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Top 10 Things Hollywood Thinks Computers Can Do

An anonymous reader writes "From blowing up your keyboards to developing a malignant sentience, Expert Reviews rounds up the things that movie makers believe computers can do, even though they use the same technology every day to write scripts." I like the summary of how you crack a password in movies. I hate that this page splits into multiple pages. Very lame.

23 of 874 comments (clear)

  1. ENHANCE by coniferous · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wish i could just yell "ENHANCE" at a photo on my computer to make it magically uncover detail that was never originally there. That would be awesome.

    1. Re:ENHANCE by MrBippers · · Score: 5, Funny

      I say "enhance" out loud whenever I click the zoom button on google maps.

    2. Re:ENHANCE by Pojut · · Score: 5, Funny

      The best example of this was in Red Dwarf: Return to Earth. They zoomed in on a business card, then zoomed back out. Found a reflection behind the people in the picture, enhanced the reflection, then found a water droplet on a telephone pole, enhanced the reflection from that, and THEN they used a window seen in the reflection on the water droplet to see the back of the card. Then, they flipped the image...all so they could read the address on the back of the card.

      It was fsking epic.

    3. Re:ENHANCE by wastedlife · · Score: 5, Funny

      Thanks, I would have thought the sci-fi comedy show, Red Dwarf, was seriously suggesting this was possible. I can now sleep soundly thanks to your enlightening post.

      --
      Said, "It's just like dice but it's got more sides And it tells me who lives and who dies"
    4. Re:ENHANCE by StripedCow · · Score: 4, Funny

      That is nothing. Much cooler would be if they found a reflection on a planet approximately 1005 lightyears away from earth, and recorded the birth of Jesus Christ...

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
  2. Worst ever use of computer lingo in film by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    1. Re:Worst ever use of computer lingo in film by teh31337one · · Score: 5, Funny

      Site with the article is down =/

      This is Numb3rs' description of how IRC works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2rGTXHvPCQ

  3. FTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In Star Trek, Kirk need only ask an alien computer to "Explain. The. Human emotion. Known. As.....Love", for it to go into a bizarre loop where its logical systems can't computer and it explodes.

    I hate it when my machine can't computer.

  4. Hollywood is partially right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't perform my daily sysadmin duties unless I'm getting fellatio from a chick under my desk at the same time as having a loaded gun pointed at my head while someone counts down from an arbitrary number.

    1. Re:Hollywood is partially right by rickb928 · · Score: 4, Funny

      You had me at 'fellatio'.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
  5. Re:then don't reward them? by OnlyJedi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Considering that one of the things it seems the article's computer *can't* do is handle a slashdotting without crashing and going up in flames, I would hardly consider linking to them being a reward.

  6. Computers? Big Deal... by RobotRunAmok · · Score: 5, Funny

    When John Wayne fired a gun, at least two Indians dropped instantly. *At least* two. You can keep those computers, I want to better understand the technology behind The Duke's bullets...

  7. Re:then don't reward them? by Skater · · Score: 4, Funny

    Considering that one of the things it seems the article's computer *can't* do is handle a slashdotting without crashing and going up in flames, I would hardly consider linking to them being a reward.

    I love that someone used that "going up in flames after being Slashdotted" cliche on an article about things computers don't actually do.

  8. Re:Slashdotted already :( by OzPeter · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone got a mirror?

    Believe me .. in this case the slashdotting is a benefit and not a drawback

    --
    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  9. Re:Mistaking dramatic license for technical error. by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It let the other guy step in and say 'I see where you're going, but let me stop you there...'. It opened up opportunities for dramatic timing and deliberate use of backspacing for comedic effect.

    Kanye?

  10. Re:Obligatory by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you watch all the scenes they cut from the movie, you learn how he was able to do this.

    The aliens used a linksys router and left the login info as admin/admin.

    --
    "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
  11. Re:My personal favorite by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I also love it when terrorists are kind enough to color-code their wires to a standard and go to the trouble of attaching a big red countdown clock on their bombs. Very sportsmanlike of them.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  12. Re:My personal favorite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Matrix Reloaded

    InvalidArgumentException: movieTitle does not exist. "Matrix" collection only contains one item.

  13. Re:My personal favorite by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    He's married to Sarah Jessica Parker. That means at least his soul is dead.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  14. The password thing by russotto · · Score: 5, Funny

    Easily guessable passwords are real, as tons of other slashdot stories remind us. Of course, they often can't be quite that simple, because of password security rules. But that could lead to a new Hollywood password cracking scheme:

    Geek Hero: Try "password"
    Hot Girl at Keyboard: That'll never work, they've got strict password rules at EvilTech
    GH: What are they?
    HG: Has to be at least 8 characters including upper and lower case, at least one but not more than two numbers, and exactly one special character. Can't contain a dictionary word or abbreviation in any of 87 languages, including !Kung and Klingon, nor can the numbers be a day of the month or of special significance nor...
    GH: Stop right there, there's only one password which matches those rules... try this...
    HG: We're In!

  15. Re:My personal favorite by delinear · · Score: 4, Funny

    I also love it when terrorists are kind enough to color-code their wires to a standard and go to the trouble of attaching a big red countdown clock on their bombs. Very sportsmanlike of them.

    It's understandable. It only takes one or two terrorists to sync the internal timer with the clock in their workshop without realising their watch is slightly slow and (assuming they escape relatively unscathed) you've suddenly got a safety-feature evangelist.

  16. Re:Very lame indeed. by metamechanical · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm pretty sure that was Nacho Libre

    --
    If I had a nickel for every time I had a nickel, I'd be richcursive!
  17. Re:Yet another rant on hollywood computers, huh? by da_matta · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine the scene:
    Our heroine has snuck into the villains office and starts to hack into the computer to find evidence of the crime. After a some furious minutes of password guessing and file browsing, she finds the incriminating file! Then, just as she prints the file, there is an error of print failure. Our hero starts a browser and starts to google for an updated driver. After a few misses, she finds one in the manufacturers Taiwanese website. But after installing the driver, the error still persists. She returns to Google and starts looking for other people with similar issues. After 20 minutes of searching she finds an obscure tip in the forums to disable PCL-emulation in the registry. After changing the setting she reboots the computer and we nervously wait for another 10 minutes for the login to complete and document to reopen.. It works! The document prints! Our heroin snatches the print and slips out of the side door just before the villain re-enters
    Now that's entertainment!