Japanese electronics giant Sony on Thursday revealed technology that generates electricity from shredded paper.

As an environmental product fair opened in Tokyo, Sony invited children to put paper into a mixture of water and enzymes, shake it up and wait for a few minutes to see the liquid become a source of electricity, powering a small fan.

The Angry Birds are set fly from the virtual into the real world next year as the cartoonish birds from the popular smartphone game get their own theme parks, a playground company said Thursday.

"The idea is to create a different concept for gaming by integrating the virtual and physical worlds ... so parents can spend more time with their kids," Finnish playground maker Lappset's managing director Juha Laakkonen told Agence France Presse.

Apple's iPad has been cleared for use by American Airlines pilots during takeoff and landing in a move that could make bulky flight bags crammed with manuals and charts a thing of the past.

American Airlines began testing iPads as "electronic flight bags" last year and a number of other carriers, including United Airlines and Alaska Airlines, have followed suit.

Tagged on Wednesday bought fellow online community hi5 in a move aimed at creating a Facebook rival.

The two San Francisco-based startups will continue to operate as independent brands but Tagged plans to build bridges between its more that 100 million users and the 230 million people signed up at hi5.

Google on Wednesday targeted slavery and women's education in holiday season donations tallying $40 million.

The charity came in the form of grants to nonprofit groups or academic institutions supporting education, technology, or the fight against slavery, according to Shona Brown, a senior vice president at the Internet titan's Google.org philanthropic arm.

Intel on Wednesday formed a new unit devoted to making chips for smartphones and tablets that have become must-have gadgets in a post personal computer age.

Four units were combined into a Mobile and Communications Group headed by Hermann Eul and Mike Bell, whose background includes having worked on the iPhone at Apple, according to Intel spokesman Robert Manetta.

Reporters can now use Twitter, text messages and email in courtrooms in England and Wales without needing to ask permission, the head of the judiciary said Wednesday.

"Twitter as much as you like from today," Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge told journalists as he handed down new guidelines on using laptops and hand-held devices.

Ren Bishop is one of many American drivers who texts, tweets and talks on her cellphone while she's behind the wheel — and thinks it should be up to drivers to use their discretion when it comes to safety.

Though she admits thumbing her phone while driving is a bad habit, the University of Missouri student says drivers "are mature enough to understand when it is appropriate and when it is not."

Apple has launched its iTunes store in Brazil and 15 other Latin American countries, the company said Tuesday, making available for sale more than 20 million songs in a region where music piracy is rampant.

One top Brazilian music industry official said he thinks the launch of the online iTunes store, along with expectations that Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn will soon produce iPods, iPads and iPhones in Brazil, will put a dent in piracy in Brazil.

A robotic cook, a coloring book that comes to virtual life and movies that read your mind are some of the innovations on show at a cutting-edge computer technology exhibition in Hong Kong this week.

The first Asian edition of the SIGGRAPH expo of computer graphics, interactive technology and digital media brings together developers, distributors and resellers from around the world.