers, and Everybody Else What You’re Watching
Best friends!!
Modern life is about maximizing information overload. So while you watch your favorite shows on the boob-tube, chances are you’re also surfing the Interwebs, looking for that actor’s screen credits, buying the season on DVD, checking other people’s real-time reactions. Ah, but what if your TV pulled up all that stuff for you, and helpfully displayed it on your computing device of choice, a la Google Ads in your email? Wouldn’t that be…something?
Before the end of the year, just such a TV will be released by a start-up called Flingo—a TV that, should you opt in to the service, will note what you’re watching and customize what your computer shows you. Technology Review got details from some officers of the company:
“Any mobile app or Web page being used in front of your TV can ask our servers what is on right now,” says David Harrison, cofounder and CTO of Flingo. “For example, you could go to Google or IMDB and the page would already know what’s on the screen. Retailers like Amazon or Walmart might want to show you things to buy related to a show, like DVDs, or ...
November 15 2010
Science Idol! Arab Reality TV Show Puts Inventors in the Spotlight
If America’s Got Talent, then the Arab World’s Got Science–that’s if you believe the messages in reality shows, anyway. The Arab reality show Stars of Science, currently in its second season, takes young (18-30) inventors from around the Arab world and pits them against each other, American Idol style.
The show, presented by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, hopes to encourage entrepreneurship and creativity in both the contestants and the show’s viewers, Abdulla Al-Thani told AME info:
“The aim is to showcase the whole process of innovation — from inspiration, to the elaboration of a concept, its development and finally, its application,” said Dr. Abdulla Al-Thani, Vice President, Education of Qatar Foundation. “Science and technology will now be given an entertaining twist through the very popular reality TV show format, making the topic accessible to all. We hope ‘Stars of Science’ will promote the innovative spirit of young people in the Arab world.”
The competition includes weekly eliminations based on challenges involving the engineering, design, or business of the contestants’ inventions; daily shows following the contestants as they work, educating the audience about the science behind their inventions. The students have just five weeks to engineer and design their preliminary idea into a workable prototype.
For each competition, 16 inventors are picked from thousands of applicants from across the Middle East. Its format differs a bit from the typical reality show template: When one project is voted off by the judges, the contestant stays with the show, joining one of the remaining teams. AME info explains:
One of the main features of this original format is its non-eliminatory process: at the end of each prime-time episode, half of the projects remain in competition, while the candidates form teams evolving all along the contest. From 16 candidates and 16 projects at the beginning, the show ends with 2 teams of 8 students and 2 projects facing for the finale.
The final winning project gets $300,000. Last year’s winner was Bassam Jalgha with his invention of “Dozan,” an automated tuning device for stringed instruments. Some of this year’s projects: An air-conditioned vest for working in the field, designed by Maha Al Amro; a motorized walker from contestant Ahmad Al Ghazi; and heart-rate measuring swimming goggles from Hind Hobeika.
This season will wrap up with the final voting round on November 28. This year’s competition should be hot, one of the shows judges, Fourad Mrad, told The National:
“This is a lifetime opportunity and these innovators are very anxious, hoping to prove to the world that their idea is valid, is scientifically sound and can be packaged into something useful to society. As long as they work hard, stay on track and are committed to their goal, we should see an exciting competition.”
Applications to participate in the show’s third season are open until November 30.
Related content:
Discoblog: “Whale Wars” TV Show Leads to Real-Life Feud Between Activists
Discoblog: Real Reality TV: David Hasselhoff’s Very Public Intervention
Gene Expression: The decline of Survivor
Bad Astronomy: Bad TV on the Science Channel: The Apollo 11 “UFO”
DISCOVER: Peer Review: The Dark Side of Reality TV
DISCOVER: 20 Biotech Geniuses to Watch
Image: Stars of Science
August 27 2010
Sneak Peak: The Bad Astronomer Blows Things Up
What happens when you give a brainy, hyperactive astronomer his own TV show? Well first off, explosions happen.
The excitement here at Discover headquarters is palpable–only three days until we get to watch our Bad Astronomy blogger, Phil Plait, tear up the Discovery Channel with his new TV show, Bad Universe. In the inaugural episode Phil examines the threat of an asteroid impact on Earth, and gets his hands on a whole lot–seriously, a whole truckload–of explosives to model the potential disaster. But it’s not all doom and gloom; he also explains what we can do “to keep an impact from ruining our whole day,” as he says.
The show premieres this Sunday, August 29th at 10 p.m. Here’s a sneak peak:
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