Your Android Phone Is Secretly Recording Everything You Do

If you have any decently modern Android phone, everything you do is being recorded by hidden software lurking inside. It even circumvents web encryption and grabs everything—including your passwords and Google queries.

Worse: it's the handset manufacturers and the carriers who—in the name of "making your user experience better"—install this software without any way for you to opt-out. This video, recorded by 25-year-old Android developer Trevor Eckhart, shows how it works. This is bad. Really bad.

Update: Nokia wrote to us saying that Carrier IQ's spyware is not included in any of their cellphones.

Fast forward to 9:00 for the damning sequence.

The spying software is developed by a company called Carrier IQ. In their site, the company says they are "the only embedded analytics company to support millions of devices simultaneously, we give Wireless Carriers and Handset Manufacturers unprecedented insight into their customers' mobile experience."

Who has this problem?

It seems like a good goal and, indeed, most manufacturers and carriers agree: according to Eckhart, the spyware is included in most Android phones out there.

Eckhart claims that Carrier IQ software is also included in Blackberry and Nokia smartphones too. It probably works exactly the same in those smartphones as well. However, there's no proof showing these problems in those phones. There's no mention about Apple's iPhone.

It also doesn't even matter if your telephone was purchased free of carrier contracts. As Eckhart shows in this video, it's always there.

The problem is that it does a lot more than log anonymous generic data. It grabs everything.

How does it work?

Carrier IQ's software is installed in your phone at the deepest level. You don't know it's there. You are never warned this is happening. You can't opt-in and you certainly can't opt-out.

The commercial spyware sits between the user and the applications in the phone so, no matter how secure and private your apps are, the spyware intercepts anything you do. From your location to your web browsing addresses and passwords to the content of your text messages.

This even happens using a private Wi-Fi connection instead of the carrier 3G or 4G connection.

The company denied all this in a public statement (PDF):

    While we look at many aspects of a device's performance, we are counting and summarizing performance, not recording keystrokes or providing tracking tools

But the video clearly demonstrates that this is not true: Keystrokes submit unique key codes to Carrier IQ. Even secure connections are intercepted by the spyware, allowing it to record your moves in the open. These connections to the web are encrypted but, since Carrier IQ's spyware sits between the browser and the user, it grabs it and sends it in plain text.

The spyware can even log your location, even if the user declines to allow an app to know where it is. The hidden Carrier IQ app ignores your desires, intercepts the data and gets your location anyway.
What can you do to avoid it?

Unfortunately, not much. The hidden spyware is always running, and there's no option in any of the menus to deactivate it. Unless you're a grade-A blackbelt hacker, you're out of luck. Even Eckhart, who is a developer, finds it difficult to remove:

    Why is this not opt-in and why is it so hard to fully remove?

It's an excellent question. One that urgently needs an answer, from Carrier IQ but especially from every handset manufacturer and carrier involved in this situation.

The solution to this problem is not installing a custom ROM. That's something that shouldn't be required from consumers, something that normal people will not be willing to do. Products must respect privacy rights out of the box. Consumers must be informed about this the moment they turn on their phones in a clear way. They should have the possibility to opt-in and opt-out whenever they want, with a single click. This matter should be solved now by Carrier IQ, the handset manufacturer and the carriers.

If it isn't solved as soon as possible, authorities in the US and Europe should nail them with everything they have.

Source is
http://gizmodo.com/5863849/your-android-phone-is-secretly-recording-everything-you-do

Meet Cluzee, Android's next Siri alternative

Cluzee is the latest attempt to replicate the Siri experience on Android.

Android users looking to replicate the Siri experience have another option now, with the introduction of an app called Cluzee.

Developed by startup Tronton and touted as a "talking intelligent personal digital assistant," Cluzee attempts to step up where other alternatives fall short. The free app is available now for devices running Android 2.1 or higher and has already gotten attention in the tech community.

As you'll see in the video below, Cluzee is designed to answer simple questions with real, helpful responses. Need to find a nearby pizza joint or check the weather forecast for the next few days? Cluzee is the app to handle not only these requests but many other tasks as well. The app also reads e-mails and text messages aloud, converts voice to text, and even searches for deals that fall in line with your buying habits.



I've spent some time with Cluzee and already appreciate the application for what it does and how it handles commands. However, I've also seen some of its limitations and can see plenty of opportunity for future updates.

For example, I told Cluzee, "Remind me to call Mom tomorrow at 1 o'clock." The app recognized my request down to the word, but I still had to pick the time and adjust the date before confirming it on my calendar. In another instance, when I tried booking a hotel in San Francisco for June 25, 2012, the app merely opened a page for me to manually enter data. Commands to "Find hotels" or "Locate hotels" yielded a similar response.

Where I find Cluzee to be a fun and useful application is in its ability to find deals based on location. Powered by Groupon and Yipit, Cluzee found a number of savings on products and services in my area. What's more, I enjoyed being able to log my food eaten and track meals and calories and even set goals.

Also, dictating a Twitter update or Facebook status message is relatively easy and intuitive, though it still feels like there might be a step or two to eliminate along the way.

In terms of Siri counterparts for Android, Cluzee can already be considered one of the best options available. Sure, it has a ways to go before it can really match up against the iPhone 4S' killer feature, but it is a decent version 1.0 offering. The app's colors and layout are nice and the welcome screen recalls Vlingo's early splash screens with a list of commands and options.

If there were one feature I would add to the next release, it would be a simple widget button that I could add to my home screen. It doesn't make much sense to open the app just to push another button. Call me lazy or spoiled, but I expected to be one tap away from adding appointments to my calendar.

For all the things Cluzee is designed to do, it handles some of them very well. It simply takes a bit of experimenting to figure out what you can and cannot ask the app to do for you.

Source is
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-57333267-251/meet-cluzee-androids-next-siri-alternative/

Android 4.0 upgrade Devices List(Update)

• Asus Eee Pad Slider: In a posting on its official Facebook page, Asus confirmed it would provide Android 4.0 upgrades to the full Eee Pad series, which includes the Eee Pad Slider tablet. Asus has not yet given any specific timeframe for when the upgrade could occur.

• Asus Eee Pad Transformer: Like the Eee Pad Slider, the original Asus Eee Pad Transformer is part of Asus's Eee Pad series and is thus slated to receive the Android 4.0 upgrade, according to a posting on the company's official Facebook page. No date has been announced as of yet.

• Asus Transformer Prime: Asus says its new Transformer Prime, set to launch in December, will ship with Android 3.2 and then get Android 4.0 shortly thereafter. According to a company spokesperson (corresponding with me via email), a date for the upgrade will be provided "as soon as the code has been optimized, tested, and approved."

• Acer Iconia Tab A100, A101, A500, A501: A statement attributed to Acer's Poland office and published by a Polish tech blog says the company's various Iconia Tab models will all get Ice Cream Sandwich sometime "around January 2012." Acer's U.S. division has not yet weighed in on the matter.

• HTC Amaze 4G: Ice Cream Sandwich is definitely headed to HTC's Amaze 4G phone, according to a statement released by HTC. The Amaze 4G should get its Android 4.0 upgrade in "early 2012," according to HTC.

• HTC EVO 3D: HTC's EVO 3D is on the ICS shortlist, according to statements posted by both HTC and Sprint in early November. The phone is said to be in line for its Android 4.0 upgrade sometime toward the start of 2012.

• HTC EVO Design 4G: Sprint and HTC have both confirmed the EVO Design 4G will be getting the Android 4.0 upgrade. The two companies say the upgrade should arrive sometime early in 2012.

• HTC Rezound: The new HTC Rezound is slated to receive Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012, according to an HTC statement. More specific timing info is expected to be released soon.

• HTC Sensation: HTC's Sensation smartphone will be among the first HTC phones to get an Android 4.0 upgrade, according to the company. As of now, the Sensation is slated to get ICS in early 2012.

• HTC Sensation XE: Like the standard HTC Sensation model, the HTC Sensation XE is expected to get its Android 4.0 upgrade in early 2012, according to HTC.

• HTC Sensation XL: Like the standard HTC Sensation model, the HTC Sensation XL is expected to get its Android 4.0 upgrade in early 2012, according to HTC.

• HTC Vivid: The Vivid is on HTC's list of devices scheduled for an early 2012 Android 4.0 upgrade.

• LG Optimus 2X: LG has confirmed it will deliver the Android 4.0 upgrade to its Optimus 2X device. The company made the promise in a statement posted to its official Facebook page in late November 2011. LG says information about upgrade timing will be made public sometime in December. (LG has yet to mention anything specifically about its LG G2x, the U.S. version of the phone.)

• LG Optimus 3D: LG has confirmed it will deliver the Android 4.0 upgrade to its Optimus 3D device. The company made the promise in a statement posted to its official Facebook page in late November 2011. LG says information about upgrade timing will be made public sometime in December.

• LG Optimus Black: LG has confirmed it will deliver the Android 4.0 upgrade to its Optimus Black device. The company made the promise in a statement posted to its official Facebook page in late November 2011. LG says information about upgrade timing will be made public sometime in December.

• LG Optimus LTE: LG has confirmed it will deliver the Android 4.0 upgrade to its Optimus LTE device. The company made the promise in a statement posted to its official Facebook page in late November 2011. LG says information about upgrade timing will be made public sometime in December. Thus far, nothing has been said specifically about the newly announced American version of the phone, the LG Nitro HD on AT&T.

• Meizu M9: Meizu CEO Jack Wong says his company will upgrade its Meizu M9 device to Ice Cream Sandwich "soon." Wong's proclamation was made in a posting on a Meizu message board.

• Meizu MX: The Meizu MX will get its Android 4.0 upgrade "soon," according to a posting made by the manufacturer's CEO.

• Motorola Droid Bionic: Motorola's Droid Bionic will receive the ICS upgrade, according to a message posted by the company on its website. Moto says it'll release more specific timing information sometime after Google makes the software publicly available.

• Motorola Droid Razr: The Motorola Droid Razr will get the Android 4.0 upgrade in early 2012, the company has confirmed. The upgrade was discussed at the Razr's launch event; it has also since been reiterated on Motorola's software upgrade status page.

• Motorola Razr: Like the Verizon-based Droid Razr model mentioned above, Motorola's international Razr phone is expected to receive Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012, according to the company.

• Motorola Xoom: The original Android Honeycomb tablet will soon feast on Ice Cream Sandwich. Moto has confirmed its Motorola Xoom device will receive the Android 4.0 upgrade; while no specific timeline has been announced, the fact that the Xoom is a "pure" Google device and still the de facto reference model for Android development suggests it should be among the first devices to get upgraded.

• Motorola Xoom Family Edition: The original Xoom's "Family Edition" will also receive Ice Cream Sandwich, according to Motorola's official software update page.

• Motorola Xoom 2: The new Xoom 2 tablet will be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich, according to Motorola. As far as timing, the company has gone on the record as saying the upgrade will happen "in due course" (very informative, eh?).

• Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition: Moto's smaller Xoom 2 model will also get the Android 4.0 upgrade, according to the company. Again, the timing is still pretty vague at this point.

• Notion Ink Adam tablet: Notion has promised Ice Cream Sandwich for its Notion Ink Adam tablet. In a blog posted back in September, the company's founder said the Adam would get ICS in November -- though it now appears he may have jumped the gun with that ambitious estimate.

• Samsung Galaxy S II: In a response to a customer on Twitter, Samsung's U.K. division said the company's Galaxy S II phone would be getting the Android 4.0 upgrade. No time frame has been set for the upgrade yet, according to the tweet. It's worth noting that the U.S. editions of the phone differ from the international model in terms of both hardware and software; thus far, Samsung has made no remarks about plans for upgrading those specific devices to Ice Cream Sandwich.

• Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket: AT&T has confirmed its LTE version of the Samsung Galaxy S II will receive the Android 4.0 upgrade. No timing information has been released so far.

• Samsung Nexus S: Google has made it abundantly clear that the Samsung Nexus S -- the "pure" Android phone that served as the primary flagship device up until the release of the new Galaxy Nexus -- will be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich. In an interview with The Telegraph, Google exec Hugo Barra is cited as saying the Nexus S's Android 4.0 upgrade should occur very soon after the release of the new Nexus device.

• Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Active: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Active. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Arc: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Arc. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Arc S: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Arc S. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Neo: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Neo. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Neo V: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Neo V. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Mini: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Mini. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Mini Pro: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Mini Pro. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Play: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Play. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Pro: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Pro. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

• Sony Xperia Ray: Sony has confirmed its entire 2011 line of Xperia Android devices will be receiving the Android 4.0 upgrade. That includes the Sony Xperia Ray. In a posting on its official blog in mid-November 2011, Sony said it's "working on merging [its] current Xperia experience with the new features" in Ice Cream Sandwich. Thus far, no specific time frame has been announced for the upgrade, though a posting on the Facebook page of Sony Ericsson's Italian division by someone who appears to be a company representative suggests it could arrive by March 2012.

Source is
http://blogs.computerworld.com/19341/android_40_upgrade_list

CyanogenMod 9 (Ice Cream Sandwich) for Nexus S

Over the past week, ROM Manager extraordinaire Koush has been frantically working on making a working build of CyanogenMod 9 (Ice Cream Sandwich) for the Samsung Nexus S. The custom ROM, which is built purely from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), has now reached “alpha 11.” All major features are present and no significant bugs remain. It’s too early to say that the build is ready for prime time or mission-critical work — the final release of CM9 is due in the new year — but it’s certainly stable enough for daily use. If you want to see CyanogenMod 9 in action, we’ve embedded our hands-on video at the end of this story.

In comparison to Kwiboo’s custom ROM for the Nexus S, the first ICS build that we covered last week, Koush’s version definitely runs a lot smoother/faster — there’s less sporadic lag, and the interface feels more responsive. Unlike the Kwiboo build, Google Wallet and setting a mobile data limit work in CM9. All of the usual CyanogenMod features are there, too — it’s pre-rooted, ROM Manager is installed, and of course there’s absolutely no bloatware cruft.

To install CyanogenMod 9 for the Nexus S, head along to XDA-Developers and grab the latest alpha build, and the “Google Apps addon.” Then follow our previous instructions for how to install a custom ROM, but skip the first step. Install the CM9 zip first, and then once the phone reboots into Ice Cream Sandwich, repeat the process with the Google Apps zip.

Incidentally, the first 50 seconds of the video show the Galaxy Nexus boot screen — it’s nothing to do with CyanogenMod, or Ice Cream Sandwich. Presumably Koush just liked the animation (it’s very pretty) and threw it in for fun.

Source is
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/106809-cyanogenmod-9-ice-cream-sandwich-for-nexus-s

Top 3 Apps for Android: Keep Track of Everything

Locale
$1 Locale lets you create location-based tasks. For example, you can have your phone turn on Wi-Fi when you get home, or have the phone silence itself when you get to work. It’s a great way to automate minor tasks, saving you a few extra minutes—and the embarrassment of having an overly noisy ringtone go off in the middle of a meeting. 

Springpad
Free Create notes and reminders about movies you’d like to see, books you’d like to buy, or just events you’d like to remember. Springpad is also great for putting together shopping lists: You can quickly create checklists and scan barcodes to keep track of items you’ll need in the future. (Also optimized for tablets.)

Wunderlist
Wunderlist syncs your to-do lists across all your devices, so you al­­ways have your tasks with you. Wunderlist will also email you when you are close to a deadline, in case you don’t check the app every day. (Also optimized for tablets.)

Black Friday deal-hunting apps for Android

Sure, you can download them all to make sure you've got your bases covered, but we're thinking you probably don't want to be fumbling through an unwieldy app drawer while throwing elbows in department store aisles. So, we've taken the time to highlight just the essential Android apps for hunting down all the hottest deals come Black Friday.

TGI Black Friday
We're listing this app first because it should be your bread and butter. In short, it aggregates all of the latest Black Friday ads floating around--some of which are leaked up to a month in advance--and lists each of the featured items in its database. To use the app, simply sift through all of the discounts by product, store name, or category. You can even download PDF printouts of the original ads. What's more, the app offers a nifty shopping list creator that lets you keep track of items you plan on buying. You can also access its database of deals at TGIBlackFriday.com.

Slickdeals RSS Feed
Yes, it's another deal aggregator, but this one's a bit different. It pulls an RSS feed from the popular user-powered deal site Slickdeals.net, and should give you a different angle of coverage from the carefully curated app mentioned above. Now imagine an entire tech-savvy community of users all sniffing out and sharing deals. Sounds like a great way to stay on top of it all, no? Unfortunately, if you prefer FatWallet.com, which has another vibrant user community, there's only an iPhone app available. FatWallet does, however, have a mobile site, which is viewable from your Android phone.

Shopkick
This one's a great app to have at any time of the year, not just Black Friday. With it, you can earn "kickbucks" while shopping, just for doing things like checking in or scanning items in stores. These kickbucks can be redeemed for instant gift cards, right on your Android phone. Also, Shopkick offers you hot deals every time you walk into a participating store. And it has tons of big-box partners like Target, Best Buy, and Macy's already on board, so it will absolutely come in handy. Just fire it up whenever you're out shopping, especially on Black Friday.

GeoQpons Coupons and Discounts
This little-known app uses GPS to pull up deals in your immediate vicinity. It's easy to use and lets you search by category, store name, or distance. Plus, it offers some extra tools like a shopping list creator and a savings calculator. While it may have some overlap with the other apps listed, we think it's a great complement because it's more likely to have coupons for the smaller mom-and-pop shops in your neighborhood.

Source is

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-57327952-251/black-friday-deal-hunting-apps-for-android/

Firefox with new interface

CNET today unveiled another revised mobile version of Firefox which works on Android. The new expansion brings new additional features and better compatibility for the extended and run more efficiently. Mozilla may also introduce additional group Jetpack hardware platform, allowing developers to use HTML, CSS and JavaScript simple syntax to develop new feature, so that eliminating the compatibility issuesbetewwn old architecture of Firefox and add-ons.

Android 4.0 to get Flash Player by year's end ‎

Although Adobe had announced that Flash Player for mobile browsers had stop developing, now it will provide one more version of Flash Player for the new android 4.0 OS in the end of 2011.

The Flash Player version for Android 4.0 will be available for download to the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone. Early reviewers found that the Adobe software is not preloaded on the Galaxy Nexus, the first device to run the new Google OS version, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich.

Adobe also promised on Nov. 9 it would provide bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations, which presumably includes Android 4.0.

Adobe said its decision to ditch Flash Player was made to help boost its investment to HTML5, a widely-adopted mobile Flash alternative that Apple has preferred in its products, mainly for better battery efficiency.

McAfee: Malware loves Android

Android has a new stalker: malware, and it's put a bull's-eye on Google's mobile operating system, according to a new McAfee report.

If you own an Android phone, the first thing you need to do is not panic. But you do need to be aware of the lurking dangers out there.

The McAfee report, which encompasses the third quarter of 2011, laid it out bluntly from the start of its section on mobile threats:

Last quarter the Android mobile operating system (OS) became the most “popular” platform for new malware. This quarter Android became the exclusive platform for all new mobile malware. The Symbian OS (for Nokia handsets) remains the platform with the all-time greatest number of malware, but Android is clearly today’s target.

Users need to be alert to SMS-subscribing, money-making trojans (not for you, unfortunately), malicious apps, data-stealing invaders of all varieties, including those that try to infiltrate through system databases and those that surreptitiously record phone calls.

Android's vulnerability is also highlighted in this story, which gives readers one very eye-catching statistic: Android malware has jumped 472 percent since July. The security experts quoted in that story said that until there's a critical mass of Android owners whose wallets really feel the pinch of the scams, things won't get better. Changing behavior, such as taking the time to read through permissions an app can access, will help deter the changes of being a victim.

But users aren't the only ones at fault. The Android ecosystem, with its lack of standardization across so many manufacturers, isn't able to keep up with the security patches and updates necessary to secure phones in any kind of consistent way. And as the McAfee report shows, there is no let up in the bad guys trying to take advantage of innocents.

The report shows spam varies from country to country, with Delivery Service Notifications (fake error messages) the most popular lures in the U.S., which also is ground zero for the majority of new malicious sites.

The U.S. has seen a decline in new botnet senders from October 2010 to October 2011, from 300,000 to 100,000, but McAfee warns that such a decrease doesn't mean we should let up on our vigilance.

Even though spam volume is way down, McAfee Labs sees targeted spam, often called spearphishing, at its greatest development in years. So, very much like malware, the noise tells us spam levels have dropped, yet the signal we need to hear is that the bad guys have changed their tactics. They are protecting their business models and are doing so with a sophistication that creates a more dangerous threat than before.


In particular, McAfee saw "four significant spikes in malicious web content this quarter. They are not linked to any particular attack but to updates to the internal or external sensors that periodically send data to our web threat database."

McAfee also noted the rise of hacktivism during this quarter, with Anonymous attacks against PayPal, police and major financial institutions making a prominent appearance.

Source is
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/21/8932272-mcafee-malware-loves-android

How to use Google Music outside of United States

Now that Google Music has finally clawed its way out of the realm of beta-ware, anybody in the US can sign up to play without an invitation. Of course, that leaves many folks out of the equation, so we thought it a good time to point out at least one other route to let you get involved in the service, no matter where you live. See, the rub seems to be that Google checks your IP address on your first attempt to log in, and accept its terms of use -- only the first time, and yeah, you're definitely going to be ignoring that doc by following this guide.

So, in essence all we need to do is find a way to gently tiptoe past that gatekeeper and we're home free. Keep in mind that while you can upload your music, buying new tracks isn't going to happen until it rolls out in your neck of the woods in a more official way -- but hey, most of a good thing is still a good thing. There are various means to get this done, and we've found a pretty straightforward route, and if you're up to it click on through to the guide.

We've made this how-to as straightforward as possible, but it will require a couple tools to help game the system and a bit of time to get it all running smoothly. First and foremost, since the Google Music app isn't available in markets outside of the States you'll need to source that – don't ask us where to get this, we simply don't know, but a Google search can do wonders. Once you've dug up com.google.android.music.4.0.9.apk, put it aside somewhere safe.

Next step is to head on over to the Tor project website and grab the Tor bundle for your operating system. What's Tor you ask? Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that can increase security and anonymity while playing on the internet. The military uses it, police services use it, and now, dear reader, you're about to use it. We're not really interested in the privacy aspect of Tor in this case, but we are interested in our exit node from the Tor network. Our goal is to ensure that when our login request lands at Google Music's door our IP address is one from the United States, so grab it and extract it to your desktop.

Fire up Tor from your desktop, the Vidalia control panel should start and get connected to the network -- watch for the onion icon in the UI to turn green and for an integrated browser to start. Kill the browser as we won't need it 'til a little later on.

Now, we're going to find a US-based Exit Node, copy its info down and then edit Tor's config file -- don't worry, we'll include screenshots of each step, and then, if that wasn't enough a video walkthrough is available at the bottom of the guide. From the main window, hit the "View the Network" button and a new window should open with a map of the world with a list of nodes on the left side.

We need to select a US node – see the little map icon? Find one with an American flag that's close to the top of the list, right click on it and choose copy --> fingerprint.

Exit out of the Network Map window and back to the Vidalia Control panel. Next step is to take the fingerprint we so carefully copied and edit the config file to force Tor to only use this node. Click settings, and then hit the advanced tab. In the middle of this tab you should see a button to edit the torrc file, click that and you'll be presented with a text editor that sets up some of Tor's behaviors.

Plop your cursor down at the very top of the file and add the following replacing XXX in our example with the fingerprint you just finished grabbing:

ExitNodes XXX
StrictExitNodes 1

When done, your changes should look like the image below and if it does, now's the time to push the OK button to save your work. Once back at the config window, we'll need to exit Tor and then restart it with our fix applied.

At this point, the tougher stuff is done. If you're still with us, we're almost home free -- and we're super impressed with your vigilance. Once Tor has restarted, the integrated browser will eventually open confirming you're using Tor. Now we can login to https://music.google.com using this inbuilt browser. You may get redirected to a Google notice page asking for confirmation that you're really you, as you're logging in from a new location, but no sweat, this is a good sign so answer the question and proceed. If the cosmos aligns, you'll log into Google Music and a terms of service pop up should appear, accept them.

After you've accepted the terms, close out the Tor browser and then exit from Tor by shutting the program down -- we won't need it again, so feel free to delete it if you wish. Now we can test to make sure Google Music will let you in: start your favorite browser, surf to https://music.google.com and login. You should be whisked straight to the Google Music desktop where there will be a link to get the music upload client. All that remains to be done on your desktop is to install the upload tool and start uploading music. To wrap up the entire deal, now's a great to time to install the Google Music Android client on your phone or tablet and finally associate it with your account.

We're done! You can now upload your most favorite 20,000 songs to enjoy on any of your devices, no matter if online or off. Hit up the video if all these words made your mind numb, or you simply can't be bothered to decipher them.

Source is
http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/19/how-to-use-google-music-from-anywhere-yes-outside-of-the-unit/

 

Google Music is here

* As reported, Google (GOOG) launched its new online music store. Currently Google Music includes deals with three of the major music companies, lets users also upload and store up to 20,000 songs for free, as well as share music via the company's Google+ social network. (Computerworld)

* Nokia (NOK) discussed its plans to undercut Windows Phone-selling rivals, which in large part has to do with being price competitive. (Reuters)

* AOL executive Brad Garlinghouse, President of the Applications and Commerce group, and head of AOL's Silicon Valley operations, is reportedly quitting AOL. Garlinghouse joined the company in 2009, however according to GigaOm, AOL (AOL) is now prioritizing its web media over applications. Meanwhile, the company launched a preview of a streamlined version of its AIM service. (GigaOm and VentureBeat)

* GE (GE) is getting into software in a big way by announcing the $1 billion Global Software Center in San Ramon, Calif. The facility will have 400 employees with the goal of speeding up "the pace of innovation, collaboration, and commercialization of new technologies." (San Francisco Chronicle)

* Adding to what seems like an employee exodus, Twitter Communications Director Lynn Foxx is also leaving the social network. Foxx's departure is just the latest, joining others like ex-head of communications Sean Garrett and former VP of engineering Mike Abbott.

Source is
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/11/17/google-music-is-here/

Another App like as Siri in Android - Jeannie

I believe we have been so familiar with Siri - the voice assistant in iPhone 4S. As the storm of Siri impact on the market, many cloners come out in the voice market. Previously, I had written an Android version of Siri - Iris, now let's look at another Android version of the Siri - Jeannie.

How to Use
The operation of Jeannie cannot be easier as Siri. Just open the application, and start the dialogue with it. Besides some questions about “What’s the time”, users can also ask Jeannie to search on Amazon and Ebay, enable Bluetooth and wifi, translate in different languages, and start the app installation.

How it works
Jeannie just use the API of Google's voice to recognize speech and switch to text first, then process it. In most cases, Jeannie fairly answers your questions accurately.

Dialogue with Jeannie
Like as Siri, Jeannie often gives some funny answers to specific requirement. For example, asked: "Can you open the door for me?" Jeannie: "I am sorry I could not do it."

Of course, Jeannie is not perfect. Sometimes it will crash when you use it. And there are some difficulties in understanding the individual words. For example, when we ask it, "What movie is playing now?" It will directly log into YouTube. About the weather, Jeannie is often given the degrees with Celsius, but unfriendly to U.S.  And the speed to open the contact, search somebody is really so slow.

Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich source code is now available

Google promised, and Google delivered: the source code to Google Android 4.0.1, codenamed “Ice Cream Sandwich,” has been released to the open source community. You can check it in this thread. And as a nice side bonus, the code now available encompasses the complete source code history tree, which includes the never-before-open Android Honeycomb family of releases.

I’m not a developer, so I’ll defer to Google Android Open-Source Project software engineer Jean-Baptiste M. “JBQ” Queru’s post to the Android Building mailing list for details:

This is actually the source code for version 4.0.1 of Android, which is the specific version that will ship on the Galaxy Nexus, the first Android 4.0 device. In the source tree, you will find a device build target named “full_maguro” that you can use to build a system image for Galaxy Nexus. Build configurations for other devices will come later.

Later in the same post, he writes:

This release includes the full history of the Android source code tree, which naturally includes all the source code for the Honeycomb releases. However, since Honeycomb was a little incomplete, we want everyone to focus on Ice Cream Sandwich. So, we haven’t created any tags that correspond to the Honeycomb releases (even though the changes are present in the history.)

This is a very cool thing for Google to do - I stand by my opinion that Google had been misrepresenting the openness of the Android operating system to everybody up to and including the US Senate, but this goes a long way towards realigning perception with reality.

But on the other hand, it seems pretty transparent that they only did it for fear that Google’s rushed Motorola Mobility buy coupled with the closed Google Android 3.0 release tree would intensify the scrutiny on the search giant at a time when it can’t afford much more of the legal spotlight.

There’s no point looking a gift horse in the mouth, though, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the Android hacker community puts together with Ice Cream Sandwich as its new foundation.

YouTube Upgrades Its Android App

YouTube had updated to version 2.3.4 for android platform when there is still too much inovitive functions, but also get some practical ones.

Regardless of if you’re a big video watcher, or someone who’s more into uploading your own clips, there should be something in this release to catch your interest.

The introduction of a “watch later” queue brings that feature from the web-based YouTube to its mobile app. As you discover videos you’re interested in viewing, you can easily add them to your queue, and then watch them later at your leisure.

Uploaders should pay attention to the change in clip info editing features, letting you revise the metadata associated with a video while you’re still in the middle of uploading it.

What's more, this app gets the button of Google +1, allows the users to show the supporting for their favorite YouTube videos.The uses can update and download it in Android Market now.

Blogger Breaks Android Face Recognition with... a Picture?

There's always a scene in your average spy action movie thriller that goes a little something like this: The protagonist somehow ends up with a recording of a person's voice (or in gutsier movies, a copy of their fingerprint and/or eyeball), which said super-spy then uses to gain access to a voice-, fingerprint-, or retina-locked room. Valuables and information critical to the plot: pilfered.

One of the new features in the latest iteration of Google's mobile OS, Android 4.0 (codename: Ice Cream Sandwich), is the ability to unlock one's phone using one's noggin. In other words, your phone –the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, to use the market's only example at the moment – uses its front-facing camera to take a gander at your face. If it recognizes you, the phone automatically unlocks without need for a PIN code or some kind of graphical unlocking mechanism.

Neat, huh?

Of course, facial recognition isn't without its pitfalls – the technology just plain didn't work when demonstrated during the Galaxy Nexus announcement this past October. But what happens when facial recognition works too well? Or, to put it another way, what happens when the phone recognizes a face, but the face isn't a living, breathing user holding said phone?

That's the question posed by a blogger over at Soyaincau.com, who has allegedly been able to fool Android's facial recognition system by holding up a picture of himself to a Galaxy Nexus. And it's wasn't even a printed picture of his face: The blogger took a snapshot of himself using a different phone, and then held that phone's screen up to the front-facing camera on the Galaxy Nexus. And that, allegedly, is all it took to unlock the Nexus.

"What's even more important is clarifying to everyone that the test — and the video — is not a trick. Some believed that we had programmed the Galaxy Note to recognise the picture and not the face. We must stress that this is not the case," wrote Soyaincau blogger "CC." "The Galaxy Nexus in the video was the exact same unit we used to do our hands-on video where we originally set up the device to recognise a face and not a picture of a face."

To Google's credit, however, Android does indicate that facial recognition unlocking is "less secure than a pattern, PIN, or password" when a user goes to set up the feature. That said, amateur spy enthusiasts are likely rubbing their hands together at the notion that a picture of their friends' faces could be all they need to gain access to a treasure trove of smartphone data.

Source is
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396321,00.asp#fbid=sb2zXI6VYQo

Without Adobe Flash, Is Android Safer?

With Adobe killing mobile Flash in the browser, malware writers may have a tougher time attacking Android.

Most exploit packs target Flash and other Adobe products, including Flash Player for Android. In fact Adobe updated its mobile Flash Player just today to version 11.1.102.59, which fixed "critical" security vulnerabilities intended for PC users.

As a result, not including Flash reduces the operating system's threat level—but by how much?

"Attackers will have to look elsewhere," said Fraser Howard, principle malware researcher at Sophos. But in reality, he added, attackers target Windows PC, not mobile, users with these Flash-based exploits.

Tim Wyatt, a principal engineer at Lookout Mobile Security, was less concerned. He said Adobe treats Android as a "first class platform" and provides timely patches for Android users. Furthermore, he has never detected malware targeting Android specifically via the Flash runtime.

Yesterday, Adobe confirmed that it will no longer develop Flash for mobile devices after its next release and instead focus on HTML5 and AIR apps. But the company assured it will continue issuing "critical bug fixes and security updates" for devices running the software—like the BlackBerry PlayBook and Android devices. Now that Android is the most widespread, and open, mobile platform, it attracts more malware. Common Android Trojans that sneak their way into your smartphone through poisoned apps are premium rate billing, GPS-based espionage, fake antivirus, and poisoned search results.

Source is 
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396235,00.asp#fbid=wNQVae1fKOE

Joe Mobi launches for Android devices - Build a customized Android app for your Wordpress blog

If you run your own Wordpress blog, chances are you're using the Wordpress client to go ahead and access your blog on-the-go. But what if you could have your own, customized app built the way you wanted, branded and it had the capability to be shared with your readers. Would you use it? I'm sure a few of you out there would and that is exactly what Joe Mobi is offering.

While still running in beta status for now, the folks from Joe Mobi have gone ahead and launched their Android set up for Wordpress blog owners. Now, you can build a customized app for your blog and have it work on Android or BlackBerry devices. You can brand it with your own logo and icon, pick your own colors and more.

The service is free and when all is said and done you get a neatly packaged .apk to install for yourself and a link for which you can share with your readers. It's a pretty unique service and one I think a lot of people who run a Wordpress blog can make use of. You'll find their full press release past the break and you can hit the source link to get started on your own app today!

Source is
http://www.androidcentral.com/joemobi-launches-android-devices-build-customized-android-app-your-wordpress-blog

Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich's Awesomeness is in the Little Things

I stopped by the second annual Android Developer Conference (AnDevCon) in Burlingame, California to hear Google Android engineering team members Chet Haase and Romain Guy give a developer’s perspective on the upcoming Android 4.0, code-named Ice Cream Sandwich.

In their keynote - memorably entitled “Android Awesomeness” - Haase and Guy didn’t offer up any Ice Cream Sandwich announcements or news, per se, but gave some insight into the thought and attention to detail that went into designing Google’s next big thing for small devices.

Something that the Google duo seemed to really fixate on is the much-vaunted GUI update that Ice Cream Sandwich brings to the table. At several points during their demonstration of Android 4.0 running on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, they stopped to show off a particularly pleasing animation like the screen turning a glassy blue and tilting when you’ve reached your last page of apps on the home screen.

But even that has a certain developer appeal: RenderScript, the visual scripting language behind Ice Cream Sandwich, is available to Android Market coder. Actually, essentially all the new goodies that come with Android 4.0 (Android Beam, richer notifications from the lock screen, even network diagnostic information) are open to developers via API or scripting language.

Otherwise, the demo consisted of an overview of the Ice Cream Sandwich features we already knew about. A mention of the fact that the task manager is accessible by means other than paging through the Settings menu drew a short round of applause from the audience. And there was plenty of interest in the fact that Google Android 4.0 finally unifies the tablet and smartphone codebases.

Finally, during the brief Q&A at the end of Haase and Guy’s keynote, one developer asked the very reasonable question about whether or not they’d need to rewrite all their apps from scratch for the new OS.

“We do something really crazy - we try not to break existing applications,” Romain replied.

Of course, that doesn’t provide for the fact that there’s a healthy chance that most existing Android devices may never get Ice Cream Sandwich. But Google at least claims to want to reduce fragmentation amongst Android devices, so I suppose that we’ll see.

Source is
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/google/google-android-40-ice-cream-sandwichs-awesomeness-is-in-the-little-things/3451

HTC: Android Ice Cream Sandwich coming to eight phones in 2012

Last month, Google announced the newest operation system of Android - Ice cream sandwich with Google Galaxy Nexus, but the announcement of the new operating system last month has left many Android owners with one big question: When will their phones get an Ice Cream Sandwich update?

The Taiwanese smartphone and tablet maker said the new Android OS (the first that Google has designed for both smartphones and tablets) will arrive on eight devices in 2012: the Vivid, Sensation, Sensation XL, Sensation XE, Evo 3D, Evo Design 4G, Amaze 4G and the Rezound.

We can found that those eight devices are almost newest released in the  later of 2011. Even Incredible S and Desire S which just released a bit earlier than Sensation had been ignored.

Could Ice Cream Sandwich arrive for more HTC smartphones and maybe even a tablet or two? That'd be a big maybe, the company said.

"We're continuing to assess our product portfolio, so stay tuned for more updates on device upgrades, timing and other details about HTC and Ice Cream Sandwich," HTC said on Facebook.

Android will be more secure than iOS

Many people believe that Android mobile operation system is not as secure as ios or WP7 because of it’s an open source, but Paypal believes that this OS will be safer that other close-source operation systems in the future.

The PayPal’s principal security architect, Hadi Nahari explained that more and more hackers will pay attention to the open-source mobile platform in the next 5 to 10 years. Just because of it, more and more security problems will be found and the experts will also take note and work out those problems.

Thus, in theory, future Android OS releases will become more secure than other closed operation systems such as the Apple iOS, Research In Motion's BlackBerry OS and Microsoft's Windows Phone, he said.

Nahari think that Android is still not secure because of it’s an open-source system. He noted, everyone can get the codes and research it that leads to security issues
However, this does not mean that close source operation systems are more secure, he said.

Nahari also take Apple's iOS as an example. He told us that ios is not as secure as it is expectant to be; Apple just does not announce its security issues. He pointed to the host of security problems with the iOS, noting that Apple has been patching and updating the software. If ios become open source os, we believe that we can get jailbreak much easier, or maybe we do not need jailbreak anymore.

Yahoo Weather in Android

Yahoo has accelerated the movement of mobile terminal applications, recently launched 4 apps continuously, including the android version of Yahoo Weather. As a practical level application, Yahoo Weather built-in 35 countries languages.

Like as most of weather apps, Yahoo Weather has a very beautiful interface, to describe the weather with image-text. The unique feature is that can automatically obtain the local image as background from Flicker with the LBS location services.

Yahoo Weather provides weather forecasts for the next five days, including weather conditions and temperature. In addition, the mobile phone can display more weather information with landscape if your mobile phone can “Auto-rotate screen”. Yahoo Weather can also support desktop widgets, but not with the 4 × 1 style.

Yahoo Weather supports to use GPS locate your position and show the local weather. And it is also able to login to sync the place information so that you do not set the weather again after restore or change your mobile phone. Compare with the other main weather apps, the new Yahoo Weather is still very early on in function, and even get the bug to unable add city. We hope it can get timely improvements in the future.

New features include:
• Beautiful Flickr photos showing the weather in your location
• Instant five day forecast for your current location
• Tilt your phone for detailed weather information
• Save up to 10 locations
• Share your weather and photos on Facebook, Twitter, and email
• Stay updated from your home screen by installing the Yahoo! Weather widget

Download in Market

Author: Bruno+

Android Market Trumps Apple's App Store With Auto-Update Feature

The latest Android Market update isn't a big one, but it includes one change that should make iPhone users jealous.


With version 3.3.11, Android users can set all apps to update automatically by default. Users could previously allow individual apps to auto-update, but this new setting applies auto-update to every app the user owns. The new version also includes an option to update over Wi-Fi only, helping users avoid data overage changes.

Back when I owned an iPhone, updating apps was a chore. It seemed like every time I looked at the App Store icon, a dozen or more apps needed updating. I could never update everything while out of the house--too many apps require Wi-Fi to download--and I often neglected the task while at home. To make things worse, all my violent video games and alternate Web browsers required special approval for having age-restricted content, so the update process needed a lot of attention.


On Android, apps can update automatically, but even this was a minor pain because you had to go into each individual app to check the auto-update box. That's not longer the case with the new Android Market version. Presumably, apps whose permissions change--that is, they want to access more of your data--will require a manual approval, just as they did before.

Google hasn't officially released this version of the Android Market yet, but you can download a leaked version from Android Police if you're impatient. No rooting is required, but Android Police warns that the new version isn't stable yet on Honeycomb tablets. Also, you may have to clear the app's data (in Settings > Applications > Manage > Market) if the Market starts force closing.

Other changes with the version include the ability to auto-add app shortcuts to the home screen and the inclusion of a star rating chart on app pages.

Source is
http://www.pcworld.com/article/243006/android_market_trumps_apples_app_store_with_autoupdate_feature.html

Google+ App for Android Gets Major Overhaul

Google revamped its Google+ Android app Monday sprucing up the social network's mobile front door with a cleaner interface, more functions, and a promise of improved battery life. The Android app (now Version 2.1) is available for download at Android Market.

Google's Ben Eidelson announced the update on his Google+ account, noting that the app's developers worked closely with the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) team. "So you'll see the same attention to beauty and simplicity in our new design," he writes.

Along with a de-cluttered interface the app features bigger photos in Google+'s image gallery, which now more closely resemble Microsoft's Metro UI with big tiles filling up the screen.

In your Circles you can now see a preview of who is in each circle with a lineup of their photos. The posting and hangout screens also received a refresh and new controls, while profiles have been changed to be more navigable and look a little slicker.

Another stand-out improvement includes "battery life improvements." It's unclear what exactly Google means by this. It begs the question did the previous version of Google+'s Android app have a power consumption problem? It could also indicate the Google+ app now uses less power than similar apps. We are still waiting to hear back from Google on its power saving claims.

Google's release notes document all that's new in the latest version:

•     Completely new app and new visual design
•     Battery life improvements
•     Navigation and performance improvements
•     Significant improvements to notifications
•     Brand new posting UI
•     Several bug fixes
•     Support for Google Apps users
•     Ability to sign out
•     Add people to a circle from circle profiles

The app is free to download and should work for anyone running Android 2.2 (Froyo) or higher.

Download in Market

Source is
http://www.pcworld.com/article/242926/google_app_for_android_gets_major_overhaul.html