TheWatchWorks

Google today launched a somewhat mysterious website called “Solve for X,” which will now be the official homepage for a conference by the same name. Solve for X, according to the description provided, seems similar in format to the series of conferences from TED, but with more of a scientific focus.

The invite-only gathering is designed to attract global innovators who present short, technology-focused presentations on topics like low-energy desalination, e-waste mining, crowd-sourced protein folding, stretchable silicon biosensers, climate change, and more.

The website describes Solve for X as:

“A place where the curious can go to hear and discuss radical technology ideas for solving global problems. Radical in the sense that the solutions could help billions of people. Radical in the sense that the audaciousness of the proposals makes them sound like science fiction. And radical in the sense that there is some real technology breakthrough on the horizon to give us all hope that these ideas could really be brought to life.”

Although the site is still locked down as of this morning (there’s an email input form so you can be notified when it opens up), there have been hints to its nature posted by Richard W. DeVaul, a researcher for Google who describes his occupation as “Rapid Evaluator (mad scientist).”

In addition, some people have dug around in the CSS code to try and learn more information about the event.

In the code, you’ll find details on how the Solve for X presentations work. For example, presentations can only last 12 minutes, and must answer three questions:

1. What is the huge problem you’re focused on fixing?
2. What is the product or service that sounds like science fiction but that, if made, would radically improve the problem you just described?
3. What specifically is the science or technology breakthrough that can give us all hope that such a product or service can be made and released to the world within a decade?

Presenters are asked to go easy on the slideshows, and to consider using props and other visual aids instead.

Videos from the conference, which took place this month in San Jose, California, are expected to go live on the site later today. In the meantime, this Solve for X introductory video is online now:

‘eat my e-waste!’ designing productsso that the ‘waste’ can b fertilizer or …lunch.#solveforx

— lisagansky (@instigating) February 2, 2012

Crowdsolving: reshape edu, value of work, innovation & the economy. Each of us learn abt r true talents in a changing world. #solveforx

— lisagansky (@instigating) February 2, 2012

there is more gold in a ton of electronic waste than a ton of ore from a gold mine.#solveforx

— jackhidary (@jackhidary) February 2, 2012

Hmm. Stretchable silicon structures for on- or in-body applications. Very cool. #solveforx

— Dr. Headcrash (@headcrash) February 2, 2012

Is nutrition a production or a distribution problem? #solveforx

— Dr. Headcrash (@headcrash) February 2, 2012

Active electronics (sensors, display elements, rf comms) embedded in contact lenses.Wow. #solveforx

— Dr. Headcrash (@headcrash) February 2, 2012

Hmm. Reconstructing mental images from FMRI – at high resolution. Freaky. #solveforx

— Dr. Headcrash (@headcrash) February 2, 2012

Stretchable silicon sensor on skin. #solveforx twitter.com/headcrash/stat…

— Dr. Headcrash (@headcrash) February 2, 2012

Huh.Completely reengineering the public university as a “moonshot factory” – in AZ. #solveforx

— Dr. Headcrash (@headcrash) February 2, 2012

@neha #solveforx is a ted-like conference focusing on “moon shot” technologies with giant impact potential. Talks are great and online soon.

— Aaron Zinman (@azinman) February 3, 2012

Conglomerate Honeywell, which develops thermostats, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nest Labs, the developer of the innovative smart thermostat. The lawsuit, which was filed United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleges infringement of seven Honeywell patents related to its thermostat technology.

As we’ve reported in the past, Nest, which was founded by the godfather of the iPod, not only provides an intelligent thermostat for your home but also saves energy as well. For example, the technology will analyze the thermal decay of a house to determine how long it takes for heat to dissipate. An “Auto-Away” feature uses far-field motion detection to assess whether no one is in the house for a few days, perhaps because you’ve gone on vacation. If so, the unit goes into low-energy mode.

The Nest thermostat also tracks your manual heating adjustments. For example, it can learn that you turn off the heat when you leave for work in the morning and turn it back on when you return in the evening, and then start to automatically make these changes for you. You can see a demo here.

Honeywell claims the infringed patents relate to “simplified methods for operating and programming a thermostat including the use of natural language, user interfaces that facilitate programming and energy savings, a thermostat’s inner design, an electric circuit used to divert power from the user’s home electrical system to provide power to a thermostat, and controlling a thermostat with information stored in a remote location.”

The lawsuit actually names both Nest Labs and Best Buy, which sells the Nest Labs thermostat. Honeywell not only wants to prevent Nest from the continued use of its patented technology but also seeks to recover damages caused by the infringement.

Interestingly, Honeywell recently told GigaOm that it killed off its smarter, learning thermostats years ago, instead focusing on ‘adding intelligence to digital and connected thermostats.”

We’ve contacted Nest for comment on the suit. We’ll update when we hear back from the company.

According to new research from the NPD Group, Apple passed LG and Samsung to become the top-selling U.S. handset brand in Q4 2011. Combined, the three available models of the iPhone (iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS) accounted for 43% of the U.S. smartphone market.

Android, however, continued to see larger market share at 48%.

Together, iPhone and Android accounted for over 90% of U.S. smartphone sales, leaving little room for any up-and-comer like Windows Phone, or even the declining brand that is RIM’s BlackBerry.

Android’s market share may continue to grow, too, given that more first-time smartphone buyers were choosing Android over iPhone this past quarter, the firm found. Based on NPD Group’s monthly Smartphone Track service, 57% of first-time smartphone buyers went with an Android device compared with just 34% who purchased iPhones.

NPD suggests that the reason for these consumers’ Android preference has to do more with availability – Android has “wide carrier support,” the report says. Also helpful is Android’s large app selection and its support of LTE at Verizon.

The overall portion of handset sales that were smartphones also climbed in Q4 2011, now accounting for 68% of the total U.S. phone market. That’s an increase of 18% from Q2 2010, said NPD. The average cost per smartphone, however, hasn’t seen as much movement, down from $149 in Q4 2010 to $143 in Q4 2011.

Not surprisingly, Apple’s record-breaking quarter (its fiscal Q1, running September 25-December 31), led to the iPhone 4S coming out on top as the best-selling handset in Q4. It also earned the top three slots among the top five handsets for the time period:

1. Apple iPhone 4S
2. Apple iPhone 4
3. Apple iPhone 3GS
4. Samsung Galaxy S II
5. Samsung Galaxy S 4G

Ross Rubin, executive director, Connected Intelligence for The NPD Group, said that consumers were attracted to the iPhone 4S’s ”faster processor, improved camera and the Siri speech-driven agent.”

“The iPhone 4S outsold the iPhone 4 by 75%, and outsold the iPhone 3GS, available for free on AT&T, five to one,” Rubin noted.

Do you believe in a thing called love?

If not, just listen to the rhythm of my heart… Or head on over to AT&T’s website to pre-order the Galaxy Note.

If for some reason you don’t remember, the Note is a 5.3-inch phone/tablet hybrid that showed its face in a costly Samsung commercial during last night’s Super Bowl. Its claim to fame would be a little stylus, what Samsung is calling the S-Pen, which makes the Note a tad more useful when you’re in a pinch and need to jot down a note or something quick like that.

Samsung has started out the year with 1 million Galaxy Note sales under its belt. If you feel like getting touchy-feely (touching youuuuou, touching meeeee) then you also have the option of sauntering into an AT&T come February 19 and settling the decision then and there.

The Galaxy Note will cost you $300 on-contract.

Samsung’s next flagship smartphone needs to be huge, iPhone 4 huge. It needs to be as competitive as the Galaxy S II as its set to go head-to-head with the iPhone 5. But success won’t be found as easily this time. Samsung had nearly a full year to design and release Galaxy S II after the iPhone 4′s release. The company doesn’t have that luxury this time around.

South Korean news outlet Electronic Times News just published a report that pegs the S3 as a superphone on a diet. The report states that printed circuit boards, chips and connectors allowed for an overall thickness (or thinness) of just 7mm. That’s 1.9mm thinner than the current Galaxy SII — not that several millimeters really mater. But even though the phone is thinner overall, Samsung is reportedly packing their next flagship to the gills.

Inside the svelte body is a quad-core CPU of unknown pedigree or clock speed running Android 4.0. The new model will use the same 8MP camera as the S II, which will result in a slight extrusion on the phone’s backplate. Inside is the usually assortment of an LTE radio, WiFi, GPS, and, although not specifically mentioned in this report, NFC is highly likely. No word on screen size.

But early adaptors might want to hold off. Samsung is reportedly set to launch a large line of Galaxy S3 phones in 2012.

etnews states that Samsung is preparing several S3 flavors. One model will have a better camera and one will use a stylus (like the Note!). There will even be 3D variation. The exact release schedule is not mentioned but expect a steady stream of S3 phones this year and early next.

The Samsung Galaxy S II was a massive success but it could have been better. The company announced the phone at MWC in late February 2011 but it didn’t hit markets until May/June. The company is seeking to eliminate that lag by not launching the S3 at MWC this year. The phone will instead get its own event closer to launch, and if etnews is to be believed, the phone will be released this coming May.

The scene is set. The lines are drawn. The summer of 2012 is set to play host to a massive battle: the iPhone 5 vs the Samsung Galaxy S III. But don’t get caught up in the nonsense war. Stand on the sideline and watch as two, likely awesome, smartphones trade shots. In the end it doesn’t really matter. The consumer wins no matter what.

In November, eBay acquired Hunch, a service that provides a “taste graph” of personalized recommendations based on users’ interests. eBay wants to use Hunch’s technology to used to drive more personalized, relevant shopping experiences on the marketplace through data analysis. And over the course of the past month, the team over at Hunch has spent some time figuring out the differences in tastes and interests of people who have shopped on eBay and those who have yet to make their first eBay sale or purchase. The results are based on responses from a survey of nearly 70,000 Hunch users (two-third of which are eBay users).

Here are some of the results. eBay purchasers are 61% more likely to be early adopters of technology. For example, eBay users are 54% more likely to use Twitter. Non-eBay users are 90% more likely to buy music in the form of a CD vs. other music formats. You can check out the rest of the results in the infographic below:

Today, Rdio is releasing a brand new application for Android phones chock-full of fresh features, which is awesome. Mainly because it gives me an excuse to write up a related rant I would have published at some point anyway.

But let’s get the new Android app part out of the way first:

“The new app offers intuitive navigation with one-click access to features previously available on Rdio for Android, along with several new enhancements and key features including collection, playlists, new releases, top charts, recommendations, and support for Android Ice Cream Sandwich’s new remote control client.

Now Android users not only have easy access to Rdio’s catalog of more than 12 million songs, they can also take advantage of Rdio’s rich social features and extensive music discovery options.”

Great. Swell. Cool. If you’re an Android phone user. Which I’m not, at least not anymore.

A few months ago I started using Nokia’s Lumia 800 as my primary smartphone. One of the apps I really need on any platform happens to be Rdio, which I gladly pay for every month. There has been an official WP7 Rdio app since November 2010, so no problem. At least, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Instead, it’s a major source of daily frustration. You see, the Rdio app for Windows Phone has one fatal flaw: it doesn’t actually play music. It also doesn’t go out to buy my groceries for me, nor does it clip my toe nails, but the point is that I have a right to be flabbergasted by its lack of music playing ability. You know, because I pay the company for being able to play music on my phone.

Not for crashing apps. Not for playlists, albums and songs that never load. Not for ‘black screens of death’ while I’m discovering new music. Not for half-assed offline syncing features.

Browsing the company’s help forums, it seems I’m not the only one who’s frustrated by the extremely poor quality of Rdio’s Windows Phone app (with some people even taking to canceling their subscriptions as a result of their justifiable dissatisfaction).

For months, Rdio employees have been promising complainers that the issues will be resolved on those very forums, but so far these promises have not been kept. I mean, they’re still asking users to restart their devices to see if that fixes the problem. Well, it doesn’t.

Rdio folks, please just look at those ratings and user reviews on WP Marketplace, and be ashamed.

Look, I get it. I’m in the minority as a Windows Phone user, and there’s no critical mass in sight yet. You have every right to focus your development efforts on apps for iOS and Android, given that most of your users likely use devices that run those operating systems. It’s a sensible thing to do.

The thing is, I’m a paying customer. I fork over $9.99 a month to access my Rdio account on the Web, my Sonos system and my phone. That phone happens to be a Windows Phone device, which you built an app for, which you’re actively advertising on your website. Yet, it’s helplessly broken.

The Spotify app for Windows Phone, meanwhile, works perfectly.

There’s absolutely no reason for me to put up with this, and I’m close to canceling my subscription over this. Not really because your Windows Phone app has issues, which is understandable, but because you’ve demonstrated clearly that you do not care about repairing them and giving your paying customers any reasonable indication of how to fix it themselves, or when a problem-fixing update will finally make its way to the Marketplace.

My view is this: either you develop an app for a mobile platform and proudly commit to enhancing and supporting it over time, and fixing problems that may arise within a reasonable timeframe, or you stay away from that platform entirely. I don’t know or care if Nokia or Microsoft paid you to build the app, but you should hang your heads in shame for offering it to users in its current state.

Rant over, for now. But hey, at least the new Android app apparently rocks, right?

Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like the mysterious Project Zoetrope will soon be seeing the light of day. Verizon and Redbox owner Coinstar have just taken to the wires today to announce their new joint venture in video entertainment, with their subscription services poised to launch in the second half of this year.

Details are still light at the moment (though a 9:30 AM conference call should shed some light on things) but the new service certainly has Netflix in its sights.

What we do know so far is that Verizon looks to combine a “video on demand streaming and download service” with Redbox’s physical media rentals from their 35,000+ kiosks nationwide. If the information given to us from an inside source holds true though, expect to see the yet-unnamed video service hit a host of platforms — think iOS, Android, Xbox, and the like.

I probably don’t need to remind you that Verizon is a major player in both the home entertainment and mobile space, and it’s exactly that breadth that they and Redbox want to built off of for their new service. The two companies are apparently in pursuit of what they call the “borderless lifestyle,” where the entertainment content consumers want will be available on the device (or media format) of their choosing.

It has the potential to be a far more attractive option than Netflix for some customers, if only because using Netflix’s mail order service requires a little bit of forethought. Spur-of-the-moment types will likely appreciate the ability to swing by the local drugstore and pick up a few DVDs for the night when their new movie of choice hasn’t yet appeared in their Verizon/Redbox streaming account yet. That question of content is what will ultimately make or break this new service, and hopefully they have some aces up their collective sleeves, as the new joint venture and Netflix will likely compete head-to-head on new DVD and Blu-ray releases.

In all likelihood, Netflix will have Verizon/Redbox beat when it comes to the size of their physical media catalog, so Verizon/Redbox may look to play up their “borderless” streaming side of things. Even that could be a risky move, as Netflix’s anemic margins on streaming video content show that it’s a tough model to run with.

Update: Well shucks, the conference call lasted all of four minutes and didn’t shed any new light on the situation.

Early last year we pointed out that implementing the proposed EU cookie law would profoundly affect European technology companies and anyone running a business online out of Europe. Let’s review why.

First of all, it could mean that a staggering 90% of a site’s visitors would run a mile rather than saying yes to accepting a simple Google Analytics cookie. This is what happened when the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) implemented the EU advise on their own web site.

Mobeam, the San Francisco-based startup whose technology enables mobile phones to interact with laser scanners at the point of sale, has added another $1.5 million to its Series A round. The company had previously raised $4.9 million in October 2011.

The round includes new investor DFJ Athena, a Korea-focused venture fund affiliated with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and brings in new funds from existing investor and board chairman, Ben DuPont.

Also announced today, DFJ Athena’s founder and managing director, Perry Ha, will join Mobeam’s board of directors.

The funding follows the company’s announcement in December of a partnership with Procter & Gamble for a pilot program which brings a fully mobile couponing system to U.S. consumers. The technology developed by Mobeam involves a patented way to beam barcodes from a phone’s screen which can be read by normal laser scanners like those found at the point-of-sale.

Due to the way mobile handset screens are constructed, they can’t be read by the commonly used scanners found at checkout. Mobeam’s technology instead uses the LEDs already present on many mobile handsets to transform barcodes into beams of light that any laser scanner can read.

Mobeam says it’s using the new funding to help establish its technology, called light-based communications (LBC), as a new industry standard. It’s also planning to advance its business development efforts with major retail and consumers brands for mobile couponing and other initiatives.

Ridejoy, a YC-backed startup that brings people together via ridesharing on long-distance trips, has raised $1.3 million in seed funding led by Freestyle Capital
with Lerer Ventures, Start Fund, SV Angel, Founder Collective, Y Combinator, Ben Ling, Owen Van Natta and Joshua Schachter participating.

The service allows drivers who are already planning to take a roadtrip to ‘sell’ their extra seats to other users. Drivers earn money on trips they were planning on taking anyway, and Ridejoy passengers get a door-to-door lift, in some cases for less than they’d pay for a bus ticket.

For now, Ridejoy is focused on long-distance trips. Drivers and passengers can locate others going to the same destination online in advance of the trip. To find travel companions, Ridejoy members simply post rides offered or rides needed and can be paid via cash or credit card. Ridejoy will take a small cut of the credit card payments.

In terms of safety, users are required to provide relevant work and education history, a photo, and with Facebook integration, a list of mutual friends. Ridejoy also implements a a user review system, so that drivers and passengers can check community feedback from previous rides; as well as a user reference system, which allows for friends to vouch for community members.

Last year, Ridejoy debuted its service with BurningManRides.com — a site that helped people coordinate their trips out to the Nevada desert. 1600 people signed up, 1150 rides were posted, and 400 rides were completed over a three-week span. In a neat twist, five pilots offered rides-by-air, completing a total of ten plane trips.

Ridejoy faces competition from Zimride. Ridejoy will use the new funding to increase design and engineering capacity and expand operations beyond the West Coast.

It’s hard not to love the Galaxy Nexus, even if you’re not a Fandroid. With a 4.65-inch 720p display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and Android 4.0 ICS to boot, what’s not to love?

Well, if you’re being picky, perhaps you’re yearning for a white GalNex, in which case I have good and bad news. Which do you want first?

The good news is that the white Galaxy Nexus is indeed an official product and it will be available on February 13, which gives you a whole day to use a combination of Google Wallet and Fab to find your sweetheart a nice Valentine’s Day gift.

The bad news is that, according to TrustedReviews, the white GalNex is only available to the UK this week. (Bad news for us, anyways.)

Wait, there’s one extra bonus bit of good news: If you have enough dough, the white GalNex is has a pentaband HSPA+ radio, meaning it will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks. And by “enough dough”, I specifically mean at least £496.79 ($770), which is what the 16GB model seems to be going for over at UK online retailer Handtec.

Past it’s pale appearance, all the specs will remain the same between the black and white models. However, if you happen to remember when we first noticed the white Galaxy Nexus, you’ll recall that the render within the post showed an all-white bezel. That isn’t the case with the official version, as the front bezel of the phone is still solid black and the back portion of the phone is white.

The 2012 Super Bowl has come and gone, while you’re left to clean up the beer cans, wash off that face paint, and get back to planning your next pivot. The game itself provided more than enough excitement, with the New York Football Giants eking out a win over the star-crossed Tom Bradys and Bill Belichicks. This year’s Big Game also marked the first time that a Super Bowl was streamed live, legally, and for free on the Interwebs. While online viewers met with a number of shortcomings, the streaming was — for the most part — a success. (Read our review here.)

The Super Bowl also proved to yet again be the catalyst of rabid activity on social media channels, especially Twitter, which, at its most active, saw more than 10,000 tweets per second. A record for sporting events (even though this record seems to be broken every three months.)

While some watch the Super Bowl for their love of a good game of pigskin, others flip on the game for the halftime entertainment or the slew of “creative” commercials airing for the first time in front of a ready-made audience of millions.

The ad content this year left much to be desired (in my humble opinion), though there were some highlights, like an appearance by some faces familiar to the tech industry, thanks to Best Buy’s spotlighting of a few mobile innovators, among them Philippe Kahn, Ray Kurzweil, Instagram Founder Kevin Systrom, and the guys behind Shazam, and Words With Friends, and so on.

Of course, in the wrap up of every Super Bowl, the people want to get a taste of which commercials were the most popular. This morning Hulu released its list of winners, and it looks like nostalgia took the blue ribbon. Of the ads that ran during game time, Honda’s “Matthew’s Day Off” (a Ferris Bueller tribute) just narrowly edged out Volkswagen’s “The Dog Strikes Back,” with the “most liked” ad on Hulu AdZone being Volkswagen’s “The Bark Side” preview ad.

Below, you can find the top results across categories, including “Overall Most Liked Ads” and “Funniest Ads.” For more of Hulu’s categories, check out their release here.

Overall Most Liked Ads

1. Volkswagen: The Bark Side Teaser
2. Honda: Matthew’s Day Off — Extended
3. Volkswagen: The Dog Strikes Back
4. Skechers: GOrun Mr. Quiggly
5. Dannon Oikos: The Tease
6. Chevrolet: 2012
7. M&M’s: It’s That Kind of Party
8. Audi: Vampire Party
9. E*Trade: Fatherhood
10. Acura: Transactions — Extended

Funniest Ads

1. Acura: Transactions
2. Hulu Plus: Hulubratory
3. Chevrolet: Happy Grad
4. Honda: Matthew’s Day Off
5. Chevrolet: 2012

Of course, Hulu is not the only service/company to track this year’s most popular commercials. This morning, TiVo also shared it’s commercial results, which is of note as it claims to be the “only second-by-second audience research service to rank the top ten commercials based on actual commercial retention and viewership” relative to the Super Bowl’s viewership numbers. Interestingly, while many brands like to preview or tease their ads days before the Super Bowl actually airs, the top three did not preview their commercials online before the big game. Take that, Internet?

Though it may not come as a surprise, it’s disappointing not to see many tech companies (or tech-related ads) in either of these top ten lists, with the exception of Hulu and E*Trade. It seems that the Super Bowl came and went without the same controversy (or negative reaction) stirred up by GoDaddy, Salesforce.com, and Groupon last year, the former two ranking high in the “Most Disliked” category last year.

But, without further ado, here are the top ten according to TiVo:

1. Doritos: “Man’s Best Friend”
2. M&Ms: “Ms. Brown”
3. Doritos: “Sling Baby”
4. Pepsi: “King’s Court”
5. Volkswagen: “The Dog Strikes Back”
6. NFL New Fantasy Game: “Win a Million Bucks”
7. Acura NSX: “Seinfeld”
8. FIAT 500: “Supermodel”
9. Chevy Camaro: “Happy Grad”
10. E*Trade Baby: “Fatherhood”

What do you think? Weigh in with your favorites.

Tsavo Media, which operates a network of roughly 300 websites and blogs as an indirect subsidiary of Canadian online publishing and advertising company Cyberplex, is being retroactively charged $4.8 million “over a reasonable time period” by Yahoo for sending the latter company’s advertisers “low quality traffic” in 2011.

To boot, Cyberplex president Ted Hastings (formerly Tsavo Media’s CEO), apparently jumped ship.

It’s a curious story, to say the least.

Tsavo Media, once led by former MySpace CEO and previously AOL SVP Mike Jones, was acquired by Cyberplex back in May 2010, for a reported $75 million.

The company’s network of Internet publications includes crappy websites like LumaGardening.com, ThinkFashion, TechSerious, WealthyGeek, Twirlit, DiscoverFame and KidGlue.

Now, according to a press statement released earlier today, a Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Cyberplex has been appointed to “review the status of Tsavo Media and strategic alternatives available to create shareholder value out of that division, which is currently heavily encumbered by debt under Tsavo Media’s credit facility with American Capital”.

I bet this wasn’t what they had in mind when they acquired Tsavo Media. But then again, what good could have come out of buying a crappy content generation machine anyway?

Cyberplex had this to say about the sticky Yahoo situation it now finds itself in:

The Company reported today that Tsavo Media has been engaged in discussions with Yahoo! to address concerns regarding the quality of traffic provided to the Yahoo! advertising base, and Tsavo Media’s reliance on Yahoo!’s traffic quality reporting system. Tsavo Media has now been informed that it will be required to pay to Yahoo! approximately $4.8 million over a reasonable time period currently being discussed, notwithstanding prior information that indicated good quality traffic at that time.

This amount may be partially offset by achieving certain performance incentives and anticipated improvements in average revenues per click, but the Company noted that there can be no assurance as to how much, if any, of this payment to Yahoo! would be offset through these incentives and improvements.

Translation: unless a miracle happens, we’re going to have to cough up some serious dough, and we can only hope we don’t have to pay everything all at once and in the near future.

The Company noted that Yahoo! provides bi-weekly quality reports to Tsavo Media, which are extremely important to Tsavo Media in the management of its systems, analysis, forecasting and ultimately its day-to-day business decisions. Yahoo! recently communicated to Tsavo Media that notwithstanding the good quality score reports that had been provided throughout most of 2011, Yahoo! would retroactively charge Tsavo for what Yahoo! is now saying was actually low quality traffic, ranging back over many months during 2011.

While the Company and Yahoo! remain in discussions on this issue, the Company now expects that Yahoo! will enforce its decision to charge back this amount citing its right to do so pursuant to the terms of Tsavo Media’s agreement with Yahoo!

Translation: first Yahoo says we did a good job last year, but now they say we did a bad job, and according to the deal we agreed upon they can actually retroactively charge us for it.

“We are very frustrated by the timing of these events after spending almost one year rebuilding the Tsavo organization while negotiating a settlement with American Capital”, said Geoffrey Rotstein, CEO of Cyberplex.

“These events are disappointing given all of the hard work the Tsavo employees have invested to rebuild the organization and because they continue to take away and distract from all of the other positive developments and momentum being created within both Tsavo and the other divisions of Cyberplex.”

Translation: Oh FFF******CCCKKK.

Forget about the Lumia 900 for a minute. Nokia just announced white Nokia Lumia 800 is finally on the release block and scheduled to hit stores later this month. Availability will be limited to Europe initially but it will eventually hit other countries as well.

Other than the stark white exterior, it’s essentially the same phone as its colored counterparts. The albino edition (not the official name) still has the same 3.7-inch screen, 16GB of storage, 1.4GHz processor and WinPhone 7.5 operating system.

Nokia didn’t go into pricing details, probably because the phone is set to hit so many different markets, each with a different pricing strategy. However, Nokia has seemed to stress affordability with their Windows Phones so far so this white edition will likely follow the same mantra. Alright, enough with the Lumia 800, bring on the 900!

In an effort to expand its reach into the e-learning market, Kenexa, a publicly listed provider of business solutions for human resources and talent management, has agreed to acquire Boston-based OutStart.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

OutStart offers SaaS-based social and mobile learning solutions and will help Kenexa bolster its suite of talent management products, the latter company said in a statement.

OutStart is said to have more than 300 customers, ranging from large global organizations to mid-size companies and government agencies.

Kenexa says it expects to fund the acquisition of the privately-held software company with its existing cash balance. The company also expects the transaction to be at least neutral to non-GAAP net income available to common shareholders on a per share basis for 2012.

Also read: Kenexa To Acquire Salary.com In $80 Million Deal

Smartphones and tablets maker HTC this morning said it foresees a huge drop in revenue (PDF) in the first quarter, citing “short-term difficulties” as it gears up to – reportedly – launch four new phone models at the Mobile World Congress later this month.

The Taiwanese company sees revenue dropping as much as 36 percent in Q1, to between NT$65 billion and NT$70 billion (roughly $2.2 and $2.4 billion) due to this “product transition”.

In PR speak, that sound something like this:

Despite short-term difficulties, momentum will resume in the upcoming product cycle driven by HTC’s brand strength, innovation, and design/engineering capabilities

The smartphone maker also said it expected gross margin to come in at around 25 percent, and operating margin at 7.5 percent, which is down from 27.1 percent and 12.7 percent in the previous quarter. Again, HTC says it expects these margins to “normalize” after the debut of the new phones.

In other words, HTC has a heck of a lot riding on these new smartphones selling like hotcakes, as it feels the pressure from Apple’s overwhelming iPhone success and an increasing number of manufacturers churning out and selling competing Android-powered devices by the millions.

Also read:

It’s About Time: HTC To Refocus Smartphone Efforts Around “Hero” Devices

Is HTC’s 20% Revenue Dip Last Month A Sign Of Things To Come?

Here are some of the past week’s stories on TechCrunch Gadgets:

To Heck With The Super Bowl: GOG Features Sierra Game Three-Packs For $5

iModela Adds CNC Milling To Your Home 3D Printing Arsenal

Swarming Robots Will Fly Menacingly Towards Your Loved Ones In Perfect Formation

Peavey Builds An Auto-Tuning Guitar

nanox: High-Quality iPod nano Watch Conversion Kit

BTjunkie, a popular BitTorrent search service, has been ‘voluntarily’ shut down by its operator(s). In a goodbye message, BTjunkie writes:

This is the end of the line my friends. The decision does not come easy, but we’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on. It’s been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best!

BTjunkie’s founder went into more detail in a conversation with TorrentFreak, stating that the recent legal actions against other file sharing services such as MegaUpload and The Pirate Bay played an important role in the decision-making process. In other words, the war that’s being waged upon file storage and sharing services, many of which are used to upload and distribute copyrighted content, has claimed another casualty. It won’t exactly be the last to falter as a result of the MegaUpload fallout, although you have to wonder how many competitors – or brand new sites – will now be jumping on the opportunity to provide an alternative to BTjunkie users.

As Accel Partners VC Max Niederhofer points out on Twitter, the shutdown of BTjunkie follows other abrupt decisions made by the likes of QuickSilverScreen (closed) and FileSonic (file sharing functionality terminated). Of course, there’s also Uploaded.to (suspended service in the United States), FileServe (disabled file sharing functionality, closed affiliate program), and more.

With even more likely to follow suit soon enough.

Founded in 2005, the unceremonious shuttering of the site now puts BTjunkie in the deadpool.

(Also check out the reddit thread on BTjunkie’s shutdown.)

Wow btjunkie.org has shut down where am I going to get my music from now—
Marquis Iveys (@kease2kool) February 06, 2012

One of the challenges that many post-IPO tech company employees will face is when to sell stock and how much stock to sell once the their stock lockups conclude.Financial advisors can help with this, but some aren’t experienced enough with the specific fluctuations of tech companies to create a financially wise strategy. Wealthfront (formerly kaChing), a startup that has been disrupting the investing and personal finance space, is debuting a new tool employees use to test option sale strategies post IPO. Basically, Wealthfront will allow you to test various strategies against the actual stock behavior of a number of tech companies that went public in the past 10 years. The tool is actually embedded below so you can test it out.

As we’ve written in the past, Wealthfront brings the quality investment theories of a fund manager online, at a much lower fee, essentially democratizing private wealth management to the masses. The startup is the brainchild of Andy Rachleff, who was formerly a founder of Benchmark Capital.

Rachleff explains that the current tool looks at five typical stock performance patterns: increasing (Google, Salesforce), decreasing (DivX), peak-dominated (Netflix), u-shaped (VMWare) and oscillating (Orbitz). To showcase the tool’s technology, Wealthfront picked 10 companies, two that fit each pattern, to offer real-life examples. Basically, you compare your company’s stock performance to one of these companies.

The tool then applies four different stock-sale strategies to the stock performance of each company, comparing the results to what would have happened if an employee sold no shares. For example, one sample plan shows an employee selling 10% each quarter for 10 quarters. Or an employee could sell 50% up front and 10% per quarter for five quarters. And there’s always the option of selling all shares vested immediately post-lockup.

So, Wealthfront can determine if your company’s stock performance is going to be similar to that of Google, then you are better off holding more stock. If you work for a company that’s going to perform like DivX, you’ll be better off unloading all of your stock on day one, after the lockup period expires. Generally, Wealthfront advises employees to sell shares gradually.

Wealthfront says it will update the simulator to include more companies and sales strategies in the future. The tool could definitely be useful for the growing number of Silicon Valley tech employees that are finding themselves as shareholders of stock from companies that recently went public.

Wealthfront has raised over $10 million from DAG Ventures and individual investors including Marc Andreessen, Jeff Jordan and partners from Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.