android

(Scott Akerman)

Bad News: Security Hole Can Let An Attacker Take Over Your Android Phone With A Single Text

It’s a bad news Monday for up to 950 million — yes, that’s almost 1 billion — Android device owners worldwide. A vulnerability that would let a hacker take over your phone remotely has been announced, and it’s a doozy. [More]

HBO Now Finally Launching On Android

HBO Now Finally Launching On Android

Now that Apple’s exclusivity period has come and gone, users of Android devices will finally be able to access HBO Now, the standalone streaming service that lets users access HBO content online without having to pay for a basic cable package (or borrow a friend’s HBO Go password). [More]

Google Temporarily Shutting Down Editing In Map Maker After Incident With Urinating Robot

Google Temporarily Shutting Down Editing In Map Maker After Incident With Urinating Robot

After issuing a mea culpa over the image of an Android bot urinating on an Apple logo that popped up in Google Maps a few weeks ago, the company now it’ll be temporarily shutting down editing on Map Maker so it can deal with the problem of abuse. [More]

Google Apologizes For Android Figure Urinating On Apple Logo In Google Maps

Google Apologizes For Android Figure Urinating On Apple Logo In Google Maps

Unlike The Dude,* it would appear that every time an Android figure is pictured micturating upon an Apple logo, someone does have to be held responsible. In this case, it’s Google, which is apologizing after an image of an Android bot peeing on an Apple logo popped up in Google Maps. [More]

You Can Now Google “Find My Phone” To Locate Your Lost Android Device

You Can Now Google “Find My Phone” To Locate Your Lost Android Device

A new update to the Google app on Android devices now allows users to merely Google “find my phone” and get not just the location of the device, but also the ability to remotely lock it or erase it. [More]

(Screengrab via 9to5Mac.com)

Apple Now Accepting Android, BlackBerry & Windows Phone Trade-Ins For Credit Toward iPhones

As predicted a few weeks ago, a new report says Apple is now going to accept smartphones and PCs from other manufacturers and give owners a discount on new iPhones. [More]

(Manik_K)

Study: Some Popular Android Apps Tracking User Location Once Every Three Minutes

While it can be very useful to have say, a weather app on your smartphone that knows where you are when you want to find out current conditions for your location, does that mean that those apps should be able to know where you are even when you aren’t using the app? That’s a question raised by a new forthcoming study that found about dozen apps for Android smartphones are not only tracking where you are right now, but three minutes from now. And three minutes after that. And so on. [More]

Scott Akerman

Report: Apple Could Accept Android Phones As Trade-Ins

If you’re interested in witching to Apple smartphones and want to trade your old device in at an Apple Store, until now, you’ve been out of luck. That might be about to change, since word is out on the street that Apple might deign to accept Android phones as instant trade-ins at their retail stores. [More]

Google Play Search Results Will Now Feature Sponsored Ads

Google Play Search Results Will Now Feature Sponsored Ads

The next time you visit the Google Play store to download an app, you’ll likely be greeted with an ad or two. [More]

Google will partner with three major carriers to pre-install Google Wallet on Android phones.

Google Wallet To Come Pre-Installed On AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile Android Phones

Even though Google Wallet has been around for several years, the mobile payment system hasn’t been the industry leader the company had hoped for, mostly because AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile created a competing app, Softcard. But Google has now reached a deal with those three providers that will result in Google Wallet being pre-installed on new devices later this year. [More]

People who use pirated versions of Today Calendar Pro can expect frequent reminders to walk the plank. (via imgur)

App Developer Fights Piracy By Sticking Them With Pirate-Themed Version Of App

There are countless ways that software developers and media companies have tried to prevent pirates from illegally copying and distributing their products, but even if those roadblocks work right now, they won’t be effective for long. So one developer of an oft-pirated Android app decided the only way to deal with pirates is to acknowledge their existence. [More]

While enthusiasts and clever designers have been making cool digital replicas (like this  one seen on Reddit), watch companies have been trying to block these digital copies from spreading.

Luxury Watch Makers Out To Stop Lookalike Faces For Smart Watches

Just like some street vendors make a living selling lookalike Cartier and Omega watches for cheap, some folks are selling — or even giving away — knock-off digital watch faces for Android-powered smartphones. And the watch companies are going after these people with the same zeal as they chase the “Cantier” and “Omego” sellers from sidewalks. [More]

(Adam Fagen)

United Airlines Expands In-Flight Entertainment To Android Devices

Travelers who use Android devices hoping to catch a movie on their next United Airlines flight finally have the same opportunity already afforded to their Apple counterparts. [More]

Microsoft Decides To Stop Charging For Mobile Office Apps

Microsoft Decides To Stop Charging For Mobile Office Apps

Realizing that it can’t make money if no one uses its products anymore, Microsoft has decided to allow iOS and Android users to access most of the functions in its mobile Office suite of apps — Word, Excel, PowerPoint — without having to pay a hefty annual subscription fee. [More]

(Great Beyond)

Can Police Force You To Unlock Your Phone With Fingerprint?

While the Supreme Court recently made it very clear that police can’t look at the contents of a suspect’s phone without a warrant, what remains unresolved is whether or not authorities with a warrant can then compel a suspect to unlock his/her phone. And does it make a difference if that unlocking involves a fingerprint instead of a passcode? [More]

(afagen)

More Former iPhone Users Suing Apple, Claiming iMessage “Intercepts” Texts Meant For Android Phones

Although Apple has since claimed to have fixed an issue afflicting many former iPhone users, who claimed they failed to receive messages meant for them from friends once they switched to Android phones, yet another group of customers are suing the company, claiming iMessage intercepted their messages. [More]

FBI Director Wants To Change Law To Allow Easier Snooping On Smartphones

FBI Director Wants To Change Law To Allow Easier Snooping On Smartphones

Last month, FBI Director James Comey expressed vague concerns that new privacy measures on iOS and Android smartphones might allow criminals to do bad things. Now Comey is saying it’s time to change the law to make sure that law enforcement doesn’t have to figure out your phone’s password. [More]

(ianfinessey)

Giving Police Backdoor Access To Smartphones Is An Invitation To Be Hacked

With both Android and iOS phones making privacy updates that will make it impossible for Google or Apple to unlock a device without a user’s passcode, even with a warrant, authorities from local police to the head of the FBI to the U.S. Attorney General are saying there should be some sort of backdoor way to gain access to these devices. But what they don’t realize is that leaving in that additional point of access just makes phones more vulnerable to other forms of snooping. [More]