Google's Field Trip app granting free admission to 13 museums

While Mountain View's Field Trip app may find attractions off the beaten path, footing the bill for excursions has been up to users. Now, however, the Niantic Labs-made application is handing out freebies for an unspecified limited time, allowing those who wield it to waltz into 13 museums for free. Folks near the establishments will receive Free Entry cards in the "nearby" tab, which will let them pass turnstiles without forking over a dime. Although Field Trip has been beefed up with points of interest in over 80 countries, the participating institutions -- which range from The Field Museum to the Walt Disney Family Museum -- are all located in six US cities. Head past the break for the full list.

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KDDI's HTC J One variant packs a microSD slot, additional camera features

These days, the presence of a microSD slot on new handsets is arguably more important than the amount of storage on the inside. One such slot found its way onto the Chinese variants of HTC's One, and now Japanese network KDDI has unveiled its model -- the HTC J One (aka HTL22) -- also with expandable memory on the spec sheet (up to 64GB cards supported). An accompanying promo video has informed us of some new camera modes as well, including a best shot feature like Nokia's Smart Group Shot or BlackBerry's Time Shift, the ability to edit out background photobombers, and creating slow-mo highlights within video clips. We'd hope to see a camera software update bringing these features to US Ones in the future, but for now, check out what you're missing in the video below.

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Sony Xperia UL announced for Japan 5inch 1080p display and 15frame burst photography skills video

The FCC may have spoiled the surprise, but Sony's now gone official with yet another smartphone and this one's for its native Japan. The Xperia UL appears to be a slightly thicker riff on the Xperia Z, matching the display of the company's early-2013 flagship, with a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) ticking behind the 5-inch 1080p screen. It's worth noting that it's a substantial resolution bump from the similar-looking 720p NTT DoCoMo Xperia A. Although it's not the Snapdragon 600 rumored, Qualcomm's S4 Pro flexes its muscle through Exmor RS 13-megapixel camera sensor, offering up the ability to capture 15 frames in a second. NFC, naturally, is already in attendance as well as the Felica wireless payment system. You'll also get the benefits of both a physical camera button and water (IPX5/8) and dust resistance (IP5X) -- two features in tandem that should help separate it from Sony's pair of existing 5-inch 1080p smartphones. The Xperia UL will launch on KDDI's au network in white, black and hot pink colors on May 25th. Check out the obligatory close-up ad after the break.

Update: The Xperia UL runs on an S4 Pro processor, not the Snapdragon 600 initially stated.

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Nook Simple Touch reportedly getting web browser, email client on June 1st

Remember that web browser that was found hiding in the Nook's search function? It's time could be nigh. According to a leaked memo acquired by TechCrunch, Barnes & Nobel will be updating the Nook Simple Touch and Simple Touch with Glowlight with an email app, web browser and an updated store next month. The update will reportedly be sent over the air starting on June 1st and rolling out to all devices in the following weeks. The idea isn't too far fetched -- the Simple Touch is running a skinned version of Android. Nook owners not willing to wait for the official patch can always root the device of course, which comes with some peripheral advantages. Check out TechCrunch for a look the full memo.

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ASUS Transformer Book review: meet ASUS' first detachable Ultrabook

For a while, it looked like ASUS' Transformer Book would turn out to be vaporware: after debuting to much fanfare a year ago, it encountered numerous delays, and even missed the crucial holiday shopping season. Now it's finally here, priced at $1,499 with a Core i7 processor, a 13.3-inch (1080p) screen and a detachable keyboard dock housing both a spare battery and a 500GB hard drive. The problem is the timing: Intel is about to launch its new Haswell chips, and here's the Transformer Book, arriving on the scene with a lofty price and a year-old CPU.

It'd be easy enough to tell you just wait for a refresh, which is how we've been ending all of our PC reviews in the weeks leading up to this year's Computex. But it's still worth investigating whether the Transformer Book (aka the TX300) is a compelling idea. Though we've seen many tablet hybrids (the Surface Pro, etc.), they've mostly had smaller 11-inch screens. So what happens when you take that form factor and stretch it to accommodate a bigger screen -- and a more spacious keyboard? And how does it compare to all those convertible options out there, like the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 or the Dell XPS 12? Let's have a look.

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LG to demo 5inch flexible and unbreakable plastic OLED panel at SID 2013

LG's got quite a bit in store for us this week at SID's annual display exhibition in Vancouver. In addition to that 55-inch curved OLED TV we first heard about last month, the company will be demonstrating a very nifty 5-inch OLED panel. Created for mobile devices, the display is constructed of plastic, making it both flexible and unbreakable -- certainly a welcome quality when it comes to smartphone design.

Also on display will be 5- and 7-inch HD Oxide TFT panels. That first size features a bezel that's just 1mm wide, enabling a borderless frame when installed in smartphones. Both displays are lightweight and consume less power than their traditional equivalents. Finally, LG will have a 14-inch 2560x1440-pixel laptop panel on hand, along with LCDs designed for use in refrigerators and automotive dashboards. We'll be live from the SID show floor later this week -- check back for our hands-ons with all of these new LG panels, and quite a bit more.

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Lenovo IdeaPad U310 review

Fussy about boot times, carry-weight or weak battery life? Then you probably gave Lenovo's IdeaPad U310 a wide berth. The thing is, aside from those flaws, it was otherwise a very solid Ultrabook for those whose wallets couldn't stretch to a premium model. We want to know, did you buy one? If so, what did you think of it, and let's imagine you were dreaming up a budget Ultrabook -- what would you change?

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

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The Weekly Roundup for 12032012

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Samsung plans to launch 55, 65inch 4K TVs in June

When Samsung unveiled its first 4K Ultra HD TV at CES this year, it said other sizes would follow, both larger and smaller than the initial 85-inch version. Now it's apparently ready to fulfill part of that promise, announcing in Korea that 65- and 55-inch models will launch next month. Of course our next question is how these smaller models will compare to the $39,999 MSRP 85S9 UHD TV in price. Hopefully they'll follow the path blazed by Sony, which recently introduced models at that size with pricing well below the $10,000 benchmark, although we expect Seiki's 50-incher will still hold the crown for value pricing. The press release mentions they will feature Samsung's upgradeable Smart TV platform and the "micro dimming ultimate" LED lighting of their larger cousin, but the odd "Timeless Gallery" frame / stand (pictured above on the 85-incher) was not listed.

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