Google's I/O developer conference last week didn't quite hit the dizzy heights of 2012 when the Mountain View-based company announced Glass, but there remained plenty of food for thought this year after the search giant revealed a string of exciting new products and features. Among them came the introduction of some new Google Now-style Voice Search feature, and today, the improved functionality has been molded into Chrome 27. More details after the leap!
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It's fair to say, given the courtroom history and market face-offs between the two, that a certain amount of friction, animosity and contempt exists between Apple and Samsung. The two companies were at loggerheads last year in a court hearing which saw Apple reign supreme over its bitter rival, but with a new trial taking place this year in the same San Jose location, issues have by no means been resolved. As a very relevant subplot, Apple has never been shy of dragging Google into proceedings, and following on from the Cupertino's recent demands to see the Android source code as part of the hearing, Tim Cook's legal bureaucrats have now dragged both the newly-released Samsung Galaxy S4 and Google Now into the equation.
Apple plans to add even more social media integration to the forthcoming iOS 7 update. Both Flickr and Vimeo look set for Twitter and Facebook-like integration, which would see users able to tap in their credentials once within the Settings app and simply authorize any third-party movements from within the iOS infrastructure.
Whew, time for us to catch our breath a little! Microsoft has finally dished out the details of its upcoming console, which is to be called the Xbox One, and if you want to know the what, where, when, and perhaps most importantly, how much, we've got all of the details coming up right after the break!
Earlier this year, we caught a glimpse of the technologies of Leap Motion, one of a number of companies looking to take the world of gesture-based research by storm. One of the more intriguing insights we've had into how this kind of tech could significantly broaden the horizons in the gesture-filled landscape, Leap Motion offered a very enticing introductory video back in February illustrating how its peripheral could turn almost any computing setup into an effortless, three-dimensional realm of pinching and swiping elegance, enhancing the general user experience on all kinds of different levels. To whet the appetites further, Leap has come through with yet another video clip, and if you were somewhat unmoved by the initial demonstration clip, prepare to be wowed!
As the device continues to arrive at various shores across the world, the debate rages on as to whether the Samsung Galaxy S4 is indeed worthy of its position as Android's poster boy. The latest in an immensely popular series, the Galaxy S4 dramatically improves on its predecessor in terms of hardware features, but opinion remains divided on whether it is a true humdinger, or just another re-hash of the same old rhetoric.
Although we do tend to get somewhat carried away with the exciting features any potential new smartphone can offer us, our sensible side forces us to consider some of the very basics, like signal strength. Without the ability to yield substantial network coverage, your expensive handset can often be rendered useless, and although you might have thought your signal was relatively adequate already, there's no harm in seeing if you can achieve better. Resident carrier update hacker Joseph Brown has, having previously released a hacked carrier update for T-Mobile offering an overall stronger signal to consumers, done the same kind of thing again, but this time, for certain iPhone and iPad devices on AT&T.
Keen designers Ran Avni and Uygar Kaya have come up with yet another iPhone 6 concept which incorporates many of the features iPhone fans have long since been pining for, including wireless charging, LED notifications and of course, a larger, wider screen. It's easily one of the best concepts we've had the pleasure of ogling, and you can decide whether you agree by checking out the video after the break!
Sony's announcement of the PlayStation 4 back in February perhaps brought more questions than answers, the main of which was quite simply, what the heck does it look like? It's rare for a company to make an announcement of such a significant product without at least offering a glimpse of what its consumers should be excited about, and although we've already clapped eyes of the DualShock 4 controller, Sony has chosen the eve of the next-gen Xbox announcement to reveal that the PS4 will now certainly be unveiled at June's E3 expo.
A leaked Android 4.2.2 ROM for Galaxy S3 is now available for download. The said ROM includes tons of new features from Galaxy S4 for the old maestro.

