Matthew Costello, the Chief Operating Officer of HTC, has stepped down from his position. He’ll be replaced by the company’s president of engineering and operations, Fred Liu.

HTC shares have been down 76% over the past two years, and they experienced a 98% drop in net income last quarter alone.

This is the latest high profile departure at HTC, and it’s seen by many as a troubling trend. Four other executives have departed from the company in the last two years. The combination of delays in new handsets, marketing failures, and management turnover all pushed HTC’s net income to the lowest on record last quarter.

In order to combat the poor performance, HTC announced that it will form a new quality assurance division that will look after product reliability.

Who Needs Professional Cameras?

This week, the Chicago Sun-Times laid off all 28 of its staff photographers, including Pulitzer Prize winner John H. White. Instead of utilizing staff photographers, the Tribune owned newspaper has started training its remaining reporters on the basics of iPhone photography.

A leaked internal memo from Sun-Times managing editor Craig Newman provided details about the changes, saying, “In the coming days and weeks, we’ll be working with all editorial employees to train and outfit you as much as possible to produce the content we need.” According to the memo, there will be several areas of focus, including iPhone photography, video and basic editing, and social media.

The Sun-Times said the move was part of a broader shift for the company, which will focus more on video and digital media going forward. The company will rely exclusively on freelance photographers, which is a common business model for magazines, but rare among newspapers.

The paper has been struggling to return a profit and  sources indicate that the cuts were largely motivated by financial interests.

Out With The Old…

Toshiba is throwing out their old tablet lineup and replacing them with entirely new devices.

Their new Excite series will come in three different models, the Pure, Pro, and Write. Each of the Android 4.2 devices will have the same 10″ form factor.

The Pure is Toshiba’s new budget device, priced at about $300.  It will come with a modest Tegra 3 processor, 16GB of storage, and a Gorilla Glass 1 screen. The Pure is the only tablet that doesn’t include a camera.

For customers who need more power, the $600 Pro and Write versions will both come with the more powerful Tegra 4 chip and double the storage and screen resolution as the Pure.  In addition, the more powerful Excite devices will come with an Eight Mega Pixel camera, Harmon Kardon sound, and the same Gorilla Glass 2 screen as the Nexus 10.

The Excite Write is identical to the Pro, with one notable exception. It comes with a special Wacom digitizer, which will allow the Write to support the use of a pen.

A Mouse With A Mouse So You Can Mouse While You Mouse

Asus just launched its VivoMouse, a wireless optical mouse that also comes with a multi-touch trackpad.  Claimed to be the first of its kind, the mouse-touchpad hybrid can be used as a handheld remote with a thumb control, in addition to normal mouse controls.

To accompany the VivoMouse, Asus also announced a new Windows 8 based home theatre PC that can double as a normal desktop. The VivoPC, as it’s being called, can stream HD video through a brand-new 802.11ac WiFi connection, and will feature Asus’s SonicMaster audio.

Asus has disclosed that both the new mouse and PC will come with the same spun metal design. ASUS has yet to provide any further details on specifications, price, or a release date for the Vivo PC.

Never Gonna’ Give You Up

Today Google will begin to roll out its latest version of Gmail to Android users. Uers will now be able to automatically filter their inbox into tabs that separate messages according to their source.

Social networks, promotional offers, and updates, bills, and receipts each get their own tab in addition to the primary inbox. Gmail’s navigation scheme has also been updated, and now features a left-side navigation pane where the tabs are collected. Users will be able to tell how many emails are actually new, as opposed to unread emails that simply haven’t been opened yet.

In other Google app related news, Twitter’s popular 6-second video app Vine is finally available on the Android platform. The new app includes all the standard Vine functions, and even comes with a zoom feature which doesn’t come on the iOS version.

Recent updates to the iPhone version are not included on the new Android build, such as the front-facing camera support, search, and mentions and hashtags.

The new app hasn’t been without its trouble, though.  A sixteen year old hacker was able to decompile the app, allowing him to exploit the code that posts videos.  This  made it possible for him to ignore the six second limit, and in typical internet fashion, he proceeded to RickRoll Vine with the entire three and a half minute long one-hit-wonder, Never Gonna Give You Up.

Who Doesn’t Like A Nice Backend?

Google today announced the launch of its Mobile Backend Starter.  It allows Android developers to deploy a basic cloud infrastructure for their apps on Google’s App Engine.

The new Mobile Backend Starter will allow for a one-click backend and client-side framework that provides storage, access to Cloud Messaging, continuous queries, and Google’s authentication features. The new tool essentially provides developers everything they need for their apps, with a robust enough system to handle virtually any load a mobile app can throw at it.

To get started, developers simply have to select the Mobile Backend sample app when they start a new App Engine project.

3D Printing on the Cheap

Many consumers are waiting for an inexpensive and easy to use 3D printer. The Buccaneer printer from Pirate3D on Kickstarter is looking to deliver on both of those fronts. The Buccaneer features an Apple-like aesthetic, and operates like a standard 3D printer.  The printing material comes in spooled cartidges, and a plate at the bottom lowers to access completed projects.

The Buccaneer can be hooked up to PC’s or mobile devices.  The  software is designed to be as simple as possible. It allows users to create their own designs, as well as use designs from the Pirate3D store. A $477 pledge on kickstarter is all it takes to get a  Buccaneer, along with 5 extra cartridges of print material.  Additional cartridges will sell for twelve dollars.

Pirate3D has already sold nearly 1,500 printers. With 25 days left in the kickstarter campaign, it has already raised over $500,000 – blowing away their original goal of $100,000.

Force Feedback For Your Body

Another new Kickstarter project hopes to give players a more immersive and realistic video game experience than ever before.

Using feedback through a multi-sensory bodysuit, the As Real As It Gets, or ARAIG will rumble as a normal controller would in the player’s hands. This gives users a more accurate sensation of where they’ve been hit in a game.

The ARAIG will also come fitted with six speakers around the collar, which will provide gamers with a natural sound experience.   All of this is supplemented with ’STIMS’, four large pads attached to the torso which can help contract the player’s pectorals and abdominal muscles.

On the Kickstarter page, the designers wrote, “The range of sensations is really interesting because it allows developers the ability to make weapon impacts more meaningful, can give that feeling of being pulled and gives the opportunity to create sensations that have not been properly represented in games before such as the sensation of rain or a slight touch.”

The Kickstarter campaign is trying to raise  $900,000 by June 30.

To keep up with this and more tech news, be sure to follow us every weekday morning on NewsDesk with Kristen Feledy.

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writing credit: Andrew E. Lowe