Rdio intros new social features and redesigned player

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Social media streamer Rdio rolled out a major redesign a little over a year ago and has done a bit of tweaking since then. Now, following a recent update to its mobile apps, the service is making even more changes. At the top of the list are methods for getting social on the site, with friends from Twitter and Facebook hitting its front page, alongside their listening habits and influencers selected by the service. You can also check out a curated list of potential friends, if the front page just isn't doing it for you. Autoplay, meanwhile, creates personalized stations and keeps the music going after you're out of ideas, or you can proactively create stations by clicking on album artwork. Also new is a thumbs up / thumbs down voting feature and a full-size player featuring big album artwork and upcoming tracks.

ASRock announces M8 compact gaming rig in collaboration with BMW

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BMW and ASRock just announced the new M8 gaming PC, which will debut at Computex next week. The collaboration is ASRock's first rig with a small form factor, though it shares the sharp lines and edgy color palette of the hulking, BMW-designed Thermaltake Level 10 case. An OLED screen sits on the front of the case and displays stats such as fan speed and temperature, and there's a knob for adjusting the fan depending on the game at hand. Interestingly, the M8's semi-transparent side panels are attached magnetically rather than screwed in, so users should have no trouble accessing components. So far, the companies have only shared connectivity specs: 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 are on board, as is a quad-core Creative SoundCore 3D audio processor. We're bound to find out more in Taipei, though, so hang tight.

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active shown off with AT&T branding

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The Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active isn't really much of a secret at this point, despite the fact that it's still unannounced. It's already been seen in its share of images and videos, and the I537 -- the AT&T-branded version -- has even been spotted passing through the FCC. Fortunately, @evleaks dug up some imagery of this particular variant of the rugged smartphone in black (though it will supposedly be offered in teal as well), complete with the trademark AT&T globe on the back. It's rumored to offer a 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 chipset, HD display, 8-megapixel rear camera and water-resistant protection. What's more, we're being told that this is just one of many Samsung devices on its way to the large GSM operator this year, accompanying the Galaxy S4 Mini, Galaxy S3 Mini (oddly), Galaxy Mega 6.3 and Galaxy Note 3. Pricing is still unknown, but we have to wonder if the date on the phone's display above is an indication of what we can expect to see at Samsung's June 20th event.

Editor's Letter: Windows 8 gets its start back

In each issue of Distro, Editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.

There are times when you need to stay strong, ignore the criticism and do what you know is right. Then, there are some times when the masses are right and listening is the smart thing. With Windows 8, Microsoft made many radical changes, not the least of which being the deletion of the fabled Start button. This week we got our first taste of that operating system's first major update, Windows 8.1, and it includes a number of notable upgrades and improvements. Perhaps the most notable? The return of a Start button. Well, sort of.
It's now called a "Start Tip" as it isn't a proper button, but you can click on it and bring up the tiled Start Screen interface. So, the Start button is back, but not the Start menu. That's fine by me, as I don't think hidden, contextual elements make much sense in a keyboard-and-mouse environment. And the other tweaks are nice, including a far more comprehensive Settings section, a functional lock screen and, finally, the ability to adjust the size of applications that you've snapped to either side of your screen. Maybe in Windows 8.2 we'll get fully resizable windows!