mwc

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I offer some advice for buying a new smartphone that doesn't require a crane to hoist it up to your ear. And I explain why Nokia's new 41-megapixel technology is on such a lame OS.

Dear Maggie, I've been using the iPhone since it first came out and have not looked back until recently. Now I'm considering switching. But I've run into a huge problem, every new phone is too big for my personal taste.

I would like the latest greatest flagship device, but it seems that every manufacturer … Read more

With a lovely Mediterranean location, an Olympic history, and a wealth of Modernisme architecture, Barcelona, Spain, is one of the planet's top tourist destinations. And if city officials have their way, the Catalan capital will be known as the "Mobile World Capital," as well.

Since the annual Mobile World Congress trade show moved to Barcelona from Cannes, France, in 2006, the city has invested heavily to keep the event, which attracted an estimated 67,000 attendees (and their expense accounts) over the course of the 2012 show last week. And last July, Barcelona got its wish when it beat out … Read more

Now that Mobile World Congress is officially over, we get a chance to discuss the most newsworthy items that came out of the expo (hint: you guessed it, we ended up mostly talking about Nokia and the 808 PureView... oops). We also chat about the future surrounding other means of wireless technology, including Bluetooth 4.0, NFC chips, and Google Wallet.

Stories Mobile World Congress awes and entertains The power of Bluetooth 4.0: It'll change your life Apple sends out invites for March 7 iPad event … Read more

BARCELONA--It's been an action-packed two years since Jeff Jaffe took over as the World Wide Web Consortium's chief executive, but more action is the order of the day at the standards group.

The W3C oversees the standardization of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), technologies that carry tremendous importance as the Web expands from a medium to publish documents into a foundation for applications that can run on anything from mobile phones and cars to TVs and tablets. These Web standards, combined with the JavaScript programming language and other related technologies, let programmers reach a … Read more

CES may dominate the technology calendar in the United States, but for wireless at least, Mobile World Congress is the trade show that matters. No event is more important, and as the calendar turns to February, you can bet that the entire industry will flock to Barcelona, Spain, to outflank and outshine the competition.

Of course, no gadget show would be complete without a gaggle of tech journalists scurrying to cover the news and the flood of product announcements. And as we've done over the past few years, CNET was on the ground in Barcelona to bring you the … Read more

Mobile World Congress isn't just about introducing new cell phones. No, the world's largest wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, also is about showing off the latest mobile technologies that may or may not change your life.

Take, for example, NFC or near field communications. Not only did many of the new devices unveiled at the show come NFC-capable, but also the NFC Cafe displayed a gallery of solutions for mobile payments technology.

Making a purchase is a prime example, of course, but NFC also can be used to secure your motorcycle, navigate your way through an unfamiliar subway … Read more

File this under the unique but perhaps not entirely necessary, mobile accessories drawer.

In addition to the shiny new smartphones that it introduced last week at Mobile World Congress, LG also showed off a wireless charger that encourages you to use your device while it's receiving juice.

The WCD-800 is shaped like a cradle and can accommodate your phone in either a portrait or landscape position. So while you make calls, send texts, and watch a video, the charger uses electric coils located inside to power your device via magnetic fields.

It's an interesting idea, no doubt, though … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--We're always intrigued by NTT Docomo's booth at trade shows, and this year's MWC is no different.

The company demonstrated a smartphone case with an embedded sensor for hygiene purposes. Similar to the ultra high-speed charging jacket, the device snaps onto the smartphone's chassis, much like a backup battery. However, there's a sensor, microchip, and NFC module embedded in this "jacket."

The most interesting capability of this sensor jacket has to be ranking your alcohol inebriation on a scale of one to five, one being the lowest.… Read more

Apparently Google has put some thought into this idea of bringing super-fast fiber-optic broadband to Kansas City.

The company has applied for a patent for "general edging systems and methods," which the application bills as "a low-impact, convenient, time-efficient and cost-saving optical fiber deployment technology."

The application describes a flat, perhaps bendable strip of "edging" that carries fiber-optic lines or coaxial cables tucked within. The edging could be slipped into a shallow slot, perhaps along a fence or driveway or dug into a lawn, or it could be camouflaged to fit into the garden … Read more