Blasters ablaze, ‘Rogue One’ dominates in opening weekend

LOS ANGELES, United States — The latest blockbuster episode in the “Star Wars” anthology dominated weekend box offices in North America, humbling another popular Disney film, “Moana,” according to industry estimates.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” raked in $155 million for the three-day weekend, Exhibitor Relations said. It has brought in $290 million globally, and has yet to open in the vast Chinese market.

The North American figure was less than last year’s $248 million weekend opening of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” but still ranked the new film as 12th among all-time openings and third-best this year, according to Forbes.

“The movie lived up to expectations,” said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst with comScore. Based on the success of these latest two films, “The next film in the Star Wars saga has the potential to claim the title as the biggest movie of all time,” he said.

“Rogue One” blew away the $11.7 million weekend take of second-place film “Moana,” the computer-animated musical fantasy about a brave Polynesian teenager, which had ruled the box office for three straight weekends and has grossed $161.8 million to date.

Produced by Lucasfilm and directed by Gareth Edwards, “Rogue One” stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna and Forest Whitaker. The first stand-alone chapter in the Star Wars epic — it is set shortly before the events of the original 1977 film — it tells the story of Rebel Alliance fighters trying to steal plans for the Empire’s feared Death Star.

Placing third in weekend box offices was “Office Christmas Party,” a Paramount comedy starring Jennifer Aniston, which took in $8.4 million.

Fourth was the Warner Bros. film “Collateral Beauty,” which notched $7 million in its opening weekend. With an ensemble cast including Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren, it tells the story of a man trying to cope with his daughter’s death.

In fifth place was the Harry Potter spin-off “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” which chalked up $5 million, for a total so far of $207.6 million. Based on a 2001 book by J.K. Rowling, the Warner Bros. film stars Eddie Redmayne as a wizard in 1920s New York.

Rounding out the top 10 films were:

“Manchester by the Sea” ($4.2 million)

“La La Land” ($4 million)

“Arrival” ($2.8 million)

“Doctor Strange” ($2 million)

“Nocturnal Animals” ($1.4 million)

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Acer unveils 2 mind-blowing laptops at IFA 2016 in Berlin

Mobile computing has never been more proliferate than it is today. With high-powered smartphones and ultra-thin laptops saturating the market, it’s hard to imagine how it can go up to higher levels. But Acer has done just that with its slimmest and most powerful laptops to date.

Acer Swift 7

First off is the thinnest laptop that Acer has ever released and quite possibly the thinnest in the world so far. Measuring a mere 9.98 mm thick, the Swift 7 borders on the specifications of tablet devices. More than just an eye candy, the device comes decked with features such as a 7th Generation Intel processor, USB 3.1 Type-C ports, a solid state drive and a fingerprint scanner. On paper, it is rated for a 9-hour battery life. It also has 2×2 802.11ac MU-MIMO wireless connectivity that ensures a strong and stable signal.

Its price starts at $999 and it will be available in North America in October.

Acer Predator 21 X
On the other end of the spectrum is a laptop that shows no shame in being on the thick side. Designed for absolute performance and the best gaming experience on a mobile device is the Predator 21 X. It is also the first laptop in the world to have a curved screen with Tobii eye-tracking technology.

The internal workings of the Predator 21 X include a 7th Generation Intel Core processor, two NVIDIA GTX 1080 GPUs in SLI, and ultra-thin AeroBlade metal fans for cooling. It also has a mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX switches.

No price and date of availability have been revealed yet.

Acer also introduced a collection of other laptops in the world’s leading trade show for consumer electronics under the Swift product line with varying price tags to cater to different markets.  Alfred Bayle

source: technology.inquirer.net

Ford recalls 1.39M vehicles in North America

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it is recalling 1.39 million SUVs and sedans in North America, most for the possible loss of power steering.

About 1.186 million of the vehicles Ford said it is recalling are in the United States. That figure is only 2,200 shy of the total number of vehicles that Ford recalled in the United States during all of last year.

Automakers are giving heightened scrutiny to safety issues in the wake of General Motors Co's ongoing safety crisis that began with an ignition-switch issue in older-model cars.

So far this year, GM has recalled 15.8 million vehicles worldwide.

Analyst Karl Brauer of Kelley Blue Book said Ford's spate of recalls on Thursday may be "driven by the heightened sense of concern all automakers are feeling right now, though we'll likely never know for sure."

Brauer added that there have been so many recalls since February when GM issued its first ignition-switch recall that the actions have become "sort of background white noise for consumers."

Ford said it will recall 195,527 Explorer SUVs in North America from the 2011 to 2013 model years and 915,216 Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner SUVs from model years 2008 to 2011 on power steering issues.

In addition, it will recall nearly 200,000 Taurus sedans in North America from the 2010 to 2014 model years on a corrosion issue.

Finally, Ford is also recalling 82,576 sedans with floor mats that may interfere with the operation of accelerator pedals. The floor mats were put in 2006 to 2011 model year Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr and MKZ sedans.

The loss of power steering can increase the risk of a crash when vehicles are traveling at lower rates of speed.

US regulators have received consumer reports of six injuries and five crashes related to the Escape and Mariner models, Ford said.

As of mid-April, Ford said it was aware of 15 accidents including two minor injuries believed to be related to the loss of power steering in Explorer SUVs. The accidents all involved vehicles moving at lower speeds, Ford said.

In cold-weather US states and Canadian provinces where road salt is used, corrosion can affect license plate lamps which in turn may cause a short circuit that could start a fire, Ford said. A Ford spokeswoman said the company is aware of 18 consumer reports of fires believed to be associated with this condition.

Ford did not say how much the recall campaigns are expected to cost. For the Mercury Mariner and Ford Escape recalls, dealers are to be notified on Thursday and letters to all affected US owners will be sent by July 25, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

There may be additional vehicles included in the recall campaigns outside of North America, Ford said.  — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com