Monday, January 30, 2012
Android has become a target for malware writers who find its open market system, as well as the multiple unofficial app markets, an effective way to spread malicious software.
Two online security companies are arguing over whether as many as 5m Android handsets are infected with malware produced by a publisher via its official app Market – or just part of an "aggressive" advertising network.
Symantec said that "multiple publisher IDs on the Android Market … are being used to push out Android.Counterclank", which is software that it says is "a bot-like threat" which can also steal information from devices.
But Lookout Mobile Security, which specialises in mobile and the Android sector, disagrees: "We disagree with the assessment that this is malware, although we do believe that the Apperhand SDK [contained in the apps] is an aggressive form of ad network and should be taken seriously."
The dispute indicates that the conflict about the difference between malware and "adware" – where software on the user's computer generates intrusive advertising – has shifted from the desktop, where the line has been blurred over the years, to the mobile platform, and particularly to Android, the mobile operating system which increasingly dominates world sales of smartphones.
At the same time, it reinforces concerns that Android has become the target for malware writers who find its open market system, as well as the multiple unofficial Android app markets, an effective way to spread malicious software. Both Symantec and Lookout Mobile offer free apps to protect smartphones against malware – which is an increasing threat: another security company, McAfee, noted in a report in November (PDF) that in the third quarter of 2011 "Android became the exclusive target for all new mobile malware", noting that while Nokia's Symbian has the largest total – due to its broad installed base – the number of separate Android malware threats had grown from fewer than 20 new appearances in the third quarter of 2010 to nearly 100 in the same period in 2011. No report has been issued yet for the fourth quarter of the year.
At issue in the dispute between Symantec and Lookout Mobile are apps apparently from three publishers – iApps7, Ogre Games and redmicapps, where Symantec has identified 13 apps that it thinks pose a threat. Symantec said the "Counterclank" malware contained in the games is a variant of "Tonclank", which it first identified on 10 June 2011 and said "may open a back door and download files onto Android devices … [and] steals information from Android devices." Counterclank could push "unwanted ads" to devices and steal browser history, bookmarklets, account details, settings, phone number and other information. It can send that information to apperhand.com – a site whose owner details are hidden and whose home page provides nothing except the phrase "Hello World!".
Although a number of the iApps7 apps identified by Symantec are no longer available in the market, the free app which is there for wallpaper animation includes the note that
"We want to keep this app completely free. In order to keep the app 100% free, you will receive the following –
• Search shortcut icon on your home screen.
• Search shortcut on your bookmarks.
This will help us bring you more cool apps like this in the future."
The developer page for iApps7 linked on the app's page is invalid.
Another app that Symantec warns about, called "Deal or BE Millionaire" from Ogre Games, includes the note that it
"Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An application with this permission can determine the phone number and serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that call is connected to and the like."It is not explained why an app that appears to use the format of the TV game show "Deal or No Deal" should need to know what number you may be calling.
Speaking to Computerworld, Kevin Haley of Symantec said the three publishers "don't appear to be real publishers … These aren't rebundled apps, as we've seen so many times before." Rebundling often occurs when apps produced by reputable publishers are copied and then re-uploaded to the market by smaller publishers or by individuals as though they created them. Such copying is a persistent problem in the Android Market, where there is no pre-approval for apps, although Google can remove them from the official market if there is a complaint or security problem.
Android allows apps where the user has given authorisation to push apps into its system-wide notification bar. Such authorisation is given when the app is first installed, and will be part of the "permissions" statement that the app requests.
But for Symantec, Haley suggests that few people check or query the permissions an app requests before granting it access to them. "If you were the suspicious type, you might wonder why they're asking for permission to modify the browser or transmit GPS coordinates," he told Computerworld. "But most people don't bother."
Google is trying to make apps' requirements for permissions clearer in the latest version of Android, 4.0. But it is often difficult to know why an app might require access to elements such as USB storage, phone numbers or other details. Users cannot allow or deny apps permission on an element-by-element basis; they can only reject or accept the entire app.
"Adware" has been a persistent problem on desktop PCs, with a number of advertising networks using affiliate schemes in which intermediaries were paid per installation – leading to situations where the software would be installed either through malware on websites, or with installation permission bundled into licence agreements for other software with the details buried in small print. Sometimes the adware would change browser settings or put up intrusive adverts. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) won a settlement worth $3m against adware company Zango in 2006.
Monday, January 30, 2012 0
Monday, January 23, 2012
The White House is now on Google+ and no, it's not technically a move to help President Obama get reelected -- there is a separate Obama 2012 page for that.
So why is the Obama administration now on Google's social network? The State of the Union speech on Tuesday is at least one reason to join Google+.
The annual speech will be broadcast across major TV networks and an enhanced version will be streamed online to the White House's mobile apps and at whitehouse.gov/sotu, with "charts, stats and data that helped inform President Obama's policy decisions as he delivers his speech to the nation," the White House said.
After the speech, which starts at 6 p.m. Pacific time, White House officials will field questions throughout the week regarding the speech, the president's policies, and the direction in which the country and economy is headed. Those questions will be taken from Twitter, Facebook and (as of this week) Google+.
Down the road, the White House may use Google+ Hangouts, the social network's group video-chatting feature, to reach constituents.
"The President and First Lady often call the White House 'The People’s House.' Well, this is another way we're opening our doors (virtually) to citizens around the country," said Kori Schulman, the deputy director of outreach at the White House Office of Digital Strategy, in a blog post. "On our Google+ page, we'll host regular 'White House Hangouts' with administration officials on a range of issues and topics.
"Some Google+ users will be invited to join the Hangout with the White House and have a conversation with policy experts. But the best part is that even if you're not 'in' the Hangout, you can watch the whole thing live on WhiteHouse.gov, on our Google+ page or on the White House YouTube channel."
The White House currently has no Google+ Hangouts planned.
Although the White House's Google+ page isn't an official campaign tool, there is no doubt that the Obama administration and his reelection campaign staff are looking to use every tool possible to reach voters this year.
After all, the president's use of social media in his winning of the 2008 election is often cited as one of the reasons he was able to build up support among voters. The Technology blog even described Obama as "the first social media president."
One other reason the White House might want to be on Google+ -- Republican rivals looking to knock Obama out of office are there too.
Monday, January 23, 2012 0
Saturday, January 21, 2012
AT&T is at it again. In June of 2010, AT&T pulled the plug on its unlimited data plans andswitched to tiered bandwidth plans. Now, AT&T is switching things up again – giving customersmore megabytes per dollar, but charging more money in the process. So, which AT&T data plan is right for you?
Currently, AT&T offers basically three data plan options. You can get 200MB per month for $15, 2GB per month for $25, or add the ability to do hotspot tethering from a smartphonewith an additional 2GB of bandwidth to bring it to 4GB for $45 per month. If you exceed the 200MB plan, you will be charged an additional $15 for another 200MB, while going over the limit on the 2GB plan results in an additional 1GB of bandwidth for $10
At the time that AT&T rolled out these plans, it framed it as an altruistic move designed to somehow save customers money. AT&T claimed that 98 percent of its customers use less than 2GB, and 65 percent stayed under 200MB, so instead of paying $30 a month for unlimited access they didn’t need, they could switch to the $15 or $25 plans as appropriate. Fair enough.
As of this Sunday--January 22--AT&T will no longer offer those plans for new customers. Now, customers will get 300MB of data for $20 per month, 3GB of data for $30 per month, and the hotspot tethering plan will include 5GB of bandwidth for $50 per month.
Apparently things have changed, though, since those initial tiers were introduced. If 98 percent of customers use less than 2GB of data, then upping the ante to a 3GB data plan seems silly.
Existing AT&T customers can hang on to their current data plans if they choose. But--as with every other time that a wireless provider switches things up--once you change, you can’t go back to the plans that are no longer offered. So, does it make sense to jump to one of the new plans?
For many AT&T customers, the answer may very well be “yes”. In terms of megabytes per dollar, the new plans are actually a better value than the previous ones. Customers who have the 200MB plan, and consistently go over end up paying $30 per month for 400MB of data. But, if they’re going over by less than 100MB, those customers will benefit from choosing the 300MB plan and saving $10 per month.
A similar scenario applies for customers on the 2GB plan. Customers that go over the 2GB plan end up with an additional 1GB for $10, bringing the total to $35 per month for 3GB. Those customers can actually save $5 a month by just embracing the 3GB plan for $30 in the first place. Likewise, customers on the 4GB plan who go over end up spending $55 for 5GB, and can save $5 per month by switching to the new 5GB plan.
I have the 4GB plan just so I can use my iPhone 4S as a Wi-Fi hotspot when I need to. But, I don’t think I’ve ever come close to exceeding the 4GB allotment, so it makes sense for me to stick with the $45 plan I already have. However, I ended up bumping my wife to the 2GB plan because she consistently exceeded 200MB, but she doesn’t really need anywhere near that much, and the 300MB plan will be perfect for her.
Your mileage may vary. You can log in to the AT&T site and review your data usage month to month to examine how much you use on average, and choose the new data plan that works best for you…or stick with the existing data plan you’re already using.
AT&T has not responded to a request for information relative to the number of customers that might benefit from the change to a 300MB or 3GB plan.
Saturday, January 21, 2012 0
Thursday, January 19, 2012
When Google speaks, the world listens.
And today, when Google asked its users to sign a petition protesting two anti-piracy laws circulating in Congress, millions responded.
A spokeswoman for Google confirmed that 4.5 million people added their names to the company's anti-SOPA petition today.
Not too shabby.
The petition, which was available via a link from Google's homepage, states that although fighting online piracy is important, the plan of attack described in the SOPA and PIPA bills would be ineffective.
"There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs," the petition reads. "Too much is at stake -– please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA."
The search engine frequently delights users by toying with its homepage logo, but on Wednesday it did something it had never done before: it blocked out its logo completely.
A link below the blackout read "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!" and lead to a page with the petition.
Of course, Google's anti-SOPA and PIPA petition is not the only one out there on this day of mass online protest. As of this writing 1.458 million people signed a similar petition at the activist website Avaaz.org, and Fight for the Future said that between its two sites, Sopastrike.com and AmericanCensorship.org, at least 350,000 people have sent emails to representatives in the House and Senate.
A graphic put out by Google shows that before today's coordinated protests, 3 million Americans had signed various petitions against the two bills.
In other SOPA number news, a spokeswoman from the popular blogging platform WordPress, said that at last count, 25,000 WordPress blogs had joined the SOPA and PIPA protest by blacking out their blogs entirely, and another 12,500 used the "Stop Censorship" ribbon.
Today, the White House Blog reports that 103,785 people signed petitions through the We The People website asking the president to protect a free and open Internet.
Thursday, January 19, 2012 0
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.
Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.
What are SOPA and PIPA?
- SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short for the "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym for the "Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Detailed information about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act articles on Wikipedia, which are available during the blackout. GovTrack lets you follow both bills through the legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one. The EFF has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 0
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Air Playit became an immediate hit when it just came into Apple App Store in Aug.2011. So far over 1 million users have downloaded this free application which revolutionized the way of watching video on iPhone iPad. Both video conversion and iTunes sync are skipped. DRM encrypted videos as well as 1080P/1080i HD videos such as M2TS, AVCHD, MKV could be streamed to iOS devices for instant playing over air.
"Numerous 'thank you' emails arrived," said Jack, CEO of Digiarty. "In the meantime, we also got tons of inquiries on the release date of the Android edition of Air Playit." The reasons are obvious. 1) Google Android phones are rising quickly. Recent report showed that the 2011 market share of Android in the area of Smartphone is up to 60%. 2) The large and high resolution screen as well as fast processor make it the perfect mobile player for watching video on the go. 3) Android phone, however, supports relatively few video formats, only 3GP, MP4, H.264 and WebM.
Finally, long-awaited Air Playit for Android came out taking all well-received functionalities of its iPhone iPad editions. It acts as personal audio video cloud server & player which gives users immediate access to the media stored on PC/Mac even from thousands of miles away. 320 different video audio formats are supported for streaming to Android phones, e.g. MKV, M2TS, AVCHD, TP, MPEG-TS, AVC, MOD, MPEG1/2, WMV, ASF, AVI, MOV, RM/RMBV, FLV, MP4, H.264, M4V, WebM, WTV, etc.
Air Playit is a totally free app for streaming music & video to Android. Free download it at www.airplayit.com
In addition, this Android video streaming app is upgraded with CUDA technology. The benefit is that users can play music and video on their Android phones remotely or locally without any delay, regardless of media format or file size. The ability of Multi-tasking Music Background Playback is also added which guarantees smooth music playing even in case of screen lock.
Android System Requirements: Over 20 MB storage space
Cortex-A8 architecture, device supporting ARMv7 & NEON instruction set ARM CPU 800MHz or above
Google Nexus One, HTC Desire Incredible EVO, Moto Milestone XT800, DroidSeries, Acer Liquid, Samsung Galaxy S, Sony Ericsson X10 ,Dell Thunder Streak, LG LU2300,Dopod A8188, Nexus One, Nexus S
For the convenience of bloggers or website editors who may have interest in reviewing Air Playit, Digiarty also composed a PDF sheet with related images and text materials for reference.
About Company
Established in 2006, Digiarty Software, Inc. is a professional developer and publisher of iPhone games and multimedia software, specializing in various types of iPhone games development and DVD video related solutions. Aiming at being the best digital media company, Digiarty is always devoted to continuous development and providing their customers advanced products and best services. Copyright (C) 2012 Digiarty Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
www.airplayit.com/doc/AirPlayit18.pdf
Thursday, January 12, 2012 0
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