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Friday Flicks: Can ‘Green Lantern’ Make Ryan Reynolds an Action Hero?

Grab some popcorn! NewsFeed’s Glen Levy brings you the movies you should check out (or avoid) this weekend. Green Lantern Tagline: In Brightest Day. In Blackest Night There’s plenty riding on Green Lantern for its star, Ryan Reynolds, and the studio behind this week’s summer blockbuster, Warner Brothers (for the record, TIME is part of

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HP ships free TouchPads to homebrew devs, may want something in return

Like an anxious admirer, HP continues to lavish gifts on the lucky devs over at WebOS Internals. This time it’s sending them pre-release TouchPads as an enticement to get busy and boost the 9.7-inch slate’s app count before it launches next month . HP recently promised that “thousands” of TouchPad apps are on their way and, in addition to attracting big names like Skype and Amazon Kindle, it’s also ensured that legacy apps continue to be supported on WebOS 3.0. With nearly 600 unofficial goodies sitting pretty at PreCentral’s homebrew app gallery, HP clearly feels it makes sense to reach out in that direction too. And who said love was just a trick? HP ships free TouchPads to homebrew devs, may want something in return originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Don’t bring your computer viruses to Japan, because they’re illegal now

Tired of getting swamped with spam and malware? Just pack your things and catch the next flight to Japan, where computer viruses are now considered illegal. Under the country’s new legislation, anyone convicted of creating or distributing viruses could face up to three years in prison, or a maximum fine of

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Acer announces Predator G5910 for the UK with up to 8TB of storage, ‘combat-machine’ design cues

Acer’s been mighty busy the past few days, trotting out laptops , desktops , a media streamer , and a multitouch monitor, to boot. But the company wasn’t ready to call it a week just yet — the outfit also announced the Predator G5910 desktop for the UK gaming crowd. As you might gather from its reddish accents and claw-like doors — a “combat-machine” aesthetic, according to Acer — this is a power tower. These bad boys pack quad-core, desktop-grade Core i5 and i7 processors, up to 16GB of memory, 10 USB 2.0 ports, a 12-in-1 memory card slot, two swappable hard drive bays, and as much as 8TB of storage spread across four SATA drives. In terms of graphics, the most specific thing Acer is saying is that it’s compatible with NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon cards, and that it’s NVIDIA 3D Vision-capable. You can also overclock this guy using Intel’s own Extreme Tuning Utility, but only if you opt for a K-series CPU. This would mean the machine has a P67 chipset — which is what retailers in other European countries are listing — and not the H67 listed in the press release. As final flourishes, Acer threw in a handle on the back, and an angled deck on top to keep your inevitable morass of cables under control. UK shoppers can find it in mid-July starting at

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Sharp Aquos Phone SHI12 visits the FCC, flaunts its 3D camera in drawings

It’s rare that we see Sharp’s Aquos phones here in the US, but one model, at least, could be making the long journey stateside. A handset dubbed the CMDA SHI12 just cleared the FCC, and after comparing the drawings in the report to shots of devices already on the market, we’re pretty sure it’s the IS12SH that Sharp announced for Japan a few weeks back. Though the report is typically terse when it comes to specs, it does confirm that the phone has an 8 megapixel 3D rear-facing camera, Bluetooth, FeliCa , GPS, and tri-band CDMA (B0 / B3 / B6) connectivity. And though it’s not in the filing, if this is indeed the IS12SH, then it also has a 4.2-inch qHD display and runs Android 2.3 (or so we’d hope, anyway). Of course, an FCC filing doesn’t mean this will ever reach a carrier or go on sale in the US, period. But in case it does, don’t say we didn’t give you a heads up. Continue reading Sharp Aquos Phone SHI12 visits the FCC, flaunts its 3D camera in drawings Sharp Aquos Phone SHI12 visits the FCC, flaunts its 3D camera in drawings originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Real Racing 2 HD wireless, dual-screen gaming with iOS 5 on iPad 2 hands-on (video)

It’s just one week after Nintendo unveiled dual-screen gaming on the Wii U at E3, but Apple’s iOS 5 beta is already bringing a very similar experience to the living room — many months before Nintendo’s latest console is expected to ship. We installed iOS 5 on an iPad 2 and Apple TV , and took the latest version of Real Racing 2 HD for a test-drive, which enables dual-screen gameplay over AirPlay without the need for Apple’s $39 AV adapter . Other games, like Angry Birds , simply mirror the iPad’s display (and aspect ratio) on your HDTV, but Real Racing streams 16:9 HD video. For this game (and we imagine many more to come), you use the iPad as the controller — both while navigating through menus and in race mode — while the game appears only on your TV (though the tablet does display some vitals, and a map of the track). There’s noticeable lag between the iPad and Apple TV when using AirPlay, which may be an issue for games where timing is important, such as Rock Band , but didn’t seem to set us back while playing Firemint’s racing game. Overall, AirPlay offered a seamless gaming experience without a single hiccup — surprising, considering iOS 5 just hit beta last week. It’s difficult to do this hands-on justice without a video demo, so jump past the break for an exclusive look at wireless, dual-screen gaming on the iPad and Apple TV. Continue reading Real Racing 2 HD wireless, dual-screen gaming with iOS 5 on iPad 2 hands-on (video) Real Racing 2 HD wireless, dual-screen gaming with iOS 5 on iPad 2 hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 11:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Strawberry Tree brings free, solar-powered charging to Belgrade’s BlackBerrys, more (video)

Dead battery in Belgrade? Head to the city’s Obrenovac district, where a group of students has developed the world’s first public charging station powered entirely by solar energy . Known as the Strawberry Tree, the structure’s 16 ports support a variety of handhelds, allowing pedestrians to juice up their cell phones in just ten to 15 minutes, at no charge. Its built-in batteries can also store up to a month’s worth of back-up energy, enabling the station to hum along at night, or even during Serbia’s less sunny seasons. In the first 40 days following its November launch, the Strawberry Tree logged some 10,000 charging sessions — or about ten charges per hour. Creator Milosˌ Milisavljevic was just 17 years old when he came up with the idea, and now, at the ripe old age of 22, is looking to plant new stations across other Serbian cities, through his Strawberry Energy NGO. He says these installations won’t generate much revenue from consumers, but that’s not really the idea: “Energy from the sun is free, and it would be unethical to charge people to use the Strawberry Tree…We are trying to inspire young people to think about the source of the energy they use, and behave and act responsibly.” You can check out the Strawberry Tree in the video below, or find out more about Milisavljevic’s ideal-driven endeavors in the full PR. Continue reading Strawberry Tree brings free, solar-powered charging to Belgrade’s BlackBerrys, more (video) Strawberry Tree brings free, solar-powered charging to Belgrade’s BlackBerrys, more (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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HP ships $50 WiFi Mobile Mouse, gives your Bluetooth radio a break

If you’ve been waiting oh-so-patiently for HP’s $49.99 WiFi Mobile Mouse to ship, take heart — the aforesaid critter is now ready to free up one more valuable USB port at your workstation . As mentioned before, this ain’t your mum’s wireless mouse, as it makes use of WiFi technology (you know, instead of the tried-and-true Bluetooth) similar to that found in Logitech’s Unifying Receiver . In other words, this bad boy doesn’t require anything other than itself to connect. HP promises up to nine months of battery life, offers five programmable buttons, a four-way tilt scroll wheel and adjustable sensitivity. Just think — you can finally choose to keep those remaining Four Loko cans chilled without resorting to an inbuilt trackpad. Reason enough to pull the trigger, yeah? Gallery: HP WiFi Mobile Mouse Continue reading HP ships $50 WiFi Mobile Mouse, gives your Bluetooth radio a break HP ships $50 WiFi Mobile Mouse, gives your Bluetooth radio a break originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Cloud Engines recalls potentially flammable Pogoplug Video

Looks like sharing videos over the cloud may be a risky task — if you’re using the box shown here on the left, that is. The Pogoplug Video hit the retail scene about two months ago , but Cloud Engines has already issued a recall after two devices nearly went up in flames. According to The Official Pogoplug Blog, the internal chip that handles video encoding can experience ” thermal runaways ” after long periods of use, which could cause the device to reach unsafe temperatures; this despite having a fan to keep things cool. The affected serial numbers include Pogo P-11 through 14, and the company asks that owners get in contact to setup a return and refund. In the meantime, it also suggests that the units be unplugged — a good idea if you want to avoid possibly burning the house down . Cloud Engines recalls potentially flammable Pogoplug Video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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Nokia Windows Phones will launch in six European nations first, Finland not among them

Nokia VP Victor Saeijs has this week disclosed the six launch markets for the vanguard devices born out of the Microsoft-Nokia partnership. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the UK will all count themselves as hosts to Nokia’s Windows Phone debut , but the company’s mother nation of Finland has strangely been left out in the cold. Knowing Nokia, there’s no doubt that once the WP7 handsets are ready they’ll find themselves swiftly available worldwide, but if you care to be among the very first to own one, you’ll be wanting to visit Europe’s western shores — preferably some time before the year’s through, as Mr. Saeijs also reaffirmed that there will indeed be a Nokia Windows Phone coming out in 2011. Nokia Windows Phones will launch in six European nations first, Finland not among them originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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