Awesome Privacy Tools in Android 4.3+

To date, there has been no way to run apps on Android with real and reliable privacy controls. Android version 4.3 and higher take a huge step in the right direction, letting users install apps while denying some of the apps' attempts to collect the user's data.

Android was built from scratch to have quite a sophisticated and strongly enforced system of per-app permissions. But many of the privacy-sensitive permissions are poorly delineated and confusing.1 And the way the OS and Google's Play Store worked, users could not install an app but say "no" to that app's demand that it be able to read their address book, track their location, or grab their phone number or IMEI.

This turned out to be the fundamental problem with the previous Android model: installing an app was an all-or-nothing proposition, and there were few practical ways to protect yourself against the apps you'd installed, or even really see what they were up to.

In the early days, that model was at an improvement on its major competitor, Apple's iOS, which didn't even have a permissions model. But after various privacy scandals, Apple started forcing apps to ask for permission to collect data: first location and then other categories, like address books and photos. So for the past two years, the iPhone's app privacy options have been miles ahead of Android's.

This changed with the release of Android 4.3, which added awesome new OS features to enhance privacy protection. You can unlock this functionality by installing a tool like App Ops Launcher. When you run it, you can easily control most of the privacy-threatening permissions your apps have tried to obtain. Want to install Shazam without having it track your location? Easy. Want to install SideCar without letting it read your address book? Done.

App Ops Launcher in action

Despite being overdue and not quite complete, App Ops Launcher is a huge advance in Android privacy. Its availability means Android 4.3+ a necessity for anyone who wants to use the OS while limiting how intrusive those apps can be. The Android team at Google deserves praise for giving users more control of the data that others can snatch from their pockets.



Ref: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/awesome-privacy-features-android-43
Tags: Android, OS, iOS, Smartphone, Operating, System, Features, KitKat, ICS, Jelly Bean, 4.3, Settings, Security, Privacy, Tools, Mobile, Samsung, LG, Apple, Google,

PS4 becomes the fastest-selling video game console in UK history

Sony's PlayStation 4 has become the fastest-selling video game console in UK history, convincingly eclipsing the launch sales of Xbox One, reports Chart Track.

The PS4 overtakes the PSP, which set the launch sales record eight years ago with an estimated 185,000 units sold on September 1, 2005.

Sony is yet to announce the PS4'a actual launch figures.

Killzone: Shadow Fall was the highest-placed PS4 exclusive, debuting at No.4 in the All Formats Chart. Knack, which was poorly received by critics, managed to place at No.13.

Source: UKIE Games Charts, compiled by GfK Chart-Track, (All Prices) Week 48, 2013

Fast & Furious 7 to 'go ahead' after Walker's death

Fast & Furious 7 will still go ahead following the sudden death one of its stars, Paul Walker, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The trade magazine quotes a source who said the production is facing a delay but the film will still be released.
Empire magazine's Helen O'Hara told the BBC that most of the film has been shot but still had to be completed.
Walker, 40, died on Saturday when a Porsche being driven by a friend, who also died, crashed near Los Angeles.
Walker's publicist. Ame Van Iden, named the driver as Roger Rodas, with whom the actor owned a luxury car business.
The cast and crew of Fast & Furious 7 were taking a break from filming during the Thanksgiving holiday but were scheduled to reconvene in Atlanta on Sunday.

Fans flocked to the site of the crash

Ms O'Hara said: "They will want to take some time - the key thing right now is that they have to do the right thing by Paul and his family… That said, it's an important series, they will still be keen not to abandon it."
Terry Gilliam faced a similar situation when Heath Ledger died while shooting The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Filming on the fantasy movie was halted temporarily before Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell were drafted in to portray various versions of Ledger's character.
Other film stars who have died mid-shoot include Brandon Lee (Crow) and Oliver Reed (Gladiator).
Richard Harris also died after filming his role as Professor Dumbledore in the second Harry Potter film, and was replaced in later instalments by Michael Gambon.
But the dilemma is particularly sensitive for Fast & Furious, said Ms O'Hara, given that the series revolves around high-speed street car racing.
'Tour de force' Another film starring Walker, Hurricane Katrina drama Hours, will still be released in the US on 13 December, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The film's producer, Peter Safran, told the magazine: "He would have very much wanted us to move forward.
Paul Presburger, CEO of film company Pantelion Productions, told the Hollywood Reporter: "After lots of back and forth, this is our decision. It's Paul's tour de force. He's in every frame of the movie,"
On Sunday, fans of Walker gathered to leave flowers, candles and memorabilia at the crash site.
His Fast & Furious co-star, Tyrese Gibson, wept as he visited the scene.
"Paul is the heartbeat of this franchise and we're gonna see to it that his energy and presence lives on forever," Gibson posted on his Instagram account. He also posted a video of the film cast and crew recently celebrating Walker's birthday.
'RIP my friend' Walker's co-star Jordana Brewster said: "Paul was pure light. I cannot believe he is gone." Fellow Fast & Furious actor Vin Diesel wrote that "heaven has gained a new angel".
"Brother, I will miss you very much," Diesel said on Twitter.
In a second message, he said: "My heart is hurting so sad. Paul Walker was a good man. RIP my friend... Sorry to the Walker family."
Other tributes came from Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jessica Alba, Ludacris and Universal Pictures.
His father paid tribute to his son on the website JustJared, saying: 'His heart was so big. I was proud of him every day of his life. I'm just glad, that every time I saw him, I told him I loved him. And he would say the same thing to me."

The sports car burst into flames after the crash

Walker was reprising his role as Brian O'Conner in Fast & Furious 7. He starred in five of the six movies in the popular franchise.
He began acting as a young boy when his mother, a model, took him to auditions for commercials.
He won roles in the TV series Touched by an Angel and The Young and the Restless before moving on to supporting roles in late 1990s films like with Varsity Blues and She's All That.
After the success of the first Fast & Furious film, Walker became the leading man for the second instalment when Vin Diesel dropped out.
Diesel later returned, however, and the six-film franchise has now earned an estimated $2.4bn (£1.5bn) at global box offices. The latest instalment, the sixth, was the most lucrative so far.
Walker is survived by his daughter, Meadow.


Ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25182688

Google plans 'floating retail store,' builder says

It turns out that the mysterious high-tech barge that Google is building at Treasure Island is just the first of three floating wonders the company plans to launch, at a total cost of $35 million.
In a confidential budget report we obtained, barge builder Turner Construction Co. says the idea is to construct the vessels at Treasure Island, then dock them in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.
The secretive project is code-named Hangar 3 - an apparent reference to the Treasure Island hangar where much of the construction is being done.
Each barge is to be stacked with 80 shipping containers and flanked by rows of sails.

The Turner Construction report also says each barge is intended to be used as a "floating retail store."
Mirian Saez, Treasure Island Development Authority director of operations, says Google reps told her "this would be an important opportunity for the launching" of their Google Glass computer eyewear next year.
That's a bit different from the "studio" and "temporary technology exhibit space" that barge designers described in reports submitted to the Port of San Francisco as part of their pitch to win berthing permits on the waterfront.
It may also help explain why Google has been so reluctant to discuss the project in detail.
Google needs a permit from the regional Bay Conservation and Development Commission to moor a barge for any length of time in the bay, and the idea of a floating retail store could put the project in very choppy political water.
"A floating retail store that is not a bay-oriented enterprise would probably make a lot of jaws drop at a commission meeting," commission executive Larry Goldzband said when we told him of the newly surfaced Turner Construction document.
Although Google's lawyers have notified him three times in the past six weeks that it is continuing its barge construction at Treasure Island, Goldzband said, the company hasn't been forthcoming about its intentions.
"We have told them we don't want to wait a heck of a lot longer because ... the public needs to know what Google is doing," Goldzband said.
When we asked Google whether it intends to use the barges as floating stores, company representatives replied in an e-mail saying only: "While we have explored many ideas in the past around the barges, our current plan, as we've stated before, is to use them as an interactive space where people can learn about new technology."
As we reported earlier, design documents submitted to the port in August say the goal of the barge project is to "drive visitation to the waterfront." Backers envision mooring the barge at numerous sites around the bay.
The documents say the barge's sails are "reminiscent of fish fins, which will remind visitors that they are on a seaworthy vessel."
According to the newly surfaced budget report, which was prepared at the start of the year, those sails alone cost $350,000.
But Goldzband says that just having sails doesn't automatically make a vessel a natural fit for the bay.
"The commission is going to ask, 'Is there an alternative (land) location for this program to occur?' " Goldzband said. "If there is, then the commission is going to have a very difficult time convincing the public there should be something happening on the bay."
Expired: Just three years after installing 6,500 high-tech parking meters at a cost of $3 million, San Francisco is ripping them out.
"It's all part of a citywide upgrade," said Paul Rose, a spokesman for the Municipal Transportation Agency.
The contractor will give the city $650,000 in credit for the old meters - put in as part of a pilot project - bringing the upgrade cost to about $2.35 million.
The result will be even higher-tech meters that have bigger display screens - and confirm payment by phone. They'll be installed by March.
Pet project: The fate of that planned pet columbarium at a North Beach church is up in the air, now that the volunteer behind the effort has been forced out over allegations he coerced an employee into having raunchy sex.
William McLaughlin, a Marin County developer and volunteer board chairman of the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, was the force behind the novel plan to build the pet mausoleum in the church's basement.
Now, McLaughlin is at the center of a sex-harassment complaint that former church employee Jhona Mathews has filed against the church, saying she was fired when she broke off a relationship with him. McLaughlin, she said, forced her to have spanking sex in the church and elsewhere to keep her job.
The church says it fired Mathews after discovering she allegedly embezzled shrine funds. Her attorney says she didn't, and McLaughlin hasn't returned our calls.
Where does all this leave the pet columbarium?
"We don't know," said Larry Kamer, spokesman for the church. "Frankly there hasn't been a whole lot of discussion, as we deal with the more pressing facts."

Ref: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Google-plans-floating-retail-store-builder-says-5026808.php

Google's list of banned words

Google recently released a new version of its keyboard for Android, and as reported in Wired, it comes along with a list of 1400 words "that Google has quietly deemed inappropriate for Android users". This means that Android's dictionary will not autocomplete these words, no matter the context.

Unsurprisingly, many of the words are sex-related, but the scope of the prudery here is rather shocking. It's not just that you have to type out all three letters when you write sex in a text message. The dictionary also refuses to autocomplete words like Tampax, butt and even condom, which could tragically lead lazy people to resort to the word rubber for their contraception needs-based texts.

Clearly, this is a tragic blow to the world of unintentional comedy caused by autocorrect in text messages. I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in a world where a woman can't accidentally text "Chicken vaginas n butch gobbler pirates" to her kid when she meant to say that dinner will be chicken fajitas and buttered potatoes.

However, there are political implications here as well. While Google has long had good reasons to ban "a frat party's worth of homophobia and misogyny", as Jon Christian at Wired puts it, the ban on autocompleting words for body parts and functions like uterus and lactation reinforces the idea that there's something shameful about having these kinds of body parts and functions at all.

There are more questionable choices in the ban list. Some genius at Google decided to put geek on the no-no list. And for no discernible reason, Sunni and Iftar are banned, though no other religious words appear to be. So if you are inclined to think these choices aren't politically loaded, well.

But back to icky sex. Other banned words include STI; if you want to do the responsible thing and communicate with your partner about sexually transmitted infections, you better type it all out, or call. Preggers is also a not OK. Google prefers "with child".

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/googles-list-of-banned-words-20131203-2ymuo.html#ixzz2mMg5Qxmj

Google Brings The Telethon Online With First-Ever “Hangout-a-thon”

On Tuesday – aka Giving Tuesday - Google will repurpose its video broadcasting service called Google+ Hangouts to help host an online “Hangout-a-thon” that aims to connect those interested in making charitable donations with a worthy cause of their liking. Like a modern-day telethon, the “Hangout-a-thon” will feature celebrities, including  Jennifer Garner, Chris Daughtry and Sophia Bush, plugging their favorite non-profit or charity, says Google.

Organizations like Unicef, Charity Water, Save the Children, the Malala Fund, The Trevor Project, and several others will be involved, asking donors to give to help improve clean water access, eliminate bullying, provide disaster relief in the Philippines and more, Google explains in a post this morning announcing the event, that will take place tomorrow starting at 9 AM ET on the “Giving Tuesday” Google+ page.

In addition to the usual round-up of organizations doing good, the Hangout-a-thon will also have a tech angle, it seems. Google notes that viewers will also get a “quick coding lesson” from Code.org, Girls Who Code, and Code2040, who will also be there to inform viewers about the topic of digital literacy.
The event will be 12 hours long, and include 24 charities and brands in total, a full list of which has not yet been released. Viewers watching the event will be invited to donate directly to the organizations doing the fundraising, or support the organizations via the “Shoppable Hangouts” app which will allow viewers to buy “goods for good” (i.e. actual products) during the event.

For example, Hucksley, a curated marketplace for emerging brands that typically gives 25% of profits to charity with each purchase, will join with Google, Pencils of Promise, and Sophia Bush to donate 100% of profits during the event which will go toward helping build 25 schools in Guatemala.

This is the first time organizations have ever used Hangouts to power a charitable event like this, Google says. But it's not Google's first foray into giving. Not only does the company have a charitable arm called Google.org which develops tools that use technology for social impact, it also this year launched its inaugural attempt at mobile giving with the Google One Today Android app, which encourages users to donate $1 toward causes they like.

It should be interesting to see what kind of reach an online telethon-like event can generate – although it takes place on a social platform that's available worldwide, it's also competing with the vastness of the internet for your attention, while the old-school TV telethon generally took place during a time when there weren't that many other choices in terms of programming. Still, for those wasting time online during the holidays, there are far worse destinations to mindlessly click through to than an event for giving, of course.

Yahoo buys SkyPhrase's voice technology

SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo has agreed to acquire SkyPhrase for its natural language processing technology, according to the startup.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Yahoo did not respond to a request for comment.

"In Yahoo, we have found a company that not only shares our vision, but delivers a rich collection of information and services to a massive user base," said a blog post at SkyPhrase.

The company will be merged into Yahoo Labs.


Ref: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/12/02/yahoo-buys-skyphrases-voice-technology/3806483/

Apple Buys Topsy For Price Reportedly North Of $200M, Could Use Social Signals To Bolster Siri, App Store Relevance

Apple has purchased social analytics firm Topsy, which focuses on parsing data from Twitter, reports The Wall Street Journal. The deal was apparently worth ‘more than $200M' according to the publication.

Topsy is one of several firms that have been focused on gathering and parsing data from Twitter's platform. It allows customers to tap into a store of over 425 billion tweets from 2006 onwards to sniff out trends. Topsy competitors in the Twitter data reselling game include DataSift and Gnip, but its user-facing tools, including a topic and trends search engine, have made it one of the more popular options for those looking to make sense of the stuff people are tweeting about.

Given that Apple is a Twitter partner already, and hosts login and posting features for the social network on its iOS and OS X platforms, this seems like a confusing deal if all that it's after is the Twitter data firehose. It seems more likely that Topsy has technology or engineers (read: acqui-hire) that can parse trends in a way that Apple wants to incorporate into one of its products.

If I had to hazard a guess, this might be related to Apple building out the relevancy engine of its App and iTunes Stores. Adding social signals to the search algorithms of its stores could help to improve the relevance of search results and help Apple surface apps that are hotter and more interesting to users. Tracking app trends across social networks would allow them to fine tune categories and collections of apps, and surface apps that are gaining steam more quickly.

Pulling the thread out a bit further, it's possible that Apple could even use the data from your Twitter feeds to recommend apps on a more personal basis, rather than ‘generically' to everyone. Apple has done little of this kind of personalized recommendation work to this point, but there's always a first time for everything.

The WSJ article points to iTunes Radio ads and the iAd platform as possible beneficiaries of the Topsy engine, too. Apple could theoretically use social data to help advertisers display ads to more relevant viewers. This would boost revenue and relevance across Apple's ad platforms, which haven't been incredibly robust so far.

Apple purchased the app search company Chomp last year, but ended up using mostly its ‘card-like' interface, not what some viewed to be its superior discovery model. Unfortunately, the acquisition did not lead to a massive improvement in app store search results. Apple has recently been tweaking results to better correct for misspellings and mis-typing when searching the store.

There is also a slim possibility that Apple may want to use Topsy's stored trends data and firehose access to improve Siri search. It could provide Siri with a reliable way to present people with trending topics and search results according to Twitter when queried.

Topsy has also filed for over a dozen patents related to social networks. These include systems and methods for prediction-based crawling of social media network and systems and methods for customized filtering and analysis of social media content collected over social networks.

As one of only a handful of companies with Twitter firehose access, and one of Twitter's first Certified Product partners, Topsy's purchase will change the market for those left behind.

Whatever use Topsy's team or product is put to, its strengths came in real-time parsing of enormous data sets, so it would be something that was time-sensitive or able to be continuously affected by a feed of information. It shows that Apple has a growing interest in the data flowing through networks like Twitter, which is a refreshing notion. The company has not typically been bullish in this arena previously. Apple confirmed the purchase with the WSJ.

Ref: http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/02/apple-buys-topsy-for-a-reported-200m-could-use-social-signals-to-bolster-app-store-relevance/

Android 4.4 KitKat Firmware Update not Received on device!

Google has released a new build of Android 4.4 KitKat on Tuesday, 19th Nov 2013 to the Android Open Source Project. This new update uses the DFIM's the firmware build to version "KRT16S", which is replacing the previous one "KRT16O" build.

Many Nexus 4 users are also reporting to receive over-the-air (OTA) update for the new Android 4.4 KitKat Firmware. It is sized 238.9MB.

Here are few steps you should follow if your device is yet not received latest Android 4.4 KitKat update.

- Full restart your device:
Turn your device switch off and Switch On again after a while and then check for update

- Use WiFi:
Check for update through WiFi

- Clear Cache:
Find the Google Play Store in Applications Manager from Settings and Clear Cache. Then reboot device and check for updates.

- Remove User:
Sometimes Google is releasing versions to country specific, so give a try by removing your user account from device, which will make your device generic and universal. During previous launches this trick worked very well.

So, these are the tricks which were working with previous similar issues and avoid waiting period.

Feel free to post your queries, suggestions or experiences in comment box. Good Luck!