One of the best open source software alternatives for watching video and listening audio VLC has now been released in beta version for all Android devices. VLC mediaplayer is an app which is available across different platforms including Windows PC, Mac OS X and of course iOS. Interestingly VLC was available as an iOS app but was removed by Apple after some copyright claims against the app.
Unfortunately this is still in early beta phase so while you can download the app you will have to be quite knowledgeable to install it on your device, as you’ll have to compile it and do some other developers stuff before you can use it for viewing movies on your tablet or smartphone.
You can choose among two slightly different versions of the app: Neon and Noneon. You must choose the version which will work with your particular device and the difference depends on the hardware of your device. To check this search for the cpuinfo file which is located in the proc folder on your device. When you edit this file you will see Neon or Noneon and you will know which version of VLC will work for you. You must enable the option Unknown sources – Applications before you can install any app from unofficial sources.
Please note: VLC for Android is still in it’s infancy and you wont have any support available if something goes wrong for you. And given that this is just a sideline project for the people working on it, it will probably have some serious issues and bugs. If you test this out please let us know how did it went for you. Anybody interested in VLC for iOS?
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Mark Zuckerberg has recently in an interview promised many new surprises coming from his company. And indeed Facebook is improving its offer at least in Apple‘ iOS world. Facebook has just launched an interesting endeavour, and separate app for instant messaging for iOS devices including iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
We are not sure why should many users leave already established apps and change move their communications channels to Facebook Messenger, except the fact that Facebook has already more than 700 millions of users with your friends most probably already among them.
Here a re some of the features of this app:
send messages to your friends, groups or any other contact
share your map location and find the location of your friends
receive mobile notifications
add friends photos so you wont send messages to wrong people
and much more
This latest app from Facebook can be downloaded from App Store and it is available as a free download. This app is also available for Android devices.
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In a public response to recent patent clashes between Google and their competitors, Google’s representatives said that this is only a part of an organized action against Google backed Android mobile OS.
One of the highly ranked managers in Google, David Drumond wrote in his blog about the recent patent infringement campaign against Google and manufacturers of Android OS devices waged by an unlikely alliance of Microsoft, Oracle and Apple. He said that the ubiquitous success of Android OS has lately provoked a concerted and unacceptable action by aforementioned companies based on suspicious patent claims.
Mr Drumond also mentioned concerted action by Apple and Microsoft in an effort to win the auction for Nortel patents, calling for swift action by US Justice Department based on anti competitive actions.
He didn’t mention Google’s possible action against Lodsys which lately sues Android app developers for infringing on bogus patents. Apple on the other side has taken action against Lodsys to protect their developers. And knowing that Samsung has silently delayed launch of their Android tablet Samsung Tab 10.1 on Australian market because Apple has filled legal complaints against them in Australian courts and that Taiwanese HTC was pressured by Microsoft to pay $5 for every smartphone they sell, Google has a lot of reasons to be concerned.
It is true that Android has gained a leading position on the mobile OS market but as Apple captures most of the profits and Microsoft tries to increase the price of Android, Google will soon have to take action or otherwise they will certainly lose their leading position. And this wouldn’t be anything new. Look at Nokia and RIM for example. A couple of years ago Nokia was the leading manufacturer of cellphones. Now the company is in big trouble, same as RIM with their business oriented Blackberries.
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While Apple‘s iOS, Nokia’s Symbian and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS are completely or almost completely free from malware apps, Android is under heavy attack. There is a new kind of a malicious software which can record and share your calls without your consent. The app looks like a normal, safe app but after you install it, the app downloads an additional file. Afterwards the app will start recording your calls. It is also capable of saving the file in .amr format which can later be uploaded to remote online servers of course without you knowing what is going on. Earlier we have seen troyan apps which have gathered logs on your calls, like the number dialed, duration of the call and so on.
This is certainly a great weakness for Android, as you know there is almost no restrictions for apps entering Android Market, which is the opposite of Apples policies. Apple has strict policies regarding malware apps, and none have being allowed to enter iTunes App Store so far.
You can protect you Android device if you install some anti virus app from the market, but be very very careful, as many malicious apps infect computers and mobile platforms under the guise of security apps! Do your homework carefully before installing an app on your device. Read reviews, ask friends and members of Android user forums, about experiences with apps before you finally install them. otherwise you can easily loose a lot including your privacy and sensitive data.
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It seems that the location tracking problem is not something happening only on iPhone iOS. New rumors and reports indicate that Google is following these questionable practices to with their Andoid OS for mobile devices. Korean police has Lunched an investigation which included raiding of Google’s offices in Seoul, South Korea in order to find out more. The investigation was probably caused by widely held concern that the search engine giant is also involved in tracking smartphone users without any permission.
One of the most interesting areas for police work was Google’s Ad Mob advertisement system. It seems that there are reasonable doubts that Google’s Ad Mob mobile advertising system has been gathering sensitive personal data without any legal permission by South Korean government agencies. Google has confirmed that the their Seoul offices have indeed been raided by local police. No other informations have been released by Google except that the company has fully complied to all requests by the investigators.
Every technology can be used for different purposes, so for example location based services are excellent if you want to locate nearby stores or restaurants, but the same technology can be used for tracking you personal location. There are open possibilities for abuse of sensitive personal data and the companies involved should be pressured to ask for permission for collecting such data.
On the other side, Apple is preparing a new update to the iOS firmware with one of the main goals being removing the location tracking bug from the iOS.
What is your opinion on data privacy in iOS and Android world? Are you concerned about your own privacy?
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As you have probably read before Apple has started a lawsuit against Samsung in order to protect their trade mark and intellectual property. Now Samsung has decided to strike back and submit a counter suit in US courts against Cupertino company. The timing of this action of Samsung seems to be excellent as Apple is also a target in a recent iPhone tracking scandal which has brought a lot of negative publicity to the company. Also already two iOS device users based in US have also decided to pitch a a legal battle against Apple for the supposed unwarranted surveillance.
Steve Jobs has already said that this is not about tracking but about some other issue, and he also claimed that Android is certainly tracking their users. There are also some other rumors regarding that this could be Apple working on some new, traffic related project. Some experts even claimed that this location tracking was simply a bug in iOS and that it will be sorted out in the new iOS upgrade.
There were some apps released to counter this problem. One was released by Ryan Petrich and is named Untracked. Untracked is available for free in Cydia App Store and will disable location tracking. Additionally it will also it will delete the stored location data. However Apple is doing great business with their products and perhaps this surge of scandals and lawsuits is just other big players feeling threatened by the great results from Apple including them topping for first time Microsoft in terms of profits and revenues. While courts and judges decide what is true or not and who is guilty or not, we remain loyal Apple fans. Why? It is simply: we ask for the best and Apple gives us the best.
What is your stand on this? Do let us know.
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