Samsung Galaxy S III: Battle of the Big Displays

Samsung one-upped itself and gave the Galaxy S III one of the biggest displays available for smartphones. It's the latest example of a trend by iPhone competitors to push larger screen sizes to differentiate themselves. The first Galaxy S phone had a 4-inch screen, and Samsung moved up to 4.3-inch on the SII. The S III, with its 4.8-inch screen, or the HTC One X's 4.7 inches, dwarf the iPhone, which has had a a 3.5-inch since 2007.

With Android phones getting bigger every year, how big can they get until they are simply too big to use as phones? Many people already find 4.3-inch displays too big to operate with one hand, and the "bigger is better" philosophy could bite back at Samsung and other iPhone competitors. At this rate, next year we could see a display larger than 5-inch (similar to the Galaxy Note), which will be big enough to cover your face while you’re on the phone. If this trend continues, you could be sporting a 7-inch tablet as a phone soon.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is only outbid in the screen size department by the Galaxy Note, whose 5.3-inch display is the biggest on a smartphone so far. Even Samsung’s own advertising campaign is unsure whether the Note is a phone or tablet, but Samsung clearly markets the S III (and its 4.8-inch display) as a smartphone.

CTIA 2012 Preview: New Phones, More Debate Over Spectrum

CTIA 2012, the big U.S. mobile phone and tablet show, kicks off Monday. Will a few very hot LTE phones make their debut?
CTIA 2012 kicks off next week in the Big Easy, and PCWorld will be at the show to bring you all the latest mobile news from New Orleans.

Unlike Mobile World Congress (MWC) or even the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), CTIA is more of a U.S.-focused gathering for the wireless industry. Here's what we know so far.
With a lack of press conferences from the major handset makers, we're unlikely to see any flagship phones launching at CTIA this year. Samsung just announced its Galaxy S III phone, after all. We probably won’t encounter U.S.-branded Galaxy S III phones quite yet; those are expected to debut this summer, but no exact dates have been given.

A clutch of interesting HTC phones, such as the HTC One X and the HTC Titan II, have already come out this year, but you can expect even more from the Taiwanese handset maker.

Samsung Galaxy S III FAQ: Everything You Need to Know

After all of the rumors and speculation, the Samsung Galaxy S III is finally here but you probably have a few questions about this new Android phone.

Samsung is the master of flash and flare at its press conferences, but we’re here to help you get to the nitty gritty of why you should care about this phone. The Galaxy S III will go on sale in Europe on May 23. No official word yet on a U.S. launch, but it could come this summer.



Can the S III Really Follow Your Every Move?
The Samsung S III really wants to be your new best friend--your new psychic best friend. According to Samsung’s somewhat creepy commercial (shown below), the S III “follows your every move.” Scared yet?
In reality, the Samsung S III can do things like predict when you want the screen awake by using the front-facing camera to monitor your eyes. If you’re watching a movie on your phone and happen to fall asleep, the phone’s display will turn off.

Microsoft to Retire Windows Live Brand Ahead of Windows 8 Launch

Microsoft will retire the Windows Live brand as it gets ready to release what it describes as a more connected set of online consumer services with the launch of its Windows 8 operating system.
Its vision for a set of tightly woven services and desktop applications that Microsoft outlined when it unveiled Windows Live in 2005 hasn't been fully realized, the company said on Wednesday.

Right now, services like its Hotmail webmail service, SkyDrive storage service and Messenger IM service aren't as closely meshed as they should be with Windows Live desktop software like Photo Gallery and Movie Maker, nor with the Windows Live ID account service, Microsoft said in a blog post.
The Desktop Is in the Way?

The problem lies with Windows desktop operating systems, which so far haven't been designed to fully interact with cloud services. Microsoft expects that situation to change with Windows 8, which is being designed to work not just with desktop and laptop PCs but also tablets and other devices. For example, Windows 8 features a new user interface called Metro, which uses a tile design and is optimized for touch interfaces.

Microsoft Detects New Malware Targeting Apple Computers

Microsoft has detected a new piece of malware targeting Apple OS X computers that exploits a vulnerability in the Office productivity suite patched nearly three years ago.
The malware is not widespread, wrote Jeong Wook Oh of Microsoft's Malware Protection Center. But it does show that hackers pay attention if it's found people do not apply patches as those fixes are released, putting their computers at a higher risk of becoming infected.

"Exploiting Mac OS X is not much different from other operating systems," Oh wrote. "Even though Mac OS X has introduced many mitigation technologies to reduce risk, your protection against security vulnerabilities has a direct correlation with updating installed applications."

The security update that Microsoft released in June 2009, MS09-027, addressed two vulnerabilities that could be used by an attacker to gain remote control over a machine and run other code. Both vulnerabilities could be exploited with a specially-crafted Word document.

Consumerization Trend Driving IT Shops 'Crazy,' Gartner Analyst Says

IT managers who grapple with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies can expect to see an explosion of different smartphones and tablets used by their workers in the next few years.
As a result, IT shops won't be able to keep up with the support demands needed to protect company data used on the various devices, said Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney in a recent interview.

"The number of devices coming in the next few years will outstrip IT's ability to keep the enterprise secure," he said. "IT can't handle all these devices. They're going crazy. They get into fights on whether users should get upgrades or not."

Facebook IPO roadshow scheduled for May 7: source

SAN FRANCISCO, May 1, 2012 (Reuters) — The roadshow for Facebook Inc's initial public offering is scheduled to start on Monday, meaning the company's shares should begin trading on May 18, a source familiar with the process said on Tuesday.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has mostly operated in the background during Facebook's journey to public markets, will be involved in the roadshow, another source said.

IPO roadshows, in which company management present their strategy to prospective investors, typically last two weeks. If the roadshow goes particularly well, shares sometimes start trading a few days earlier.

A source familiar with the offering said last week that a recent acquisition spurt by the largest social network could have added about a week to the IPO timetable as regulators signed off on the deals.

However, this review is close to completion, allowing the company to go ahead with the roadshow on Monday, the source added. The sources did not want to be identified because they are not authorized to speak about the company's IPO.

Facebook is set to raise at least $5 billion in what will likely be the largest Silicon Valley IPO ever.

"I have not seen as broad-based interest in an IPO since Google. Investor demand is immense," said Scott Sweet of research firm IPO Boutique. "I expect a roadshow that will rival all roadshows where investors will be turned away at the door."