Hasta La Gadget!

Clarion has announced pricing and availability of the Next GATE, a touchscreen navigation and multimedia interface that puts iPhone apps at easy reach on your car’s dashboard. Launched back at CTIA, when we snatched a quick fondle, the Clarion Next GATE hooks up to the iPhone via a wired connection and spreads its display across a 7-inch LCD touchscreen, with support for Pandora and TuneIn streaming media, Vlingo voice recognitoin and more.

There’s also INRIX Traffic reports and content from InfoGation, along with a special Facebook interface for car use and weather updates. More apps are expected to arrive on the Next GATE as developers get to grips with it now that it’s on sale.

The 7-inch display runs at 480 x 800 resolution, so don’t expect crisp Retina Display quality photos as you might get on a new iPad, but the chunky icons are likely to be more important for use on the road. However, there’s also voice control, with a built-in microphone and speakers, and users can also take advantage of Siri.

That voice control means voice-dialing and emailing, among other things, which should help you keep your hands on the road. There’s more on the Clarion Next GATE in our full hands-on, and you can buy one from Amazon, Best Buy or Crutchfield from $249.99.

Clarion Next GATE in-car iPhone dashboard controller now available is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sony has been working to brings an Ice Cream Sandwich update to the vast majority of its 2011 smartphone lineup, but news emerged yesterday that the company wouldn’t be extending support for those same devices to Jelly Bean. A product manager in the UK posted up the information on Facebook, saying that the Arc S and Mini Pro would not be receiving updates to Jelly Bean. Now Sony has taken to the official Xperia blog, saying that the information is incorrect.

Sony posted the following on the Xperia blog: “We are actively investigating Android OS upgrades for all devices, but in the meantime, our Ice Cream Sandwich rollout for Xperia S and 2011 Xperia smartphones continues as planned.” It might not be a definitive confirmation that Jelly Bean will be coming to past Sony handsets, but at least it’s a stay of execution for the Arc S and Mini Pro in the meantime.

The company has also said that it’s determining which 2012 smartphones will see an update to Jelly Bean. Considering the aging Nexus S is able to run the latest version of Android without any issues, it’s hard to see Sony leaving the NXT series out in the cold. The only real question is when the company will start rolling out the update.

When owners of Sony handsets do see the Jelly Bean update land, they can look forward to numerous changes and improvements, chief among them Project Butter. That introduces tricks like triple buffering and vertical sync that helps the OS to achieve 60 frames a second and perfectly slick animations. Offline voice recognition is also onboard, even if it’s not quite as accurate as the online equivalent, and Google Now promises to act as your virtual assistant.

[via Phone Arena]

Sony: Don’t rule out Jelly Bean updates just yet is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Whenever I want to spend some time alone to mull things over, I trek off to this park I like, find a bench, and literally just stare off into space. There’s just something relaxing and comforting about an overlooking mountain view that puts my mind (and heart) at ease.

Unfortunately, not all of us have the time to take regular trips out of the city (or even to a city park) just to calm our minds. But thanks to design students Matt Batchelor, Amitra Kulkami, and Emma Laurin, your commutes are about to become more relaxing.

They came up with the Canopy concept, which uses a curved display to show an animation of the sky or surface landmarks as the train or subway you’re riding in passes them. Think of it like a sun roof of sorts, only the digital kind. Though the prototype appears to use some sort of projection system, the concept calls for large, flexible electrophoretic e-paper displays.

Mass transit operators can also choose to monetize on the added comfort by adding unobtrusive digital ads that interested commuters can check out by scanning the ad’s QR code.

It’s definitely a bright idea that will give people more things to look forward to for their long, dark underground commutes.

[via PSFK via Dvice]

Hulu Plus may have arrived on the Apple TV today, popping up unexpectedly on the company’s set-top box, but there’s no word on what held up the release of an app that was supposedly functionally ready eight months ago. According to rumors back in November 2011, Hulu had already finalized its Hulu Plus software for the Apple TV and was merely waiting for the Cupertino company’s own approval for release, something which Apple was oddly reticent to grant.

Apple, so the rumors go, had put the Hulu Plus Apple TV app on ice over concerns that it could bite into its own iTunes revenue. The delay was not said to be a technical one, with all elements of software and service ready for action, with Apple instead suspecting that Hulu Plus subscribers might be less likely to spend money renting or purchasing movies from its own download store.

Muddying the waters were Hulu Plus’ existing iOS apps, available on the iPad and iPhone, and which already offered access to the subscription based streaming media service. At the time it was suspected that the absence of AirPlay streaming support for the apps that was all that had prevented Apple from denying its a place in the App Store; users would simply be too lazy to plug in an HDMI cable and adapter.

Availability on the Apple TV, however, makes opting for Hulu Plus rather than iTunes far more straightforward. Hulu hasn’t mentioned the delay in its blog post on the new functionality, and Apple was apparently content to push it out without fanfare.

Apple TV has seen a sales boom in its third-generation, though Apple itself still refers to the set-top box as a hobby among its range. The company has seen long-standing rumors suggesting it is working on a full television set as part of a more forceful challenge to the living room.

Apple TV Hulu Plus is here, but what caused the hold-up? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Twitter now officially supports the cashtag, which sounds very close to Cash Cab but is actually way less fun. Going forward you can click stock abbreviations with a $ in front of them to get financial information about the company. More »