Millions of people are using Android apps that can be tricked into revealing personal data, research indicates.

Scientists tested 13,500 Android apps and found almost 8% failed to protect bank account and social media logins.

These apps failed to implement standard scrambling systems, allowing “man-in-the-middle” attacks to reveal data that passes back and forth when devices communicate with websites. Google has yet to comment on the research and its findings.

Researchers from the security group at the University of Leibniz in Hanover and the computer science department at the Philipps University of Marburg tested the most popular apps in Google’s Play store. By creating a fake wi-fi hot-spot and using a specially created attack tool to spy on the data the apps sent via that route, the researchers were able to: capture login details for online bank accounts, email services, social media sites and corporate networks disable security programs or fool them into labelling secure apps as infected inject computer code into the data stream that made apps carry out specific commands. An attacker could even re-direct a request to transfer funds, while making it look to the app user like the transaction was proceeding unchanged.

Some of the apps tested had been downloaded millions of times, the researchers said.

BBC Tech News

Some Windows 8 laptops and PCs could end up running more Android apps than ones written for Microsoft’s software.

Gadgets built around chips made by AMD will come optimised to run the Android apps. A collaboration between AMD and software firm Bluestacks lets the devices run the 500,000 apps more usually found on Android phones.

By contrast, Microsoft reportedly only has a few thousand apps written specifically for next months Windows 8 launch.

The Android apps will be available on Windows 8 devices via AMD’s AppZone player. Inside this is code from Bluestacks that acts as a wrapper around the mobile phone programs so they can run on desktops, laptops and tablets.

AMD has made changes to the core code that runs its processors and graphics cards to ensure apps built for the small screens on mobile phones look good and run well on larger displays.

Source BBC Tech

Google’s new iPad rival, the Nexus 7, has sold out at some American retailers, according to reports.

The 7-inch tablet, manufactured by Asus, is gradually making its way into shops, with some warning of shipping delays of up to two weeks. British buyers have yet to be told when they will be able to get their hands on the device, although retailers expect supplies this week.

The Nexus 7 is the first Android tablet to come with Jelly Bean, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. Aggressively priced from £160, it is designed to loosen Apple’s grip on the tablet market.

Android tablets from third party manufacturers such as Samsung and Motorola have so far failed to make much impact.

Google’s attempt is being compared to Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which is only available to American buyers.

Reviews of the Nexus 7 have been largely positive, with many impressed by the build quality and features given the relatively low price.

Source: The Telegraph

Google is to replace the web browser in Android smartphones with a revamped version named after its Chrome desktop product, as the search giant redoubles its efforts to knock Microsoft off the top perch in the battle of the browsers.

Chrome for phone, which is faster, links to the user’s desktop and allows an unlimited number of pages to remain open simultaneously, begins its public “beta” trial on Tuesday, and may move to a full launch this spring.

The upgrade reinforces Google’s push to eat into Microsoft’s dominance of web browsers.

Since Chrome for desktop computers was launched in October 2008, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has dropped from a 67% to 37% market share, according to analysis by StatCounter.

Chrome, which has 200 million users worldwide, overtook Firefox, an independent open source browser funded by a trust, as the second most popular in December 2011 and now has a 29% market share, with Firefox at 25%.

In a move designed to tie users more closely to Google products and services, Chrome desktop users will be able to call up on their phone, at the touch of one button, the last set of web pages opened on their desktop. This feature should be useful for those leaving the office in a hurry: look up the location of a meeting but forget to print out the map, and the phone can open the map page without having to carry out a new search. Start work on an online document at the office and continue adding to it on the move without having to spend time retrieving it.

What a really useful Android application this is, but we will have to wait until its finally launched to get our hands on Google’s new offering.

The top 10 apps for Android mobile devices account for 43 per cent of usage, according to a new survey.

The typical user of a Google Android-powered smartphone spends 56 minutes a day using apps or on the mobile web, research from Nielsen Smartphone Analytics has found.

Two-thirds of that time is spent using apps but Nielsen found that just a few apps are dominating.

The top 10 Android apps make up 43 per cent of time on mobile apps and the top 50 apps account for 61 per cent of time spent. “With 250,000+ Android apps available at the time of this writing, that means the remaining 249,950+ apps have to compete for the remaining 39 percent of the pie,” Don Kellogg, director of telecom research and insights for Nielsen, wrote in a blog post.

Although Nielsen did not specify which Android apps were part of its top ten survey, other Internet sources suggest that the top 10 free apps are (in no particular order) YouTube, Google Maps, Amazon Kindle, Facebook, Pandora, Angry Birds, Dragon Fly, Words with Friends, Advanced Task Killer, and Angry Birds Rio. The top 10 paid apps are (again in no particular order) Cut the Rope, Beautiful Widgets, Fruit Ninja, PowerAMP Full, SwiftKey X, Robo Defense, ROM Manager, Doodle Jump, SoundHound, and ADW Launcher.

Interestingly, 40 per cent of the top 10 free and paid Android apps are games.The rest are a mix of utilities and other media/social networking apps.

Source: The Telegraph

The Google Maps for Android app now includes stop-by-stop transit navigation for more than 400 cities worldwide!

Although it is still in beta mode, Google Maps 5.7 for Android already has over 12 billion miles of GPS-guided driving and walking directions on board.

The app utilises the smartphone’s GPS function to determine the user’s current location along a particular route. After the user inputs the destination, the app will publish alerts about possible transfers and when to disembark.

Google Maps for Android as well as mobile and desktop browsers was updated in June with live public transit information about real-time and scheduled departure times, route maps and service alerts. The full list of cities available using the app can be found here – http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/transit.

Source: ZDNet

McAfee said on Tuesday it will be extending its product range to include android smartphones and tablets.

Specifically, McAfee announced McAfee Mobile Security and WaveSecure Tablet Edition.

The general idea is that this software secures mobile devices as they swap between consumer, work and personal usage.

Tablets and smartphones are the next growth market for antivirus protection. And given that Android devices are quickly becoming a popular attack vector, McAfee is initially focusing on that platform.

The suite offers:

• Backup and data restoration
• Remote locking
• Alarms in case a device is stolen
• Remote data removal
• Anti-malware software and phishing detection
• A portal to manage multiple devices

WaveSecure also focuses on Android Operating System and aims to find stolen devices and preserve critical data.

Source: ZDNet

Developers can now use the Adobe Flash Builder platform to develop applications for iOS devices, such as the iPad and iPhone, as well as the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Support for the devices – which was announced in April – in Flash Builder 4.5.1 allows developers to create apps for a variety of popular devices and platforms without needing to recode large amounts of the software.

“The reaction from developers to the new mobile capabilities in Flash Builder 4.5 and the Flex 4.5 framework has been absolutely fantastic,” Ed Rowe, vice president of developer tooling at Adobe, said in a statement on Monday. “They are amazed by how easy it is to create great mobile apps for Android devices, BlackBerry PlayBook, iPhone and iPad.”

Support for building apps for Android devices has been present since the release of Adobe Flash Builder 4.5 in April. The platform also allows the creation of web and desktop apps, as well as mobile. Apps created using the tools can then be distributed directly via the Android Market, Apple App Store and BlackBerry App World.

Adobe Flash Builder 4.5.1 can be downloaded as a stand-alone product or as part of the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Web Premium or Master Collections.

Source: ZDNet

Windows 7 has grabbed more than 20% of the Operating System market, only a year after its release.

As of last month, Microsoft’s latest Operating System has more than doubled its market share over 2010 and now sits on many more computers than its predecessor Vista, which holds only 12.11%, according to stats from Net Applications.

Long-standing favourite XP still has hold of 56.72% computers, however.

Overall, 90.29% of computers run a Windows OS around the world, down from 92% at the beginning of 2010.

Mac OS slid, from 5.16% in January 2010 to 5.02% last month, but Apple’s iOS – found on iPads and iPhones – gained from 0.59% to 1.69%, led by strong growth by the iPad.

Rival Android also had a strong year, growing from a 0.06% share at the start of the year to finish with 0.4% of all browsing devices.

Source: PC Pro