Ohh: gold. But is this supposedly leaked video of HTC’s flagship phone the real deal? Screenshot by CNET If an apparently leaked video is indeed the real thing, HTC’s flagship smartphone has added a little gold to its wardrobe. The video, entitled “HTC One M9 Hands on (Before MWC 2015),” showed up on YouTube today …

Google What? Your kid and her Tiny Zoo Friends are threatening to march off with your life savings by way of virtual doodads purchased in mobile games? You’ll probably be interested in this. Google has updated its Play Store with an option that lets you require that a password be entered every time someone wants to buy virtual goods while …

In the Interesting Timing Dept., WhatsApp — the messaging app acquired this week by Facebook for the eye-popping sum of $19 billion — is in the midst of an outage, after also reportedly experiencing a short run of downtime Friday night. The service became unavailable to a large number of users starting at about 11 a.m. PT Saturday, after a …

Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry is in touch with Google, Samsung, Intel, and other tech heavyweights about a possible buyout, according to a Reuters report. The news agency cites several unnamed sources “close to the matter” in reporting that the Canadian company “has asked for preliminary expressions of interest from potential strategic buyers” by early next week. Those contacted include Cisco, …

Verizon Wireless has joined the Carrier Advisory Group for the Ubuntu mobile operating system, a runner in the race to be the No. 3 mobile OS behind Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. Ubuntu developer Canonical announced Verizon’s move in a blog post Thursday. Related stories The elusive third great mobile OS Ubuntu Touch beats Firefox OS to win best of …

With violent street thefts of smartphones and other mobile gear continuing to be a problem, top law enforcement officials from New York and San Francisco will meet with Apple, Google, and other manufacturers next week to discuss possible tech solutions, such as a “kill switch” that would render stolen devices worthless. “With 1.6 million Americans falling victim to smartphone theft …

A top adviser to mutual funds and other large investors says Sprint shareholders should give the thumbs-up to SoftBank’s offer to buy the company, but it doesn’t address a rival, preliminary — and higher — offer from Dish Network. In a report, proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services said, according to The Wall Street Journal, that SoftBank’s $20.1 billion offer “addresses …

Samsung says it has sold more than 10 million Galaxy S4 smartphones to retailers and wireless operators less than a month after the handset’s debut, making it the company’s fastest selling smartphone to date. In a press release Wednesday, the company noted that the GS4’s predecessor, the Galaxy S3, hit the 10 million mark in terms of global channel sales …

Could Verizon and Vodafone be getting closer to ending their joint ownership of Verizon’s wireless business? Reuters reported Wednesday that Verizon has hired banking and legal advisers to put together a $100 billion bid for Vodafone’s share of Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 wireless carrier in the U.S., and that Verizon’s board is expected to discuss details of a potential …

Drivers who use mapping software on their phones to find out where they’re going may not be paying enough heed to where they’re going. At least that’s one way of characterizing a recent ruling by a California court. Issued late last month and made more widely known by a tweet today from law professor Orin Kerr, the ruling says handling …