Beats

Once a dominant player in the Android space, HTC now struggles against the likes of Samsung and Motorola.

It's a sad state for a company that gave us the first Android phone in 2008 with the T-Mobile G1. Yet, after disappointing financial results, HTC is now in the unenviable position of discussing a comeback.

A company-wide e-mail from CEO Peter Chou recently leaked to the Internet, casting light on what HTC views as a hindrance to success. In a word, it's bureaucracy. Politics and internal regulations, and not just Samsung, are standing in the way of realizing bigger … Read more

Great Britain's Olympic team has been given a friendly reminder to clamp down on athletes wearing the wrong brand of headphones, after medal-chasing Olympians were spied sporting non-sponsor Beats by Dr. Dre cans.

The bass-heavy Dr. Dre brand shipped batches of its headphones to hotels where British athletes were staying, the Associated Press reports.

The Beats brand is not an official sponsor of the London 2012 Olympics, and as such officials were none too pleased about the company's publicity ploy. British Olympic Association spokesperson Darryl Seibel said team leaders have been reminded of "the importance of protecting … Read more

File this one under M.W.A.: Marketers with attitude.

Organizers of the 2012 London Olympics are peeved at Beats Electronics, makers of the headphones that are ubiquitous in major U.S. cities, according to The Guardian and other British publications. Without the company ponying up the money to become an official sponsor of the games, Beats' headphones still managed to find their way onto the ears of Olympic athletes, who during the games are some of the most watched people on the planet.

That makes them very valuable human billboards.

Officials from the International Olympic Committee are looking into … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 show:

- 'People' defend Chic-fil-A on Facebook.

- Chick-fil-A cashier fired for racist receipts.

- Old records outsell new ones for the first time.

- Circuit City's in-home TV calibration is a total scam.… Read more

HTC's abrupt change in course on Beats Electronics is more about HTC's internal troubles than anything involving the audio company, sources close to the negotiations told CNET.

Last August, Beats, a maker of popular headphones that was co-founded by rapper and music producer Dr. Dre and music impresario Jimmy Iovine, sold 50.1 percent of the company to the Taiwanese manufacturer of smartphones and tablets for $300 million. On Saturday, HTC said in a prepared statement that it was selling half of that stake back for $150 million.

But in the year since taking majority control of the … Read more

The three Chicago teens who allegedly posted a Facebook video in which they allegedly beat a disabled man and left him with fatal injuries were charged with first-degree murder, according to CBS and the Associated Press.

The suspects, identified as 16-year-old Malik Jones, 17-year-old Nicholas Ayala and 18-year-old Anthony Malcolm, allegedly attacked 62-year-old Delfino Mora in an alley early Tuesday. Mora was found hours later and taken to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition. He died Wednesday afternoon from blunt force trama, according to report.

Ayala and Malcolm are expected to appear in court Monday. A judge denied bail for … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mobile is disruptive, but the most obvious disruptions can be the best opportunities -- at least for online social gaming, according to Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus.

During the morning keynote fireside chat at MobileBeat 2012 on Tuesday, Pincus explained his vision of the future of mobile games to GamesBeat lead writer Dean Takahashi.

Essentially, Pincus argued that the industry needs to be more interconnected and there need to be more open channels so that many more games can be discovered -- not just the ones that for whatever reason can get into the Top 10. … Read more

Don't care how, just watch Monday's Update now:

The future PlayStation experience could involve streaming your video games. Sony is buying the cloud-based game provider Gaikai for $380 million in shares. Gaikai lets you stream games like Mass Effect 3 with just an Internet connection. No downloading. No discs. Gaikai began working with Samsung and LG to bring video games to Smart TVs. This acquistion could cause a few ripple effects in the gaming industry, not to mention we could be seeing streaming as an option for a future Playstation device. It could even expand the Playstation footprint … Read more

Beats Electronics, the headphones and audio-software maker, has finally confirmed that it has acquired MOG.

The companies revealed the news to USA Today this morning, confirming CNET's report last week, saying that the firms would be inking a deal quite soon. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and both companies balked when asked how MOG, which provides over 15 million songs for users to stream, might be integrated into Beats.

However, CNET reported last week, citing sources, that Beats didn't have any plans to drastically change MOG in the near term. There has been some talk, however, … Read more