Posts
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Android's Uncurated App Marketplace Draws Criticism, Google Activates 'Kill Switch' on Two Apps
Android's Uncurated App Marketplace Draws Criticism, Google Activates 'Kill Switch' on Two Apps
Sunday June 27, 2010 10:16 PM EST
Written by Arnold KimGiven the amount of criticism that Apple has received for their curated App Store, it should be interesting to see that Google's unmoderated solution for Android is not without its own criticisms. CNet reported on the high potential for abuse in the Android marketplace:About 20 percent of the 48,000 apps in the Android marketplace allow a third-party application access to sensitive or private information, according to a report released on Tuesday.
While most of these apps are not malicious, spyware is said to be a growing problem. Google denies it being a real issue, however, and points out that users must explicitly allow applications to get access to the data. While true, Jon Johansen disputes the practicality of these checks and also believes that Google's lack of curation is hurting their marketplace:Google does far too little curation of the Android Market, and it shows. Unlike Apple's App Store, the Android Market has few high quality apps.
Meanwhile, this past week, Google remotely disabled two apps from all Android phones. This so-called "Kill Switch" received a lot of publicity when it was revealed that Apple had the same functionality for the App Store. So far, Apple has not been known to have triggered it. According to Google, the remotely disabled apps were not malicious, but misrepresented themselves in order to encourage downloads:
...
Below are just a few examples of what's wrong with the Android Market. Those 144 spam ringtone apps (which are clearly infringing copyright) are currently cluttering the top ranks of the Multimedia category. I was not surprised to find that they were being monetized through Google Ads.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.
The removed apps were said to be a theoretical demonstration of how to create a "botnet" of hijacked phones.By cloaking an application capable of "fetching" new exploit code at will in a fake application offering preview pictures of the upcoming "Twilight Eclipse" film, he tricked more than 300 users into downloading the software. The lesson: a less friendly developer could have used that bait and switch to plant malware on users' devices.
Rating (109 Positives; 39 Negatives)
[ 283 comments ]
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
TidBITS iPhone iPad iPod: AT&T Allows Eligibility Transfers in Family Plan
I call my wife, Lynn, "the Early Rejecter." And I don't mean that in a pejorative way. She'd rather have the 2.0 or 3.0 version of hardware or software, and chuckles as I suffer the pain of early upgrades and new hardware.
Of course, she's the one in our AT&T Family Plan to be eligible for a low-cost iPhone 4 upgrade, qualifying for the $199 (16 GB) and $299 (32 GB) pricing. My eligibility report says I have to wait until February 2011, or pay an extra $200 ($399 or $499) to get a phone now.
Fortunately, an AT&T spokesperson confirmed for me, eligibility is transferrable among members of a Family Plan. But it will apparently be impossible to accomplish online. The spokesperson recommended calling AT&T to place an order to work out the details when pre-orders start being accepted on 14 June 2010.
To discover your eligibility, go to att.com/iphone and log into your account, or call *639# from the phone you want to upgrade to receive a free text message in response with a date and more details. Whether AT&T will spot you an early phone trade-up isn't strictly about your contract date, but includes factors such as the service plan and other dollars you've paid them. Some friends who purchased an iPhone 3GS at the same time that I did already qualify for the lowest price.
In the past, it was possible to swap SIM cards among phones, transfer phone numbers within the account, or perform other hoodoo to make it work out. But the iPhone 4 uses a micro-SIM, just like the 3G iPad, which means you can't interchange a full-sized SIM from an earlier iPhone with the fourth-generation model. (Unless you buy one of these SIM cutters.)
This might good news for a few of my frustrated friends.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Microsoft Office for your iPad: Documents To Go now available on iPad
Filed under: iPad
Documents To Go now available on iPad
by Dave Caolo (RSS feed) on Jun 4th 2010 at 10:00AM
Many years ago, I used Documents To Go with my Palm IIIe.* Now, the productivity suite for handhelds is available for the iPad. Just like that old version, this universal app lets you view and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents (including those in the Office 2007/2008/2010 XML format). Unlike Docs To Go on the Palm, it's got the iPad's big, beautiful screen to work with.
It also takes advantage of iTunes file sharing and apps that use the "Open in..." feature. For example, you can send an email attachment directly to Docs To Go from within Mail. You can also open iWork files and access documents in your Dropbox, Google Docs, Box.net, iDisk, or SugarSync accounts. It's definitely nice to see the majority of a spreadsheet or an entire Word document at once, and desktop sync over Wi-Fi (separate desktop app required) is quite handy.
We've only had time to give this a cursory once-over, but we'll be spending more time with this suite. It's currently on sale for US$14.99 (that's 20% off), but that offer ends today. Pick it up and get productive.
We'll also be checking out Office² HD and the soon-to-arrive Quickoffice for iPad in the next few days.
*Anyone else remember the IIIe? It was a great little device.
Tags: apps, dataviz, documents to go, DocumentsToGo, iPad, software
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Steve Jobs on Syncing Media Content to the Cloud: 'We're Working on It'
Steve Jobs on Syncing Media Content to the Cloud: 'We're Working on It'
Tuesday June 01, 2010 11:21 PM EST
Written by Eric SlivkaDuring the Q&A portion of this evening's All Things Digital interview, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was asked about how the balance of power in control of media content has been shifting. After noting that content providers such as movie studios and record labels are starting to see viewers as their real customers rather than theaters and record stores and that the shift is beginning to cause changes in how we consume media, Jobs addressed the need for consumers to be able to sync their content in cloud-based systems.
"You want to share your content that you bought amongst your various devices. You can do that today with a wire. You can't do that without a wire. We need to work harder on that. We need to do better. Anytime soon? We're working on it."
Apple has been rumored to be using its acquisition of streaming music service Lala Media late last year and possibly its new North Carolina data center to launch cloud-based services for music and other media. Despite yesterday's shutdown of Lala's former streaming service yesterday, however, music industry sources indicate that a launch of cloud-based iTunes services is not imminent.
Rating (26 Positives; 13 Negatives)
[ 19 comments ]
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
I guess this is like "Google told me to drive off a cliff so I did": Woman sues Google over Utah walking directions
SALT LAKE CITY – A pedestrian who says she was injured by a motorist while following an online walking route has filed a lawsuit claiming Google Inc. supplied unsafe directions.
Lauren Rosenberg filed a lawsuit seeking more than $100,000 on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Utah. It also names a motorist she says hit her.
Rosenberg, a resident of Los Angeles County, says she used her phone in January to download walking directions from one end of Park City to the other.
Google Maps led her to walk on a busy road without sidewalks that was "not reasonably safe for pedestrians," according to the lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles County resident.
"As a direct and proximate cause of defendant Google's careless, reckless and negligent providing of unsafe directions, plaintiff Lauren Rosenberg was led onto a dangerous highway, and was thereby stricken by a motor vehicle," the lawsuit states.
Rosenberg is seeking compensation for unspecified "severe" injuries and lost wages in addition to punitive damages. The lawsuit provided no further information on her age or residence.
Rosenberg couldn't be reached Tuesday. Her attorneys, Allen and Tyler Young of Provo, did not return messages.
Google spokeswoman Diana Adair did not return messages from The Associated Press.
The court papers didn't explain why Rosenberg walked along state Route 224 instead of choosing streets with sidewalks.
On its version for computers, Google Maps suggests one alternative for Rosenberg's route. It also highlights a disclaimer: "Use caution — This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths."
The mobile version of Google Maps, however, does not come with that warning.
