A background app on your droid smartphone sniffs all your info

By: Asim on 5:37 PM

Well, this is tough. After the Applegate scandal that followed after we found out that Apple was tracking the location of its users with their iPhones, now Google's Android, and HTC in particular, could be finding themselves in much the same situation.
After a thorough research, Android developer Trevor Eckhart has found out that his HTC EVO 4G phone has been tracking every keypress, message or location he's been to. The software used to do so comes from a Silicon Valley company Carrier IQ, which records in real time what has been happening on not just Eckhart phone, but million other droids and, as the developer states, also Nokia and Blackberry devices alike.
Using a packet sniffer, the developer was able to track every single packet going in and out of his stock EVO 4G smartphone. That way, he managed to show how each tap on the numeric keyboard, the contents of SMS messages and HTTPS browsing data have been tapped by the Carrier IQ software.
As you'll find out in the video below, the software in question is developed by Carrier IQ, who recently went after Trevor Eckhart and threatened to sue him for his allegations of the software being "rootking", but who also withdrew their demands shortly after. The Carrier IQ VP of Marketing Andrew Coward rejected the developer's claims in an interview last week saying that the software never captured keypresses.
Here is a part of his answer from the interview:

Our technology is not real time. It's not constantly reporting back. It's gathering information up and is usually transmitted in small doses.

And finally, here's the 17-minute-long video itself, which comes to show you just what is been happening on both HTC devices he owns behind his back. Mind you, this is not yet confirmed to be the case for HTC or any Android devices outside the US. We'll keep you posted for any updates to come.

 

Source

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Google Maps for Android updated to 6.0, adds indoor maps and improvements for OS 4.0

By: Asim on 4:27 PM

Google Maps for Android has been iterating pretty quickly, and today’s update brings it closer to a one-stop mapping shop for Android users. The app has added functionality for indoor maps, though the only participating locations/retailers at the moment are in the U.S. or Japan. As more businesses and airports come on board, indoor mapping will expand to other countries, eventually to Canada but no estimation of when.

Other improvements are mostly functional: the interface has been tweaked to support the new menu operation in Ice Cream Sandwich, and you can now disable screen dimming when using turn-by-turn navigation.

For more information, check out the Official Google Maps Blog or download the update straight to your phone.

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Nielsen: Android extends smartphone platform lead, Apple still top vendor

By: Asim on 4:24 PM

Android further cemented its position as the most widely used smartphone operating system in the United States over the past three months according to new data just released by Nielsen. During the three-month period from August through October, Android’s market share ticked up to 44.2% from 43% between July and September. Apple’s iOS platform grew marginally from 28% to 28.6% and RIM’s BlackBerry OS shed three points to fall to 17%. Microsoft’s share is still barely a blip on the radar. Apple’s 28.6% kept it at the top of the vendor list over the past three months and HTC was still the No.2 vendor over all, followed by RIM and Samsung. Nielsen also noted that 44% of all mobile subscribers in the U.S. now own smartphones, and 56% of subscribers who purchased a cell phone in the past three months chose a smartphone. Finally, the market research firm says 71% of smartphone users in the U.S., and 83% of app downloaders, now own either an iPhone or Android smartphone.

Read

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Siri’s first real competition hits Android phones today [video]

By: Asim on 6:47 PM

Apple’s Siri represents the birth of a new breed of voice-controlled smartphone assistant services, and it is only a matter of time before other companies begin to expand their offerings as a result. While Microsoft and Google undoubtedly work to refine their own voice command services, a new third-party app hits the Android Market on Tuesday that could represent Siri’s first real competition. Cluzee, billed as your intelligent personal assistant, offers Android users a Siri-like service that includes capabilities even more impressive than Siri in some cases. As showcased in a video provided by Tronton, the company behind the app, asking Cluzee a simple question like “what does my schedule look like today?” will yield a spoken rundown of the user’s schedule. Beyond just listing events, however, the app also includes smart tidbits from a range of data it pulls from the web. In one example, Cluzee adds “to reach the doctor’s office on time, you should avoid Main Street because of construction” following the mention of a doctor’s appointment, using traffic data to ensure the user reaches his appointment on time. Read on for more.

Cluzee can also search deals in line with the user’s buying habits, read emails and text messages aloud, research hotels and flights, find restaurants a user might enjoy based on his or her tastes, convert voice to text to send emails or SMS, and more. ”People are drowning in information overload,” Tronton CEO Ashish Patwa said in a statement. “We don’t need all of the information available, all of the time. We just need the right information at the right time, which Cluzee intelligently provides, making us more productive. Technology created the problem, but we’re using smarter technology to solve it.”

Cluzee becomes available on Tuesday for Android phones, and Tronton has plans to launch a cloud-based version in the future that will be accessible from any phone, tablet, computer or internet-connected device. We’ve spent the past day testing the app and it has worked quite well for us so far. The scope of available commands is far more narrow that Siri’s, but there is plenty of functionality in this first public build of the app and we have high hopes for future versions.

A video follows below along with another pair of screenshots and Tronton’s full press release.

Tronton Launches Talking Mobile App “Cluzee,” Your Intelligent Personal Assistant
New Type of Virtual PDA Employs Conversational Interface and Machine Learning To Help Save Time/Money and Manage Information Overload
Chicago, IL – (November 29, 2011) In the Digital Age, we are inundated with so much information, many people wish they had a personal assistant tohelp them keep up with it all. Today, Tronton LLC hopes to make that dream a reality for the average person with the launch of Cluzee, a “talking” intelligent virtual personal digital assistant, available now on Android mobile devices, and coming to iPhones soon.
Billed as “Your Intelligent Personal Assistant” Cluzee utilizes cutting edge technologies like voice recognition, voice synthesis, personal analytics, smart filters and machine learning to help users manage all aspects of their personal and digital lives. Designed to save people time and money, Cluzee’s customized interface talks and responds to voice commands, providing the user with services like day planning, a health planner, personalized restaurant and retail recommendations, a trip planner, social media monitoring, and a daily briefing of personalized digital information.
Cluzee is thefirst offering from Tronton, an emerging start-up poised to become the premier vendor of Virtual Personal Digital Assistants. Founded by seasoned technology professional Ashish Patwa, Tronton designs intelligent products that help people make better decisions in real-time, and improve personal productivity.
“People are drowning in information overload,” said Patwa, CEO of Tronton. “We don’t need all of the information available, all of the time. We just need the right information at the right time, which Cluzee intelligently provides, making us more productive. Technology created the problem, but we’re using smarter technology to solve it.”
CLUZEE INTELLIGENT PERSONAL ASSISTANT CAN HELP YOU:
BE MORE PRODUCTIVE: Many of Cluzee’s features can be accessed hands-free, via voice recognition and voice interface. So you can perform tasks while you’re driving. Cluzee reads you your e-mails, replies to text messages, and gives you a daily digital briefing of whatever you care about, from local news and events, toSocially-Filtered Facebook Feeds and Tweets, plus horoscopes, calendar reminders, health and even package tracking.
SPEAK AND BE SPOKEN TO: Cluzee utilizes Conversational Interface, meaning it talks to you and responds to your commands, delegates tasks, and allows user to create and manage text memos and reminders.
MANAGE YOUR DAILY & DIGITAL LIVES: Services include a Day Planner (PDP) with calendar syncing, a Health Planner with calorie tracker, Trip Planning, Daily Brief,Friends Locator, Local Search Recommendations, and Social Filtering.
PREVENT INFORMATION OVERLOAD: Cluzee lets users set filters for social updates. Instruct Cluzee to immediately inform you if tweets/FB updates come from a group of users, and even customize what news, weather and traffic are included in your brief.
SAVE MONEY WITH CUSTOM DEALS & TRIP PLANNING: Personalized recommendations and daily deal filtering based on your personal digital profile save you money on things you love, while weeding out offers that you’re not interested in. A trip planner helps you map out your vacation and find local attractions.
Cluzee utilizes Machine Learning technology to save time, making busy people’s live more enjoyable.
Cluzee is available today as a mobile app for Android devices, for free download at www.cluzee.com.
Future generations of Cluzee will run in the Cloud and be accessible from all of a person’s devices, including mobile phones, tablets, desktops, laptops, TVs and the Web.
For more information about Cluzee, please visit www.cluzee.com.

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Ignis announces 300ppi true RGB pixel AMOLED

By: Asim on 5:37 PM

Ignis Innovation has just announced that it has developed an AMOLED screen with a pixel density of over 300 ppi that uses a conventional RGB matrix. So far, the only AMOLEDs that boasted such density were using the often criticized PenTile matrix.

The newly announced screen also features a new pixel circuit and driving scheme to compensate for the non-uniformity and enhance the lifetime of such a high-ppi display.

According to Ignis, these techniques will enable the creation of AMOLEDs that match the resolution of the Apple Retina display, but offer substantially better color quality, higher contrast ratio, and wider viewing angles.

Ignis Innovation doesn't plan on manufacturing the screen itself - instead, it will just stick to licensing it to OEMs. There's no saying though when we might get a change to try this new technology on an actual device.

Source | Via

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LG Nitro HD coming to AT&T in December for $250

By: Asim on 3:06 PM

We have been hearing about the LG Nitro HD for a while now but AT&T has finally gone ahead and made it official. The LG Nitro HD will be the first phone on AT&T's network to have an HD display and will be their third LTE phone, after the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the HTC Vivid.

The LG Nitro HD has a 4.5-inch, 1280 x 720 resolution AH-IPS display, dual core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB built-in memory + 16GB microSD card supplied with the device, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, Wi-Fi Direct and LTE.

The LG Nitro HD will be available starting December 4 for $249.99 on a two-year contract.
Source

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Acer shows off upcoming 10.1″ Iconia A200 tablet in leaked video

By: Asim on 4:16 AM

Acer’s Iconia A500 and its 3G cousin the A501 launched earlier this year among a slew of Honeycomb tablets. It differentiated itself by price, being the cheapest Android tablet at $399. Since then the competition has fiercely increased, and at the beginning of 2012 it’s going to start all over again with NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core chip and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
The Acer A200 should launch in that time frame, and along with a thinner, cleaner-looking black chassis with lightweight materials, it should also come equipped with a vivid 10.1″ screen and Tegra 3 on the inside. Acer is looking to augment Ice Cream Sandwich with a few of its own tricks, including ubiquitous on-screen controls and easy DLNA support. The tablet will have at least one full-sized USB port, along with a microSD slot.
A video has leaked out detailing the tablet’s feature set, and is expected to launch at CES in January.

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HTC aims to end product slump with “better and more competitive” phones next year

By: Asim on 3:46 AM

It may not seem like it from the sheer volume of new product being released by HTC, but the company has not had a great run of luck as of late. In nine days its share price has dropped 30% due to a number of factors that have led to a perfect storm of selling off. First, it cut its growth expectation for the coming fourth quarter to zero, and shorted its expected phone shipment to 45 million units. While its previous quarter was its biggest on record, the world’s fourth-biggest smartphone maker is struggling against a resurgent Apple with the iPhone 4S, and an indelibly strong Samsung with its Galaxy lineup.

In addition to the blows on the street, HTC has been dealt two additional hits: they lost a patent infringement case last week after accusing Apple of edging in on a patent they obtained with the purchase of S3 Graphics. That acquisition, as a result of the defeat, has been called into question. Apple also has several patent infringement cases against HTC awaiting a decision, the first of which is expected at the beginning of December.

But 2012 is another year, and with it another opportunity to wow customers. HTC has been trying to differentiate itself from the rest of the Android market by bundling high-quality Beats headphones with their high-end devices, a result of their acquisition of Beats Audio earlier in the year. With the release of the Amaze and Raider they have stepped up their game against Samsung and Apple, offering exceptional camera quality and network speeds.

We’ve already seen the rumoured HTC Ville and even more powerful Zeta, and expectations are high for the company’s first crop of Android 4.0 devices. Whether they can stem the tide of slowdown — they’re expected to only grow 7% next year — by continuing to tether itself to Android remains to be seen.

HTC CFO Winston Yung said “We will focus on the product next year, better and more competitive. Other than new LTE phones for the U.S. market, we have phones for the global market. We will launch some worldwide flagship products. We’re confident in them”.

Source: Reuters
Via: BGR

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Samsung Galaxy Note coming to Canada Q1 2012

By: Asim on 3:45 AM

You see that big touchscreen above? It’s coming to Canada next year. Our reliable sources have informed us that the Samsung Galaxy Note, “a new category of product”, will be launching in Canada “early Q1 2012″. Carrier(s) are still being decided upon, but it will most likely end up being an exclusive. Specs wise, this Android comes with OS 2.3.5 and no word yet on an upgrade to OS 4.0. In addition, the Note has a huge 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen display (1280×800) that’s made of Gorilla Glass, has the and an “S Pen” stylus, a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, 8 megapixel camera that records 1080p HD videos, 2 megapixel front-facing camera, HSPA+ and LTE-enabled, Wi-Fi and a 2,500 mAh battery. Overall dimensions of the Note are 9.65mm thin and weighs 178 grams.
No word on price points, or an exact date, but it’s coming.
More soon!
(Thanks tipster!)

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ASUS Transformer Prime gets shown off in a 2:41 video, leaves us wanting more

By: Asim on 3:42 AM

The ASUS Transformer Prime has an estimated Canadian release date of December 5th – no doubt this will quickly sell out. It’ll come with Android Honeycomb OS, no worries as ASUS promises an upgrade to OS 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. A couple videos surfaced online about this upcoming tablet, but they were quickly pulled. Yet another video has popped up online, a full 2:41 minutes worth of a goodness. Check it out above, hopefully they go into greater detail in the follow up video.
Source: Ritche’s Room TV
Via: Phandroid

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A Closer Look at Ice Cream Sandwich Camera Real-time Video Effects! (Video)

By: Asim on 3:37 AM

As already know the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is a bringing a whole new user experience to us, a very important part of the new feature set is improved native Camera App. The app completely revamped and a lot of new features has been added such as continuous focus, zero shutter lag exposure, and decreased shot-to-shot speed for taking clear image. Along with these features the camera also has some cool photo effects and an awesome Live Effects for transforming video like adding custom background or show some silly face effects while video chatting.

We are still waiting to get our hands on these cool features, but how about a quick demonstration right now? Recently Matias Duate, Senior Director of Android User Experience at Google were in a show organised by tech blog The Verge  where he demonstrated this real-time video effects. Let’s watch below the short  idea demo of Ice Cream Sandwich Camera Effects:

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Android 4.0 Cyanogen ROM for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 coming soon!

By: Asim on 3:36 AM

Rejoice for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners, soon you will be able to enjoy Google’s latest creation Android Ice Cream Sandwich on your Tablet. Soon after Android 4.0 SDK released, Cyanogen team announced they are working to bring Ice Cream Sandwich on Galaxy Tab and now Steve Kondik (aka Cyanogen) himself confirmed they have succeeded to build the ROM and will be available to download soon. On Google+ he posted:

ICS on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is pretty great. Coming soon to a CM mirror near you 

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Unlocked Galaxy Nexus now available in U.S. for $749, Compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile

By: Asim on 3:17 AM

For our American friends, if you have been waiting for Google’s latest innovation Samsung Galaxy Nexus then you may don’t have to wait for carrier’s to offer a deal, instead you can get a (GSM version of Galaxy Nexus unlocked) without contract. Phone retailer EXPANSYS now selling Galaxy Nexus in U.S. at a price of $749,99 which is fully unlocked, compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile network, also has HSPA+ data suppert & 16GB storage.

If you can afford the price and want to be the first among your friends to get Galaxy Nexus with ICS then head over to expanses store.

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RCMix3d Runny XL v1.2

By: Asim on 1:32 AM

Change-logs

v1.2

• FC errors fixed
• Lots of tweaks added
• SU fixed

 RCMix Runny XL v1.2 - Multiupload

MD5: 307C70128C72A7D22042F865724AF4F2

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RCMix3d Runny XL v1.0

By: Asim on 1:25 AM

Chang-logs


v1.0

• status bar transparency added to tweaks, different levels
• Fixed Honeycomb lockscreen text bug
• Tweaks - Volume Key Screen On
• Tweaks - 5x5 Appdrawer
• Tweaks - Hide Navbar Text
• Tweaks - Volume Key Camera Shutter Button
• New tweaks, keylight settings, full 2D smooth hack by hamdir
• Tweak: bliss rosie switch (all working)
• Tweak: hamdir supersmooth scrolling switch (not really needed as it is very smooth)
• Choose lockscreen sense aosp honeycomb aosp
• Reboot menu from apm in quicksettings (hot restart, normal, bootloader &
• Quicksettings volume can shift between audio's by soft pressing icon
• Longpress quicksetting takes you to menu of item (most of them)
• Maxthon browser rcmix3d edition added
• More quicksettings added (flashlight, hot reboot, wireless adb)
• New bootanimation
• SMS screen on, on recieve option in tweaks
• Browser tab fix
• Quicklaunch widget added (mods for gfx coming)
• Secure sms and block list, trashcan, enable in sms settings
• Keyboard slide in animation
• Crt added
• Added advance power menu
• User apps auto install written by rmk40
• 3D homescreen option added
• Initial release

BUGS:

• FC's on boot up and black screen, trying to collect info to fix it, so people who have the device please help out, as i dont have one

 RCMix Runny XL v1.0 - MD5: 4256bb35656910f910d0215ff24f92e4

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RCMix3d Runny v4.0

By: Asim on 11:43 PM

Change-logs


v4.0

• new downanimation
• new bootanimation
• new intro
• loads of new tweaks (some tweaks needs use of data or wifi)

System Tweaks:

• Hot Rebot
• God Mode
• Install2System
• Mount System
• Free Up 50/70mb's
• Clear Dalvik Chache
• Fix Permissions
• Camera & Video Recording sounds off/on
• Medium/ Low Vibration
• Show/Block Ads
• White/Black System UI
• Andrev/Virtuous/Reset OC Daemon
• Disable/Enable/Remove Boot Animation
• Kernel & UVs (not working yet)
• Backup/Restore apps data and extras (not working yet)
• Extras Tweaks:
• Install/Unistall Recommended Apps
• Switch Bootanimations/Downanimations
• Select Bootanimation Sound
• Switch Fonts
• Update Tweaks to latest
• Costom Installs (not working yet)

Multidevice support

• Desire HD
• Inspire 4G
• Desire HD Telus
• Incredible S
• Droid Incredible 2
• DesireS
• MT4G
• Desire Z

RCMix Runny v4.0  (UPDATED LINK) MD5: f3e57479dceb24557a20212574c1c21a
(Rom do not wipe, but i recomend it) please click an ad or two on this forum to support us. Doesn't cost you or take up Much time thanks, capy

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RCMix3d Runny v3.3

By: Asim on 11:40 PM

Change-logs:

v3.3

• Quciklaunch widget updated (thx liamstears bigt305)
• Tweaks text corrected
• quicksettings reboot fix
• secure sms readded
• adobereader fixed
• autowipe removed
• reboot after flash removed, for rom cleaner support
• status bar transparency added to tweaks, different levels

 
RCMix Runny v3.3 MD5: 8a93487d0eb3d004e4cdc6843fc41b74
(Rom do not wipe, but i recomend it) please click an ad or two on this forum to support us. Doesn't cost you or take up Much time thanks, capy

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RCMix3d Runny v3.2

By: Asim on 11:38 PM

Change-logs:

v3.2

• new base 1.05.401.4
• Fixed Honeycomb lockscreen text bug
• Tweaks - Volume Key Screen On
• Tweaks - 5x5 Appdrawer
• Tweaks - Hide Navbar Text
• Tweaks - Volume Key Camera Shutter Button
• Fixed distortion for HTC videoplayer 720p playback
• quicklaunch resized thx liamsters
• build prop edits by JSLEnterprise
• Rom manager support

 RCMix Runny v3.2 MD5: e1947a31823f4ec3e51b5f80f04d802d
(Rom wipes, sorry) please click an ad or two on this forum to support us. Doesn't cost you or take up Much time thanks, capy

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RCMix3d Runny v3.1

By: Asim on 11:34 PM

Change-logs:


v3.1

• Wifi issues fixed
• Possible apps 2 sd fix (reports please)
• New tweaks, keylight settings, full 2D smooth hack by hamdir
• Sorry forgot to remove wipe
• sd unmount in settings coded back in.

RCMix Runny v3.1 - (Rom wipes, sorry) please click an ad or two on this forum to support us. Doesn't cost you or take up Much time thanks, cap
RCMix Runny v3.1
RCMix Runny v3.1 

MD5: a6dd621b54d11dc1e402fc6eda3735cb

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RCMix3d Runny v3.0

By: Asim on 11:32 PM

Change-logs:

v3.0

• New base 1.02.40.1 Release keys
• Telus audio fix autoinstall
• Tweaks updated, new features
• Tweak: bliss rosie switch (all working)
• Tweak: hamdir supersmooth scrolling switch (not really needed as it is very smooth)
• RCMix3D kernel v7 (call recording version coming later)
• Keylight activates on low light only save battery 

RCMix Runny v3.0 (Multiupload Link)  MD5: 67308DA1FAF42996DC1AEEC7F04BF1F5
(Rom wipes, needed) please click an ad or two on this forum to support us. Doesn't cost you or take up Much time thanks, capy 

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RCMix3d Runny XL v1.2

By: Asim on 10:33 PM

v1.2

• FC errors fixed
• Lots of tweaks added
• SU fixed

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