Overnight Recap: Senate Opening Statements, PS4 Teaser, UE BOOM Speakers

Okay gamers, what are your thoughts on that Xbox One? If you've seen the hardware, you already know it looks pretty huge, which has a lot of fans scratching their heads. Of course, we still have to get a close look at Sony's upcoming PlayStation 4, and judging from a teaser video released this week, we may not have long to wait -- although it seems many game fans may choose to sit out this generation in favor of mobile devices like the iPad. Are you one of them?

Apple Publishes CEO, CFO Opening Statements to U.S. Senate

They came, they saw and they responded. In the wake of testimony before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on Tuesday, Apple has published a pair of documents featuring the opening statements of Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook (PDF link) and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer (PDF link). The prepared statements made before the U.S. Senate subcommittee essentially tout Apple's contributions to the American economy and defend overseas business practices, which are under fire from the government over claims Cupertino is avoiding as much as $44 billion in taxable revenue. Oppenheimer's four-page statement is particularly interested, as it serves as a reminder of how close Apple came to oblivion in the late '90s. "I can tell you firsthand, we were facing the very real possibility of a world without Apple," Oppenheimer said, which certainly would have given the government one less company to investigate.

Video: Sony Teases PS4 Hardware Unveil at E3

Microsoft showed its hand on Tuesday with the Xbox One, but The Verge is reporting that Sony will finally unveil its PlayStation 4 hardware on June 10 during the console maker's E3 presentation. Sony even pushed out a YouTube video (embedded below) as a teaser, although it shows little more than "a blurry black rectangle and flashes of design details" -- but at least that's more than gamers got to see back in February, when the hardware was a complete no-show. Sony is expected to ship the PlayStation 4 at the end of this year, when it's expected to go toe-to-toe with the Xbox One.

Logitech Announces UE BOOM Bluetooth Speaker

Ultimate Ears announced the world's first "social music player" on Tuesday with its $199.99 UE BOOM, a battery-powered wireless speaker offering 360-degree sound with a unique "go-anywhere" shape. Powered by a 15-hour rechargeable battery, users can connect two UE BOOMs together at the same time with an iOS or Android app in either stereo-to-stereo mode or traditional left and right stereo. The Logitech brand will begin shipping UE BOOM in the U.S. and Europe this month, followed by select countries in Asia in June.

Report: HTC Falling Apart Internally as Executives Flee

The Verge reported Tuesday that Android smartphone maker HTC appears to be floundering as several executives have left the company in recent days, including Chief Product Officer Kouji Kodera. One source describes the company as being in "utter freefall," failing to gain any traction against the monolith known as Samsung, who appears to be sucking all of the oxygen from the Android room worldwide. Making matters worse is the Facebook Home-enabled HTC First, whose first month appears to be disastrous -- a situation made worse by Facebook choosing to push the Google Play version of its launcher at the same time as AT&T's hardware, rather than stagger the releases.

"Of Course They Are" Rumor: Apple Testing OLED iWatch Displays

We've mostly been ignoring the so-called "iWatch" rumors, but BGR is reporting that Apple is rumored to be testing 1.5-inch OLED displays for its upcoming smart watch. Sure, earlier rumors have pegged the screen size at 1.8 inches instead, but since this is all hypothetical anyway, why not change up the size to make things interesting? According to Taiwan's Economic Times, the smaller display will be produced by RiTdisplay, a subsidiary of RITEK.

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(Image courtesy of The Verge)