.::REALITYRECALL::.

There is a rumor that Keanu Reves is in talks with Warner Bros. over the possibility of taking the role of Kaneda in the American film adaptation of the classic Manga, Akira.

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On September 1, 2009, a 19-year-old woman from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada was the victim of a random shooting. Charlotte Dawn Jolly was shot and killed on the streets of Saskatoon while she was out celebrating her birthday with friends. The suspect was 16 years old at the time, and cannot…

Canada asked the U.S. to help plan against a nuclear threat during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, plus aid in everything from mail screening to troop transportation, diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks reveal.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Researchers from Queen’s University in Ontario Canada this week unveiled a prototype of their “paperphone,” a smartphone that has a flexible e-paper display instead of an LCD/TFT touchscreen.

 Chell never looked so good.

As much as we all love Portal 2, I know that every single one of you has, at one time or another, wished in your heart of hearts that the game were a little bit more like a Logan’s Run-meets- Super Fly 1970s sci-fi action exploitation extravaganza. It's a story that's just begging for that kind of treatment.

While the folks at Valve are unlikely to grant you your greatest of wishes in playable form, one of the studio’s artists, Tristan Reidford, whipped up a completely amazing ’70s-style movie poster featuring the game’s various characters. While your immediate reaction might just be to make it your desktop background, you can actually do yourself one better and put it on your real life, non-computerized wall, as the poster will be going on sale in the Steam store in a couple of weeks.

As our own Ryan Davis histrionically pointed out over Twitter this morning, yes, there are a few spoilers floating around inside that poster. We're going to drop the main poster below If you haven't played yet, so maybe don't stare at it too hard? As for me, I know I'll be grabbing one as soon as they go on sale. 

     

As a Googler I often take my work home with me—in a good way. With two young boys at home, life is always busy, so my husband and I are always looking for ways to save time, get organized and enrich our lives in simple ways. Because the products I beta test and use in the office have become an integral part of my own family life, for Mother’s Day this weekend I’d like to share some favorite tips, including a few from other Googler parents.

Capturing and sharing memories

• Instead of keeping 500 crayon masterpieces, store digital photos of all your kids’ artwork in Picasa Web Albums
• Collect trip or party photos in one place by letting all of your paparazzi upload their snapshots to a collaborative online album
• Tag friends and family in Picasa photos so you can easily create and share personalized collages, gift CDs/DVDs or movie slideshows
• Use Picnik to edit your Picasa Web Albums photos. Use the “Create” tab to add text, stickers, frames and other effects to your photos—your kids can help, and you can email them as digital cards to distant relatives
• Safely share home videos with family by inviting them to view a private YouTube video
• Keep a running family history by encouraging relatives around the world to contribute stories and biographies in a shared Google doc or blog

Communicating and entertaining

• Video chat through Gmail for free with long-distance grandparents and friends—this is also great for connecting kids with their parents when traveling
• Entertain kids on the run with kid-friendly YouTube channels—like Sesame Street and School House Rock—Android apps or your own photos and videos on your mobile phone (kids love watching themselves!)
• Have your kids help you create a video card or a cartoon on YouTube
• Explore the world from the couch—fly around Google Earth on your mobile phone or tablet
• On camping trips, use Sky Map to explore and name constellations. You can even travel back in time to show your kids what the sky looked like on the day they were born
• Read the classics—like Anne of Green Gables, The Wind in the Willows and Grimm’s Fairy Tales—for free from Google eBooks; for older kids, many books that are required reading for school are also free. Google eBooks are accessible and readable on devices your family probably already has—like laptops or smartphones

Organizing and planning

• Plan a group trip by creating a shared Google document or site with proposed dates and activities. Navigate around traffic and find the nearest pit stop with Google Maps for mobile
• Using My Maps, get family and friends to help you collect ideas for activities in your area that are family-friendly
• Schedule family events, playdates and birthdays on a shared Google Calendar
• Track everything from infant feeding schedules, holiday gifts and thank-you notes to travel packing lists and family budgets with Google spreadsheets; look at the Template Gallery to customize yours
• Use forms in Google spreadsheets to send invitations to birthday parties and collect RSVPs (there are templates for these, too)
• Use the ingredient filter in Recipe View to find recipes that exclude ingredients your kids won’t eat—like [meatballs without onions]—or use the time filter to find easy recipes your children can help prepare like chocolate chip cookies that take under 30 minutes
• Share a shopping list on Google Docs—whomever goes to the store can easily access it from the new Google Docs app on Android

I hope these tips inspire moms (and dads) to celebrate your family this weekend. Here’s hoping you can save time and energy to focus on having fun with your kids!

Posted by Cathy Cheng, Webmaster Manager and proud mom of Kai (3 years) and Jin (10 months)

Washing your hands regularly can help you stay healthy. But could it also get you sick?

Windows: We’ve shown you how to add a second layer of encryption to Dropbox, but if you’re looking for a simpler way to secure your synced files, free app SecretSync encrypts any Dropbox files you want before sending them to the cloud. More »

Saskatchewan teachers were back in the classroom Friday following a one-day strike in support of contract demands.

ASUS: Eee Pad Transformer delays due to demand, not component shortages originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android/Chrome: No one likes texting on small, autocorrect-prone phone keyboards. Texty connects your phone to Google Chrome, letting you send and receive SMS messages right from the extension bar. More »

The House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade continues to seek answers regarding last month’s breach of the PlayStation Network’s security. The one it got yesterday from Purdue professor and security expert Dr. Gene Spafford is troubling, to say the least, if the situation he detailed actually played out as described.

Spafford told the subcommittee that, according to security mailing lists he subscribes to, “individuals who work in security and participate in the Sony network” had learned “several months ago” that PSN was hosted on servers running “very old versions of Apache software that were unpatched and had no firewall installed.”

The professor continued, “they had reported these [issues] in an open forum that was monitored by Sony employees, but had seen no response and no change or update to the software.” The timeframe for these events was “two to three months prior to the incident where the break-ins occurred,” according to Spafford.

It’s important to note that his account of the situation and information is second-hand. Still, the potential for this testimony to cause the subcommittee, headed by representative Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), to demand more answers from Sony — and, more specifically, the individuals mentioned by Spafford — does exist.

Sony could not be reached for comment.

PSN servers were ‘unpatched and had no firewall installed,’ security expert testifies originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 05 May 2011 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video store Blockbuster’s Canadian operations have been placed into receivership by an Ontario court after the chain missed payments on its debt.

Video games don’t have the greatest history of pandering to the tastes of women. That’s probably because so many game devs are frustrated nerdy dudes working out their own issues via XML. This explains why so many female game protagonists are smoking hot redheads who want to hook up with the nerdiest NPC in the game. It also explains why women in video games tend to be… busty.

Think we’re kidding? Go to your cabinet now and pick a game. Any game. Fact is, just like how every technological advance is popularized by porn, every step in the evolution of gaming is marked by the diligence of programmers with the sexual maturity of 12 year old boys, working day and night to put breasts into games whether they need to be there or not.

Sexist? Often. Sleazy? Probably. But it’s possible that the insistence on increasingly realistic breasts in games helped usher in the more adult themes we’ve come to take for granted in gaming over the decades. Or at least we’re telling ourselves that to assuage our guilt. Here are the 40 greatest boobs in video game history.

40) Samus Aran

This was the reward you got for beating 1986′s Metroid in record time. Nowadays it would be ‘Achievement unlocked: basement dweller!’

39) Eve from Leisure Suit Larry

Eve is who you got to hot tub with in 1987, when you beat Leisure Suit Larry. It’s primitive, but in the 80s people could only see in 8 bits and 4 colors.

38) Felicia (Darkstalkers version, 1994)

By the early 90s it got a lot easier to pander. Witness the birth of cosplay.

37) Morrigan (Darkstalkers version, 1994)

Yeah, there’s a reason 12 year olds packed arcades into the late 90s. Now soliciting joystick puns.

36) Sarah Morrison from Tabula Rasa

Remember what we said earlier about redheads? Here’s your proof.

35) Joanna Dark from Perfect Dark

The thing is, Joanna never does this in the game. She’s too busy breaking and entering and killing Datadyne honchos to seduce anyone.

34) Lara Croft from Tomb Raider

If video games had a ‘jiggle’ era, it was almost certainly initiated with Tomb Raider. I also blame this game for the popularity of Daisy Dukes.

33) Andariel from Diablo 2

Speaking of redheads, what is it with fantasy games and demons with human breasts? I’m pretty sure demons aren’t mammals.

32) Sonya Blade from Mortal Kombat

After Mortal Kombat, fighting game makers decided large, barely-covered breasts were the best defense in a fight. This sounds like bad advice for real life. Unless guys want to try using their nuts as a shield.

31) Mileena from Mortal Kombat

When you play Mortal Kombat, you’re going see some cleavage. It’s in the company handbook.

30) Kitana from Mortal Kombat

You’ll also see sideboob. No it doesn’t make any sense to us either.

29) Ivy Valentine from the Soulcalibur series

Soulcalibur saw Mortal Kombat’s ante and raised it considerably. Where Mortal Kombat had unrealistic scantily clad-ness, Soulcalibur had… well, gratuitous and unnecessary are words that come to mind. Note that Ivy’s weapon of choice is a whip with blades on it. And a bikini. There’s Christian subtext, I’m sure of it.

28) Taki from the Soulcalibur series

Two questions: 1) how is that outfit so form fitting?; 2) No seriously, how do you make navel-conforming cloth?

27) Seong Mi-Na from the Soulcalibur series

Judging by her outfit, Seong Mi-Na clearly went to the Miss Manners fetish academy for creepy western men.

26) Sophitia from the Soulcalibur series

Ok, now they’re just pandering. Come on guys.

25) Cassandra from the Soulcalibur series

At least her bustier straps are leather. That’s a little actual support. Because overflow is a problem and really, underwire is bad for working out. And I’m sure that’s exactly what the devs were thinkings.

24) Anna Williams from Tekken

You’d never know it but she’s the world’s oldest woman. The secret is competing in The King of Iron Fist Tournament, and pandering to desperate nerds.

23) Michelle Change from Tekken

Tekken is the king of weird fetish fuel. Michelle here is wearing a bikini and an Indian headdress. She’s at the Tekken tournament because she got lost on her way to Coachella

22) Christie Monteiro from Tekken

This is just… really blatantly pandering. No shame at all.

21) Felicia (Marvel Vs. Capcom version)

This is probably the basis of 50% of all Comic Con costumes.

20) Lulu from Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy has pioneered the existential angst + gratuitous TnA school of storytelling.

19) The Cimmerian Woman from Age of Conan

Q: Conan, what is best in life?

A: To crush your enemies. To see them driven before you. To holy crap how could anyone sword fight in that?

18) Bloodrayne

I can’t help but think Bloodrayne is looking you in the eye and saying ‘my blades are up here idiots!”

17) Rachel from Ninja Gaiden

I really wish they hadn’t let John Millius consult on the Ninja Gaiden series.

16) Lady from Devil May Cry

You think this game is about vampires, but she’s wondering what, exactly, is the matrix?

15) The Everquest Cover Elf

F2P is l33t for ‘NSFW’.

14) Kasumi from Dead or Alive

Dead or Alive (to Tekken): you see, the problem is that you haven’t really considered how little clothing is needed in life or death combat.

Tekken: What’s ‘clothing’?

13) Lei-Fang from Dead or Alive

Dead Or Alive (to Tekken): See what we mean?

Tekken: oh I see. Volleyball really is the most dangerous game.

12) Asari Dancer in Mass Effect

Apparently, in the future gentleman’s clubs still don’t feature readings of Hume.

11) Morrigan (Marvel Vs. Capcom version)

This is the other 50% of all Comic Con costumes.

10) Miranda from Mass Effect 2

I promise this is saved by context. Miranda is doing it on purpose.

09) Tifa from Final Fantasy VII

Tifa is the existential crisis version of Lara Croft. The only thing desperate devs love more than redheads is clinical depression.

08) Isabela from Dragon Age 2

Isabela is actually an exceptionally well written character. But her designer really needs to check out non augmented bodies from time to time. Because those… aren’t breasts.

07) Shura from Soulcalibur 4

It’s not difficult to be the most practically-dressed female character in a Soulcalibur game.

06) Samus Aran (Modern version)

And once again, we have a ridiculously form-fitting jumpsuit. Thing is, it isn’t even necessary. We’re more interested in unlocking the Wave Beam.

05) Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury and King of Fighters

Sometimes you can only marvel at design decisions. “How much support and protection does this offer?” “None.” “Excellent. Now could you rastafy her by 30%?”

04) Anne from Jurassic Park: Tresspasser

You’d think it wouldn’t be possible to shoehorn gratuitous breasts onto the playable character in a FPS. You’d be wrong. We can’t cure cancer but by god we’re going to put boobs into a genre that normally won’t let you see shoes. Our civilization will last forever.

03) Jade from Mortal Kombat

This is an example of the Mortal Kombat team showing restraint.

02) Yangus from Dragon Quest

You have to admit: 30+ years of boobs R&D have made spectacular manboobs possible.

01) The Brood Mother from Dragon Age: Origins

These are the greatest boobs ever put into a game ever. And no, you cannot have my brain bleach. I just drank all of it.

Smartphones on Canadian high-speed networks are not coming close to getting the speeds the networks’ advertisements say they deliver, new tests suggest.

Windows only: Google Docs is a great on-the-go and collaboration tool, but using the webapp to upload and download files is a little slow. SyncDocs keeps your Google Docs library in sync with a local folder on your computer for easy access. More »

Microsoft has launched a new Canadian-based online advertising campaign aimed at trying to convince consumers that they should once again choose a Windows PC over a Mac.

According to The Inquirer, the campaign is entitled “Do the math” and offers up a varying range of personal computers from Apple while showing…