Mike Murphy

Children of the 1970s and 1980s coveted the lunch boxes, action figures, bedspreads and other paraphernalia that accompanied the release of each installment of Star Wars, the beloved space western series. Since then, and with the release of the less-beloved prequels in the 2000s, the merchandizing has been taken to another level—for adults as well as children—with lightsaber chopsticks, R2-D2 spice shakers, and AT-AT dog costumes.

We seem to have a bit a problem with drones. We shoot them out of the sky, ban them from flying over us, and even our eagles seem to hate them. Now professional athletes are joining in the anti-drone crusade.

Apple, which had been set to release new versions today (Sept. 16) of the operating systems that control its mobile devices, has found a bug in the code for the Apple Watch update it planned to unveil and will hold off on releasing it to the public.

Sunday (Sept. 13) was the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., one of the best-selling videogames of all time.

The computer’s domination over humanity may start at the chessboard.

In ten years time, you may well be answering a call on your implanted iPhone 43S about your blockchain tax audit as you are driven along in a self-driving car en route to the robot-run pharmacy.

There’s a new person in the driver’s seat of Google’s self-driving car project. On Sunday (Sept. 13) evening, Google announced it had hired John Krafcik, the former CEO of Hyundai US, and most recently president of car comparison websiteTrueCar, Reuters reported.

The US government said today (Sept. 11) that it’s successfully made a Luke Skywalker-like prosthetic arm that allows the wearer to actually feel things.

3D printing seems to be finding a niche in medicine. The latest feat: Two weeks ago, doctors implanted a 3D-printed titanium sternum and ribs into a patient in Spain. According to CNET, he’s doing well.

Soccer is a stubborn old sport, generally slow to adapt new rules or technology. FIFA, the sport’s governing body, only introduced a system to figure out if balls had crossed the goal line last year, whereas tennis got similar technology a decade ago. But now coaches in the English Premier League have started using drones to film their team’s training sessions, The Guardian reported.

SpaceX just showed off the interior of its new Crew Dragon ship that will transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch video released today (Sept. 10) looks like something a luxury car manufacturer might use to show off a new sedan.

Apple introduced the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus yesterday (Sept. 9)—among myriad other things—immediately making the iPhone 6 obsolete. Much like new cars, cellphones lose a large chunk of their value the second you leave the store. But if you’re planning on selling an iPhone 6 to free up some cash for the latest version, here’s some good news: The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have held their value better than the 5S did a year ago, according to data provided by Gazelle, the tech reselling site.

About nine years ago, Nintendo launched the Wii, and brought casual, arm-waving gaming into tens of millions of living rooms across the world. Today (Sept. 9), Apple announced announced a hefty update to its Apple TV set-top streaming device, and while the focus was on creating the “future of TV,” Apple spent a significant chunk of time explaining how its box can be used as a gaming machine. The Nintendo Wii hooked kids in with Mario, and Wii Sports convinced parents to join in on the fun, and it looks like Apple wants to follow in Nintendo’s footsteps to control the future of casual gaming. But how will we play games on the Apple TV?

Thousands of reporters, Apple employees, and spectators crammed into the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in downtown San Francisco today (Sept. 9) for what Apple CEO Tim Cook called a series of ”monster announcements.” Apple definitely had a lot to share, detailing updates to its watches, phones, tablets, and set-top box.

A boom in virtual reality videos is coming and action-camera maker GoPro is making sure it’ll be a part of it. GoPro announced today (Sept. 8) that its new camera rig—called Odyssey—will be available in November, for $15,000.

Glasses have a habit of not staying put. They slide down your nose, and you have to push them back, then they slide back down again—it’s an unending game of cat-and-mouse that gets even worse if you’re doing anything remotely active, like running. A new patent from Google, however, might put an end to the constant adjustments.

Computers are learning how to write sonnets, compose classical music, and now they’re mastering another high art form: painting. Researchers from the University of Tubingen in Germany recently published a paper on a new system that can interpret the styles of famous painters and turn a photograph into a digital painting in those styles.

Before Silicon Valley can disrupt the car industry, the car industry wants to join forces with Silicon Valley. Today (Sept. 4), Toyota announced it’s investing $50 million into a partnership with MIT and Stanford University to accelerate research into artificial intelligence and robotics.

It’s looking like 2015 won’t be the year we actually get Back to the Future-style hoverboards, but one of the companies working on them is now partnering with NASA to use their technology to build tractor beams (a beam of energy used to move or suspend objects, most famously on Star Wars and Star Trek).

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted Sept. 2 that the company’s next electric car, the Model 3, will start production in two years. This came soon after the newest Tesla Model S broke Consumer Reports’ rating system with the best score ever. But even with electric and hybrid cars like Tesla’s and Audi‘s constantly grabbing headlines, it seems that Americans haven’t really changed their car-buying habits. Data from the University of Michigan show that the fuel efficiency of cars purchased in the US has remained relatively flat for eight years.

Samsung has released some more information on its next generation of smartwatches, the Gear S2. Unlike most of the spate of non-Apple watches being released this week, it’s not running Android Wear. Instead, Samsung has opted to continue using Tizen, the Linux-based operating system that powers its smart TVs and some phones in India.

Televisions seem to get cheaper, bigger, and flatter every day. But according to a new report by the mobile firm Ericsson, Generation Z is not watching them.

Scientists are working on robots that can leap over objects, run through the forest, and recover from injuries, but we needn’t worry about them eventually dominating or exterminating us. What we should fear are the cellphones we carry in our pockets every day.

Hurtling through the endless void of space in a thin aluminum can as debris zips around in every direction may have just gotten a little safer. NASA and the University of Michigan have designed a new “skin” that can heal itself within seconds of being punctured.