stars

Few actors have gathered as much geek street cred as Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, with credits for "Star Trek," "The Lord of the Rings," and "X-Men" between them. Now, there's news of a crossover most of us didn't see coming: McKellen says he will officiate at Stewart's upcoming nuptials.

Let's savor this for a moment. Gandalf will be officiating Captain Picard's wedding. Magneto will be helping Professor Xavier get hitched. I know it's too much to hope they'll do it in costume, but a gal can dream. I'm imagining McKellen in a Magneto costume with a Gandalf hat and beard, while Stewart dons a "Star Trek" uniform and sits in a clear plastic wheelchair (just in case Magneto decides to act up).… Read more

Nike has awarded 10 startups $20,000 each to build applications for its Nike+ products. The giant sporting goods company is striving to turn its digital gadget success into a technical platform.

In December, Nike announced a program, in partnership with TechStars -- a startup mentoring and investment organization -- to offer money and mentoring to companies interested in creating health- and fitness-related applications that use the Nike+ technology. The idea is to seed app development for products, such as Nike+ FuelBand, to create a platform in much the same way that Apple has created a platform with iTunes and … Read more

Will it be Han Solo? Jabba the Hutt? Yoda? Chewbacca? Or possibly Luke Skywalker or Princess Leia?

Or will Darth Vader run away with the competition?

Today, Lucasfilm announced "This is Madness," its first-ever "Star Wars" NCAA basketball-style tournament, an effort to determine who is the world's favorite "Star Wars" character. Mashable was first to report the story.

There are four regions, two from the Light Side, and two from the Dark Side. StarWars.com plans on announcing the winner on April 9. There will be four rounds of voting before the winner … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--At Google, the future of search looks an awful lot like something out of one of the iconic science fiction franchises of the past.

At least that's the impression given by Google's Amit Singhal when he was interviewed on-stage by Guy Kawasaki at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin recently.

No matter how much Kawasaki prodded Singhal for insights into the inner workings of Google's algorithms, the senior vice president of search seemed far more interested in talking about his apparent obsession with the computer from "Star Trek."

"For those of you who have never watched an episode of 'Star Trek,' please go do that," Singhal implored the audience at one point.… Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--The creator of the forthcoming Leap Motion controller sees his baby as much more than just a Kinect on steroids; he sees it as a tool that will enable us to do things in the real world that so far have been restricted to the realms of imagination and science fiction.

Translation: This thing will finally transform us all into Jedis and strengthen the Force within. Well, sort of.

During an on-stage demonstration of the technology here at South By Southwest Interactive over the weekend, Leap CTO and co-founder David Holz explained how the controller can be used to amplify motions, actions, and reactions, and make some of the old Jedi telekinetics tricks possible in a virtual space -- by using our real-world limbs.… Read more

When "Star Trek" hit television screens nearly 47 years ago, little could series creator Gene Roddenberry have imagined he'd created a science fiction phenomenon still celebrated to this day. A recent exhibit of "Trek" art called Beam Me Up in downtown L.A.'s Q Pop gallery brought together 80 artists who shared their unique interpretation of Roddenberry's vision (and its various spinoffs). You can even buy some of the artwork if it's still available.

Our gallery below highlights a handful of art from the exposition, which concluded earlier this month after a multiweek run. With works ranging from a bright neon Spock to larger-than-life Picard playing a flute on top of the Enterprise, there's probably a little bit of something for everyone. … Read more

Windows 8 apps are meant to be run from the Windows 8 Start screen and in full-screen mode. You can snap them to the side of the Start screen, but they're still limited to the Start screen. If you're simultaneously using desktop programs and apps, you'll have to toggle between your desktop and Start screen to use them. This inefficient back and forth can be alleviated with the use of a program called ModernMix. ModernMix, just released by StarDock as a public beta, aims to give Windows 8 users the flexibility to run Windows 8 apps right … Read more

If you've ever watched "Entourage," you'll know how Hollywood studios like to control things.

If you've ever watched "Entourage," you'll know how funny it is when they don't.

It is appearing increasingly possible that there might be a few Hollywood weaves being torn out at the latest pronouncements about the projected new "Star Wars" movies.

The story so far: Carrie Fisher said that she would reprise her role as Princess Leia in the latest "Star Wars" adventure.

Then her rep said she was joking. … Read more

There seems to be a great disturbance in the Force.

Was Carrie Fisher pulling fandom's collective legs when she said she'd be returning to the Star Wars universe to reprise her role as Princess Leia?

In a recent interview with Palm Beach Illustrated, Fisher gave a simple "yes" when asked to confirm if she'll be putting on the buns and bikini in the next Star Wars trilogy. Fisher joked that Leia would be elderly and living in an intergalactic old folks' home but said the princess would "be just like she was before, only … Read more