Smartphones

BARCELONA -- The Android Market is growing at three times the rate of Apple's App Store, according to a report released today by mobile security firm Lookout.

The number of Android Market apps increased about 127 percent since August, while the number of apps in the Apple App Store grew at a rate of 44 percent during that period, the company said in its latest App Genome Project report, which is based on an analysis of more than 500,000 mobile apps for those mobile platforms.

"The Android is maturing fast," but the Apple App Store still … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--In late November, Acer unveiled an Android smartphone that raised some eyebrows with its large 4.8-inch touch screen. The device now has a name, the Acer Iconia Smart, and it's on display here at Mobile World Congress 2011, so naturally we had to take it for a spin.

To be honest, we were expecting to see a huge, clunky device, and the Iconia Smart is big, to be sure, but it's not as unwieldy as one would expect. Admittedly, it's on the long side, so it's not the most pocket-friendly device, unless you're … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--In a mobile world, size shouldn't matter, but context should.

That was the message from Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz as she demoed the company's new Livestand service at the Mobile World Congress 2011 here today.

Livestand, announced last week, aggregates and personalizes all types of content for users and optimizes it for every type of device. Dubbed a "digital newsstand," it serves up stories, information and ads based on a person's interest and eliminates the need for publishers to create multiple versions of content for different devices.

For mobile devices, where small screen size … Read more

Today's smartphones allow a user to pack a ton of processing power and productivity software into a pocket. A printer, on the other hand, is usually not so portable. Fortunately, you don't have to drag your printer on the road with you because now you can send your documents to it with Google's Chrome browser and Cloud Print service. In this CNET How To video, we show you how to use this software and your Android, iPhone, or BlackBerry smartphone to print on the go.

The second day of Mobile World Congress has come to a close, and while it's a little slower than the last few days, there was still plenty to see in Barcelona.

The big news of the day was from HTC, which introduced several new phones including the so-called "Facebook phones"--the HTC ChaCha and the HTC Salsa--which apparently might have Android OS 2.4. It also announced the HTC Incredible S, the Wildfire S, and the Desire S. HTC also jumped on the tablet bandwagon with the 7-inch HTC Flyer.

Speaking of tablets, we took a … Read more

Last night, IBM's "Watson" supercomputer competed against the top human competitors on "Jeopardy" to test Watson's ability to use artificial intelligence in the context of the English language.

Represented by a lighted blue avatar, Watson performed well against quiz game champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, finishing the first round with a tie against the latter at $5,000. It did this with the help of 10 racks of IBM Power 750 servers running Linux, although like everyone else we wonder if the speed at which Watson can "press" a buzzer is fair to the other contestants.

Either way, this sounds like the exposition for an unwritten Roland Emmerich movie starring Will Smith, so start loading up your ID4 viruses.

Howard Stern's "Private Parts" aired on HBO last weekend, and the King of All Media himself pulled a Tang and liveblogged behind-the-scenes commentary throughout the showing. In addition to answering questions from fans, Stern also talked about his co-stars, revealed details about specific shots, and even dished about adult film star Jenna Jameson's antics onset.

Stern's arrival on Twitter is an obvious move, although it took him a while to jump on the bandwagon--the star joined the Twitterverse on February 3, the same day he defended David Letterman's honor and galvanized his crew on "The Late Show."

Stern's incendiary approach to celebrity gossip and media makes Twitter an apt medium for speaking to his more than 270,000 followers. The Lord of Fart Manor can be found at @HowardStern.

Next on the show, we discuss Gawker and Facebook's recent site redesigns. The Internet is giving a cold shoulder to the Gawker network after it debuted an app-style blog layout last week.… Read more

Using our mobile phones as wallets is closer to reality. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this morning, Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile USA, says it will unleash the capability to its customers this year.

The first customers to get the full payment system are those subscribers in Germany and Poland. The U.S., Netherlands, and Czech Republic will follow in 2012. Deutsche Telekom said it expected customers to use their phones in place of cash, and eventually in place of tickets for public transportation systems.

The payment system will be run and billed by the carrier, but it requires phones with NFC, or near-field communication, chips embedded inside. The chips allow data to be sent wirelessly over very short distances, around 4 inches. So when a customer waves his phone over a payment terminal, a transaction can be recorded.

But which handset manufacturers will get on board first? Beyond the Nexus S Android phone, few phones have the chips currently embedded. That's where reports from the press conference get really interesting. According to bloggers who were in the room, Deutsche Telekom executives handed out a slide deck that listed manufacturers it expects to launch NFC-equipped phones this year: Apple sometime this year, Samsung in the second quarter of the year, followed by RIM and LG during the third quarter. … Read more

Hewlett-Packard's Pre 2 is finally making its way to Verizon Wireless.

The carrier announced today that the WebOS-based smartphone will be available in its stores and online starting Thursday.

The Pre 2 is the first device available to consumers that runs WebOS 2.0, Verizon noted. The device comes with a 3.1-inch display, a slide-out keyboard, and a 5-megapixel camera. It supports Wi-Fi and can share its 3G connection with up to five other devices, thanks to its Mobile Hotspot capability. The smartphone's WebOS 2.0 integration means people will also be able to place Skype-to-Skype calls … Read more

ViewSonic Europe is in Barcelona this week where it's showing off the latest addition to its ViewPad family.

Joining its 7-inch and 10-inch siblings, the 4.1-inch ViewPad 4 is expected to be on the short list of Android devices running Android 2.3 Gingerbread when it debuts. Currently listed on ViewSonic's Web site as having Android 2.2, the hardware-maker promises an update to Gingerbread in the near future, and says it will demonstrate the device to key partners with Gingerbread in April.

In terms of user experience, ViewSonic has integrated its own custom user interface, ViewScene, … Read more