Hundreds of apps on the Google Play Store are vulnerable to open port attacks

Why it matters to you

If you have an Android phone, make sure to keep all the apps updated, or else you could be susceptible to hacks.

Another day, another Android vulnerability discovered. Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered more than 400 apps that are vulnerable to open port malware attacks. All of the apps are found on Google Play, and many of them have tens of millions of installs so far.

In other words, millions of Android users are currently at risk of an attack — though we don’t yet know if anyone has been affected as a result of the vulnerability.

To identify the vulnerable apps, researchers used a custom tool to analyze hundreds of thousands of apps on the Google Play Store. As a result of the analysis, 410 apps were identified as vulnerable to open port attacks. In those apps, there were just shy of a thousand total exploits. Which app are affected is not yet known, but the researchers indicate that the vulnerabilities have been reported to developers, which means most, if not all, of the vulnerabilities will be patched in the near future.

So what exactly is an open port attack? Put simply, an open port is a tiny vulnerability in the apps code that acts like a crack in a wall, allowing hackers to get in and gain access to user data and eventually remotely install malware onto the phone.

Unfortunately, we may never know exactly what apps are affected and how to protect ourselves in this specific case, but there are always a few things you can do to minimize your risk of being hacked. For example, never download apps that aren’t from the Google Play Store. Not all apps are safe — but at least you won’t be downloading apps with malware in the code. You should also generally stick to well-known developers on the Google Play Store, as they’ll often be more serious about developing safe apps.

Allo adds three more features that probably won’t be enough to make you use it

Google keeps on trying, but nobody seems to be buying.

Google’s chat app Allo is picking up three solid features today, and though there hasn’t been an official announcement we have word by way of Allo’s Head of Product, Amit Fulay, on Twitter. The new features of group incognito chats, chat backups and in-line link previews, were all previously rumored to be launching soon.

New features in #GoogleAllo rolling out today! Chat backup/restore, incognito mode for groups and link preview pic.twitter.com/v7uc3unGkG

— Amit Fulay (@amitfulay) May 3, 2017

Group incognito chats are probably the most interesting addition as many continue to argue about the best way for Google to handle chat data while also providing groups with interesting information from Google’s back-end. Per Fulay’s screenshot, he confirms that the group chats can have a set expiration time as well.

Still using Allo? Keep hanging in there.

Full chat backups are also interesting for those who are used to archiving their groups, and Fulay confirms these are complete chat backups including images, videos and links. The backups will be stored in Google Drive for you to hold onto as you wish.

The new features haven’t arrived on our devices just yet, although the Play Store listing for Allo does indicate it was updated today. If you’re still hanging on with Allo in hopes that fresh features will make it your ultimate chat app, this is at least a good sign of some sort.

Pokémon Go users on Android can soon redeem promo codes

The feature is exclusive to Android users for the time being.

There are still a ton of Pokémon Go masters-in-training out there attempting to virtually catch ’em all. And there is good news specifically for those playing the game on Android: not only is there a Pokémon Go update rumored to arrive this week, but apparently there’s a promo code feature that’s coming with the update, too.

Per BGR, a support page on the official Pokémon Go website explicitly points to a walkthrough of how the aforementioned promo codes work.

At present, there are no available codes, but the support page states that they can be redeemed for Poké balls, lures, lucky eggs, and other treats available in the game. Also, the feature is exclusively available to Android users for the time being. No word on when it will make it to iOS devices.

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Google Docs spam is making the rounds, so take heed before you read

Even attachments from legitimate sources appear to contain illegitimate vibes.

Update

After looking at a few of these and seeing investigations from others on Twitter, we have a clearer picture of what’s happening.

It appears that a third party developer has created a service that uses your Google login to authenticate. Somehow this service was able to use the name Google Docs. Attachments that need you to authorize this service are being sent using previously phished Google accounts, and upon clicking you’ll be asked to give access to things like reading and sending an email (so more phishing emails can be sent) as well as access to your account. While this should be a huge red flag to anyone, it’s likely working well for the people doing the account phishing.

Google is aware so we expect this to stop being a thing shortly. For now, don’t authorize any service and visit your MyAccount page and disconnect access to anything named Google Docs

The original post is below.

Have you checked social media lately? There’s a bit of buzz making the rounds about Google Docs spam popping up in people’s inboxes. The spam comes as an email attachment from even the most legitimate Google Docs users, including educational institutions and other professional organizations that rely on the document-storing cloud service.

MASSIVE phishing attempt via @Google Docs going on right now!! If you get invited to open a doc, DON’T CLICK IT!

— Chad Wingerd (@chadwingerd) May 3, 2017

I just got an email from my daughter’s school, with malware embedded in a Google Doc. I can’t help but like Google even less now.

— Vernon E. L. Smith (@VernonEL) May 3, 2017

Here’s your official public service announcement to please check the attachments before you open them; Check the address of the person who sent it, and maybe even give the person a call to ask if they sincerely meant to send along a PDF.

There are very few details about what the malware contained actually does and where it originated, but we’ve reached out to Google for more information.

Ecobee’s Alexa thermostat is essentially a wall-mounted Echo

If you’re Ecobee and you have to compete against an Alphabet-backed heavyweight like Nest in the smart home space, what do you do? Simple: add built-in voice control that Nest can’t currently match. The new Ecobee4 thermostat incorporates Amazon’s Alexa. That gives you hands-off control over your home’s climate, of course (such as saying when you’re away), but it also turns your thermostat into a sort of wall-mounted Echo — you can use just about any Alexa skill that makes sense. If you want to set a reminder or fetch a recipe, you might not need a separate device.

The Ecobee4 will go on sale May 15th for $249, the same regular price as Nest’s thermostat. Alexa will also be present in a light switch due later in 2017.

This won’t matter too much if you already have an Echo, Google Home or some other device that already gives you voice control. However, this is a big deal for the mainstream. Many people are only just encountering connected home tech for the first time, and even those that are familiar might balk at the idea of needing both a smart thermostat and a speaker to go hands-free. Ecobee is effectively promising both crowds a simple solution: buy this one device and you get both temperature control and a Star Trek-like smart home hub. And for Amazon, this could help make Alexa a truly central part of the smart home, not just a nice-to-have feature.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Ecobee (1), (2)

SpaceX plans to deliver global satellite internet in 2019

Last November, SpaceX asked the FCC for permission to launch 4,425 satellites to provide high speed internet around the globe. While current satellite internet can be slow and high-latency, the Elon Musk-founded company promises its proposed service will be much better thanks to custom satellites deployed into low-Earth orbit. In a Senate hearing today on US Broadband infrastructure, SpaceX’s vice president of government affairs Patricia Cooper explained the company’s plan, which includes its intention to begin launch operations in 2019.

SpaceX hopes to start testing its satellites before the end of this year and continuing through the early months of 2018. If that’s successful, the company plans to launch satellites in phases between 2019 and 2024, after which the system will be at full capacity. SpaceX plans to launch the system with its Falcon 9 rocket, which has been successfully launched and landed with an eye toward re-usability. The entire system, said Cooper, is meant to provide a high volume of broadband capacity at “fiber-like” speeds over a wide area. The company says it’s designed its system to be highly adaptable, too, with the ability to “steer dynamically a large pool of beams to focus capacity where it is needed.” The company also promises that its system will be cost-effective.

Cooper concluded her remarks with specific recommendations for current and future regulations, including those that require NGSO systems to launch within six years of licensure. These regulations were written more than 20 years ago, the company argues, and should not apply to modern systems like the one SpaceX is proposing. The company would also like to see more of the national funding for broadband projects. Cooper mentioned that only 1.5 percent of all funds appropriated for broadband infrastructure had been awarded to satellite systems. In addition, SpaceX would like the Senate to reward systems that promote efficient spectrum use, revise specific policies around the use of satellite-specific spectrums and to streamline the licensing process for the same. Oh, and “modernize” the FAA commercial launch regulations, which would allow for more launches per year than is currently allowed.

Having a ton of satellites close to Earth providing broadband internet to anyone regardless of location certainly sounds fantastic, and a solid step forward for an increasingly internet-reliant populace. Still, without more specific timelines and operational details, it’s hard to get too excited, even though we secretly are.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Senate Remarks, SpaceX’s Patricia Cooper

Amazon’s next comedy series stars Danny DeVito and Jeff Goldblum

In case it wasn’t already clear that Amazon is capable of attracting serious stars, it is now. Variety understands that the internet giant is developing a comedy series that stars Danny DeVito and Jeff Goldblum as an antagonistic music duo forced to get back together. It’s The Odd Couple with guitars, really. The behind-the-camera talent is important, too. The Simpsons’ Tim Long will be the series’ creator, while Brian Grazer (of A Beautiful Mind fame) takes the role of executive producer.

There’s no word on a tentative name, let alone a release date. Even so, this is bound to be one of Amazon’s higher-profile streaming video projects. The company is no stranger to attracting familiar talent (such as Malcolm McDowell or Jeffrey Tambor), but it’ll be hard to ignore a show revolving around two actors who are practically household names. Also, it’s evident that the stakes are growing ever higher in the streaming world. Between this and Netflix’s Brad Pitt movie, internet video services are increasingly willing to pay whatever it takes to outshine the competition.

Source: Variety

Intel and BMW’s autonomous cars hit the road

Intel is great at building chips for computers. Everything else, not so much. But the company that’s been powering most of the computers on the market for decades is going full bore into autonomous cars. Today it announced the launch of the its own self-driving car test fleet with partner BMW. The vehicles will also include technology from Intel’s latest acquisition, Mobileye.

At an event in San Jose, Intel vice president of the automated driving group Kathy Winter unveiled the first of 40 BMW 7 Series self-driving cars it’ll be testing on the road. All the cars are expected to be on the road by the end of the year. All the vehicles will include multiple Mobileye cameras for road scanning.

The event was held at the company’s new Intel Autonomous Driving Garage. Winter said that while it looks pretty today, it’ll be a working space where self-driving technology will be researched and launched.

Source: Intel

How Microsoft’s Surface went from flop to serious contender

Five years ago, Microsoft wasn’t known for its hardware. Sure, it made a few forays into accessories and the Xbox had been around for awhile, but when it came to PCs, it stayed true to its software roots. That is, until mid 2012. That’s when Microsoft announced the Surface Pro and the Surface RT, two tablets that marked the company’s official entry into the PC business.

At the time, it seemed like such a strange move, especially as Windows tablets were waning in popularity. But the company adapted and iterated its vision, bringing forth innovations year after year. Despite lagging sales, Microsoft persisted, and against all odds it was able to grow the humble Surface from a funky tablet to a bonafide hardware brand. With the release yesterday of the Surface Laptop, for the first time, Microsoft is now going head-to-head with the likes of Dell and HP (longtime supporters of Windows) and even Apple’s MacBook range.

That’s not to say the journey was an easy one. While the original Surface tablets looked eye-catching with their primary colors and clicking kickstand, early reviews were less than stellar. The battery life of the Pro was poor, it was too heavy as a tablet and it wasn’t quite as functional as a genuine laptop. But what really flopped was the ARM-based Surface RT, in large part because of Windows RT’s lack of app support. Indeed, the Surface RT failed to capture market share, as did all other Windows RT devices. And even though the Surface 2 ramped it up with better hardware, in the end what consumers wanted was full Windows that ran desktop-caliber apps.

Thankfully, Microsoft started to realize that its strength lays in making full-fat PCs rather than mucking around with iPad-level tablets. Microsoft started to pivot more toward the trend of 2-in-1 PCs and hybrid laptops. And thanks partly to faster-performing chips that sip power, the company was able to do so. The Surface Pro 2 held its own as a viable laptop replacement, and so did the Surface Pro 3 (though we niggled about the quality of that Type Cover keyboard).

It wasn’t until 2015 that Microsoft’s Surface proposition finally came into its own though. Instead of peddling Windows RT anymore, Microsoft opted to introduce a more affordable version of its Surface Pro tablets, known simply as the Surface 3. Unlike the Surface RT and the Surface 2, the Surface 3 actually shipped with full Windows and functioned well as both a laptop and a tablet, which is pretty good for a device under $500. Microsoft then churned out yet another hit with the Surface Pro 4, which Engadget’s Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar called the “ideal hybrid tablet in practically every way.” It was thin and lightweight, and that Type Cover was massively improved over the previous iteration (though you still had to purchase it separately).

But the real star of Microsoft’s 2015 lineup was the Surface Book, which was officially Microsoft’s first real laptop. Indeed, Microsoft called it the “ultimate” laptop, with its 13-inch screen, long battery life, premium design and the kind of power you’d expect out of a similarly priced MacBook Pro. What’s more, with a press of a button, you could detach the screen and transform it into a lightweight tablet with a laptop-grade processor. We didn’t like its fulcrum hinge and its high price, but Executive Editor Dana Wollman said Microsoft’s first laptop “raises the bar for other notebooks” with how fast and long-lasting it is.

In 2016, Microsoft made an even bolder play. It unveiled the Surface Studio, its first-ever desktop PC. At first, it might look like just another all-in-one, but push on it a little and you’ll find that the entire display tilts up to a 20-degree angle, making it ideal for creative professionals to use as a canvas. The accompanying stylus and Dial accessories were tailor-made for artists and designers, and it’s powerful enough for most creative software. Its high price point (the starting price is $3,000) and lack of upgradeability probably isn’t enough for a lot of people to give up their Wacom tablets, but the caliber and quality of the Surface Studio at least prove that Microsoft can build desktop PCs that are as good as anything else on the market.

And yet for the disproportionate amount of love offered to Microsoft’s most recent devices, the company still has a lot to do. It failed to capitalize on mobile before, during or after its acquisition of Nokia, to the point where Windows Phone is a dead platform. As wonderful as the Surface Pro 4 and Surface 3 are, Microsoft hasn’t updated them for more than a year. In fact, production ended on the Surface 3 last December.

It’s no surprise then that in its most recent earnings report, the company reported a drop of 26 percent in Surface sales, which roughly adds up to less than a million devices sold. Apple, the company that Microsoft now seems determined to emulate as a hardware maker, does five times that in computers and 12 times that in tablets, even if its iPad sales have dropped. Sure, you can’t compare them like-for-like, but the fact remains that Microsoft’s successes are dwarfed by Apple’s “failures.” For all of Microsoft’s bluff and bluster, the Surface clearly isn’t making a dent in the company’s bottom line. Buyers just aren’t handing over money to own these devices in any sorts of real numbers.

But the most recent announcement of the Surface Laptop gives hope once more to Microsoft’s hardware future. No, it doesn’t have a detachable display, and there’s no fancy kickstand. In many ways, the Surface Laptop is Microsoft’s most basic piece of hardware yet. But that is exactly what’s so fascinating about it. Its beauty lies in its simplicity. It’s thin, light, well-built and looks comfortable to use. What’s also interesting is that while the Surface Laptop ships with a stripped-down Windows 10 S, which only runs Windows Store apps, you can upgrade it to support any Windows app in the future.

In five years, the company went from hardware novice to hardware master, confident enough to churn out basic yet beautiful hardware that doesn’t need any gimmicks to stand out. Yes, the Surface Laptop is just a basic notebook, but arguably it’s what Microsoft hardware fans have been waiting for all along. To get there the long and winding way the company chose to go? That’s one hell of an achievement.

Parents lose custody of two kids after abusive YouTube ‘pranks’

Once again, what you do online can have devastating real-world consequences. The latest example of that is Heather and Mike Martin, who recently lost custody of two of their five children after the videos on their YouTube channel caught the public eye. The Martins regularly played cruel “pranks” on their kids with a camera rolling, uploading footage at a steady pace and amassing over 760,000 subscribers in the process, the Washington Post reports.

After prominent YouTuber Philip DeFranco looked into the Martins’ channel and brought attention to it with a video of his own, things began to unravel for the Martins. Rose Hall, the biological mother to two of the children (Cody and Emma) began leaving comments on the Martins’ videos and after another YouTuber created a GoFundMe page to help with legal costs, Hall was granted temporary emergency custody of the pair last Friday. Hall’s legal representation came from the suggestion of another YouTuber.

Since then, YouTube pulled ads from the channel, the Martins have hired a crisis management PR team and have removed all of the videos from their channel save for an apology. “This has been the absolute worst week of our life and we realize we have made some terrible parenting decisions,” Heather Martin says in the video. “We just want to make things right.”

“I do agree that we put things on the internet that should not be there,” Mike Martin says. “We did things that we should not do.” The couple says that they’re in family counseling now (“because we need it”).

In a previous video, the Martins had said that the pranks were fake and that the kids were happy to participate. That video was deleted as well, but the remaining apology clip echoes that the kids were excited about seeing how many views each video would get and suggests that they were happy to be on camera.

The incredibly unfortunate part of the situation is that this isn’t the first time parents have exploited their children for internet fame — remember Balloon Boy? And looking specifically at how many heinous acts continue to take place on live-streaming platforms as an example, the chances of the Matins being the last to point a camera at their kids for clicks and ad revenue being the last are depressingly low.

Source: Washington Post (1), (2)