An astute reader stumbled upon an interesting bug with the HTC Incredible. The Incredible, with Sense UI, will periodically store screenshots of the contents of your web browser. The screen captures are a function of the HTC Sense UI bookmark widget and are not the main [...]]]>

Slashdot shared this news posted on the Boy Genius Report:

An astute reader stumbled upon an interesting bug with the HTC Incredible. The Incredible, with Sense UI, will periodically store screenshots of the contents of your web browser. The screen captures are a function of the HTC Sense UI bookmark widget and are not the main issue; temporary screen grabs are understandable. The problem is these JPEG files are extremely hard to get rid of. They remain when the current browser session is closed, they remain after you clear the browser history, and they remain after a full factory reset. … To be honest, seeing a screenshot of our logged-in banking session after a reset was a bit unnerving. Any DROID Incredible owners out there seeing the same thing?

via Browser privacy issue with DROID Incredible and HTC Sense UI widget? « Boy Genius Report.

Nokia announced it will retire Symbian for the popular N series of smartphones. Moving forward, the company will use MeeGo as the default operating system for the N series.

“Going forward, N-series device will be based on MeeGo,” [...]]]>

We blogged previously about the merger of Maemo and Intel’s Moblin and the potential impact on the mobile market.

Nokia announced it will retire Symbian for the popular N series of smartphones. Moving forward, the company will use MeeGo as the default operating system for the N series.

“Going forward, N-series device will be based on MeeGo,” Nokia spokesperson Doug Dawson told Reuters.

… MeeGo is a Linux-based open source mobile operating system that merged Intel’s work on Moblin and Maemo’s work on Maemo. The project was announced last February. Symbian will continue to be used in low-end phones from Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. The MeeGo handset user experience is supposed to launch in June, according to the official MeeGo website, but unless an announcement is made in the next six days, that doesn’t seem likely.

via Nokia Quietly Retires Symbian from N-series Smartphones – Linux Magazine Online.

Every now and then, we remove applications from Android Market due to violations of our Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement or Content Policy. In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we’ve also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove [...]]]>

This from a recent post on the Android Developer blog:

Every now and then, we remove applications from Android Market due to violations of our Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement or Content Policy. In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we’ve also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove an installed application from devices. If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone.

Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes. These applications intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data — or system resources beyond permission.INTERNET. As the applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled the applications shortly after downloading them.

After the researcher voluntarily removed these applications from Android Market, we decided, per the Android Market Terms of Service, to exercise our remote application removal feature on the remaining installed copies to complete the cleanup.

The remote application removal feature is one of many security controls Android possesses to help protect users from malicious applications. In case of an emergency, a dangerous application could be removed from active circulation in a rapid and scalable manner to prevent further exposure to users. While we hope to not have to use it, we know that we have the capability to take swift action on behalf of users’ safety when needed.

via Android Developers Blog: Exercising Our Remote Application Removal Feature.

Did you also know that Google has the ability to install apps remotely?

A source close to RIM confirmed to Betanews that Kumar’s statements were accurate… But they gave us a bit of [...]]]>

Rumors of a BlackBerry tablet have been circulating for months, and statements from Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar on Friday have rekindled the discussion with a little bit more accuracy.

A source close to RIM confirmed to Betanews that Kumar’s statements were accurate… But they gave us a bit of additional information that the rumors haven’t covered yet: Flash support.

…Even though the iPhone is a huge success in the United States, it is still far behind BlackBerry in market share. The shoe is on the other foot in the tablet market, though, where Apple has gotten a strong head start with the iPad, even though the company has outspokenly denied support for Adobe Flash.

While the effect a Flash-supportive BlackBerry tablet will have on the consumer market is unclear, it may prove to be a very desirable companion device for mobile enterprise users.

via Blackberry Tablet confirmed, will support Flash | Tech Gear News – Betanews.

Google has quietly (secretly, one might say) invested somewhere between $100 million and $200 million in social gaming behemoth Zynga, we’ve confirmed from multiple sources. …

The investment part of the deal closed a month ago or so. A larger strategic partnership is still in process.

The investment was made by Google [...]]]>

A sign of things to come?

Google has quietly (secretly, one might say) invested somewhere between $100 million and $200 million in social gaming behemoth Zynga, we’ve confirmed from multiple sources. …

The investment part of the deal closed a month ago or so. A larger strategic partnership is still in process.

The investment was made by Google itself, not Google Ventures, say our sources, and it’s a highly strategic deal. Zynga will be the cornerstone of a new Google Games to launch later this year, say multiple sources. Not only will Zynga’s games give Google Games a solid base of social games to build on, but it will also give Google the beginning of a true social graph as users log into Google to play the games.

via Google Secretly Invested $100+ Million In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games.

Sending Data 160 Characters at a Time

In the absence of a good Internet connection, why not use text messages to transmit data?

By Tom Simonite

Earl Oliver at at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, has an unusual phone bill. Unlimited texting plan or no, most of us would take a few years to send [...]]]>

An interesting experiment:

Sending Data 160 Characters at a Time

In the absence of a good Internet connection, why not use text messages to transmit data?

By Tom Simonite

Earl Oliver at at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, has an unusual phone bill. Unlimited texting plan or no, most of us would take a few years to send 80,000 messages. Oliver did it in just a few months. Rather than being victim to an unusual obsession, though, Oliver is attempting to bring better communications to rural parts of the developing world — by developing a protocol to send data packed into series of SMS messages.

In rural areas of India, Africa and China, use of SMS has skyrocketed in recent years, as cellphone towers have brought the first reliable telecommunications to previously unconnected areas. “SMS is ubiquitous, reliable and mostly low cost,” says Oliver, while data services are expensive and patchy.

… The question is what kind of data rate can you achieve this way? Oliver managed to get up to a blistering 20 bytes per second when sending using a custom app written for a BlackBerry smartphone. It takes about 250 messages to send 32 kilobytes of data.

Oliver isn’t intending this to be used to bring youtube videos to rural areas, though. Instead it provides a way to bring connectivity to community kiosk computers designed to give a whole village to access information like crop prices. Usually connected via very unreliable dial up connections, being able to use the cellphone network instead might improve reliability. Rather than being used for accessing information on demand, the kiosk would have to use text messages to download it prior to use, for example once a day. Oliver and colleagues have already built SMS data transfer into a software platform they designed for kiosks, called VLink.

via Technology Review: Blogs: TR Editors’ blog: Sending Data 160 Characters at a Time.

Apple Inc. is now collecting the “precise,” “real-time geographic location” of its users’ iPhones, iPads and computers.

In an updated version of its privacy policy, the company added [...]]]>

In updates to the following article, the LA Times notes that Apple has been collecting this data for some time and that Google also collects geo-data from Android devices.

Apple Inc. is now collecting the “precise,” “real-time geographic location” of its users’ iPhones, iPads and computers.

In an updated version of its privacy policy, the company added a paragraph noting that once users agree, Apple and unspecified “partners and licensees” may collect and store user location data.

When users attempt to download apps or media from the iTunes store, they are prompted to agree to the new terms and conditions. Until they agree, they cannot download anything through the store.

The company says the data is anonymous and does not personally identify users. Analysts have shown, however, that large, specific data sets can be used to identify people based on behavior patterns.

via Apple collecting, sharing iPhone users’ precise locations [Updated] | Technology | Los Angeles Times.

Our Android Forensics Physical wiki (subscription required) now includes a comprehensive list of Android devices including in depth details about each device. We will be updating this list as we test our viaForensics’ apps — AFLogical and AFPhysical — on each device.

The new software tools should give Google’s Android mobile software a leg up against rival smartphone software, including Apple’s iPhone OS. The App Inventor site lets anyone become [...]]]>

Now anyone can create apps for Android phones. However, it’s not apparent what measures are being taken to protect against those that might use this for malicious purposes.

The new software tools should give Google’s Android mobile software a leg up against rival smartphone software, including Apple’s iPhone OS. The App Inventor site lets anyone become an app creator, giving people the power to design software specifically for their own needs. That’s not so easy on the iPhone. Not only do people need software developer skills to make apps for the iPhone, but Apple vets all new applications before approving them for download.

via Google App Inventor Lets Anyone Make Android Smartphone Apps – PCWorld Business Center.

As the article below goes on to point out, this raises both privacy and security questions. While some  fear that Google [...]]]>

Recently, some were surprised to learn that Google had the ability to remotely remove applications from Android devices. They were even more surprised to learn that Google also has the ability to install applications remotely.

As the article below goes on to point out, this raises both privacy and security questions. While some  fear that Google might force the installation of certain applications, the bigger fear may be that some hacker could manipulate this function and spread malicious applications.

Definitely something to be wary of.

The remote-wipe capability that Google recently invoked to remove a harmless application from some Android phones isn’t the only remote control feature that the company built into its mobile OS. It turns out that Android also includes a feature that enables Google to remotely install apps on user’ phones as well.

Jon Oberheide, the security researcher who developed the application that Google remotely removed from Android phones, noticed during his research that the Android OS includes a feature called INSTALL_ASSET that allows Google to remotely install applications on users’ phones.

via Android Also Gives Google Remote App Installation Power | threatpost.