AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Depeche Mode has come a long way since its 1980s debut as part of Britain's New Wave scene, and as it prepares to tour behind its 13th album, no one appears more surprised at the group's longevity than the band members themselves.

The British synthpop pioneers - singer Dave Gahan, guitarist-keyboardist Martin Gore and keyboardist Andy Fletcher - are marking their fourth decade in the music industry with the release of "Delta Machine" on March 26.

"We've always been pessimists at heart, so we never think further ahead than whatever's coming next," Gore, 51, told Reuters at the South by Southwest Music Conference this week.

The band has sold more than 100 million records worldwide since its 1981 debut album "Speak & Spell," thanks to hits along the way like 1984's "People are People" and 1989's "Personal Jesus."

Depeche Mode's textured sound and moody lyrics made it one of the biggest bands to emerge from the British New Wave in the early 1980s, alongside groups such as The Boomtown Rats.

The title "Delta Machine" reflects the musicians' contradictory sounds - they're influenced by the Delta blues, but they also use technology like computers and synthesizers.

"We feel like our music is a blend of organic and inorganic," Gore said.

NEW TOUR, NEW APPROACH

The band's appearance at the SXSW conference is unusual, as was its performance on "The Late Show with David Letterman" this week. Depeche Mode has typically gone straight from rehearsal to tour without leaving time to properly promote a new album, Gore said.

"You'd think that we would have done that at some point in this career, but we haven't," he said, referring to promoting albums prior to release.

Depeche Mode will embark on its 17th tour in Tel Aviv on May 7, with the North American leg scheduled to begin in Detroit on August 22.

Gore, having spent a significant part of the last three decades on the road and given up drinking seven years ago, said touring these days is different.

"The last tour I really enjoyed because it was the first one that I'd really been lucid enough to take in everything and enjoy the concerts and then enjoy the cities the next day," he said. "So I'm really looking forward to this one."

Life has also improved for Gahan, 50, a former heroin addict who attempted suicide in 1995, almost died after an overdose in 1996 and got sober about two years later.

"My life has just progressively got better," Gahan told an audience at conference. "I feel like I participate in it in a very different way."

Asked how he manages to remain so active on stage, Gahan replied that when he gets up in front of people who have bought tickets, he does his best to entertain them.

There's nothing worse, he said, than performers on stage staring at their shoes while wearing "camping clothes."

"This is rock and roll," Gahan said.

(Reporting By Corrie MacLaggan, editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Xavier Briand)

Oklahoma City-based SandRidge has been under fire since last year from activist hedge fund TPG-Axon Capital for strategic missteps and governance lapses, mostly surrounding land deals by Chief Executive Tom Ward and his family.

SandRidge and TPG-Axon struck a deal on Wednesday that placed four TPG-Axon board nominees on the oil and gas company's board and could lead to the removal of Ward. SandRidge also announced Grubb's resignation.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Grubb is entitled to a cash payout of nearly $3 million under the terms of his separation agreement. Grubb's restricted stock - currently worth more than $6 million - will vest, the filing said.

He will also have access to four of the company's tickets to the Oklahoma City Thunder - the National Basketball Association team partially owned by CEO Ward.

According to the separation agreement, Grubb is entitled to use two of the company's floor tickets - among the arena's most expensive - and two of the company's lower bowl tickets for the remainder of this year's basketball season and playoffs.

The Thunder, which feature three-time NBA scoring champion Kevin Durant, reached the NBA finals last year.

Grubb is also required to assist SandRidge with any investigations or litigation. As part of its settlement with TPG-Axon, SandRidge agreed to engage an independent firm to review the land deals by Ward and his family.

TPG-Axon has alleged that Ward and the company's board allowed WCT Resources, an Oklahoma company run by Ward's son, Trent, to acquire the rights to drill for oil and gas near SandRidge operations.

SandRidge has said that its board found no wrongdoing in the land deals and that WCT was "an independent oil and gas company."

But a Reuters review of chief executive Ward's employment contracts found that SandRidge's board had given Ward and his family wide latitude to profit from personal oil-and-gas deals in ways that could pose potential conflicts of interest.

Ward has not responded to repeated requests for comment about his or his family's land deals.

(Reporting by Michael Erman in New York and Anna Driver in Houston; Editing by Bernard Orr)

The white paper, authored by the research arm of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, also said China had the ability to create its own mobile operating system. (http://www.catr.cn/kxyj/qwfb/bps/201303/P020130301397809834073.pdf)

"Our country's mobile operating system research and development is too dependent on Android," the paper, posted online on Friday but carried by local media on Tuesday, said.

"While the Android system is open source, the core technology and technology roadmap is strictly controlled by Google."

The paper said Google had discriminated against some Chinese companies developing their operating systems by delaying the sharing of codes. Google had also used commercial agreements to restrain the business development of mobile devices of these companies, it added.

A Google spokesman in China declined to comment.

The ministry did not recommend any specific policies, regulatory actions or other measures.

Analysts said the white paper, which lauded Chinese companies such as Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group and Huawei Technologies for creating their own systems, could be a signal to the industry that regulations against Android are on the horizon.

"In China, regulators regulate regularly especially where they can position the regulations as helping out domestic companies," Duncan Clark, chairman of technology consultancy BDA, said in an email to Reuters.

"Ironically, Android's success has underpinned a lot of the growth in China smartphone vendors in recent years," Clark said. Home-grown companies had failed previously in China's market for simple handsets, he said, due to weakness in software and operating systems.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the world's largest smartphone maker, uses the Android system, as do Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE Corp.

Last September, the launch of a smartphone between Acer Inc and a unit of Alibaba Group was cancelled due to what Alibaba said was pressure from Google on the Taiwanese group. Representatives for Acer and Google declined to comment on the matter at that time.

Technology research firm IDC has estimated that China surpassed the United States as the world's biggest smartphone market in 2012, accounting for 26.5 percent of all smartphones shipped.

In 2010, Google conducted a partial pullout from China on the basis of censorship and after it suffered a serious hacking episode that the company said emanated from China. Since then, Google's search market share in China has fallen from almost 30 percent to 15 percent at the end of 2012. Android has been Google's bright spot in China.

In the third quarter last year, Android accounted for 90 percent of all mobile operating systems in China while Apple Inc's iOS system was at just 4.2 percent.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

"My mom was in love with the movie," Vanessa told Access Hollywood with a grin, at the junket for the Harmony Korine-directed film in Los Angeles, when asked how her mom reacted to the racy film while watching a screening at the premiere.

In the R-rated flick, the former "High School Musical" star has a few steamy sex scenes - including a threesome with co-stars James Franco and Ashley Benson - but even the down and dirty moments didn't faze Vanessa's mom.

"All the really intense parts she was sitting behind me giggling!" the 24-year-old beauty said.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywoods Hottest Beach Bodies The Girls!

And Selena's mother was also pleased with the film.

"My mom had already seen it," she said, explaining that the film's premiere screening was her mother's second viewing and that her mom noticed new favorite moments from Selena the second time around. "She was really excited for me."

As for what type of roles the actresses would like to tackle next, Vanessa and Selena both agreed they'd like to sign on for something a little less intense.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Who Says Shes Not Perfect?!? Young Phenom Selena Gomez

"I think [I'd like to do] probably something a little more light-hearted next," Vanessa told Access with a laugh. "Like a romantic comedy or something like that. Something happy."

Selena, 20, said she's taking a brief respite from the screen - but will be back.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Vanessa Hudgens: From High School Sweetheart To Hollywood Hottie!

"I'm taking a break from acting for a little bit to get into music, so that will be next for me," she said. "As for roles, yeah, I would definitely try something a little bit different. But I'm open to anything."

"Spring Breakers" hits theaters on March 22.

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