It’s a new day, but not quite so new malware on Google Play. Symantec caught a Trojan posing as game titles Super Mario Bros and GTA 3 Moscow City on the Android app store. Uh-oh, they had been up on the market since June 24, infiltrating somewhere between 50,000 – 100,000 smart phones, says Symantec's Irfan Asrar. "We would like to thank Android Security for immediately revoking the threat after we notified them of this discovery".

Both of the game apps are the Trojan known as Dropdialer. Once it gains access to a phone, the Trojan pulls in another package called Activator.apk through Dropbox. Then it goes ahead and wreaks havoc by sending texts to premium-rate text numbers. "The premium SMS is targeting Eastern Europe", Asrar says. Then, in the most subtle manner, the malware gets rid of the secondary payload by effectively removing all traces of what it has been doing.

This week, the Green Electronics Council announced that Apple will no longer submit any of its products to EPEAT, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, for environmental rating, removing all of its products from the standardized green ratings system used by all US federal agencies.

Naturally, the subject of Apple rejecting compliance with anyone would generate a lot of discussion. However, there are some major pieces of information that get lost in the shuffle of news and the rush toward instant partisanship and polarization to sell a story. Below, we'll look at some of the basics of the story without dipping too far into the horribly overplayed "Apple vs. The World" trope that populates the Web.

Android-owning coffee addicts living in United Kingdom and Canada can, from today, start paying for their brewed beverages and food using a new Starbucks app. Once installed, all you have to do is link it to an existing Starbucks card and order some drinks. The app will display a barcode for the barista to scan, resulting in the total being automatically debited from the linked card.

You can use the app to add some credit (using a credit card or PayPal account), check your balance, view your previous transactions, and track Stars in the My Starbucks Rewards program. You can also transfer credit between cards if you’re running low and a friend is happy to help. If you’re not sure where the nearest Starbucks is, the app will show you on a map. If you lose your phone, or have it stolen, all you need to do is cancel your Starbucks card and that will prevent the finder/thief from enjoying a Venti Doubleshot Caramel Macchiato, or similar, at your expense.

What should business expect from Windows 8? Do they even want it? Do IT decision-makers believe the OS will provide them with additional features that will improve their business operations? We can’t fully know the answer until Windows 8 launches in October, although more will be revealed when volume-license subscribers get access to the software early next month.

For now, here is what we do know: Version 8 is a sharp break from the existing Windows brand of operating systems. That brand has been around since the DOS-days. Microsoft is striking out in new ways that will push the OS technology in new directions. Many businesses won't want to follow.

Microsoft and Motorola Mobility pulled back from their bitter patent dispute in the courts, as both sides joined together Tuesday to ask for a temporary stay to all ongoing patent disputes in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington. This involves three cases currently being heard by that court, and refocuses arguments on so-called FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) licensing terms.

Motorola is accused -- not only by Microsoft, but by other targets of the company's patent suits -- of attempting to demand too high royalties for standards essential patents. The company's efforts have frustrated judges, too, with one publicly admonishing both Motorola and Microsoft of using the courts to gain an upper hand in negotiations.

LIBOR, the London InterBank Offered Rate, has been in the news lately as heads begin to roll in London and soon New York now that it’s clear LIBOR was manipulated by big banks, affecting the value of hundreds of trillions worth of financial instruments. This is a complex topic and it will be awhile -- perhaps years -- before it is clear how or even if you and I were damaged by these shenanigans, but everyone seems to agree that it can’t be allowed to happen again. But how? To make this happen I think we need a new understanding of what “transparency” means in financial transactions in the 21st century.

Transparency is supposed to mean that all parties in a financial transaction share the same information so nobody is blindsided. In practical terms transparency has usually meant something less: 1) that all parties can have the same information if they are willing to do the work to find it, and; 2) that all parties are held legally responsible as though they had the appropriate information. These latter statements mean generally that true transparency isn’t viewed as practical so all parties are on their honor to act transparently.

Apple consistently reinvents iPod nano, rolling out new versions of its tiny player annually since 2005, with the exception of last year. It’s not too much of a stretch to assume we’ll see an updated version this year, out in time for Christmas, and according to Japanese blog Macotakara, it will be a return to the earlier, taller form factor, but with some notable differences.

The blog, which cites a "reliable Chinese source", reports that the new device will be three-quarters the height of the fifth-generation model, with a rectangular (presumably touchscreen) display, a home button like the one found on iPhone and iPad, and a "dedicated new iTunes service", suggesting it may have a working version of iOS onboard.

Macotakara also states that the clip that appears on the back of the current square design (for use during physical activity) will be abandoned, making the new 7th-gen nano much thinner.

In May, Google+ debuted for iPhone in Apple's app store, soon followed by an app for Android. Two weeks ago, at the I/O developer conference, Google updated the Android app again, with a lighter tone design similar to the actual Google Plus web pages as well as design support for tablet UI. The wait is over, Apple tablet users. Google+ for iPad is now available in the iTunes App Store.

The app includes a boatload of new features across the board, such as the above mentioned support for tablets, with rotation orientation. It now supports the use of 'pinch' gesture to expand posts to add comments. You can also use the 'two fingers to drag' gesture to drag posts in your stream to reshare. Enabled now is the ability to attach instant upload photos to any post you make.

When you need to keep confidential files away from prying eyes then encryption is the most obvious answer. But it’s not always appropriate.

If others share your hardware, in particular, then the presence of password-protected files alone might attract attention. And so in some situations you might be better off using a steganography tool, like OpenPuff 4.0, to move your data entirely out of view.

There are some websites for which it makes sense to use cookies. Online stores use them to keep your basket up to date and many sites use cookies to store usernames and password to help speed up logging in. but there are also plenty of sites that use cookies and other tracking methods to deliver personalized advertisement to you as well as tracking your route across the internet. This is something that Disconnect for Chrome can help with.

This is a simple browser extension for Google Chrome, but the effect that it could have on your browsing experience is quite dramatic. Once you have Disconnect installed, you are placed firmly in control over which web sites you share information with, and you can block any you would rather were not able to track you.

Early this evening, EDT, Google started dispatching Jelly Bean to Galaxy Nexus HSPA+. Phone sales also resumed at Google Play, for $349 -- or $50 less than what I paid about two months ago. At Google+, Brian Medeiros asks the right question: "Who else is hitting the 'Check Now' on their Galaxy Nexus non-stop to get the Jelly Bean?" I did on my phone and my wife's. No enchilada.

Google's Nexus Google+ account posted at 7:07 pm: "The rollout of Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, begins today, starting with Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ devices...If you’ve got a Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ device, you will receive a prompt alerting you to the update over the next several days". Please folks, don't become hamsters in the wheel constantly pressing "Check Now".

What's right for me might not be for you.

On July 4th, I declared independence from Apple, weeks after pledging to boycott the company's products. The independence story is among my post popular posts (based on pageviews), and it's most-Liked and most-commented. I inadvertently tapped into some surprisingly strong emotions about the fruit-logo company and unmeaningly joined the boycott Apple movement. Looks like I'm not the only person mad about recent patent bullying, although other boycotters add more complaints.

Tuesday, Google rolled out a small update for Google Maps for Android that adds detailed indoor maps of more than twenty different U.S. museums, including the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cincinnati Museum Center, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, 17 different Smithsonian museums, and even the National Zoo in Washington D.C.

Cedric Dupont, of the Google Maps for Mobile team on Tuesday said the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Phillips Collection, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the National World War II Museum in New Orleans will all be added to Google Maps in the near future.

Microsoft will publicly release Windows Server 2012 a month earlier than Windows 8, the company's server and tools business vice president Satya Nadella told attendees of the Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto on Tuesday. The release will be part of a broader effort to draw customers away from its competitors and on to the Windows Azure platform.

The server platform will release to manufacturing first in August, followed by general availability of the OS in September.

It sounds like a silly question. After all, Android is more popular than ever, with new “hero” phones and tablets arriving almost every week. However, for all of the platform’s success, there’s one aspect that remains a lingering blight on Google’s otherwise shiny success story: Software piracy.

Simply put, the rampant piracy of apps on “rooted” Android devices is killing developer momentum, with many devs resorting to unpopular and often intrusive in-app advertising and other gimmicks to make up for the gap in traditional Google Play revenue. And with the Android enthusiast community seemingly obsessed with “rooting” every new device that comes to market -- thus making it easier for unscrupulous users to pirate apps and/or bypass normal app security mechanisms -- the problem only  gets worse.