This article has a collection of the best science fiction (SF) movies ever. I survey the exciting range of possibilities in imaginative technology, computers, futuristic visions, underlying science/modernism, and other speculative ideas. It also includes a list of the top 100 SF films of all time as rated by film critics and users.

First I comment on some of the best science fiction movies by decade. I increase the font size of movie titles I find artistically appealing, supportive of future science or technology, semi-pure to SF, timeless in their visions, or dense with gems of SF ideas. Some of the movies that don’t quite fit into this emphasis go in the honorable mention section or may be found in the Top 100 list.

Next is a list of the top 100 greatest science fiction movies of all time. In most cases the films portray compelling speculative ideas or “what if” thought experiments, but they must at least get typically classified in the Sci-Fi/fantasy (SF/F) genre (and not for fantasy). The ranking is calculated from online critic and user ratings (see notes for the explicit calculation and grade details). The movie ratings and grades throughout the page are also calculated by these critic/user ratings.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing an ambitious 10-year plan that will reimagine the nation’s media and technology priorities by establishing high-speed Internet as the country’s dominant communication network.

The plan, which will be submitted to Congress on Tuesday, is likely to generate debate in Washington and a lobbying battle among the telecommunication giants, which over time may face new competition for customers. Already, the broadcast television industry is resisting a proposal to give back spectrum the government wants to use for future mobile service.

In the meantime, the FCC is instituting a service to help gather statistics on broadband coverage and usage. The Times article notes:

In a move that could affect policy decisions years from now, the F.C.C. will begin assessing the speeds and costs of consumer broadband service. Until then, consumers can take matters into their own hands with a new suite of online and mobile phone applications released by the F.C.C. that will allow them to test the speed of their home Internet and see if they’re paying for data speeds as advertised.

PC World describes the new FCC service for measuring and reporting your own broadband speed:

The Federal Communications Commission recently launched a free broadband speed test you can use to check the speed of your Internet connection. The test will reveal how fast your connection lets you upload and download data, as well as other provide information about high-speed Internet service. You can then compare your FCC test results with the speeds promised by your Internet service provider (ISP).

You can find the test on the homepage of broadband.gov, but before you use it there are a few things you should know about the broadband test. This isn’t just a free public service; the FCC will store your test data and could use some of your information to form its national broadband strategy.

The new FCC site is here.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

More objects are becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate. The resulting information networks promise to create new business models, improve business processes, and reduce costs and risks.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

HP has released a few teaser details of its upcoming iPad, um, I mean Slate device. While the company is betting the farm on Adobe Flash and AIR support being enough to give it the edge over the iPad, I can already see the device’s biggest weakness – Windows 7. Or more specifically, the problems of taking a cursor-based desktop OS user interface (UI) and expecting the Windows paradigms, complete with little icons, small click areas, scrollbars and so on, to work well without a mouse.

Another look at how touch works as an interface for PCs is from David Pogue at the New York Times. He tries out some touch screen systems and concludes:

Multitouch regular PCs, however, are a long way away from being usable or pleasant. Until the consistency and design problems go away, multitouch will only complement, not replace, the mouse.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

Over the past quarter century, Windows has evolved many times, and it will change again in light of Microsoft’s investments in cloud services, mobile platforms, and other new technologies. And as the way people compute and communicate morphs faster than ever, the challenges ahead for Windows are huge.

With that in mind, Technologizer asked some of the industry’s big brains about what Microsoft needs to do to keep its operating system relevant in the years to come. Their advice ranges from merely simplifying the interface to borrowing ideas from other Microsoft products such as the Xbox to giving the OS a complete reboot. Here’s what they (and we) have to say.

I recommend that you take the time to read what these experts have to say.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

• PC World
  “Gartner reported that mobile PCs accounted for 55 per cent of all shipments in 2009 and it predicted that by 2012 they will account for nearly 70 per cent of shipments.”
• Matt Asay at CNET
  “Microsoft’s desktop future may look like a phone.”
• Wall Street Journal
  “Quarter of Americans Get News on Cellphones.”
• InformationWeek
  “Social Network Use By Smartphones Jumps.”
• InternetNews
  “Over 150 Million Smartbooks by 2015.”
• Siliconrepublic
  “In three years desktops will be irrelevant – Google sales chief”
• Technologizer
  “How Long Do You Give the Desktop?”

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

• What Makes a Smartphone Smart?
  ExtremeTech explains what hardware components go into creating smartphone performance.
• How smartphones are bogging down some wireless carriers
  The phones may be smart but the wireless infrastructure can’t keep up. Ars Technica tells the story.
• Smartphones to Change Our Travel Habits
  PC World relates how all the information and augmented reality that a smartphone can provide while we are traveling will completely change our experience.
• Users Are ‘Always On’ But At What Cost?
  Internetnews reports, “New study by Osterman Research finds that ubiquitous mobile devices and access to e-mail and texting is putting users in awkward—and occasionally dangerous—situations.”
• New Security Threat Against Smart Phone Users, Researchers Show
  Science News reports on security risks for smartphones.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to Sol Libes for pointing the clip out.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.

Household PC owners of the time were enthusiasts and hobbyists and owned PCs because they loved to tinker with them. Many had technical backgrounds. They understood a great deal about how the PC worked and enjoyed learning about computers and computing. A typical PC was expensive and relatively few households had one. Most of these were in North American or western Europe.

Then came the revolution—the Web. Almost as important was the ever cheaper and more powerful hardware as well as the availability of broadband connections. The number of PCs grew exponentially; they became interconnected; they spread all over the world. And a complete shift in the type of person using PCs happened. No longer the exclusive purview of enterprises with IT staffs or technically oriented and affluent home users, the PC became a common household item. But the PC did not get simpler and easier to use to accommodate all these untrained newcomers. What other common household item requires so much maintenance, has so many ways to go wrong, has so many configurations, and so often baffles its users? What other complex device is sold to untrained buyers with no manual and no instructions?

And there is the security problem. PC security became a nightmare because the technology was never designed to cope with everybody being connected to everybody else. The Internet has provided access for criminal activity on an unprecedented scale. Large numbers of uninformed or naive individuals are exposed to sophisticated criminal gangs from all over the world. Computer security requires a proficiency and awareness that is missing in hundreds of millions of users. These users are not adept at applying the security measures that PCs require.

The present-day PC is mismatched with both the average user’s skills and with their interests. In view of this discordance, what path is personal computing going to take? Can the roadblock of the Windows hegemony be overcome? There are stirrings that suggest a possible shift in what is considered to be the best personal computing device. Actually, the name “personal computer” is almost archaic. What people do more than anything is communicate and surf the Internet. And they do this while on the go. A PC tied to a desktop is fine in the enterprise environment but is less and less interesting to the consumer.

Because of the development of smartphones and other mobile devices, there is growing recognition that the desktop metaphor doesn’t work anymore. For example, Rob Enderle writes at TechNewsWorld :

I think it means the PC experiment has run its course. It did have a number of advantages in terms of dropping price and initially getting technology to the masses, but the standards process slowed it substantially, and innovation often became more of a joke then reality.

I’ll be pursuing this subject in a future post.

©2010 The PC Informant. All Rights Reserved.