U.S. Patent Office Withdraws Primary Objections to Apple's ‘iPad Mini’ Trademark Application  —  Last week, we noted that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had issued an initial office action denying Apple's application for a trademark on the term “iPad mini”.

HTC March Revenue Rises, But Still Down 50% Compared To 2012  —  As usual around this time, smartphone and tablet maker HTC released its monthly consolidated revenue numbers for the month before.  At first look, they don't look too bad, but don't be fooled.

Facebook Home beta apps leak, can be installed on Nexus 4 and 7  —  MoDaCo has just leaked a pre-release version of Facebook Home.  Set for launch on April 12th, Facebook's new launcher will initially only be compatible with five handsets, but MoDaCo says this pre-release version works …

Liquid Robotics launches autonomous sea-faring data center  —  The new Wave Glider SV3 is essentially a fully autonomous floating server rack, a system its maker fashions as the Amazon Web Services of the open ocean.  —  After previously setting a Guinness world record for the longest distance traveled …

How a banner ad for H&R Block appeared on apple.com—without Apple's OK  —  The ghost of Steve Jobs will not be pleased to see this.  —  Zack Henkel  —  Robert Silvie returned to his parents' home for a Mardi Gras visit this year and immediately noticed something strange …

Microsoft Sells Mediaroom To Ericsson To Focus On Xbox  —  Telecom equipment maker Ericsson has agreed to acquire Microsoft's Mediaroom IPTV business, which makes software that allows operators to deliver television over the Internet, the company announced this morning (via Reuters).

Response  —  There have been some extremely serious and criminal allegations against me over the last week.  All of the allegations are completely untrue, and I've hired a law firm to represent me in the legal actions against the offending parties.  —  I know this isn't, for now, much information.

Sony announces $699 FMP-X1 4K media player for summer release, 4K downloads slip to fall  —  Along with announcing pricing and a release date for its new 4K LED televisions, Sony has announced more details about its previously-unnamed 4K FMP-X1 media player at NAB 2013.

Silicon Valley's Mouthwatering Tax Break  —  Debate Emerges Over Whether Daily Fringe-Benefit Meals Are Taxable; Issue Is Now on IRS's Radar  —  Google has more than 120 corporate cafes world-wide serving over 50,000 meals a day.  Above, a cafeteria at Google's Venice Beach campus.

Apple Pulls iOS App Discovery Service AppGratis From App Store  —  Apple pulled discovery service and daily deal app AppGratis from the App Store.  So far, AppGratis is not communicating on the issue and users can only speculate about what the issue is.  Sometimes, Apple pulls an app …

Sponsors Now Pay for Online Articles, Not Just Ads  —  Articles in a series on Mashable.com called “What's Inside” looked for all the world like the hundreds of other articles on the digital media site.  But journalistically, they were something very different.