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Samsung-booth-sign

Well, it’s official. Samsung Unpacked 2013, “Episode 2,” where the Korean electronics giant will finally unveil the Galaxy Note III, has been scheduled. Samsung has today begun issuing press invites to the event, which will take place on August 4, two days before IFA 2013 kicks off in Berlin.

LG-G2-manual

A leaked user manual for the upcoming LG G2 confirms that it will be one of just a few Android-powered devices that support the nano-SIM. It also appears to debunk the reports that have suggested the handset will feature a fingerprint scanner.

galaxy_folderfolder

Don’t you ever wish you could buy a decent, Android-powered flip phone? No, me neither. But Samsung is building one anyway. It’s called the Galaxy Folder, and we first heard about it back in July. Now the device has been pictured in the wild ahead of its official unveiling.

parrot-zik-6

The Starck-designed Parrot Zik.

It has the technological sophistication of a sonic screwdriver. Its design elements look as if pulled straight out of another dimension. And there may not be another set of headphones on this planet — or any other — baked with as many ingredients as the Parrot Zik.

But we were curious — would all this tech work? And how would the Ziks sound? So we poked them with a stick, and here’s what we discovered. Allons-y!

Zik by Parrot
Category: Bluetooth Headphones, Circumaural
Works With: Phones, MP3 players
Price: $399

chromecast

Suddenly, Google is a major hardware company. And a surprisingly great one. But why?

I asked a Motorola executive involved in the Moto X project recently whether Google’s ownership of the company had any effect on their decision to get radical.

By radical, of course, I mean doing things no handset maker had ever done, such as make phones operate hands-free and build them to order in the United States for delivery in four days.

You’ll note that these and other radical attributes of the Moto X are options that would have been available to Motorola with or without Google. After all, the X8 Mobile Computing System that enables hands-free usage is Motorola’s, not Google’s, and was originally developed for Motorola smartwatches.

So why is Motorola suddenly radical now that Google owns the company?

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