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Distro Issue 30 brings you 'The Best of Mobile World Congress 2012' Mar 2nd 2012, 13:15 While a handful of Engadget editors braved the show floor in Barcelona, we here at Distro HQ were busy trying to keep pace with the insane amount of news coming out of Mobile World Congress 2012. Fittingly, issue 30 of our fine weekly is packed to the rafters with the best and latest in mobile technology. Also in this issue, Tim Stevens gives us his detailed impressions of Microsoft's Windows 8 consumer preview; we pick apart the long-awaited refresh of BlackBerry PlayBook OS; and Dante Cesa dives into Razer's first gaming laptop, the Blade. Plus, we grill Mobile Burn founder Michael Oryl for the Distro Q&A; Donald Melanson offers his latest reading recommendations; we get real for IRL; and Box Brown reveals a handful of Siri Easter eggs for Last Word. Distro Issue 30 PDF Distro on the iTunes App Store Distro in the Android Market Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter Distro Issue 30 brings you 'The Best of Mobile World Congress 2012' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  iTunes, Android Market  | Email this | Comments LG confirms Optimus L3 will introduce L-Style to Europe this month Mar 2nd 2012, 12:50 Fresh from its official debut in the warm Catalan sun, LG has confirmed that the Optimus L3 will be hitting European shelves this month, making it the first L-style phone out of the gate. After Europe, the dual-core 800MHz slice of Gingerbread will leave a crumbly trail eastwards, landing in Russia, then Asia. The official PR stops short of telling us if it'll go full-circle and arrive on US shores, simply teasing budget phone-seeking Americans with "followed by other markets around the world." Continue reading LG confirms Optimus L3 will introduce L-Style to Europe this month LG confirms Optimus L3 will introduce L-Style to Europe this month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments Unofficial VLC beta hits Android, no video format is safe Mar 2nd 2012, 12:21 VLC is the Swiss Army knife (nope, not you Perian) of media players and it has never baulked at any of the increasingly weird and wonderful formats we've thrown at it -- which is good because now it's available on Android. The unsupported, unofficial beta by user adridu59 is tailored to run on selected Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich handsets. It's available to grab from the source link, with the caveat that as an unofficial build, it'll require a little bit of tinkering at your end Unofficial VLC beta hits Android, no video format is safe originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments Look the business with PlanOn's super-slim receipt scanner Mar 2nd 2012, 11:59 Receipts. You request them every time you make a claimable purchase. Then you put them in your pocket, the washing machine, the dryer, an old envelope, until they've been everywhere except where they need to go. Sure, you can use a smartphone app, but wouldn't you be so much more diligent if you had a $140 dedicated portable scanner like PlanOn's SlimScan SS100? It's taken a while to come to market since we went hands-on, but it's finally available with immediate effect. You swipe the credit card-sized stainless steel device over your receipts and store the images -- up to 600 of them -- on its built-in storage. Then you hook it up to your PC over wireless-schmireless USB, auto OCR the images, correct any inaccurate fields and export the data straight to your spreadsheet. Then you wash it, dry it, put it in a drawer... Continue reading Look the business with PlanOn's super-slim receipt scanner Look the business with PlanOn's super-slim receipt scanner originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  PlanOn  | Email this | Comments Windows 8 registry shows nine separate flavors to choose from Mar 2nd 2012, 11:33 With each subsequent release of Windows we're left bracing for what will surely be another overwhelming assortment of retail packaging options. With Windows 7 there was a dizzying 6 SKUs to choose from, and we're sorry to say that, at least for now, there are even more coming with Windows 8. As noted by windows 8 beta the registry contains the keys for all current versions of the OS and, with a quick trip to Regedit we were able to verify with the screenshot above. That boils down to the following list: Windows 8 Starter Windows 8 Home Basic Windows 8 Home Premium Windows 8 Professional Windows 8 Professional Plus Windows 8 Enterprise Windows 8 Enterprise Eval Windows 8 Ultimate Windows 8 ARM edition We will of course point out that this is from the Consumer Preview, so not necessarily a final tally, and the Enterprise Eval version is of course just for trials, but it's interesting to note the addition of Professional Plus. Office 2010 Pro Plus adds in extra integration with Sharepoint and Office Communications Server, leaving us to wonder if this flavor of Windows 8 won't offer some similar collaborative tools. And then there's just that one, lonely ARM edition, which could leave non-x86 hardware buyers out of the cross-shopping fun altogether. [Thanks, Sagar] Windows 8 registry shows nine separate flavors to choose from originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  Windows 8 beta  | Email this | Comments BlackBerry phones could get rhythm-to-unlock, like dun-da-da-dun-dun Mar 2nd 2012, 11:29 Who needs face unlock when you could just tap out a private ditty on your smartphone? Maybe you'd risk giving away your credentials to any vaguely rhythmic phone thief within ten feet, but RIM's engineers have a patent-approved answer to that: Rather than just sensing rhythm, they reckon a phone's accelerometer could also detect the magnitude and location of each tap, which would make it harder for eavesdroppers to mimic. Just don't pick something too syncopated -- not unless you're this guy. Continue reading BlackBerry phones could get rhythm-to-unlock, like dun-da-da-dun-dun BlackBerry phones could get rhythm-to-unlock, like dun-da-da-dun-dun originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink   |  USPTO  | Email this | Comments

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