Symantec: fragmentation prevents Androids from recording phone calls
The disclosure of potentially serious malware affecting Android smartphones seemed to be tempered on Wednesday, with two security firms at odds over its threat to users. What's saving everyone from a Trojan that can record phone calls and apparently send them to a remote server? Hardware fragmentation.
CA had warned on Tuesday of the potential threat from this phone call recording app. That firm's findings caused Symantec researcher Irfan Asrar to take a second look.
UK finally makes ripping your own DVDs and CDs legal
Aiming to make its copyright laws more responsive to the realities of the digital age, the UK Government on Wednesday began efforts to update its more than 300-year-old system to better reflect how its citizens are using copyrighted works.
The plans include changing the laws so the 'ripping' of CDs and DVDs owned by UK citizens would now be legal, something that up until now would have been considered against the law. Government officials also said they had scrapped earlier announced plans to block copyright-infringing sites.
Get Google Nexus S for free, right now
Best Buy's deal of the day, August 3, is the Samsung-manufactured, Google-branded Nexus S for free with two-year activation. The handset normally sells for $99, with models for AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile to choose from.
I normally don't write about deals like this one, but Nexus S is unique for offering a so-called "pure Google" experience. Google pushes the new versions of Android 2.x as they become available. There's no waiting on carriers, and there's no crapware or special skins (e.g., user interfaces) slapped on top. If you want Android at its best, Nexus S is the only way to get it right now.
RIM unveils the first BlackBerry 7 smartphones
Canadian smartphone pioneer Research in Motion announced a refreshed product lineup with five new BlackBerry smartphones that will be the first crop of devices capable of running the new BlackBerry 7 OS.
RIM hasn't exactly been having the best time with BlackBerry recently. The formerly leading smartphone brand has been rapidly losing market share to Android and iOS, and the repeatedly delayed BlackBerry Playbook tablet has reportedly missed sales targets by a mile. RIM stocks lost over 50% of their value in the month of June, and most recently the company had to begin laying off 10% of its workforce.
McAfee: 'State actor' behind massive global espionage ring
With hacking becoming an increasing concern as of late with the work of decentralized groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec making headlines, concerns over state-sponsored intrusions has abated. McAfee has brought those fears back to the forefront thanks to a whitepaper released on Wednesday.
McAfee says that it has uncovered a massive hacking operation that has targeted at least 72 government agencies, companies, and organizations in 14 countries since 2006. Worse yet, McAfee has reason to believe a single foreign government may be behind the attacks.
Is Microsoft crazy to put a desktop OS on a tablet?
Yes, they are. But I think it's the right decision.
I recently acquired an iPad -- 16GB, 3G with an AT&T data plan. After three days of use I found myself thinking about all the things I wanted to do with it but could not simply because it's a mobile OS and is primarily used for content consumption and not content creation. That's not to say there are not content creation apps for the iPad because there are. I'm simply saying that the majority use for this device is content consumption; and it does it very well.
SUPERAntiSpyware 5: Big changes in a small package
SUPERAntiSpyware 5 has just been released, in what the authors are calling "our most significant update ever". This isn't just marketing hype, either, just about every area of the new build has been enhanced and improved.
This starts with the revamped interface, which no longer hides its functionality behind a host of buttons. Easier access to key features means you can now launch the scan you need in a couple of clicks.
Foxconn to replace troublesome human beings with robots
According to Xinhuanet (the official Chinese news agency) "Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn will replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency, said Terry Gou, founder and chairman of the company, late Friday".
This is an old story and you could see it coming for Foxconn. A few months ago when I talked about the problem of labor conditions at Foxconn, where products for Apple, Sony, Nokia and others are made, I suggested that a need to improve labor conditions might end up with a lot of jobs being eliminated. This seems to be the case.
FCC says ISPs aren't lying about their advertised speeds
One year ago, the Federal Communications Commission began a widespread test of American broadband service providers to see if consumers were getting what they paid for.
It packaged together a handful of free network diagnostic tools that let users check the downlink/uplink speeds and latency of their broadband network provider and then submit it to the commission for review. It also launched a campaign called TestmyISP.com; and conducted a hardware-based test of wireline broadband performance with Whitebox maker SamKnows.
Android malware can record and upload phone conversations
With the focus lately being on the security holes within iOS, media attention on flaws within Android has subsided. That ended Monday as security firm CA revealed a new Trojan, aimed at the mobile OS, that records the details of incoming and outgoing calls as well as the actual audio itself.
There are already Android Trojans in the wild that have the capability to store call information. This Trojan in particular however stores the audio of the phone call in .amr format on the SD card within the device. Worse yet, it appears to store a configuration file in the phone's memory, complete with remote server details.
Is Mac malware dead or just resting?
Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, aliens with anal probes, and Mac malware: long-rumored, but short on confirmed sightings. Until recently.
In May we had our first genuine Mac malware outbreak with Mac Guard a.k.a. MacDefender and a bunch of other names. It followed the tried-and-true Windows malware method of fake anti-malware software. Once installed, it caused a lot of problems and then demanded money to solve them. Apple created a signature check system that can't really work in the long run, but within a few weeks the attacks ran their course. They weren't followed up, at least not in a big way.
Pulmon Beta 3: You don't have to wait for Windows 8
It's hard to imagine, but Windows 8 beta could come as soon as next month's BUILD conference. One of the new features it looks likely to sport is the stripped-back Metro UI interface, which debuted in Windows Phone 7, and which will ensure Windows 8 works across a variety of devices including smartphones and tablets, not just computers.
As details of Windows 8's features start to emerge, programmers and enthusiasts are busy coding their own mock ups of how these new features will work. And if you'd like to see how Metro UI might look on your Windows 7 PC, check out Pulmon Beta 3, which was released just a few days ago.
It's getting harder to reach Apple tech support, survey says
Apple's tech support ain't what it used to be, says Vocalabs, a company that measures customer satisfaction by interviewing customers immediately after service calls, retail store visits or IVR (automated) interactions. According to the company's report for the first six months of 2011, Apple continued to deliver better telephone support than HP and Dell, but its customer satisfaction dropped 15 points in one year.
"Apple has long had a reputation for exemplary service and support, and consistently tops rankings of service among consumer electronics companies. While the company is still ahead of the pack in many metrics, it has experienced a significant--in some cases precipitous--drop over the past year," Vocalabs' report says.
Skype makes a big, brash debut for iPad
It's finally here: Skype for iPad has released on Apple's App Store. After months of waiting, iPad users can finally ditch the iPhone app and download this optimized build that takes full advantage of the extra screen real estate provided on the iPad.
Skype for iPad features everything you'll find in the iPhone app, including messaging and voice calls as well as video chat, but takes advantage of the superior hardware of the iPad 2 to deliver full-screen video chats using both front and back video cameras.
AVG Premium Security 2011: New features could offer more
AVG's Internet Security 2011 offers all the major components you'd expect from a security suite: antivirus, a decent spam filter, effective capable firewall, browsing protection, identity protection and a range of interesting extras. Sounds great, and it's just as good in real life.
Plainly AVG wasn't satisfied, though, and the company has now released an enhanced version, AVG Premium Security 2011, which extends the original suite with a couple of additional functions. And the most important of these, by a considerable distance, is AVG Identity Alert.
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