Acer experiments with large-screen Android PC to beat sales drop

With PC sales dropping alarmingly, what will come after the Windows platform? With its new DA241HL model, Acer appears to think that a small part of the answer could be, of all things, Google’s Android.

Volume vendors have been experimenting with Android for some time around the fringes, but the appearance of Acer’s second 24-inch all-in-one (AIO) Android 4.2 touch PC at this week’s IFA Show in Berlin is still a striking development.

Acer Aspire S7-191-6400 11.6-Inch(1920 x 1080) Touchscreen Ultrabook Intel Core™ i5-3317U / 4GB DDR3/ 128GB SSD / Windows 8 (Silver) Based around Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor, the unit lacks a keyboard (although one can be added, which Acer might or might not make available as an accessory). Lacking that, it is basically a giant tablet as its Tegra architecture might suggest.

This does raise the question of who and what it is for.  One answer is that it is a display unit for smaller Android tablets and smartphones which it can be connected to using MHL (Mobile High-definition Link technology. Given that the price being quoted for the AIO in advance of its official release is around 429 euros (approximately £360) that looks like a possibility.

The second possibility is that it is simply Android 4.2 on a larger screen, running the same Play store apps as any tablet. However, how many of those apps – designed to fit on smaller screens – will look good on a 24-inch screen (with 20 to 75 degrees tilt) is not clear.

Alternatively, the MHL allows the DA241HL to connect to a conventional Windows 8 PC via the HDMI or USB ports and used as a 2-touch display.

In echoes of Google’s other PC operating system, the Chrome OS, the system also supports up to five separate users from the same machine, allowing each to access their own desktop and apps.

Last week IDC predicted that PC sales would drop by 9.7 percent globally in 2013, and one reason cited is that consumers have grown tired of the one-size-fits-all model espoused by Windows 8. Windows would not revive until prices drop to Android-like levels. PC makers appear to agree; experimentation with new designs could be a feature of the IFA Show for some time to come.

Recently Acer's been feeling some of this pain, reporting year-on-year PC sales that were a stinging 32 percent lower in the second quarter of 2013.

Top 10 Android security tips

There is no question the Android mobile operating system (OS) is a dominant force in the world of smartphones. But it is also the most susceptible to malware, the least secure fresh out of the box and the most fragmented.

If you want to use the OS on tablets or mobiles for business, security will have to be your number one priority. Follow these 10 security tips and Android will become a much more secure and reliable mobile operating system.

1. Disable app downloads from unknown sources

The easiest way to get infected with malware on an Android phone or tablet is to start installing apps from outside the official Google Play app store. In the Settings menu of any standard Android device is a check box that enables and disables installing ‘unofficial’ apps. An Android that keeps itself legit is far safer.

2. Upgrade to Android 3.0 or above

The first version of Android to incorporate file system encryption was Android 3.0, almost three years into the system’s life. Devices that do not use any kind of data encryption are all the more susceptible to damaging data loss.

3. Download an anti-malware app

Now that Android malware and viruses are a widely-recognised part of the smartphone world, there are many solutions to combat them. Most of the big antivirus (AV) companies have their own Android anti-malware apps, including Kaspersky, AVG, Avast and Norton. Recommended free Android AV apps include Lookout (where there is also a premium version available) and TrustGo.

4. Do not connect to unsecured, unknown Wi-Fi networks

An unsecured Wi-FI network can seem like a cheeky goldmine of free internet, but if you’re using an outdated version of Android in particular, it could prove dangerous. Imposter Wi-Fi networks can be used to stage a ‘middleman’ attack, where any inputted data can be intercepted by a third party – including passwords and personal details, such as credit card numbers.

5. Install a remote wipe/lock app

If an Android device is lost or stolen, it is sensible to have a way to wipe or lock it. There are apps available from Google Play that will do just that, reacting to either a command from a web interface or via text. Popular remote wipe and lock apps include Cerberus and Avast Mobile Security.

6. Keep all sensitive data behind an extra encryption layer


Keeping sensitive information logged in a generic note on a phone or tablet is a bad idea. There are plenty of apps that will store information behind a double wall of password protection and encryption. Top picks include mSecure and File Hide Expert.

7. Be aware of SMS threats

Premium SMS threats are partly responsible for the surge in Android malware. The Obad threat, which was brought to light earlier this year, can send premium rate SMS texts, install other malicious apps and execute other code. If there is mysterious activity on a phone bill, check it is not down to this type of attack.

8. Use the Chrome browser

Since Android 4.1 was introduced, phones and tablets have come with the stock Android browser as well as Chrome installed as standard. Chrome is marginally more secure than the stock version, having been subject to fewer publicised insecurities in recent months. It is also likely that Chrome for Android is being more keenly worked on, its pre-installed status marking it out as the future default browser for Android.

9. Put a lock on your lock screen

Simple but necessary, anyone with a concern about Android security should put some lock screen protection on their phone. Virtually all Androids come with optional security measures pre-installed, accessed in the security submenu of settings.

10. Stolen phone? Check out Plan B

Many have done it – had a phone lost or stolen just before planning to buy phone insurance or install a phone tracker. There is one last point of call. Try to install Plan B to the phone from the Google Play website and, if successful, it will automatically send the location of the device to the Gmail account linked to it.

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Android mobile malware rebounds in Q2, reports McAfee

Android-based malware has grown by 35% in the second quarter, according to the latest threat report from security firm McAfee.

This represents a rebound, as this growth rate has not been seen since early 2012.

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McAfee said the rebound is marked by the continued proliferation of SMS text-stealing banking malware, fraudulent dating and entertainment apps, weaponised legitimate apps and malicious apps posing as useful tools.

McAfee Labs registered twice as many new ransomware samples in the second quarter as in the first quarter, raising the 2013 ransomware count higher than the total found in all previous periods combined.

The second quarter also saw a 16% increase in suspicious URLs, a 50% increase in digitally-signed malware samples, and notable events in the cyber attack and espionage areas.

These include multiple attacks on the global Bitcoin infrastructure and revelations around the Operation Troy network targeting US and South Korean military assets.

“The mobile cyber crime landscape is becoming more defined as cyber gangs determine which tactics are most effective and profitable,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice-president at McAfee Labs.

“As in other mature areas of cyber crime, the profit motive of hacking bank accounts has eclipsed the technical challenges of bypassing digital trust,” he said.

According to Weafer, tactics such as the dating and entertainment app scams benefit from the lack of attention paid to such schemes.

Others, he said, simply target the mobile paradigm’s most popular currency: personal user information.

More Android malware distributed through mobile ad networks

Mobile ad networks can provide a loophole to serve malware to Android devices, according to researchers from security firm Palo Alto Networks who have found new Android threats being distributed in this manner.

Most mobile developers embed advertising frameworks into their applications in order to generate revenue. Unlike ads displayed inside Web browsers, ads displayed within mobile apps are served by code that's actually part of those applications.

The embedding of code for the advertising network into a mobile application itself ensures that ads get tracked and the developers get paid, but at the same time this third-party code represents a backdoor into the device, said Wade Williamson, senior security analyst at Palo Alto Networks, in a Monday blog post.

"If the mobile ad network turns malicious, then a completely benign application could begin bringing down malicious content to the device," Williamson said. "What you have at that point is a ready-made botnet."

There are precedents for this type of attack. In April, mobile security firm Lookout identified 32 apps hosted on Google Play that were using a rogue ad network later dubbed BadNews. The apps were benign, but the malicious ad network was designed to push toll fraud malware targeting Russian-speaking users through those apps. The malware masqueraded as updates for other popular applications.

According to Williamson, researchers from Palo Alto Networks recently came across a similar attack in Asia that involved using a rogue ad network to push malicious code through other apps without being detected by mobile antivirus vendors.

The malicious payload pushed by the ad network runs quietly in the device memory and waits for users to initiate the installation of any other application, Williamson said. At that point, it prompts users to also install and grant permissions to the malware, appearing as if it's part of the new application's installation process, he said.

"This is a very elegant approach that doesn't really require the end-user to do anything 'wrong'," the researcher said.

Once installed, the malware has the ability to intercept and hide received text messages, as well as to send text messages in order to sign up users for premium-rate mobile services, Palo Alto Networks said in a description of the attack sent via email.

Such attacks are probably specific to certain geographic regions, said Bogdan Botezatu, a senior e-threat analyst at antivirus vendor Bitdefender, Tuesday via email.

Botezatu expects the distribution of malware through mobile ad networks to become more common, especially in countries where mobile devices can't access the official Google Play store or where users have difficulties in purchasing applications in a legitimate manner, causing most Android devices to be configured to accept APKs (Android application packages) from unknown sources.

That doesn't mean that apps that deliver malware through ad networks can't make it into Google Play, as the BadNews incident has shown.

Google Play checks APKs for malware before approving them, so getting an infected APK uploaded there can be very hard, Botezatu said. However, a malicious ad server could lay dormant until after the application is approved and then start delivering malware, he said.

Botezatu believes that users are more likely to fall victim to "malvertising" -- malicious advertising -- attacks launched through mobile apps than Web browsers. That's because there have been many incidents of ad-based malware infections on computers and users are probably more careful about what they click on inside their browsers, he said.

Android users should make sure that their devices are not configured to allow the installation of apps from unknown sources and should run a mobile antivirus product, which might be able to detect malicious apps delivered through ad networks, he said.

Bitcoins at risk of theft on Android

 Bitcoin is the best-known virtual currency A weakness in the Android mobile operating system has left users of the virtual currency Bitcoin vulnerable to theft, the Bitcoin Foundation has said.

The issue affects some Android "wallet" apps, the organisation said, including Bitcoin Wallet and BitcoinSpinner.

To protect an Android wallet, the developers said users must update their apps once a new version was available.

The news came as a US banking regulator ordered companies to co-operate with a probe into the way Bitcoin is used.

Continue reading the main story
Bitcoin is often referred to as a new kind of currency.

But it may be better to think of its units as being virtual tokens that have value because enough people believe they do and there is a finite number of them.

Each of the 11 million Bitcoins currently in existence is represented by a unique online registration number.

These numbers are created through a process called "mining", which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution.

Each time a problem is solved the computer's owner is rewarded with 25 Bitcoins.

To compensate for the growing power of computer chips, the difficulty of the puzzles is adjusted to ensure a steady stream of about 3,600 new Bitcoins a day.

To receive a Bitcoin, a user must also have a Bitcoin address - a randomly generated string of 27 to 34 letters and numbers - which acts as a kind of virtual postbox to and from which the Bitcoins are sent.

Since there is no registry of these addresses, people can use them to protect their anonymity when making a transaction.

These addresses are in turn stored in Bitcoin wallets, which are used to manage savings. They operate like privately run bank accounts - with the proviso that if the data is lost, so are the Bitcoins contained.

Bitcoin said the wallet problem had to do with Android's ability to generate sequences of secure random numbers needed to keep the wallets safe.

Analysts say Android's SecureRandom Java program sometimes repeats the number sequences, which must be unique in order to keep each Bitcoin secure.

Members of a Bitcoin forum have suggested that the equivalent of thousands of US dollars may have already been stolen.

Number sequences
"Because the problem lies with Android itself, this problem will affect you if you have a wallet generated by any Android app," the Bitcoin statement said on Sunday.

The issue affects only programs where the number sequences - or private keys - are controlled on the user's device.

For wallet apps that were vulnerable, Bitcoin said it would be necessary to change keys.

This involves "generating a new address with a repaired random number generator and then sending all the money in your wallet back to yourself", according to the Bitcoin statement.

Some of the affected apps were in the process of updating their wallet apps to fix the problem, including Bitcoin Wallet, BitcoinSpinner, Mycelium Wallet and blockchain.info, Bitcoin said.

But experts say virtual currencies could face ongoing problems of a similar nature because of the way they have been designed.

Dr Joss Wright, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, said that cryptographers relied heavily on a computer's ability to generate random numbers in order to keep information secure. But, he added, that computers did not always do this reliably.

"Choosing good random numbers is the key issue," Dr Wright said. "If the random numbers can be predicted by somebody else, this could lead to all sorts of security problems."

Meanwhile, The New York Department of Financial Services has told about two dozen firms associated with Bitcoin it wants information on anti-money-laundering programmes, consumer protection measures and investment strategies, .

The newspaper said there were concerns that virtual currency companies did not comply with money transfer rules and the state of New York was considering legislation aimed specifically at virtual currencies.

Bitcoin is the most well-known of a handful of virtual currencies. The currencies are developed through a computer process called "mining" and can be traded on exchanges or privately between users.

Office 365 now available on Android

Following the release of Office Mobile for iPhone, Microsoft has launched Office Mobile for Android.

The cloud-based version of Office, which is available to users in the US, will be free to people who already subscribe to Office 365. This means that Office 365 subscribers can now work on their Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from virtually anywhere, using their Windows Phone, iPhone or Android handsets.

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Available from the Google Play Store, the app is available to users with a qualifying Office 365 subscription, including Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 ProPlus. Microsoft said more countries will gain access in coming weeks.

The app enables users to view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents in the cloud on SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro. Microsoft said it synchronises with a PC, so that documents edited on a computer are available in the Recent Documents panel. Users can also view and edit documents received as email attachments.

“The release of this app shows that we're committed to keep providing additional value for Office 365 subscribers," said Guy Gilbert, senior product manager at Microsoft. "Office 365 subscribers will now be able to access, view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents with Windows Phone, iPhone and Android phones.”

Android takes a 14% bite out Apple's pie

Shipments of Apple iPads have declined 14% compared with Q2 2012 according to th latest market share data from analyst Canalys.

Apple's market share dropped to 43% while Samsung, Amazon, Lenovo and Acer each grew annually by over 200%, driven by increasing demand for smallscreen tablets. Canalys estimates that 68% of tablets shipped in Q2 had a screen size smaller than 9".

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The analyst expected Apple would compete by bringing out cheaper tablet devices, as it did with the introduction of the iPad Mini. But the price of a smallscreen tablet is being driven down by low-cost Android devices.

Tim Coulling, Canalys senior analyst said the market for full-sized tablets has stalled.

“Microsoft’s inventory issues with the Surface have been well publicised. Heavily-discounted Surface RTs will fly off the shelves. Expect prices to continue to fall though, as the starting price of $350 is still too expensive to spark an HP TouchPad-style buying frenzy.”

iPad.jpg Canalys worldwide tablet shipments Q2 2013
According to Canalys Android still lags far behind iOS in the availability of fully-optimised tablet apps and tablet app downloads from the Apple App Store dwarf those from Google Play. However, the analyst expected Google to put more focus on high-quality Android apps in the Play App Store.

The analyst's Q2 2013 tablet market share data showed that over 34 million tablets shipped, a 43% year-on-year increase. Tablets now account for 31% of worldwide PC shipments.

Android tablets still rule, while Windows continues to slip

Both Apple- and Windows-branded tablets lost market share in the second quarter, each retreating in the face of increased pressure from Android, a market research analyst said last week.

In preliminary estimates for the quarter ending June 30, U.K.-based Strategy Analytics pegged Apple's share of the global tablet market at 28.3 percent, a dramatic decline from 47.2 percent the year before. When so-called "white box" tablets, which are almost exclusively powered by Android, are excluded, Apple's share fell to 40.4 percent from 48.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013.

Windows' share of the branded tablet market also slipped in the second quarter compared to the first, falling to 6.4 percent from 7.4 percent. With white-box tablets included, however, its year-over-year share jumped nine-fold, from a paltry 0.5 percent in 2012's second quarter to 4.5 percent in 2013.

Windows tablets had only one way to go when compared year-over-year, as Windows 8 and Windows RT, the two tablet-appropriate operating systems from the Redmond, Washington company, were not released until late in the third quarter of 2012.

By any measurement, Android solidified its first place position. Of the entire tablet market, including white-box units—which comprised 37 percent of all shipments—Android's share climbed to 67 percent from 2012's 51.4 percent. Strip out the white box tablets and Android's increase, while on a slower pace, was still impressive: 52.9 percent in the second quarter, up from 43.4 percent in the first three-month stretch of 2013.

Peter King, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, attributed Apple's share decline to a lack of new tablet models, echoing others who have pointed out that the Cupertino, California company has not released a new tablet or even refreshed an existing tablet since late in 2012.

"We may see Apple get back on track later this year if, as everyone expects, they launch new models," said King in an interview Tuesday. "We may start to see a bit of fight back in them."

Windows' problem in tablets has also been well documented.

Strategy AnalyticsApple- and Windows-branded tablets lost share in the second quarter to Android, which has a lock on the fast-growing low-priced part of the market.

"They screwed up in terms of sales and marketing," said King, referring to the 2012-13 launch of the Microsoft-made Surface RT and Surface Pro. "They excluded the vast majority of the world from buying it. People want to see a tablet, feel it, touch it, want their friends to buy it."

Instead, Microsoft sold the Surface RT in 2012, and—starting in early 2013—the more expensive Surface Pro, primarily online with a bit of help from its small-sized U.S. and Canadian retail chain.

Microsoft still overwhelmingly relies on its hardware partners for Windows-powered hardware. They have also been dogged by sluggish sales, and virtually all have either declined to support Windows RT or abandoned the scaled-down OS designed exclusively for tablets.

Nor have Windows tablet prices been competitive. "The $349 is where they should have started," said King, of this month's $150 price cut to the Surface RT line, a move that forced Microsoft to take a $900 million charge against earnings as it accounted for the discount and the overstock that drove it.

Microsoft has taken corrective steps, including the Surface RT price cut and a deal with the U.S. electronic retail chain Best Buy that will balloon the number of outlets selling Surface.

"Microsoft will be back," said King, ticking off the company's strengths, including a large war chest and this fall's free Windows 8.1 upgrade. "But for them, it's 'Okay, back to the drawing board,'" he added, noting that in the meantime Microsoft will have lost 12 months in its fight to claw out a significant share.

Some of the factors involved in the decline of share in Apple- and Windows-marked tablets, however, will not be easily addressed.

Android tablets, especially the cut-rate white box units, have a stranglehold on the low-priced segment. "Outside the U.S. and Europe, sales are driven by the low-cost models, not because they're great, because they're not, but because people [in those markets] don't have as much disposable income," said King.

The cutthroat price war in tablets has prompted analysts to call for Apple to consider discounting the iPad mini, the company's $329 7.9-inch tablet, to $249.

Minus cost cuts and discounts—far from a given by either Apple or Microsoft—there's no chance either company will shove Android aside as the share leader, said King, parroting other analysts who have said Google's operating system will remain dominant for the foreseeable future.

Strategic Analytics based its early tablet estimates on polls of vendors, publicly-released data and supply chain checks. Its numbers represent "sell-in," or tablet shipments, not final sales.

Hackers use Android 'master key'

 Chinese app Symantec said the exploit has been added to two Chinese health apps A security firm says it has identified the first known malicious use of Android's "master key" vulnerability.

The bug - which was first publicised earlier this month - allows attackers to install code on to phones running Google's mobile operating system and then take control of them.

Symantec said its researchers had found two apps distributed in China that had been infected using the exploit.

Google has already taken moves to tackle the problem.

A fortnight ago it released a patch to manufacturers, but it will not have been sent to all handset owners yet.

Google also scans its own Play marketplace for the exploit, but this will not protect consumers who download software from other stores.

Premium texts
The vulnerability was first reported by security research firm BlueBox on 3 July.

All Android apps contain an encrypted signature that the operating system uses to check the program is legitimate and has not been tampered with.

But BlueBox said it had found a way to make changes to an app's code without affecting the signature.

It warned the technique could be used to install a Trojan to read any data on a device, harvest passwords, record phone calls, take photos and carry out other functions.

According to Symantec, hackers have now exploited the flaw to install malware called Android.Skullkey, which steals data from compromised phones, monitors texts received and written on the handset, and also sends its own SMS messages to premium numbers.

It said the Trojan had been added to two legitimate apps used in China to find and make appointments with a doctor.

Android phones The fragmented nature of the Android market means updates take time before they become available
"We expect attackers to continue to leverage this vulnerability to infect unsuspecting user devices," its report warned.

"Symantec recommends users only download applications from reputable Android application marketplaces."

The firm added that affected users could manually remove the software by going into their settings menu.

One telecoms consultant said the news highlighted the difficulty Google had in distributing changes to Android.

"When Google releases its updates, manufacturers want to check them and then network operators also want to certify the code as well," said Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight.

"It's a consequence of having so many different firms making Android devices, with most running their own user interfaces on top.

"By contrast, Apple just pushes its updates directly to consumers."

In Android, move a photo to another folder

Once he's snapped a photo with his Android phone, Bob wants to move it to another folder.
This isn't really a photo issue; it's a file management issue. And so you need a file management app. I recommend the ASTRO File Manager. The Pro version costs $4, but the basic, free app is sufficient for this job (and much more).

After you've installed ASTRO from the Play Store, go ahead and launch it. Tap the Camera folder. If you don't see a Camera folder, tap the DCIM folder; you'll find the Camera folder inside.

The Camera folder contains all of the photos you've taken but have not yet deleted or moved elsewhere. Each photo will be visible as a thumbnail. Tap and hold the photo you want to move. If it's your most recent snapshot, it will be at the bottom.

An orange outline will appear around the thumbnail, indicating that you've selected it. Two additional menus will pop-up.

If you want to select an additional photo, tap it. If you want to select all of them, tap and hold any one of them.

Tap Move on the bottom menu. Two buttons will appear: CANCEL and PASTE. For now, ignore them.
Navigate ASTRO to the target folder. You can swipe left to right for the Android version of My Computer, listing all of the storage devices available. Tap the one you want and find and tap your desired folder.
If you want to create a new folder, tap the menu icon in the upper-right corner and select New Folder.
When you're in the right folder, tap PASTE. 

Researchers warn of “huge” Android security flaw

Security researchers say they have discovered a vulnerability in Android’s security model that could allow attackers to take full control of smartphones running Google's mobile operating system (OS).

The vulnerability allows hackers to modify an app without breaking its cryptographic signature, according to Jeff Forristal, chief technology officer (CTO) at mobile security firm Bluebox.

Android uses cryptographic signatures to determine if the app is legitimate and to verify that the app has not been tampered with or modified.

The ability to bypass this means that hackers could turn any legitimate application into a malicious Trojan, unnoticed by the app store, the phone, or the end user, Forristal wrote in a blog post.

Researchers at Bluebox Labs, who discovered the vulnerability, believe the flaw was introduced with the release of Android 1.6 and could affect up to 900 million devices.

Depending on the type of application, they say a hacker could exploit the vulnerability for anything from data theft to creation of a mobile botnet.

The risk to the enterprise is great, said Forristal, and this risk is compounded by applications developed by the device manufacturers because they are granted special elevated privileges in Android.

“Installation of a Trojan application from the device manufacturer can grant the application full access to Android system and all applications (and their data) currently installed,” he wrote.

This means the application has the ability to read application data on the device such as email, SMS messages and documents, and retrieve all stored account and service passwords.

“It can essentially take over the normal functioning of the phone and control any function thereof,” said Forristal.

The most unsettling concern, he said, is the potential for a hacker to take advantage of the always-on, always-connected, and always-moving nature of these “zombie” mobile devices to create a botnet.

Bluebox disclosed the Android flaw to Google in February, but said it is up to device manufacturers to release firmware updates for mobile devices and up to users to install them.

Bluebox recommends that:

¦ Device owners use extra caution identifying the publisher of the app they want to download.

¦ Enterprises with BYOD implementations should prompt all users to update their devices and highlight the importance of keeping their devices updated.

¦ IT should see this vulnerability as another driver to move beyond just device management to focus on deep device integrity checking and securing corporate data.

Pogue’s Posts Blog: A Better Google Maps App for Apple and Android Devices

Google Map’s new directory buttons.
Our story so far: Last September, Apple decided to dump the Google Maps app that had been on the iPhone for years. Apple replaced it with its own Maps app — software with so many problems that Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, apologized and even recommended that people use other apps until Apple could fix its own one.

In December — incredibly quickly — Google responded by introducing its own Maps app for iPhone. It’s a spectacular app, among the best apps ever written. It’s fast, beautiful and so good at guessing what you mean when you start typing a destination, it’s almost mind reading. You can read the details here.

Today, that delightful news gets even better. Not only has Google improved Google Maps for iPhone, it’s also brought that same free app to three machines that never had it: the iPad, Android phones and Android tablets. (The Android versions are available for download today; it requires the Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean version of Android — recent versions, in other words. The iOS versions will be available shortly.)

For Androidians, the biggest news is the design of the app itself. It’s modeled on the iPhone app, the one that’s simple and fast and elegant. It’s also uncluttered by the morass of menus that have always plagued the existing Maps app for Android.

But for practitioners of all religions — tablet, phone, iOS, Android — the other news is the new features that today’s new version brings. They include:

* Greater speed. All app versions are faster than before.

* Better place information. Half the time, you don’t even need navigation instructions; you just use Google Maps as the world’s smartest Yellow Pages, to find a nearby restaurant, movie theater, drugstore or whatever.

The details for found places now include a one-line description (“Chinese restaurant famous for dim sum”); a five-star rating system (including a decimal — “4.3,” for example — because, let’s face it, almost everything these days winds up with a four-star rating); the ability to upload your own photos of a place; and a more complete integration of the Zagat guides, which Google bought.

* Greater emphasis on exploration. Google Maps has always excelled at getting you to a known destination. But Google now wants the app to help you choose a restaurant, bar, store, recreation center or hotel, at least in major United States and European cities.

If you tap in the Search box without typing anything, new, photographic buttons appear: Eat, Drink, Shop, Play, Sleep. Each opens lists of corresponding facilities, sorted by criteria like Local Favorites, Popular with Tourists and so on. (Google says that these recommendations are never paid placement.)

* Traffic incidents and auto-rerouting. At last: Google Maps shows more than colored lines indicating current traffic speeds on major roads. Now it also displays tiny icons that represent accidents and construction. Tap one to read the details: “Right lane blocked on 680,” for example. (In case you were wondering, the information on traffic incidents doesn’t come from Waze, the traffic-incident app that Google recently bought. That data has yet to be incorporated into Maps.)

Better yet: Maps now looks ahead for traffic jams on your route, and interrupts your drive with a dialog box that offers to route you around it (if the new path would be quicker, of course). On its own.

* Offline maps. This feature is something of an Easter egg. It’s undocumented, a feature inserted by Google engineers simply because they wanted it. You can access it only if you know the secret. But wow, is it worth it.

This feature memorizes the map data for whatever area is displayed on your screen right now (up to a whole city in size). That way, you can use Google Maps even when you’re overseas and don’t want to turn on data roaming (because that’s insanely expensive), or when you’re in an area where there’s no cell reception. It’s very handy.

To capture a map snapshot like this, tap in the Search box. Use the speech-recognition button and say, “OK Maps.” (It’s a riff on the command “OK Glass” that prepares Google Glass, the company’s “smart headband,” for voice commands.)

A message quietly lets you know you’ve successfully stored the displayed area.

*Nice tablet layouts. On a tablet, Maps really shines. The app smartly reformats itself to take best advantage of whatever screen shape you have: two or three columns of place listings, for example, and luxuriously displayed photos and reviews for each business.

This new, improved Maps app works identically on both major flavors of phone and tablet. You know what? I don’t care how much you distrust Google and its motives. This is crazy good software, some of the best work Google has ever done.

Most Android threats would be blocked if phones ran latest Android version, report says

Over three quarters of Android threats are malicious apps that send SMS messages to premium rate numbers and could be mitigated by a protection feature present in Android 4.2, according to researchers from networking vendor Juniper Networks.

 

However, because manufacturers and carriers fail to update Android end user devices in a timely fashion, only 4 percent of devices currently run Android 4.2, even though this version was released more than six months ago.

 

From March 2012 to March 2013 the number of mobile threats grew by 614 percent to reach a total of 276,259 malicious samples, researchers from Juniper Networks’ Mobile Threat Center (MTC) said in a report released Wednesday. Of those malicious applications, 92 percent target the Android operating system, they said.

 

The surge of Android malware in the past two years is consistent with the findings of other security vendors that track mobile threats. This growth is primarily driven by Android’s “commanding share” of the global smartphone market, the Juniper researchers said.

 

The majority of Android malware, 77 percent, are apps that earn money for their creators by either requiring users to send SMS messages to premium rate numbers or by surreptitiously sending such messages on their own. These threats usually masquerade as legitimate applications or come bundled in pirated apps.

 

The Juniper researchers estimate that every successful attack using such an app can bring an immediate profit of $10 for the attacker on average.

 

Android 4.2 introduced a feature that detects attempts to send SMS messages to special rate numbers, also known as short codes, and prompts users for confirmation. Unfortunately, due to the Android market fragmentation, only 4 percent of Android devices are currently running Android 4.2.x.



This estimation is based on data collected from Google Playover a 14-day period ending on May 1, 2013, the Juniper researchers said. Based on the same data, the most common versions of Android found on devices are Android 2.3.3 to 2.3.7, also known as “Gingerbread,” with a 36.4 percent coverage and Android 4.0.3 and 4.0.4, also known as “Ice Cream Sandwich,” with 25.5 percent.

 

The lack of regular updates for Android devices contributes to the growth of Android malware, because the latest protections added by Google to the operating systems reach users too late or never, the researchers said.

 

The second most common type of Android threats are spyware applications that capture and transfer sensitive user data to attackers. These account for 19 percent of all malicious samples collected by Juniper’s MTC.

 

Some information-stealing Android Trojan apps discovered during the past year and distributed through drive-by downloads or phishing emails could also pose a threat to enterprise environments, the Juniper researchers said.



Data collected from enterprise mobile devices running Juniper’s Junos Pulse endpoint collaboration and security software showed at least one infection on 3.1 percent of such devices.

 

While that figure is not large enough to raise a significant alarm, it is proof that the threat of mobile malware to corporate devices is not only theoretical, the Juniper researchers said. “We expect the presence of mobile malware in the enterprise to grow exponentially in the coming years.”

 

 

BlackBerry launches iPhone and Android security platform

Secure Work Space lets users toggle between personal and corporate modes on their devices.

Now a distant fourth (behind even Microsoft) and fading fast on the hardware side, BlackBerry is hoping its acclaimed security software might be its ticket to success -- even if it means supporting rivals' devices.

BlackBerry on Tuesday introduced a new service called "Secure Work Space," which allows enterprise iPhone and Android users to toggle between personal and corporate modes.

Secure Work Space is aimed at giving companies control over the data that flows over their networks, even on a user's personal phone. Corporate email, calendars, contacts and intranets are cordoned off, and IT departments can add or remove other apps from that corporate section without affecting any personal information.

That separation ensures, for example, that users can't copy a message from the corporate profile and paste it into the personal one. Just as crucially, malware infecting the personal side of the phone won't make its way into corporate data.

The setup is similar to BlackBerry Balance, which comes standard on BlackBerry 10 devices.

Related story: You're going to love the BlackBerry Q10 (or hate it)

BlackBerry will provide an update on sales of the Z10 and other BlackBerry 10 smartphones on Friday. Though some analysts are optimistic, no one expects the new line of devices will launch BlackBerry back to the smartphone forefront anytime soon -- or, truthfully, ever.

But if Secure Work Space takes off, it could help BlackBerry (BBRY) regain some of the corporate market that it lost so publicly and painfully.

"Conceptually, it does make sense -- BlackBerry did well securing email, and now they're securing a workspace," said Cowen & Co. analyst Matthew Hoffman.

But as BlackBerry has declined, competitors like Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) have worked hard to improve their own security capabilities. Samsung launched its own "Knox" system for the new Galaxy S4, which works much like Secure Work Space.

Still, there's room in the market for a trusted multi-platform solution -- an Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) of mobile devices.

Hoffman isn't convinced that BlackBerry will be the only company in the field, but BlackBerry still has the chance to become that trusted solution. Despite all of its troubles on the hardware side, BlackBerry's reputation as a company dedicated to security endures, as CEO Thorsten Heins has made sure to play up the company's history in the space.

A full switch to software would be "messy," though, Hoffman said. "[BlackBerry would] be taking 95% of its revenue, hardware, and saying, that doesn't matter -- now we're going to focus on this 5%. It would be a pretty big corporate transition to become software-only."

BlackBerry dipped a toe into this field back in 2011, when the company launched an experimental product that allows corporate IT staffers to manage multiple mobile devices -- including iOS and Android -- through the same interface. At the time, the company insisted that it wasn't shifting its strategy away from hardware.

Two years later, however, BlackBerry is still struggling on the device side and sorely needs a bright spot. If security software can be successful for BlackBerry, a bit of a strategic shift could be a smart move.

New Norton Mobile Security includes database of 4 million scanned Android apps

Somewhere deep inside Symantec, there’s a humming farm of virtual machines whose sole purpose is to crawl 200-plus Android app stores worldwide, download about 10,000 new apps every day, and scan each and every one. They’re looking not just for malware, but for other annoying, privacy-invading things an Android app could do—oh, like take your phone number and send it along to a third party, or grab your camera pictures or contacts.

SymantecThe Norton Mobile Insights database crawls 200 Android app stores worldwide and downloads about 10,000 new apps every day,

This database of four million scanned Android apps and counting is the foundation of Norton Mobile Insight, the biggest (but not the only) change to the new version of Norton Mobile Security (version 3.4 for iOS/3.5 for Android), announced Wednesday for iOS and Android devices.

 

If a Norton Mobile Security user downloads an app that’s been scanned and logged by the Norton Mobile Insight database, the database will send back information about the security and privacy risks for that app. “Even if the app isn’t malware, we try to shed some light on the apps themselves and report back to them whether the app is potentially annoying,” says Con Mallon, senior director of Norton Product Management at Symantec.

 

Symantec’s Mallon takes a measured view of what makes an Android app annoying. “There’s a lot of apps that do have advertising—not a bad thing in and of itself, but there are poor implementations where ads step over the mark,” says Mallon. “They may be putting start buttons in your home screen, or as you’re exiting an app, you may be served up a web page of advertising. These are annoying and unwanted behaviors.”

SymantecHow annoying and privacy-invading is this Android app? Norton Mobile Insight will tell you.

Norton Mobile Insight focuses on the following eight privacy risks—specifically, things an app might collect from your phone: phone number, personal account details, calendar or call log details, camera pictures, SMS messages, or contact details. “We’re trying to call out what we think is most important to the consumer—behaviors that are most egregious,” says Mallon.

 

Competitors like McAfee Mobile Security can scan apps on the fly and identify potential risks, but Norton Mobile Insight’s database is a feature unique to Norton Mobile Security. “Giving the consumer some more insight into what the apps are doing is where you’ll see us differentiate ourselves going forward,” says Mallon.

 

Symantec has added a few other notable features to the new version of Norton Mobile Security. The Chrome browser in Android will now enjoy the same protection against malicious Web sites as the native Android browser already has. In addition, the antitheft protection has been expanded beyond iOS devices connected to cellular networks to include Wi-Fi-connected iOS devices such as the iPod touch. You can also set up remote "scream" and remote call for your iOS device from the Norton Mobile Security Web portal, to help you locate the device if it's missing.

 

The new version of Norton Mobile Security is available for a $30 yearly subscription that covers up to 10 iOS or Android devices. Norton Mobile Security requires 15MB of storage space on the device. It works on Android phones (version 2.2 or later) that have Google Play Store installed, and iOS devices running version 5.0 or later.

 

 

Intel looks past Windows, sees Android for Haswell successor

Intle appears to be shifting its focus towards the Android operating system, and breaking away from years of optimizing its top line of Core PC processors—including recently launched Haswell processors—chiefly for Windows.

Intel is looking for a program manager whose job will be to manage Android development for the company’s upcoming Core chips that are code-named Broadwell. Broadwell, the successor to Haswell, is due next year. The job listing on Intel’s website hints that Android development will continue beyond Broadwell and into future Core chips.

IntelHaswell processor

The listing for an “Android System Software Program Manager” includes responsibilities for “planning and delivery for full system—across architecture, development, integration and validation.”

Intel already backs Android for its low-power Atom tablet and smartphone processors, but the company has not yet talked publicly about Android for Core processors. Core processors have more advanced instruction sets and graphics capabilities than Atom processors, and those would need to be optimized for Android.

Earlier this month, rival x86 chip maker Advanced Micro Devices moved away from an exclusive focus on Windows and said it will optimize chips for Android and Chrome OS—based on customer demand.

Intel sees innovation among PC makers, and the company will support multiple OS choices, a company spokesman said in an email.

PC designs are changing with tablet-like hybrids and convertibles, and Android could be used in some of those devices, according to Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.

”It’s very smart of them to make sure Android runs on all of Intel’s architectures,” Gold said. “But Microsoft won’t go away anytime soon.”

Slow Windows 8 PC and tablet sales have hurt Intel and AMD, but neither will abandon Microsoft’s OS anytime soon. Intel’s aggressive multi-OS strategy will also help the chip maker compete with ARM, which dominates on Android devices.

Android and Windows tablets that are priced from $199 to $500 and come equipped with Intel’s upcoming Atom tablet chips code-named Bay Trail will reach shelves this holiday season.

Intel has already started development of the next-generation Core processor called Broadwell. The chips will be made using the 14-nanometer process, and will initially be released for PCs.