What Google Searches For You, Avoid Star Wars Spoilers… [Tech News Digest] | Dramel Notes

Take a look back over 2015, avoid The Force Awakens spoilers, bid farewell to Rdio, laugh at Donald Trump’s ignorance, and survive winter by staring at a fiery Darth Vader for five hours.

Google Searches Its 2015 Archives

Google has revealed everything we searched for during 2015, listing the biggest events from the past 12 months in its Year in Search for 2015. According to Google, events that prompted millions of searches include the terrorist attack on Paris, the Rugby World Cup, the Volkswagen emissions scandal, and the death of Cecil the Lion.

As well as exploring the big global trends, Google has charted searches made for a host of other things, all compiled into lists. From these we know that Jurassic World was the most searched-for film, Adele was the most searched-for music artist, and Pepe the Frog was the most searched-for meme. The lists are endless, as well as endlessly fascinating.

How to Avoid Star Wars Spoilers

With The Force Awakens being released this weekend around the world, and with the press having already been treated to advance screenings, the chances of seeing spoilers online is increasing exponentially. However, a Chrome extension called Force Blocker is here to save you from that distressing fate.

As its name suggests, Force Blocker blocks pages likely to include spoilers for the latest Star Wars movie. It does this by employing a “critical mass of related keywords” as well as a “handful of instant-blocking keyphrases” recently added by people who have actually seen The Force Awakens and so know what constitutes spoilers.

To be fair (mostly to us), we featured a Chrome extension designed to block Star Wars spoilers at the end of November, so this is nothing new. However, if you’re really paranoid about reading spoilers for The Force Awakens before you’ve seen the movie, installing Force Blocker as a backup wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Rdio Bids Us All a Fond Farewell

Rdio is on its last legs, having filed for bankruptcy and sold its best assets to Pandora. The music streaming service is no longer accepting new sign-ups, and is officially bidding its users goodbye with an official Farewell page on its website.

Rdio is shutting down soon. Find tools to transfer your collection, and take a look back at your time on Rdio: https://t.co/ZI0y0x7rJq

— Rdio (@Rdio) December 15, 2015

Visiting the page while logged in to your Rdio account serves up some statistics from the duration of your membership. These include the first song you played on Rdio, the album you listened to the most, and how much music you listened to in total. In other words it’s just like Spotify’s Year in Music, but for Rdio.

Rdio has also set up an export option for people looking to take their playlists, favorites, and comments to a rival service, whether that be Spotify, Apple Music, or another. Spotify isn’t taking any chances though, releasing its own import tool aimed at former Rdio users seeking a new home for their music.

Trump Doesn’t Understand the Internet

Donald Trump isn’t one to backtrack from the things he says, regardless of how many people tell him he’s wrong or simply deluding himself. And, true to form, he has doubled down on his assertion that someone needs to do something about the Internet. Whether that someone is Bill Gates or not.

The following is an exchange between Trump and Wolf Blitzer during the latest Republican debate, as transcribed by Vox:

TRUMP: “We should be using our brilliant people. Our most brilliant mind to figure a way that ISIS cannot use the internet. And then on second, we should be able to penetrate the internet and find out exactly where ISIS is and everything about ISIS. We can do that if we use our good people.”

BLITZER: “Let me follow up, Mr. Trump. So, are you open to closing parts of the internet?”

TRUMP: “I would certainly be open to closing areas where we are at war with somebody. I sure as hell don’t want to let people that want to kill us and kill our nation use our internet. Yes, sir. I am.”

How exactly does Trump suggest we stop ISIS from using the Internet? Does he think we can cut whole countries off from accessing the Web? Does he think the United States owns the Internet and can police its virtual borders? Perhaps he wants to build a war to stop foreigners accessing America’s series of tubes. We suspect the truth is that not even Trump knows what he himself is talking about.

The Darth Vader Yule Log

And finally, those of us not fortunate enough to own a big house with a roaring log fire in it now have another option to get us through the winter… We can stare at a video of Darth Vader’s corpse being burned for five straight hours. This may sound like nothing more than a funny idea, but it’s actually rather comforting.

Try turning all of the lights in your house off and playing this video on your TV, computer monitor, or laptop screen. If you’re anything like me, you’ll soon find yourself feeling all cozy and warm. Partly because of the flickering flames and cracking noise, and partly because it’s confirmation Darth Vader is definitely dead.

Your Views on Today’s Tech News

Did you personally search for the things on Google’s list? Have you successfully avoided Star Wars spoilers to this point? As an Rdio user, which service are you choosing next? Should Trump just stop talking already? How far through the Darth Vader yule log video did you get?

Let us know your thoughts on the Tech News of the day by posting to the comments section below. Because a healthy discussion is always welcome.

Image Credits: Piutus via Flickr

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The Business Cards Of Your Favorite Star Wars Characters | Dramel Notes

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: The Force Awakens comes out this week. Okay, that’s not a secret at all, as the entirety of the Internet is talking about all things Star Wars with a level of vigor we rarely see for the launch of any piece of media.

To help get you excited for the new movie in the long-running franchise, we’ve found a bunch of fun business cards that help explain what your favorite Star Wars characters have been up to since the last movies. They’ve certainly been busy!

What job would you assign to the different characters in George Lucas’ beloved universe? Hit the comments section and let us know!

Via print-print.co.uk

Click To Enlarge Any Of The Images

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12 Star Wars Mistakes You Have Never Spotted Before | Dramel Notes

Star Wars is back, and in spectacular style. But while The Force Awakens stands out on its own as the start of a new era, there are six previous Star Wars movies for fans, new and old alike, to watch on repeat ad infinitum.

Doing so means you start to see things you had missed on the first viewing, and even the second or third viewing. Crew members where they shouldn’t be, anachronistic technology, and continuity errors galore.

We have compiled the biggest and best Star Wars mistakes into one article to ensure you spot them for yourself the next time you watch these magnificent movies.

Major Malfunction

Some would say that probing a movie for mistakes is a way of ruining the whole experience of movies. Others call it a harmless amusement, and have devoted whole websites to spotting such mistakes. To some, it can be a peak behind Oz’s curtain, a glimpse into how our favorite movies are made.

The mistakes listed here are not the only ones you’ll find in the Star Wars movies… far from it. All you have to do is go to the IMDb page of any single one of the films, or search the Interwebs for “Star Wars mistakes” and you’ll find dozens of examples. However, these are some of the biggest, most noticeable errors in the films you really should have spotted but probably didn’t.

Note that this is not in any way a denigration of the franchise. The writers of MakeUseOf are as much into Star Wars as the next group of geeks. Just a cursory search of this site will bring you to articles about celebrating Star Wars Day, the impossibility of lightsabers, the Star Wars canon, and even reading Star Wars fan fiction.

However, no movie is flawless, no matter how many airbrushed “remastered special edition” versions are released to the masses. These are some of the mistakes you won’t believe you missed in the Star Wars movies… and which you will now never be able to unsee. You’re welcome!

Episode I: The Phantom Menace

The first of the prequels, and probably the worst Star Wars movie of all time.

Maybe It Transmits Midi-Chlorians?

During the invasion of the capital city of Naboo, Queen Amidala stands gazing at the enemy forces out of a window, helpless to stop them from harming her people. She is in full costume and make-up, and her ceremonial gown has glowing orange globes near the hem.

While one would think these required no more than a few batteries, apparently the costume needed some extra power, as you can see a power cord snaking around a column towards her dress at the bottom of the shot.

The Birth of C-3P0

When nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker wants to show off for his new friend Padme, he takes her to his room to show her the robot he’s been building. He tells her he’s been building what would become the series’ resident comic relief, protocol droid C-3P0 (though why such a droid would help his slave mother, who works for a mechanic, remains unsaid).

When he turns on C-3P0, he quickly remembers to put in the droid’s other eye. In the shot where he picks up the eye, he raises it to 3P0’s face with his left hand. In the next shot, he’s putting the eye in with his right hand.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Arguably a better film than the previous one, but still a long way from being good.

Padme’s Magical Wardrobe

We have all heard the jokes about Padme’s exaggerated costumes. When she was queen, the elaborate makeup and outfits could be rationalized as ceremonial garb or attempts to conceal her decoy, but even as a politician the woman wears some snazzy fashion and demonstrates apparent magic with clothes.

In the scene where she’s packing for a trip with Anakin, she is seen in one shot holding a folded pink garment. In the very next shot, and without ever once being off-camera, she has swapped it for a crumpled, dark blue garment.

Who Uses a Knife and Fork to Eat a Pear?

During their lengthy stay on Naboo, Padme and Anakin enjoy a fruit snack together. Attempting to show off, Anakin levitates Padme’s pear over to his plate, cuts it with his utensils, then levitates it back to her.

Leaving aside the fact that the CGI is so poor that a piece of the fruit disappears into Padme’s mouth before her teeth close on it, the piece which Anakin returns to her isn’t even half the size of the piece he cut two shots previously.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

The best of the prequels, but still not good enough to set up the originals.

That’s Not How Gravity Works

In the middle of the battle at the beginning of the film, the ship the heroes are on is hit and sent into freefall by the gravity of the planet it’s orbiting. The ship’s artificial gravity somehow redirects to the nose of the ship, meaning the orientation of gravity shifts ninety degrees.

However, artificial gravity is not an hourglass: If it was still active, the floor would still be the floor no matter how the ship was oriented. If it’s deactivated, everyone and everything inside the ship would be freefalling.

How to Hold a Lightsaber

During the big fight on Mustafar between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Anakin almost wins during a clash. He grabs Obi-Wan’s wrist and pushes his mentor’s own lightsaber towards his throat.

In a continuity error all the more glaring due to being in the foreground of two close-up shots, Obi-Wan not only manages to slide his hand up the hilt of the lightsaber, but in the second shot he appears to be holding a different lightsaber altogether.

Episode IV: A New Hope

The movie that kicked it all off, and changed a cinematic genre forever.

Obvious Still is Obvious

The morning after R2-D2 escapes from the Lars homestead, Luke departs to look for him before his Uncle Owen awakes. There’s an establishing shot of the homestead bathed in morning light, just before Owen calls Luke’s name.

Ordinarily you wouldn’t be able to tell that this is a still image, but there’s a blurred Luke in the far right of the screen. Either this is some kind of double exposure or Mark Hamill was in the shot when it was taken. Either way, it’s obvious that it’s a still image.

Extra Crew Member on the Falcon?

Just as the Millennium Falcon escapes Mos Eisley, there is a close-up shot of Han Solo in the cockpit. Just over his right shoulder, you can see the shoulder of a person in a light-colored, possibly green, shirt standing just outside the door, who slides out of the shot within a couple of seconds.

It’s possible that it was supposed to be Obi-Wan or Luke, both of whom are shown to be wearing light robes. But they were buckling up elsewhere on the ship seconds before, so it can’t be either one. So who is that?

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

The film most fans consider to be the best of them all. But it’s hardly flawless.

Felling Goliath

The unorthodox solution of using tow cables to bring down the massive and implacable Imperial Walkers during the Rebel’s fight to defend their Hoth base was impressive in and of itself. But Luke takes it one step further by using nothing but his lightsaber and a grenade.

We’ll overlook the fact that throwing a grenade into the undercarriage of the Walker somehow caused the cockpit to explode. Luke apparently had help toppling this giant, since you can clearly see a stick pushing up the foot of the Walker, causing it to fall over.

Han’s Vanishing Restraints

This one technically goes across two movies, but begins in Episode V. When Han is encased in carbonite in order to be delivered to Jabba the Hutt by Boba Fett, he is initially held captive with wrist restraints.

When he is about to be lowered into the carbonite chamber, they are removed, presumably because he wouldn’t have attempted escape and risked the lives of Leia and Chewbacca. He does, however, still have a restraining harness on his upper arms and back. This is not on him when he is defrosted in the next movie.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The last film in the original trilogy, when Darth Vader’s story comes to an end.

Lando’s Black Gloves

During the battle over the Sarlacc pit, poor Lando gets thrown out of the skiff used to transport the heroes. For a few tense moments, he dangles precariously over the beast’s maw and nearly tumbles in.

Some of the shots were very obviously done with Billy Dee Williams’s stunt double, and you can usually tell by looking at the hands. Lando wears black gloves in some shots, but not in others, and all of the barehanded shots are close-ups of the actor’s face.

Shoulder Swapping

Lando can’t seem to stop with the between-shot wardrobe changes. In the Rebel hanger just before the mission on and over the moon of Endor, Han and Lando have a long conversation about the Millennium Falcon.

Initially Lando’s bandolier holster is fastened from his right shoulder to his left hip. When Han walks away and then turns back, there is a shot of Lando saying, “Would you get going, you pirate?” This shot is reversed, as Lando’s holster is fastened left shoulder to right hip, and the insignia is on the other side of his chest.

What’s Your Favorite Star Wars Mistake?

As we made clear at the start of this piece these are by no means the only mistakes in the Star Wars movies. So, the floor is now yours to tell us which ones you noticed that we haven’t mentioned here? Please let us know in the comments section below!

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