11 · 02

DROID 2 2.3.20 update available now to everyone

Have you received your's yet?

About a week ago many users were reporting that an update was available to their DROID 2 handsets. The update was apparently only pushed to a small amount of people, however, now it seems it’s available to download for everyone else who was not pushed the update initially.

As a recap the update includes:

Improvements:

  • Improved battery life.
  • Heightened proximity sensor accuracy to enable faster screen response.
  • View the Weather widget in both landscape and portrait orientation.
  • Simpler setup, improved user interactions, and better notifications for Visual Voice Mail.
  • Background Email Sync during display inactivity for better user experience.
  • Support for email domain suffixes containing more than three characters.
  • Keep text messages organized with chronological in-box screen.
  • Edit text messages after you’ve inserted a video file.
  • Improved audio sound during recorded video playbacks.
  • Stream Guided Tour videos on device in Help Center application with ease.
  • Faster location tracking during GPS navigation.
  • Faster transitions between Wi-Fi and 3G in data connection.

Enhancements:

  • New ability to add pictures from your Gallery to a contact.
  • Export all your contacts to the SD card.
  • View details of Social Networking contacts.
  • VZ Navigator is now preloaded on device.

To get the update just head to Settings -> About -> System Updates and pull the update.

11 · 02

Android App Turns Mobile Users into Local Buyers

Browse your local merchant's inventory right from your android device!

Local merchants have never had so many friends on the Web as they do today. From heavyweights like Google and Facebook to countless startups all over the world, companies everywhere are helping consumers find what they need right in their own neighborhoods.

One such company is Milo.com, which has just announced a new Android app for local shopping. The only such app available in the Android market, it is designed to search the inventories of local stores to inform consumers what items are in stock at which stores and at what prices.

The real-time local inventory tracking app uses the geo-location technology that has helped put the local Web on the map. A powerful new tool for shoppers on the go, the app identifies a user’s location and returns products and prices from the inventories of retailers based on GPS coordinates.

It’s also an indispensable tool for local merchants to attract customers to their stores. Milo’s mission is to build and take ownership of the bridge between online browsing and in-store buying. The “research-online, shop-offline” market is projected to reach $1 trillion in 2011, and Milo is staking its claim on a share of those revenues.

The company currently has nearly 3 million products listed in more than 50,000 stores, representing over 30,000 local communities across the U.S. Milo.com receives more than one million monthly unique visitors and its database is growing by nearly 200,000 new products each month.

With more emphasis being put on local search and the influx of local deals providers and location-based services, Milo is just one of many companies today in position to benefit local merchants.

11 · 02

Justice League of America Icons for Android

 

If you are a comic fan and have an Android, this is for YOU!

 

Justice League of America Icons for Android

If you are a fan of comics, sure you remember Justice League. Well, now it´s possible to have those legendary icons on your Android device. XDA member es0tericcha0s presents this nice GIMP folder organizer icons in 72 x 72 px.
Not much else to say, better have a look and go for your favorite super hero icon.

Originally posted by es0tericcha0s
Justice League of America Icons

So, I have had an awful lot of free time on my hands after getting laid off last week. Thought I would play around with GIMP a little more and custom make some icons. I made these for Folder Organizer icons, but they are 72 x 72 px and can be used for whatever devices support that size icon (I believe HDPI devices only, please correct me if I am wrong). I attached a little pic with all of them together.
Screenshot 1:

Media_httpdldropboxco_pjrxi

Screenshot 2:
Media_httpdldropboxco_dczxw

The first one is them just lain out so you can get an idea of the size. The second one is used in the medium sized icon format of Launch-X Pro widget. I could not upload them to the site without resizing, and I didn’t feel like it. It wouldn’t look the same anyway. You should be able to right click –> Open in new tab so you don’t have to download them. Hope you all enjoy!

You can find more information in the icons thread.

 

11 · 02

Try Out Part Of Google TV In Your Browser Right Now

A good chunk of Google TV runs inside a browser. Besides the main menu, everything else like the search, web apps, and a lot more are simply webpages and search queues. This means that you can essentially try out the service — or integrate some of it into your HTPC — right now. This hit me shortly after I posted our full review and I managed to grab the URLs of two of Google TV’s main products: TV Search & Spotlight.

Google TV Search is the platform’s secret sauce and would be crazy useful outside of the product, but alas, those URLs seem to self destruct after a few quick minutes. Still, most people are smarter than I, so I pasted the link below anyway, with the hope someone can deconstruction them and out something useful. Just don’t bother navigating to it, it won’t show the awesome search tool.

Read the rest of this entry »

11 · 02

Lookout to offer premium version with remote lock, wipe

Will you switch to the Premium Version?

Lookout Premium for Android

Lookout, one of the premiere smartphone security suites, has released Lookout Premium -- offering Privacy Advisor, remote lock, and remote wipe on top of their award winning free services.  Current customers need do nothing to keep the service they have now, and the free version of Lookout will remain available for those who choose to use it over the premium package.  The premium service costs $2.99 USD per month, or $29.99 annually, and a 30-day trial is available.

We spoke with John Hering, CEO of Lookout and got the information everyone is wanting to hear, as well as some time with the new premium service.  We've got the run down, the official press release, download links, and all you need to make a decision after the break. Thanks Max, Erika, and John from Lookout for taking the time to answer our questions!

If you're not familiar with Lookout, you might want to take a moment to check some things out.  We've went over the free version pretty well here, and Verizon lends a hand with an awesome Droidly commercial:

YouTube link for mobile viewing

As you can see, Lookout offers a slew of services smartphone owners want and need.  It's no wonder there's over 3,000,000 registered Lookout users, it's easy to use insurance for the life we keep on our phones.  Lookout Premium brings some more to the table with Privacy Advisor, and remote lock and wipe.  I'll let Lookout say it in their own words via their press release, then we'll go over the new premium features.

LOOKOUT RAISES THE BAR FOR SMARTPHONE SECURITY AND PRIVACY PROTECTION, ANNOUNCES LOOKOUT PREMIUM

Company Reaches Three Million Registered Users and Unveils New Premium Offering

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Nov. 2, 2010 – Lookout Mobile Security, the leading provider of cloud-based smartphone security software, today announced Lookout Premium for Android which includes new security and privacy features for added smartphone protection. Mobile security has become a growing concern for users as evidenced by Lookout's tremendous growth to more than three million users in less than one year. In addition, consumers have become more aware of privacy concerns on their phone and Lookout Premium now offers visibility into and control of personal information that smartphone apps access with the new Privacy Advisor.

"We have seen the incredible response from our three million users and have listened to their feedback about adding more security while keeping things simple," said John Hering, CEO and founder of Lookout Mobile Security. "Lookout Premium provides smartphone owners the peace of mind to explore everything that the new mobile world offers safely by providing added security, data protection and visibility into personal information being accessed by the apps on their phones."

With the rapid adoption of smartphones, concerns about security and privacy of data on the phone are increasing. Consumers realize that they have an extensive amount of private information on their phone including their identity information, location, personal data and messages. In a recent study, Lookout found that more than 91% of consumers have some level of concern with the privacy of information on their phone, and only 7% of smartphone users feel extremely confident that they understand what private information is being accessed on the phone.

Lookout also found that on average, users have 31 apps on their phones that can access their identity information, 19 apps that access their location and five apps that access their SMS and MMS messages. This high usage of data on the phone contrasts with consumers' lack of awareness of what information is being accessed.

"Smartphones are cheaper, more available, and more useful than ever, and today's smartphone users treat their devices like computers, storing sensitive personal information, making purchases, and even doing online banking," said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research. "Users need to be aware of the personal information stored on their phone and the risks associated with treating a smartphone like a computer. They also need to know that there are security solutions for their smartphones available today."

Introducing Privacy Advisor

Available for the first time in Lookout Premium, Privacy Advisor brings immediate transparency to consumers concerned about which applications can access their private data. With Privacy Advisor, users can scan every app they download and quickly view a comprehensive list of apps that can access their private data, such as identity information, location, and messages. Additionally, consumers can view detailed app reports on the capabilities of these applications on their phone. Privacy Advisor empowers users to make informed decisions about what apps to download and gain more control of their personal data.

Lookout Premium: Comprehensive Protection

Lookout is dedicated to protecting users around the world and will continue to offer the award-winning free product that provides essential security, protecting against malware & spyware, data loss and device loss. Lookout Premium provides added security and privacy capabilities for comprehensive smartphone protection.

Lookout Premium includes all the great features available in Lookout Free, plus:

  • Additional Security + Privacy Protection: Privacy Advisor + Secure Wipe and Secure Lock

  • Enhanced Backup & Restore: Photos and call history, in addition to contacts. Transfer data to a new phone.

  • Premium Support: Priority response to your issues and questions

Lookout Premium will be available for Android in the coming weeks for $2.99/month or $29.99/annually, with a free 30-day trial. Consumers can download Lookout from the Android market or by going to www.mylookout.com.

Press releases are for the press, and usually don't provide the small details everyone wants to know.  Since I'm also a Lookout user on my own phone, I was happy when the folks at Lookout found the time to go over it all.

Privacy Advisor

I hear the questions already.  What do we get for the cost of the premium service?  To start with, you get what Lookout calls their Privacy Advisor.  I asked John Hering what that was, and he summed it up rather nicely:  "Not all apps that access private information are inherently bad.  The goal of Privacy Advisor is to make the information transparent, and readily available so that consumers can be informed."  Then I got some hard numbers from from a Sep 2010 survey conducted in cooperation with Harris Interactive.

  • 91% of consumers have some level of concern about privacy on their phone.
  • Only 7% of smartphone users feel extremely confident they understand what private information apps are accessing.

From another survey (development houses love their surveys!): On average, on Android, users have 31 apps that access your identity information, 19 apps that access location, and five apps that access text messages. 

Look at the permissions on your installed apps and you'd be surprised at the reputable applications that need weird permissions.  I was. 

What the privacy advisor does, is scan all the applications on your phone, then present you with a dashboard of all the apps that require certain permissions.  You can then select any app from the list, and get a detailed report of what exactly the application can, and can not do.  Check out the process in pictures, using the Google Goggles app as an example:

The Interface

Privacy advisor

Results

results

This works with any application, and sure is easier for the average user than deciphering the cryptic intents and permissions displayed in the Market.  Another bonus -- remember that SMS replicator application that was in the wild a bit ago?  It hid its function in another application, to stay invisible.  Not only would a Lookout scan find the app, but the privacy advisor would tell you what it does.

Remote lock and wipe

Malware protection and scanning for privacy issues is great, and something we all need to think about.  But remotely securing a lost or stolen phone is a must have if you store you life on one.  Lookout's premium service allows both.  If you lose track of your phone, jump on the website and along with the standard features of locating the phone, and making it "scream" so you can find it, you'll have two new options -- device lock and device wipe.  Using either of the services is easy, just click a link on the website.

remote lock

Unlock me

Locked

Remote data wipe is easy, too.  Click the hyperlink, and everything goes.  I tested it here, and it does wipe all data from the device.

remote wipe

Data backup and restore

Lookout Premium enhances the standard backup and restore features, allowing full backup of your contacts, call log, and pictures.  The data is saved in a way that makes not only transferring to a new device simple, but even transferring across platform (i.e. switching from another OS to Android or vice versa) a one click affair.  Data is encrypted during transfer, and stored in the cloud for you by Lookout.

Data backup and restore

Maybe you're confident that you don't need an application to help manage your privacy concerns, and that's OK.  Maybe you're confident that you'll never lose your phone, or have it stolen, and that's OK, too.  If these issues do concern you, Lookout provides a solution at a reasonable price, as well as the basics for free.  Use the 30 day trial, and see for yourself.

Kyle Reddoch

I am an aspiring Web Developer, Android Fanatic, Family Man, and all around Web Geek! I also do Freelance Development work.

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