Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Sharp shows off 14-inch and 15.6-inch 3,200 x 1,800 IGZO panels (eyes-on) Hands-on





It was only a few hours ago when Fujitsu announced its UH90, the first laptop to feature a 14-inch 3,200 x 1,800 IGZO display. While the device won't hit Japan until June 28th, we were lucky enough to stumble upon the panel itself at Sharp'sComputex booth. In fact, the company also had a 15.6-inch IGZO panel with the same qHD+ resolution, 400 nit brightness plus 1000:1 contrast ratio, and both looked super crisp to our eyes. Alas, IGZO is still a bit behind LTPS panels when it comes to viewing angle, but we had absolutely no problem when looking at the displays straight on. With the UH90 rolling out soon, we should see more devices shipping with these panels very soon.

Audi hits up Inrix to add parking spot finder to Audi Connect dash systems





While there are smartphones apps that take some of the hassle out of finding parking, Audi's bringing similar time- and frustration-saving features to a different screen in your ride, through its Audi Connect infotainment systems. Announced at the Telematics Detroit conference, Audi is tapping Inrix's parking spot data so you can find car-friendly floor space from within its dashboard navigation platform. After telling the car where you want to go, you'll have the option to see parking info at the journey's end, including the nearest locations, operating hours, prices and real-time space availability, depending on what data is available from each garage. The sat-nav will also direct you straight to the entrance of the lot, and should you want to know what that entrance looks like, Google Street View will show you. Audi's new parking feature should start hitting Connect-equipped cars from today via an OTA update, so the "finding a space was a nightmare" excuse won't fly next time you're late. But don't worry, we won't tell anyone.

Google set to launch HTML5 development tool with ad integration in coming months





That little ol' company down in Mountain View is cooking up a new HTML5 design tool, according to a recent blog post by the Goog's advertising arm, DoubleClick. Simply dubbed Google Web Designer, it's ostensibly designed for creative professionals to create "engaging web content" and is integrated with DoubleClick Studio and AdMob right out of the gate. Its advertising roots aside however, it looks like anyone with the proper knowhow could use it to create a web page, similar to the much-neglected Google Sites. Of course, we won't know much more about the tool until it launches, which is said to be "in the coming months."

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active goes official Mobile

Samsung's gone official with the Galaxy S 4 Active -- again, before its big UK launch event. With IP67 water and dust protection (it'll survive three feet of water for up to 30 minutes), as well as a 5-inch 1080p display, there's a 1.9GHz quad-core processor to do the heavy lifting. Alongside LTE radios and Android 4.2.2, the GS4 Active houses an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, while the front-facer will take shots up to two megapixels. For meteorologists, there's also a suitable outdoors-y barometer built in too. To match those outdoor credentials, there's a water-resistant headphone socket, Samsung's 'glove touch' screen tech meaning you'll be able to handle it with gloves and a special 'aqua mode' setting for the camera to improve all those underwater shots you're bound to take. The phone launches in the US and Sweden this summer, in Urban Grey, Dive Blue and Orange Flare color options. We're waiting on more pricing specifics, but Samsung promises we'll be able to test it in the flesh at the aforementioned London event.