Spotify tries out ‘driving mode’ for its Android app

Tinkering with your phone while driving is a dangerous thing to do. And that extends to trying to do things like switch playlists on your Spotify app. And it seems the music streaming service is doing something about it—or at least they’re testing something out. Some Android users seem to have gained access to a new driving mode feature that’ll keep your eyes and hands on the wheel while you use the app. As seen in the screenshots shared by Reddit user Chris54721, it features larger buttons, verbal song announcements, and voice control support. There seems to be a new car icon, too, which is obviously meant to toggle the feature. Spotify won’t comment about the feature and said they “test new products all the time and have no news to share.”

Source: Engadget

Microsoft tests news summary reader

Commuting and don’t want to be staring at a screen but you still want to catch up on the latest news? Microsoft is testing out an app that reads new summaries to you. Called NewsCast, the app takes articles from around the web and begins reading news summaries to you in a playlist. You can choose to save an article for actual reading later or read it right from the app with its built-in browser.

The app is supposed to be a proof-of-concept product from the Bing News and Speech teams that they’re currently testing internally at Microsoft. The app used to have a publicly-accessible website but now it looks like that has been taken down.  The app seems to have been iOS-only. Hopefully though they bring this to the public in the future and open it to more ecosystems.

Source: PCWorld

Special Feature: HP Houston Labs Tour – A Focus on Quality Part 1

Photo courtesy of Mario Nagano of www.ztop.com.brText and photos by Alex Davies

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of touring HP’s Houston Labs, where they put their commercial hardware through the wringer to test its durability and quality. This large facility was the former headquarters of Compaq before the merger with HP, and it was interesting to see the relics of the former company everywhere we went. Many of the engineers we spoke to on the tour were former Compaq employees who have been working in these labs for years.

One of the mantras that we heard during the tour is that they “freeze it, bake it, shake it, break it”, and as we walked around the facility, we really did see HP’s engineers  subject desktops, notebooks and tablets to all manners of torture – the job wasn’t done until the product broke.  Hit jump for our report on HP's Houston Labs.

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Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta reaches 500,000 downloads

Adobe's Photoshop CS6 Beta, which can be downloaded here, has received half a million downloads. According to Adobe's Cari Gushiken, "Tt’s not often that we provide an advance preview of the next release of Photoshopand we’re grateful for all the support and buzz the beta has received. We’re glad you’re as excited as we are to see all of YOUR requests come to life."

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