Category Archives: android
Sophos blames BYOD for increased interest in hacking mobiles
Rating: Established security firm now offers free anti-virus app for Android users
For a long time those with Symbian OS smartphones were genuinely safe from viruses and malware because no self-respecting hacker would gain any kudos for creating one. So the incentives basically weren’t there. The phenomenon of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is changing all of that, Sophos claims. With BYOD, the end user effectively selects which mobile device to use both at home and in workplace. The later brings corporate data into jeopardy and hackers have spotted the opportunity. Given that IT managers cannot be everywhere, all of the time, security specialist, Sophos has introduced a free lightweight anti-virus app which protects Android devices (smartphone & tablet) against malware, privacy issues and hardware loss. Perhaps, Sophos can replicate it success in the online market in the mobile world? Continue reading
The Geek Games – Friday’s Olympic story
Rating: Thinly veiled excuse for running a cartoon
It’s the official start of the Olympic Games 2012 in London today [July 27th 2012]. We couldn’t resist this Olympic themed story which is a comic cartoon from the guys at Cast. This software specialist offers a mobile app assessment tool for testing the code in Android apps and it is built into the standard CAST Highlight tool. More information here and here.
Enjoy! Continue reading
HTC set to lose out to Samsung says YouGov
Rating: Consumers struggle to differentiate amongst models
Reading between the lines of recent UK research carried out by YouGov, HTC is rapidly losing its mantle as the brand of choice amongst Android smartphone lovers. According to Russell Feldman, associate director in YouGov’s telecoms and technology team, “HTC has long been falling out of the rat race. Our research also found a small number of HTC owners considered their make and model of HTC before purchasing it – significantly lower consideration rates compared to rival brands – a worrying sign.” Who is benefitting? Answer – Samsung. “The [Samsung] brand is now the Android future choice of destination with high loyalty, consideration and expectation rates increasing year-on-year,” says YouGov. Continue reading
Guest Post: NFC payment test at Olympics will inspire mobile attackers to go for the Gold
by Jimmy Shah Mobile Security Researcher with McAfee
Visa is testing out its PayWave contactless payment service at the Summer Olympics in London. Every athlete will get a Samsung Galaxy SIII phone enabled with near-field communication (NFC) along with Visa’s payment app. Contactless payments aren’t new, and similar payments by mobile phone have been tested by Google with its Wallet app and other NFC smartphones. When we last looked at NFC phones and similar apps, there were questions of whether an attacker could go after the apps or the phone hardware and the Android OS. Since then we have seen a PIN-reset vulnerability that allowed an attacker to use the free prepaid card and the ability to crack PINs on the phone. Continue reading
Android overtakes iOS for 1st place with mobile advertisers
Rating: Findings from latest Adfonic Global AdMetrics report
For the first time Android’s share of mobile ad impressions has overtaken iOS. Android increased its share from 38 per cent in Q1 2012 to 46 per cent in Q2 2012 while iOS lost share to Android, declining from 45 per cent in Q1 to 34 per cent in Q2. Those figures are taken from Adfonic‘s Global AdMetrics Report for Q2 2012. This draws data from thousands of mobile advertising campaigns, spanning around fifteen thousand mobile sites and apps. Other key finds were that there are ‘sweet spot’ combinations of advertiser campaign verticals and publisher inventory channels and gender targeting drives improved performance. Continue reading
appMobi tackles App Store Fragmentation with free app
Rating: Unites stats for multiple leading app stores
It’s surprising how little information the big players in the app store market provide to developers. The only analytic provided by Apple’s iTunes App Store and Google Play (formerly Android Market) is download count. That’s all you get! Hence HTML5 specialist, appMobi www.appMobi.com, created storeView for its own internal use. Finding it to be an invaluable tool, the company is giving it away to anyone who’s using HTML5 to create apps. This particularly applies to those using the open source PhoneGap offering. Continue reading
Bitdefender discovers that most iOS users are at risk from data leaks
Rating: Roughly 30 per cent of apps display ads, too
Ever wondered how many apps are downloading your private information without informing you? Pondered how great a risk there is of personal data leaks via apps? These questions have obviously bothered Bitdefender, the security specialist. For some reason, the company decided to look at the risk posed by iOS apps only. Which is curious because Bitdefender has an offering for Android but not for iOS at present. Anyway the company conducted a month-long study of more than 65,000 iPhone apps. Guess what? It found that most Apple iOS users are probably at risk from data leaks. Continue reading
Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary becomes available for W7 Mango
Rating: Windows Phone 7.7 version compliments existing Android and iOS versions
The Paragon Software Group,the mobile app developer, and Oxford University Press, the respected publisher, have together brought the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 8th edition to Windows Phone devices. Boasting powerful learning features, the app offers full-sentence pronunciation; thousands of colour illustrations, and help with expanding vocabulary for anyone who needs to communicate in English. Continue reading
GoMo accidentally downloads ‘exclusive’ music app to HP TouchPad
Rating: Samsung had supposedly struck exclusive content deal
An exclusive deal has supposedly been struck between leading Android handset manufacturer, Samsung and mobile music specialist MusicQubed. The first handset to come with the Official Top 40 singles chart app preloaded will be Galaxy Ace II. However, this app is also available from Google Play here. When we tried to download it to a non-Galaxy phone the server said it was incompatible with all of our devices except the Cm_tenderloin. We clicked on that and suddenly realised the app had been sent to our HP TouchPad tablet running the Cyanogenmod version of Android. And, yup, it works, folks. Continue reading
Google slowly rolling out mobile app analytics
Rating: Also releases Android version of Google Analytics
Looking through the Google Analyticsmonthly product update for June [2012], GoMobile News spotted a number of facilities which we’ve somehow missed previously. In particular, Google now offers mobile app analytics which provides end-to-end measurement of the entire customer journey within a mobile application. Plus the company finally released its Android version of its Google Analytics app. Funnily enough there’s no mention of an iOs version [tee-hee). The Android app enables access the same accounts and profiles users will see when they open Analytics from a desktop browser. However, the reports are optimized for a mobile phone. More info here. Mobile app developers could well be interested in the latest browser size analysis which enables users to find out what visitors actually see. Continue reading
More about the Firefox mobile OS
Rating: Background information on former Boot to Gecko project
The Firefox OS is based on the Boot to Gecko (B2G) project which is an open source operating system in development by Mozilla Corporation that aims to support HTML5 apps written using ‘open Web’ technologies rather than platform-specific native APIs. The idea is essentially to have all user-accessible software running on the phone be a Web app that uses advanced HTML5 techniques and device APIs to access the phone’s hardware directly via JavaScript. It initially targeted Android-compatible smartphones. Continue reading
Rumours surface of Google Nexus Tablet
Rating: Is it a Fire-killer or iPad killer?
There have been numerous reports that Google is plotting to launch its own tablet running the Android OS in the same way it released the Nexus smartphone. The expected tablet is widely assumed to have been manufactured for the search engine giant by Taiwan’s Asus and is therefore been codenamed the Asus Nexus 7. That’s largely because the device is supposedly going to feature a seven inch screen. Almost certainly, the tablet will be officially announced at some point during today’s Google I/O conference which is taking place in San Francisco today [June 27th 2012]. Continue reading
Formula One app for Sony TVs discovered by chance
Rating: Came across this Beeb app when researching connected TV
Chatting with Jim Somers, who is chief marketing and strategy officer, from Antenna Software, he let slip that if mobile/cellular is going to face a challenge in the future it will be from IP/connected TV. That challenge will especially apply when it comes to shares of the global advertising pie. GoMobile News had always assumed that IP TV is always allied to fixed broadband but Somers pointed out that that’s not necessarily the case. In rural areas connectivity could be supplied by some form of 4G – whether it’s LTE or WiMAX based. So whilst doing some background research, we discovered that the BBC has just announced the availability of a Formula 1 app for Sony TVs. Continue reading
Qualcomm sole supplier of chips for Windows Phone 8
Rating: Any processor you like as long as its, um, black?
Following Microsoft’s announcement of the latest version of its mobile OS, Windows Phone 8, Qualcomm has confirmed that its Snapdragon processor will power 100 per cent of Windows Phone devices as part of the company’s long standing collaboration with Microsoft. Announced at Microsoft’s Windows Phone Developer Summit, Windows Phone 8 will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Plus mobile processor. Continue reading
Confusion reigns over RBS Get Cash facility
Rating: Is it restricted to Scottish Android-owning customers presently?
The Royal Bank of Scotland put out the news on June 13th [2012] that, ” From today RBS and NatWest customers can choose to ditch their debit cards in favour of their Android phones, with a new innovation that allows them to ‘GetCash’ from an ATM without needing a debit card.” The Banks customers can request the cash on their mobile and a six digit pin will be generated. This code is entered at an ATM; the amount of cash confirmed, and funds distributed accordingly. Great. Ben Green, head of mobile at NatWest and RBS, commented, “This has never been done anywhere in the UK, and yet is a really simple and secure way to help our customers get cash whenever and wherever they need it.” Unfortunately, it didn’t make it very clear which handsets could use the app and which customers are eligible. Continue reading
