Free replacement of damaged phones

Cracked your screen or dropped your phone in the toilet? No problem, if you buy HTC’s new One smartphone.

Starting next month when new phones go on sale, HTC will replace damaged phones free of charge during its normal 12- month warranty period — no questions asked. No deductibles or other fees, either, but HTC will replace a phone only once. Customers who don’t replace their phones will get $ 100 off their next HTC One. The offer doesn’t cover phones that are lost or stolen, so customers might still need insurance.

HTC is trying to distinguish itself from Apple, Samsung and other smaller Android phone makers with this offer. company called Exiii displayed 3D- printed prosthetic limbs. At the booth for GMO Answers, a group funded by companies including Dow Agrosciences and Monsanto to try to improve the public’s perception of genetically modified food, they were giving away potato chips made with a high- tech soybean oil called Plenish.

Giuseppe Taibi, a consultant from Lexington, Massachusetts, was perusing the trade show floor Tuesday. He was impressed by Jamit, a device that you insert into a violin to get real- time visual feedback to help improve your playing, because his daughter is learning the violin. And he was happy to talk to the makers of Tableau, a spreadsheet program he uses. “I got to have a Q& A with an expert,” he said.

He enjoys the energy and networking at South by Southwest. “There are so many great ideas, and everyone is in the mood for sharing,” he said. “I’m sad to leave to go back to the snow in Boston.”