The battery life of the HTC One is rather bad and it doesn't help that you can't remove the battery. Enter Mophie. Mophie is the maker of popular cases for many of the popular smartphones available. These cases feature extended batteries to increase the battery life of devices, especially ones without removable batteries.

Mophie has released an HTC One compatible extended battery case to help with the poor battery life. This does mean you'll have to sacrifice some weight and size, but most will generally accept this in exchange for more battery life. With the case, the phone becomes 0.67 inches thick, 6.06 inches tall, and 2.88 inches wide.

However, you'll get about 100 percent more battery life thanks to the built-in 2,500mAh battery. The case will start shipping in mid-May and will set you back $99.95.

Johannes Knapp's final video today from the Acer press event in New York is of the new Acer 7.9-inch Iconia A1 Android tablet.

This tablet comes installed with Android 4.2.2, and maybe the best of all is that it will only set you back $169, for what Johannes considers a solid and well-built unit, which he likens to the Apple iPad.

The screen features an XGA resolution which means 1024 x 768 and it comes with a quad-core CPU from Mediatek which is clocked at 1.2GHz. Other features include a microHDMI and microSD memory slot. It's not going to break any records for performance, but you can't argue with the asking price, either.

Johannes Knapp is back with his second video today from the Acer press conference in New York, this time we some hands-on time with the new Aspire P3.

The P3 is another unique device, as was the Aspire R7. The P3 is unique in that Acer call it an "Ultrabook", but it's really a tablet that comes with an interesting keyboard dock frame / holder. You just clip the P3 out of the dock, and then it comes a tablet.

Speaking of the specifications, it's a Windows 8 based system with an 11.6-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1366 x 768. It runs either an Intel Core i3 or i5 processor and includes microHDMI and USB 3.0 support.

3D modeling is an essential part of being a Maker or Modder in today's world. We use it for everything from mocking up projects, to designing objects that our 3D printers will make into physibles. Many of us use SketchUp to do these task for its ease of use, and free price tag. As a result, many plugins and scripts have been written to ease certain task in the program.

The problem with those plugins is that generally they are hard to find, or often difficult to install due to version requirements. Fortunately the SketchUp educational community, known as SketchUcation, has released a plugin of their own that makes finding, downloading, installing and managing those plugins a breeze.

The SketchUcation Plugin Store is a plugin that you download and install into SketchUp 8, which gives you instant access to over 600 SketchUp plugins from within one tool. The best part is that the plugin is entirely free and only requires that you sign up for a free account in the SketchUcation forums.

Yesterday Google announced that it will be bringing its gigabit internet service to the city of Shawnee Kansas, which is right outside of Kansas City. This makes for the 4th city to get Google Fiber in the last year.

Google did not release a date in which the service would be switched on, and it is most likely still a while away as planning, engineering and red tape will have to be dealt with.

In any event, the expansion of Google Fiber can only be seen as a good thing. Maybe in the next 10 years, Google will have covered enough of the country to either wake antiquated ISPs like Comcast, or put them out of business altogether.

At this morning's launch event, Acer announced that it was teaming up with world famous DJ Tiesto and his personal assistant Vernon. This new campaign is a continuation of the 2012 campaign starring Kiefer Sutherland and Megan Fox in which they use Acer products to explore beyond limits and to uncover a different side of themselves.

The campaign focuses on Tiesto's personal assistant, Vernon. We follow Vernon, who's using the new Aspire P3 Ultrabook to do both his day job and to follow his hidden passion of becoming a DJ. His newfound Djing skills come in handy when he has to come to Tiesto's rescue when a live gig temporarily goes wrong. You can check the full advert on Acer's YouTube channel. As of this writing, the video is set to private, though.

Michael Birkin, Chief Marketing Officer at Acer, commented:

"For us, advertising is a way to complement our products with a great story that reflects what people love about them: the new experiences they make possible. After last year's campaign we were convinced we were headed in the right direction and we wanted to expand on our storytelling approach. So we've gone a bit further this time, giving the Aspire P3 the starring role in a deeper story that encourages people to 'explore beyond limits' and gives them some new ways to interact with us."

This morning Acer officially unveiled four new product lines for the US market. A couple of weeks ago, I posted about a "revolutionary" new notebook that Acer teased in a Star Trek Into Darkness trailer mashup. This morning we got a full look at the device, and boy did it deliver.

The new Acer Aspire R7 is a very USS Enterprise-esque 15.6-inch notebook that features a full 1920x1080 touchscreen display. The unique repositionable design of the R7 revolutionizes the notebook computing experience by seamlessly merging the touch and typing experience into something that just feels natural. Customers who pre-order the Aspire R7 will receive a copy of the new Star Trek The Video Game for free.

"With the Aspire R7, Acer has redesigned the laptop with an approach that's based on how people interact with their notebooks and other devices," said Sumit Agnihotry, vice president, product marketing, Acer America. "Its progressive design redefines the computing experience, so whether consumers are touching or typing, the R7 adapts to allow consumers to create, browse and share content in ways they never have before."

Johannes Knapp is over in New York for us at the moment covering an Acer press event, which introduced several new mobile products today.

He has first delivered us with a hands-on video of the Aspire R7 laptop. What's interesting about this laptop, and the first thing you'll no doubt notice, is that the keyboard and touchpad have been switched of their usual locations. That of course means the touch pad is on top and the keyboard is below. Acer has done this since the unit features a special hinge that allows you to position the screen at different angles and also flip it over to show your lunch date what's on your screen. You can set the screen down to act like a tablet, it's rather nifty indeed.

There are several different configurations of the R7 including one with an Intel Core i7-3537U CPU or Intel Core i5-3337U CPU. Storage options are aplenty including 500GB, 750GB or 1TB HDD or if you like speed, a 120GB or 256GB SSD. There is support for up to 12GB of DDR3 RAM and you can opt to add in an NVIDIA GeForce GT750M 2GB GPU over the standard embedded Intel HD 4000 graphics.

While the rest of the world waits on the Googlerola X Phone, rumors of LG's next-generation Optimus G2 are growing every day. This morning we are learning a little more about the G2, which LG teased at the Mobile World Congress, a couple of months back.

The leaks which were first spotted by Blog of Mobile come in the form of a set of benchmarks made on the Android benchmarking app Antutu, the same app that recently brought us the Motorola X Phone benchmarks. If you believe the leak, the Optimus G2 will come in three flavors that are most likely tuned to respective regions they will be sold in.

The F320L and F340L appear to be higher-end models that feature Android 4.2.2 and 2GHz processors, while the F320K houses a slower 1.5GHz chip and Android 4.1.2. While it is not unheard of to tweak models based on region, the jump from a 2GHz processor to a 1.5GHz model personally leads me to believe that the F320K is a different phone than the G2.

The two popular internet memes, Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat, are both making even more internet headlines this morning after word that their trademark holder has filed suit against Warner Bros for unauthorized use. The memes were featured in the popular online children's game Scribblenauts.

Scribblenauts is developed by 5th Cell Media, which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros, and is said to have used the memes without any permission from the trademark holder. While this is a very serious matter, one cannot help but sit back and laugh as they watch Warner Bros get a taste of their own copyright lawsuit medicine.

Since it is Friday, I have included a video below of the original Keyboard Cat below for your enjoyment!

During a meeting with advertisers earlier this week, Google's Eric Schmidt said that YouTube has "crushed" the traditional television competition. Schmidt was of course alluding to the recent news that YouTube now has more than one billion unique visitors a month.

While most would be satisfied with a billion unique visitors every month, Schmidt is keeping his eye on the prize and holding out until YouTube launches in more third world countries. "Wait until you get to 6 or 7 billion," Schmidt said, according to the Associated Press. "It's not a replacement for something that we know. It's a new thing that we have to think about, to program, to curate and build new platforms."

Google's attack on mainstream television will take a step forward later this year when YouTube plans to begin offering select partners the option to begin charging users to view their content, in addition to offering episodic programming and pay-per-view events. "TV is one-way, but YouTube talks back," said YouTube's global head of content, Robert Kyncl.

We had a very nice look at Gigabyte's Z87 G1-Killer motherboard yesterday and now we get to have a glimpse at their UEFI DualBIOS, which is looking absolutely gorgeous. It features the orange and black theme that we know and love from Gigabyte's high-end boards, which looks amazing.

There seems to be something I think Gigabyte should patent here, something along the lines of 'everything but the kitchen sink' when it comes to BIOS options. The new UEFI DualBIOS looks incredibly detailed, and should cater perfectly to enthusiasts and power users. I can't wait to get my hands on a few of these bad boys.

It seems our friends over at Other World Computing (OWC) are pushing out the new Mercury Accelsior E2 and want current Gen 1 Accelsior users to upgrade to the latest and greatest. If you purchased your original Accelsior before 12/31/2012 OWC is offering a 100$ rebate if you upgrade to the latest E2. For those of you that purchased the Gen 1 Accelsior on or after 1/1/2013 you will receive $150 in rebate.

1. Purchase the 0GB Accelsior_E2 Card
2. Transfer the original Accelsior's SSD blades to the new E2 card (The original Accelsior SSD blades are 100% compatible with the Accelsior_E2)
3. Send in the original card to receive rebate check.

The new Accelsior E2 offers all the great performance benefits you've enjoyed with the original Accelsior with the addition of two 6Gb/s eSATA expansion ports for transferring data for backup or archival purposes.

Apple has updated the selection of available storage devices on the iMac product. The new options are a 256GB SSD and 512GB SSD. Previously only a 5,400RPM 1TB drive or a 1TB Fusion Drive was available. The new options cost an additional $300 and $600, respectively, but should bring a noticeable bump to performance.

These additional choices mostly effect the 21.5-inch iMac. The 27-inch iMac did already have a 768GB SSD option available, though it came in at a costly $900. Some users don't require mass amounts of storage and only require speed. Apple is now catering to those users with some reasonable SSD choices.

Barnes and Noble has announced that their Nook HD and Nook HD+ will gain full access to the Google Play Store. One of the long-running complaints has been that the Nook HD, often touted as an excellent Android implementation, has a limited selection of apps due to the use of Barnes and Noble's own app store.

That's all going to change now that the Nook HD and HD+ have full access to the Google Play Store. The selection of apps for these excellent devices has just increased by a massive amount. Barnes and Noble will be issuing a software update that will bring Google Play directly to the desktop.

William Lynch, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble:

By adding Google Play to NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, we are offering our customers even more great entertainment on our award-winning tablets. Now with access to more than 700,000 apps and the best reading experience available, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are must-see products for entertainment lovers looking for high-quality tablets at incredibly low prices.

One of an estimated six working Apple 1 computers will be going up for auction at the German auction house Breker. This rare PC, signed by Steve Wozinak himself, is expected to bring in between $240,000 and $400,000 at auction. And you thought your new iPhone was overpriced!

The Apple 1 was originally released back in 1976. Only 200 were produced and somewhere between 30 and 50 are still in existence, though as mentioned above, only six are believed to be working. Apple 1's have a history of fetching large sums of money, regardless of whether or not they are working.

Back in December, a working Apple 1 sold for $640,000. Before that, a non-working Apple 1 went to auction with an estimated value of $125,000. Finally, before that, an Apple 1 sold for $375,000.

Samsung has made company history by getting its new Galaxy S4 approved by the Department of Defense (DoD). For a long time, BlackBerry has had a stranglehold on government contracts, especially in the security sensitive areas such as the DoD. The security clearance also covers Samsung's Knox security system.

We recently told you about how the DoD also cleared BlackBerry's new line of BlackBerry 10 devices and PlayBook tablets. Now, however, BlackBerry will face some competition. The competition couldn't really come at a worse time for the faltering company. As of late, BlackBerry has been facing declining sales and market share as Android and iOS devices have taken over.

It looks as though Intel may have a winner on its hands with Haswell when it comes to overclocking. One of the results in the CPU-Z database shows a Haswell CPU running at an impressive 7,012.65MHz. It's important to note that CPU-Z reported that the core was running four cores and four threads, suggesting that higher clocks could be achieved with a single core enabled.

Also interesting to note is the fact the BCLK was reported as 91.07MHz, suggesting that Haswell might scale better with a lower BCLK and higher multiplier. After all, Intel did increase the maximum multiplier to 77, which was used in achieving this impressive score.

As an overclocker, I can't wait to see what I can achieve with Haswell.

Department of Defense employees have now been given the green light to use a couple of BlackBerry devices, with the company behind them announcing that the DoD will soon use their BlackBerry 10 smartphones and PlayBook tablets running Enterprise Service 10.

These devices have been added to the Defense Information Systems Agency's approved products list. Up until now, the last BlackBerry device they were approved of using was the BB7 handset, so they'll be able to get with the times now at least.

Google have updated their YouTube Capture for iOS app, which is a video sharing app for Apple's mobile OS. Google have pushed it up to version 1.3, which includes a bunch of colorless enhancements like faster startup times, an upload timer and HD previews of image enhancements.

The biggest change YouTube Capture for iOS version 1.3 includes is the ability to flick on Wi-Fi-only sharing, which is great for those of us without unlimited mobile data plans. The new update is 28.3MB, and you can get it from the iTunes Store.