Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » avril 25, 2014

BetaNews.Com (11 non lus)

Windows 8 App Remover promises to get rid of unwanted Microsoft pre-installed apps -- kind of

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 8:31pm CEST par Nick Peers

It’s bad enough removing all those programs your PC manufacturer "thoughtfully" chose to include on your Windows 8 PC, but now it feels like Microsoft is at the same game. If you’re hankering to trim back the number of Modern UI apps pre-installed with Windows 8 or its immediate successors, then you need Windows 8 App Remover.

This tiny 220KB portable program acts as a graphical front end for a Microsoft tool -- dism.exe -- that does the hard work of getting shot of the files in one go, making it a much easier job than removing them individually or grappling with command-line parameters.

The app is only designed to work with a clean Windows 8 install or the compressed .wim images used in Windows rescue and install media. The clean install criteria is a critical point -- if you use it on a system that’s not brand new, you’ll find that while Win 8 App Remover claims to have deleted apps, they’re still present on your system. That’s because the apps have been updated since installation (multiple copies are kept in the WindowsApps folder) and it appears that the dism tool is only capable of removing the original version.

If this isn’t a deal-breaker, fire up Windows 8 App Remover -- no installation required -- and you’ll be presented with its simple, relatively easy to understand user interface.

By default the app is designed to remove unwanted Windows 8 Apps directly from your current -- termed "online" -- installation, but advanced users can also use it to remove them from compressed Windows image files (in the .wim format), thus ensuring future reinstalls don’t resurrect the unwanted apps again.

However, for most people, getting shot of these apps from their current installation is more than enough. To do this, first select your version of Windows 8 -- plain vanilla 8, 8.1 or 8.1.1 (Windows 8.1, Update 1) from the drop-down menu. Next, click the List Apps button and wait.

After a short pause, all available apps will appear, non-grayed out. You can now select those you don’t want to keep or click Select All to get shot of the lot before clicking the Remove Apps button. Click Yes and the app is removed (and grayed out).

You’ll be warned that this is a one-way trip only -- you can’t reinstall the app once it’s gone. That’s not strictly true: you can easily restore the app using the Windows Store should you later change your mind.

If we’re honest, we suspect this tool is going to be of most use to those wanting to create a customized Windows install disc that will simply skip these apps during installation, but there may be limited scope for it if you’ve literally just reinstalled Windows and want shot of some or all of those apps asap.

Windows 8 App Remover 0.55 is available now as a free, open-source download for PCs running Windows 8 and 8.1. Version 0.55 adds compatibility for Windows 8.1 Update.
Samsung Chromebook 2 is delayed

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 7:17pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Sorry, but I can't tell you why yet. I have this statement from Samsung PR about 13.3-inch Chromebook 2, in response to my inquiry: "The product is now shipping at the end of May". That puts the computer in the channel a month later than planned. I have asked for a reason but don't expect to get one.

Samsung unveiled Chromebook 2 in March, in 11.6- and 13.3-inch configurations. The company started taking preorders more than two weeks ago, offering a free case to anyone purchasing before April 27. I ordered one on April 8 from Amazon with delivery date of April 29, which put expected launch a day earlier. But then on April 10, Amazon emailed that my new delivery date would be May 2 and the website indicated availability on the 1st. Last week, Amazon changed the date to May 15 and by the beginning of this week to May 29. Around the same time, Samsung stopped taking preorders of this model and the 11.6-inch white. The manufacturer still accepts preorders on the black, smaller Chromebook, for which Amazon lists May 7 release.

Is there a production problem? Are the changes part of some broader marketing strategy, where later timing makes more sense to Samsung? Something else? I don't have reliable sourcing to give answer. We don't write speculative rumor stories here at BetaNews or use blogs or other news sites as primary story sources. We do our own reporting, and when we don't know we don't say. Stories like this sometimes shake the tree. If I don't get broader statement from Samsung, a reliable source might step forward with explanation. I will keep you posted.

Chromebook 2 is hotly anticipated, judging by the online social chatter I see. Samsung, along with Acer, has supported the platform from the first commercial release of Chrome OS laptops, and the new models will be the fourth iteration. The 13.3-inch model boasts HD screen resolution (1920 x 1080). No other Chromebook comes close, with exception of the Google Pixel (2560 x 1700), which sells for $900 more. There are reasons for Chromie aficionados and wannabes to be excited.

Chromebook 2 specs: 2GHz Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5800 (ARM) processor; 13.3-inch display; 1920 x 1080 resolution, 250-nit brightness; 4GB RAM; 16GB SSD; SD card slot; Google Hangout-certified webcam; one each USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports; HDMI port; WiFi AC; Bluetooth 4.0; Chrome OS. Weighs 3 pounds. Price $399.99.

1.9GHz Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 5420 (ARM) processor; 11.6-inch display; 1366 x 768 resolution; 4GB RAM; 16GB SSD; SD card slot; Google Hangout-certified webcam; one each USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports; HDMI port; WiFi AC; Bluetooth 4.0; Chrome OS. Weighs 2.65 pounds. Price $319.99.

I cancelled my Amazon order for the 13.3-inch Chromebook 2 and consider placing another. At this time, Samsung won't provide a model for review, so I will have to buy one to review it. I am still debating and suddenly have at least a month to do so.

Are you interested in the Samsung, either screen size? Did you order one? If so, what's your response to the delay. Comments await your answer.
You've got content -- Microsoft and AOL join forces

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 6:48pm CEST par Brian Fagioli

My first computer, a Packard Bell, ran Windows 95. My father bought it for me after I begged him relentlessly. It was a huge expense that we really couldn't afford, but he came through. I sold him on it by promising to use it for schoolwork and learning. However, my true motives were far more devious -- I wanted AOL. Yes, believe it or not, the concept of talking to a girl over the Internet in a chat room was an amazing feat in 1996. This was very intriguing to a teenage nerd.

My love affair with AOL continued for a while, until broadband was introduced years later. I then promptly ditched the service for a cable modem. However, to this day, the Microsoft/AOL power-couple of the 90's still conjures nostalgic feelings. Today, AOL announces that it is teaming up with Microsoft for an all-new content deal.

"Beginning this summer, content from AOL brands like HuffPost Live, TechCrunch and Moviefone, as well as partner sites including ESPN, TMZ, Rachel Ray and Martha Stewart will be available on MSN and Bing Apps for Windows and Windows Phone helping both companies provide consumers with the best possible experience. Through this partnership, relevant videos from AOL’s library of nearly 900,000 will be distributed on Microsoft video platforms, including MSN, with an audience of nearly 450 million unique visitors worldwide each month, and Bing Apps for Windows and Windows Phone", says AOL.

Ran Harnevo, President of AOL Video explains, "Microsoft's suite of devices and services is unmatched, and its loyal audiences are constantly seeking new and refreshed offerings on their platforms. We have an open strategy for distributing our premium content, and we're proud to partner with Microsoft to enhance their video experience. As anyone who watches the online video space knows, AOL has seen tremendous audience growth over the last few years -- views for our content are up nearly 75 percent in the last year alone -- and the sheer scale of Microsoft's network will help us reach a massive new audience and continue our climb".

No, this deal will not have Windows PC's audibly alerting users that "you've got mail", but it does increase the content availability for some users of Microsoft services and devices. What is interesting is that AOL transformed itself from an ISP into a news and media content company, while Microsoft is currently doing some soul-searching regarding its own reinvention. While the deal is far from groundbreaking, it is still nice to see them working together.

Photo Credit: vovan/Shutterstock
Best Windows 8 apps this week

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 4:53pm CEST par Martin Brinkmann
Seventy-eight in a series. Welcome to this week's new Windows 8 apps overview. Several popular first-party and third-party apps were updated this week.

Microsoft's One Note application received an update that added support for additional languages, inking and rule line improvements, performance improvements, as well as an option to go to the location of the page from the recent notes view.

A password manager was added to the RoboForm application which you can now use to generate secure passwords based on rules that you define in the generator.

Teamviewer was updated as well this week. It features faster and more fluid remote connections now, and provides you with an option to lock the remote screen after the remote session has ended.

Last but not least, Kobo Books was updated as well. The update introduces improved chapter navigation and bookmarks, quicker library loading, and keyboard navigation in the reading experience.

Red Stripe Deals

The following apps are discounted by at least 50 percent this week.
- Rabbids Big Bang, physics-based game for free
- InspirARTion, a drawing application for $1.49
- King Oddball, an action game for $1.49
- KnowledgeBase Builder, create knowledge databases for $0.99
- Yoga.com Studio: 300 Poses & Video Classes, Yoga teaching application for $2.49
- Stuntmania Reloaded, car racing game for $2.49
App of the week

Bing Wikipedia Browser

The Bing Wikipedia Browser application provides you with direct access to all Wikipedia articles in an optimized interface.

You can use the search feature to find articles of interest, or browse Wikipedia instead.

Microsoft has added several additional features to the application that may make it useful for some Windows 8 users.

You can use it to flip through all photos and pictures for example that are posted on the page, access the table of contents in an extra menu, or use the sharing options to share articles with contacts.

You may also change the default font size, switch to another language version of the article, or use the find on page option.

Other apps

Croc's World

Croc's World is a simplified version of Super Mario Bros. It is a jump and run game that you can play with the keyboard or touch.

The basic controls allow you to move left and right, and to jump. Once you have discovered the second extra, you can also shoot rocks in addition to that.

Your task in each level is to reach the exit, and to do so, you need to avoid, jump on or shoot the creatures in the level.

It is a fun game especially for children thanks to the fun characters and visuals it offers.

Chef@Home

The app offers a beautifully designed recipe collection sorted into groups such as beef, vegetable or rice.

While it does not offer hundreds of recipes, it offers a careful selection of Pakistani recipes.

Each recipe lists all required ingredients as well as instructions on how to prepare the meal.

Myth Defense Light Forces

The tower defense game is available as a free limited version and a paid version for $3.99.

The free version offers one map and the first three maps of the campaign but appears otherwise identical to the commercial version.

Build a maze of towers to prevent rushing hordes of enemies from reaching the level exit. To do so, you have three basic towers at your disposal which you can update several times to make them more powerful.

In addition to towers, you do get access to traps that you can lay out on the battlefield, and to an upgrade system to unlock new features or towers.

Beamly.tv

A social network for TV. Follow shows and stars that you like to get access to personalized news feed that keep you up to date.

Join TV rooms to chat with other fans, or follow people who share your passion for a particular show or actor.

An account is required for the majority of features the app makes available.

Microsoft IT Academy

This is the official Microsoft ITA application for Windows 8. The program provides IT Academy members with access to more than 400 courses, lessons, references and other information and learning materials.

The app highlights membership benefits, explains how institutions can become a member, and offers member sign-in options.

Shelby.tv

This is the app of the social video sharing platform Shelby. You can browse it without signing in or anything, but can unlock the full potential only when you do.

You can follow channels, explore what is hot right now, or follow friends to see which videos they have liked and shared with you.

You can also create your own channel that your friends can follow.

Priceline.com

Priceline for Windows 8 provides you with travel related search options to find hotels, flights, cars, and other vacation related deals.

To use it simply select one of the search options on the apps' start page and enter relevant information such as date or location.

The app replicates the official Priceline website 1:1.
Best iOS apps this week

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 2:26pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Sixteenth in a series. Apple reported its second quarter results this week, and they beat analyst expectations with the iPhone doing especially well. Apple shipped 4.14 million Macs, 16.35 million iPads and 43.72 million iPhones during the quarter. iPhone sales grew by 16.8 percent while iPad sales declined by 15.9 percent. Although the iPad’s slump looks very bad in the quarter you have to remember Apple struggled to meet holiday demand the previous year, leading to an inflated number of shipments in the March 2013 quarter.

New and updated apps worthy of your attention this week include a Sonic racing game, a "ridiculous animal simulator", an activity tracker, a travel app for iPad, a world-time clock, and an alternative to Fruit Ninja with better graphics.

As always, if I miss an app that you think should definitely have been included, let me know in the comments below, or drop me an email.

Here is my selection for this week.

Paid App of the Week

Leo’s Fortune ($4.99)

I like unusual looking games, and Leo's Fortune, with its hand crafted levels, certainly fits the bill. The aim of this platform adventure is to hunt down the mysterious thief who stole Leo’s gold. Leo himself is a cute green fluff ball with an impressive mustache.

There are 24 levels to play through, vicious traps to avoid and physics based puzzles to crack.

Free App of the Week

My Destination Travel Guides

Travel apps are increasingly replacing travel books, and My Destination is a promising new addition for the iPad. The app offers tips and insights from over 200 local experts, a trip planner and interactive maps (which all work offline).

The app does offer in-app purchases -- you can buy guides for the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Prague, Athens, Barcelona, London, Bangkok, Toronto, and others -- but while they will eventually set you back $4.99 for each destination, they’re currently all available for free until the end of April.

Other Apps

Breeze

FitnessKeeper’s app for iPhone 5s provides guidance and motivation to help you be more active every day. The "life tracking" app uses the 5s’s built-in activity tracker to monitor your steps and movement so you can see just how active you’re being. It displays your last seven days’ worth of activity, highlights notable activities, and keeps track of your best days.

I currently use Fitbit on my iPhone 5s but this looks like an interesting alternative.

Goat Rampage ($0.99)

This is my colleague Brian Fagioli’s current favorite game and he’s been insisting I play it, and feature it here. It’s described as "the most ridiculous animal simulator available for iOS" and the aim is to smash as many objects as possible using your goat. It sounds silly, and of course it is -- it’s very, very silly.

But it’s entertaining, and worth grabbing while it’s on sale (70 percent off at the moment).

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Offers in-app purchases.

Sega’s Mario Kart-style racer is a great game, and it’s now available for free. Naturally the switch to Freemium (the game originally cost $4.99) means there are a bunch of in-app purchases being offered, but you don’t need to spend any money to enjoy the game.

Time.is

Need to know the exact time for any time zone? Time.is can tell you. It offers synchronization to atomic clock time with an accuracy down to ±5 milliseconds, and automatically takes into account things like daylight saving. It will also show sunrise, sunset and day length, and offers a calendar, and a dark/light mode.

Apple’s App of the Week

KingHunt

This week’s free app from Apple is described as the "next generation slicing game". As you’d expect it plays like Fruit Ninja, but offers excellent super smooth graphics and addictive gameplay. I haven’t had a chance to play it much yet, but so far I think it’s the better game.

There are over 200 enemies, 12 different worlds, and a selection of powers -- you can freeze time, chain explosives, and summon meteor showers.

It’s great fun, and well worth the download.
After Heartbleed -- what has the vulnerability taught us?

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 2:06pm CEST par Ian Barker

The Heartbleed OpenSSL vulnerability has sent tremors down to the very foundations of the IT world. But now that we're over two weeks on from the news of the bug first breaking what have we learned and has anything really changed? We talked to some leading security experts to find out.

There’s little doubt of the seriousness of the problem, Technical Manager at security firm Cigital, Amit Sethi says, "This is indeed one of the worst vulnerabilities in the history of the web. It has been present in OpenSSL for over two years, during which time it has made it into a lot of software. Unlike many other vulnerabilities in SSL implementations that we have heard about in recent years, this one does not require the attacker to be positioned between your computer and the server. The attacker can go directly to the server and get any information that you recently exchanged with it over a secure channel".

However, Sethi does take a positive from the news in terms of the industry's response, "...high-profile websites have been addressing the issue very quickly either by fixing it or by taking down their applications while they create a mitigation plan".

Heartbleed has the potential to affect everyone who uses the web. Sean Sullivan, Security Adviser at F-Secure says that smaller businesses may not be able to fix the problem themselves. "SMBs are typically not running their own web server or are using Apache that someone has set up for them. This is not an issue for small businesses themselves but they may be vulnerable through third parties".

Because Heartbleed mainly affected servers -- though it could be in some versions of Android too -- it meant that you were vulnerable whatever operating system you were running. Most vulnerable servers will have been patched by now and the speed with which major companies reacted has been impressive, but Alex Balan Head of Product Management at BullGuard warns that, "SSL is used by devices like load balancers and even some wireless routers which will need a firmware update".

Balan also believes that, "Heartbleed teaches us a good lesson about the state of the internet in 2014. People are more security aware and take a more proactive approach to patching servers". He also thinks that password managers will become more popular as people become more aware of security.

The need for better password security and avoiding the temptation to use a single password for multiple sites is underlined by Joe Ferrara, President and CEO of Wombat Security Technologies, "To avoid using information people could easily guess you can create a password family and also make passwords easy to remember. For example you could create a password family around automobiles. Bl&ckVo1vo (Black Volvo) might be for secure use such as your online banking and then R3dF#rr$ri (Red Ferrari) might be for more risky activities such as online shopping".

Although there has as yet been no major leakage of information captured from Heartbleed, it's still possible that we'll see attacks using stolen details in the weeks and months to come. The full extent of the problem may never be known, but at least we can take some comfort from the way that security professionals and the IT industry generally have responded and from the increased awareness of good password practice.

If the implications of Heartbleed still worry you or you think there’s anything else the industry could be doing to offer greater protection do let us know in the comments.

Image Credit: zakalinka / Shutterstock
Nokia's Devices & Services business now in Microsoft's hands

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 1:41pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Finnish maker Nokia announced, only moments earlier, that the sale of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft is now complete. The deal was announced in early-September 2013, and was initially expected to complete in the first quarter of this year, but faced regulatory delays which pushed the sale by a month past the original time-frame.

Nokia expects to receive slightly more from this transaction than the initial estimate of €5.44 billion. As expected, the Finnish maker's Chennai Indian factory will not be transferred to Microsoft, due to the local government freezing the asset, and neither will the Masan one from South Korea. The deal is not solely about hardware, as Nokia has also licensed patents and various usage rights to Microsoft.

When it was announced, the overall cost was broken down into two parts, with €3.79 billion coming from the acquisition of the Devices & Services business and the difference of €1.65 billion, to €5.44 billion, accounting for the patent licensing rights. Microsoft will also pay Nokia to license HERE, effectively becoming the third-largest HERE customer. As part of the deal, Microsoft gets to use the Nokia name for 10 years and own the Asha and Lumia brands.

As Nokia was the largest Windows Phone manufacturer prior to this day, the sale of its Devices & Services business to Microsoft automatically makes the latter the largest Windows Phone vendor around. The Finnish maker will still, however, manufacture "mobile devices" for the software giant, according to the official announcement from today. Presumably, that includes low-end smartphones, like Ashas, and Lumia smartphones and tablets.

It remains to be seen what comes of Nokia's X lineup, which is powered by Google's Android, Windows Phone's largest competitor in the smartphone market. Stephen Elop says Microsoft will be "committed" to continue to support it, but whether that means releasing future models is uncertain. Sales continuity for the X lineup enters Microsoft in a line of Android vendors.

There is also a personnel transfer. Stephen Elop, Jo Harlow, Juha Putkiranta, Timo Toikkanen and Chris Weber have been "transferred" to Microsoft, after stepping down as "Nokia leaders". Elop will lead the devices division at Microsoft.

Microsoft is getting a lot of bang for the buck from this acquisition, which costs it a couple of times less than what Facebook paid for WhatsApp. Meanwhile, Nokia gets rid of a business in which the chances of successfully competing at the top are low, without enough money to spare (and spend), which Microsoft has plenty of.

Photo Credit: EDHAR/Shutterstock
Why SaaS vs. on-premise doesn’t have to be an either/or decision

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 12:37pm CEST par Patrick Tickle

Much has been written about the pros and cons of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications versus on-premise software. Although SaaS is clearly the driving trend for a wide range of compelling reasons, does every organization need to be forced into making a choice? For some there are still very good reasons for keeping an application in your own data center.

Depending on your business needs, choosing an application that you can deploy in either model and that gives you the option of moving back and forth between a SaaS environment and on-premise may give you the best of both worlds.

Hybrid Model Built For Customer Choice

One of the paradoxes about the evolution of cloud computing is that some of the most robust, feature-rich software applications are not easily transitioned to SaaS. For this reason, many have predicted the demise of the traditional, on-premise software vendor. Does this really need to be the case and an unquestionable assumption? Some of the best software in the industry has been developed over years, with the collective insight of multitudes of customers resulting in a sophistication that is hard to match by newer applications. Should we really throw away all this collective knowledge and start from scratch building 1.0 products just because we need to adapt to new deployment architecture? Companies like Salesforce and Workday have the funding to invest a decade rebuilding established categories. For the thousands of products and vendors that don’t, there is another way to get there.

One answer to this paradox is to leverage an existing product and aggressively utilize the powerful virtualization technologies available in the market to deliver a SaaS offering. It is important to note that when the SaaS movement began, virtualization technologies were not ready for this approach. Vendors had to rewrite for multi-tenancy, because it was the only way to get to a service delivery model. However, today’s robust virtualization platforms offer a viable alternative.

Using virtualization, it is possible to take an existing, proven software product and deploy it in a very flexible, high-performing, and cost-effective way. The result is a hybrid model, such as the one we use at Planview, where vendors offer both a SaaS version of their software and an on-premise version. This model gives customers more choice and enables traditional software vendors to make the business model transition to SaaS.

We have been actively in the market for several years now with this hybrid model and have seen a range of benefits for our customers.

Deployment Flexibility That Supports Business Objectives

Customers benefit from the hybrid model, because they can choose the right deployment model for their business. Although SaaS is the dominant choice among our new customers, there are still customers that want to deploy on-premise. We can support their needs without it being a disruption to our development or business model. Also, our existing on-premise customers get a straightforward transition path to the SaaS economic model if they want it. They don’t have to make the leap to multi-tenancy and any potential concerns. With virtualization their same environment moves very cleanly to our cloud. And although not common, SaaS customers have the flexibility to pick up their instance and go on-premise if they desire.

A Security Model Aligned With Traditional Needs

Security is always a major concern in the cloud, and the virtualized model offers some advantages. For instance, many entities such as financial institutions, government agencies and even product development organizations have traditionally used our product on-premise due to strict requirements around data protection. With SaaS via virtualization, they maintain an isolated, dedicated environment that they are more comfortable with in many cases. Although the multi-tenant vendors have alleviated many of the security concerns over the past decade, the virtualized model is an easy migration for many customers. They can unlock the economics of the SaaS model while using the same product they’ve grown to depend upon for portfolio and resource management.

Faster Starts For On-Premise Customers

A faster deployment time via the vendor’s SaaS infrastructure is an added value for customers that choose on-premise at the outset. For instance, our customers can leverage our cloud infrastructure to drive faster on-premise implementations. We can begin implementation immediately on our cloud infrastructure without waiting for procurement and deployment of the customer’s internal IT infrastructure, which can sometimes take weeks or even months. When on-premise infrastructure becomes available, we can migrate the virtual instance to the customer site often within hours, increasing time to value.

Easy Configurability To Support Business Processes

In a virtualized SaaS model, organizations also have complete power to configure the software to align with their existing business processes. By having their own virtual instance, customers are free from one of the traditional multi-tenancy constraints and can configure with ultimate flexibility to support their business.

Upgrades And Integrations On The Customer’s Terms

In addition, a virtualized infrastructure allows companies to upgrade to new versions of the software when it is convenient for their organization. For many customers this is an enormous benefit, because not everyone wants to upgrade immediately every time a new software version is released (multi-tenant software upgrades everyone automatically). The customer migrates to the new version only when they are ready.

This also helps manage integrations with other systems that are often on-premise, such as human resources, enterprise resource planning systems, etc. Flexibility about when to upgrade allows customers to test and implement integrations on their schedule to ensure a smooth migration.

Hybrid Model Changes Either/Or To At Will

The SaaS revolution has no question created a lot of opportunities and challenges as well as demanded new ways of thinking for both consumers and vendors of enterprise software. To date, the conventional wisdom has been that it is an either/or decision, to the point of sometimes appearing religious. From our perspective, it does not have to be that way. Leveraging virtualization and a focused business transformation can bring to life a hybrid software delivery and business model that can create immense value for both customers and software vendors. No single model is right or wrong, but the hybrid model has some unique benefits that allow powerful existing applications to move to SaaS, unlocking great economic advantage for customers and vendors alike.

Image Credit: ND Johnston/Shutterstock

Patrick Tickle, executive vice president of software products at Planview, brings over 20 years of experience in product management, product development and marketing across a wide range of technology solutions.
Android device tracker Cerberus goes free for one day

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 12:05pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Keeping track of where your Android device is may not be something that you need to do every day, but when it is stolen or misplaced having a dedicated tool goes a long way toward finding it. There are many options to choose from, but one of the most feature-rich, and my personal favorite, is Cerberus.

Cerberus is one of the first tools of its kind for Android, which can even take advantage of root permissions in order to give you access to extra tracking and protection features (GPS auto-enable and uninstall protection). The app just reached version 2.5 and, as it celebrates its third birthday today, Cerberus is now free, but only for one day.

To take advantage of this limited offer, you have to download the app from Google Play and use it to create a new Cerberus account before 6 am GMT on April 26. The free lifetime license will be activated automatically. When this deal ends, the license will go back to its usual price of €2.99.

The Cerberus license works for up to five Android devices. The app allows you to remotely control your smartphone or tablet (wearables too, if they are supported) from its website and through SMS messages, alerts you on SIM swaps, can override the sound profile to start an alarm, photographs the person using the device unauthorized, can hide itself from the app drawer, and much more.

Cerberus is available to download from Google Play.
Android Bitcoin mining malware found on Google Play

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 9:37am CEST par Wayne Williams

Using a mobile device to mine for Bitcoin is hugely impractical. A recent experiment involving 600 quadcore servers managed to create just 0.4 Bitcoins over the course of a year, which makes mining with a mobile a lot like digging in a mostly-spent goldmine with a spoon.

But, in theory, if you could harness the power of enough mobile devices -- hundreds of thousands, or maybe millions -- you might be able to start generating Bitcoins. BadLepricon, a new piece of malware, takes that view and uses your phone’s processing power to mine for new coins. It’s disguised as a harmless wallpaper app, and several instances of it have already been found on Google Play.

Security firm Lookout says the wallpaper apps all did as was advertised and delivered live wallpaper, but also mined for Bitcoin when the device wasn’t being used. Cleverly, rather than just mining non-stop, the malware checks to make sure the battery life is at least 50 percent, the display is turned off, and the device has connectivity, before going to work. This way mobile owners are less likely to suspect something is up, allowing the malware to continue to run unchecked.

BadLepricon makes use of a Stratum mining proxy, enabling the malware’s author to change mining pools or connections to Bitcoin wallets with ease, and providing the creator with a degree of anonymity.

Lookout found five instances of BadLepricon on Google Play, and they were all removed promptly once Google had been alerted. The security firm says the "apps had between 100-500 installs each at the time of removal".

Despite these occasional scares, Google Play remains relatively malware free. Last year F-Secure found that only 0.1 percent of all the mobile malware on Android came from Google’s official app store.

Photo Credit: igor.stevanovic/Shutterstock
Google injects steroids into HTTPS for Chrome on Android

Publié: avril 25, 2014, 3:42am CEST par Brian Fagioli
As the online world gets scarier by the day, security becomes a more discussed topic. This is a shame because, computer security should always be on the minds of users. Sadly, it takes something like the Heartbleed bug, the Target breach or a whistleblower like Edward Snowden to make people start caring. In other words, security is not more important today than it was prior to Heartbleed -- it is just finally being discussed.

Say what you want about Google, but the company seemingly has security as an important focus. After all, it patched Heartbleed on its services with incredible speed. Today, Google announces that earlier this year, it improved HTTPS connections on Chrome for Android, making it dramatically faster and stronger.

"Earlier this year, we deployed a new TLS cipher suite in Chrome that operates three times faster than AES-GCM on devices that don’t have AES hardware acceleration, including most Android phones, wearable devices such as Google Glass and older computers. This improves user experience, reducing latency and saving battery life by cutting down the amount of time spent encrypting and decrypting data", says Elie Bursztein, Anti-Abuse Research Lead, Google.

Bursztein further explains, "to make this happen, Adam Langley, Wan-Teh Chang, Ben Laurie and I began implementing new algorithms -- ChaCha 20 for symmetric encryption and Poly1305 for authentication -- in OpenSSL and NSS in March 2013. It was a complex effort that required implementing a new abstraction layer in OpenSSL in order to support the Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD) encryption mode properly. AEAD enables encryption and authentication to happen concurrently, making it easier to use and optimize than older, commonly-used modes such as CBC. Moreover, recent attacks against RC4 and CBC also prompted us to make this change".

Google touts the following benefits:
- Better security: ChaCha20 is immune to padding-oracle attacks, such as the Lucky13, which affect CBC mode as used in TLS. By design, ChaCha20 is also immune to timing attacks.
- Better performance: ChaCha20 and Poly1305 are very fast on mobile and wearable devices, as their designs are able to leverage common CPU instructions, including ARM vector instructions. Poly1305 also saves network bandwidth, since its output is only 16 bytes compared to HMAC-SHA1, which is 20 bytes. This represents a 16% reduction of the TLS network overhead incurred when using older ciphersuites such as RC4-SHA or AES-SHA.
Believe it or not, since February of this year, the majority of HTTPS connections on Chrome for Android have used the cipher suite. In fact, it has been so successful, that it will be baked into future Android versions. This is just another example of Google being on the forefront of computer security.

Do you now feel safer using Chrome on Android? Tell me in the comments.

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