Samsung launches new services for the Galaxy S III: Music Hub, S Health and more

Samsung has just taken the wraps off of its highly anticipated Galaxy S III and, in a move similar to Nokia's efforts with the Lumia line, decided to package extra services and features to further differentiate itself from the competition. Mentioned onstage were the S Health “personal wellness app” and an enhanced Music Hub cloud service with access to over 17 million tracks and an iTunes Match-sounding “Scan and Match” feature. Music Hub will launch in seven countries, while the matching feature is supported in six of those.

2DayBlog.com, Samsung launches new services for the Galaxy S III: Music Hub, S Health and more

'TeleHuman' uses Kinect for 3D holographic chat, bumps up options for contacting Obi-Wan (video)

Looks like virtual Tupac might have some company. With Kinect, you are the hologram. Besides logging in lots of quality time at a South Korean theme park, the Kinect is now doing double duty at the Human Media Lab of Queen's University in Canada thanks to a 3D holographic chat system called "TeleHuman." The setup basically creates a life-size rendering of its subject by using six Kinect sensors, a 3D projector and a cylindrical display. This allows the viewer to walk around the cylinder for a 360-degree view of the subject, giving new meaning to having someone's back during a chat.

Engadget, 'TeleHuman' uses Kinect for 3D holographic chat, bumps up options for contacting Obi-Wan (video)

Wall-mounted interactive robot mimics emotions, follows you around, wants to be friends (video)

Not every robot is here to make our food, clean our floors or perform interstellar maintenance for us. Some automatons are there to simply be admired. or in the case of GIA (Gestural Interactive Automaton), to admire us. GIA's a robotic sculpture created by Daniel Jay Bertner that is essentially a projector, projection sphere and a webcam attached to a trio of servo-controlled articulating arms. A human face is projected on the sphere, which follows around folks who view it and changes its facial expression according to viewer reactions.

Engadget

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trendygadgets, Wall-mounted interactive robot mimics emotions, follows you around, wants to be friends (video)

Porsche 960 to be a Ferrari-fighting four-door coupe

Automobile's Georg Kacher goes deep into the Volkswagen product plan, looking at the 32 models that the group's ten brands will roll out over the next five years. These vehicles are expected to drive VW to the top of the mountain in 2018, where the flag for World's Largest Automaker awaits. The armada is based on three platforms: MQB for transverse FWD/AWD cars like the VW Golf, MLB for the longitudinal FWD/AWD cars in Audi's stable, and MSB for AWD/RWD front-, rear- and mid-engined cars like the Porsche 960.

2DayBlog.com, Porsche 960 to be a Ferrari-fighting four-door coupe

More than 50% of U.S. mobile users own smartphones

. The majority of mobile subscribers in the United Stated now own a smartphone according to the latest numbers from Nielsen. The research firm found that 50.4% of all U.S. mobile subscribers owned smartphones in March, up from 47.8% in December 2011. Consumers purchasing new phones picked smartphones more often than featured phones, with Apple called the top manufacturer and Android as the top platform. During the first quarter of 2012, 48% of smartphone owners had an Android-powered device, while 32% of devices ran iOS and 11.6% were on the BlackBerry platform.

Boy Genius Report, More than 50% of U.S. mobile users own smartphones

Judge dismisses most Toyota economic-loss claims from New York, Florida

Even though Toyota's unintended acceleration debacle is as ancient as Jurassic fleas for most of us, the California Distric Court of Judge James Selna is still chainsawing through a massive docket of claims. Judge Selna had been considering whether plaintiffs in California, New York and Florida could sue Toyota for economic loss related to the claims of unintended accleraton – the plaintiffs wanted Toyota to reimburse them for the alleged decline in value of their cars.

Autoblog, Judge dismisses most Toyota economic-loss claims from New York, Florida

India launches antitrust investigation against Google

Google remains tied up in a censorship case with the Indian government, and things aren't looking rosy for the search giant in the interim period before its May 23rd court hearing. The Wall Street Journalreports that the Competition Commission of India is launching an antitrust investigation of Google to examine the company's alleged "discriminatory and retaliatory practices relating to AdWords." The antitrust probe follows a complaint from Consim Info Pvt. Ltd., an Indian web conglomerate which apparently requested that the Competition Commission step in to ensure fair competition in online advertising.

Engadget, India launches antitrust investigation against Google