Since 1962, NASA has had dozens of launches, spacewalks, and missions into space. But if you think about it, how far have we really come in the last 50 years?

For some of us, they will have to pull our dog-eared printed copy of Jurassic Park from our cold dead hands, but as e-books continue to grow in popularity, many local writers have embraced the medium of electronic books as an easy and inexpensive way to reach the masses with their literary efforts.

For all of those Wii owners who were jealous of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 capabilities to run Hulu Plus apps for the past year: now it’s your turn.

Looks like humans won’t be the only intelligent beings in space (that we know of, so far) anymore. For the first time ever, a human astronaut was greeted by, and shook hands with, a humanoid robot. With what looks like a cross-breeding between the Rocketeer and C-3PO, Robonaut2 (aka R2) is an impressive leap forward in robot technology. After shaking hands with astronaut Daniel Burbank, R2 used his incredibly dexterous hands, signed “Hello, World” in American Sign Language.
General Motors teamed up with NASA to build a robot to help astronauts …

Just as the sun rises and sets, if you have an iDevice, it will become outdated on an annual basis. This time of year, it’s the iPad, with the third version rumored to be released sometime in March. But if you’re ok with having semi-outdated technology (which, if you are reading this, you probably aren’t) you can get some good deals on the most popular tablet on the market. With all the rumors flying around (or facts that Apple has spread as “rumors,” probably to the Wall Street Journal), the …

Would you pay even more for the latest must-have electronics if it meant better wages and working conditions for their manufacturers?

In the tech world, one of the most popular and fastest developing trends is cloud computing, and Intel is set on creating the industry standard. Essentially, cloud computing eliminates much of the stress and fatigue that our networks and infrastructure are burdened with. End users (clients, customers, etc) are able to access cloud-based applications via the Internet as if it were “business as usual,” but the real benefits are reserved for the businesses providing the data.
Humanity recently hit a huge milestone. Earth is now home to over 7 billion people. …

Phoenix is an island. And that’s not a good thing. Sure, we have palm trees and lots of dirt that could be confused with sandy beaches, but instead of being surrounded by ocean, Phoenix is surrounded by cooler temperatures. During the day, the city is hot regardless. However, the difference comes at night when the heat energy simply cannot dissipate from the city. In most studies, cities on the outskirts of Phoenix tend to be around 10 degrees cooler at night. Yes, Phoenix is a heat island, and every single one of us is stranded on it.

MADCAP Theaters will be hosting Geeks’ Night Out, Tempe’s celebration of all things science, science fiction and technology 5 to 10 p.m. Feb. 16. On tap: sci-fi trivia, video games, a ghost hunting tour and a tech job fair.
As this super-nerdy promo video says: May the Geeks be with you!

“Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace” returns to theaters with mixed emotions, an extra dimension — and some fun giveaways for fans.