Today on The Verge: August 15, 2012

Posted by Nathan Ingraham on August 15, 2012 05:29 pm 18

Good afternoon, humans. The esteemed Sam Sheffer is exploring distant realms today, so I'll be guiding you through the best of what The Verge has to offer for the day. For my part, I highly recommend checking out Nilay Patel's review of the Galaxy Note 10.1, which might contain my favorite sentence every uttered in a video review: "In many ways, this is a dream that has been turned into a terrible, unresponsive nightmare."

On with the news.

It's no secret that HTC has struggled a bit in recent quarters — despite the excellent One X and One S, HTC's Q2 2012 profits were half of what they were the year before, and the company recently forecasted poor Q3 results, as well. In the wake of this turbulence, theWall Street Journal has uncovered a memo sent to HTC's staff in which CEO Peter Chou admits that the company has "multiple areas" that need fixing.

4.3-inch Nokia Lumia screen shows up, includes Windows Phone 8 logo

Nokia and Microsoft's big moment of reckoning, the launch of Windows Phone 8, is drawing ever nearer and we're starting to see more purported leaks of what the eventual hardware will look like.

iPad mini rumors continue: a 7.85-inch 'large iPod touch' to arrive in October?

There's no denying that the iPad mini is v Apple product rumor of 2012, and the latest batch of hearsay narrows down the form factor of the purported tablet. 9to5Mac received word from unnamed sources that the mini will "look like a large iPod touch" with thin vertical bezels.

Microsoft not likely to optimize Office for Mac for Retina display anytime soon

We already knew Office for Mac 2011 wouldn't be getting much in the way of new features moving forward, but it turns out there's something else users shouldn't expect anytime soon: support for the Retina display found in Apple's new MacBook Pro.

Judge requests Apple and Samsung CEOs meet one more time before case goes to jury

Judge Lucy Koh has pushed several times for Apple and Samsung to settle their differences outside of the courtroom, and this morning she asked that the CEOs of both companies meet one last time before the case goes to jury. "I don't mean to waste their time," she said, but noted that she sees peril for both sides— even outside of the possibility of a hung jury.

Windows 8 now available to download for MSDN and TechNet subscribers

Microsoft's final version of Windows 8 is now available to download for MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Known as the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version, this final copy of the operating system is the same one that will ship on thousands of Windows 8 PCs at general availability on October 26th.

Nokia and Microsoft holding Windows Phone 8 press event on September 5th

We've been waiting to find out when Nokia would unveil its first lineup of Windows Phone 8 devices, and it looks like we'll be getting all the details on September 5th at 9:30AM in New York City.

90-day trial version of Windows 8 now available to download

Microsoft may have just released the final version of Windows 8 to MSDN and TechNet subscribers today, but if you're feeling a little left out then the company has a trial version available too. The 90-day trial edition of Windows 8 Enterprise is available to download immediately and will give members of the public and developers an easy way to trial the operating system ahead of its debut on October 26th.

Penny Arcade reaches $525,000 Kickstarter goal with six minutes to spare, no ads on homepage for one year

Last month gaming webcomic Penny Arcade launched a Kickstarter experiment, attempting to replace its advertising income with funding from fans — and it turned out to be a success. The crowdfunding campaign ended today, and not only did Penny Arcade manage to meet its initial goal of $250,000, it also surpassed its loftier stretch goal of $525,000 — which means there will be no ads on the homepage of the site for one year.