Posts Tagged: security

News — No Comments
2
Aug 10

Hands on: Google App Inventor for Android

It’s still a bit rough around the edges, but the beta of Google’s App Inventor lets you create mobile apps with a drag-and-drop graphical user interface.

…MIT professor Hal Abelson, currently on sabbatical in order to work on the App Inventor project, cites one student-created app that simply delivers a text auto-response when the user is behind the wheel (”Please don’t text me now, I’m driving.”) as an example of what App Inventor was designed to facilitate.

In other words, the goal here is not to turn the majority of Android owners into professional developers, but to give them access to more-robust phone customization than is currently available.

However, for those who are knowledgeable coders but not yet experienced with Android, App Inventor could make it more attractive to start developing for the platform, since this lessens the need to learn a lot of particulars. If you already have the skills to outline the steps needed to make your app come to life, you don’t have to worry about what code creates a button or what syntax is needed to pull a name up from the contacts database. If you can write good “pseudocode” — basic instructions in English…

Read the original:
Hands on: Google App Inventor for Android

News — No Comments
29
Jul 10

Millions of Android users hit by malicious data theft app

An app distributed by Google’s Android Market has collected private data from millions of users and forwarded it to servers China, validating Apple’s uniquely strong stance on mobile security in the iPhone App Store.

…Apps must also be signed by a certificate created by Apple, which makes it much harder for malicious developers to anonymously distribute software designed to cause problems or steal data. Apple’s security measures also make such efforts less attractive financially, despite the iOS platform’s installed base being much larger than Android’s….

Excerpt from:
Millions of Android users hit by malicious data theft app

News — No Comments
19
Jul 10

The Nexus One Android Phone Discontinued

Google has some really bad news for those of you who still want to get your hands on a Nexus One phone. The last shipment is being sold off now, and once the stocks are out, there will be no more new Nexus One phones available for customers in the US.

…s conservative approach to marketing the phone, which meant that only a fraction of the $100 million ad campaign for the Droid, was spent for making people aware of the Nexus.

Google followed a direct-to-consumer sales policy, which despite being novel, simply did not have the mass reach or appeal needed to take phone sales through the roof.

So, not surprisingly there was not much hoopla surrounding the official blog post where Google announced the demise of the Nexus One in the US. It would be fair to say that the phone was popular among the geeks, but majority of the not so technically inclined people, did not really get to grips with the concept of an unlocked smartphone.
While the curtains have been drawn without much fanfare, one thing is for sure that this was a fine device and certainly worth a buy while it was available. The Android 2.2 OS update made it even better. So, in hindsight it would be interesting to see what would have been the fate of the Nexus One, had Google flexed its marketing…

See the original post:
The Nexus One Android Phone Discontinued

News — No Comments
19
Jul 10

Top 30 Android Apps For 2010

Google’s open-source phone platform has plenty of quality free apps for your phone

…Ones to ad to the list.1. Gmote: Turns your phone into a remote. Been on the market forever, how isnt it on the list?2. What the Doodle!?: Best Game on android by far. When will we get words with friends? 3. Pkt Auctions eBay: Best way to eBay on Android4. Shazam: Music recognition for when you cant figure out a song on the radio5 Bank of America: Mobile banking done easy6. Swype: Awesome new way to text7. Visual Voicemail: Makes voicemail sooo much easier8. Skyfire Browser: Flash integrated browser for people w/o Froyo9. Chomp or Handcent SMS: 10x better than stock SMS App10. Barnacle wifi tether: Wireless hotspot for your phoneOnes to remove1. Facebook: I use it all the time but it is not one of the “best” apps at all. Its getting better but this app is pales when compared to iphone version. C’mon FB wtf? ESPN for that matter too. 2. Meebo: Glitchy program that force closes far too often. Nice for FB chat though when it works3. ATK: Not a necessary app really. Would not be on my list at all. Who wrote this…

Continue reading here:
Top 30 Android Apps For 2010

News — No Comments
15
Jul 10

Linux Phones To Dominate Mobile Market — Linux Phones

Google’s Android and Chrome OS, Intel-Nokia’s MeeGo and Palm’s webOS are among the Linux-based operating systems that will run 62% of non-smartphones by 2015, according to ABI Research.

…Their final consumer offerings, of course, are differentiated by the providers individual application and OS environments including Google’s Android platform and Chrome OS, Intel-Nokia’s MeeGo and Palm’s webOS.

Conspicuous by its absence is Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS which use their own proprietary operating systems.

The lineup of Linux-based phones includes several from the LiMo Foundation, which to date hasn’t made a major impact in the market. However, more LiMo handsets are likely to appear in accelerating numbers as more and more members introduce their phones. The LiMo foundation offers a modular platform that is plug-in-based and hardware-independent while built around Linux software. The food chain ranges all the way from chipsets to third-party software developers.

ABI Research noted that it has prepared a separate report on smartphones using Linux.

Virtualization and cloud computing have taken over the mantle of hottest technology that only a few years ago was held…

Read the original:
Linux Phones To Dominate Mobile Market — Linux Phones

News — No Comments
14
Jul 10

Why Android’s Victory is Inevitable

Arguably the most important development in the world of open source in the last year or two has been the rise and rise of Google’s Linux-based Android operating system. It’s true that the mobiles out there employing it are not 100% free, but they are considerably more free than the main alternatives.

…July 05, 2010
WWW: World Wide Wikipedia
I love Wikipedia. I love using it, frequently spending many a spare minute (that I don’t actually have) simply wandering from one entry to another, learning things I never knew I never knew. I love it, too, as an amazing example of why sharing and openness work. For those who aren’t programmers, and who therefore don’t grok the evident rightness of the open source methodology, Wikipedia is a great way of explaining how it’s done and why it’s so good.
Glyn Moody…

See the original post here:
Why Android’s Victory is Inevitable

News — No Comments
12
Jul 10

Android Gets a Build-Your-Own-App App

Got an idea for a smartphone app? If you’ve got an Android phone you might be able to build it yourself, thanks to App Inventor for Android, a new Google Labs program for Windows, OS X, and Linux that’s designed to make building Android programs as easy as piecing blocks together.

…App Inventor is in closed beta at the moment, and Google says it’ll let folks in “soon” — you can sign up here. As you’ll see if you fill out the sign-up form, Google sees the program as an educational tool of particular interest to teachers and students.
It’s an exciting idea that’s more than slightly reminiscent of HyperCard, the brilliant visual programming tool that was a big deal on the Mac more than twenty years ago, and which is missed to this day. HyperCard or something similar would be a boon on the iPhone — even Steve Jobs has says he thinks so, although Apple apparently doesn’t have any interest in building such an application itself, and new restrictions in the iOS developer agreement prevent apps developed with the HyperCard-like RunRev from being distributed on the App Store.
(More and more, I think that the surface similarities between Android and iOS are less interesting than the fundamental differences in emphasis and philosophy — and the more different the two OSes get, the more…

Continued here:
Android Gets a Build-Your-Own-App App

News — No Comments
7
Jul 10

The Trials and Tribulations of Team Android

Google’s Android is the best bet for companies trying to stay competitive with Apple. But the open OS has its share of pitfalls.

…You lost me at “a report from SMobile Systems.” Everyone, with half a brain, in the industry knows that report was a marketing ploy and complete BS. In fact, every App they listed as having the ability to wipe out a persons data was designed to do just that. They are security Apps with a clear purpose. Most of the Apps this company listed in their report were of the same type. Apps meant to make use of location and data to ensure a level of security. Whether it is tracking a family members location (like your child) or making use of “private” data to send SMS alerts for critical information. All of these types of programs were flagged in the very inaccurate report your article is based on. If you took the same App standards they used here and applied them to the Apple Apps store the number of “potentially harmful” Apps would be staggering, purely based on the huge number of Apps Apple has. As a matter of fact, based on SMobile Systems classification of “potentially harmful” Apps I would be willing to bet…

More here:
The Trials and Tribulations of Team Android

News — No Comments
6
Jul 10

LG announces plans for Android-based tablet

The South Korea-based company announces a tablet using Google’s open-source operating system but offers no further details. Read this blog post by Steven Musil on Crave.

…Comment reply Submit Cancel The posting of advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks is prohibited. Click here to review our Terms of Use. Report offensive content: If you believe this comment is offensive or violates the CNET’s Site Terms of Use, you can report it below (this will not automatically remove the comment). Once reported, our staff will be notified and the comment will be reviewed. Select type of offense: Offensive: Sexually explicit or offensive language Spam: Advertisements or commercial links Disruptive posting: Flaming or offending other users Illegal activities: Promote cracked software, or other illegal content Comments (optional): Report Cancel E-mail this comment to a friend. E-mail this to: Your e-mail address: Send me a copy of this message Note: Your e-mail address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the e-mail and in case of transmission error. Neither your address nor the recipients’s address will be used for any other purpose. Add your own personal message:…

Read more:
LG announces plans for Android-based tablet

News — No Comments
6
Jul 10

Ars reviews Android 2.2 on the Nexus One (screens)

The new version of Google’s Android mobile operating system brings some significant new features and performance enhancements. Ars takes a close hands-on look at Android 2.2 in this in-depth review…

…When the feature was announced at Google I/O, I stopped updating applications on my Nexus One and decided to wait for Froyo’s batch update feature. By the time I got Froyo this week, I had 22 applications in need of updates. This gave me a good opportunity to exercise the feature. It downloads and installs the updates in parallel, displaying progress bars in the notification slider that allow the user to monitor the progress of individual applications.

Left: A batch update displayed in the Android notification slider, Right: Multiple apps downloading simultaneously during a batch update

Two of the applications failed to download (22 at once was a bit too much for my 3G connection) and two of them had to be updated manually due to permission changes. To update the two that failed, I just had to hit the “Update all” button again after the first batch update was finished. For the two that required manual updates, I had to go through the normal application update process….

See original here:
Ars reviews Android 2.2 on the Nexus One (screens)

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →