Free Messaging Apps Are Unsafe, Claims Hackers

 The free text messaging app on your phone can be used to occupy your personal information. Hackers and cyber security professionals have claimed that internet companies can access a mobile user’s chat logs and phone data, which includes location, contacts, mail and much more, through some of the free texting apps.

As per TOI, a team of young hackers demonstrated on Sunday how text messages sent through a Chinese free texting app can be decrypted. They said foreign governments could also be using this method to access data for surveillance or spying.

Participants at The Hackers Conference in Delhi on Sunday said the government wasn’t utilizing the potential of hackers despite its websites increasingly coming under attack.

However, hackers are increasingly becoming part of the IT industry and contributing as security experts. “Hackers are paid around Rs 1 lakh per month by social networking sites, search engines and software companies, he said, adding that some of these hackers are just teenagers, says Kishlay who further said:

“Hacking is like an art which needs skill to master. It is also like science, extremely logical. Today private companies use ethical hackers to make themselves secure. We know of companies that pay hackers more than they spend on developing software,” said Kishlay Bharadwaj, 24, a freelance security analyst and organizing member of the conference. 

White hat hackers are for the good, no matter if they work for any company or for safeguarding the nation from cyber threats.

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iOS 7 To Be Launched On September 10

 September 10 is the date we’re currently marking in the diaries for the iPhone 5S and 5C reveal, and that may have just been reinforced by a claim that we’ll see the release of iOS 7 that very same day.

According to an email sent to developers from Nuance, the company behind Siri, the general availability date for iOS 7 is set for September 10.

The Next Web contributing writer Owen Williams posted the below email from Nuance to his personal blog, it reads:

As you are probably aware, iOS 7 GA will be released on September 10th.

The NDEV Program has pre-qualified that SpeechKit 1.4.5 works properly on iOS 7, but we encourage you to conduct own testing to ensure that when the upgrade happens, your Nuance speech services continue to work seamlessly.

It asked developers using its API to conduct testing to ensure that their services work on iOS 7 even though its SpeechKit 1.4.5 is pre-qualified to work properly on iOS 7. Nuance is the voice recognition focused company which has also worked on Siri, Apple’s intelligent voice assistant.

Historically, Apple has released iOS Golden Master versions to developers on the same day as the announcement of new iPhones, giving developers time to test their apps with the final version of the new iOS before its release it to the general public a couple of days before the launch of the new iPhone.

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Alleged Motorola Droid 5 Leaked Images

 Motorola doesn’t seem to let go of the sliding keyboard. According to images posted on Chinese social network Weibo, Motorola has a new smartphone in its pipeline for Verizon. The DROID 5 is rumored to continue the DROID 4′s tradition and sport a 5-row slide-out QWERTY keyboard with a larger 4.3- or 4.5-inch screen. It is also said to support wireless charging and NFC. The photos show Verizon’s logo and it wouldn’t be surprising if the DROID 5 also supported the carrier’s 4G LTE network, considering its predecessor did likewise.

Suspiciously, the device seen in the images is running a rather outdated version of Android 4.0.3, so it’s tough to say how old this alleged Droid 5 actually is.

It would be interesting if it will also run on the same X8 Computing System that powers the latest Motorola DROIDs as well as the Moto X, giving it features like Touchless Controls and Active Display notifications.

There’s is no news on the availability of the Droid 5, but it is expected to make its first appearance to the Verizon’s lineup. However that being the case we would also love for the company to start showing interest in India operations once again, that simply seems unlikely for the time being.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Pre Release Leaks,Rumors and Specifications

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the next big daddy smartphone for the company after the big Note 2 launched last year at IFA Berlin. In a similar fashion at IFA 2013, Samsung will hold their Unpacked event where they plan to unveil a few of the goodies intended for the next generation of technology. The Galaxy Note 3 is the most prominent upcoming Smartphone and the world has a lot of expectations from Samsung when it comes to the Note 3, and it mostly has to do with the build quality. 

Lets start off with things we know for sure, The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will launch on September 4th at the Unpacked event in Berlin, Germany. The design of the Note 3, is going to be a mix of the Galaxy S4 and the original Note and Note 2. The new Note will still carry an S Pen with more enhanced features. The new Galaxy Note 3 is expected to be slimmer and slightly lighter than the last edition.

Hardware and Specs

According to Rumors, the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will have a 1920 x 1080p 5.7-inch display of the super Amoled Variety, a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor or an eight-core Exynos 5 Octa chipset depending on region, 3GB of RAM and Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.  The display here will get an increase from the 5.5 inch we saw last year, but the size of the Note 3 may not be that much more thanks to the “less bezel” design implemented in the new S4 which is expected to be incorporated in the Galaxy Note 3. A 13-megapixel camera setup with optical image stabilization along side a 5 MP front camera with autofocus and HD video calling. 

Although a lot of sources claim that the Note 3 will come in 32 Gb and 64 GB variants, a 16GB variant will help reduce costs, especially in countries like India where the Dollar prices are skyrocketing. The Battery is expected to be bumped up to a 3200 mAh battery providing a considerable increase in battery life.

Features and UI

If the new Note 3 does get Android 4.3, you can expect a newer version of Touchwiz UI along side some of the features carried over from the Galaxy S4 including gestures and Air View among many other new features that Samsung will design to make this flagship more popular. You can also expect the camera features like dual shot and capture, sound and shot and animated photo. 

Reports suggest that a host of new features are being designed for the new S-Pen that may also feature smart calling thanks to a secondary button on the Pen hardware.

What To / Not To Expected

The Galaxy Note 3 is not expected to be a unibody smartphone, with metal chassis, despite many claims. Although, a move in this direction could possibly put all questions about build quality to rest. 

The Global version of the Note 3 may not come with LTE, while those tied to carriers can expect an LTE variant, those who buy the Exynos based Note 3 will be greeted with 3G only speeds. The Galaxy Note 3 may be launched in a dual sim variant for markets like Korea, China and India. The Galaxy Note 3 may also be launched in aGoogle edition, however the S Pen would then become redundant, unless they make a suite of apps available for the hardware. 

Expect the Galaxy Note 3 in India as early as October for prices upwards of Rs. 45000 for the basic variant which we expect will be 16 GB.

Samsung is also planning to pair up the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 launch with several new cases and accessories along with a new smart watch dubbed “Galaxy Gear”. 

Google Starts A 'Vulnerability Rewards Program'

The Vulnerability Rewards Program is created to help and reward the contributions of security researchers who invest their time and effort in helping Google to make Chromium more secure. Through this program Google is to provide monetary awards and public recognition for vulnerabilities responsibly disclosed to the Chromium project.

The eligible bugs can be:

• An uncontrolled buffer overflow in the browser process, especially if a malicious web site can directly control the contents of the buffer.
• Most memory safety issues in the browser process, unless the possibility of arbitrary code execution can be ruled out.

• A bug that allows circumvention of the same-origin policy.
• A bug that allows arbitrary code execution within the confines of the sandbox.
• Bugs that interfere with browser security features. E.g. A bug that disrupts the location bar and lock icon. (Note that the status bubble is not a security indicator.)

• Bug that allows an attacker to enumerate recently visited URLs.
• Bugs that are not harmful independently, but can be combined with other bugs to cause harm.  For example, ignoring a “do not cache” directive might not itself be harmful but might facilitate other attacks.
• Any bug that might be High Severity, but requires unusual user action (such as terminating a tab’s process while in full-screen mode).

• A bug that allows an attacker to hang the browser.  (Note that tab hangs are not security issues if they can be resolved simply by closing the tab.)

 Reward for eligible bugs is $500, but the typical payout is usually at least $1000 as per Google. If the rewards panel finds the bug particularly severe, the value can be as much as $3133.70. Or if the rewards panel finds a report really impressive, the value can be as much as $10,000 or even beyond says Google. 

Can you find an eligible bug ? Find it to win some $$$, just to remind you guys 1 USD is about 63.10 INR.

 

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HTC Zara Specs Leak, Budget Device With 4.5" Display And Sense 5.5

 HTC is bringing the design language from the One series down to entry level devices, according to an image by notorious leaker evleaks.

The HTC Zara has been rumoured before, but its specs never really jumped out at us. With a 4.5-inch qHD screen (960×540 pixels), a dual-core 1.2Ghz Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage, an UltraPixel camera, a 2100mAh battery and, perhaps most interestingly, Android 4.3 with Sense 5.5.

As handsets go, the HTC Zara (a codename and not final shipping designation) looks to be a mix of the lower-end Desire line and the HTC One. You can see two front-facing speakers along with the company’s unique button placement. The main differences are the more rounded corners and that distinctly Desire-like camera ring on the back.

HTC Zara is the second phone we hear of that’s going to launch with the updated Sense 5.5 user interface running on top of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. The HTC One Max is going to debut with the company’s updated UI. Sense is HTC’s differentiator in the Android game, though recently it has been focusing more on hardware improvements than software gimmicks. Whether Sense 5.5 will retain the familiar BlinkFeed home screen remains to be seen, but we don’t think HTC will mess with a good thing.

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Leaked : Samsung Galaxy Gear Specifications

The finer details of Samsung’s upcoming smartwatch are finally starting to leak out. If you’re into extending technology down to your arm, specifically Samsung technology, you might want to consider wrapping the Galaxy Gear around your wrist. Rumours are that Samsung will unveil this device on September 4th at their upcoming Unpacked event.

The Galaxy Gear will be a ‘smartphone companion’ and new reports indicate that it’ll sport a 2.5-inch OLED full colour display with a resolution of 320 x 320, plus have the usual touchscreen gestures and accelerometer, but will lack text-input commands. Under the face the Galaxy Gear reportedly has a dual-core 1.5GHz Exynos 4212 processor and Mali-400MP4 GPU. 

In addition, GigaOM reports that the watch has a camera that is integrated into the strap and even has tiny speakers in the clasp of the watch, plus built-in NFC to allow for bump-to-sync and authenticate. The watch uses Bluetooth 4.0 LE to connect with smartphones for connectivity.

As GigaOM reports, the Galaxy Gear watches that have been seeded with the developers are based on Android 4.1 (and in some cases 4.2) and there is very tight integration and syncing between the watch and the phones and tablets. For instance, if one has swiped through notifications, stops at an email blurb and then picks up thesmartphone, the phone will display that email message attached to the blurb you were looking at on the watch. The company will feature integration with Twitter and Facebook at launch.

The watch will connect to a Samsung watch manager app on the phone to manage the connection between watch and the phone. The connection will use Samsung’s proprietary accessory protocol and will use Bluetooth LE as the network transport. Apparently if there is any app running on the watch, it is its own discreet endpoint and will work directly with the servers.

The Galaxy Gear will use apps ‘not from the Google Play store, but instead from the Samsung App store.” Possibly another signal that Samsung is reducing its need on Google’s Android OS – this could mean the watch will only work with Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets. However, popular social media apps like Facebook andTwitter will be heavily integrated, along with a collection of health apps – possibly SHealth – to take on competing watches like the Nike Fuelband.

The only major items missing now are the completed design, battery life, and yes, pricing and availability.

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Bill Gates : People Dying of Malaria Don't Need Google Project Loon

 Google recently unveiled Google Loon, which intends to use hot air balloons 49 feet wide stationed 12 miles above the planet, in order to provide high speed Internet services to regions without adequate broadband infrastructure. While most people around the world, whether they understood the concept or not, were impressed by the idea, Microsoft founder Bill Gates wasn’t. 

The following is an excerpt from Gates’ interview published by Business Week : 

One of Google’s convictions is that bringing Internet connectivity to less-developed countries can lead to all sorts of secondary benefits. It has a project to float broadband transmitters on balloons. Can bringing Internet access to parts of the world that don’t have it help solve problems?

“When you’re dying of malaria, I suppose you’ll look up and see that balloon, and I’m not sure how it’ll help you. When a kid gets diarrhea, no, there’s no website that relieves that. Certainly I’m a huge believer in the digital revolution. And connecting up primary-health-care centers, connecting up schools, those are good things. But no, those are not, for the really low-income countries, unless you directly say we’re going to do something about malaria.

Google started out saying they were going to do a broad set of things. They hired Larry Brilliant, and they got fantastic publicity. And then they shut it all down. Now they’re just doing their core thing. Fine. But the actors who just do their core thing are not going to uplift the poor.”

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Microsoft's Augmented Reality Gaming Glasses Patent Revealed

 Microsoft is jumping on the wearable display bandwagon, but don’t expect a Google Glass competitor. This week the company patented a head-mounted display aimed at bringing augmented reality to gaming.

The fact that Microsoft is planning to make AR goggles was leaked last year, when a 56-page ‘roadmap’ for the Xbox One (pictured below) found its way onto the Internet. Microsoft subsequently confirmed that the roadmap was genuine, but outdated.

Beyond mimicking some of the functions of Google Glass though it was never really clear what exactly the AR glasses, codenamed Fortaleza, were for.

“In one example, a potential player invitation program receives user voice data and determines that the user voice data is an invitation to participate in a multiplayer game,” the patent request continues. “The program receives eye-tracking information, depth information, facial recognition information, potential player head-mounted display device information, and/or potential player voice data. The program associates the invitation with the potential player using the eye-tracking information, the depth information, the facial recognition information, the potential player head-mounted display device information, and/or the potential player voice data.”

Apart from acknowledging that the roadmap leak was real Microsoft has never mentioned the glasses officially and it’s unclear if and when they will do so. Many of the projects rumoured in the roadmap have since been revealed by Microsoft, including new Kinect, Xbox One, and forthcoming entertainment services. 

The patent though, which was only published yesterday, suggests the idea is still well underway. 

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iOS 7 Beta 4 Fixes Charger Hack

 Apple is said to have fixed a powerful charger-based hack, which previously allowed iDevices to be compromised by hackers using a modified power charger in under a minute.

As Reuters reports, Apple said the issue had been fixed in the latest beta of iOS 7, which has already been released to software developers.

“We would like to thank the researchers for their valuable input,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said.  The researchers were Billy Lau, a research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and graduate students Yeongjin Jang and Chengyu Song.

Andy Greenberg, Forbes technology and information security reporter explains that the researchers took advantage of a security flaw in Apple’s developer model, which allows anyone with a developer license to install third-party apps on a registered device.

iOS 7 prompts a new warning message to the user when they plug their iOS device to any device that attempts to establish a data connection informing them that “Trusting this computer will allow it full access to your device and all its data.”

Of course, this leaves iPhones and iPads that won’t get the iOS 7 update vulnerable. According to the researchers, all other versions of iOS can be hacked in this manner.

However, end users will have to wait for iOS 7 before the fix arrives.

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