Engadget News

Nielsen to use watermarks to enhance local channel rating accuracy
New Beck songs get visualized, inspire musical platforming
Inhabitat's Week in Green: liter of light project, space tourism and a 'Hyperloop' train
DARPA-backed Power Pwn is power strip by day, superhero hack machine by night
Chip Yates breaks yet another record, notches 202MPH in world's fastest electric flight (video)
UCLA creates transparent solar cell, dreams of current generating windows
Huawei's MediaPad 10 teases all of its traits in soothing promo video
Ask Engadget: best Mac gamepad?
ULTIMAte hack: Nexus 7 hooks up with external USB storage, floppy drive for retro-gaming
Mobile Miscellany: week of July 16th, 2012
Hulu rolls out a simplified player UI for the web, takes a few cues from mobile
Wi-Fi Media lets your Nexus 7 play movies on any screen via HTC's Media Link HD (hands-on video)
Spotify marks its first anniversary in the US with 13 billion listens, a whole lot of sharing goin' on
Beats increases its share ownership to 75%, lets HTC keep majority stake, 'commercial exclusivity in mobile'
Engadget's tablet buyer's guide: summer 2012 edition

Nielsen to use watermarks to enhance local channel rating accuracy

Posted: 22 Jul 2012 10:40 AM PDT

While we're watching our favorite shows in HD, it's easy to forget that they live and die by ratings, and those ratings aren't always collected with the latest technology. In an effort to improve the sample size and accuracy of ratings for local TV channels, Nielsen is starting to roll out a hybrid technology consisting of watermarks and return data from supporting pay-TV provider's set-top boxes, like DirecTV and Charter. The first three markets to get the upgrade are St. Louis, Dallas and Charlotte, with 17 yet to be announced markets to follow in 2013, and finally, the remaining 190 about two years after that. The system will work in parallel with the older Local People Meters and Diaries for three to six months and will lay the groundwork to collect ratings for online, tablets and other platforms. All the inside industry details and more are in the release after the break.

Show full PR text

Nielsen Reveals Plan for Next Generation Local Audience Ratings

Nielsen Local Audience Ratings Quadruple Sample Size in Metered Markets,
Double Sample Size in Diary Markets;
Build Foundation for Local Cross‐Platform Measurement

NEW YORK – July 20, 2012 – Nielsen, a leading provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, today announced a comprehensive plan for upgrading its Nielsen Local Audience Ratings, the standard used by the Local Media advertising industry. Nielsen's next generation Local Audience Ratings will meet the key needs of its clients and the industry by dramatically increasing sample sizes and stability across all local markets.

Nielsen plans to increase the sample sizes by employing a hybrid measurement methodology combining Nielsen's existing panels, new proprietary measurement technology currently referred to as Nielsen Code Reader and complementary return path data (RPD), commonly obtained from set top box devices. Nielsen is evaluating the availability and viability of RPD data for the industry. These plans have been developed through an extensive client review process. Nielsen has presented its Local Audience Ratings plan to the Media Ratings Council (MRC) and is working closely with the MRC to meet the standards set by the industry.

"Our clients' priorities are clear: improved ratings stability and cross‐platform measurement," said Matt O'Grady, executive vice president and managing director of Local Media at Nielsen. "Nielsen will dramatically increase sample sizes while maintaining the critical principle of market representation. Additionally, Nielsen has developed market leading computer, tablet, and smartphone meters to capture all viewers, all consumers, all segments. This will be the foundation for cross‐platform measurement."

With a total of twenty introductory markets, Nielsen's plan will improve measurement in the Local People Meter (LPM), Set Meter, and Diary markets. Starting in Q4 2012, Nielsen Code Reader installation will begin in the following LPM markets: St. Louis, Dallas, and Charlotte. These markets will be followed by five Set Meter markets: Nashville, Greenville, Birmingham, Albuquerque, and New Orleans. Nielsen will announce the twelve introductory Diary markets shortly.

The Nielsen program will provide broadcast stations and local cable with more granular and stable data for both programming and ad sales and enable agencies and advertisers to operate more efficiently.

Specific client benefits of Nielsen's Local Audience Ratings include:
Quadrupling effective sample size in Local People Meter and Set Metered markets and doubling effective sample size in Diary markets resulting in a significant reduction in ratings variability and zero rated periods;
Maintaining a representative and projectable probability sample across all markets;
Continuous electronic measurement in all markets;
Improved measurement for long‐tail program sources.
Nielsen Local Audience Ratings will be enabled by the following investments:

New proprietary home TV measurement technology, including a breakthrough watermark‐enabled capture device, currently referred to as Nielsen Code Reader;
Unique hybrid approach utilizing Nielsen's Local People Meter and Set Meter panels and return path data from a variety of participating cable and satellite providers.
This initiative also lays the groundwork for local online, tablet and mobile cross‐platform measurement and integrated media/purchase analytics, as well as the transformation of the paper diary.

"With the local market becoming more fragmented, and the need for representative measurement still important, we fully support projectable increased sample sizes in local markets," said Brad Adgate, senior vice president and Director of Research at HORIZON MEDIA. "Nielsen's unique new metering technology, the code reader, shows true promise and will be a more reliable form of data collection than the current state of return path data, which has certain limitations in measuring viewers."

"We are encouraged that Nielsen has announced its hybrid measurement improvements that hold the promise of an enhanced service," said Jim Babb, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Bahakel Communications. "We believe that the substantial sample size increase anticipated will be a big improvement for stabilizing ratings. The new "code reader" combined with set‐top‐box return path data are a promising strategy for increasing sample sizes. We're pleased that Nielsen is taking the initiative both to improve its legacy TV ratings service while also investing in timely preparation for an emerging cross‐platform media environment ahead."

Preliminary data will become available for the twenty introductory markets in 2013, beginning with the LPM markets. All markets will have a parallel period of three to six
months to evaluate, comment, and prepare for the new ratings while using the existing service. Rollouts across the 190 remaining markets are expected to be completed within approximately two years from gaining client acceptance in the introductory markets. Nielsen will continue its extensive industry education and feedback gathering campaign, as client acceptance of these revised methodologies is critical to implementation.

New Beck songs get visualized, inspire musical platforming

Posted: 22 Jul 2012 08:29 AM PDT

Beck's latest album won't debut on the shelves of your local brick-and-mortar retailer. Instead, Cities, as its called, will roll out on Sound Shapes for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita. The platformer's song-inspired stages transform the record's three tunes, Cities, Touch the People and Spiral Staircase, into interactive music videos, with original art and lyrics inserted into the environment. If traipsing through the included soundscapes -- not all of which are Beck-centric -- isn't enough to please, the developers are gifting gamers with the tools needed to build levels of their own. As a cross-play game, the $14.99 price tag nets both the console and portable versions of the downloadable title. Sound Shape won't hit digital shelves until August 7th, but you can catch a sneak peak (and a quick listen) after the break.

Inhabitat's Week in Green: liter of light project, space tourism and a 'Hyperloop' train

Posted: 22 Jul 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

This summer has been one of the harshest in recent memory in the US, with record heat waves and more than half of the country experiencing the worst drought conditions in more than 50 years. And in an even more troubling development, an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan broke away from Greenland this week. The need to develop clean alternatives to fossil fuels and water-saving technologies is more urgent than ever, but we're making progress in several key areas. In California, scientists fired 192 lasers onto a single point, producing an amazing 500 trillion watts of energy and bringing them one step closer to starting a nuclear fusion reaction that would produce an unlimited supply of clean energy. In another promising development, a teenager in Egypt figured out a way to turn the country's plastic waste into $78 million worth of fuel.

We always appreciate new designs that provide a fresh solution to a pressing problem -- like the 1 Liter of Light project, a clever initiative that creates makeshift solar lamps for Filipino households from one-liter water bottles. In Singapore, the government is seeking to limit its dependence on imported water with the construction of the elegant Marina Barrage dam, which stores 10,000 hectares of rainwater. In one of the more unusual design concepts that flashed on our screens this week, SOA Architects offered a solution to the problem of shipping bananas all the way from Latin America: build a vertical banana plantation in Paris. And in an equally strange development, German designer Anke Domaske launched the clothing company Qmilch, which creates clothing from spoiled milk.

In green transportation news, the world's first Nissan Leaf stretch limo hit the streets in Tennessee this week and Rimac Automobili announced that its 188-horsepower Concept One electric supercar will debut this week. We are of course thrilled that California approved the first bit of funding for high-speed rail (and Amtrak just proposed a high-speed rail line for the East Coast), but wouldn't it be cooler if the states splurged and developed Elon Musk's "Hyperloop" train, which could travel from San Francisco to LA in just 30 minutes? And Virgin announced that it will begin offering space tourism flights next year, which could have some serious environmental impacts.

In one of the week's most impressive architectural developments, designer Tom Dixon transformed a London water tower into a house (and it's available for rent). In a reversal of what Dixon accomplished, a pair of French artists filled a telephone booth with water and transformed it into an aquarium. Finally, if you're looking for a fun DIY project for the weekend, check out our tutorial on how to make your own lava lamp!

DARPA-backed Power Pwn is power strip by day, superhero hack machine by night

Posted: 22 Jul 2012 04:54 AM PDT

Call the Power Pwn the champion of white hat hacking. Underneath that Clark Kent power strip exterior, there's a Superman of full-scale breach testing that can push the limits of just about any company network, whether it takes 3G, Ethernet or WiFi to get there. Pwnie Express' stealthy sequel to the Pwn Plug ships with a Debian 6 instance of Linux whose handy hacking tools are as easy to launch as they are tough to detect. There's just one step needed to create a snoop-friendly Evil AP WiFi hotspot, and the box dodges around low-level NAC/802.1x/RADIUS network authentication without any help; in the same breath, it can easily leap into stealth mode and keeps an ongoing encrypted link to give do-gooders a real challenge. The hacker doesn't even need to be in the same ZIP code to crack a firewall or VPN -- the 3G link lets the Power Pwn take bash command-line instructions through SMS messages and doles out some of its feedback the same way. While the $1,295 device can theoretically be used for nefarious purposes, DARPA's blessing (and funding) should help keep the Power Pwn safely in the hands of security pros and thwart more than a few dastardly villains looking for weak networks.

Chip Yates breaks yet another record, notches 202MPH in world's fastest electric flight (video)

Posted: 22 Jul 2012 02:34 AM PDT

Chip Yates is a speed junkie in the truest sense. After nabbing the title for world's fastest EV motorcycle in April of 2011, the self-proclaimed "green technology innovator" is at it again. This time, Yates was able to conquer the sky above using the Long-ESA EV craft he and his Flight of the Century team engineered using a Burt Rutan Long-EZ and proprietary Infinite Range battery tech. The record-breaking flight in question took off from Inyokern Airport on July 19, achieving a top speed of 202.6MPH and solidifying Yates' place in the pantheon of electric enthusiasts. You can head past the break to check out a brief video snippet of the successful mission in action, but fair warning: it's not as exciting as you'd imagine. We're guessing it's one of those things you'd have to be there (in the cockpit) to appreciate.

UCLA creates transparent solar cell, dreams of current generating windows

Posted: 22 Jul 2012 12:16 AM PDT

Transparent photovoltaics have yet to grace the face of your smartphone, but don't give up hope -- UCLA researchers are working on a new see-through solar cell that's showing potential. Using a new type of polymer solar cell, the team has been able to build a device that converts infrared light into electrical current. Current prototypes boast 4 percent energy conversion efficiency at 66 percent transparency -- not crystal clear, but certainly clean enough to peer through. According to a study in ACS Nano, the technology could be used in "building-integrated photovoltaics or integrated photovoltaic chargers for portable electronics." Translation? It could one day be used to build solar windows or better sun collecting smartphones. Don't get too excited though, the technology still has a ways to go before any of these dreams come to fruition. Still, feel free to head past the break for the team's official press release, or skip to the source to take in the full academic study.

Show full PR text

UCLA researchers create highly transparent solar cells for windows that generate electricity

UCLA researchers have developed a new transparent solar cell that is an advance toward giving windows in homes and other buildings the ability to generate electricity while still allowing people to see outside. Their study appears in the journal ACS Nano.

The UCLA team describes a new kind of polymer solar cell (PSC) that produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light, not visible light, making the cells nearly 70% transparent to the human eye. They made the device from a photoactive plastic that converts infrared light into an electrical current.

"These results open the potential for visibly transparent polymer solar cells as add-on components of portable electronics, smart windows and building-integrated photovoltaics and in other applications," said study leader Yang Yang, a UCLA professor of materials science and engineering, who also is director of the Nano Renewable Energy Center at California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).

Yang added that there has been intense world-wide interest in so-called polymer solar cells. "Our new PSCs are made from plastic-like materials and are lightweight and flexible," he said. "More importantly, they can be produced in high volume at low cost."

Polymer solar cells have attracted great attention due to their advantages over competing solar cell technologies. Scientists have also been intensely investigating PSCs for their potential in making unique advances for broader applications. Several such applications would be enabled by high-performance visibly transparent photovoltaic (PV) devices, including building-integrated photovoltaics and integrated PV chargers for portable electronics.

Previously, many attempts have been made toward demonstrating visibly transparent or semitransparent PSCs. However, these demonstrations often result in low visible light transparency and/or low device efficiency because suitable polymeric PV materials and efficient transparent conductors were not well deployed in device design and fabrication.

A team of UCLA researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute, the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and UCLA's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have demonstrated high-performance, solution-processed, visibly transparent polymer solar cells through the incorporation of near-infrared light-sensitive polymer and using silver nanowire composite films as the top transparent electrode. The near-infrared photoactive polymer absorbs more near-infrared light but is less sensitive to visible light, balancing solar cell performance and transparency in the visible wavelength region.

Another breakthrough is the transparent conductor made of a mixture of silver nanowire and titanium dioxide nanoparticles, which was able to replace the opaque metal electrode used in the past. This composite electrode also allows the solar cells to be fabricated economically by solution processing. With this combination, 4% power-conversion efficiency for solution-processed and visibly transparent polymer solar cells has been achieved.

"We are excited by this new invention on transparent solar cells, which applied our recent advances in transparent conducting windows (also published in ACS Nano) to fabricate these devices," said Paul S.Weiss, CNSI director and Fred Kavli Chair in NanoSystems Sciences.

Huawei's MediaPad 10 teases all of its traits in soothing promo video

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 10:13 PM PDT

Huawei's 10-inch FHD tablet has been anything but shy since its little-known early days, well before its unexpected introduction to the masses. But since we've now seen it (and felt it) in most of its glory, we shouldn't be surprised that its creator's taken the time to put together a quick promotional vid ahead of an expected launch next month. The MediaPad 10 teaser, naturally, touts many of the slate's own features, including the sensational 1920 x 1200 IPS display, Huawei's in-house K3 Balong CPU, as well as its "refined metallic surface" and "luxurious yet subtle" design. Of course, there's a lot more where that came from, so head on past the break to watch the ballyhooed clip for yourself.

Ask Engadget: best Mac gamepad?

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 07:59 PM PDT

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from is from Jaime, who's really just showing off about their new Retina MBP. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"I recently bought a Retina MacBook Pro and started playing a bunch of games from Steam. I'm wondering if there's a gamepad I could use to play Portal or Left4Dead on a Mac, I grew up with a NES, so there's something about the form that feels natural to me. Thanks!"

Okay, so for those of us who do tire of W-A-S-D, what's the best solution to game on a Mac? Is there a perfect device on the market, or should we all just hack an Xbox 360 controller to do the same job? It's a fun week, spread some fun in the comments.

ULTIMAte hack: Nexus 7 hooks up with external USB storage, floppy drive for retro-gaming

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 07:03 PM PDT

There's only so much kit you can cram into a sub-$200 tablet without pushing past the price ceiling. And for Google's Jelly Bean-blessed Nexus 7, corners were definitely cut, leaving users without a handy microSD slot for expansion and rear-facing camera. But where there's a will, there's the XDA and its community of developers to remedy the situation. As you can glimpse from the photo above, an enterprising forum member by the handle of c0m47053 devised an interesting workaround for the slate's lack of expandable storage and then some. Using the StickMount app available on the Play store, which allows users to mount/dismount mass storage devices, he was able to connect the ASUS-made tab to a USB hub and hook it up to a keyboard, mouse and, most amusingly of all, a floppy drive -- to play Ultima on DOSbox, of course. It goes without saying that a feat of this kind requires root access, but thankfully that's what Mountain View made the Nexuses for.

Mobile Miscellany: week of July 16th, 2012

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 06:24 PM PDT

Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, the Chief Operating Officer of Leap Wireless made his departure from the company and a new LTE handset was leaked for MetroPCS. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of July 16th, 2012.

Leap Wireless loses its Chief Operating Officer, plans no replacement

Raymond Roman is no longer the Chief Operating Officer of Leap Wireless, as he left the company this week in order to "pursue other interests." Better known for its popular Cricket brand, Leap officials don't intend to name a successor for Roman's position; instead, other executives will now share the duties of the former Chief Operating Officer. Roman joined Leap Wireless in 2011, and has previously held positions at both Dell and Motorola. [WSJ]

Fido targeting July 23rd launch for HTC Desire C

Mobile Miscellany week of July 16th, 2012

The HTC Desire C is an entry-level smartphone with Android 4.0, and soon enough, it seems it'll be available for sale at Fido in Canada. Leaked documents suggest that the carrier is targeting a a July 23rd debut, where the handset will be available in both red and white. As a quick refresher, the Desire C contains a 600MHz CPU, a 3.5-inch HVGA display and a 5-megapixel camera. According to MobileSyrup, Fido will sell the phone for approximately $150 outright, which is in line with that of Virgin Mobile Canada, but $50 more than its Sasktel sibling. [MobileSyrup]

Motorola Defy Pro arriving this summer at Rogers

Mobile Miscellany week of July 16th, 2012

This isn't the first we've seen of the Defy Pro, which was announced earlier this month for a debut in Brazil, but now Motorola has revealed that Rogers will be the exclusive Canadian carrier of this IP67-certified QWERTY handset. While no price has been established, the Defy Pro will be available sometime this summer. As with most QWERTY candybars, users must sacrifice a significant amount of screen real estate, as the HVGA display measures only 2.7 inches. Beyond that, the phone includes a 1GHz CPU, a 5-megapixel camera and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). If its any solace, users should be able to expect admirable battery life, thanks to the 1,700mAh cell. [Android Central]

LG Motion 4G leaked for MetroPCS

Mobile Miscellany week of July 16th, 2012

The Cayenne isn't the only LG phone that was leaked this week, as the same source also teased what's said to be the Motion 4G for MetroPCS. According to evleaks, the handset will include Android 4.0, a qHD display and a 5-megapixel camera. Naturally, it's also expected to support LTE connectivity. [Unwired View, @evleaks (Twitter)]

Motorola RAZR V XT885 becomes official for China Unicom

Mobile Miscellany week of July 16th, 2012

Motorola's XT885 first greeted the world back in May by way of an unauthorized leak, but its existence became a whole lot more official this week with its arrival at China Unicom. The Android 4.0 smartphone features a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, a 4.3-inch qHD display and an 8-megapixel camera. Those within mainland China can purchase the handset today for 3,298 RMB ($517). [Motorola PR]

Other random tidbits

Verizon Wireless announced the availability of its LTE service in 33 new markets this week, along with the expansion of its LTE service throughout 32 existing areas. [Android Central]
Like its parent company, Telus, Koodo has announced the availability of an unlocking service for the Apple iPhone. To be eligible for the $50 service, Koodo customers must hold an account in good standing for more than 90 days, which must also be current at the time of the unlock. [MobileSyrup]
SwiftKey 3 was updated this week to bring support for Android 4.1. Additionally, the latest release brings a few UI and prediction fixes. [Droid Life]
The Motorola Atrix HD LTE has been targeted for an August 2nd arrival at Bell Mobility. [MobileSyrup]
The Sony Xperia P is now available from Three in the UK. Customers may score the handset for £289.99 outright, or free with all two-year agreements that exceed £27 per month. [Thanks, Dave] [Android Central]

Hulu rolls out a simplified player UI for the web, takes a few cues from mobile

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 05:37 PM PDT

The web player for Hulu added some more acreage just a few months ago, and now the company has updated it with a new "chromeless" look that's stripped down for less complexity than the old one seen here. Similar to the changes Netflix recently made to its web player UI (and looking particularly reminiscent of the iOS video player), Hulu has concentrated all the transport controls into a single bar including options like a 10-second rewind and bringing up the time left in a video when it's paused. As seen in the screenshot above, closed captions, face match, quality and buffering options have their own submenu now, while the toggles, pop-out and lower lights have been moved into a box below the player. Once the show is over, there's a new screen before the player either automatically picks another video, lets you replay what you just watched or browse through other recommended selections. You should be able to see it on the site now, give it a quick spin and let us know if the changes are for the better.

Wi-Fi Media lets your Nexus 7 play movies on any screen via HTC's Media Link HD (hands-on video)

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 04:45 PM PDT

We're rather big fans of the Nexus 7 here at Engadget HQ -- it's just hard not to like a $200 tablet with a Tegra 3 SoC and 7-inch glass-bonded IPS display running pure Jelly Bean. Of the few missing features, there's one we're bemoaning more than the lack of rear camera, and that's the absence of any kind of HDMI or MHL video output. So far, watching movies with the Nexus 7's been relegated to using a Nexus Q and streaming content from Google Play or YouTube.

Enter Wi-Fi Media, an app available for free on Google Play that lets most Android devices like the Nexus 7 play movies, music and stills on any screen via any Cavium PureVu-compatible streamer, such as HTC's $90 Media Link HD. We tested Wi-Fi Media with our Nexus 7 and Media Link HD and found it to work pretty much as advertised except for some caveats. First the app doesn't mirror your screen -- you're limited to playing content stored on the tablet or on the network via DLNA, which means no YouTube, Netflix or games. Second, the app doesn't handle some common file types -- like AVI, for example.

While it supports watching movies, listening to music and looking at pictures, keep in mind that Wi-Fi Media is not a particularly polished app. In addition to playing local and remote DLNA content, you're able to login to Facebook and Picasa and stream images directly from these accounts, but that's pretty much it in terms of functionality. There's also no way to configure the Media Link HD, so you'll need a sanctioned HTC handset to setup the multimedia streamer before using it with a Nexus 7. Want to know more? Peek at our screenshot gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on video.

Wi-Fi Media hands-on

Update: Since there's some confusion in the comments, we'd like to clarify that the Media Link HD is not a DLNA device. It normally only works with select HTC phones like the One X, One S and EVO 4G LTE. WiFi-Media's primary purpose is to connect with a Media Link HD -- the app also just happens to support DLNA.

[Thanks, Matt]

Spotify marks its first anniversary in the US with 13 billion listens, a whole lot of sharing goin' on

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 03:29 PM PDT

They grow up so fast, don't they? Spotify's US launch was just over a year ago, and the streaming music outlet wants us to know just how big its baby is getting. Americans listened to more than 13 billion tracks on the service in the first 365 days, and they shared more than twice as many -- 27,834,742, to be exact. Not surprisingly, just over half of that socializing went through Facebook, as you can see in the company's sugar-coated chart. Spotify is likewise flaunting 2,700 years' worth of time spent skulking around its app platform. Don't feel any pangs of regret if you forgot to buy something for Spotify's birthday, by the way: the company isn't holding any grudges and says you'll "love" what it has gift-wrapped for year two. We're hoping that involves more free radio stations and fewer holdout musicians.

Beats increases its share ownership to 75%, lets HTC keep majority stake, 'commercial exclusivity in mobile'

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 02:15 PM PDT

Although HTC and Beats are just shy of the one-year anniversary of their 300 million dollar partnership, it looks like the two are again growing apart. In a letter to shareholders today, it's been announced that the original owners of Beats plan to buy back 25 percent of its own shares, for a total ownership stake of 75 percent. That said, HTC will still retain nearly 25 percent of the remaining shares for itself, ensuring that it remains the largest external shareholder. As the release puts it, this new setup "provides Beats with more flexibility for global expansion while maintaining HTC's major stake and commercial exclusivity in mobile." All in all, it seems like this is more about shifting priorities given recent news like Beats' MOG acquisition, but it wouldn't make eventual breakup all that unsurprising given the partnership's mixed results. For now, you can hit up the press release for all the details.

Show full PR text

HTC and Beats today announced a realignment of their business agreement that provides Beats with more flexibility for global expansion
1.Date of occurrence of the event:2012/07/21

2.Company name:HTC Corporation

3.Relationship to the Company (please enter "head office" or "affiliate company"):Head Office

4.Reciprocal shareholding ratios:N/A

5.Cause of occurrence:
HTC and Beats today announced a realignment of their business agreement that provides Beats with more flexibility for global expansion while maintaining HTC's major stake and commercial exclusivity in mobile.
Under the terms of the agreement, the founding members of Beats will buy back 25% of its total shares for a total of approximately 75% ownership, with HTC remaining the largest outside shareholder with approximately 25%.
Over the last year, HTC and Beats have made great progress in sound innovation, product integration and brand awareness with successes like the HTC One. HTC and Beats will continue to work closely, including a joint global marketing campaign later this year.

6.Countermeasures:N/A

7.Any other matters that need to be specified:N/A

Engadget's tablet buyer's guide: summer 2012 edition

Posted: 21 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT

Time flies, doesn't it? It seems like only yesterday that we were just putting the final touches on our spring tablet buyer's guide, and here we are, updating it for a new season. This time, the sun is out and the trousers are getting shorter, which can mean only one thing -- yep, it's the summer edition! Even if the weather isn't so lovely where you are, or you're still wearing long pants, there should be something in here to tickle your technical fancy. Not least because we've seen at least one major player enter the foray, along with some other strong contenders. So, how has that changed the line up? Head on past the break to find out, but before you dive in to the cool refreshing water, remember you can visit our review hub all year round. Surf's up!