Stalkerware? Do You Experience It?

Your smartphone, your PC, your laptop – most of the devices we use are to some degree vulnerable to so-called stalkerware, software installed without your knowledge and aimed at obtaining sensitive data, like personal photos or login details. 

In a nutshell, stalkerware “can result in the theft of data, monitoring of emails, SMS and MMS messages sent and received and even intercept your phone calls for the purposes of eavesdropping”, the Coalition against Stalkerware says.

The platform, a joint initiatve by aid organisations and IT security companies, aims to combat stalking, harassment and domestic violence by addressing the issue of stalkerware.

“Stalkerware services imply that their customers personally know victims, because these commercial spyware apps are manually installed. Users have to download the app, install it and enter credentials that are received after purchasing,” the Coalition explains further.

Anyone who loses their smartphone for a short period of time or has lent it to someone else for a longer time should therefore check it for changed or unknown settings, the initiative recommends.

On Android devices, for example, the setting “Unknown Sources” in the security menu is deactivated by default. If it’s suddenly activated, however, it could have been manipulated.

An unexpected discharge of the battery can also be a sign of stalkerware. Other indications are unknown apps or processes and webcam permissions that have not been granted by the device owner.

Even active sessions for which you have not logged in can indicate installed stalkerware.

Stalkerware is used for hidden digital surveillance, among other things. Removing it is not easy, but not impossible either. The Coalition against Stalkerware offers advise on how to do so on its website.

However, if you delete it, the respective offender is also warned. Victims of cyberstalking should therefore prepare a security plan and get expert help, for example from organisations that support victims of domestic violence.

Can You Use Whatsapp On 1st January 2021

As of Jan 1, 2021, the WhatsApp mobile application will only be compatible with smartphones running iOS 9 and Android 4.0.3, or any other newer operating system. This excludes older models such as the iPhone 4 or the Samsung Galaxy SII.

For Apple phones, WhatsApp will only be supported on iOS 9, and its successors. It is therefore important to update your old iPhone to continue to enjoy WhatsApp. Unfortunately, owners of an iPhone 4 (or any other anterior model) will no longer be able to use the application.

For smartphones running Android, you will need to have a version equivalent or superior to Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Here again, only very old models are out of luck – such as the Samsung Galaxy SII, the HTC Desire or the Motorola Droid Razr, all released nearly 10 years ago.

Whatever your smartphone is, it is advisable to update it in order to take advantage of all WhatsApp’s new features and the best possible security level.

Apple Implement New Privacy Labels

Good News. 

With this features, we (Apple product user) will have got an idea on how such mobile apps used our data and privacy within their apps. We could be much aware what were running on the background of any apps. This is good. It support PDPA (personal data protection act).

Earlier this year at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced that it was planning to add privacy labels to apps in its App Store. Developers had until earlier this month to provide Apple with information about what kind of tracking the software would do once users download and start using it. Now, with the release of iOS 14.3, those labels have started rolling out—and they may shed some interesting light on how some of your favorite apps keep tabs on what you do.

The labels aren’t specific to the iOS store. They’re in place on every platform, including macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. To view them, visit an app page and scroll down to the section labeled App Privacy.

In the labels, Apple provides information on three different types of data collection, as well as what the company plans to do with that info once it’s collected.

Data used to track you: This is the information the app collects in order to monitor what you do outside of the app itself. Facebook, for instance, uses your user ID and device ID in order to keep track of some activities you perform on your device, even outside the confines of Facebook itself. This applies to a user ID or a device ID and allows companies to build more complete profiles of you.

Data linked to you: This is likely where you’ll find the most entries, because it’s a large part of what allows apps and companies to target you with advertising. If you’ve ever searched for “gloves” on your phone and gotten bombarded with advertisements for gloves online, this kind of tracking is why. You’ll see terms like “Third-Party Advertising,” and “Developer’s Advertising or Marketing,” which are specific to commerce. You’ll also find terms like “Analytics,” and “Product Personalization,” which are more about tweaking the app’s functionality to your specific usage.

Data not linked to you: Not all tracking is about learning your specific habits. Some apps collect anonymous data that isn’t linked to your specific account or device. For instance, an app may want to track usage patterns by collecting anonymous location data from devices on the service.

When you see these privacy notifications pop up in the App Store, it’s important to remember that these practices aren’t new. It can be sobering to scroll through the massive list of things Facebook tracks when you download the app, but it has been that way for quite some time. The labels are just making users slightly more aware of it.

What If Apple Running Their Own Search Engine?

What do you think when Apple started running their own search engine? Yes. I know it will not be easy for Apple to compete with Google Search but with many people around the world are using Apple product (MacBook, iPhone, iPad and others), surely it can capture the market with ease.

Small corners of the internet are ablaze with the news that Apple has significantly ramped up its search bot activity. Search bots typically scan websites in order to rank and index them for search engine results. When you look for something on a search engine, the results that appear are ordered by “ranking”, meaning that the result that is most accurate to what you are looking for appears at the top. 

This increase in activity also appears alongside pressure from the UK competition commission to break up Apple’s multi-billion dollar sweetheart deal with Google. The deal ensures that Google is the default search engine for Apple’s iOS devices. Many are now anticipating that Apple is on track to launch its own search engine soon.

I'm sure this will bring much fanfare to all Apple user who are frustrated with the things running behind when using Google Search. Most people that I know already feel suspicious about Google and their technology. They feel that Google are watching all their track and feed them to the third party.

Apple’s search engine will have a different future if rumors about its business model are true. Apple has been focusing heavily on user privacy recently, including but not limited to, publicly refusing to give secret access to its devices to the FBI. It will be very much in line with this “privacy-first” position that Apple chooses not to make money from advertising, which involves exposing customer usage data to third parties. 

Instead, it could simply sell more of its highly profitable devices and subscriptions to privacy-conscious customers. By not following Google’s footsteps, Apple does not have to engage with the search giant on its terms.

With its latest iOS 14 update, Apple has already started swapping out Google search results in favor of its own. Most iOS users have barely noticed the change for all the reasons given above. But this silent swapping does not come without its own set of challenges. By defaulting to its search engine instead of Google on its devices, Apple will open itself to monopoly criticism from competition commissions in a variety of markets. It is also likely to upset the advertising industry who could lose their reach to Apple customers. The Apple customer base is a coveted one thanks to its better than average buying power, and by making it easier for users to avoid search ads, Apple might just create a tectonic shift in the advertising industry as a whole. 

Google’s dominance on internet search will not come to an end with Apple’s entry into the foray, but it would definitely weaken in the face of increasing consumer preference for privacy. Given that Google’s business model differs dramatically from Apple’s, it is likely that the search giant would have to learn to uncomfortably live with its rival’s search engine instead of pivoting to compete with it head-on.

Instagram Can Take Video Too

Instagram, the wildly popular photo-sharing app that was bought by Facebook last year for a cool billion dollars, just announced that it now supports videos.

They're pretty cleanly integrated into your feed; they won't autoplay as you scroll, instead showing just as a thumbnail with a small icon of an old-timey movin' picture camera in the top-right corner to indicate that these are videos rather than stills. Tap the image to start playing. Easy!

Videos can be up to 15 seconds long (or as short as 3 seconds), and you can stop and resume recordings while shooting, so you don't have to take a single continuous shot like you do with Snapchat. All the usual Instagram filters can be applied, and the videos include audio as well. It's available right now as an update for the iOS app, with Android soon to come.

So, the obvious question: isn't this just, um, a carbon copy of Vine, the video app launched by Twitter earlier this year? Ha ha ha welllllll yes, it is pretty much exactly the same, except Instagram is an app used by 130 million people a month, and Vine has maybe a tenth that many. And Vine has had trouble; apparently a stream of videos isn't the easiest thing to grapple with, and Vine is often buggy or slow to load. Instagram videos could be almost three times as long as Vine videos--how is Instagram going to deal with that? "We have to figure this out," Instagram's CEO told.

Netbook Is Dead

Although the slow death of the PC has been widely discussed by technology pundits recently, there is also another, lesser known victim of Apple’s iPad market dominance.

The netbook, which was originally intended to fill the low-cost niche between fully loaded laptops and smart phones, is dying an even quicker death than the PC according to IHS iSuppli market research statistics via Electronista.

Netbooks debuted in 2007 and were an immediately a popular product “because they were optimized for low cost, delivering what many consumers believed as acceptable computer performance,” states IHS senior principal analyst Craig Stice via the Los Angeles Times. According to the IHS statistics, netbook sales were at their height in 2010, with 32.14 million units shipped reports Electronista.

Last year the number of units shipped dropped to 14.3 million. The IHS report predicts that a total of 3.97 million netbooks will ship in 2013, which is a 72 percent decline from the previous year. However, the bad news for the netbook market doesn’t stop there. The market research firm forecasts a paltry 264,000 netbooks shipped in 2014, followed by the complete disappearance of the netbook by 2015.

As the IHS analyst points out via the Los Angeles Times, “netbooks began their descent to oblivion with the introduction in 2010 of Apple’s iPad.” However, netbook sales have declined even faster than PCs since the devices are being made obsolete by multiple types of products. Netbooks are being squeezed out of the market by higher-priced tablets, as well as lower-priced smart phones.

Perhaps Steve Jobs said it best when he introduced the iPad in 2010. As quoted by Electronista, Jobs stated, “The problem is: netbooks aren’t better at anything. They’re slow, they have low-quality displays, and they run clunky, old PC software.”

Apple shipped 22.9 million iPads in the quarter that ended last December and claimed 51 percent of the global tablet market in 2012 according to IDC statistics cited by Bloomberg.

@ Global Info Center

iOS versus Android: The Battle Begins

In the aftermath of the release of the Samsung Galaxy S4 last week, and Apple’s marketing backlash, the iOS vs Android arms race has hit a milestone. Android is growing faster than ever, in terms of both their market share and the revenue they pay out to app marketers. Apple’s marketing has taken on a decidedly ‘attacking’ tone. ‘There’s iPhone. And then there’s everything else’ is clearly mirroring the phrase, ‘Here’s the best, forget the rest’. It’s about time, for an infographic on the iOS vs Android feud as it stands now. Which is the best platform for app marketers? Let’s consider some factors, or scroll down to view the infographic right away.

Smartphone and tablet market share

Some contests seem to have been won by Android categorically. Last month, the worldwide smartphone market share figures stood at 69.2% (Android) and 22.1% (iOS). These current figures are actually more in Apple’s favor than the October figures (75% and 15%), due to the release of the iPhone 5. But now the S4 is here, it’s likely we’re going to see the gap widen again.

On other counts though, iOS is the reigning champion. While Android also takes the lead in terms of tablet market share and smartphone app downloads, albeit with smaller margins, iOS is far, far ahead in terms of tablet app downloads; which must be due to the fact that there are over 275,000 optimized for the full-size iPad and iPad mini.

iOS vs Android app revenue and monetization

It is also a widely known and inescapable fact that, on the whole, iOS apps monetize much better than Android apps. The type of user that iOS attracts (and nurtures) are high earning and very engaged users. But that’s not to say the situation isn’t changing for Android.

While iOS pays out four times as much revenue to app marketers than Android, app revenue growth is growing five times more rapidly on Android. But will it stay this way so that Android can catch up and even overtake iOS? This remains to be seen, as we watch the battle of the platforms progress.

The life of the app marketer

In terms of the day-to-day of marketing apps on the respective platforms, iOS is a less fragmented platform with higher app marketing costs but greater profits for advertisers. It is also much easier and more predictable to carry out iOS App Store ranking boost campaigns due to the ranking algorithm being more heavily weighted on download volumes than an intransparent selection of factors. On Android, we see a more complex and fragmented reality for app marketers.

The following infographic to compare iOS and Android in terms of market share, user demographic and app marketing.

There’s a myriad of points on which you can compare the two platforms, and on reflection I think the conclusion must be this: both are winners in their own ways. Highly democratic I know, but that is how it is. Final words: Compare everything and identify and support the platform that’s right for your app.

What are your thoughts on current status quo of the arms race between iOS and Android?

Samsung Galaxy S4 Unpacked

Dear all, are you ready to be shocked? Are you ready to look toward the future of a really smart phones? Are you ready for Samsung Galaxy S4? Are you ready to tossed away your Samsung Galaxy S3? Let see... what have we got here...



Unless the press invitations are deliberately misleading (see the photo above), Samsung will announce its Galaxy S4 smartphone in New York on March 14.

Aside from a teaser video that says absolutely nothing about the device, Samsung has been predictably tight-lipped. But that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from chiming in with plenty of unconfirmed details. Below, we’ll try to paint the clearest possible picture of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 based on the last few months of leaks, rumors and speculation.

Design

Pretty much the entire tech world expects the Galaxy S4 to have a 5-inch, 1080p display, making it Samsung’s largest Galaxy S phone yet. Korean media started reporting on this possibility back in November, and an official roadmap for Samsung Displays leaves even less doubt in our minds.

Despite the larger screen, the Galaxy S4 will likely have a design that’s similar to its predecessor. Though we’ve yet to see a credible image of the phone, there’s no shortage of spy shots and alleged press images that hint at a phone with gently-rounded corners and a large physical home button flanked by back and menu buttons. Much like the Galaxy S3, the S4 will likely be built from plastic, according to well-connected blogger Eldar Murtazin.

According to SamMobile, the phone will measure 0.3 inches thick, and weigh 0.3 pounds. That would make it roughly 0.4 inches thinner than the S3, but a teeny bit heavier.

Tech Specs

We’ve already mentioned the possibility of a 5-inch, 1080p display. Other specs for the Galaxy S4 may include a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 2.1-megapixel front camera and 2 GB of RAM, as reported by both SamMobile and HDBlog.it. Storage capacities could start at 16 GB, and go all the way up to 64 GB.

The main point of dispute seems to be the processor inside the Galaxy S4. While Samsung’s Exynos 5 octa-core chipset once seemed like a given, SamMobile claims that the new chip is off the table due to overheating issues. One analyst has speculated that the processor may vary by region, with the U.S. getting a quad-core Qualcomm chip, and European markets getting the Exynos 5.

The octa-core chip’s main benefit would be better battery life through the use of lower-power processing cores as needed. If Samsung is indeed swapping in a Qualcomm quad-core chip instead, hopefully the phone has a big enough battery to keep that massive 1080p display running.


Software

The Galaxy S4 will likely run Android 4.2, according to the same tech spec sources mentioned above, but that’s only part of the story. As Samsung tries to differentiate the S4 from other Android phones, it will likely add even more unique features or build on existing ones such as S Voice and Smart Stay.

For instance, the New York Times reports that the Galaxy S4 will have an eye-tracking camera that can scroll down a page as you read. The S4 may also have a 360-degree panoramic photo feature called Samsung Orb, which would be similar to the PhotoSphere feature found on Google’s Nexus 4 smartphone.

Availability

Samsung is holding its debut event for the Galaxy S4 on March 14, so an April launch seems likely, at least in overseas markets. As for the United States, there have been murmurs of a launch on AT&T and Verizon at least, but we wouldn’t be surprised to also see the phone on Sprint, T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular — all of whom currently offer the Galaxy S3. Wireless carriers tend to announce prices and release dates on their own, so don’t count on Samsung letting all those details out next week.