| iOS 5.1 brings new unlock-to-camera action, more cultured Siri Feb 17th 2012, 13:37 | The gang over at BGR have allegedly acquired a bootleg copy of Apple's next mobile operating system iteration, iOS 5.1. In doing so, they have been able to confirm two rumored adds: a new unlock-to-camera action and Japanese support for Siri. In iOS 5.0, users can activate the camera from a locked device by double-tapping the home button and selecting the icon that appears. The new workflow? Wake the phone, then simply slide the lock screen toward the top of the handset -- making this feature easier to use and find. The other major difference is the expansion of Siri's vernacular -- more specifically, the addition of Japanese. iOS users in The Land of the Rising Sun will soon be able to get a synthesized " konnichiwa" from their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Domo arigato, Apple. iOS 5.1 brings new unlock-to-camera action, more cultured Siri originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Distro Issue 28: A slew of device reviews and a look back at CP+ 2012 Feb 17th 2012, 13:15 | Apple's kitty cat-flavored OS refresh may have dominated the news this week, but it was a deluge of product reviews that kept the wheels spinning at Distro HQ. Issue 28 is one of our heftiest yet, featuring Sony's stateside PS Vita, Ainovo's $99 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet, Motorola's QWERTY kin, the Droid 4, the AT&T version of Samsung's ample Galaxy Note and LG's fashionable Prada Phone. Shaking things up a bit, Zach Honig travels to Yokohama, Japan to bring you the biggest breakouts from the 2012 CP+ Camera and Photo Imaging Show. And, to round it all out, we've got a healthy helping of content you won't see anywhere else, like Ross Rubin's Switched On, Donald Melanson's Recommended Reading, our Q&A with Netbooknews' Nicole Scott and a lesson on "How to Be Happy" by cartoonist Shannon Wheeler. Distro Issue 28 PDFDistro on the iTunes App StoreDistro in the Android MarketDistro APK (for sideloading)Like Distro on FacebookFollow Distro on TwitterDistro Issue 28: A slew of device reviews and a look back at CP+ 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  iTunes, Android Market | Email this | Comments | | Samsung's new SD cards look too good to hide inside a DSLR Feb 17th 2012, 13:00 | We've never been too fussed with how our storage looks -- it's rare that our SD cards linger too long outside the camera anyway. However, for you genius-level aesthetes who demand your internals are as beautiful as your externals, Samsung's got your back. It's releasing a line of SD and microSD cards with a stylish brushed metal body in silver or black that, frankly, looks shinier than whatever they'll be nestled inside. Just like Ryan Gosling, the cards are both pretty and pretty tough -- able to withstand 24 hours in water, 3,200 pounds of pressure or being left in an MRI machine with a power of 10,000 gauss, which we're always doing. After the interval, we've got pricing and stats for each unit (speed improves greatly if you plump for a 4GB card or higher) plus a little PR paperwork. Continue reading Samsung's new SD cards look too good to hide inside a DSLR Samsung's new SD cards look too good to hide inside a DSLR originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | More HTC Endeavor whispers: SLCD display, thin chassis, 32GB and no microSD Feb 17th 2012, 12:36 | Months of rumors about the HTC Endeavor (aka the One X, Edge, Ville) have layered up to provide a pretty complete (if not totally reliable) picture of the forthcoming Tegra 3-powered Android handset. There's room for a few more brush-strokes, however, and one of MoDaCo's tipsters is happy to paint them. We're told the new handset will have a Super LCD display, despite earlier rumors of HTC flirting with AMOLED ( again). This could be no bad thing, judging from the stunning 1280 x 720 panel on the Rezound, but the Endeavor is expected to have a larger 4.7-inch screen and hence a slightly lower pixel density. The thinness of the Endeavor's chassis will reportedly be a major selling point, as will be the 32GB of onboard memory that will come as standard. However, this storage won't be expandable -- the tipster says there's no microSD on the back, just a microSIM slot and an 1800mAh battery that may or may not be removable. Again, the provenance of these reports is unknown, but MoDaCo's reports have so far tallied closely with what we saw in a leaked Endeavor ROM. Assuming it's all accurate, will it be enough to give HTC the differentiating leg-up it so badly needs? We're not sure, but we do know that more Beats Audio or a music streaming service won't cut it. More HTC Endeavor whispers: SLCD display, thin chassis, 32GB and no microSD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Android Community | MoDaCo | Email this | Comments | | Nevada is getting serious about driverless cars Feb 17th 2012, 12:01 |  We were admittedly cynical last summer, when Nevada's state legislature passed a law regulating the safety of driverless cars. But maybe we shouldn't have been, because it looks like they're actually serious about it. The state has now begun fleshing out its campaign with new regulations for testing these robocars, which, of course, are still very much in their infancy. According to the Associated Press, drivers looking to test a driverless vehicle will have to first purchase a bond worth between $1 million and $3 million, depending on the specifics of their project. The data from each test, moreover, will have to be shared with state officials, and all automated vehicles must have some sort of black box-like device to securely store this information, in the event of a crash. Most interesting, however, is how humans fit into all of this. Under the state's regulations, a passenger is still considered an "operator" of the vehicle, even if he or she isn't driving. They'll be exempt from Nevada's ban on driving while texting, but they won't be able to rely on their robocar as a designated driver -- which is fine, because it's not like anyone drinks in Vegas anyway. Nevada is getting serious about driverless cars originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink TechCrunch | AP (ABC News) | Email this | Comments | |
