Live from Microsoft’s Windows 8 press event at Mobile World Congress 2012!

Today’s the day! It’s been months since we tested the Windows 8 Developer Preview , and now Microsoft is finally ready to let the general PC-using public give it a whirl. While we already have a feel for the overarching interface, which mashes together the traditional desktop and Metro-inspired tiles, we haven’t yet had a glimpse of the native apps that will ship as part of the OS. And think of the untold number of tweaks Redmond must have made since the Developer Preview dropped! Will we get to poke around the Windows Store? Will switching between apps be any less jarring this go ’round? And what’s the fate of the Start button? Stay tuned to find out what the OS will look like in its (almost) final form. February 29, 2012 9:30 AM EST Live from Microsoft’s Windows 8 press event at Mobile World Congress 2012! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EDT.

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Live from Microsoft’s Windows 8 press event at Mobile World Congress 2012!

Tianyu K-Touch Treasure V8 hands-on at Mobile World Congress 2012 (video)

Ever heard of Tianyu? You probably haven’t, but that’s why the Chinese manufacturer left most of the heavy PR lifting for its ICS-equipped, quad-core phone to NVIDIA at this year’s Mobile World Congress 2012. Details on this Tegra 3-based Android handset are admittedly scarce for the time being, but from what we were able to glean, the 4.3-incher should be able to hold its own in the high-end smartphone market. Aside from an 8 megapixel shooter with single LED flash on its back and the aforementioned CPU clocked at 1.5GHz, there’s not much else to divulge spec-wise. In terms of build, the design is a mixed bag. From afar, the Treasure V8 appears sleek and even (dare we say it?) sexy, but once the unit’s in hand, you’ll notice the cheapness of the glossy, white plastic enclosure. A metal trim borders the device lending to the mix of high and low quality materials used in its construction, but actually makes the phone uncomfortable to hold. The screen also tapers in towards the edges, leaving a ridge to form that’s unpleasant in the hand

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Tianyu K-Touch Treasure V8 hands-on at Mobile World Congress 2012 (video)

Download APKs from the Android Market with a Chrome extension

APK Downloader is a Chrome extension that does exactly what its name advertises — download APKs from the Android Market site. Getting the tool up and running takes quite a bit more work than your average browser add-on, requiring you to edit the Chrome shortcut to disable SSL error warnings, but it’s hardly rocket science. This should make sideloading apps much easier and give you a chance to try software yourself, even if a developer seems to think its app wont work with your device. There is, of course, room for abuse and it does violate the Market’s ToS — so try it at your own risk. If you’re unfazed, hit up the source link for complete instructions. Download APKs from the Android Market with a Chrome extension originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard join as launch partners for Isis mobile payment service

The Isis mobile payment service backed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon may have been a bit overshadowed by Google Wallet in recent months, but it’s still on track for a “mid-2012″ trial launch in Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah, and it’s now gotten a boost from a trio of new financial partners. Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard confirmed today that they’ll each support the NFC-based service and let folks load their credit, debit and prepaid cards into their Isis Mobile Wallet, joining existing partners Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Unfortunately, any specific launch details beyond that still remain a bit on the light side, with Isis only promising that a national rollout will follow sometime after the initial trial launch. Continue reading Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard join as launch partners for Isis mobile payment service Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard join as launch partners for Isis mobile payment service originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Light-based ‘Metatronics’ chip melts minds, not copper

Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have flipped the switch on a new type of computer circuit. Unlike conventional silicon, the new chip uses light — not electricity — to perform its logic. By creating an array of nano-rods, light-flow can be treated like voltage and current. These rods can then be configured to emulate electrical components such as resistors, inductors and capacitors. The benefits of the so-called “metatronic” system would be smaller, faster and more efficient computer chips, which is clearly a welcome prospect. Another curious property the team discovered, is what it calls “stereo-circuitry.” Effectively one set of nano-rods can act as two different circuits, depending on the plane of the field.

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Light-based ‘Metatronics’ chip melts minds, not copper

Signage suggests Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 en route for MWC debut

Could it be that Samsung really, truly, has another 10.1-inch slab in store for us this week ? After seeing the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 make its official debut earlier, it appears more and more likely that it’ll have a counterpart equipped with an S-Pen before the week is over. Apparently, someone was snooping sneaking around a hotel that the Sammy folks are staying at — and are planning to show off its products — and uncovered a poster teasing the wildly rumored Galaxy Note 10.1 . Naturally, this doesn’t guarantee we’ll actually see the mystical tablet in Barcelona (after all, we’d imagine something like this would merit a press conference), but it’s looking a heckuva lot more likely now, isn’t it? [Thanks, Peter] Signage suggests Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 en route for MWC debut originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Chrome for Android updates: recognizes app links, boosts speed

Google slipped a bit of an upgrade into the Android Market today. The mobile version of Chrome received a seemingly minor version bump and, much to our chagrin, left no changelog behind for us to peruse. Most of the tweaks are under the hood and, in our unscientific testing, pages appeared to load much faster and the interface was more responsive. Our immediate impressions were backed up by benchmarks — the updated version of Chrome scored a 1,846.8 on SunSpider. The most welcome addition, though, was the ability to recognize links associated with applications. For example, the initial release never offered us the opportunity to open search results in the Google Maps app, it went straight to the mobile site. That quirk hasn’t been fixed completely, as YouTube vids still stream inline with no immediately apparent option to launch them in the app. Still, it’s nice to see Google improving integration with the OS and working towards making Chrome an acceptable replacement for the default browser

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Samsung partners with FeliCa for Japanese NFC solutions, unveils 2012 Olympics’ mobile payment app with Visa

Across the globe today, Samsung is bringing a number of pushes to broaden NFC adoption. On the island of Japan, the company’s sealed a partnership with FeliCa Networks to implement its NFC-Secure Application Module chips in its mobile devices. Notably, the solution is ensures compatibility between Japan’s long established Osaifu-Keitai contactless payment services and the newer breed of NFC Types A and B which normally don’t play nice together . The chips are touted has having “advanced security” to keep your funds in check, and are expect to hit “commercial deployment” set for 2013. Flying over to London, Samsung and Visa have unveiled the official NFC payment app for the 2012 Olympics, in their continued preparation for the event. Despite the unveil, the application (based on Visa’s PayWave ) will officially debut for display at Mobile World Congress next week. This comes nearly ten months after the duo announced their plans to further establish NFC-based payment options for London and the event itself. Hit up the two press releases after the break for the full details on the announcements

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Samsung partners with FeliCa for Japanese NFC solutions, unveils 2012 Olympics’ mobile payment app with Visa

NVIDIA officially brands Tegra 3′s five-core quad-core architecture as 4-PLUS-1

NVIDIA’s cooked up a few ways to describe the Tegra 3′s quad-core-with-a-spare architecture, usually by giving the extra Cortex A9 a cute nickname like ” ninja ,” or ” companion .” Until now, the proper description was “Variable Symmetrical Multiprocessing,” or, vSMP for short. Despite how much fun (and technically accurate) some of these descriptions may have been, however, they just aren’t marketable. “Our customers wanted a name for it that’s unique and descriptive,” writes mobile business unit general manager Michael Rayfield , “A name they could put on a box or a store sign that immediately represents its value.” That official name is the 4-PLUS-1 quad-core architecture, he says, and you’ll probably see it pop up a few times in Barcelona next week if LG’s latest offering is any indication. It lacks something in pizzaz, to be sure, but we’ll admit that it is at least descriptive of the Tegra 3′s technical chops. In related news, NVIDIA promises the Tegra will be less fickle about its new moniker than the symbol formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince . NVIDIA officially brands Tegra 3′s five-core quad-core architecture as 4-PLUS-1 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

ZTE to unleash eight new phones at MWC, hopes multi-core chipsets and LTE push them into third place

If the trio of slabs ZTE announced earlier this week weren’t enough for you, sit tight, the outfit just announced it’s bringing a total of eight new phones to Barcelona next week. The new handsets will reportedly flaunt multi-core processors, LTE radios and the latest versions of the Android and Windows Phone platforms. This announcement both echos and one-ups the recently announced Mimosa X , which gets its dual-core chops from an NVIDIA Tegra 2 , but boasts only HSPA+, rather than the promised LTE. ZTE says it hopes the new devices will help it become one of the world’s top three handset providers by the year 2015. Seem far off? Don’t worry, at least the phones will be here by Monday. Read on for ZTE’s official press statement.

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ZTE to unleash eight new phones at MWC, hopes multi-core chipsets and LTE push them into third place

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