From DailyTech: Yahoo announced today that it will acquire Tumblr under a new agreement -- and even promised "not to screw it up."

Yahoo will acquire Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash, according to a Yahoo press release. Yahoo likely hopes to use Tumblr's position as a popular social media site to attract visitors to Yahoo's other offerings and bump up search use by integrating it into Tumblr.

Tumblr has over 300 million monthly unique visitors; 120,000 signups every day; receives 900 posts per second; users spend 24 billion minutes on the site each month, and more than half of Tumblr’s users are using the mobile app and do an average of 7 sessions per day.

The new agreement is expected to widen Yahoo’s audience by 50 percent to over a billion monthly visitors. Traffic is also expected to grow by by 20 percent.

“Tumblr is redefining creative expression online,” said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. “On many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo! couldn’t be more different, but, at the same time, they couldn’t be more complementary. Yahoo is the Internet’s original media network. Tumblr is the Internet’s fastest-growing media frenzy. Both companies are homes for brands - established and emerging. And, fundamentally, Tumblr and Yahoo! are both all about users, design, and finding surprise and inspiration amidst the everyday.”

Under the new deal, Tumblr will be independently ran as a separate business, with Tumblr CEO David Karp keeping his position. Yahoo also assures that Tumblr will continue catering to users on the site the way it always has (meaning, Yahoo won't interfere with a good thing).

However, Tumblr will use Yahoo’s search and personalization technology to help users find creators and content.

“Our team isn’t changing," said David Karp, CEO of Tumblr. "Our roadmap isn't changing. And our mission – to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve – certainly isn't changing. But we’re elated to have the support of Yahoo! and their team who share our dream to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas. Tumblr gets better faster with more resources to draw from.”

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From DailyTech: HTC has announced that it plans to double the production capacity for its flagship HTC One smartphone this month. The company says that its production capacity for the phone is increasing dramatically month over month as component supply issues continue to improve.

The tip on doubled production capacity comes courtesy of HTC North Asia president Jack Tong. HTC says that it also plans to increase production further in June to meet continued strong demand.

“Our capacity is expected to rise significantly starting from mid-May,” said Tong at a news conference in Taipei. “We are optimistic about our high-end sales during April and June.”

HTC blamed its recent lower-than-expected earnings on shortages for the HTC One in certain markets.

Tong also remarked that another device that HTC plans to help grow its revenue is the five-inch HTC Butterfly smartphone. The executive said sales for that particular device have increased 50 percent in Japan this month after the device was made free with a new contract.

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From X-bit Labs: Underpowered with performance and undelivered with software, Nintendo Wii U just cannot become popular. According to recent figures from market analysts, the Wii U remains an underdog on the U.S. market with monthly sales barely crossing the 50 thousand per month milestone. Microsoft Xbox 360 remains the top-selling game system among those available today.

Based on the data from NPD Group, a market tracking company, and Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, sales of Nintendo Wii U console in April got lower compared to March and February. According to Mr. Pachter, Nintendo sold through 55 thousand of Wii U units in April. Keeping in mind that Microsoft sold only 130 thousand of Xbox 360 – which was the highest amount among all consoles sold in April – actual sales of Wii U could be even lower and Mr. Pachter could seem overoptimistic.

Nintendo Wii U’s market performance suffers because of several factors: its low performance, incoming consoles from major rivals, relatively high price amid lack of games, including those that actually take advantage of Nintendo Wii U’s controller with built-in screen.

As of March 31, the Wii U has sold 3.45 million units since its launch, below Nintendo's initial forecast of 5.5 million, and even January's adjustment to 4 million, reports Joystiq web-site.

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From X-bit Labs: Dell, a top supplier of personal computers, admitted during a conference call with financial analysts that Windows 8 platform has not met its expectations and has not become a catalyst for the PC revival. At the same time, the PC maker remains optimistic about the platform as new microprocessors hit the market, Windows 8 gets updated and other things change.

“It is some of the things we have been talking about over the last few quarters, where you have competing devices in some cases. Windows 8 has been from our standpoint, not necessarily the catalyst to drive accelerated growth that we had hoped it would be,” said Brian Gladden, chief financial officer at Dell.

In fact, Dell’s business does not seem to be that gloomy in general. Commercial segment continues to upgrade to Windows 7, demand from corporations and small businesses is picking up. Two customer segments who are slow-downing their purchases are consumers and governments.

Dell remains generally optimistic about the future of the PC market overall thanks to emergence of new microprocessors, form-factors and improved Windows 8 operating system in particular and Windows eco-system in general. Generally, Dell pins hopes onto the code-named Blue updates from Microsoft that will upgrade Windows 8, Windows RT, Microsoft’s online services and presumably Windows Phone 8.

“We are encouraged by what is going to play out with new chipsets and some of the work that is going on within the Windows ecosystem to hopefully over the next few months create some catalysts,” said Mr. Gladden.

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Let's say you have a large pot of water and a frog. If the water is cold, and you threw the frog in, what would happen? In most cases, the frog will jump out. If we were given the same scenario with boiling water instead of cold water, what would happen? Well, obviously, the frog would die. How about if start with lukewarm water, and then slowly heat it until it reaches the boiling temperature? Contrary to popular belief, the frog will still jump out if it gets hot enough -- Dr. Victor H. Hutchison at the University of Oklahoma conducted this experiment in 2002. Nevertheless, the story of a boiling frog is still an excellent metaphor for us to understand. In order for society to accept change, it must be gradual, and not sudden. In the technology world, it is no different. While the word 'revolution' is thrown around on every product release, most innovation is really evolutionary in nature, with every progress built on the foundation of existing development. Here at APH Networks, we have a long history of reviewing Noctua products. In the past, we have extensively covered their desktop chassis fan line, the Noctua NF-S12 series, as well as its successor, the NF-S12B series. Today, we will once again take a look at Noctua's latest entry into quiet computing. How much of an evolution is the NF-S12A series fans? We took all three variants in, and got down straight to business.

View: Noctua NF-S12A FLX, NF-S12A PWM, NF-S12A ULN Cooling Fans review

From CNET News.com: One of the many announcements flooding out of Google I/O that may have gotten lost in the shuffle is Android's expected support for Bluetooth Smart technology.

This may seem like an odd development, especially if you know that many Android devices already feature Bluetooth 4.0, the version in which Bluetooth Smart (that is, Bluetooth Low Energy) first appeared. What's new here, though, is that the fresh flavor of Android, expected to hit in the next few months, will natively integrate all of Bluetooth 4.0's fancy tricks, including BLE, or BT Smart. Previous Android iterations lacked this degree of Bluetooth collaboration.

Still not convinced this will affect your life in any concrete way? Well, I beg to differ. If you think any of the cutting-edge wireless accessories hitting the market such as the Fitbit Flex and Pebble smartwatch are pretty neat then Android beefing up its Bluetooth chops means even slicker hands-free products down the pike.

Essentially, BLE or Bluetooth Smart technology enables wireless hardware to link with phones using very little battery power. Understandably this paves the way for gadgets like watches, fitness trackers, and who knows what else to be worn on your person around the clock. I hope Android getting more Bluetooth Smarts also means accessory makers will find it easy to develop products for Android no matter who manufactures the hardware. Of course that may be asking for too much.

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From DailyTech: As the battle rages at Dell Computer to see which faction comes out on top in a number of buyout proposals, profits at the company are on the decline.

Reuters reports that Dell recorded a 79% decline in profits as the PC market continues to shrink. One of the goals of Michael Dell in his attempted buyout of the company is to transform Dell Computer from a computer maker to an enterprise computing services company. Michael Dell and his backers believe that the transformation is best done out of the public eye.

It seems that the this transformation is a relatively good plan as one of the few bright points in Dell's recent financial statements was revenue in the enterprise solutions and services segment increasing 12% to $5.5 billion. Overall revenue slid 2% and PC sales declined by 9%.

"Hardware margins were pretty abysmal, which should generally support (Michael) Dell's bid," said Morningstar analyst Carr Lanphier. "But Michael Dell's strategy is also to be aggressive in pricing, to win key contracts."

Net income at Dell decreased to $130 million from $635 million compared to the same quarter of 2012.

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