Hasta La Gadget!

You could call it technological baptism of sorts… just not the kind Apple would want. A Russian scam app known as Find and Call managed to hit the App Store and create havoc for those who dared a download, making it the first non-experimental malware to hit iOS without first needing a jailbreak. As Kaspersky found out, it wasn’t just scamware, but a trojan: the title would swipe the contacts after asking permission, send them to a remote server behind the scenes and text spam the daylights out of any phone number in that list. Thankfully, Apple has already yanked the app quickly and explained to The Loop that the app was pulled for violating App Store policies. We’d still like to know just why the app got there in the first place, but we’d also caution against delighting in any schadenfreude if you’re of the Android persuasion. The app snuck through to Google Play as well, and Kaspersky is keen to remind us that Android trojans are “nothing new;” the real solution to malware is to watch out for fishy-looking apps, no matter what platform you’re using.

[Image credit: C Jones Photography (wallpaper)]

Spam-happy iOS trojan slips into App Store, gets pulled in rapid fashion originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Making a half dozen attempts to guess your login info or typing each digit of a credit card account certainly can get in the way of following through on impulse purchases, which is exactly how you’d categorize FarmVille cash or a featured flick that you know you may not have time to watch within the month. The solution is carrier billing, eliminating those precious seconds between impulse and reconsideration, and Telefonica has just signed on to offer the service to Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM account holders. The partnerships will enable O2 users in Germany or Movistar subscribers in Spain to charge purchases to their mobile phone accounts, for example — in total, 14 Telefonica subsidiaries should be up and running with carrier billing by the end of the year, though some services, such as Google Play and Facebook, have already begun to roll out. Click through to the PR after the break for the full breakdown.

Continue reading Telefonica partners with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM for global carrier billing

Telefonica partners with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and RIM for global carrier billing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  Telefonica (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Okay, so VLC may not be the media darling it once was, but it still has a legion of fans — as evidenced by the (official) beta version’s warm welcome over at Google Play. Despite a clear warning that the build is unstable and might “kill your kitten,” users report mostly smooth multi-format video playback on a wide range of devices running Android 2.1 and up, and any jitters will no doubt be resolved over time — the whole point is that it’s open-source and ripe for improvement.

Official VLC app now out for Android: only an unstable beta, but it works originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge, Mobiflip.de  |  Google Play  | Email this | Comments

It’s surely been a crazy couple of weeks for the folks at Google. The company clearly has more new features than it can shove into a couple of lengthy keynotes — like functionality for Play that lets users update and uninstall apps by way of the My Android Apps tab in the browser-based version of the store. Check the source link below to begin your cloud-based bidding.

[Thanks, Allen]

Google Play lets you update and uninstall apps from the comfort of your browser originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 12:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve got good news and bad news in equal measure for those pining after a Nexus 7 of their very own. If you’re reluctant to spend that much hard-earned cash at the Google Play Store, Google’s senior VP of mobile Andy Rubin has hinted to AllThingsD that the ASUS-made tablet could end up at retail stores before too long; the Play-only availability was just what Google had to mention at I/O. There could be some markup in other channels, given that Google is selling at what’s very nearly wholesale prices. The bad news? Google won’t be changing its attitude towards tablet-native apps anytime soon. Rubin sees Google Play content additions as key to driving Android tablet adoption, not the encouragement of tablet-specific app development — he’d prefer the one-size-fits-all model. We’ll see whether magazines and movie sales are enough to turn around so-so market share, but if you were hoping Rubin would address criticisms that Android tablet apps are just blown-up phone apps, you’ll have to keep waiting.

Google’s Andy Rubin: Nexus 7 may head to retail, but we’re not changing tablet app policies originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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