Cisco's Android-based tablet 'Cius' comes to India

Networking solution provider Cisco has forayed into the Indian tablet market with the launch of 'Cius' and is eying the enterprise segment for its new product. Cisco's new device is priced at Rs. 35,000 and with docking station, it will cost around Rs. 50,000.

The company says it is focussing on its existing customers and subscribers of its IP telephony services, which are nearly 700,000 in India. "Cius is not just another tablet. It has more to do with providing applications helping productivity in a secure environment," says Cisco official Minhaj Zia.

The Cius tablet runs on Android 2.2 operating system and is powered by a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor. The device has a seven-inch display and comes with 1GB RAM and an expandable memory up to 32GB. The Cius has dual cameras (frontal and 5MP rear) and for connectivity, it supports Bluetooth 3.0, 3G/4G and WiFi. Check out our previous coverage on the Cius tablet here.

Following the footsteps of other players such as LG, HTC and Samsung, Cisco has incorporated its own app store called Cisco AppHQ in the device. The company says access to Cisco AppHQ and Android Market will assist companies selecting 'secure' mobile business-differentiated apps.

The Indian market is presently flooded with tablets from companies like Apple, Samsung, HTC, RIM and several others. Of late we have seen a number of tablet launches from different companies. The competition is stiffening with the advent of low-cost tablets such as Reliance 3G Tab and Beetel Magiq.

According to analysts, the tablet PC segment in India is likely to continue grow with sales touching one million units over the next 12 months.

Google Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' Expected to Arrive Soon

Finally we hear from Google about the release date of the new version of Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich. In an interview with SalesForce.com CEO Marc Benioff, Google's Eric Schmidt disclosed that next iteration of Android would come in the October-November timeframe.

“We have a new operating system, internally known as Ice Cream Sandwich for some reason, which is being released in October/November, which everyone’s really excited about,” says Schmidt in the interview held at Safeforce’s Dreamforce conference.

Ever since Google unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich, several rumours have floated around the Internet about the timing of its release. However, it was widely expected that the new Android operating system will come in the final quarter of this year.

Some of the reports claim that the Ice Cream Sandwich will be officially announced when Google's senior official Andrew Rubin visits AsiaD Conference, slated to be held from October 19-20.

To remind you, the upcoming update to the Android OS has been designed to unify the user interface across the Android phones and tablets. The Ice Cream Sandwich will be numbered as Android 4.0 and will have elements from both Honeycomb and Gingerbread. It's notable that the Honeycomb update provided support for the larger screens as found on the tablets, while previous versions were only designed for mobile. Stay tuned for more update on Ice Cream Sandwich.

Phones Running Google's Android are Prone to Hacking: Experts

A mobile security expert says he has found new ways for hackers to attack phones running Google Inc's Android operating system.

Riley Hassell, who caused a stir when he called off an appearance at a hacker's conference last week, told Reuters that he and his colleague Shane Macaulay decided not to lay out their research at the gathering for fear criminals would use it attack Android phones.

He said in an interview he identified more than a dozen widely used Android applications that make the phones vulnerable to attack.

"App developers frequently fail to follow security guidelines and write applications properly," he said.

"Some apps expose themselves to outside contact. If these apps are vulnerable, then an attacker can remotely compromise that app and potentially the phone using something as simple as a text message."

He declined to identify those apps, saying he fears hackers might exploit the vulnerabilities.

"When you release a threat and there's no patch ready, then there is mayhem," said Hassell, founder of boutique security firm Privateer Labs.

Hassell said he and Macaulay alerted Google to the software shortcomings they unearthed.

Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow said Android security experts discussed the research with Hassell and did not believe he had uncovered problems with Android.

"The identified bugs are not present in Android," he said, declining to elaborate.

It was the first public explanation for the failure of Hassell and Macaulay to make a scheduled presentation at the annual Black Hat hacking conference in Las Vegas, the hacking community's largest annual gathering.

They had been scheduled to talk about "Hacking Androids for Profit." Hundreds of people waited for them to show up at a crowded conference room.

Hassell said in an interview late on Thursday the pair also learned -- at the last minute -- that some of their work may have replicated previously published research and they wanted to make sure they properly acknowledged that work.

"This was a choice we made, to prevent an unacceptable window of risk to consumers worldwide and to guarantee credit where it was due," he said.

A mobile security researcher familiar with the work of Hassell and Macaulay said he understood why the pair decided not to disclose their findings.

"When something can be used for exploitation and there is no way to fix it, it is very dangerous to go out publicly with that information," the researcher said. "When there is not a lot that people can do to protect themselves, disclosure is sometimes not the best policy."

Hassell said he plans to give his talk at the Hack in The Box security conference in Kuala Lumpur in October.

SMS Backup: An Android App. to Backup your Text Messages on Your Gmail Account

If your mobile phone has limited capacity for storing SMS text messages or if you are looking to delete all the old text conversations from the phone but still preserve them somewhere, here’s something for you to consider.

SMS Backup, as the name suggests, is a free app for Android mobile phones that can copy all SMS messages from the phone to your Gmail account with a click. It can save both your incoming and outgoing messages to Gmail.

To get started, first enable IMAP in your Gmail account available under Gmail Settings –> Forwarding and POP/IMAP –> Enable IMAP. Next launch the SMS backup app on your phone, enter your Google account credentials and the will immediately copy all existing text messages to a new folder /label in your Gmail account.

 

The best part is that as new text messages arrive, or you send one, the app will automatically save them to Gmail in the background without you having to do anything.

Android App FaceNiff is the “FireSheep for Android

Using WiFi became a little more risky once FireSheep was introduced, a simplified way to snatch authentication info out of wireless packets, and a few big companies (Facebook, Twitter) responded by enabling HTTPS-by-default settings to mitigate the problem. The next incarnation of this threat has made its way to Android smartphones through an app called FaceNiff.

FaceNiff is an Android app that allows you to sniff and intercept web session profiles over the WiFi that your mobile is connected to.
It is possible to hijack sessions only when WiFi is not using EAP, but it should work over any private networks (Open/WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK)
It’s kind of like Firesheep for android. Maybe a bit easier to use (and it works on WPA2!).

Even if you’re not interested in this app for educational purposes, it should serve as a reminder to be careful on wireless networks and use SSL whenever necessary. Even WPA2 wireless connections are susceptible to FaceNiff though it does require being connected to the same wireless network.



FaceNiff is available for rooted phones only. You can download the FaceNiff.apk from the FaceNiff site.
Confirmed to work on:

• HTC Desire CM7
• Original Droid/Milestone CM7
• SE Xperia X10
• Samsung Galaxy S
• Nexus 1 CM7
• HTC HD2
• LG Swift 2X
• LG Optimus Black – original rom
• LG Optimus 3D – original rom
• Samsung Infuse

Supported services:

• FaceBook
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Amazon
• Nasza-Klasa

 [via 404techsupport]

AndroidLost Gives You Remote Access To Your Lost Android Phone

The private data that you carry around with yourself on your smartphone can really hurt you if your phone gets misplaced and lands in the wrong hands. AndroidLost is a free app for Android phones that, in combination with a web interface, allows you to remotely sound an alarm on or send a popup message to your misplaced Android phone from your computer, view your phone’s location on a map, lock it with a pin code of your choice, read its status (battery, temperature etc.), toggle WiFi and/or GPS, send SMS, read received SMS, forward incoming calls to a number of your choice, wipe your phone’s SD card or order it to execute a factory reset via web or SMS commands sent from another phone. The app is in beta as of this writing.

To begin using AndroidLost with your Android phone, you must first install the app from the Android Market (link provided at the end), launch it from your app drawer and select Request Administrator Rights > Activate (If, after this , you wish to uninstall the application, you will have to revoke its administrator rights from Menu > Display hidden keys > Remove Administrator Rights.o uninstall it). The app automatically registers online with your device’s primary Google account. Once that is done, open the AndroidLost website in your internet browser, Sign In (top-right corner) with your device’s primary Google account, then navigate to the Controls page.

Password protect your Android device

App Slammer is a great application that blocks unwanted users from using apps on your Android phone.  Once the app is installed you can set the password of your choice. After that the list of all installed apps will be generated. You just have to select the app from the list.

The application will be locked after you click on its name. You can even search for the app using the option. The list can be sorted by name, date or size. See the screenshots below.

Download App Slammer for your Android device

Advantages of Google Android Phones

Are you considering buying a new phone? Stop before you come to a conclusion, I have something that will interest you. It’s Android. The latest offering from Google.Android is an operating system made specifically for mobile phones. Like we have windows Xp , Windows 7 etc… Android can be called as windows 7 for mobile phones(In best operating system sense ).

Here are the top  10 reasons why Android is an ideal choice for every one:

1. Native Google Support : It means you get your Emails,Google & Orkut Contacts, Gtalk, Google Maps,Google calender all in one place; Synchronized with your phone. Yes they are synchronized with your phone & everything can get updated on the web & in the phone at one go.
2. A phone for every budget, Unlike iphone , Android phones are available from a variety of manufacturers, It doesn’t matter if your budget is Rs.6000 or Rs.30,000/-, You will get a phone that fits your budget, The only thing that varies is hardware inside the phone.

Upgrade Galaxy S to Android 2.2

Earlier today first build of Android 2.2 I9000XXJP1 of the Samsung Galaxy S firmwareleaked online, after a while a updated build I9000XXJP2 was released which is the most recent version of Android 2.2 for Galaxy S that you can install right now. Today we will tell you how
to Flash your Galaxy S to Android 2.2 ROM easily. Just follow our step by step instruction sand you will be up and running Android 2.2 in no time.

How to Upgrade Galaxy S Firmware to Android 2.2

1) Download the necessary files to a single folder and extract them

Download Odin3_v1.0 for Flashing firmware
Download .PIT File
Download Android 2.2 build I9000XXJP2 (pass samsung-firmwares.com)
After extracting Odin and Android 2.2 rar file, it will look something like this

Swiftkey Android App Knows What You're Going To Type

Typing may never be the same again, thanks to a new mobile phone application that knows what to say before you do. 

Swiftkey, developed by a British company from London, can predict entire messages on the basis of a user’s previous texts and emails. Analysis of what a person has previously written on Google Mail, Facebook or Twitter allows the software can work out what an individual is likely to say in future. As the software continues to be used, its understanding of writing subject and style also evolves. 

The manufacturers of Swiftkey claim that 84 per cent of all words typed are correctly predicted after the user has typed just one or two letters. Approximately a third of all “second words” is predicted without a single character being typed. 

Swiftkey was initially demonstrated at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. Its new version incorporates the analysis of a user’s vocabulary and style from Gmail and others, and

Google Translate for Android goes Conversational

Aims to enable a conversation between individuals speaking different languages

Google has tweaked the Translate App for Android platform with a slew of interesting changes to help users. The new Translate for Android App promises to enable two-way speech that lets users to converse with a person speaking another language. Translate App supports up to 53 languages and voice input for 15 languages.



Translate for Android App brings new drop down boxes for easier selection and interactivity. Google has introduced a new Conversation mode that works only for translation between English and Spanish. This Conversation mode has been optimized for letting users communicate with a person speaking another language. To use this Conversation mode, simply press on the Microphone icon and speak the word or phrase.

Android Trojan Geinimi Steals User Data

Spreads via third-party Chinese App Stores packaged in games and other apps

Though Google Android operating system is based on Linux-based kernel, it's not completely secured. In April we reported about the Mariposa botnet targeted at Android phones. Hackers have quietly sneaked in a new Trojan Horse malware - Geinimi - that spreads on Android phones via Games and other Apps, reported PC World. Kevin Mahaffey, CTO of Lookout Mobile Security that develops mobile security software said that Geinimi Trojan appears to be the first one with botnet-capabilities targeted at Android mobiles.



Geinimi Trojan is "grafted" to work on the repackaged Apps that includes mostly games and is distributed via third-party Chinese App Store. Once the malicious Trojan packaged App is downloaded, the App asks Android phone users for a larger set of permissions than it's supposed to verify. The Trojan gains information about the phone and performs the following activities of sending data to a remote server:

- Send location coordinates (fine location)
- Send device identifiers (IMEI and IMSI)
- Download and prompt the user to install an app
- Prompt the user to uninstall an app
- Enumerate and send a list of installed apps to the server


All this data is sent to a command-and-control server that connects multiple domains. However, Lookout is yet to determine the true purpose of the Geinimi Trojan. Since the malware can connect to several domains and get instructions from the remove server, Lookout termed its operation very botnet-like.


Though the Trojan spreads only through Third-Party Chinese App Store, all Android phones users must resist downloading Apps from untrusted sources. Always read and then allow the necessary permissions to the Apps. In case of any unusual behavior, get the mobile security Apps and get the mobile system checked.