Good guys love Apple products
By Zhu Shenshen |
March 16, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
MISSION: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," now showing in Shanghai theaters, stars Tom Cruise and a bunch of the latest gadgets and future technologies.
It reminds me of a golden rule. The rule is widely known among IT geeks and even some film fans. It is: Bad guys use PCs and good guys use Macs.
The rule was first uncovered and spread with the Fox network's thriller television series "24" about a decade ago. It needs to be updated. Good guys use Apple products including Macs, iPhones and iPads.
In "Ghost Protocol," the fourth film in the Mission Impossible series, agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team are fully equipped with Apple's flagship products to conduct their globe-trotting adventures.
In the film, Hunt's team uses a Macbook Pro to hack servers and remote control devices like cameras. The iPad 2 was used as a monitoring screen in the Kremlin and to display pictures during a flight. Still, iPhone 4S is absolutely the star gadget in the film, used by almost all agents. At the beginning, an assassin's picture was sent to an agent by iPhone and agent Hunt's name popped up again on another iPhone screen for the next mission at the end of "Ghost Protocol."
Another example of the rule is "24," which is the story of agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and his team as they fight various terrorists. The show takes place in real time.
Bauer and his team all use Macs and iBooks, the predecessor of the Macbook series. The terrorists are using Wintel (Windows computers on Intel chips), such as Dell models.
One of Bauer's agents used a Dell in one episode and was later found to be a traitor.
Back in the first Mission Impossible film, Cruise used Powerbooks, predecessor of Macbook Pro, to fight gangs using Windows-based computers.
There was one exception in Ghost Protocol. Cruise uses a Dell handset to track a criminal's position in a sandstorm. I know Dell is a sponsor of the film, but this scene ruined it.
Forget the boring plot to stop a nuclear attack planned by a terrorist, "Ghost Protocol" is really about the high-tech gadgets and technologies.
Here are some examples.
"Spider man" gloves
Film: The gloves help Cruise climb up the surface of Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai.
Challenge: How to develop a battery with big enough capacity.
Possibility: The gloves will be available within three to five years, according to a US-based research lab.
Holographic 3D projection
Film: Cruise uses this technology to create a virtual 3D image to fool guards at the Kremlin. It also can be seen in the "Star Wars" films.
Challenge: No challenge
Possibility: Microsoft, Cisco and Apple are developing it. CNN used it once. It allowed a journalist to do on-site reporting in Chicago and appear virtually in CNN's New York studio at the same time. It is said iPhone 5 will feature the technology.
Facial recognition by eyes
Film: In the railway station, an agent spots a target with his eyes and Internet-linked databases.
Challenge: How do you integrate camera and lens functions in human eyes? It requires bionic technology.
Possibility: Facial recognition is widely used in social websites, picture software and public security bureaus now. But it's still impossible to turn our eyes into cameras.
Internet car with touch screen
Film: Cruise drives a BMW concept car in a sandstorm in Mumbai and selects the route on the windshield glass. Yes, it's a touch screen supported by Internet connections.
Challenge: Cost of the glass, which requires safety standards and touch screen capability.
Possibility: BMW has developed a concept model called i8.
It reminds me of a golden rule. The rule is widely known among IT geeks and even some film fans. It is: Bad guys use PCs and good guys use Macs.
The rule was first uncovered and spread with the Fox network's thriller television series "24" about a decade ago. It needs to be updated. Good guys use Apple products including Macs, iPhones and iPads.
In "Ghost Protocol," the fourth film in the Mission Impossible series, agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team are fully equipped with Apple's flagship products to conduct their globe-trotting adventures.
In the film, Hunt's team uses a Macbook Pro to hack servers and remote control devices like cameras. The iPad 2 was used as a monitoring screen in the Kremlin and to display pictures during a flight. Still, iPhone 4S is absolutely the star gadget in the film, used by almost all agents. At the beginning, an assassin's picture was sent to an agent by iPhone and agent Hunt's name popped up again on another iPhone screen for the next mission at the end of "Ghost Protocol."
Another example of the rule is "24," which is the story of agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and his team as they fight various terrorists. The show takes place in real time.
Bauer and his team all use Macs and iBooks, the predecessor of the Macbook series. The terrorists are using Wintel (Windows computers on Intel chips), such as Dell models.
One of Bauer's agents used a Dell in one episode and was later found to be a traitor.
Back in the first Mission Impossible film, Cruise used Powerbooks, predecessor of Macbook Pro, to fight gangs using Windows-based computers.
There was one exception in Ghost Protocol. Cruise uses a Dell handset to track a criminal's position in a sandstorm. I know Dell is a sponsor of the film, but this scene ruined it.
Forget the boring plot to stop a nuclear attack planned by a terrorist, "Ghost Protocol" is really about the high-tech gadgets and technologies.
Here are some examples.
"Spider man" gloves
Film: The gloves help Cruise climb up the surface of Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai.
Challenge: How to develop a battery with big enough capacity.
Possibility: The gloves will be available within three to five years, according to a US-based research lab.
Holographic 3D projection
Film: Cruise uses this technology to create a virtual 3D image to fool guards at the Kremlin. It also can be seen in the "Star Wars" films.
Challenge: No challenge
Possibility: Microsoft, Cisco and Apple are developing it. CNN used it once. It allowed a journalist to do on-site reporting in Chicago and appear virtually in CNN's New York studio at the same time. It is said iPhone 5 will feature the technology.
Facial recognition by eyes
Film: In the railway station, an agent spots a target with his eyes and Internet-linked databases.
Challenge: How do you integrate camera and lens functions in human eyes? It requires bionic technology.
Possibility: Facial recognition is widely used in social websites, picture software and public security bureaus now. But it's still impossible to turn our eyes into cameras.
Internet car with touch screen
Film: Cruise drives a BMW concept car in a sandstorm in Mumbai and selects the route on the windshield glass. Yes, it's a touch screen supported by Internet connections.
Challenge: Cost of the glass, which requires safety standards and touch screen capability.
Possibility: BMW has developed a concept model called i8.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
