Hasta La Gadget!

We know Jeff Bezos & Co. have some sort of intriguing announcement planned for next week, but while we wait for that to take place, you might want to update your iOS-friendly Kindle application. Amazon just pushed out version 3.2 of the reading app and it’s loaded with a slew of new features, including adjustable margins for your “preferred reading experience,” rapid highlights to let users mark passages within their content, as well as improved brightness controls that, in theory, should make the overall viewing experience a tad bit better. Meanwhile, “Print Replica Textbooks” have been enhanced with fresh highlighting traits and an all-new notebook feature to save bookmarks, notes and images. The Kindle update can be snagged now from the App Store directly from any Cupertino-made slab, or you could always click on the source link below — your choice.

Filed under: Software

Kindle for iOS updated with rapid highlights, adjustable margins and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 01:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Until self-driving cars become mainstream, it’s best to keep eyes on roads and hands off phones. With this in mind, Samsung’s debuting Drive Link, an app that balances in-car essentials with driver safety, complete with approval from the no-nonsense Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association. It’s all about the bare essentials — navigation, hands-free calling and audiotainment from your phone-based files or TuneIn. Destinations can be pulled from S Calendar appointments or texts without trouble, and the text-to-speech feature means you won’t miss a message, email or social media update. The best bit is that via MirrorLink, all these goodies can be fed through compatible dash screens and speaker systems. Drive Link is available now through Sammy’s app store for Europeans sporting an international Galaxy S III, and will be coming to other ICS handsets “in the near future.”

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Transportation, Mobile

Samsung announces Drive Link, a car-friendly app with MirrorLink integration originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 05:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Evernote has trotted out an update to its iOS app and accompanied the software release with an announcement of a collaboration with Moleskine. Yes, you read that correctly. The digital note-taking application has teamed up with the analog sktechbook maker to produce the Evernote Smart Notebook. Designed specifically for the refreshed iPhone and iPad software, the notebooks allow users to snag written notes or drawings right off the paper and archive them with the app — making them searchable and organized for future reference. So where exactly does the tech angle come in? First, pages are lined using a dotted pattern that is optimized for the upated mobile software.

With the new Page Camera feature, photos of pages are shot and automatically given a proper contrast adjustment. The add-on also finds the aforementioned dots are corrects a skewed photo. Last but certainly not least, each Smart Notebook comes with a set of Smart Stickers. Evernote will now recognize each of these and apply the appropriate tags before sorting. While the stickers come with pre-defined tags, they are customizable to accomodate your particular sensibilities. These pseudo-digital Moleskines will be available in both pocket (3.5 x 5.5 inches / 8.89 x 13.97 cm) and large (5 x 8.25 inches / 12.7 x 20.96 cm) sizes, carrying $25 and $30 price tags when they hit shelves October 1st. If you can’t contain your excitement, head on to the coverage link below to pre-order yours now.

Filed under: Misc, Internet, Software

The Evernote Smart Notebook by Moleskine: paper sketchbooks and journals get connected originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Research in Motion has applied to patent a system for automatically drafting a blog entry on your smartphone. In the examples, it would build out the bare-bones of an entry as soon as it hits a “trigger event,” such as taking a picture at a pre-determined set of GPS co-ordinates. Presumably, all you’d have to do is fill in the witty caption below and hit send, saving you valuable minutes on your road-trip. Of course, it may not even be granted, so don’t expect a CES trailer staffed solely with Bolds just yet…

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet

RIM tries to patent system-generated blog entries, we quietly update our resumés originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flickr’s Android app has been around for nearly a year and was due for a tune-up to perform like its iOS sibling. First, a retooled UI touts a new navigation menu and the Explore section now does a better job of sorting shots according to nearby location and level of interest. In addition to the aforementioned photo library search, notifications, profile, camera and upload options fill out the rest of the main menu’s tabbed options. Throughout the application, a pull down to refresh function keeps the most recent notifications and uploads at the top of the window. When the camera tab is tapped, you’ll now be prompted to choose your camera or camera app of choice in order to capture the shot. Rounding out the improvements are improved overall search, the ability to edit details / metadata on pictures and HTML content in comments and descriptions. If you’re looking to give the overhauled software a go, hit the source link below to snag it.

Filed under: Software

Flickr Android app gets updated, touts refreshed UI and camera selection originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 02:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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