Thursday, April 10, 2014

Google Rolling out Service that Will Continually Check for Malware



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We’ve been hearing this for years and years. That Android has all the malware, and which anti-virus app should users use on their device. We’ve even seen “reports” that show that Android gets almost all the malware compared to other platforms. Although I don’t know anyone that has ever had malware on their phone. Recently, Google added the ability to check apps that you side load for malware. Which it works pretty well. But now it appears they are going to open that up to continually check for malware. So that means when you’re downloading apps from the Play Store, Amazon’s App Store and other places. According to The Verge, Google is rolling out an update that will bring this functionality. Once the update is rolled out, users who are attempting to install an app with malware in it will get a warning letting them know what’s up. From there the user can choose to uninstall or abort installing it. Google says that unsafe apps are pretty rare and the risks are miniscule.


This update does aim to increase security on Android, but that’s not going to prevent users from installing malicious apps, mostly from places outside of the Play Store. While Google’s “bouncer” is still scanning apps that are in the Play Store to be sure they are safe, there’s only so much they can do. I’d also say that if you’re that worried about an application, be sure you read the reviews on the app first. If you see a lot of people giving it one or two star ratings, then you should probably steer clear of it. Apps like McAfee, Lookout, and other anti-virus apps seem unnecessary to me.


How many of our readers have had malware or a virus on their Android smartphone or tablet before? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.


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Amazon’s Trade-In Program is a Good Way to Get a new Samsung Galaxy S5 or HTC One (M8)



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Two of the most talked about phones for 2014 are about to hit store shelves. Well the HTC One (M8) is already in most stores, except for T-Mobile stores. But the Samsung Galaxy S5 is hitting stores tomorrow. It’ll be available for T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. So how are you going to pay for that new phone? Why not just trade in your current phone to help pay off the new one? Sounds like a good plan, right? Well Amazon’s trade-in program is offering some pretty good prices for last years phones. For example, if you have a Galaxy Not 3, you’ll get around $271 for that device, and the Galaxy S4 is going for about $190. While the HTC One (M7) is going for $123 and the Galaxy S3 is going for $100. Which is a pretty good price considering it’s a year-old phone.


Their trade-in program is pretty simple. You look up your device, then tap on the “Trade-in” button, ship it to Amazon, then you’ll get an Amazon gift card for the amount that your phone is worth. Then you can buy your new phone through Amazon. Seems like a good idea, right? Since Amazon does sell everything, might as well give you an Amazon gift card. You’ll find the link to get started down below.


How many of you are tempted to sell your current phone back to Amazon to pick up the Samsung Galaxy S5 or the HTC One (M8)? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.


Amazon Trade-In


HTC One M7, Silver 32GB (Sprint)


Samsung Galaxy S4, Black Mist 16GB (AT&T)


Apple iPhone 5 16GB (Black) – AT&T


Apple iPhone 4S 16GB (Black) – AT&T





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Project Ara Opens to Developers, MDK also Released



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Project Ara is one of those moonshots from Google that we’ve been interested in for quite a long time. It’s basically the idea of having a modular phone. Where you can choose your own parts, and replace them as needed. Almost like you would with a desktop. So if you want a new camera sensor, just place the camera, etc. It’s a pretty cool idea, and we thought it’d be a few years before it came into fruition. But when Project Ara’s YouTube video got “leaked” and it blew up, Motorola contacted them and basically said they wanted to work with them on this. Then as we know Motorola got sold off to Lenovo, but Google kept this part of Motorola in Mountain view, Google ATAP.


Now Google ATAP has opened up Project Ara to developers, so we should really start seeing some cool stuff coming out of Project Ara now. The Project Ara MDK shows the device’s nickname of “endo” and that the endoskeleton is a 4×7 parceled grid. There is also a 3×6 and a 2×5 parceled grid that Project Ara has available. Unfortunately, due to a few limitations, the largest that a component can be is 2×2. Which shouldn’t be too much of an issue. What’s also interesting here is that Ara users will be able to use more than one battery. So users will be able to swap batteries without actually removing them or turning off the phone. Which is pretty awesome, in my opinion.


Project Ara has a long way to go, but this is just the beginning. We should see lots of manufacturers working on parts for Project Ara pretty soon. Hopefully it’s not as slow as Glass was/is. We may see partners like Samsung, Qualcomm, NVIDIA and others jump on-board with this device. I’m hoping LG jumps on board as well.


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Google Play Music for Android can Now Stream Directly to Sonos



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Sonos Google Play Music


For those of you Sonos speakers, you’re going to love this. Google announced this morning that Android users can now stream Google Play music directly to their Sonos speaker through the app. That’s a pretty big deal, considering how popular Sonos speakers are right now. Instead of using the Sonos app, you can just use the Google Play Music app on your phone, which is probably a lot better than the Sonos app.


“In Google Play Music, we’ve found a great partner to bring this vision to life for the first time on a global scale. Together, we’ve created a music experience that shows how media, devices, and sound can seamlessly work together in the home.”


All you need to do is tap on the Chromecast icon in the corner, and then choose your Sonos speaker, instead of Chromecast obviously. It’s just that simple. If you’re like me, and you live in Google Play Music, than this is a great thing to have, especially with All Access available for streaming to Sonos too. For those that don’t know, Sonos speakers are kind of like Chromecast, except they are speakers and not a TV. Nonetheless they are still some pretty amazing speakers.


With Google Play Music, you’ve got over 22 million songs at your fingertips, especially if you have All Access for $9.99/month. You’ve also got your personalized playlists and radio stations like the “I’m Feeling Lucky Radio”. It’s definitely a great experience with Sonos there. You can also upload your own music for free to Google Play. Google gives you storage for 20,000 songs. So if you have a song that Google Music doesn’t have, you can simply upload it. It’s just that easy.


How many of you own a Sonos speaker system in your house? How do you like it? Let us know in the comments below.





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LG to Put ‘Odin’ Into Mass Production “Soon”



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With technology giants like Samsung and Apple designing – and in Samsung’s case producing – their own mobile processors LG didn’t want to be left out and so for years rumors of an LG-designed System-on-Chip have been swirling. Odin is the name for the LG’s designed mobile processor that’s now said to be entering mass production later this year. Rumors surrounding Odin have been around for years now and at one point the general consensus was that LG was looking to utilize the big.LITTLE that ARM designed some time ago. Apparently, the idea was that LG would be pairing four Cortex-A15 chips together with four Cortex-A7 chips to deliver good performance as well as decent battery life. Since then however, a lot has changed in the ARM processor world, so with with Odin apparently rolling off the production line soon, just what will LG do with it?


Unsurprisingly, we shouldn’t expect Odin to be the beating heart of LG’s upcoming G3, not only does the Korean giant have a good partnership with chip maker Qualcomm, but an unknown processor at the heart of a flagship device wouldn’t do well in marketing terms. More likely is the idea that LG is going to be using Odin in their lower-end devices in order to deliver quality performance at a decent price. We imagine then, that LG would probably be using something like the newer Cortex-A53 design, which is not only 64-bit, but essentially a more efficient Cortex-A7 design. According to Korean media, TSMC (Taiwan Semi Conductor) is – unsurprisingly – said to be producing the chip for LG using a 28nm process.


The lower-end budget market is an important one for LG, especially in parts of Europe. You might be wondering why LG needs to go their own route with processors, considering MediaTek produces a CPU for pretty much every price point. MediaTek doesn’t have a good track record (or one at all, really) for supporting their chipsets, so being able to produce their own chips would allow them more control on the software side of things as well as being able to better support them in the future.


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Head of Google Payments Says Wallet Will be Here “For a Long While” Yet



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Google Wallet was introduced almost three years ago, and it’s been an uphill battle since then. From carrier and phone limitations to competition, the payment system has seen a lot of resistance. They’re not giving up, though. At the 2014 Electronic Transaction Association tradeshow in Las Vegas, Ariel Bardin, head of Google Payments, said they’ll “continue doing [it] for a long while.” He also spoke about the changes of Google Wallet and how Google is taking a different approach than their competitors.


When Google Wallet got its start, it was supposed to be the dawn of a new era. It was a great opportunity if you had a phone with NFC (a short range wireless chip that allows the transmission of information), a carrier that would support Wallet, and the right credit card. Most people didn’t fall into that group, though. On top of all that, merchants were hesitant in spending money to upgrade their systems to work with NFC and Google Wallet. It was a slow start to say the least. Google trekked on, though. They adapted to the world around them.


They added support for more credit cards and saw a boost in usage. Although a good move, it wasn’t enough. There were questions about the security of Google Wallet transactions through NFC. Google altered their approach. “…we asked ourselves if we could emulate the secure element in software, and make it a core service in Android,” Bardin explained. So that’s what they did. Using a cloud based technology called HEC (host card emulation) to store sensitive information along with the tap and pay ability of NFC, Google Wallet was revamped. The system is now built in to the Android software (4.4) and open to developers.


So what does this all mean when it comes to the big picture? Expansion. Google Wallet isn’t limited to phones anymore. Data is stored in the cloud, so it can be accessed anywhere. You can add credit cards from other locations. Online merchants can accept Google Wallet payments. Google services can access this information so you don’t have to constantly reenter credit card information. It’s a very integrated system. The question is how is it going to fair?


Nothing is ever easy in the tech industry. When a service comes along (especially when the market forecast is $720 billion in transactions by 2017), someone else is always trying to get a seat at the table. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile immediately invested in Isis, a mobile payment system with an eye to compete with Google Wallet. Square allows mobile platforms to make credit card transactions. Paypal and Amazon both have potential to become competitors. Even Apple has been rumored to introduce a payment platform since its implementation of Touch ID.


Google isn’t just interested in revenue from transactions on Google Wallet, though. “We are in the business to create a great user experience. That’s a little different from others in this industry. Making money will come later,” said Bardin. The use of Google Wallet will expand the uses of other Google services. Money will eventually be made from Google Wallet, but the revenue from search and ads will come first.


So whether you like it or not, Google Wallet is here to stay. It’s part of Android now. It’s infiltrating not only the entire Google ecosystem but other parts of our interconnected world as well.


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Sony’s Lifelog App Now Available in the Play Store; Only for Xperia Devices



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Back at CES this year, Sony announced their new SmartBand wearable, a somewhat discreet wristband that would track your activities over the course of a day and log everything. As with any piece of wearable tech out there, the SmartBand needs a smartphone to work at all, and a specific app to relay all the information its collected from your day. That app is Lifelog, and Sony have been teasing it for quite some time now, along with the SmartBand itself. Now, Lifelog has been released to the Google Play Store, but curiously it’s only available for Xperia devices as of writing.


The Lifelog app is essential to get the most out of the SmartBand, it tracks everything you do throughout the day, how many calories you’ve burned for instance, how far you traveled, how you slept etc etc. It also works with other parts of your smartphone, using the GPS and camera side of things to tell you where you took a photo and at what time. It all comes together pretty nicely, and for those looking to get into the whole life logging thing, this is one of the better solutions out there. It will however, require you to purchase a SmartBand, which is currently unavailable until May 1st or so. So, despite the fact that you can download the app onto your Xperia device, it won’t be as useful as it could be until next month.


What’s really confusing here however, is the fact that the Lifelog app is only available for Xperia devices. Hopefully, this is fixed soon as the SmartBand that Sony is selling from the beginning of next month will be pretty much useless without it. The accessory itself is designed to work with any Android device running Android 4.3 and up, so why this app is only available for Xperia devices baffles me. Still, if you’re one of Sony’s chosen ones, then you can go ahead and give it a try at the source link below. For everyone else though, take a look at the trailer and see what’s in store for you (hopefully) next month when the SmartBand itself launches.


Click here to view the embedded video.


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