Nuance Communications has regularly launched updates for its most beloved management app. But this time around, they seem to have extended the capabilities of the program more than ever before.

The old features will still be available, such as unlimited text-to-speech or speech-to-text. But now they will also have dictation for email clients to allow voice composition, voice alerts that tell you when you have a new message, calendar appointment, social media updates, email, and a customized word that will “wake up” Dragon for use.

Probably the most interesting feature is Driver Mode with Auto Switching. This is an auto-detect for when you are in the car, that will immediately put you into hands-free mode. Everything can then be accessed or used through voice commands, so you never have to look at your screen.

This new mode is an obvious attempt to limit the increasing problem of automobile accidents related to texting, online browsing and using other apps while driving. Nuance hopes to minimize the need for people to glance at their screens while on the road, lessening distractions that can be fatal.

One downside to this feature is the inability for the app to distinguish whether a person is driving or in the passenger seat. If the passenger has Dragon switched on and it goes into auto mode, it could begin reading messages out loud. I am sure you can see why this might lead to some embarrassing situations.

Still, the intent behind Driver Mode is good, and the concept itself is exciting. You can always switch off the app if you don’t want to risk your updates being announced to the car at large.

As for the effectiveness of the feature, it is impossible to say if it will limit car accidents. However, it does offer an alternative to those people who can’t seem to stay off their phones, or for long trips where it might be harder not to check for updates. Limiting the amount of time people take their eyes off the road seems to be a good idea.

With many voice recognition services I would question their wording when using email dictation. But I have used Dragon myself, and it does tend to be pretty accurate with other speech-to-text functions. It will be fun to check these new updates out.

Source: Dragon Mobile Apps

Original article: Voice Recognition ‘Dragon’ Android app adds new Features

©2013 It's a Gadget. All Rights Reserved.

In a public release on their website today, Apple said that they have been complying with agency requests from various agencies as they were required to do. This includes the usual law enforcement petitions that make up the bulk of what they have received, for missing children and persons, robberies, criminal cases and other needs from both state and federal legal organizations.

Some were for national security risks, they say. However, details on these requests were not forthcoming, as the NSA has been strict about what can and cannot be shared. All we know is that there have been 4,000 to 5,000 requests between December 1, 2012 and May 31, 2013, encompassing 9,000 to 10,000 devices. We don’t know how many of those were part of the government surveillance. We also have no data for dates prior to that point.

Apple has been adamant about two things: one, that they did not know about the PRISM program until news agencies contacted them with the leaked story on June 6; and two, that they have never allowed direct server access to any agency, including the NSA. They also state that they do not keep much data from customers for any period of time, and that encryption programs built into their operating systems and apps keep them from gathering much of it in the first place.

“For example, conversations which take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them. Apple cannot decrypt that data,” they said in their press release.

Apple is the latest high tech company that was accused of being part of PRISM to come forward. Last week, Facebook released their own statement saying that they had received 9,000 to 10,000 government requests based around 18,000 to 19,000 accounts in the last six months of 2012. They complied with 79%, denying the others due to inconsistencies or potential legal problems with those petitions.

Giving the companies the benefit of the doubt and accepting that they knew nothing of PRISM, it still raises ethical and legal questions about their compliance with government interference. With the law so often behind the development of new technology, none of us should be surprised by what we are learning about PRISM. We should be surprised that it isn’t happening more.

Source: Apple

Original article: Apple is the latest to release NSA PRISM details

©2013 It's a Gadget. All Rights Reserved.

Because of their high price tag and resale value, smartphones are a hot item for thieves. Many of us walk around with our phones out all the time, not paying attention to our surroundings. This makes us easy targets for those looking to steal a smartphone, further exacerbating an already serious problem.

The Secure Our Smartphones Initiative (S.O.S) is a consumer group that has teamed up with law enforcement agencies around the country for this cause. It’s goal is to get the mobile phone industry to install these kill switches, and pay for it themselves.

“The industry has a moral and social obligation to fix this problem,” San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, one of the main forces behind the initiative, said.

Concerns have been raised by cell phone manufacturers that this would impede the choices of the consumer. But S.O.S denies this, as the whole point behind the kill switch is that the original owner of the device would have control over whether or not it was activated. Not law enforcement, who would merely offer the kill switch as an option when a case of theft was reported.

I think it is pretty funny hearing these businesses talk about ‘consumer choice’ as a reason to fight against this security measure. They try to take away that same choice all the time. Just look at Apple and their constant battle against jailbreaking, or Microsoft, with their strike against used games. Are we really supposed to believe that this is the line they draw?

In any case, the technology itself is feasible, though it could potentially be costly. Likely the real reason behind the dissent.

The need for the kill switch is very real, however. According to current statistic released through S.O.S, 1.6 million smartphones were stolen last year in the U.S. alone, and one in every three robberies will include a mobile device. A number of these thefts became violent, and people have been killed for their iPhones.

Just earlier this year, a friend of mine had his iPhone stolen out of his hand in San Diego. Using the GPS tracking through an app that could be accessed on his PC, he went to the guy’s house and threatened to call the cops. He got his phone back, but he took a huge risk. It would have been much better if he could have bricked the phone.

Source: CNN Money

Original article: Law Enforcement looking to create “Kill Switch” for stolen Smartphones

©2013 It's a Gadget. All Rights Reserved.

The move is part of their attempts to better link discussions across the web. Since Facebook is not as open as Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram, it is difficult right now to get the full picture of how information is trending through the social media giant. Hashtags will allow public topics to link to one another to see a more thorough view of what people are saying.

However, it isn’t going to work in exactly the same way as other websites. Facebook is still, by its very nature, private. While you can allow strangers to see your profile, most people choose not to. Facebook itself discourages people from leaving their profiles open to the world. Hence why their security options are some of the most commonly updated features on the site.

You will be able to individually control who sees hashtags in the same way you would status updates. Hashtags originating on other services, such as Twitter, are now clickable when shared through Facebook. You can search for specific tags from your search bar. As for composing status updates, you can now do so from the hashtag feed.

It will be interesting to see how this works out. Personally, I don’t see the point in adding hashtags to Facebook. It just doesn’t use the same algorithm type of other social networks that require this kind of post grouping. Sure, people still use hashtags sometimes on the site. But it is to add context to a comment, and usually used satirically or sarcastically.

In the end, this seems more like a move for the analytics crowd, rather than the individual user. Using hashtags could have some cool implications for those being used on open discussions, and especially on Pages. But the ability to see trending topics on a larger scale on Facebook is really going to be exciting for the average social media marketer that has had to rely on smaller scale tools in the past to do their job.

This isn’t the only search-based tool Facebook is launching. They have also presented Graph Search, which lets you search locally for people who share your interests, restaurants, clubs, bands, ect. Every search result is unique, set to the privacy settings of the person doing the search and what people have shared between one another.

I guess we will just have to see how both features fare in coming months.

Source: Facebook Newsroom

Original article: Facebook introduces Hashtags, but #TwitterAlreadyDidIt

©2013 It's a Gadget. All Rights Reserved.

Usually when you get a different version of a single model, it is a mini or containing larger storage space. It might have a couple of features that aren’t available on all devices within the range, but mostly things stay the same. Everything but price, of course.

What makes the S4 Zoom so special is that it has all the features of the regular Galaxy S4 that is its predecessor, but also has an entirely different function as a digital camera.

The first impression you might have upon seeing the Galaxy S4 Zoom is that it’s weird looking. At least for a smartphone, which it first and foremost is. You have the usual sleek, touch screen design of the Galaxy S4 Mini, but on the back is a camera. Literally, there is an unfolding camera lens sticking out of the back of the phone.

Obviously, this makes the model itself much thicker than the Galaxy S4 Mini. But not nearly so much as many digital camera on the market, and you can tell right away that its going to be remarkably lightweight. The lens can unfold quite a distance, but when not activated will sit almost flat against the back.

But what is really impressive is the capability of the camera. This is the first time a 16-megapixel camera with a 10x zoom lens has been featured with a smartphone. The photos taken with it will be much higher quality than what you are used to for smartphone devices. It is a whole new next step in integrating technology.

Those who like video chatting have no need to fret. It has a 1.9 megapixel camera on the front that can be used.

A couple of other cool features new to the camera/smartphone is the Zoom Ring, which can be activated during a phone call and allows for in-call photo sharing, a Photo Suggest gallery to see other people’s shots, and Story Album, a timeline you can create of images and videos to share with friends via social networking or phone to phone transfer.

Unlike the other Galaxy devices, the Galaxy S4 Zoom is probably going to be a controversial one. The concept is really cool, and the features are solid. But will it be enough to encourage users to drop their digital cameras and go with a dual option? Only time will tell.

Source: Samsung Mobile Press

Original article: Samsung announced Galaxy S4 Zoom, a strange yet interesting smartphone device

©2013 It's a Gadget. All Rights Reserved.

When it comes to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles, the debate is right now more intense than ever before. We still see the console wars raging, but now there are fewer choices to battle it out. Old school gamers will remember the console wars in the 80′s and 90′s. It seemed there was a new device out every other month, and most of them flopped…hard.

I recently saw a post on Reddit about this fight. It showed the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as Voldemort and Harry Potter, tensely glaring at one another with wands drawn. Below then was an image of Luna Lovegood…as the Nintendo Wii. That pretty much sums up the console wars in a nutshell.

But the truth is, PlayStation 4 has managed to reach the top for the moment, as backlash against the Xbox One continues to increase.

The Scandal

Controversy began after it was learned that the Xbox One console would always be connected to the Internet, with no option to turn it to extended offline gaming. Which meant it would always be sending out data, with regular updates. This caused concern with privacy advocates. Concern that has grown to a frenzy after the NSA PRISM story broke. Microsoft is allegedly one of the first companies to have signed on with the surveillance program seven years ago.

It locks out how much time you can use the new Xbox console offline (24 hours on your console, one hour on another console), and monitors your games.

Then came news that they were giving game publishers the option of disallowing any trading or gifting of used games. Microsoft itself heavily restricts game sharing, only letting you give games to people who have been on your list for 30 days, and only once. Once given, a game cannot be regifted. Loaning and borrowing games will not be allowed at all.

Only ten people can be allowed access to your game library from your own console.

None of these restrictions have gone over well with gamers, who are angry at the lack of privacy and control.

PlayStation 4 Prevails

On the other side of things, the PlayStation 4 console is gaining a great deal of support for its lack of restrictions. They have open sharing and trade-ins/selling of games, which are at the owner’s discretion. This is a stark contrast to the blatant lack of freedom given by Microsoft, despite the users paying for the original games.

Hardware wise, it is more graphics based thanks to its 8GB GDDR5 RAM, the same type used in PC’s with high graphics capabilities. But just the fact that it isn’t always online or forcing players to only play the way Microsoft wants will give it the edge over the Xbox One.

Both consoles will be available at the end of this year, Xbox One in November and will cost $499 while PlayStation 4 around holidays and will cost $399(Amazon.com says PlayStation 4 will be shipped on 31 December). Xbox One is a bit pricey because it’s shipped with the new Kinect sensor, while PlayStation 4 only comes in the standard package.

After you compare these consoles and add what we find out from E3 2013, the real winner seems to be Sony and Play Station 4 console. But the situation was similar when PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were announced and at the end both consoles were pretty much equal in terms of speed and graphics.

Original article: Xbox One vs PlayStation 4 – The battle rages on

©2013 It's a Gadget. All Rights Reserved.

The announcement was made during their keynote speech at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco less than an hour ago. In addition to talking about the launch, they went into the new features that will make this version the most advanced yet.

The Speech

Apple started off by addressing the retail situation around the world. They now have 407 stores, the latest in Berlin. They also spoke about the 50 billion apps in the App Store, 375,000 of which are for the iPad alone. They showed a graph of their app sale shares, which is 74% of all apps purchased (Android taking 20%, Others taking 6%).

This was all filler, but welcome filler given the number of developers present that are responsible for the success of Apple’s apps in the first place. Even so, everyone was eager to get to the bulk of the keynote.

OS X Mavericks

After speaking a bit about the Mac, they made their first announcement: the release of the OS X Mavericks. It is the first operating system for the new generation Mac computers not named after some form of cat. But that is hardly the most interesting part about it.

First up was Finder Tabs, a feature that got a lot of positive feedback from the gathered crowd. Basically, the finder windows can now be expanded using tabs for multiple searches without multiple windows. This is in addition to multiple displays, file tags that better organize large number of files without folders, improved battery and wake times, and independently panned Spaces on every screen.

What is so cool about the multiple displays in particular is that each screen has its own dock, menu, functions and features. They won’t just be an extended version of the same display, giving it an exciting purpose for the Apple TV in particular.

iOS 7

Next came the announcement of the iOS 7. This was a huge reveal, one that had been rumored for a couple of weeks as people speculated about what might included in Apple’s keynote speech.

“iOS 7 is the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone,” Tim Cook told the crowd. “It’s packed with amazing new features, and an amazing new interface.”

First, they showed off the general design. The lockscreen is brand new, and you slide the screen upward to unlock it. All settings and volume controls are set in a separate area that can be slid up on the touch screen from the bottom.

All icons are on the home screen, and they look slightly different with their flatter design. The biggest change is probably the keyboard and UI setting controls, which are all see-through, allowing you to see everything that is behind it. Which this sounds like it might be disorienting, it is actually an attractive feature that sets the iOS 7 apart from its predecessors.

The Control Center has been completely redesigned, allowing you to take all of your most used features and make them available from any screen. You can now have all of your chosen quick access tools right at the bottom of the interface in a drawer that can be swiped from the bottom of the screen. It also comes with the notifications menu at the top, which you can select for seeing your notifications for the day, rather than alerts at once.

Anyone who wants a peer-to-peer file sharing program will have AirDrop, integrated for various devices like the iPhone 5, iPad and iPad Mini. This seems to be an attempt to compete with other services, like Dropbox.

Safari will be more focused towards customization and social networking this time around. Sharing links will be easier than ever before, as will quick bookmarking and access to sites through the redesigned browser. It will take less resources to run, as well, further improving on the battery life.

Photos can be automatically organized into Moments, rather than an endless scroll of images. The camera itself has built-in filters, and modes can be switched through swiping the screen, rather than buttons.

Sick of buying flashlight apps? The iOS 7 now provides one in their Control Center for you to use. A small feature, but still a cool one that many people will use.

Other features include a new calendar app, a new weather app (that looks almost exactly like Yahoo’s weather app), a better world time clock, folders that can have multiple pages, and multitaking in all apps.

All in all, this is an incredible overhaul of the original features of the iOS. Even the OS X Mavericks seems like it will be an improvement, with apps like their disastrous Maps being updated.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Fall!

Source: Tech Crunch

Original article: Apple announces iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks at WWDC 2013

©2013 It's a Gadget. All Rights Reserved.