Android Atlas Weekly 9: Data theft disguised as a wallpaper (podcast)
A wallpaper app that steals your personal info, piracy controls coming to the Android Marketplace, and a look into the world of Android gaming.
A wallpaper app that steals your personal info, piracy controls coming to the Android Marketplace, and a look into the world of Android gaming. Plus, Jeff Bakalar shares an awesome tip on creating itineraries for Google Maps Navigation, and Jessica Dolcourt helps us pronounce the death of the Android phone that started it all.
Updated: The wallpaper app discussed in this episode has since been cleared of any wrong-doing by Google itself. More details on that here.
Podcast
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EPISODE 9
News:- Android 2.2 upgrade for Droid X may already be trickling out, other Droids shortly?
- Verizon could push Android 2.2 to three handsets next week
- EVO 4G's Android 2.2 update starts trickling out tomorrow, loads of new features and fixes in store?
- Android wallpaper app that steals your data was downloaded by millions
- UPDATE: Wallpaper App cleared of any wrong-doing
- Google licensing changes could cap Android piracy
- Android Market purchases soon billable to more carriers?
- Bidding adieu to the T-Mobile G1
- Google Maps for Android update adds Yelp-like interface
Android Tablet Watch
- Dell Streak retail price announced: $299 on AT&T 2-year contract, $549.99 without
- Dell Streak review
- Kmart tablet probably as bad as it sounds - $150
Games discussion
- Will Android ever be a competitive gaming platform?
- Frozen Bubble
- Trap!
- Coloroid
- Blowup
- Replica Island
- Find It: The Simpsons
Game(s) of the week!
- Gameloft games: Hero of Sparta, Let's Golf, Nova, Real Football
Notable new apps this week
- Playstation emulator now available for Android! Meet PSX4Droid
- Pulse Is Now Alive And Kicking On Android
- Groupon application hits Android, bringing daily deals up to 90% off
- Viper's SmartStart car control app hits Android
Tip of the week
Google Maps for road trips!
- Go to maps.google.com on your computer and plan out a series of driving directions.
- Scroll to bottom and click ""Save to My Maps""
- On your Android phone, open Maps and click on Layers
- Click More Layers then My Maps
- You should find the map you just created. Load it.
- The itinerary should display on the map.
- To navigate to any point on your itinerary, click the text button overlay, and then select the destination you wish to navigate to."
E-mail (aaw@cnet.com)
Re: Wallpaper app that sends data to China:
Figured I'd chime in and let you know that it ties in with what I was
talking about the other week. Having a packet sniffer on your phone
can be used for more than just shady stuff like sniffing passwords -
it's how you can see what internet traffic is being generated by an
app.
If you ran a packet sniffer in the background, then launched this
wallpaper app you'd see it pinging that server in China. Not that
everyone is going to go through the effort or be that paranoid, but it
legitimizes the need for packet packet sniffing apps.
Cheers,
Darren Kitchen
Hey (now:) fellow droiders,
I'm looking for two different universal chat apps. The first is an IRC client, so I can be in the cnet chat for example on my droid incredible.
The other is a universal chat messenger so I can chat with people on MSN, yahoo, google talk, etc
I also need these to be 3g capable (not wifi) but I am on VZW so I don't know if that makes a difference.
Thanks, DROID!
JoshuaCaleb