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Posts by hutchinj
Straight Talk, Unified eMail, Signal drops [From the Forums]
May 18th
We’ve blown through a bunch of content for you all this week so be sure to get yourself caught up if, for whatever reason you missed out on anything. In addition to the news and editorials, we also managed to do up a Android Central podcast for you all and if that isn’t enough — be sure to check out the Android Central Forums:
- HTC One X Forums - Anyone having signal drop issues?
- HTC EVO 4G LTE - Should HTC/Sprint give good will gesture?
- Samsung Galaxy S III Forums - No Android Experience, Tempted by the S3
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus Forums - Straight Talk MMS problems
- Droid RAZR Maxx Forums - Non-Unified eMail inbox possible?
If you’re not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/e_o84FRk8zc/story01.htm
Top Handset Maker Confirms Backdoor in One of Its Models
May 18th
Photo: Pierre Lecourt/Flickr
One of the world’s top handset makers has acknowledged the existence of a backdoor in one of its models.
ZTE, which is based in China and produces the ScoreM, which sells as a Google Android phone, admitted that it had placed a backdoor account with a hardcoded password, which is easily found online. The backdoor was used by the company to remotely update its firmware, according to Reuters. But its existence would also allow anyone else with knowledge of the password to access a Score phone and gain root access.
“It could very well be that they’re not very good developers or they could be doing this for nefarious purposes,” Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder of cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, told the news service.
ZTE has vowed to fix the security hole.
“ZTE is actively working on a security patch and expects to send the update over-the-air to affected users in the very near future,” ZTE told Reuters. “We strongly urge affected users to download and install the patch as soon as it is rolled out to their devices.”
Article source: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/zte-backdoor/
Motorola updates its Android 4.0 upgrade plans — and it isn’t all good news
May 18th
By JR Raphael (@jr_raphael) 
When it comes to Android 4.0 upgrades, Motorola hasn’t exactly been leading the pack.
The manufacturer scored a big fat “D” in my Android 4.0 report card for the first quarter of 2012, and from the looks of it, its second-quarter score may not be much better.
After months of silence and inactivity, Motorola is finally speaking up about its Android 4.0 upgrade plans and what’s going on with its devices. Here’s what’s new from the company’s latest software update page refresh:
• Motorola’s Droid Razr is now scheduled to get Ice Cream Sandwich sometime in the second quarter. Previously, the phone had been down for an “early 2012″ upgrade — a time frame I think we can all agree has long since passed. The same second-quarter schedule now applies for the international Motorola Razr model as well as the Droid Razr Maxx.
• The Motorola Xoom international Wi-Fi model and U.S. 4G model may actually get ICS one of these days; both tablets are now slated for second-quarter upgrades.
• The Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2 and 10.1 models finally have ETAs for their Ice Cream Sandwich arrivals as well: Both Xyboard models are set to get ICS in the third quarter of the year. The same applies to the international Motorola Xyboard tablets.
• Owners of the once-heavily-hyped Motorola Droid Bionic can expect to get Ice Cream Sandwich “early” in the third quarter of 2012. Moto had stayed mum about the Bionic for months up till now: The company last talked about the Bionic in late 2011, when it promised to release more specific
Article source: http://blogs.computerworld.com/20195/motorola_android_40_upgrade?source=rss_blogs
Are Android Tablets Dead?
May 18th
First quarter numbers from IDC showed that Android tablet shipments declined in Q1-12 from Q4-11, while Apple cruised ahead, reasserting dominance of the tablet market. Looking a bit deeper, we see that Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, a deviation from Google Android, is becoming dominant, and all the tablets from Samsung, Moto/Google, and other mainstream CE and PC manufacturers are losing share. This looks like a disaster for Android.
Android Tablet Market Share: Dec-11 to Feb-12; Data via Comscore.
It is a disaster for Google’s Android tablet strategy, which seems to boil down to producing a better product with much the same value proposition as Apple’s iPad. The high-end Android tablets that are positioned right against the iPad (Moto Xoom, Samsung GalaxyTablet) are losing ground. Asus, Acer, and Toshiba, which have more of a value strategy, are hanging on. The others have failed to make a mark.
However, Amazon has created a whole new market with the Kindle: defined by simpler hardware and software, $200 price point, and linkage to the Amazon content platform and brand.
There’s more to this market than the Comscore numbers show, because Comscore does not consider Barnes Noble’s Nook
Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddhixon/2012/05/18/are-android-tablets-dead/
Apple apparently censoring the word "jailbreak" in US iTunes Store (Updated)
May 18th
Update: TNW reports this has been fixed. Did Apple hire a bunch of temps lately?
Developers, musicians, and probably any other content provider in the U.S. iTunes Store have a new Apple policy to deal with this morning; you apparently can’t use the term “jailbreak” in a product description or name. If you do slip up, or happen to be like 70′s rock band Thin Lizzy and have a hit song and album by the name of “Jailbreak”, you’ll find that it has been censored by Apple.
Apple appears to be blanking out the word “Jailbreak” as J*******k in many cases where it appears on iTunes. Some Americans we’re talking to are not seeing the censorship, but we’re assuming that’s due to caching issues.
It’s not only in the music category; “jailbreak” is being censored on the App Store (above), in listings for TV episodes (including a G-rated episode of The Roy Rogers Show from 1951 — below), and even on a podcast on iTunes U about the Andy Griffith show. We’re not certain why Apple has chosen to do this — it could be that it’s an unintended outcome of trying to ban the use of the word on the App Store that went a little overboard. When the word “jailbreak” is outlawed, only outlaws will “jailbreak”…
Source: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/05/17/apple-censoring-jailbrea…
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/05/17/apple-apparently-censoring-the-word-jailbreak-in-us-itunes-sto/
Woz hired as technical advisor on Jobs biopic
May 18th
Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter for the Facebook-inspired The Social Network, is working on an adaptation of the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. To help him in this quest, Sorkin has hired Steve Wozniak as a technical advisor, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. Woz will help Sorkin accurately represent Jobs personality and show the technology that drove Steve Jobs’s life.
Sorkin said he wants to focus on a controversial or difficult time in Jobs’s life and won’t do a full-life story. He’s been busy working on another project and hasn’t decided what part of Jobs’s life he will cover. Work on the screenplay will begin in earnest over the summer.
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Aaron Sorkin, AaronSorkin, Apple, biography, biopic, film, movie, Steve Jobs, SteveJobs, walter isaacson, WalterIsaacson
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-rt-us-stevej…
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/05/18/woz-hired-as-technical-advisor-on-jobs-biopic/
Apple assuming retail lease, plans to open new UK Apple Store
May 18th
Apple’s march to world domination continues, this time with a new Apple Store planned for the UK seaside city of Plymouth. What’s surprising about this store announcement is that Apple apparently made managers of a successful Zara fashion store at the Drake Circus Shopping Centre (above) in Plymouth “an offer they can’t refuse.”
The Zara store, which fills a 21,045 square-foot space in the mall, has about ten years to go on a fifteen-year lease. Zara is out; Apple will assume the lease for the remainder of the time. ifoAppleStore notes that this space is almost double the size of the standard Apple Store, so Apple may just occupy the ground floor and sublet the upper level.
26 Zara employees are losing their jobs as a result of the announced closing, but there’s a good chance that more jobs than that will be created when the Apple Store opens. The Drake Circus store is about 45 miles from the Princesshay Apple Store in Exeter, and fills in coverage for the Devon and Cornwall region of the country.
Source: http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Jobs-large-stores-close-Drak…
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/05/18/apple-assuming-retail-lease-plans-to-open-new-uk-apple-store/
DropKey app encrypts Mac files, free through Sunday
May 18th
WellRed Apps launched its DropKey file encryption app for Mac last month, but realized that there’s one issue with gaining widespread acceptance — it takes two to tango, and it takes two copies of DropKey (one each for sender and recipient) to send files securely. The company had been giving away one free license with each purchase of DropKey, but is going all-out through Sunday by making the app completely free.
DropKey pairs 2048-bit keys with 256-bit encryption for incredible security. The app, which requires a Mac running OS X 10.7 or later, is integrated with Address Book and makes encryption drop-dead simple.
When you launch DropKey for the first time, it generates your public and private encryption keys. You can email your public key to a trusted recipient from the app, which adds the key information to your address book card on the recipient’s Mac. Prior to that time, a shared password is required; after the keys have been shared, you no longer need the password.
DropKey is a useful app if you need to send encrypted information to co-workers on a regular basis, and there’s no better time than now to download a copy for free from the Mac App Store.
Source: http://www.wellredapps.com/products/dropkey/
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/05/18/dropkey-app-encrypts-mac-files-free-through-sunday/
G5 Mac Pro receives Macquarium treatment
May 18th
All the little fishies
in bottom of the sea
wish that they were swimming
in my G5 Mac PC
Or for the geekier devs among you: Joy to NSFishies in the G5 PC, @selector(joy:) to you and me…
Video of the case conversion follows for your delectation.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5911431/these-mac-pro-updates-are-not-wha…
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/05/18/g5-mac-pro-receives-macquarium-treatment/
Apple’s iTunes Festival scheduled for September
May 18th
Apple has announced some details on the 2012 iTunes Festival in London. This 30-day music event will take place at The Roundhouse and feature free performances by Usher, Emeli Sandé, Jack White, Norah Jones and One Direction among others.
Tickets will be distributed via lottery, and fans in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and the Netherlands can vie for a seat. Apple will stream performances to computers running iTunes and iPhones, iPod touches and iPads with the iTunes Festival app installed. The fun starts on September 1 and runs for the whole month.
Source: http://www.itunesfestival.com/
Article source: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/05/18/apples-itunes-festival-scheduled-for-september/