Apple has officially announced CarPlay, its new in-car interface that'll be compatible with new Ferrari, Mercedes and Volvo cars unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show this week. Designed "from the ground up" to bridge the gap between your iPhone and your auto, it will offer touch- and Siri-based voice navigation of your smartphone services, including contacts, voicemail, notifications, map directions and music cueing -- it will even support third-party apps like Spotify and iHeartRadio from launch. Voice controls will be activated by a button on the steering wheel, while the in-car touchscreen is populated with those familiar iOS 7 icons for easy access. The service will launch as an iOS update for Lightning-enabled iPhones (that's iPhone 5 and up), with CarPlay-compatible vehicles launching later this year. And if any of the above aren't your preferred automaker, Apple says that you can expect compatible cars from BMW, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and several more in the near future.

OVERVIEW 
The latest version of Google's Android continues its long history of sweet themes. KitKat focuses on bringing improvements to older Android devices, while adding a few cool new features. Among other things, it optimizes memory usage across the board and adds a Moto X-like feature that enables an "always listening" mode to Google Now for quick searches and information. It is available now on the Nexus 5 and will be coming to other Android devices soon.

HTC's latest smartphone is much smaller than the company's recent flagship models, such as the One X+, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Its 4.3-inch HD display is one of the sharpest and brightest available on a smartphone, eclipsing even the Retina display on the iPhone 5. It includes a very good camera, a fast processor, and performs well on 4G LTE data networks from AT&T and Verizon (the phone is also available on T-Mobile, which is in the process of launching its LTE network). The 8X runs on Windows Phone 8, which improves on earlier versions of Microsoft's mobile OS with a more customizable start screen, a new version of Internet Explorer, and good parental controls. While the Windows Phone app ecosystem isn't quite as robust as iOS or Android, many key apps are already available for the OS, and more are being added daily. The 8X has half as much storage as you'll find on the Nokia Lumia 920, its chief competitor in the Windows Phone space (AT&T's $99 version has a quarter of the storage). Its screen is also slightly smaller, and it lacks some of the 920's other unique features, such as a camera with optical image stabilization. However, it's also much lighter than the 920, which can be a real issue for a device you'll be carrying all day. If you're ready to make the jump to a Windows phone, the 8X is your best bet if you're a Verizon customer, and a good option for AT&T users as well, though the Lumia 920 is also worth checking out.

Dropbox just not doing the trick for your design work load? Perhaps Adobe can help. The company has announced Creative Cloud, a "hub for viewing, sharing and syncing of files created by Adobe Touch Apps and Adobe Creative Suite." Included with the service is 20GB of cloud storage, which will probably get you through that web design project you've been putting off. After the first of the year, Adobe expects its cloud to include access to applications software (apps too), digital publishing / business services and a global creative community for inspiration and feedback. Also unveiled were Touch Apps, a set of six applications designed to make your tablet a design machine -- if you're down to work on that small of a screen, of course. You'll have to wait until November to find out just how much the Creative Cloud will set you back, but in the meantime check out the source link for more details.

After much speculation, Samsung finally announced the Galaxy S5 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. The smartphone has not yet landed stateside, and some of you might be wondering if the Galaxy S5 is the device for you. Read on for the top questions about the new phone to see if you should pick one up.

How is the Galaxy S5 any different than the S4?
Though early rumors tipped a radical departure from the Galaxy S4 with the S5, the new smartphone looks pretty similar to the S4, save for the textured plastic back with a stipple pattern. As is usually the case with many smartphone upgrades, the real differences are on the inside. On the Galaxy S5 that includes a better camera, more stunning display, and that rumored fingerprint sensor

Is the fingerprint sensor like the one on the iPhone 5s?
Yes, like the iPhone 5s , the Galaxy S5's sensor is housed in the home button, and you can use it to unlock your device. But the GS5 sensor also allows for secure payments via PayPal and other mobile wallets like Isis and Google Wallet. Samsung will also have an SDK so third parties can use it for authentication, so expect its functionality to expand.

 What type of camera upgrades are we talking about?
The Galaxy S5 features a 16-megapixel camera, up from the 13 megapixels in the S4, though the 2-megapixel front-facing camera remains. During his hands on with the S5, PCMag's Sascha Segan found the camera to be "very fast," and mentioned the 0.3-second autofocus, which makes "sharp pictures feel instant." It also includes live high-dynamic range (HDR) preview, the first time Segan had seen that in a phone, so you can see what the popular HDR effect will do to your images and video. It also records 4K video at 30 frames per second, though you'll need a 4K device (Samsung has a few 4K TVs) to view your 4K content. Meanwhile, Samsung has consolidated its countless camera "modes" to make it easier to find one that works for you.

And the display is better?
It's not much bigger than the S4 (5.1 inches vs. 5 inches). But Samsung included a custom image chip that dynamically adjusts the color gamut and contrast based on ambient light. "It's a big step up from the standard automatic brightness control, and it makes the colors really pop under different lighting conditions," Segan found.

So should I get this if I have an S4?
If your contract is up and you have the $200 it will probably cost to get the S5, go for it. But the upgrades are not really significant enough to warrant paying a hefty early termination fee if you're only one year into a two-year contract. Unless you're really serious about having the latest and greatest smartphone, might be best to wait for the Galaxy S6.

If I'm on iOS, is this worth making the switch to Android? In our experience, people are usually solidly in Camp Android or Camp iOS. But switches have been known to happen; our junior analyst for mobile, Eugene Kim, gave up his iPhone for Android just last year. And while the S5 is a lovely phone, it's not such a huge step forward in smartphone innovation that it would warrant ditching your iPhone 5s, for example, which already has a nice camera, brilliant screen, and a fingerprint sensor. If you're undecided, though, you can check out our spec comparison between the Galaxy S5 and iPhone 5s.

Will my carrier offer the Galaxy S5?
Like earlier Galaxy phones, the new Galaxy S5 will be widely available. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS, and U.S. Cellular have already committed to offering the new smartphone. And the phone will be on sale at Samsung Experience Shops in Best Buy, Amazon, Costco, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Target, and Walmart.

When can I buy it?
Thus far, Samsung has only promised that it will be available "this spring." Exact release dates are usually up to the carriers. Last year, Samsung revealed the Galaxy S4 in mid-March, and it started arriving on U.S. carriers in late April, so look for the Galaxy S5 in mid-April.

How do the new Gear smartwatches fit into this?
Samsung was also at MWC to unveil its next-gen Gear smartwatches, the Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit. The big news? The devices ditch Android (and the Galaxy moniker) to go with Tizen. But unlike the Galaxy Gear , which only worked with the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) at launch, the new Gear devices will work with "dozens" of Samsung Galaxy smartphones when they arrive this spring - including your new Galaxy S5. Functionality is similar, though, offering alerts and the ability to complete certain smartphone functions on your wrist.

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Human is a slickly designed fitness tracking app that works without any hardware devices. You just launch the app, set it up and you’re all done. Launched in September, the app received its first major update.

“First and foremost, the update is a massive upgrade to our tracking system,” co-founder and CEO Renato Valdés Olmos told me. “Apart from improved accuracy and battery life, Human now also tracks indoor and stationary activity, as long as you have your phone on you.”

At heart, Human remains a passive iOS app designed to help you stay healthy. The goal is to move for 30 minutes every day, and to keep up with this simple habit. The company calls it the ‘Daily 30′. As it is extremely simple, keeping up with Human is easier than with competitive fitness systems.

After setting up the app, you can forget about it. Whenever you reach the goal, you get a push notification alerting you that you are staying healthy today — it’s as simple as that.

But there was a flaw. Until today, only outdoor activities were tracked. You could dance all night long without reaching the Daily 30. Now, Human tracks indoor activities and adds them to your Daily 30. You don’t need an iPhone 5S, as long as you have an iPhone 4S and up, you are good to go.

Other refinements came with the update as well. There are a few more stats now, you can see your streak and get badges. And of course, you can still tap on the big number to get more details about your activities. For example, as Human works with the phone’s GPS, you can even see where you ran last night.

While Human is much simpler than Fitbit and others, it all comes down to staying healthy — and it actually works. “The metric we’re really proud of however is qualitative,” Valdés Olmos said. “Humans move 40 percent more 6 weeks after downloading the app, a steady habit change.”

The next step for Human is to go beyond the Daily 30. You can reward users for some activities for example, and Human users should see that in future updates. As long as the emphasis remains on design and simplicity, the app will still be different enough to convince casual fitness app users.