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Rouge app stealing your data…or is it? July 29, 2010

Posted by David in : Android , add a comment

Recently Lookout has said that a bunch of wallpaper apps by a single developer could steal personal information off your phone. These programs are said to be able to access

This is based on Lookout saying it has code in the app that could possible do this. Now I will say I have not looked at the code and have little interest in looking at said code. What I care about are the permissions the app has and based on these permissions the apps in question can not do what Lookout say it is doing.

So what does it have access to and what does it make possible?

Storage: Modify/delete SD card comments
Of course this is needed in order to save the wallpaper

Your Location: Course (network based) location
Now I know this one seems odd but most if not all apps support by ads will have this so that the ads can be delivered to you that may be local.

Network communication: full internet access
Of course that is needed the images are online

Phone calls: read phone state and identity
Most apps have this so they can go to the background when a call comes in.

Now in order to do what it has been accused of doing it would need to have:

Your Personal Information:
This would be required for it to read browser history like it is accused of doing.

System Tools:
This would be required to get your information like subscriber information and  voice mail number and voice mail password if it is saved.

Also I am willing to bet you have apps that have those two permissions, but that does mean apps with those permissions are bad just a heads up.

Again Lookout’s concern is that it has code that makes it possible but without the required permissions it is a non issue. And Lookout and other blogs reporting this should make that clear.

Swift key [App Review] July 14, 2010

Posted by David in : Android, App Reviews, Technology , add a comment

Recently Swift Key for Android, a keyboard replacement, was added to the market with a beta tag. Unlike other replacement keyboards for android Swift Key does not try to change the way we use a touchscreen keyboard instead it changes how effective we are at using the keyboard.

Swift key uses very advanced predicted text mechanics that seems to read your mind telling you what you want to type before you even know.

If you have used other replacement keyboards you will notice some interesting things during setup. First you need to download the language packs you will need with a lot to choose. Second it asks to read text messages to learn how you type. Now this seems odd but it is vital. Let me explain I have two kids each with unusual names, each time I get new phone or download a new keyboard I have to take the time to program the names into the dictionary. This time however I didn’t need to in fact it knew how to spell their name as well as my ex-wifes unique spelled name as well as understanding the need to make sure they are all correctly capitalized. And it learned this from reading my text messages.

So how affective is Swift Key? I wrote this blog post with it in about 5 minutes on my phone. And based on what Swift is telling I am 21% more efficient using Swift Key and and was saved 374 keystrokes. Although I feel it is more because it corrected my fat thumbs also.

So grab the app while you can and when it is released out of beta pay for it, it will be worth it.

[Market link]

Happy 4th of July July 3, 2010

Posted by David in : Random Stuff, Videos , add a comment

Hope you had a good one.

Videos taken with Qik expect review of the App soon, and follow Tagon42 on Qik