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Google using a Bouncer to keep malware out of Android Market

vrreddy — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:39:24 +0000

Google revealed a security tool today codenamed Bouncer to address the malware concerns of Android market. the service performs set of analysis on new application, applications already in Android market and developer accounts.

Google says the tool is already in use, in the past year there is a 40% of decrease in number of potentially malicious applications compared to the second half from first of the year. Surprisingly the decrease in number of malicious applications came at the same time the security companies which sell the security software anti-malware software are reporting that malware is on the rise in Android market.

Bouncer does automated scanning of applications for potential malicious software without requiring developers to go through an application approval process. Once an application is submitted to the market, the tool scans for, malware, spyware and trojans. It also compares the behavior of the application with the previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags.

According to Google Android was designed from the beginning to make malware less disruptive unlike PCs where the potential of misuse of your information by malware is high.

Some of Android’s core security features.

Sandboxing: The Android platform uses a technique called “sandboxing” to put virtual walls between applications and other software on the device. So, if you download a malicious application, it can’t access data on other parts of your phone and its potential harm is drastically limited.

Permissions: Android provides a permission system to help you understand the capabilities of the apps you install, and manage your own preferences. That way, if you see a game unnecessarily requests permission to send SMS, for example, you don’t need to install it.

Malware removal: Android is designed to prevent malware from modifying the platform or hiding from you, so it can be easily removed if your device is affected. Android Market also has the capability of remotely removing malware from your phone or tablet, if required.

It’ a good thing to know that Google is not sitting ideal and in fact they are trying to keep Android safe. Google addresses that no security is fool proof and they are working to make things better day by day.

Via Google Mobile blog

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Windows Phone 8 ‘Apollo’ comes with Windows 8, Skype and SkyDrive integration

vrreddy — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:38:49 +0000

New details emerged about Windows Phone 8, next generation mobile operating system from Microsoft. Pocketnow got hands on with a video supposed to be for Nokia executives, according to Pocketnow senior vice president and Windows Phone Manager Joe Belfiore of Microsoft revealed a number of WP8 features in that video.

Windows Phone 8 code named Apollo will come after the Tango iteration of the mobile OS. This will bring lot of new features along with hardware changes, integration with the desktop version of Windows 8 and 100,000 applications at the launch time.

Hardware

WP8 or Apollo will add support for multicore processors like the desktop OS, four screen resolutions, details of the four are not known yet, and removable microSD card storage. NFC support allowing users to make mobile payments by simply tapping their phone, a mobile wallet experience.

Windows 8 integration

Integration with the Windows 8 is not just the UI but uses the same code as Windows 8 in PC and tablet. Developers can reuse the code while developing apps for both desktop and smartphone. In addition Zune desktop client is scrapped in favor of a syncing companion application and the Xbox companion app currently found on Windows phone 8 will have a client on Windows phone 8.

SkyDrive support for Windows Phone 8 provide a cloud storage solution for the phone and seamless syncing between the devices. SkyDrive already provides 25GB of free data storage online, which is ideal for storing documents, music as well as other files.

Apps

Microsoft will add native code support, which enables more powerful applications. porting of apps from iOS and Android will be much easier. Support for app-to-app communication. The camera is now based on lens apps, OEMs can skin the lens or overlaid with viewfinders.

Skype integration

Skype is integrating into the OS making it to behave almost identical to the regular non-VoIP telephony.

Data Management

A feature called DataSmart reduces and simplifies the tracking of data usage by offering a breakdown of data consumption. Local Scout feature of Bing Maps will enable the real-time location of nearby hotspots. WP8 uses proxy to feed pages to IE10 that will reduce the data consumption by whooping 30%.

Business Support

For business customers Microsoft will add native BitLocker encryption, 128 bit full disk encryption found on desktop versions. WP8 will also come with a ‘line of business applications’, businesses can deploy these applications behind their company firewalls.

These are pretty long list of changes to get Windows Phone 8 comparable to other phone OS. Perhaps more details might emerge from the Mobile World congress later this month.

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Microsoft Office 15 begins technical preview, public beta in summer

vrreddy — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:24:03 +0000

Microsoft announced today that it’s next edition off Office codenamed "Office 15" enters technical preview. In the technical preview only select Microsoft customers or partners under non-disclosure agreements will get access to the next generation Microsoft Office. Current technical preview is already full and Microsoft promises that the public beta for the Office will start later this summer.

There is not much information on release dates and the new features that are expected in Office 15, but according to Microsoft’s CVP of Development, PJ Hough Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office division. With Office 15 Microsoft for the first time updating cloud services, servers, mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, SharePoint etc.

Office 15 public beta will begin in late summer, so we can expect the next edition of Office to be released by they end of the year or at the same time as Windows 8. With the technical preview underway we can expect leaks of Office 15 soon.

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Windows Phone Tango could come with native apps and support 120 languages

vrreddy — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:51:56 +0000

Microsoft’s next windows operating system code named “Tango” is expected to release with support for 120 languages. The information came from a Microsoft Phone Developers camp in India.

The current version of Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” has support for 35 languages, while the future version Tango is expected to have 120 languages support that will allow Microsoft to enter new markets. iOS currently supports 34 languages and Android supports 55 languages, with 120 languages Windows mobile will have wider reach compared to others.

The Tango update for WP7 should also work on lower end phones making Windows phone to reach wider audience including China and India where current Windows phone share is negligible. Nokia sells lot of cheaper handsets in these markets and it can use the Tango to push its Windows phone devices in developing countries.

Another tidbit from the developer camp is that Tango will support writing Windows Mobile Applications using C++, something that developers really wanted, this native support will enable developers to squeeze more performance out of the device hardware for their apps. Currently Windows Mobile apps are developed using Silverlight based platform.

We might hear about the Tango update in the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2012.

Via WPSauce, Liveside

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SkyDrive gets app-centric sharing for Office, improved file management and HTML5 uploads

vrreddy — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:31:56 +0000

Microsoft’s SkyDrive got some improvements and updates, a blog post on Inside Windows Live outlines. SkyDrive is a personal cloud storage and offers 25GB of free storage for users to store and share documents, files and photos. The improvements include sharing Office files with one click, powerful tools to manage and organize files quickly. Collaboration tools to connect with friends from other email services as well as from Facebook and LinkedIn. Apart from this now files can be uploaded to SkyDrive using HTML5 capabilities.

SkyDrive now makes it easy to share documents with friends, users using Web Office products can directly share the file with friends using the share option with in the document, earlier this is not possible. Now users can share each file with in a folder without worrying about the folder structure. This type of sharing works with Office documents, photos or any other file type. The sharing process is simple, just click the share link and enter email addresses, or post the link to social networks, alternatively you can send a link to other users. Now users can share with any other email service users to send files for free.

File management in SkyDrive is also improved with new options:

Create folders inline
Rename a folder inline (or by hitting the F2 key)
Move, delete, and download multiple files in bulk
Move and copy very easily with an inline pop-over dialog
Use right-click functionality on documents and photos to take action right away
Create an Office document quickly. When you click one of the Office document icons, all you have to do is name the document, and then you can immediately launch into the Office Web Apps.

Microsoft has also introduced drag and drop functionality for SkyDrive using HTML5 API, this allows users to upload files and photos by drag and drop. Modern browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 10 and Safari all support this functionality. Earlier Microsoft relied on Silverlight technology for uploading the files. With this new feature users can browse while uploading, as the uploading is done in the background.

This release also includes rebuilt photo slideshows that are faster and better. When viewing an album you can now click “View folder” and return to the folder of the album and see captions right below the photo. Now there is support for touch APIs in Internet Explorer 10 and Mobile Safari for navigating photos with swipe.

These updates would have been added long back to SkyDrive a free online file storage service. It’s competitors Dropbox and Google are in fast pace and particularly users love Dropbox. SkyDrive is online for more than 3 years without much user adoption, these improvements may help to get more users for the service, but there is a long road ahead for SkyDrive to catchup with Dropbox.

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Apple now allows game subscriptions on the App Store (updated)

vrreddy — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:20:03 +0000

Apple is now letting game companies to offer monthly subscriptions like newspaper or magazine subscriptions according to Bloomberg report. Currently game developers could only sell in-app purchases and required users to download the game. With the new subscriptions users can buy a package and play all the games offered under the package without downloading.

Big Fish Games is the first game developer who got the Apple App Store approval and offering $6.99/month subscription to dozens of title according to bloomberg. The games will need Wi-Fi access to play as they are streamed directly from big Fish data centers. The subscription model is available for iPad, soon it is will available for Android devices as well.

Currently Big fish app is being offered as a streaming application for iPad, subscribers can get access to games such as “Mystery Case Files” and the “Mahjong Towers” from the app. Initially the subscriptions will cost $4.99 and will increase next year to $6.99 with more game titles added to the service. There will also be a subscription free model where users are restricted to 30 min of game play daily.

When Apple introduced its subscription feature earlier this year, Paul Thelen, the founder of Big Fish, saw it as an opportunity to offer an “all-you-can-eat” service. That lets players jump in and out of different games without having to make a bunch of downloads. While game-subscription services have a mixed record of success, the popularity of the iPad, along with the easy payment method provided by Apple’s App Store, will make the offering attractive, Thelen said.

With the launch of subscription model we can soon find other game developers following the suite and users can play games without purchasing single titles and downloading all of them to their devices.

Update: Apple removed the Big Fish App from App Store

Big Fish games co-founder explained yesterday to bloomberg how much he is excited about the game subscriptions. But Apple removed the app from the App Store shortly after the announcement came Big Fish games. The app had been available since Nov 18 acrroding to Big Fish Games.

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Call your Facebook friends from Skype desktop app

vrreddy — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:52:23 +0000

Facebook and Skype partnered in July that allowed Facebook users to video chat with each other using browser. Today Skype announced that users can initiate Facebook to Facebook video chat using the Skype desktop app. To do this users can download the updated versions of the Skype, Skype 5.4 beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 beta for windows.

The new update to Skype will allow you to connect your Skype account to your Facebook account, all this happens with in the Skype app, once connected you can select a Facebook friend to initiate a call, your friend can simply pickup the call from Facebook itself.

Besides the Skype to Facebook video call feature there are some additional new features, improved video rendering for smoother video experience for Mac users and group screen sharing for windows users with premium subscription (this feature is already available for Mac users). “Users who are chatting one-on-one will also be able to screen share with live video streaming” according to Skype blog. Via Download.com

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Adobe Released Flash Player 11 and AIR 3

vrreddy — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:14:38 +0000

Adobe has released Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 today, users can download the latest updates now. The biggest feature of the release is new architecture for hardware accelerated graphics renedering (Stage 3D) which improves the rendering by 1000x times compared to the Flash Player 10 according to Adobe. This feature allows new calsses of console-quality games and apps in the flash platform. To showcase the capabilities of the Flash player 11 adobe published two sample videos, which are embedded below.

Stage 3D will be available on Windows, Mac OS and connected televisions. Support for mobile platforms including Android, Apple iOS and Blackberry Tablet OS will come in the future release.

Stage 3D leverages the processing power of the GPU to accelerate content for both 2D and 3D graphics. Apart from the stage 3D, new features include theatre quality HD video, native 64-bit optimizations, high quality HD video conferencing.

According to Adobe, contetn using the new Stage 3D APIs will automatically take advantage of the GPU hardware, from graphic chipsets. Stage 3D also provides accelerated software rendering for content on older computers, but the rendering speed on these computers is only 2-10x faster than the Flash player 10.

Adobe AIR 3 can be downloaded from here, Flash Player 11 can be downloaded from here. List of Flash player features can be seen here.

Adobe announcement

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Twitter to launch own photo sharing service

vrreddy — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:53:28 +0000

Twitter is reportedly launching a photo sharing service soon according to a report published on Techcrunch. This photo sharing service if launched will directly compete with Twitpic and others like yFrog.

Twitter users are now using third party services like Twitpic, but a built-in photo sharing app for twitter will give an advantage over other third party apps. The move will help twitter to keep their users hooked on to twitter than losing them to third party sites.

Til now twitter only allowed text, now if they start photo sharing, we can expect video sharing also in the near future.
Source: Techcrunch

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Google to launch Groupon competitor: Google Offers

vrreddy — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:47:07 +0000

Google is reportedly preparing to launch a service similar to Groupon, Google Offers. Mashable first reported the news, they got hold of a fact sheet on Google Offers. Google sent a response to Mashable in Google style which ofcourse confirms that Google Offers is real. Earlier Google tried to buy Groupon for $6 billion, but Groupon rejected the deal.

Google offers works similar to other deal services like Groupon and Livingsocial. Looks like Google will send a daily mail with deals of the day to users, the users can buy the coupons within a specific time frame.

From the face sheet it looks like Google offers will be powered by Google Checkout the forgotten payment service from Google.

Google will hold 80% of the business’s revenue share for 3 days after the deal commenced and remaining 20% for 60 days to adjust for the refunds.

An example offer from the factsheet

Google Offers Factsheet

The deals also carry share buttons for email, Google buzz, Facebook, Google Reader and Twittter.

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