Jane Andrew

Google Galaxy S4 with Stock Android, on Sale for $649 in June

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 May 2013 06:10:00 +0000

Google Play will soon be showing off a slightly modified Samsung Galaxy S4 on its shelf. And it is not like any other Samsung Galaxy S4 that you have seen before. It runs stock Android. It is in a completely unlocked form and comes with an unlocked bootloader as well as Google’s prompt system updates. Even though Samsung has been named Google’s key leader, numerous Android spy apps have been able to bring frown lines to the tech giant’s forehead.

Changes in Samsung Galaxy S4
The new S4 will be available on Google Play store from June 26^th. The device will not only be carrier unlocked but also supports an unlocked bootloader. That allows the users to load their own software on the device including things like CyanogenMod which means that the user can go for a very deep customization of the software. The new S4 is all set to become the next big thing for developers but its high price tag, however, makes it more likely to be a Smartphone for the a small part of the market.

Apart for some modifications in the software, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition is the same down to the bezel. Counting the drawbacks of purchasing an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S4 is the inability to access to TouchWiz.

Several rumors paint a picture of years to come that Samsung might not want to continue Android OS in its device. At this time, Google trying to take advantage of the opportunity to sell its OS in Samsung’s hardware is not at all surprising.

When Samsung Galaxy S4 was launched last month, tech experts found it not is as physically solid as the HTC One or as good as the improved Galaxy SIII but it is being crowned as the most compelling Smartphone running Android. As compared to the unlocked Nexus 4 which can be purchased from Google Play for just $299, Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition will make the pocket lighter. The unlocked device is probably the top current devices running Android Jelly Beans 4.2. It happens to be the first non-Nexus device to get the opportunity.

The high price tag
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Google will be up for purchase on Google Play from June, 26^th. Holding no contract, owners will be able to use it both on AT&T and T-Mobile. The high price doesn’t really make it a device for the masses but many might volunteer to spend that much for an experience of an untouched Android.

Interestingly, Samsung announced all of its devices to be stock Android. Fans seem to be a bit overwhelmed by Samsung’s software smorgasbord and this might end up presenting the Samsung Galaxy S4 in a new light altogether.

Android Security in 2013 - Users and Their Woes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:00:00 +0000

As the US Army approves of Samsung Android phones running Knox to be replaced by Blackberry, security must have been given a lot of thought before the decision was made. Introduced by Samsung during the launch of Galaxy S4, smartphones running Knox allows the users to keep their private and personal life separate while providing an added security to the professional data in the phone. As Android phones have been an easy target for Android spy apps ever since their launch back in 2007, the OS seems to have recently experienced another malware blow as users discover about the excess baggage that Facebook Home app seems to be sporting.

Latest Android Malware in town
The Home app, which refashions the phone into the Facebook Home page, has recently been under speculation for the unnecessary features that come with it. once the user installs the Home app to their smartphone, the app is automatically given access to your audio settings, camera and sound recoreder. It can adjust the volume of the phone without giving to a notification or asking your permission. It can record audio by using the phone’s microphone and use the camera to take pictures and record videos without your permission. The question does arise here that why would an app need all this excess baggage to run. A spokesperson from Facebook did admit that though the Home app has the ability to do things like these, the company will not do that.

2013 and Android malware
With a whopping 52.2% market share in the US alone, more than a 100 million Android phones have reportedly been shipped in the second quarter of 2012 in the country. Android’s share of malware rose in 2012 when in the fourth quarterof the year, 96% of all attacks on mobile OS were targeted at Android phones during this time period. Here are some of the scandals that have risen against Android in recent times:

Google Play scandal
In Feburary 2013, Android experienced a massive blow when it was asked by web developers and customers alike to change it’s policies when they discovered what their harmless downloading has been resulting in. Google Play store has been getting information out of every single person who purchases Android apps from the Google Play store. The news broke when a developer of Android apps noticed personal information of customers when they purchased one of his apps. their names, e-mails, addresses and even the suburbs they lived in were accessible.

A report in April 2013 by a Romanian firm, Bitdefender, warned cell phone users against the highly intrusive qualities of apps. Almost 30,000 free Android apps were analyzed in this study and 12.87% of them were found to be collecting personal information from their customers without permission or even knowledge.

Google may be using your private Gmail messages and Scroogled
What 70% of the population of US is unaware of is the fact that Google uses Gmail messages to deliver advertisements. Microsoft launched it’s Scroogled campaign against this policy of Google. Much of Scroogled was based on ads and Microsoft played on the fear of the general masses by leaving the impression that people at Google are reading each and every message sent through Gmail. Although not impossible, this is very difficult as this would allow huge databases and logarithms.

Google has not been able to resolve many of the security issues that Android users have been faced with. The question arises that apart from filling the previous loopholes in the OS, will Google give it’s customers another privacy blow in the rest of the year. A lot of this depends on the time to come.

Nexus 11 Awes Market With it’s Leaked Specs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:16:00 +0000

On it’s I/O developer event last year, Google introduced the Samsung Nexus 7 to showcase it’s software. Nexus 7 had Android 4.4.1 and will be available only at Google Play store, revealed Google last year at San Francisco. This year the attendees of the event anticipate the rumored launch of Samsung Nexus 11. A larger device, Nexus is reportedly going to be octa-core and a whole lot of firsts by Samsung. The Samsung tablet plan for the year has been subject to a major leak as the specifications and features of the Nexus 11 tablet and many more come to the public front.

Where the leak occurred
Recently, SamMobile recently posted a blog about Samsung’s plan of action for the year 2013. Samsung sketches out a road map for what kind of tablets it wants to launch this year. One of the mark here which catches the eye is the Nexus 11. SamMobile has more than average track for such leaks in the past. An entire list referring to all the tablets and their specs that Samsung intends to introduce in the market.

Samsung Nexus 11
Samsung is currently known in the market for it’s Nexus 10 tablet, Nexus smartphone and Galaxy Nexus. As the Galaxy line has become almost synonymous with the Android brand, Samsung seems to be Google’s key partner of late. Samsung is the biggest seller of Andtoid hardware.

As the name indicates, the new member in the Nexus line is slightly larger than it predecessors. It features an 11-inch Super PLS TFT LCD display most likely at 2560 x 1600 which is the same reso;ution as the Nexus 10 tablet. It is also going to have Samsung's new Exynos 5 Octa processor which has been showcased in some variants of the Galaxy S4. The Exynos bosts of a 5 Octa 5410 that has four ARM Cortex-A15 cores alongside four ARM Cortex-A7 cores, allowing lower-power tasks to be offloaded to the A7s to conserve battery.

Furthermore, the Nexus may be snagging the market segment craving quikc photography with it’s 8 megapixel camera on the back side of the tablet. The front holds a 2 megapixel camera. It will also include microSD card slot for expandable memory. It is the first Nexus with memory expansion. Expected to be the next launch from Google’s side, Nexus 11 might be running Android 4.3.

Another feature of Samsung’s plan of action for 2013 is the Galaxy Tab 11. It is a similar 11-inch device that might not be including the classy Exynos 5 octa chipset but a dual-core Exynos 5 that has been admired in the Nexus 10 tablet. To keep the cost down of this tablet, Samsung plans to use a lower resolution display as compared to Nexus 11.

Rumor has it…
With almost no time left in Google’s i/O developer event, the the world expectantly looks forward to what it has in store for the market. All of the above remain unconfirmed rumors which hold no solid ground. Many have their eyes on the annual event for more than just rumors on Google’s Nexus plans.

Let's Talk T-Mobile -- The Uncarrier

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 05:05:00 +0000

The USA has some central mobile service carriers which offer contract services to its subscribers. This entails the purchase of a handset and a contract both. The contracts are two year long and ensure that users won’t be switching services anytime soon. This also means that ‘carriers’ really are those annoying contractors- -where is T-Mobile is not. Here is why.

The iPhone is finally getting more coverage from T-Mobile USA as it is the last carrier to offer it despite the fact that it is after all the top selling smartphone in US. But this may also be in part that instance of malware or iPhone spyware are few and sparse. Nonetheless, the news is official; T-Mobile will be selling iPhone 5 sets as of April 12^th onwards through installed payments. Those who are interested can purchase the devices with a down payment of 100 bucks and a monthly installment of a mere 20. The service charges begin at around $50 which includes unlimited calls and 5GB of data.

This is an intriguing change from the standard long term contracts that cellular services usually offer. According to T Mobile, it is a conscious break away and an attempt at getting phones to users without having to subsidize them in return for two year contracts. This way the carrier won’t have to depend on phone discounts and can instead get users lower service prices.
The whole point is to also attract customers and get as many people as possible on board. The incentive means that anyone with enough cash for an initial down payment can afford a T-Mobile carried iPhone 5 handset. Of course, this is a confidence move on the part of T-Mobile, who is pretty certain that none of their competition will be able to match it. This might even separate T-Mobile from the rest, namely AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which are the USA’s biggest carrier names. These companies already sell handsets at discounted rates in order to get customers. After losing 2.1 million monthly contract subscribers, this is T-Mobile’s attempt back into the big leagues.

With this also comes, T-Mobile’s launch of an LTE network. This is all part of a $4 billion investment plan and the company is offering the service in 7 different areas. Verizon already offers it in more than 485 cities, which means that T-Mobile has a lot of catching up to do. However, the “un-carrier”, as it is fondly calling itself, is also attempting to complete a merger deal with the fifth largest carrier, Metro PCS Communications Inc.

The deal is still pending and according to reports, the folks over at Metro PCS will take a vote whether to go ahead or not on April 12^th. Though the merger is pending, T-Mobile is spilling confidence (perhaps over-confidence) in every technological direction. But the fact is that PCS seems to be putting up a fight in opposing the merger, namely fearing that it will be overburdened with debt and be simultaneously undervalued. Nonetheless, the merger can prove a worthy adversary for the leading carriers.

Adobe’s CTO moves to Apple; Analysts shocked

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:09:00 +0000

There has been a major turn of events in the world of technology - Chief Technology Officer at Adobe, Kevin Lynch has made an announcement that he has resigned from his post at Adobe to join Apple as vice president, technologies. The announcement came as a shock for tech analysts, as Lynch had been a harsh critic of Apple at some point. The controversy began in 2010, when Apple declined to use Adobe’s Flash technology on their iPhone and iPad. The war escalated to the point that both companies became public with their grievances. Former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs published a memo called “Thoughts on Flash”, in which he brutally criticized Adobe’s technology, terming it flawed, while praising HTML5. Adobe replied by launching an online and in print advertising campaign against the workings of Apple, which takes away people’s freedom to choose. However, a year after this controversy, Adobe halted its work on mobile version of Flash and focused more on HTML instead.

Lynch and Apple say: No comment
So, what prompted this sudden change of mind on Lynch’s side – no one is sure of. When contacted by the media for a statement and probable cause of shift, Apple and Lynch chose to stay mum. However, Adobe responded and said the company wouldn’t be hiring any new CTO; instead the responsibilities will be re-assigned to two key personnel - Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and SVP Bryan Lamkin.
Earlier, CNBC reported that Lunch will take the position of vice president of technology at Apple, working directly under senior vice president of Apple, Bob Mansfield. This position was created, when ioS software chief Scott Forstall resigned in October 2012 along with retail chief John Browett. Apple is still looking for Browett’s replacement, but it is rumored that Lynch will be filling in for Forstall.

Speculations at Adobe
Back at Adobe, people are speculating upon Lynch’s reasons for resignation. One senior employee assumed that it’s probably got to do with Apple’s approach towards combining hardware and software. Connecting threads, he said Lynch’s fascination with combination of hardware and software – which is absent at Adobe – may have propelled him towards Apple. While solving the mystery of Lynch’s move, tech analyst Jeffery Hammond has said Lynch has always been interested in software. He has earlier knowledge of iOS and worked with the Mac software including the Mac spyware threats. This might have forced Lynch to make its move to Apple. Another important reason is lack of software based work in Adobe – despite its success with cloud computing.

The significance of Lynch’s resignation can also be determined by the fact that Adobe’s revenue crashed down significantly in its first quarter, which might have created a buzz in the market. However, the company number of members for its Creative Cloud service has increased to over 500,000 this year. Moreover, the company showed a marked increase at the stock exchange – from $2.32 to $43.07. However, Apple’s stocks decreased by 89 cents to $453.60 per share.

How to Monitor LGBT Cyber Bullying

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:17:00 +0000

For children growing up in this age, discovering who they are and what their sexual identity is can be more then confusing. If they begin to experience some lesbian, gay, or bisexual tendencies then they may seek some comfort or solace in sharing this with friends and peers. The foremost way of socializing nowadays is through social networking sites, text messaging, and instant messenger services such as GTalk and so on. But sharing such details on the internet is never a good idea. Children and teens can be targets of cyber bullying by all sorts of people that you may not be aware of which can include, friends, relatives, and these include adults too.

The sad fact is we live in a brutal world and in brutal times. It’s difficult living in times of global economic crisis; it’s even more difficult living in times of intolerance and fear of others who may be dubbed ‘different’, ‘weird’, or even ‘freakish’. And of course, as a parent, these are the last things one wants to hear associated with their child. The internet is not the nicest virtual neighborhood. After all, there aren’t enough restrictions, rules, or regulations in place for any adult to let their child just wander the virtual social landscapes without supervision. So what should a concerned parent do?

Here are some steps to go about monitoring your child and making sure that they don’t fall prey to cyber bullies and hence end up losing confidence in their abilities and sense of self esteem.

Observe your child’s internet practices
In order to monitor your child in such a way that you are up to date on what is happening around them when they log on to the internet, you should first know what their internet routine is. If they access it through their cell phone, through their laptop or the family PC, or perhaps when they go over to a friend’s place, you should go about picking out the best monitoring apps keeping that in mind.
If your child is still a preteen or under 13 and already demonstrating some sexual deviancy then it would be a good option to bar them from owning a personal cell phone just yet. That way you could talk to them about the changes in their selves and explain to them what to do in case of online bullying and threats before they occur.

Monitor their access devices
In case they are old enough or you feel that they can handle having a personal cell phone, its time you invest in a cell phone monitoring app. If they own their own laptop then you will need computer and internet monitoring software for that device. If they use the family PC only then you can spend time with them when they are online and go about networking and interacting online together.

You can avail a range of apps and spyware software that will allow you to check their browsing history, their emails, their pictures and text messages as well as their contact lists. This way if they receive any harassing texts or multimedia messages, you’ll be in on the loop too and hence equipped to deal with the emotional and mental drama that may afflict your child. As a parent, you will also be able to block any such bullies from Facebook, Twitter, and other sites before the malicious content even reaches your child, preventing mental injury.

Unpatched Vulnerabilities: Android Devices Continue to Cling Onto the Risk Factor

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:58:00 +0000

Carriers and tech gurus continue to be at sixes and sevens with regards to solving that million dollar puzzle: patching up Android devices. While mobile spy software is deadlier every passing moment, it seems to be Android spyware that is weaving its malicious magic more effectively than other brands of malware, as the operating system casualties soar without any indication of ceasing any time soon. Recent reports have confirmed that Android’s long tussle with malware is still ongoing, the platform is still the target numero uno for spyware from across the globe and most crucially there seems no easy way out for the users that want to keep themselves up to date with latest patches.

Unpatched Vulnerabilities Galore!
Duo Security is one of many think-tanks mulling over the Android patchwork. It recently compiled results from 20,000 Android machines, which had been scanned with the X-Ray tool for vulnerability assessment. According to the results more than 50 percent of the devices all over the world have unpatched vulnerabilities. And to add fuel to this blazing fire, the chief technology officer of Duo Security is touting the number as a “conservative estimate”, which has been compiled after the preliminary results. If one were to factor in detailed tests this number could further soar skywards.
Duo’s numbers are in synchrony with the Bit9 report that was released earlier this year, which stated that 56% of Android devices were allowing insecure and out of date versions of the software and in turn inviting Android spyware to wreak havoc in their devices.
Devices that have been under this pretty menacing gun include, HTC, Samsung, Sanyo, Motorola, Sony and LG.
Sophos has also reported recently that the discovery of new malware has hiked up 41 times in 2011, while most of this jump traces its origin to a toll fraud malware family which targeted Eastern European markets. This toll fraud occurs when mobile spy software stealthily sends texts to paid services via a phone that has been hijacked.

Crossing the Line
The thing that affects the US the most is the latest apps which use extremely aggressive tactics. And more often than not these tactics cross all lines of privacy. The more aggressive of these apps link sponsored apps, display their advertisements even if the application doesn’t run and criminally extract private information and take it to the server of the advertiser – if this isn’t blatant violation of the ad policy of Google for Android, then what is?
Advertising, while a fundamental right of every single company and firm, has become a dangerous tool, in the garb of which many a hacker has eradicated some of the biggest companies by delving into their private data. Again, no other platform has been as compromised as Android and while other platforms do put up a wall to bolster their lines that shouldn’t be crosses, Android’s lines continue to be the easiest to cross for hackers.

Maximum Risk
As we study the security aspects of various platforms it is still as you were, and Android’s poor vulnerability patching and fragmentation continues to be a massive risk for its users. And with Android – unlike iOS that Apple has on iPhones and iPads – there is a plethora of vendors that use scores of platform versions. This, in turn, results in a hotchpotch of strategies catering to patchwork and they are further complicated owing to the carriers that push out updates.
There are some carriers that tend to push out updates sooner than the rest of the carriers and similarly there are users that install the patches sooner than the rest. And hence the fact that there are more than 50 percent Android devices that have unpatched glitches shouldn’t be that big a surprise for anyone. With Android providing the maximum risk factor to its users, do we really expect things to be different any time soon? Not really…

Quasi Silver Lining
With no tangible solution foreseeable, Android spyware is clearly on the up, which would continue to up the ante on users that have unpatched phones. Even so, mobile spy software and malware is still not as daunting as the malicious apps that have been created to expose vulnerabilities in computers and hence, the menace for Android users is still less than the potential menace in the tech domain. This can be demonstrated simply by knowing the simple fact that one can survive if they haven’t updated their phone’s OS, but no one can survive not updating the anti-virus or the OS patches on the PC.
So yes while the risk factor for Android users is, has been, and would in all likelihood continue to be a hot topic of debate in the tech world, there is still a ray of hope for Android buffs in the shape of the survival and persistence of the PC industry. As they say every cloud has a silver lining; only sometimes one needs a really robust telescope to perceive it.

Scam Calls: Innovation In Hacking Techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:50:00 +0000

It has become common knowledge that scammers try to penetrate into the computers and cell phones through cell phone tracking apps and PC tracking malware. These malicious contents play havoc with the system upon entering the device. However, now these hackers have devised another useful way of penetrating into your machine and destroying your privacy – Phone scams.

How to identify a Phone Scam?
The purpose of the phone scam is to extract your personal details by making a fake call that makes your private data accessible to the hackers. Glaring example is of last year’s Microsoft phone scam call, when people called to inform them that their computers had been infected with rogue software. The caller tries to gain trust of the victim by establishing the call from Microsoft, asking some personal data and the user falls prey to the scam and their security and privacy crumbles down like a deck of cards. The scam caller requests to install remote access code, which in turn helps the hacking group, get complete access to the computers and other devices.

More cases of Scam Calls Reported
The trend of scam calls is rising in English speaking countries, particularly America and the United Kingdom. The hackers follow a similar process every time they call the new victim – establish the call from Microsoft, request remote access, install malware under the cloak of updated version of software, run a fake scan and get successful in obtaining their credit card numbers. A survey conducted by the Trustworthy Computing Team revealed, out of 7000 people surveyed, 1000 reported these spam calls – 234 people out of one thousand, fell for the scam, while 184 of the 234 actually lost money, around $800.

How to Avoid the Scam
The first thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft does not call its users and charge them for fixing or updating software. So, this is a clear distinction that you need to be aware of. Here’s how you can counter these spam calls:
-          Never hand over the remote access of your computer to an unknown, third party. Only when you are certain about the credibility of other person, you’re giving the control to a legitimate member of the support team. Ideal way would be to give them a call back to establish the authenticity of the employee.
-          This is one rule we learnt as kids – never give your talk to strangers or give any personal information – also applying to your credit card number and financial information.
-          Always establish the authenticity of the call, which demands paying a fee or needs subscription. Don’t take any risks, if you have any doubts.
-          If you are victim of such calls, then the most pragmatic approach would have been to note down the information of the caller and report it to local authorities, so that the hackers can be traced and arrested. Make sure you cover all your bases with regards to warding off the phony calls.

Blackberries Leaking Juice

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:36:00 +0000

A leaked presentation file detailing RIM’s planned out path for the future- the credibility of the file is naturally dubious- is shedding light about the company’s plan regarding the upcoming updates, which according to the announcement made by the company the upgrade to Blackberry 10 platform is going to be delayed as it is now expected to be released in the first quarter of 2013. Although the contents of the not so credible slide are in consonance with the news revealed by RIM lately, the slide was revealed from an anonymous source at BlackBerryOS.com. Earlier on, RIM foretold that BlackBerry 10 devices would come out in the fall of this year, during Blackberry World conference in May, however, the information from the slide coincides with the recent change that RIM only announced last week about delaying the BlackBerry 10 release to next year.

RIM takes a step further in Tablets
The PlayBook 4G (also Winchester) running the version 7 of BlackBerry Os instead of BlackBerry 10 is shown to be released in the last quarter of this year. It may come off as a surprise to many as the previous tab was not that popular, but the company has more planned out in this regard as well. A 10 inch tablet called “Blackforest 128” is going to be released in the third quarter of 2013, according to the slide, while there is no detail as to what 128 stands for, an educated guess would be 128gb memory which be a great advance as most tabs right now go up to a capacity of 64gb. While this raises concerns about the authenticity of the slide, it is also a controversial idea for RIM to launch a tab competing against the iPad considering RIM’s first quarter sales for Playbook were 260 000 where as Apple sold 11.8 million iPads in the second quarter of 2012. According to Ken Dulaney, Gartner analyst, RIM’s upcoming plans regarding tabs are not much of business ideas, the reasons behind them could be maintaining high security users with their platform and devices known for this quality and also completing the company portfolio of devices. So with the new upgrades out, users won’t have to worry about BlackBerry spy or any other malware of the kind. Even in this regard, Android and Apple tabs are advancing in almost every aspect including security features, Microsoft Surface is also going to launch with its own security details, therefore if security is the key area that RIM treasures, it might not be too farfetched to expect contending tablets to exceed RIM in this regard as well by the time they layout an action plan. However, even with these rivals advancing in the race, RIM has to worry a lot less about mobile spy software as opposed to Android for example, which is a platform much more plagued by malware attacks.

London and Nevada rediscovered in 2013
As per the leaked information, the new handsets will also be released in the first quarter of 2013, including RIM’s first device without a hardware keyboard running BlackBerry 10 being the “London” handset and the other one being “Nevada”. BlackBerry 10 will launch in Europe in January 2013, prior to U.S. launch which is expected in February, according to BB OS’s sources.
BlackBerry Handsets have always found their clientele in the cell phone market, where as the Playbook has not yet been as popular. RIM is counting on the response for these new upgrades, let’s all hope that it turns out to be great for the company as well the users.

Malicious Malware Creeps Into Android Market

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 05:32:00 +0000

In times when technology is a household phenomenon and markets are flooded with various kinds of devices – security is a constant challenge faced by the users. Market for Android and Apple devices is expanding every day, with innovations pouring in every month. Advancement in smart phones has led to certain issues in the field of mobile phone technology. The most important of them is security issue.
Recent reports have suggested that security researchers have unearthed a new malware in Google Play Store, which is an app market for Google’s Android. This discovery proves the limitations of the scanning service used to detect the presence of spywares in the apps just before downloading them.

A Trojan War!
Irfan Asrar, researcher from an antivirus provider company, Symantec said that Android Dropdialer, a Trojan was detected in different titles, which went unseen for weeks. Asrar gave out this information in his blog. Naming the two titles, Asrar said that the Trojan was hidden in "Super Mario Bros" and "GTA 3 Moscow City" – generating at least a 100,000 downloads of these apps.

Explaining the nature of the Trojan, the researcher said that the interesting thing is that this spyware went unnoticed on Google Play for a long time – affecting other downloads, due to its remote payload used by this Trojan.

Earlier Asrar mentioned on his blog post about the process of disintegrating a harmful app into separate, staged payloads protected the malware from being detected by the Android monitoring software. The major purpose behind this procedure is to break the malware into separate files, instead of using it as single file, which will make it easier for it to go undetected for a longer period of time. The malware in question, Android.Dropdialer, was first found on on Google Play (earlier known as the Android Market) – once this malware is installed, it will download other packages as well.

Who to blame?
The blog post writer went on to say that users affected by this Trojan – after installing the app - were still shown a list of notifications including "services that cost you money" - meaning the users who were victims of this threat were equally responsible for being affected. But keeping it fair and taking into account the fact that this malicious Android spyware was available on Google's own servers, it appears that the company should also be blamed for the act.

Google is not sitting idle. The search engine giant discovered Bouncer, a cloud-based malware scanner in February. Since this discovery, researchers have been successful in their independent discovery of malicious apps in Google Play on several occasions. They were also able to detect malware in the Google Chrome Web store.

Two mobile security experts, Jon Oberheide and Charlie Miller have made a shocking announcement that they've found multiple loopholes in the malware scanner, Bouncer – enabling them to sneak malicious apps into Google Play by bypassing Bouncer. Google representatives have not responded to this threat so far, with no attempt made to check the accuracy of the claim.

The Grinch who stole data

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 03:19:00 +0000

Source: MobiStealth.com

App Review: ThisLife

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:15:00 +0000

App Review: ThisLife

ThisLife conjures a simplistic, yet majestic, way to browse, organize and share photo collections of any magnitude whatsoever. The app allows pictures to be imported from other services that include Facebook, Instagram, Flick and Twitter among others. Plus of course the app allows the user to upload the pictures from their computer or other devices as well.

Once the pictures are uploaded in the photo library, they can be organized into a ‘Story’ or even several stories if you want to. The ‘Story’ is the most fascinating part of the app. It could be anything between something and general – like the pictures of your child growing up – to something specific – like a birthday party or a weekend away from home. As expected the stories can be shared with other users – your friends, family, cousins, colleagues, etc – who can also participate in it by adding their own pictures, which are known as ‘Moments’ in ThisLife’s lingua franca. They can also participate via liking pictures or commenting on them.

The free starter plan of ThisLife allows the user to upload up to a thousand pictures or upload a video of up to sixty minutes (or one hour). These numbers can be up-graded to 20,000 photos or 10 hours of recorded video footage for $7.99/month, or with the Family Plan the number can be augmented to 20,000 pictures or 25 hours of video footage for $14.99/month.

There are further, less costly ways of storing pictures online as well, but the price that is being paid over here results in a user interface that is significantly superior. What else is being offeres is a feature range that runs the wide gamut from face recognition to advanced tagging, which one can’t get through straight services for online storage.

It is expected that soon the site should offer publishing tools, which should make the creation of photo books considerably easy, among other products.
This app summons the exact experience for the Apple devices – the iPhone and iPad – according to our iPhone spy, while our Android spy has confirmed that a version for Android devices would be launched pretty soon as well. The apps have a two pronged benefit as compared to the website. First up there is the touch interface that makes photo browsing prodigiously more intimate and the user can navigate through the service levels; like for instance if they were to simply use pinches and taps they would be doing exactly that. Secondly the pictures taken from iPhone or iPad can be directly uploaded to ThisLife, courtesy of the app.
The free services of ThisLife are a lot more than just worth a shot. Once you have put some pictures in it, it would be impossible for you to not want to upgrade it. Once you’ve joined the party the apps would be an important part of your service. ThisLife can add a lot of pictures into your life, and join them together to form a memorable story that you’d want to share with everyone you can.

RIM’s Lifeline

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:13:00 +0000

It is becoming increasingly obvious that RIM is putting all its hopes of a sensational comeback on BlackBerry 10. The new BlackBerry operating system does seem like proving itself to be up to the challenge, if its initial look is anything to go by. The first thing that has brought BB10 into the limelight is its interface, which is set to completely revamp multitasking. The BlackBerry Hub, sort of like the nerve center of the new OS, is another landmark feature, which blends in nicely with BlackBerry Flow and Active Frames to give the user an all-round package. However, the thing that RIM must keep in mind while competing with Android and iOS is the number of apps – over 600,000 – that the big two have on offer. The current BlackBerry devices do not offer anything along similar lines or numbers and RIM needs to focus on filling this void if it needs to return to the spotlight of the smart phone market.

MappleGate
Apple latest mapping app touted by the company as the “most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever” didn’t exactly turn out to be that I’m afraid, forcing Apple’s CEO Tim Cook to not only apologize, but also go as far as recommending the mapping apps of rivals to iPhone users. While any quasi howler that Apple conjures generates multiple times as many hoopla as that of any of its rivals, and there is no doubt that if Steve Jobs were alive Tim Cook would have been fired, the app isn’t exactly an unmitigated disaster. I’ve used Apple’s Maps app and everything works rather fine, especially the turn by turn directions. But yes it was a bit of a joke to launch it without public transit, a logical design and with incomplete data of location. The app is not the best in the world, but it’s far from being the worst as well. But the thing with Apple is, Steve Jobs raised the bar to such towering heights that his followers were always going to have a tough time satisfying the oh-so-demanding Apple aficionados.

Google’s Low-Blow
Who would’ve thought that a big name like Google would have to resort to low blows for survival? But that is precisely what has happened. Google has been taking down a lot of affiliate websites which were in direct competition with Adwords – Google’s advertising system – only to set up its own affiliate network for advertising purposes. While Google’s wild beasts Panda and Penguin have been on a hunt to track down and shut down sites that use the affiliate technique to increase their search engine ratings, Google’s skewed rulebook continues to label its own affiliate sites as legal and authentic. It is becoming increasingly clear, and is equally sorry to note, that Google taking down the affiliate sites was owing to the search engine giant’s insecurity and its fear of simmering competition after the sites that were taken down showed unprecedented profits.

Patent Wars: Guess Who’s joining the Party

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:37:00 +0000

Make room Samsung and Apple, HTC and Nokia have decided to join the patent war bandwagon. This time around it’s Nokia that’s trying to hold HTC by its ears for creating a phone that looks like a close relative of their Lumia 920. This is problematic since the phone hasn’t even hit the market yet, it can’t have other phones that look exactly the same walking around the market. HTC’s new phone wouldn’t have been such a problem, except that it runs on the Windows 8 platform, as does the Lumia 920 – what consumers see basically is a yellow phone on the outside, and the same interface on the inside.

That’s not to say that both the phones are the same, obviously the HTC phone can’t match the supposed prowess of the camera that’s the Lumia 920 comes embellished with – the trouble is that some consumers follow the “if it walks like a duck and talk like a duck…” philosophy while shopping for phones, which was the main reason that patent wards sprung up to begin. The sad part is that this would be the first Windows 8 Phone from the HTC franchise, leaving some wondering why they couldn’t come up with something a little more innovative in terms of its design. Not only that, the phone has nothing of the HTC taste that users are used to. HTC, like any other manufacturer, has its own design philosophy and the new Windows 8 Phone is nothing but the oddball out in the crowd.

The current situation is made worse by the fact that Nokia is actually supporting certain apps on the Windows 8 platform i.e. maps and the Nokia Drive – making the identity crisis between the two phones all the more messed up. Could consumers actually get confused between two phones? Do people really buy a phone without doing proper research? I mean I personally go through painstaking details of the phone that I’m putting my money into so the idea that I’ll buy an HTC instead of Lumia 920 by mistake seems ludicrous… but evidently both Apple and now Nokia think it’s a big enough deal.

Are You Easy to Spy On?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 05:31:00 +0000

As a security analyst a lot of my work has revolved around finding the perfect tools and gadgets that people use to an eye on someone or something that they have a vested interest in. There are no two ways about it, if you’ve got a smart phone and a computer system (be it a desktop or a laptop) you can both spy on people, and be spied on. We continuously place ourselves on an invisible grid leaving behind a trail of breadcrumbs for a multitude of people who might want to track us, hack us and steal our data. The answer to whether your easy to spy on is quite simple to answer. Take your cell phone for instance. What are you putting on it? Your apps are important, oh so very important – it takes one malicious app to infiltrate your data and potentially steal all the data that other apps are collecting. Are you thorough in your research before you actually download an app? Do you double check the permissions that you’re handing over once you’re decided on the app that you want in your phone? Just the apps in your phone can cause chaos which you haven’t even dreamed of, and that’s something you voluntarily partake in. Coincidently, you don’t need a hacker to make your life miserable. You could simply leave your phone lying around unprotected and a slew of people which includes your own close friends, parents, significant others and even your employers could place a stealth app into your device. If you don’t have a proper security protocol in place for your phone you’re pretty much making sure that you’re going to get yourself spied on.

What Good is the Do-Not-Track Button?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 05:55:00 +0000

Essentially there already exist measures within your popular browsers that can help you surf the internet free of cookie hassle (by cookie hassle I mean the stuff that helps websites track your online presence and movement). So why is this button gaining so much traction? Some people have gone as far as to say that the button is just an idiots way out of getting tracked. Tracking for Dummies, if it were ever written would probably have a chapter on this button. But there’s a catch – the button isn’t the ultimate solution to the tracking problem. In fact a site that wants to track you will do it anyway regardless of how icky you feel about it. Cookies can be used to trace out even the tiniest details about the things you like – see that Victoria’s Secret advert following you around? Guess how it knows you like lingerie…. Yup, your cookies are doing all the kissing and telling for you. At the end of the day all this hoopla about how the button is going to be a revolution seems like a big joke. The button can only forward a request for the user to not be tracked, this is no way implies that the website is going to turn around and say “Yes, sir!” and back off. It just means that a formal request was sent forward, that’s it. So what should one really do to stay safe online? Opt for encryption and encrypted sessions on the internet. Don’t save your data in your WebPages i.e. get rid of auto fills and other such conveniences that save you a few seconds online and potentially help unwanted people access your data, and in general just be smart about your online presence.