iOS 7′s 10 coolest hidden features

Apple rolled out iOS 7 yesterday, and with it, a number of changes to its mobile operating system. Most notably, iOS 7 looks vastly different from iOS 6, adopting flat colors and skinny text as its visual backbone. The operating system still works like it always has, but this time around there are a number of new, useful hidden features.

Text timestamps

Perhaps the most mind-blowing feature in iOS 7 is that text messages now have individual timestamps. Simply load a text conversation, then swipe from right to left, and you’ll invoke timestamps for every chat bubble in the thread. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an option to permanently display them, but finally having them is a great step forward.

Block contacts

In the past, if you gave out your number to someone at bar just to shut them up and get back to talking to your friends, you would’ve had to endure their text messages. You could ignore them, sure, but your phone would still alert you to their arrival. Now, you can block contacts from calls, texts, and FaceTime. Simply go to Settings, then either Phone, Messages, or FaceTime. From there, go to Blocked, and you can add contacts to the blocked list for any of the message apps.

Unlimited folders

In previous versions of iOS, the folders had a hard cap on the number of apps they could contain. While having capped folders is much better than not having folders, it definitely wasn’t enough for some of us. Now, folders can hold an infinite number of apps. Unfortunately, there’s a trade-off. Previously, the capped folders allowed a four-by-four grid of apps. This time around, the uncapped folders only allow a three-by-three grid per folder page. So, you can have less folders cluttering your Home screen, but you’ll have to swipe around more often.

Built-in flashlight

The iOS platform has a plethora of competent flashlight apps that utilize the phone’s camera flash. Now, iOS 7 as a flashlight built in. Simply invoke the Control Center app by swiping up from the bottom of the iPhone’s screen, and the little flashlight icon sits in the lower left corner. It doesn’t have as many options as your standard fare app found on the App Store, but it’s fully functional, and finally built in.

Safari collects missed Twitter links

Buried deep within iOS 7′s native browser, Safari, is a list of tweets from your Twitter feed you might’ve missed that contain links. Load up Safari, click on the bookmarks icon, then click on the @ symbol tab. It’s certainly strange that a cool feature like that is shunned away two-tabs-deep in a single app, but it’s nice that it exists.

Level built into compass

The compass app in iOS 7 now has a built-in level. Simply load the compass, then swipe a screen over. The level is a minimalist, black-and-white affair, but like with the built-in flashlight, you’ll no longer have to grab a level from the App Store.

Automatic updates

Instead of loading the App Store, navigating to the Updates tab, then hitting Update All, you can now have your apps update automatically. Go into Settings, then iTunes & App Store. Scroll down a bit to the Automatic Downloads section, then enable or disable automatic downloads for whichever app you prefer. We’d suggest shutting it off every option other than automatic updates, just so you conserve your device’s battery.

Spotlight search

In previous versions of iOS, you’d swipe all the way to the left screen in order to pull up Spotlight. Now, you can simply perform a downward swipe motion anywhere on the screen to invoke Spotlight.

Go back

Now, you can swipe to go back to a previous screen from within in app, like a back button in a web browser. Start the left edge of your screen, then swipe from left to right, and there you go. Unfortunately, some apps use that gesture to do other things, and there does appear to be conflicts with the go back gesture.

Multitasking

The iOS 7 multitasking pane is now much different. Rather than a little linear bar filled with apps on the bottom of the screen, you’re brought to a standalone menu that not only displays the app icons, but their associated window. To close an app, swipe the window up toward the top of the screen; but that’s not the trick. When scrolling through your apps, you’ll notice that the icons scroll at a different speed than the windows. In order to scroll though your apps as fast as possible, use the line of app icons to scroll rather than the windows.

Apple’s new mobile operating system has a plethora of new features, but the majority of them are front and center. So, while the above list doesn’t encompass everything that’s new about iOS 7, it does feature options and services that aren’t readily apparent
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Android KitKat may launch on October 28

In case you haven’t noticed, Kit Kat has been going a bit crazy on Google+. Yesterday, the company posted a photo of a dancing Android-shaped Kit Kat bar on the day that some (definitely not all) thought Google would announce Kit Kat and the Nexus 5. That didn’t happen, and Kit Kat is still posting as many cryptic messages on Google+ as they can.

This time, it was a picture of Kit Kat bars arranged to spell out “This is it.” And, quite literally, that’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. There was no #Android, no Android mascot, or anything else to help rabid fanatics everywhere figure out what this meant. That said, we were still curious to hear your thoughts, and posed the question to you on Google+. The responses? Nothing short of hilariously ridiculous.

One reader, Richard Colon, was the first to suggest Kit Kat was referring to Michael Jackson’s “This is It,” a 2009 documentary that launched on October 28th. This is where the October 28th train got rolling.

Reading further, the silliness really started when user Liam Muller jokingly suggested the following:

If you also look, it takes 16 wafers to make “THIS IS IT” and today is the 16th of October so today might be the day :)

So now we have the 16th and the 28th, but Ed Carter suggests we’re all thinking about it wrong: Michael Jackson’s “This is It” tour eventually got cancelled, which could mean Android 4.4 Kit Kat or the Nexus 5 got cancelled. I know. Just bear with me.

Richard chimed back in a bit later to remind us that yesterdays “Everybody Dance Now” teaser shares the name of the hit song by 28th Street Crew, which he believes lends more credence to seeing Kit Kat and/or Nexus 5 on the 28th.

Finally, Haaris Edhi decided to drop their 2 cents and let us know that there are “8 letters in “this is it” and 2 sentences, meaning October 28.” We’ve all obviously gone off the deep end here, and perhaps that’s what makes this entire thing genius by Kit Kat and Google.

They know how crazy we get over this stuff. They know that one image alone is enough to send the hype meter through the roof, and they know they have us right where they want us — salivating for Android 4.4 Kit Kat just as much as most chocolate lovers salivate for an actual Kit Kat bar.

Android 4.4 KitKat May Be Dominated By The 'Google Experience

The stated goal of the next version of Google’s Android operating system—4.4 “KitKat”—is “to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody.”

What does that mean? It is odd and cryptic … and the only thing we officially know about what Google is going to do with KitKat. If we piece together some of the rumors swirling around what Android 4.4 will entail and combine it with what we know about how Google has been updating Android and its pertinent features over the last year, we get a pretty good idea. 

It leads us to a new Android experience. What some people are calling “the Google Experience.”

Waiting For The Big Android Update

Android 4.4 KitKat is expected to be announced by the end of October. The hype cycle is beginning to hit full tilt as stream of leaks and rumors illuminate what Google will unveil the next version of Android and the flagship smartphone that will accompany it, the Nexus 5.

KitKat will be the first new named version of Android in more than a year since Jelly Bean 4.1 was introduced at Google’s I/O developer conference in the spring of 2012. Google has offered up two updates to Android since then—versions 4.2 and 4.3—that have both been rolled up in the Jelly Bean moniker. Now that Google is almost ready to unveil the “K” desert version of Android (Google normally names each new version of the operating system after sweet treats in alphabetical order), users, developers, manufacturers and consumers are expecting a lot.

The last two versions of Jelly Bean haven’t given us a ton to be excited about. The biggest feature in version 4.3 was the integration of Bluetooth Low Energy to the Android hardware specification along with OpenGL for Embedded Systems. These are good updates for app developers out there but leave much to be desired for users that are looking for a fresh coat of paint and improved user experience. 

The Google Experience

In that vein, the rumor mill points towards a major feature that will change some of the fundamental usability of Android: the “Google Experience.” 

Source: Android Police

The Google Experience Launcher is rumored to be a hub launcher for Google apps and widgets on Android devices. Google Experience will be a form of launcher within Android that will not be tied specifically to version 4.4 KitKat but will rather be an app through the Google Play app store that will be compatible with devices running Android back to version 2.2 Froyo. 

A launcher is also known in general terms as a “skin” but the terms are not mutually exclusive. The Google Experience Launcher is rumored by the blog Android Police to be a widget that live on the Android homescreen in which Google features like Search and Google Now are heavily integrated, can read the data within the widget and update itself. A launcher would also control aspects such as app folders and homescreens (which are rumored to be infinite instead of limited to five as they are in current builds of Android).

What would Google Experience mean for Android users? Speculation is that KitKat 4.4 will enable support for lower-end Android devices. Google Experience would likely be the vehicle for that. 

If you have been following the evolution of Android as an operating system, you will note that the Google has made some pretty significant changes to how Android works on a smartphone. In the past, Google used to tie almost all of the functionality of its own apps to the Android kernel. That meant developers and consumers would need a certain version of Android to get new features. Wanted the latest update to the Google Play app store (formerly Android Market)? You needed to update your Android software. How about the latest APIs and user interface in Google Maps and Navigation? Update Android. Gmail, Calendar, Talk (now Hangouts) or any other Google service? It was tied to the Android kernel.

Google changed all of that with the release of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, decoupling its own apps from the Android operating system. Instead of being tied to Android, features and APIs like Maps either stand alone as their own apps that live in the Google Play store and/or are tied to what is called Google Play Services.

Google Experience As A Front-End Extension Of Google Play Services

Google Play Services is what is known in the computing world as a “shim.” Here is the definition of a shim, from Wikipedia:

In computer programming, a shim (from shim) or shiv is a small library that transparently intercepts an API and changes the parameters passed, handles the operation itself, or redirects the operation elsewhere. Shims typically come about when the behavior of an API changes, thereby causing compatibility issues for older applications which still rely on the older functionality. In such cases, the older API can still be supported by a thin compatibility layer on top of the newer code. Web polyfills are a related concept. Shims can also be used for running programs on different software platforms than they were developed for.

In Android, Google Play Services is a stand-alone app that runs in the background. It updates itself with functionality directly from Google without the user doing anything. It downloads its own code and enacts its own functionality. For example, if there is an update to the Google Play Store or Maps, it is downloaded and implemented through Google Play Services. 

If the Google Experience is really going to be a primary feature in KitKat 4.4, as the rumors say it will, then what Google is doing is giving Google Play Services a front-end user interface for Android devices. 

By extension, the Google Experience can be transported back to older versions of Android. If we look at the definition of a shim in that, “the older API can still be supported by a thin compatibility layer on top of the new code” then it is possible for Google to bring just about all of the Android features and functionality that are not explicitly tied to hardware back to any phone running a previous version of Android. 

Android's Gingerbread, ICS main target of cyber criminals

Gingerbread, the most popular android version, attracts increased interest from cybercriminals

The most popular targets among cyber criminals in the third quarter of the current year were Android versions 2.3.6, popularly known as ‘Gingerbread’, and 4.0.4, also known as ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’, according to an analysis done by Kaspersky Labs.

The rapid growth in the number of new mobile malicious programs for android continued in the third quarter, prompting the specialists at Kaspersky Lab to identify the platform versions most frequently targeted by cyber criminals.

Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread accounted for 28% of all blocked attempts to install malware, while the second most commonly attacked version was the new 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, which accounted for 22% of attempts.

“Although Gingerbread was released back in September 2011, due to the segmentation of the Android device market it still remains one of the most popular versions, which, in turn, attracts increased interest from cybercriminals,” said Yuri Namestnikov, senior malware analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

Source: business-standard

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Android Trojan Attack 100,000 plus users

Security researchers are warning of yet another Android malware outbreak which has spread to nine app stores and infected 100,000 with code designed to covertly purchase apps and content from China Mobile’s Mobile Market.

Mobile security firm TrustGo explained that the MMarketPay.A Trojan could be hidden in a number of legitimate-looking applications, including those from Sina and media streaming company Funinhand, as well as travel and weather apps. Few days ago Microsoft also confirm that Microsoft Confirm hackers Spam in Android Devices.

The malware has already been placed in nine different third party Android app markets in China, infecting over 100,000, the firm said.

Once downloaded, the Trojan will automatically place orders for paid content and apps at China Mobile’s official Mobile Market online store without informing the user.

It is able to intercept China Mobile’s verification SMS and post the code to the Mobile Market web site in order to complete the purchase, said TrustGo.

In the event of CAPTCHA being triggered at this stage, the malware will apparently send the relevant image to a remote server for analysis.

The advice from the security experts at TrustGo is for users to only download Android apps from trusted app stores and to have some form of real-time mobile security scanner installed on their device to prevent any dodgy downloads.

Visiting an apparently legit app store is no guarantee you’re going to get a malware-free experience, however.

Malware is frequently turning up on the official Android marketplace Google Play – although admittedly less frequently than on some of the more dubious third party sites.

The latest discovery came at the tail end of last week when researchers found malware that lifts the victim’s location data and address book info.

China in particular has been a hotbed of malicious Android activity for some time.

In April, the Chinese authorities were forced to publically reprimand the country’s two biggest mobile carriers, China Mobile and China Telecom, after uncovering “many problems” in their respective app stores.

Globally too, Android continues to be a favourite with cyber criminals.

Security firm Trend Micro is predicting the discovery of 129,000 malicious apps by the end of the year and has compiled this handy infographic detailing the main threats.

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Microsoft Confirm hackers Spam in Android Devices

A spam engineer at Microsoft has warned that hackers can use Android powered tablets and smartphones to send spam emails.  Android users should be cautious to install any mobile apps that do not come from the Google Play Store or the Amazon Appstore since a new malware app has been reportedly sending spam emails through affected devices.  Terry Zink says that a new app is sending out emails with the signature “Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android” and the messages are starting to come from a number of locations including Indonesia, Chile, Lebanon, Oman, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Thailand.

Zink wrote on an MSDN blog, “I’ve written in the past that Android has the most malware compared to other smartphone platforms, but your odds of downloading and installing a malicious Android app is pretty low if you get it from the Android Marketplace, but if you get it from some guy in a back alley on the Internet, the odds go way up.”  The malware affected app logs into your Yahoo account through your Android device and then starts by sending out spam messages.

The app does not seem to be coming from Google’s Play Store, so that is a little less to worry about, but users who attempt to download hacked, pirated or other versions of official apps should be aware they could contain the malware code.  Malware type apps have appeared in the past and sent spam text messages from users phones in order to rack up phone bills to unsuspecting smartphone users.  The “botnet” virus gives the hacker just enough access to your account to send the spam messages.  The messages have not been sent anywhere in the United States yet, but that does not mean you are 100 percent safe either.

Users can avoid malicious content from mobile app download stores if they stick to official stores like the Amazon Appstore and Google Play Store which scan for potentially harmful mobile apps and remove them from the store or deny their submission altogether.  If you are concerned about downloading the wrong type of mobile app you can follow a couple easy steps.  Before the app is installed on your device, the Android software will show you what permissions it has on your phone.  If you are downloading a game app, you might want to make sure it does not have access to your contact list.  You can get more tips for downloading safe apps online.

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Ice Cream Sandwich now on one in 10 Android devices

Ice Cream Sandwich is now installed on more than 10 percent of Android devices, according to Google.

Data collected by the search-turned-mobile giant during the 14-day period that ended yesterday shows that version 4.0 of Google’s mobile operating system is now present on 10.9 percent of all devices. The data was collected from Android devices that accessed Google Play, the Android application store, during the two-week period.

The latest stats, which come less than a week after Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was announced at Google I/O, show a significant jump for Ice Cream Sandwich: a week ago, the OS was around the 7 percent mark.

The increase of 4 percentage points could be put down to a sharp rise in device sales during the past month, which can be largely attributed to the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S III and HTC’s One X.

All in all, it’s taken more than eight months for Google to reach 10 percent of the total Android base with Ice Cream Sandwich, after the OS was announced in 2011.

And while Ice Cream Sandwich is on the rise, it’s the opposite story for Android 2.3 Gingerbread: the OS fell for the first time, dropping from 65 percent to 64 percent over the same two-week period.

Nonetheless, Gingerbread, first released in December 2010, remains the most popular Android version to date.