Koushik Dutta, a developer of the popular CyanogenMod firmware for Android, is tossing around the idea of a black market [...]]]>

Reports are surfacing over the past couple of weeks regarding CyanogenMod’s plans for an app store. This venture would provide much needed income for the organization as well as providing a home for Google-banned apps.

Koushik Dutta, a developer of the popular CyanogenMod firmware for Android, is tossing around the idea of a black market app store — my words, not his – filled with apps that will only work on rooted Android phones.

“We also need an app store for apps that are getting shut down for no good reason, other than carrier, or some random corporation doesn’t like it,” Dutta wrote on Google+.

Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/01/23/banned-android-apps-may-soon-have-a-place-to-go/#ixzz1lHGNym18

But some are questioning whether creating a haven for banned apps is really such a good idea. And can CyanogenMod pull it off properly? This article offers an interesting perspective:

You can’t have a Market with no limitations, or you’d have one filled with malicious apps that steal data, pirated copies of apps that are already existence, and far worse. It would be chaos in its purest form. Any third party Market would have to be policed just as heavily, if not more so to keep people out who think they could slip one past the little guy but couldn’t slip one past Google.

What happens when an app gets banned from the Android Market and then banned from the CyangoneMod Market? Do we go three levels deep with an Inception Market for people who don’t want to put up with the tyranny of the other two markets? Where does it end?

via Is a CyanogenMod-powered App Store a terrible idea?

Visa announced today its approval of Samsung, LG and BlackBerry smartphones to utilise its new Visa payWave technology, as part of efforts to widen adoption of mobile device wireless payments.

It’s a step in the right direction, but the path to wireless payment success is still [...]]]>

Support is ramping up for smartphone wireless payment systems.

Visa announced today its approval of Samsung, LG and BlackBerry smartphones to utilise its new Visa payWave technology, as part of efforts to widen adoption of mobile device wireless payments.

It’s a step in the right direction, but the path to wireless payment success is still fraught with hurdles. It does however pave the way for a future roll-out for smartphone payments.

The financial giant certified Samsung’s Galaxy S II, LG’s Optimus Net NFC, BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9790, and BlackBerry Curve 9360 and 9380 devices. The smartphones will work with the estimated 185,000 contactless payment terminals used in shops and stores.

The new devices host the payWave application on a secure SIM card, allowing users to wave their mobile devices in front of a terminal to wirelessly transmit payments.

In the U.S., mobile commerce company Isis — a joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon — signed a deal last year with Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express in a bid to deploy a wider mobile payments ecosystem.

via Visa approves smartphones for NFC payments: Good start, but still hurdles ahead | ZDNet.

Among those issues are security, authentication and the logistics of [...]]]>

The Defense Department is taking the point in the federal government’s campaign to deploy mobile devices. But in its role as trail blazer, DOD must also wrestle with a number of issues key to a successful rollout of approved smart phones and tablets.

Among those issues are security, authentication and the logistics of managing many devices with varying degrees of access across the DOD enterprise.

Recent developments make government officials confident that high levels of security can be achieved for devices running on the Android operating system, but verifying who is using a particular piece of equipment remains a challenge. The department is looking at a range of identity verification techniques, from biometrics to physical and software user certificates to ensure that person sending that text or phone call is who they say they are.

via Army’s plans for Androids and other mobile devices could spread across federal government — Government Computer News.

Installing Ice Cream Sandwich on the Nexus S is like getting a completely new phone. The device is smoother and most responsive, which you notice from the moment you start using it. The [...]]]>

Good news for Nexus S users: Google is rolling out OTA upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich. Early reviews are favorable.

Installing Ice Cream Sandwich on the Nexus S is like getting a completely new phone. The device is smoother and most responsive, which you notice from the moment you start using it. The old assumption that even a dual core Android phone is not as smooth as a single core iPhone doesn’t apply any more. Apple users will probably still notice some missed frames in animations or small amounts of lag when things are being loaded in the background, but this is no longer a serious usability issue, more a cosmetic one. List and grid scrolling is smooth as are app switching, moving to the home screen, and scrolling across home screens. There is little to complain about in terms of performance. Using the new task switching view, I was surprised to find the number of apps I had running with no performance hit.

via Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich Review « Colour Me Amused.

While Dark Reading has been covering mobile and wireless security issues for more than five years, we are excited to have a special place in which to explore the emerging issues surrounding mobile devices and the “consumerization” of [...]]]>

Great new resource. Dark Reading is launching a subsite focusing on mobile and wireless security.

While Dark Reading has been covering mobile and wireless security issues for more than five years, we are excited to have a special place in which to explore the emerging issues surrounding mobile devices and the “consumerization” of the enterprise IT environment. With the introduction of the Mobile Security Tech Center, we will have the space and resources to report more deeply on the threats and solutions surrounding portable devices and networks. The goal of the Mobile Security Tech Center is to help security professionals understand how they can build effective defenses that protect corporate data that may pass through these devices.

via Dark Reading Launches New Mobile Security Tech Center – Dark Reading.

The source code of Android 4.0.1, which is code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, is for developers and designed to work with tablets based on Advanced Micro Devices’ low-power x86 chips code-named Brazos, which are typically used [...]]]>

According to a member of Android-x86.org, Google’s Android 4.0 OS has been ported to work with x86 processors:

The source code of Android 4.0.1, which is code-named Ice Cream Sandwich, is for developers and designed to work with tablets based on Advanced Micro Devices’ low-power x86 chips code-named Brazos, which are typically used in netbooks and low-end laptops. Some AMD chips are being used in tablets such as MSI’s WindPad 110W.

The port means that tablets with Android 4.0 based on x86 chips could be on the horizon. Intel is the top x86 chipmaker, and the company has already said it is working with Google to bring Android 4.0 to smartphones and tablets.

The announcement was made on a discussion forum by Chih-Wei Huang, who belongs to Android-x86.org, a group of volunteer developers focusing on Android for x86.

Google released the source code for Android 4.0 earlier this month. However, most of the Android OS development has been centered around ARM processors, which are used in most smartphones and tablets today. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone with Android 4.0 has already been released, and ARM-based device makers are promising upgrades on tablets and smartphones to Android 4.0 from Android 3.x, which is code-named Honeycomb.

via Google’s Android 4.0 ported to x86 processors – tablets, software, smartphones, operating systems, hardware systems, Google, consumer electronics, Android – Web Browsers & Tools – Software – Techworld.

The Army’s 5th [...]]]>

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has already approved use of its first Android device, the Dell Streak 5, and has a number of other efforts going in regards to mobile device security. Now DISA is working with the Army’s 5th Signal Command to procure thousands of smart phones or mobile devices:

The Army’s 5th Signal Command, which manages network and communications operations for the Army, has been a vocal supporter of the Army’s mobile strategy, which, among other things, includes plans for an application marketplace reminiscent of Apple’s AppStore. On the About page of the 5th Signal Command’s website, the only content under the heading “Vision” is an image of an iPhone with various mobile apps.

In addition to standard phone features, the RFI asks for BlackBerrys, “emerging smartphones included but not limited to 4G devices such as Androids [and] iPhones,” tablet computers, and wireless broadband access devices like wireless aircards and personal hotspot devices.

via Army Advances Smartphone Strategy – Government – Mobile & Wireless – Informationweek.

Beginning November 22, 2011, we will end support for the Gmail App for BlackBerry (installed native app). Over this past year, we’ve focused efforts on building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser and will continue investing in this area.

Users may continue to [...]]]>

Google to stop providing Gmail app for Blackberry:

Beginning November 22, 2011, we will end support for the Gmail App for BlackBerry (installed native app). Over this past year, we’ve focused efforts on building a great Gmail experience in the mobile browser and will continue investing in this area.

Users may continue to use the app, if installed, however it will not be supported by Google, or available for download starting November 22. BlackBerry users can continue to access Gmail through the mobile web app at http://www.gmail.com in their BlackBerry web browser.

via Gmail App for Blackberry End of Life announcement – Google Apps Help.

“One thing we must be absolutely clear on,” says Tim Deluca-Smith, Vice President of Marketing at WDS, “is [...]]]>

New report shows that Android hardware fails more, and proves more costly, than devices running on other operating systems. However, these failings have more to do with factors not related to the operating system itself:

“One thing we must be absolutely clear on,” says Tim Deluca-Smith, Vice President of Marketing at WDS, “is that our analysis does not find any inherent fault with the Android platform. Its openness has enabled the ecosystem to grow to a phenomenal size, at a phenomenal rate, and it’s this success that is proving challenging.”

The report found that the introduction of low-cost hardware, a variety of software customizations and the process for delivering OS updates to consumers were all resulting in operators’ retail operations and their return and repairs processes being stretched.

via Android hardware fails more than iPhone, BlackBerry; repairs cost carriers $2 billion.