Businessweek have a very interesting piece on Samsung, which goes right into the heart and soul of the South Korean company. We know Samsung are willing to try anything and everything when it comes to smartphone form factors, where we see anything from smaller displays (under 4-inch) right up to the 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II.

But on the flip side, it's not just about offering a multitude of devices, it's about knowing when and how to play them out. It was only a couple of years ago that Android didn't exist, and now we have around one billion Android-based devices in the wild.

One of the parts of Businessweek's article is quite interesting, in that they state that Samsung executives are paranoid - but not in a bad way. Being paranoid means you never stop, like other companies I won't mention, and you continue to innovate in the hopes of keeping your existing customer base, and securing more.

Google introduced their new e-mail compose window as an option last October, but Gmail users have noticed this morning that this is now the default way it will be from now on.

The new compose experience is a pop-up window that appears on the right side of the screen, and makes it easier to not only send e-mails, but to multitask within Gmail. Google have noted that it is a little harder finding text formatting options such as underline, indent, numbered and unnumbered lists, but they're still floating around.

I have noticed it as an option for me, but it is not forced on me just yet. How do you find the new compose experience?

iFixIt has gotten their hands on the new HTC One. They're already torn the thing apart and posted the internals online for all to see. The device, while sturdy, is difficult at best to repair. The construction is similar to Apple's products in that it has a quality feel but is nearly impossible to repair.

They discovered that the motherboard is covered in sheets of copper foil, which are nearly impossible to reinstall during reassembly. Replacing the battery or the screen--two common tasks--is difficult. The battery is beneath the motherboard and adhered to the midframe. The screen requires the rear case to be removed.

Hit up the source link below to see the full dissection of the new HTC One.

GDC 2013 - Intel have shown off GRID 2 on their upcoming Haswell-based processor, running purely from the integrated graphics. It looks like it is a decent res - maybe 1920x1080 - and it looks like it's pumping out around 30fps.

We don't have any of those details on hand, but you can tell from the video it looks sharp and is running smooth. Playing games at 1080p at 30fps on integrated graphics is a nice achievement, something that will mix well with upcoming Haswell-based Ultrabooks.

Google has updated the design of the Nexus 4 with a slight hardware modification to help with a common problem. Many users have complained about the slickness of the device when set down on a surface. While the bumper that Google sells helps with this, it makes the device bulkier and not everyone will accept that.

As you can see in the picture above, there are now little rubber nubs around the perimeter of the device. These help raise the device up and off of the slick back. They have the added benefit of helping the rear speaker sound a bit better and louder when the device is laid on a table. Finally, they help the device avoid being scratched.

Ultimately, the nubs are noticeable when holding the device. But, they are likely better than the bumper. If you pick up a new Nexus 4, you'll likely have the new hardware revision with the updated nubs.

The new logo, seen below, first popped up in Spotify's new TV ads. The logo has since been integrated on Spotify's website, though Spotify's apps have been updated to use a new logo based upon the new design. Spotify will likely adjust the logo with the next update released to the apps.

What do you think of the new logo? It's most likely been changed due to Spotify's redoubled efforts to expand its userbase. The new logo is streamlined and cleaner than the old logo and definitely looks more professional. We'll see if it helps Spotify expand in the United States and abroad.

Game Developers Conference 2013 - YouTube has announced a new platform for game developers that will allow real-time streaming of gameplay. The new platform will allow game developers to send a stream of content to YouTube's server where it will then be transcoded in real-time.

This isn't the first time that YouTube has helped game developers integrate live-streaming. Black Ops 2, which was touted by YouTube many times during the presentation, already utilizes YouTube for game streaming. This new platform will bring live-streaming support to iOS, Android, and a wider development audience.

Live-streaming gameplay seems to be all the rage. Sony put a major focus on it with the PlayStation 4 and it looks like YouTube doesn't want to be left behind. YouTube still has some work to do on the platform, but I'm sure we'll hear more about it in the coming weeks and months. Who knows, maybe it will be used in a majority of Xbox 720 games.

Finally a patent judge making some sense. A federal judge has ruled that mathematical algorithms can not be patented, meaning that the lawsuit against Rackspace is no longer valid. Uniloc USA sued Rackspace saying that the processing of floating point numbers via the Linux operating system violated their patent.

Chief Judge Leonard Davis cited a ruling by the US Supreme Court in which they determined that mathematical algorithms cannot be patented.

Rob Tiller, Red Hat's Assistant General Counsel for IP:

NPE patent lawsuits are a chronic and serious problem for the technology industry. Such lawsuits, which are frequently based on patents that should never have been granted, typically cost millions of dollars to defend. These suits are a plague on innovation, economic growth, and job creation. Courts can help address this problem by determining the validity of patents early and with appropriate care. In this case, Judge Davis did just that, and set a great example for future cases.

Red Hate defended Rackspace in the matter because they supply Linux to Rackspace. Red Hat has a history of standing behind customers.

Activision has shown off an incredible animated face that is so life-like it could be mistaken for a real person. Check it out below:

Activision showed off this character, described as "next-generation character rendering", during a talk about real-time graphics at GDC 2013. Activision says that an animation, like the one above, can be rendered in real-time on a user's GPU, rather than the massive rendering farms used during animated movie production.

There is still a bit more work to go before be arrive at something perfect, but with graphics capabilities increasing every year, it shouldn't be too long before Activision makes a face that is completely indistinguishable from the real thing.

When Google announced the #ifihadglass competition to win a chance to buy a pair of Google Glass, Google laid out some simple rules. Now that the competition has come to a close, Google has been taking a closer look at those it invited to join the Explorer Program and has found some that broke the rules.

Google has rescinded invitations for those who they have found broke their simple rules. Google said that it can't award Glass to applicants that "did not comply with our terms and slipped through the cracks."

We need honest feedback from people who are not only enthralled and excited by Glass, but also people who are skeptical and critical of it. As for the rest of you, please keep that feedback coming - it's all in the Explorer program spirit!

Google's rules said that an applicant had to be 18 at the time of submission, have a Twitter and Google+ account that remained active until June 1, and be located in the US. Not too difficult, though we understand why some people might try and get Glass outside the US--they are sweet!

Google has announced that it signed a new pledge, pledging to not sue users, distributors, or developers of open-source software that may violate Google's patents. Google believes in open systems and will only sue if attacked by the group first. This is a big win for open-source developers everywhere.

The pledge is called the Open Patent Non-Assertion Pledge (OPN) and promises the following: "we pledge not to sue any user, distributor or developer of open-source software on specified patents, unless first attacked."

Of course, Google hopes that other technology giants will follow in Google's footsteps. Twitter, though not mentioned by Google, has a similar patent pledge. Twitter's is actually slightly better as it leaves control of the patents in the inventing engineer's hands.

OUYA unveiled the UK pricing structure for its Android based gaming console today. The console with one controller will set UK buyers back 99.99 pounds with additional Bluetooth controllers costing 39.99 pounds each. The device should hit UK shelves in June.

This news comes as the company is set to begin shipping the gaming consoles to its Kickstarter backers today. OUYA was backed by 63,416 people and grossed over $8.5 million for its Tegra 3 based console. If you did not get a chance to back the company's Kickstarter, OUYA has opened up pre-orders in both the US and UK through its website.

Yesterday I reported on Makerbot and OUYA teaming up to release a 3D printable customized case for the console, and after discussing things internally here at TweakTown, I have decided that I will print some special TweakTown Edition OUYA cases in TweakTown blue and we will hold a giveaway for them.

Keep checking back for more info on that giveaway plus a full review of the OUYA!

BlackBerry has returned to profit after being in the red last year. This morning BlackBerry released its first quarter financial report and there is some good news for investors - Blackberry is in the black again.

The report shows that the company managed to make a profit of $94 million, despite the fact that the BlackBerry 10 not being available in the US during the first quarter. The $94 million of GAAP income stemmed from a revenue of $2.7 billion.

That is a stark contrast to $125 million net loss the company saw in the same quarter of 2012. BlackBerry says that it has sold one million BlackBerry 10 devices and managed to push out five million of its older phones. 370,000 PlayBook tablets were also shipped during the first quarter. We will have to wait until the second quarter reports are released before we find out how well the BlackBerry Z10 is doing in the US, but so far this points a much better picture for BlackBerry.

It's been a long time coming, but ADATA finally has TRIM for its LSI SandForce based SSDs. If you have a SX910, SX900, SP900, SP800, S511, S510 or S396, we recommend you update the drive to the new 5.0.7a firmware today - grab it from source #1 below. Below is a list of the changes.

1. Fixed a power management condition where the device failed to respond to COMWAKE, which might have resulted in the SSD not responding without being reset by the host

2. Fixed the normalized value calculation for SMART Attribute 9 (Power-On Hours)

3. Fixed a SATA error recovery sequence coming out of PS1

4. Fixed an issue during SMART self-test extended that could cause an unexpected read error

5. Fixed an issue that could have caused the read thresholds to be artificially low during read disturb operations

6. Fixed an issue that could have caused the drive to be unresponsive based on a flash program failure

7. Fixed a theoretically possible instance where an UECC on the flash media while processing unaligned write commands that cannot be corrected by the ECC engine and RAISETM causes invalid data to be returned.

Namie, a Japanese town near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, was forced to evacuate all of its 21,000 residents in 2011 when an earthquake and tsunami struck the region, which caused the nuclear fuel to melt down. Recently Google was asked to conduct a street view photo session of the city by the city's mayor.

"By photographing the town and making those photographs publicly available, we can show the townspeople the condition of the streets," Tamotsu Baba said earlier this month. "In addition, I want to show the world the true state of Namie." Google took on the challenge and today has posted those images.

In a guest post on Google's blog Baba said:

Ever since the March disaster, the rest of the world has been moving forward, and many places in Japan have started recovering. But in Namie-machi time stands still. With the lingering nuclear hazard, we have only been able to do cursory work for two whole years. We would greatly appreciate it if you viewed this Street View imagery to understand the current state of Namie-machi and the tremendous gravity of the situation.

This week the US government passed into effect laws that would restrict government agencies from purchasing IT equipment from Chinese manufacturers without first being fully assessed for cyber security.

The provision, a part of a larger spending bill, was signed by President Obama and forces NASA, The Department of Commerce and the Department of Justice to seek and receive formal approval from federal law enforcement agencies, before purchasing any technology systems from China.

The law is designed to further prevent future cyber-attacks on the US by Chinese hackers or at least make it harder to do so. Reuters however feels that the law will do nothing more than further strain the already stretched relationship between Washington and Beijing.

BlackBerry released its quarterly earnings report this morning and the numbers look good, but I will save that for my next post. The biggest news to come out of the report is that Mike Lazaridis, the founder of Research in Motion, is leaving the company entirely.

Just 15 months ago Lazaridis stepped down as co-CEO of the company he founded and left all of the executive duties to the current CEO, Thorsten Heins. Lazaridis stayed on with the company as a Vice Chair of the Board, a position that he will vacate on May 1st. In a statement Lazaridis said "With the launch of BlackBerry 10, I believe I have fulfilled my commitment to the Board... I believe I am leaving the company in good hands."

Current CEO Thorsten Heins said of Lazaridis:

"I admire Mike for his many achievements and for his vision in helping bring BlackBerry 10 to fruition... On a personal level, I am grateful to Mike for his help, guidance and advice during my first 15 months as CEO of BlackBerry. I wish him all the best."

Microsoft is preparing to take its Surface Pro into the land of the dragon next month. The Surface Pro will make its first official appearance outside of North America on April 2nd in China.

The launch comes hot on the heels of a recent partnership deal that was struck between Microsoft and popular Chinese retailer Tmail. The seller will launch a new Tmail store that will sell over 50 Microsoft products including Surface, Office and Windows Phones.

This is all part of Microsoft's "phased" roll-out plan for Surface Pro, which will see the Windows 8 tablet arrive in other foreign markets in the coming months. Pricing on Surface Pro in China has not yet been released and no word on pricing for the other Microsoft has been released either.

Last week I wrote about Final Fantasy X and X-2 getting a HD PlayStation 3 reboot and now another title in the series is getting a refresh. This time Final Fantasy V has been revamped and refreshed to work on a touchscreen interface for iOS.

It's no doubt that Final Fantasy is one of the most popular franchises of all time, and FF V was no exception for the SNES. The title sold 2.45 million copies in 1992 in Japan alone. That is massive sales numbers for its time. The new iOS version has been tweaked a little, though.

Final Fantasy V on iOS features graphics that are a little less harsh than the original, and new job classes such as Gladiator, Cannoneer, Oracle and Necromancer. An extra boss will appear which you must slay in order to level up skills. The game will cost you $15.99 in the Apple App Store.

Microsoft are close to releasing their next-generation Windows OS, which is reportedly set for our consumption later this year. The Verge reports that Microsoft began working on a "milestone preview" version of Windows Blue earlier this month.

The Redmond-based software giant plans to make it available to developers and enthusiasts at their Build developer conference in June. The final product most likely won't arrive as 'Windows Blue,' but right now there are no rumors on the new name Microsoft will give it. Rumors have suggested, however, that the return of the Start Bar would be included.

Microsoft's Build conference takes place on June 26 in San Francisco.