Hasta La Gadget!

Lexus has officially unveiled 2013 LS series luxury sedans at a world premiere event held in San Francisco this week. The 2013 LS line includes the LS 460, LS 460L, LS 600hL hybrid, and the LS 460 F Sport. The 2013 model year is the first time and LS 460 F Sport model has been offered. The standard LS 460 and the LS 460L are both offered in rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive versions and the LS Hybrid is only offered with full-time all-wheel drive.

To me the most interesting of the new models is the LS 460 F Sport that offers a more aggressive exterior and a unique sport interior with special F Sports seats that feature larger bolsters and a leather-wrapped steering wheel. Behind the leather, steering wheel are paddle shifters for the transmission and lots of genuine aluminum trim. The F Sport also has a sport tuned air suspension lowered 0.4 inches and has a Torsen limited slip rear differential on rear-wheel drive versions of the car.

The F Sport is also fitted with Brembo six-piston brake calipers and 19-inch forged wheels shod in summer or all-season tires. On the outside and the car has a very attractive design, but the interior of the car is where you can tell Lexus spent a lot of its design effort. The interior is very beautiful. The 2013 LS series has increased body rigidity, which enhances the car stability and offers a more comfortable ride. The car also has new pitch and bounce control in the suspension for flatter cornering stability.

The car also features new safety equipment, including Pre-Collision Safety system with Collision Avoidance Assist. The system will brake the LS series to a stop at speeds lower than 24 mph to help avoid accidents. Inside the car, the navigation system gets a 12.3-inch split screen high-resolution multimedia display that can display a large map and other vehicle functions at the same time. Pricing and availability for the 2013 LS line is unannounced at this time.

Lexus unveils 2013 LS 460 F Sport luxury car is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It might not pack the same thrill as the rumors of in-feed video, but Twitter has added clickable stock symbols on tweets. This now throws up search results for both the stock and the company, using a new ‘cash’ tag, like $FB, to differentiate from typical links and tags. As noted by TNW, it’s bad news for the founder of StockTwits, a service that offered similar functionality to gather tweet-based financial nuggets. The new feature is live across Twitter’s web client — though it hasn’t hit TweetDeck just yet — and should make discovering exactly how many millions companies have made (or lost) all a bit faster.

Filed under: Internet

Twitter quietly adds clickable stock symbols originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 05:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch, TNW  |  Twitter  | Email this | Comments

If you’re living the digital age where social networks are prevalent, then chances are you have a Facebook or Twitter app installed on your smartphone. If you’re the type that checks Facebook constantly for news and updates, there probably are times when there is a pretty interesting piece of news or update that you’ll probably want to savor at home or when you have more time to give it a proper read through. Well if you own an iOS device, you’ll be pleased to learn that Facebook for iOS has been recently updated to include a new Save feature that lets users save posts for reading later.

In a way this could be thought of as a bookmark or a favorites, and all you’d have to do is tap and hold a post and it should be saved into your Saved folder. Saves are reportedly private, which means that people won’t know you’ve saved their updates or posts (phew!) and they will have to be manually removed from the Saved folder once you’re done reading them. Are these some of the improvements that the former Apple software engineers are working on for the iOS Facebook app? It’s hard to say but either way if the Save feature is something that you think is incredibly useful, fire up the iTunes App Store and update your  app!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Former Apple software engineers reportedly working on a faster Facebook app for iOS, Security flaw discovered in Facebook app for iOS and Android,

The Nexus 7 has been shipping out to customers across Europe and the United States, but accessories for Google’s affordable tablet have been lacking. There’s a simple polyurethane cover, but no premium options or docks of any kind. Nordic Hardware has spied some slides that detail some accessories that are on the way from ASUS, including a premium leather cover, desktop dock for the tablet, and 10W power charger.

The first accessory is a “Premium Cover” for the Nexus 7. ASUS describes the cover as being made from genuine leather, and it will have a microfiber material on the inner flap in order to keep the screen clean. The case is said to be hardened and reinforced to protect against tumbles, and several colors will be available, including red, orange, black, and white. The cover will ost $39.99 and be available by the end of August.

Next up is a desktop dock for the tablet. Many were wondering what the 3-pin connector on the side of the tablet was for, and it looks like it was added to take advantage of accessories such as this. Having said that, the dock is very basic: it only includes a microUSB port so you can supply power to the tablet, and a 3.5mm headphone jack for audio output. There’s no video output of any kind, as ASUS had to scrap the necessary silicon inside the Nexus 7 to keep costs down. The dock looks to cost $49.99 and be available on August 24th.

Finally, ASUS will be offering additional 10W wall chargers for the Nexus 7 in case you lose the one that comes in the box. ASUS will offer options for the United States, UK, Australia, and Europe, and a 90cm long microUSB cord will also be thrown in for good measure. They’re a little pricey at $24.99, so it might be worth shopping around for an alternative.

[via Phandroid]

Nexus 7 premium cover and dock details leak is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung‘s product lead has lashed out at Apple‘s design patent case, describing the jury trial as “fighting over rectangles” and blaming the Cupertino firm for being trigger-happy when it comes to litigation. “In the current environment, there’s just one company that’s firing the first shot consistently” chief product officer Kevin Packingham told Wired. ”Most everyone else seems to be getting along really well.” The Apple vs. Samsung case kicked off in San Jose on Monday this week, with jury selection taking place; Samsung argues that Apple’s interpretation of design patents for the iPad and iPhone are too broad, with Packingham claiming Apple is “defying common sense.”

“For us, it’s unreasonable that we’re fighting over rectangles, that that’s being considered as an infringement, which is why we’re defending ourselves” Packingham says of Samsung’s stance. “In some cases, for most of us in the industry, it’s defying common sense. We’re all scratching our heads and saying, “How is this possible that we’re actually having an industry-level debate and trying to stifle competition?” Consumers want rectangles and we’re fighting over whether you can deliver a product in the shape of a rectangle.”

According to the product lead, Apple is unique among companies for the way it approaches rivals and the marketplace. Samsung launches new devices with a combination of prior due diligence and the expectation that some unforeseen licensing issues will likely show themselves, and usually, Packingham says, “some additional conversations [are] required” but “in the past it’s never been a barrier to us introducing new products.”

As for the strange dual-role Samsung plays to Apple, as key component supplier and arch nemesis at retail, Packingham says the two sides of the company are “extremely isolated” in how they operate. That’s not always a good thing, he believes; “there are times when I’m absolutely appalled that we sell what I consider to be the most innovative, most secrete parts of the sauce of our products to some other manufacturer” Packingham admits, only to be told by the components group that “that’s none of your business. You go make your mobile phones and if you’d like to use our components, that’d be great.”

The Apple vs. Samsung case is expected to take at least two weeks, with the court meeting three times a week. However, Packingham argues that much broader patent reform is required if the current situation isn’t to repeat itself.

“Hopefully the entire industry is in the position now where we have to defend ourselves and say, “Look, it’s unreasonable for us to be in the position of claiming that there is design, claiming that there is some sort of protected property, around a rectangle.” So I would say, yeah, we have design patents as well, but they’re not as simple as the rectangle. And so that’s where I think you see a little bit of this challenge” Kevin Packingham, Chief Product Officer, Samsung

Samsung and Apple both shared prototype and concept designs from their archives as part of pre-trial briefs last week. Samsung accused Apple of rewriting history and of itself copying Sony, while Apple fired back with a 2005 iPhone prototype that it claimed pre-dated any relevant Sony concept.

Apple “fighting over rectangles” says Samsung product head is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.