HTC Said To Release M8_EYE, Features 13MP Rear Facing Duo Camera

According to two several recent leaks, HTC is set to launch a new variant of the One (M8), known internally as the M8_EYE, complete with a 13MP rear facing Duo Camera in tow.

The phone should feature all of the M8’s same specifications, except for its new 13MP camera. In addition, the phone will run Android 4.4+ with Sense 6 out of the box, same as the current M8 offering from HTC. 

It is reported that HTC will announce and release this device in October, where HTC is slated to have an event on October 8 for its Recamera event in New York City.

Pantech Puts Itself Up for Sale, Seeking A Cool $366 Million

Pantech, based in Korea, has staked a For Sale sign in its front lawn. The company, which declared the equivalent of bankruptcy last month, is seeking a buyer to scoop up the entire business. Pantech has been facing trouble all year long. It twice sought delays in debt payments and entered into court receivership in August. The company believes it will fetch a higher price if sold as a single entity (approx. $366 million) rather than broken up and sold in pieces (approx. $181 million). 

Bids for the company are due in early October. Pantech found itself unable to compete with Samsung and LG, which are also based in Korea. It faced financial losses six quarters in a row, which led to its debt problems and eventual bankruptcy.

Source: CNET

Apple To Acquire Beats Music & Beats Electronics For $3 Billion

Apple has officially closed on a deal to purchase Beats Electronics for $3B. 

Apple announced the deal in an official press release:
Apple today announced it has agreed to acquire the critically acclaimed subscription streaming music service Beats Music, and Beats Electronics, which makes the popular Beats headphones, speakers and audio software. As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will join Apple. 

Apple is acquiring the two companies for a total of $3 billion, consisting of a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time.

“Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.”

“I’ve always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple,” said Jimmy Iovine. “The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special.”

The deal marks the largest acquisition ever made by Apple including its $400 million deal in 1996 to purchase the company NeXT which brought Steve Jobs back to Apple.

AT&T To Acquire DIRECTV For $48.5 Billion

Today, AT&T officially announced plans to acquire DIRECTV for $48.5 billion. AT&T thinks the combined companies can become a content distribution leader across mobile, video and broadband platforms. For now, this move shouldn't impact AT&T wireless service at all.

From the press release AT&T stated “This purchase price implies a total equity value of $48.5 billion and a total transaction value of $67.1 billion, including DIRECTV’s net debt.”

Source: AT&T

Meet The Moto E, Complete Specs Revealed

The unannounced Moto E recently made a brief appearance on Motorola Mexico’s Facebook page, only to be pulled by its publisher. This quick sneak peek gave us a look at what we might see during the company’s media event on May 13th.

Here’s what we can expect under the hood of the Moto E:

• 4.3-inch Gorilla Glass display
• 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 4GB of storage
• 1,98 0mAh battery
• Dual-SIM slots
• 5-megapixel rear-facing camera
• Android 4.4 KitKat

We will bring you more details as they become available, what do you think is Motorola/Google/Lenovo doing it right with the Moto E?

Dr Dre All But Confirmed Beats/Apple Deal

Although we haven't heard an official confirmation from Apple or Beats Electronics about a possible Apple buyout, after news broke that the Apple was going buy music streaming company Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion. Dr Dre, one of Beats’ co-founders seems to have other views about transparency.



Playing around with some other folks, Tyrese Gibson starts out the video with a reference to the Beats/Apple news. “Billionaire boys club for real, homie…. The Forbes list just changed!…”

“In a big way,” rejoined Dr Dre.“The first billionaire in hip hop, right here on the motherf*ckin West Coast!” Dre says, standing behind Tyrese Gibson laughing and hollers off camera.

Shit just got real, yo.

Dish Is Ready To Bid On T-Mobile

Dish Network Chairman Charles Ergen wants Dish to become a wireless carrier. Ergen was shot down twice when Dish was outbid by SoftBank for Sprint, and outbid by Sprint for Clearwire. Ergen also put in a bid for bankrupt third party network provider LightSquared only to see another party interfere yet again.

Earlier this year Dish finally won an auction for H-Block spectrum for $1.56 billion. Which made Dish the fifth largest holder of spectrum. Ergen has said he would let Sprint bid on T-Mobile. If Sprint's attempt to buy T-Mobile fails Dish will step in to buy the fourth largest U.S. carrier. Ergen says that Dish doesn't have cash flow to outbid Sprint for T-Mobile, Ergen would rather sit on the sidelines to see how a Sprint T-Mobile deal pans out. 

Earlier visits to the FCC and FTC by Sprint chairman Masayoshi Son, and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, went poorly for the nation's third largest carrier, which doesn't look good for a Sprint T-Mobile deal. However, regulators like the possibility of Dish becoming the fifth largest wireless carrier in the U.S. 

The FCC has already approved Dish's request to use some of its recently purchased H-Block spectrum for satellite transmissions, as a conduit for cellular calls and data.

Source: Bloomberg

Moto G Cinema Spotted on Motorola's Site

Our friend @evleaks has been tweeting a lot about the Moto G lately. Today is no different, a mysterious screenshot taken from Motorola’s site listing a “Moto G Cinema.” has been leaked.

There isn't much to go on here. We're not sure if this is a new phone, simply a software feature, or could this be part of Motorola's May 13th announcement in London?

Whats your thoughts, let us know in the comment section below...

Beats By Cook, Apple Rumored To Buy Beats Electronics For $3.2B

According to the Financial Times, Apple is currently in negotiations to purchase Beats Electronics for a sum of $3.2 billion. The deal could be made as soon as next week, but from what sources state a few terms need to be ironed out first. If the deal goes through for $3.2 billion this would be Apple’s largest acquisition to date. 
Unlike HTC, Apple’s deal would be for all aspects of the company. Which would include hardware, streaming music services, and all that falls under the Beats name.

We'll keep you posted as news comes available, in the mean time what's your take on Apple buying Beats Electronics; leave your comments below?

Dr Dre All But Confirmed Beats/Apple Deal...

Google's Read It Later Service "Stars" In Action

A couple of weeks ago software developer Florian Kiersch leaked an unannounced Google platform known as Stars. From what we can see in the video, Stars is Google’s next generation take on bookmarking content from the web. Up until now, we've only seen pictures of Google's unannounced Stars, however Kiersch was able to gain access to parts of Stars’ web-based UI.

While the included video leaves a lot to the imagination, the video shows the set-up process and how to organize content folders.