congress

BARCELONA, Spain--Although mobile phones will always have a central role at Mobile World Congress, this year the red-hot buzz went to software, tablets, wearable tech, and other geeky-cool oddities.

With heavy hitter HTC announcing its flagship HTC One days before MWC, and Samsung saving its Galaxy S4 announcement for March 14, it was the sensible, midrange Android phones that made up the bulk of the announcements.

However, it was the outlier operating systems that really stole the show.

The mobile, browser-based Firefox OS appeared on several smartphones, like the Geeksphone Peak (our pick … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Given the highly successful year tablets enjoyed in 2012, their overall dismal showing at CES was that much more of a disappointment. I came in expecting to see 2013's "Nexus 7" (not the actutal next Nexus 7, but another small, awesome tablet) and Transformer Infinity. Instead, tablets were largely ignored by the larger vendors. This gave smaller vendors a chance to shine, but beyond some encouraging plans to aggressively price their wares, I came away unimpressed.

Thankfully, things improved this week at Mobile World Congress, with some of the major vendors bringing out their big guns. … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--The smartphone screen on the iPhone above may look like it's made of glass, but it isn't. It's made of sapphire. That's right, the same aluminum oxide compound (AL2O3) better known for brilliant blue gemstones that dangle from ears and throats and can cost a small fortune.

But this particular screen bears little resemblance to Earth-mined rock. Synthetically grown from a "mother" or starter crystal, companies that manufacture synthetic sapphire melt and cut the material (with diamond-tipped saws) into wafers, sheets, you name it.

In the case of the demo, a thin sheet … Read more

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution to create an academic competition that would encourage students to build mobile and computer apps. The Academic Competition Resolution of 2013 is a bi-partisan effort led by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who represents much of Silicon Valley.

The competition, according to the resolution, "will evolve over time and will challenge students in specialized areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to ensure maximum participation." The resolution states: "Because of the importance of computer science it would be appropriate to initially challenge students … Read more

Imagine waking up, reaching for the tablet on your nightstand, and turning on your coffee maker from bed. You catch a few more winks before it alerts you that your hot java's ready. If Qualcomm's concept Wi-Fi coffee maker ever goes into production, your mornings may never be quite the same.

The coffee maker, however, is just one of many odd and unusual gadgets on display at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.… Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Gone is the giant Android figures, the twisty slide, colorful pins, and free ice cream sandwiches. Gone is the massive, head-turning booth that clearly established Google as a major player at Mobile World Congress.

In its place is a small meeting room with a blank glass placard on the outside. A white curtain provides privacy for the briefings inside.

Google has largely run under the radar, taking a few meetings with the press, vendors, and other partners at the show. But the company isn't listed as an exhibitor, and its name and meeting room doesn't appear on … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--NFC (near field communication) technology has been around for some time now, but as of yet it's failed to hit a level of ubiquity in our devices that would galvanize more businesses to adopt it. That, however, is changing fast.

While most think of NFC as solely a new payment solution, companies are constantly finding new ways to implement it.

NFC is essentially a new way to exchange information from one device to another, wirelessly. It's different from other wireless technology in that it requires the two devices to be within a centimeter of each other. Hence … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Here's the good news: the U.S. wireless industry is working to ensure that you'll eventually be able to take your LTE-enabled phone from one carrier to another and get the same experience.

The bad news: it likely won't happen for a few years.

That's according to T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray, who spoke to CNET in an interview at Mobile World Congress. Ray says the industry is keen on phones that can operate on different carriers, but that there remain a lot of complexities.

The advent of 4G LTE technology was supposed to … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--One of the more jaw-dropping tech demos on view at this year's Mobile World Congress, new touch-screen technology from chipmaker STMicroelectronics lets you control your smartphone or tablet without actually touching the display.

Using it, you can swipe, drag, and prod at your touch-screen device, replacing the fear of fingerprints with the feeling of controlling a spaceship's navigation system.

There's nothing special about the touch screen itself, but rather about the controller chip that manages the panel. Rather than monitoring contact with the screen, the chip observes the electrical field that the tablet's touch screen … Read more