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Next 'Star Wars' may not be ready by 2015, Lucasfilm boss says

In what may come as a shock to "Star Wars" fans already planning to line up for the next film in the storied franchise in just two years, "Episode VII" may not be ready by 2015 after all.

That bombshell was dropped deep in The Hollywood Reporter's profile of new Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy today. Much of the main part of THR's story was devoted to divulging how Kennedy had corralled "Star Trek" director J.J. Abrams to sit in the director's chair on "Episode VII," but in a … Read more

How Lucasfilm corralled J.J. Abrams to direct next 'Star Wars'

For someone who has said that "Star Wars" was "the first movie that blew my mind," you'd think that the chance to direct "Episode VII" would have been a no-brainer. But J.J. Abrams wasn't so easy to convince.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the "Lost" creator and "Star Trek" director needed some cajoling, and in the end, it was left to new Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy -- the woman handpicked by George Lucas to run his beloved empire -- to seal the deal.

Late last week, word … Read more

The 404 1,197: Where we are who we said we were (podcast)

Jeff hasn't finished complaining about last year's Retina Display iPad yet and Apple went ahead and announced a new 128-gigabyte model for $799. But wait, haven't we been getting beaten in the head with Apple's cloudcentric messaging for the last two years? Why the push for local storage all of a sudden?

In pop culture news, we'll spend some of the first half talking about mistaken identities through the Internet and the "Catfish" show on MTV that just wrapped up its first season.

Some critics accused the episodes of being staged (like the film it was based on), but a casting application for Season 2 at least proves that the stories are staged at most, not entirely made up.… Read more

Student builds R2-D2 powered by Raspberry Pi

Count computer science Ph.D. candidate Lingxiang Xiang as the latest tinkerer to tap the potential of the cheap Raspberry Pi computer.

The enterprising student fixed a broken R2-D2 toy replica using a Raspberry Pi computer and other off-the-shelf electronics bought online. The toy was meant to be a birthday gift for his girlfriend.

The end result: a robot with face recognition; motion and distance detection (to avoid bumping into obstacles); and the ability to understand voice commands in both English and Chinese.

Like the movie version, the R2-D2 can also record and play back audio messages, though obviously holographic messages aren't in its repertoire. … Read more

Forget Episode VII, watch 'JJ Abrams Star Wars -- The Musical'

Are you a late-model "Star Trek" fan with issues about your guy J.J. Abrams jumping ship in order to direct the next "Star Wars" film? Or maybe a "Star Wars" devotee filled with dread at having your favorite franchise be under the control of someone who's directed two "Star Trek" films?

If so, there's a musical for you. "JJ Abrams Star Wars -- The Musical," to be precise.

Picture Darth Vader and Abrams singing at each other on a pier. Picture Vader shaming Abrams -- well, a … Read more

With new 'Star Wars' on tap, Lucasfilm bails on Episodes II and III in 3D

With the creative team for "Star Wars Episode VII" now in place, Lucasfilm and Disney appear to be using the forward movement on that project as an excuse to shelve plans to release 3D versions of Episodes II and III.

In a news post today on StarWars.com, Lucasfilm announced the abandoning of the release of the 3D versions of the two prequel films.

"Lucasfilm has decided to postpone this fall's scheduled release of 'Star Wars' Episodes II and III in 3D," it wrote today. "Given the recent development that we are moving forward … Read more

T-Mobile now supports StarStar Me, calls out Google Voice

It must be tough for carriers to make an extra dime these days with upstart apps offering customers for free what network operators want to charge for. With today's announcement that T-Mobile now supports the StarStar Me app, it's clear that TMO feels the heat. … Read more

Disney confirms J.J. Abrams to direct next 'Star Wars'

Disney and Lucasfilm confirmed this evening that "Star Trek" director J.J. Abrams will direct the next 'Star Wars' film, expected to be released in 2015.

The news is not unexpected. Yesterday, word leaked out that Abrams was the likely choice, setting off a flurry of discussion online about the same director being in charge of both the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" franchises at the same time. But tonight, the news was officially announced.

After a bevy of emails and phone calls, the formalities have been wrapped up, and at long last everyone … Read more

10 funny tweets about J.J. Abrams directing 'Star Wars'

Take a deep breath, perhaps even a Darth Vader-size breath. Reports indicate that Disney chose "Star Trek" director J.J. Abrams to direct the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode VII" sci-fi epic due in 2015. Have a laugh at a few of the amusing tweets about the rumored news, which caused a level of excitement perhaps equivalent to the noise inside Obi-Wan's head after the destruction of Alderaan.

One Twitter user quipped about how ol' J.J. seems to have his hand in everything star-related.

Might as well give J.J. Abrams Dancing with the Stars, … Read more

J.J. Abrams: One director to rule them all?

Since 1977, there's been "Star Trek" and there's been "Star Wars" and never the twain shall meet.

It's not that fans of one franchise couldn't be fans of the other. But for the most part, if you were involved in the production of one, you weren't involved in the other. But now, with word out of Hollywood that "Star Trek" and "Star Trek Into Darkness" director J.J. Abrams may helm the forthcoming "Star Wars Episode VII," we may have an unprecedented mixing of the … Read more