4 OPINION EDITORIAL

The latest episode in the saga has got everyone talking about technology again

Editor’sHONOURS Letter by Dickon Ross

AS THE NEW Star Wars offering hits the We have covered most of those concepts in cinemas, its fictional technology will be the pages of E&T in recent years. But the Digital Magazine Awards 2015 making yet another return to the toy shops. hyperdrive would seem to be ruled out by the Finalist, News & Business app of the year TABBIE Awards 2015 The series has lost none of its allure, even laws of physics – or is it? Could a hyderdrive Gold Award, Best Special Section: Dickon Ross, ‘Watches’ though it’s nearly 40 years since the travel faster than light or a warp drive bend Gold Award, Best Regular Column: Vitali Vitaliev, ‘After All’ appearance of the first film, which later space to do so? It certainly hasn’t stopped Honourable mentions: Best Focus/ProÀ le Article, Nick Smith, Brian May interview became Episode 4 in a strange time warp scientists thinking about the problem and Best Website, Jonathan Wilson, E&T Online that people of my generation have never leads us to some truly mind-boggling Best Single Issue, Dickon Ross, The Turing Enigma quite got to grips with. discussions. Forget the ‘EastEnders’ special PPA Awards 2015 Science fiction films are so full of this year and curl up instead with Chris Shortlisted: Dickon Ross, Editor of the Year Business Media; Vitali Vitaliev, Columnist of the Year Business Media desirable gadgetry that sometimes the Edwards’ feature on p28. It all seems very BSME Rising Stars technology seems almost inevitable – that improbable, but is it impossible? Shortlisted: Best Art Team 2015 it’s only a matter of time before engineers Perhaps surprisingly, ‘Star Wars: The PPA Independent Publisher Awards 2014 Shortlisted: Digital Product of the Year (E&T Online); Membership somehow manage to make them. The Force Awakens’ was filmed on celluloid. Magazine of the Year; Business Magazine of the Year fictional forerunner of the touchscreen Paul Dempsey explaines why directors are BSME 2014 tablet appears in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, dusting off the canisters on page 34. Justin Pollard, Columnist of theYear – winner Shortlisted: Dickon Ross, Editor of the Year; Jane Maltby, Columnist while Star Trek’s communicators became I am just about old enough to have owned of the Year the template for the early flip-open mobile one of the original slide-out plastic For a full list go to www.eandtmagazine.com/magazine phones. Sci-fi writers and prop designers editor-in-chief Dickon Ross lightsabers with a battery-powered light managing editor Dominic Lenton [email protected] clearly have a feel for what consumers want. inside. When I was told we would get a online managing editor Jonathan Wilson [email protected] features editor, general Vitali Vitaliev [email protected] Star Wars tech however seems more diagram of how a lightsaber works for this industry features editor Aasha Bodhani [email protected] unattainable, but that doesn’t stop people feature I had to give a sigh and patiently assistant features editors Rebecca Northfield, Jade Fell technology editor Katia Moskvitch [email protected] wishing for it. A survey published this explain that the lightsaber is not a real but news reporters Tereza Pultarova, Jack Loughran month revealed what technology from the just a prop from a film. Au contraire, I was sub-editors Leanne Farnell, Lorna Sharpe chief designer John Rooney series Americans who had seen Star Wars told. I clearly underestimated the Force and designers David McCullough, Nadia Ahdout picture editor Gillian Abbott would most like to have: the power of the Star Wars fan base, because production controller Nikki Tarplett it seems such diagrams really do exist. publisher Amanda Williams [email protected] +44(0)1438 767414 Hover bike 32 per cent Rebecca Northfield tells the fascinating advertising operations executive Luke Silver [email protected] +44 (0)1438 765625 Lightsaber 31 per cent story of how the most famous prop came display advertising manager Louise Hall [email protected] Landspeeder 26 per cent about on set and how various scientists and +44(0)1438 767351 display advertising sales execs Hologram messages 24 per cent engineers suggest you could build such a Danielle Thomasson [email protected] +44(0)1438 767224 Alex Macleod [email protected] +44(0)1438 765655 23 per cent weapon for real one day. Or maybe not. Niki Lancaster [email protected] +44 (0)1438 767233 Hyperdrive 22 per cent Find us on social media over the holidays. Nidhi Shukla [email protected] +44 (0)1438 767313 display sales representative Galaxy gun 14 per cent See page 9 for details of all the options. My Dave Harvett [email protected] +44(0)121 7052120 Wrist rocket 11 per cent own Twitter handle is @dickonross. recruitment advertisement manager Andy Dingley [email protected] +44(0)1438 765558 9 per cent Happy Christmas, everyone. recruitment sales execs Emma Houlihan [email protected] +44(0)1438 767228 Mandy Mercer [email protected] +44(0)1438 765571 Clare Cardy [email protected] +44(0)1438 765518 marketing campaign manager Katie Howe [email protected] +44 (0)1438 765567 publishing director Amanda Weaver managing director Tim Hamer did you know... chief executive and secretary Nigel Fine IET publishing & information services Michael Faraday House, Six Hills Way, Stevenage, Herts SG1 2AY, FYHKIXZWFS\SJÁGIXSXEP United Kingdom +44(0)1438 313311

E&T, its iPad edition and back issues available via the IET Digital Library are provided free of charge to members of the Institution of SJ7XEV;EVWÁPQW Engineering and Technology membership and subscription enquiries +44 (0)1438 765678 The success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is seemingly already assured www.theiet.org/contactmembership non-member subscriptions before its release on 18 December, after fans crashed cinema-chain websites paper edition only (annual) around the world in a frenzy of online ticket-buying. full institutional rate £841 personal rate £108 single issue full institutional rate £70 personal rate £13 iPad edition only annual rate £108 single issue £13 Budget Box office Engineering & Technology is produced 11 times a year by IET Services Limited, a subsidiary of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), for the IET. The IET is not as a body responsible for the opinions expressed in Engineering & Technology. The Institution of Engineering and Technology is registered as a Charity in England & Wales (no 211014) and Scotland (no SC038698). © 2015: The Institution of Engineering & Technology. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission in writing of the publisher. Copying of articles is not permitted except for personal and internal use. Multiple copying of the content of this publication is always illegal.

Printed by Wyndeham Group UKISSN1750-9637 2007 Total average qualified circulation Jul 14 - Dec 14 – 138,502 The IET endeavours to ensure its magazines are printed on paper sourced from mills operating to recognised environmental standards, that all paper stocks are produced from well-managed forests and are free of elemental chlorine. This magazine can be recycled. © GRAPHIC NEWS. PICTURE: LTD. SOURCE: THE NUMBERS.COM, BLS.GOV, FORTUNE BLS.GOV, THE NUMBERS.COM, SOURCE: LUCASFILM LTD. PICTURE: © GRAPHIC NEWS.

Engineering & Technology January 2016 www.EandTmagazine.com

C2201_R21837_EditorsLetter_4.BK.indd 4 11/12/2015 14:35