Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been hearing about the HTC M4 for quite a while now, and thanks to the folks at Phone Arena, they have managed to get their hands on what looks like a leaked press rendering of the upcoming device. To be honest if this really is the phone we can expect, it does look pretty good! In fact we are reminded somewhat of the HTC One with the design and its front-facing speakers, although we guess it would be the internals of the device that some of you guys might be more interested in.

So what kind of specs could we be looking at? Well for those who might be hearing about the HTC M4 for the first time, or who might have forgotten, the phone is expected to be a smaller version of the HTC One with a 4.3” 720p HD display, a dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage on board. The HTC M4 is also expected to utilize the Ultrapixel camera technology on the HTC One, 4G LTE connectivity and will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Rumor also has it that the device could be shipping in Q2 2013.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Watch How HTC One Is Fashioned Out Of Pure Metal, Iron Man Mark VII Armor Case For iPhone 5 Features A Flashing Power Core,

Google and its auditor will be quizzed a second time on allegations of tax avoidance in the UK, it’s reported, after investigations into whether the search giant misled a government committee turned up some inconsistencies. Google’s own London staff – not to mention its customers – believe they’re responsible for the sort of sales that would make the UK division liable for a far larger tax bill, Public Accounts Committee head Margaret Hodge reportedly confirmed to Reuters, despite Google VPs arguing that the only sales to UK clients happen from the company’s Dublin branch in Ireland.

The incongruities will see both Google and the company’s auditor, Ernst & Young, pulled back in front of the PAC to answer more questions, not least to explain whether they purposefully misled the committee at their last appearance in 2012. At the time, Google VP for Northern and Central Europe Matt Brittin insisted that “nobody is selling” from the London offices, and that it was at pains to “comply with all the tax rules in the UK.”

That certainty was apparently not shared by Google staff nor the company’s recruitment team, however. London-based positions cite roles that include “negotiating deals”, closing “strategic and revenue deals”, and achieving “quarterly sales quotas” it’s pointed out, while Reuters’ digging through LinkedIn profiles, among other things, suggests staff at Google London are claiming responsibility for the sort of UK sales tasks the company claims only take place in Ireland.

Brittin argues that’s poor phrasing on Google’s part, out of a hope “to attract people with those skills and that background”, and claims the company is rectifying what language it uses. Nonetheless, it’s enough to get Hodge suspicious.

“We will need to very quickly call back the Google executives to give them a chance to explain themselves and to ensure that actually what they told us first time around is not being economical with the truth” she told the news site about the second in-person phase of the investigation. Google’s tax records for 2005-2011 were already to be re-examined by the UK tax authority.

As for the auditors, having told the committee that its team had physically walked the Google London offices to check whether actual responsibilities matched those the company declared, Ernst & Young is also back under the spotlight. “The evidence they gave was clear and unambiguous” Hodge pointed out. “Ernst & Young have questions to answer about whether they were being wholly open with us as a committee.”

The ongoing allegations – that Google uses tax loopholes to shuffle income through its Irish subsidiary, thus minimizing its UK bill – have already prompted strong words from high-level execs at the search giant. Executive chairman Eric Schmidt denied wrongdoing recently, arguing that Google was in fact spurring on UK industry by empowering startups, among other things. The question of taxes in specific countries, Schmidt argued, was outdated, and who owed what, and where, should be looked at in a more global sense, given the spread of multinationals. When, exactly, the new hearing will take place is unclear.

Google tax questions resurface as staff spark suspicion is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Lovers of classic synth, celebrate: pioneer Bob Moog will join the Inventors Hall of Fame today. The USPTO is bestowing that honor for patent number 3,475,623 granted in 1966 for the so-called Moog ladder filter that gave rise to its original synth and Minimoog Synthesizers, and is still used in synths like the Voyager and Sub Phatty today. To fete the occasion, the company is reissuing its classic ladder filter t-shirt that’ll come with a free hall of fame induction poster, and will also hold an ice cream social at the factory store in Asheville, NC. That’ll culminate in a rare Moog synth-heavy performance by aptly-named local group Ice Cream, so if you’re lucky enough to be in the area, the festivities kick off at 6 p.m.

Filed under: Misc, Home Entertainment

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Source: Moog

HTC put its faith in the One to restore its position in high-end smartphones; now, leaks suggest, the company may be sticking closely to the same pattern with the HTC M4 for the midrange. Expected to be visually near-identical to the HTC One, according to phoneArena‘s sources, the M4 (a codename, of course; the One was codenamed HTC M7) is expected to have a 4.3-inch 720p display and an UltraPixel camera.

If that all sounds familiar, we’re not surprised. Chatter around the M4 began in early April, meshing in with this latest leak with talk of a dualcore processor, 16GB of onboard storage versus the 32GB+ of the HTC One, and 2GB of RAM.

However, those rumors pegged the M4 as more of a Facebook-free HTC First, rather than a mini-One. The Facebook Home phone has a 4.3-inch, 720p display after all, along with a dualcore processor, leading to suggestions that the HTC M4 would effectively be a rebadge of the predominantly plastic handset.

Instead, this new batch of rumor pegs a far closer aesthetic to the HTC One for the M4, though it’s unclear how much this is a speculative render from evleaks above, rather than a leak of the actual device. Although similar in design, it’s also expected to shelve some of the One’s rock-solid materials so as to hit a lower price point; whether that means metal-effect plastic rather than the sturdy unibody aluminum we’re so fond of on the One remains to be seen.

Otherwise, the M4 is expected to have LTE, a fixed 1,700 mAh battery – 600 mAh less than the One, not to mention 300 mAh less than the HTC First – and run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean when it arrives near the end of Q2 2013. The biggest difference from the First, beyond software, of course, is the inclusion of UltraPixel technology: HTC’s oversized pixels which trade sheer resolution for improvements in low-light performance.

As a strategy, it’s something we’ve seen work well in the Samsung Galaxy S III mini, borrowing halo branding and design to push a far cheaper model to those with less cash and less ambitious expectations. Whether it’s enough for HTC to continue turning around its 2013 remains to be seen.

HTC M4 to be mini-One not Facebook-free First rumors claim is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Uh-oh, it seems that there could be some bad news for Sprint subscribers who might have pre-ordered their Samsung Galaxy S4 from Best Buy! According to the folks at Android Central, it seems that Best Buy has been sending out emails to customers who have pre-ordered the device, basically stating that they have run into some delays and that the some of the orders placed for Sprint’s version of the Galaxy S4 could be shipped later with dates ranging anywhere between the 9^th of May until the 20^th of May.

Of course this is definitely not good news for those looking forward to getting Samsung’s latest smartphone and Best Buy did state in their email that customers are free to cancel their orders. It does not seem that Best Buy is doing anything to appease these customers, so we guess if you have been affected by the delay, you’ll either have to wait it out, or cancel it and buy it from somewhere else. Any of our readers out there affected by this delay from Best Buy?

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