Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Banned Xbox Commercial Flash Mob Homebrew
Giant behemoth Microsoft crushed the life out of a very creative ad for its Xbox 360, sitting on it and refusing to allow it to air. Fans, however, not only spread it around on the 'net, but actually reenacted it.
(From Banned Xbox flashmob ad)
Flashmobbers at the University of Florida were so taken with the ad that more than 100 of them stunned passersby by taking up their best first person shooter stance and having at it.
For those who have been wondering for the last several paragraphs, a "flash mob" is a group of people who suddenly turn up at a particular location with the exact same agenda. The first known flash mob appeared in Macy's department store in Manhattan. More than one hundred people converged on the rug department on the ninth floor, gathering around one particular rug. When asked by sales people, every flashmobber had the same story: they lived in a warehouse, they were shopping for a Love Rug, and they always made their purchases together.
It turns out that the name "flash mob" has at least some of its roots in science fiction. In the 1973 story Flash Crowd by Larry Niven. Niven's story explored some of the social consequences of teleportation.
However, in his classic 1956 novel The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester wrote about the same phenomenon occuring when the ability to jaunte, or naturally teleport, could actually be taught to almost everyone. Cities had jaunte stages used by commuters jaunting to work in 10, 20, and 50 mile increments:
...the stage began to flicker with a sudden flurry of arrivals and departures. Figures appeared momentarily as they jaunted in, hesitated while they checked their surroundings and set new co-ordinates, and then disappeared as they jaunted off. At each disappearance there was a faint "Pop" as displaced air rushed into the space formerly occupied by a body.
(Read more about Alfred Bester's jaunte stages)
Take a look at the banned Xbox commercial and the all-volunteer flash mob recreation of the Xbox commercial. I think I found this one on digg.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/21/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Culture ")
'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
'...using a neutralizing electronic impulse.' - Edmond Hamilton, 1948.
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...' - Frank Herbert, 1964.
Musk Proposes Sites For Martian Cities
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.' - Percy Greg, 1880.
Who First Thought Of A Tin Foil Hat?
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.' - Julian Huxley, 1927.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Robotic Barber Programmed With a Number of Styles
'He found a barber shop which, he thought, would be good for an idle hour.'
Humanoid Boxing Robot KO's Opponent - It's A Knockout!
'Thirty rounds of fighting is tough work. Even for machines.'
Caterpillar Electric Mining Loader Not Yet Ready For Moon
'...the excavations were already in progress, for he saw gray slopes of rubble.'
Centipede Robots Down On The Farm
'...the walking mills of Puffy Products began to tread delicately on their centipede legs across the wheat fields of Kansas.'
Anthropic's Claude AI Creates Legal Citation From Whole Cloth
'Here is a Clerk that would work incessantly, and neither eat, sleep, want payment, or grumble.'
Students Vie For Lunar Regolith Mining Robot Prize
'About time you got here,' the astronaut said.
'They Erased My Memory' Says Ariana Grande
'...using a neutralizing electronic impulse.'
Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?'
Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'
DARPA Wants 'Large Bio-Mechanical Space Structures'
'These are your rudimentary seed packages... Some will combine in place to form more complicated structures.'
Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
'Better late than never.'
Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets
'The first revelation of the new Soviet bore-pellets.'
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
