io9 
Enter your username and password.
San Francisco, 1:02 AM
Thu Dec 31
26 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip your editors:
Editor-in-Chief:
Annalee Newitz |
News Editor:
Charlie Jane Anders |
Associate Editor:
Meredith Woerner |
Assistant Editor:
Lauren Davis |
Weekend Editor:
Graeme McMillan |
Contributors:
Joshua Glenn
Stephen Goldmeier |
Ed Grabianowski |
Austin Grossman
Paul Hogan |
Lauren Davis |
Chris Hsiang |
Lynn Peril |
Ann VanderMeer
Alasdair Wilkins |
Graphic Designer:
Stephanie Fox |
Interns:
Tim Barribeau |
Julia Carusillo |
Alex Eichler |
Cyriaque Lamar |
Caitlin Petrakovitz |
Mary Ratliff |
Josh Snyder |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
The Good And The Bad Of Recent Sci Fi Product Placement
Product Placement (And Microsoft) Are Alive And Well In 2050
Okay, so Bollywood's Love Story 2050 wasn't the masterpiece we were hoping for. At least it gave us a few sublimely silly moments, like this futuristic video game fight. That's something.The History Of Product Placement In Science Fiction
Science fiction is all about showing us new and startling worlds — and it doesn't hurt to sell a few widgets along the way. Like Eureka, which recently proved that you can save the world using Degree antiperspirant. Or the Sarah Connor Chronicles, which showed on Monday that a certain brand of car is the official vehicle of the anti-robot resistance. Product placement has been a part of science fiction for decades, but it's grown as the genre has become big business. Here's our history of the phenomenon since the beginning. More »12 Ways To Prepare For The Next Great Depression
Consumer Scandals Of The Future: A Chronology
When The Economy Booms, Dystopias Rule
Economists agree the U.S. is sliding into recession, and that can only mean one thing — fewer movies about oppressive systems that crush the souls of ordinary people. We charted the number of dystopian movies in the U.S. for each of the last 30 years, against economic downturns, and found that dystopian movies are counter-cyclical. That is, dystopian films do best when the economy is booming, and a fall in the number of dystopian movies may predict a recession. Click through more details, including a bigger version of the chart and a list of dystopian movies by year. More »Brain Scans Reveal That Inflation Gets You Hot