Evatran introduces a “hands free” EV charging station that eliminates the need to remember to recharge at the end of the day–or dirty your hands. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20012101-48.html” class=”origPostedBlog”The Car Tech blog/a/p
You know the drill: blurry shots of phone get leaked… user’s manual gets leaked… excited would-be buyers voraciously consume manual’s contents… phone finally gets released. Indeed, that’s precisely the same well-trodden path the upcoming Droid 2 is taking, so if you’re looking at getting this thing in the next few weeks, you might want to start skimming the documentation so there aren’t any embarrassing newbie missteps in your first few moments of ownership. As Droid Life notes, we’ve got more confirmation here that the phone will be running the same skin as the Droid X, complete with the Swype-enabled (and presumably multitouch-enabled) soft keyboard for those times when you’re too lazy to pull out the physical keyboard. We can’t imagine what else could possibly leak at this point — so hey, Verizon, can we recommend you go ahead and get this show on the road?
Droid 2 manual leaks, teaches you everything you need to know about a phone you don’t have originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
An Android app that offers free wallpapers is allegedly gathering data about its users, including their phone numbers, carrier subscriber identifiers and phone number of their voicemail accounts. The app then sends this data to a website based in China, says mobile security firm Lookout.
The Android app, called Jackeey, is estimated to have anywhere from 1 to 4 million downloads.
“While the data accessed are certainly suspicious coming from wallpaper apps, we’re not saying that these applications are malicious,” Kevin Mahaffey, founder and CTO of Lookout wrote in an e-mail to Android Central. “There have been cases in the past where the applications are simply a little overzealous in their data-gathering practices, but not because of any ill intent.”
The Jackeey app does not touch the SMS and browsing capabilities of the phone. Lookout made the disclosure at the ongoing Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. (See Wired.com’s Threat Level blog for more coverage of Black Hat.)
Wired.com was not able to contact the developers of the Jackeey wallpapers.
While one Android app has been singled out, many iPhone apps also intrude into the users’ privacy, says Lookout. A survey of 300,000 applications for both the iPhone and Android OS found twice as many free applications on the iPhone have the capability to access the user’s contact data (14 percent) as compared to Android (8 percent).
“Ultimately, the device OS makers should focus on better security,” says Dimitri Volkmann, a vice-president at Good Technology, which provides mobile security and device management for businesses. “It’s more about the maturity of the vendors rather than control vs. open source.”
How the data gathered from users is handled has been a minefield for phone makers. In 2009, a developer found the Palm Pre’s operating-system webOS sent his GPS location back to the company every day. Palm was also monitoring the webOS apps he used each day, and for how long he used each one. The outcry forced Palm to change how it handles data gathered by the OS.
Android app Jackeey’s missteps in handling user data has hurt and embarrassed them. But with thousands of apps in the Android app store and little supervision, it’s just a matter of time before a bigger mobile-security risk has major consequences for consumers.
See Also:
Photo: (marketingfacts/Flickr)
The electric Think City has been targeting an American release for well over two years now but, like many EVs, those dates just kept on ‘a slipping. Now the cars are finally starting to hit the colonies and, as a reward for the wait, we’re receiving models with more powerful batteries. The cells are supplied by Indiana-based Ener1, a new lithium-manganese pack that offers 25kWh. Those cells are said to double the car’s previous expected range, up to 100 miles from 50, yet still recharge in a scant four hours — if you’re using a 240v plug. The folks at Green Car Advisor managed a maximum of 68mph in the two-seater and, driving in a decidedly non-eco-minded way, managed 43.5 miles with 38 percent left, giving an estimated 75 miles for those with leaden right foots. That, at least, is promising, and while a $28,000 MSRP is rather a bitter pill, it’s a good bit cheaper (though smaller) than the Nissan Leaf. And don’t forget that Uncle Sam would be happy to knock at least a few grand off of that price, too.
Think City electric car gets bigger American batteries for bigger American roads originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Autoblog Green | 
Green Car Advisor | Email this | Comments
Natali can’t make it on the show today because she’s busy taking care of little Justin Junior, but Jill Schlesinger saves the day and joins us to answer some of your …
Originally posted at The 404 Podcast
The Asus VG236H features a 120Hz, 3D-capable refresh rate. 3D means good right? Right?!
Samsung and Verizon are billing the Samsung Intensity II as an eco-friendly messaging phone. You can start buying it online Thursday for as little as $50, and in stores in coming weeks. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20012094-85.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Dialed In/a/p
Google’s Nexus One phone is going where few smartphones have gone before. A group strapped the Nexus One to the back of a rocket and launched it from the Nevada desert into the atmosphere to test the device’s performance up in the air.
The Mavericks Civilian Space Foundation, a group of rocket enthusiasts, used an Intimidator-5 rocket to send the device 28,000 feet into the atmosphere.
“The purpose of flying the Nexus One is to find a low-cost satellite solution,” says Thomas Atchison, chairman of the Mavericks Foundation. “The radio, processing power, sensors and cameras in smartphones potentially have the same capability as those in satellites.”
The idea is to drive down satellite cost by using off-the-shelf products and components, says Atchison.
“Today’s satellites are the size of Greyhound buses,” he says. “But I believe they are going to get smaller and more frequently deployed. This is a first-step effort.”
The Nexus One piggybacked on a rocket that was being launched alongside another one for a project called Clotho that’s trying to find out how far off the earth’s surface life exists.
The test flight with the Nexus One was to see how the device behaves under a high-G environment, says Atchison.
“If you put a Nexus One in orbit, how will it perform?” he says. “How does the device handle the thermal temperature and vibrations. We wanted to see the results.”
The resulting video from the Nexus One is below. As expected, the video is a lot of shaking, blue sky and blobs of light, but it is still fun to watch. An earlier test brought Nexus One back with a shattered screen but the device did well on its second flight.
Mavericks researchers James Dougherty and Robert Briody show the payload with a biosampling module and the Google phone.
See Also:
Photo: The shattered Nexus One post launch (jurvetson/Flickr)
[via Make and Droid Ninja]
So, how do you feel about the look of this myTouch 3G HD we’ve been seeing this week? Haven’t formed a complete opinion yet? Well, maybe this new shot — seemingly of said phone’s backside — will help. As we’ve seen on past models, the rear features a tastefully-sized myTouch logo, lending a dose of credibility to the picture that seems to have been covertly snapped off a monitor where the render was being shown. In other words, we don’t have much reason to doubt this thing — and considering that the Vibrant isn’t a member of the myTouch line, T-Mobile’s overdue for a refreshed non-QWERTY Android device in that segment of the market. Should be an interesting few months for these guys, no?
T-Mobile’s apparent myTouch 3G HD gets spied from the rear originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | TmoNews | Email this | Comments
GelaSkins aren’t your only option if you want artist-designed protection for your iPhone 4. SmirkAbout‘s cases are truly eye-catching, and they’re now available for the iPhone 4. You can even get them with matching high resolution wallpaper, just the thing for the iPhone 4’s high resolution display.
SmirkAbout cases are thin and tough. Besides supporting the iPhone 4, SmirkAbout’s designs can fit over 500 different devices. All cases are easy to put on and remove, provide UV protection, and come with a lifetime guarantee.
While SmirkAbout is based in Australia (where women glow and men plunder), it has online stores for 10 geographic regions so you’ll still get local shipping rates.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
