@haxlr8r co foc.us demos gaming headset that uses electrodes in attempt to stimulate concentration & brain activity; headset sends low 0.8-2.0 mA charge through 4 discs placed on forehead; based on concept of transcranial direct current stimulation, which US military researchers have found increases performance on wide range of manual & mental tasks; costs $249 for iOS compatible version & first orders shipping in Jul - Link

Total visitors to @Apple retail stores over 90M in Q1 '13 w/ 4 qtr moving average continuing to climb; visitors per store leveling out at ave of 250K per qtr - Link

@bnbooks updating Nook Simple Touch w/ web browser & email on Jun 1; Simple Touch & Simple Touch w/ Glowlight will receive OTA update next mo; competing @Amazon Kindle e-readers feature 'experimental' web browser but no email - Link

@scobleizer visits @SRI_Intl for demo on facial detection innovations; software can detect user gaze & concentration, stress levels & emotions; performs speech recognition & vocal emotion detection; potential uses in education, customer service training, first responder training - Link

@YouTube celebrates 8th anniversary of launch; today users upload 100 hrs (4 days) of video to the service every minute; in '11 it was 48 hrs/min & in '12 it was 72 hrs/min; 1B users access YouTube each month, 1 of every 2 Internet users - Link

@Yahoo board unanimously approves $1.1B acquisition of @Tumblr; deal to be announced Mon morn; no competing bids for co; CEO @davidkarp to stay at Yahoo for min of 4 yrs w/ @kevin-like control of product; Tumblr raised a total of $125M in 5 rounds since '07 - Link

@Apple & @SonyMusicGlobal continue negotiations around Apple in-development streaming music service; key sticking point is the amount Sony would be paid when users skip a portion of a song; Apple offering 3 rev sources for labels in the product: royalties, ability to sell song on iTunes & portion of ad revs; Apple service to include ability for users to rewind songs - Link

Former @Google UK employee alleges co's tax avoidance practices used employees in London to sell ads & Dublin employees to close deals; location of activity key to co's ability to avoid some British taxes; Barney Jones is turning over 100K documents from the period he worked at Google in London from '02 to '06 & calls the practices 'immoral'; documents could contradict earlier testimony of Google exec about tax avoidance - Link

@twistartups May 17 roundtable: Thomas Korte (@thomask) of @angelpad & Luke Beatty (@luke_beatty) of @techstars agreed w/@jason that nothing from @Google IO wowed them; people understimate @Blackberry's relevance to the enterprise market; @luke_beatty thinks @yahoo-@tumblr deal good for both b/c @yahoo could deliver right Tumblr content to right people - Link

@jason editorial: though @Yahoo about to acquire @Tumblr, Zuck (@finkd) should buy it b/c 'it's an awesome hedge' when teens start hating @facebook; @kevin is perfect pitch person since Zuck has left @instagram alone; buying Tumblr would make Zuck greatest M&A exec; @marissamayer will be be judged on deal & can't afford not to be in @davidkarp's biz - Link

David Karp:

@Uber facing new regulations in Washington DC that could end Uber Taxi service & require ridership data be handed over to city; new regulations proposed by DC taxi commission would require payments for taxi service via established payment processor; regs ban hybrid vehicles opertating as Uber black cars & would require all black car trip data to go to city; Uber says it has no plans to switch to city's payment processor & has launched petition protesting regulations - Link

@Google Play in-app purchase revs up 700% yr/yr & subscription revs 2x each qtr; figures announced at I/O session focused on business case for app revs from Android; co says that Android tablet users make purchases at a 1.7x higher rate than phones & that updated apps that take advantage of latest Android features monetize at a 2.2x rate compared to older apps - Link

Printable solar cells developed by Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium researchers; solar conductive organic compounds disolved into liquid w/ solvent can be machine-printed onto steel at 10 meters per min; printer costs $200K; cells can be printed onto building materials for integration directly into structures; cells generate 50 watts per sq meter - Link

@TechCrunch reports @Tumblr may reject $1.1B acquisition offer from @Yahoo, but reporting disputed by @KaraSwisher; TechCrunch cites unnamed employees that feel Yahoo offer "too low" & "only a first offer" in response to Swisher's reporting on the deal; Swisher responds on @Twitter "And no on this one" to TechCrunch report - Link

@Redbox Instant streaming video service is heading to @Google TV enabled devices w/ app to launch in coming wks; co demoed product on @LGUS Google TV running Android Jelly Bean variant; that update is rolling to Google TV devices in Q3, but Redbox app will work w/ all @Intel-based Google TV products running the current version of the OS; co expects to support @RokuPlayer after Google TV - Link

Some @Google employees have Google Glass w/ prescription lenses at I/O dev conference; prototypes designed in-house by Google; Glass attachment not detachable & arms cannot be folded to place Glass into a pocket; reports circulating that @WarbyParker may develop Google Glass w/ prescription lenses - Link

@Yahoo press conference set for NYC on Mon said to be regarding upades to Flickr; @BloombergNews reports that @MarissaMayer will unveil new Flickr features at the press conference; speculation surrounds other reports that the co is in acquisition talks for @Tumblr; press invited to Mon event on Fri - Link

@MercedesBenz debuts S-Class sedans w/ semi autonomous driving features; self-driving features include the ability to steer in city traffic, stay in lane going over 120 MPH on highway, park itself & brake to avoid pedestrians & cars; can also sense when driver becomes fatigued; system analogous to airplane auto pilot feature; S-Class to go on sale in Sep at $100K; MB engineers skeptical of @Google prediction of 100% self-driving cars in 5 yrs - Link

Canadian Competition Bureau notifies @Google that it is beginning investigation of co's business practices; gvt agency has not disclosed scope and/or target of the inquiry & Google has agreed to cooperate w/ investigation; US FTC recently completed 19-mo investigation of co's search practices - Link

@Yahoo Japan says 22M user IDs may have been leaked & it detected unauthorized access of admin system for Japan web portal; leaked info does not contain passwords or password reset data; co detected unauthorized access Thu at 9PM & severed connection; traces of attempt to obtain user IDs observed - Link

Hacker serving 5 yr prison sentence invents ATM add-on to prevent theft; Valentin Boanta was sentenced for supplying gadgets to an organized crime game used to conceal ATM skimmers; the device known as 'SRS' requires the card to be inserted by width instead of length & rotates the card to make skimming useless - Link

@GrubHub & @Seamless reportedly in talks to merge; @Seamless generated ~$85M in rev in '12, growing its biz 60% YoY; the co is estimated to soon process ~$1B worth of food orders per yr; @GrubHub's rev has been doubling every yr & the co reported $30M in rev in '11 - Link

@MetaGlasses launches @Kickstarter campaign to create the most advanced augmented reality interface; the glasses allows visualization & interaction w/ 3D virtual objects in the real word using your hands; has raised $56k out of $100k goal w/ 29 days to go - Link

@Google makes Mark Up tools available to @Google Now partners for emails; will help highlight flight schedules, hotel bookings & various types of reservations; not currently available for public use but could eventually allow devs & startups to provide relevant info to users from their apps on @Android - Link

Amtrak upgrades its Wi-Fi service on trains; wants to improve the speed & reliability of the Internet in its passenger cars; its Wi-Fi has previously been compared to dial up & it restricted data-heavy activities & file downloads larger than 10MB; its Wi-Fi is now powered by 4G tech - Link

@Zynga reportedly tells dating site CupidWithFriends to change their name; claims that their name allegedly infringes on @Zynga's trademarks; CupidWithFriends was built by startup Apartment 7 & launched early in '13; the co's co-founder reportedly has said they have no plans to change the name - Link

@Yahoo board reportedly meeting Sunday, May 19th '13 to consider $1.1B all cash deal to acquire @Tumblr; @Tumblr has raised $125M so far in a series of fundings since '07 & is now reported at a valuation of $800M; in April '13 its traffic was @ 117M visitors; @Tumblr generated $13M in rev in '12 - Link

@MarissaMayer reportedly to unveil updates for @Flickr May 20th @ press event in NY; invitations sent to media outlets today; @Flickr has 80M+ monthly users & will look to further compete w/ photo services offered by @Facebook & @Twitter - Link

@DirectTV reportedly weighing potential bid for @Hulu; @Hulu's owners including Walt Disney, News Corp (@NWScorp) & @Comcast considering strategic positions for @Hulu including a sale; unclear if @DirectTV is interested in buying a stake in @Hulu or the whole site - Link

@EA has no games in development for @Nintendo's Wii U according to company spokesperson Jeff Brown; did not rule out the chances of @EA developing for the Wii U in the future; Wii U sales have reportedly been dropping as the original Wii continues to outsell it - Link