Dell Seeks Edge on IPad With Business-Focused Wi

Dell Seeks Edge on IPad With Business-Focused Windows Tablet

By Aaron Ricadela and Emily Chang.

Dell Inc. (DELL) Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell said there's growing demand for tablet computers that can run the next version of Windows, which may help his company siphon away corporate customers from the iPad.

Dell is developing a business-friendly tablet that works with Windows 8, and the company will start selling computers running the new Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) software "on the exact day" it becomes available, the CEO said yesterday on the "Bloomberg West" television show. Windows 8 is due later this year, though a release date hasn't been set.

The goal is to entice business customers by running Microsoft's Office applications -- something Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s tablet isn't designed to do -- and letting the device connect securely to corporate networks. Dell is seeking an edge over the latest iPad, unveiled yesterday, which sports a faster processor, sharper screen and speedier wireless service.

"Having a secure Windows tablet that works with all the Windows applications -- we're hearing a lot of demand for that and we think that will be quite attractive," Dell said.

Still, the iPad is making its own inroads in the corporate world. Apple is on pace to sell $10 billion worth of iPads to businesses this year, according to Forrester Research Inc. (FORR), succeeding in a market that has traditionally been Microsoft's strength.

Apple's Lead

Tablet makers will sell a total of 103.5 million devices this year, with Apple accounting for two-thirds, Gartner Inc. predicts. The figure will rise to 326.3 million in 2015.

Shares of Round Rock, Texas-based Dell rose 1.1 percent to $17 at the close in New York yesterday. The shares have climbed 16 percent this year.

Dell aims to "lead the market" in Windows 8 tablets, Amit Midha, president of Dell's Asia division, said at a briefing in Hong Kong today. The company will continue to offer tablets and smartphones based on Google Inc. (GOOG)'s Android technology, he said.

"Both the tablet and the smartphone form factors you'll see us participating in, but the tablet side is a much higher priority for us," Midha said. He declined to disclose details about products being planned by Dell.

Dell also will sell a range of personal computers running Windows 8 as soon as the software debuts.

"We'll be there right on the very first day that Windows 8 is available," Michael Dell said yesterday. During a conference call with analysts last month, he said there was "great excitement" in the corporate market over the new software.

Dell will continue to diversify beyond PCs by investing in acquisitions and research spending, he said on "Bloomberg West."

"You'll see us continue to be active," the CEO said.

At hacking contest, Google Chrome falls to third zero-day attack

Google's Chrome browser on Friday fell to a zero-day attack that pierced its vaunted security sandbox, the third such attack in as many days at a contest designed to test its resistance to real-world threats.

A teenage hacker who identified himself only as PinkiePie said he spent the past week and half working on the attack. It combined three previously unknown vulnerabilities to gain full system access to a Dell Inspiron laptop that ran a fully patched version of Chrome on top of the most up-to-date version of Windows 7. He spent the past three days holed up in hotel rooms and conference areas refining the attack so it would break out of the sandbox, which was designed to prevent code-execution attacks like his, even when security bugs are identified.

"These kinds of things are finicky" PinkiePie told reporters as he finished a blueberry yogurt just minutes after making his booby-trapped website display a picture of a pink pony wielding a medieval axe. He said he "got lucky" because he found a way to break out of Google's sandbox relatively early and then spent the rest of the time identifying vulnerabilities that allowed him to remotely funnel code through the system.

PinkiePie said all three of the vulnerabilities resided in code that's native to Chrome. That meant it qualified for a $60,000 prize, the top reward for the Pwnium contest Google sponsored at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver. Members of the Chrome security team started analyzing the exploit and vulnerability details within minutes of the hack. Less than 24 hours later, Google put a fix into its distribution pipeline.

"Congratulations to PinkiePie (aka PwniePie) for a beautiful piece of work to close out the Pwnium competition!" an advisory accompanying the update for Windows, Mac, and Linux versions of Chrome stated. Referring to an exploit unleashed on Wednesday, it continued: "We also believe that both submissions are works of art and deserve wider sharing and recognition."

Additional details will be published once other WebKit packages that might also be vulnerable are patched.

Google is offering prizes of $60,000, $40,000 and $20,000 under the competition in an attempt to learn new strategies for fortifying Chrome against attacks that expose sensitive user data or take control of user machines. PinkiePie is only the second contestant to enter the contest. Both have demonstrated attacks that allowed them to take control of Chrome users' machines when they do nothing more than browse to an attack site.

On Wednesday, a Russian researcher named Sergey Glaznov bundled two vulnerabilities into his own remote code-execution attack. Less than 24 hours later, Google shipped an update fixing the holes. At the separate Pwn2Own contest a few feet away, a team of researchers successfully exploited Chrome on Wednesday.It's now almost certain that attack relied on Adobe Flash to break out of the safety perimeter.

The five vulnerabilities exposed during the third and final day of the contest are miniscule compared to the overall number of bugs Chrome's security team fixes each year. A member of the team said the value of Pwnium isn't in the number of bugs that come to light, but rather in the insights that come from watching how a reliable exploit is able to slip through carefully crafted defenses.

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Android Dodges Apple iOS Address Book Debacle: B

Android Dodges Apple iOS Address Book Debacle: But not by Much

By Daniel Ionescu.

Apple is eating dirt over how iOS apps share your data with publishers, primarily personal address books harvested by a certain company named Path. But is Google any better with the way Android apps behave? We asked the app experts.

The verdict? "Yes" with a gaping caveat.

For the record, Apple vows to fix the leaky-app-data problem with new rules for iOS app makers to follow regarding app behavior and clear permissions for access to personal data stored on iOS devices. But didn't happen before Washington lawmakers weighed in on the controversy. Soon iPhone and iPad apps won't be able to use your address book without your permission.

Android Any Better?

Are Android users safe from such problems, and is Apple's proposed fix a better implementation than Google offers? Let's investigate.

Unlike Apple's system, which simply allows apps to access your contacts without any prompt or prior permission (note some iOS developers are now implementing voluntary dialogue boxes), Android apps that want to use such privileges have to ask for them in a dialogue box before you install the app. This means that if you don't want a certain app to have access to your contacts (or location or sites you browse on your phone), your only option is not install the app.

Android's explicit disclosure of what parts of your smartphone an app wants to access is also enforced when you select automatic updating for apps. If an app changes permissions in a new version, it will be automatically be marked as a manual update. That means you'll have to review and accept the new terms the same way you did when you first downloaded the app. However, the Android method has its own weakness.

Android's Fatal Flaw: User Ignorance

"A lot people blindly click through the permission requests when installing Android apps," says Greg Plumbly, managing director of Portable Pixels, a London-based mobile apps development firm. "It's a bit like on Windows when these warnings popped up so often people just got in the habit of clicking OK," he adds.

In the desktop software environment, a measly two percent of people read the end-user license agreements (EULAs) shown during software installations, according to a 2009 study by Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab. (You can read the PDF version of the study here) Shame on us computer and Internet users. Not paying attention to EULAs can bite you in the rear end with vengeance.

Does pre-installation permission request make Android less susceptible to apps uploading your contacts to remote servers without your consent? Not really, because you already agreed to it when you installed the app, along with a bunch of other requests, and there is no granular control over which permissions you give to apps-- it's a case of all or nothing for Android users.

It's still unclear how Apple might implement more transparent app disclosure along what type of granular opt-in and opt-out controls iOS users have.

Peter Harrison, CTO at UK-based mobile security firm BlackBelt SmartPhone Defence, agrees: "The Android approach is certainly safer than no prompt at all. Unfortunately you cannot agree individual permissions--either you give the app everything it wants or you don't give any permissions.

"However, the big weakness is that most users simply agree to permission requests without thinking about it, possibly without even reading the requested permissions. They certainly don't think about whether the app really needs the requested permission," Harrison adds.

"The proposed Apple solution to prompt in a similar way than it already does for location-based services and push notifications, in order to access address book info is a good one, and probably should have been in place some time ago," Portable Pixels' Greg Plumbly says. This way, users get granular control over access to their address book, every time an app requests it, making you aware when the app actually uses such data.

But this approach has its own perils, BlackBelt's Peter Harrison warns: "Prompting for individual address book requests could be safer but the same risk exists--many users may simply agree to the request without thinking about the consequences. This particularly applies if the user sees the prompt regularly. The user may get into the habit of simply acknowledging the requests without checking which app is requesting permission."

Can Apple do a better job than Google? Will Apple now be just as good as Google? Can the other 98 percent of the human race be trained to read EULAs? Hmmmm.

RIM: BLACKBERRY APP WORLD MORE PROFITABLE THAN ANDROID MARKET

By Lindsay Welnick.

While Research In Motion's BlackBerry App World is not on the scale of Apple's App Store, it is making progress.

BlackBerry App World hit 60,000 mobile apps and has become the second most profitable app store behind Apple's App Store, Research In Motion said this week, according to a report by TechnoBloom.

RIM based it's profitability on the greater number of apps customers must pay for in BlackBerry App World, versus the mostly free apps in Google's Android Market. Still, the BlackBerry App World is a long way from first place.

The Apple App Store has approximately 550,000 mobile apps and 170,000 alone for the iPad, while BlackBerry only offers about 60,000 mobile apps for all of its devices.

While BlackBerry does not have the app inventory that Apple does, new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins sees opportunities for the company to maintain global market share. Sixty-five percent of Europe still uses feature phones, which is a great opportunity for companies like RIM to pick up market share, Heins said in the report.

Most analysts remain skeptical of RIM's chances to compete in the global market. Even in the enterprise, large companies have started transitioning away from the BlackBerry and toward either the iPhone or Android. The delay of BlackBerry 10 devices until the second half of 2012 isn't helping. RIM's smartphone market share has been plummeting over the past couple of years and shows no immediate signs of recovery.

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Most Motorola devices won't get Android 4.0 upda

Most Motorola devices won't get Android 4.0 update anytime soon

By Athima Chansanchai

If you own a Motorola phone and are waiting for the upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, get ready for disappointment: A handful of tablets and phones will be upgraded by this summer, while the hottest models, such as the Droid Bionic or Droid Razr and Razr Maxx, have no slated upgrade rollout dates.

Motorola unveiled the schedule (or lack thereof) in its Owners' Forum under Motorola Android Software Upgrade News.

For phone models, Motorola's Ice Cream Sandwich rollout begins in "Q3," that is, sometime between June and September of this year. For now, that only includes the Atrix and Photon. When it comes to tablets, only the U.S.-based, Wi-Fi Xoom has received the new software; the other three versions of Xoom will have to wait until April to see ICS, while the Xyboard and Xoom 2 get it in the summer.

When the big moment does arrive, Motorola customers can follow these instructions:

In most cases, consumers will receive a notification on their device that the OTA upgrade is available. An available upgrade or update may be rolled out over a period of time in order to best manage the deployment volume and experience. At times, a small testing group is provided the upgrade before it's made available to a larger group. On your Motorola Android Phone or Tablet, you can go to Settings -> About Phone/Tablet -> System Updates to manually check for an OTA upgrade. All estimated release dates are based on available information and are subject to change.

That bit at the end about being "subject to change" may be something Motorola would do well to heed. This schedule reveals delays that may not sit well with its consumers, who may fall behind Sony, LG and HTC, which all have planned ICS rollouts by early this year.

Motorola should learn from the Samsung snafu that kicked up in December, when the company that regularly plays tug-of-war with Apple as the world's biggest smartphone vendor announced that its popular first-generation Galaxy S smartphones would not be getting Android 4.0. In doing so, they deprived 10 million customers from having ICS.

And even when they do get ICS, the upgrade may arrive right on the heels of the next Android rollout, 5.0, apparently bearing the "Jelly Bean" moniker. There's only been one report of that upgrade coming out in the spring, so we're not going to start salivating yet, but it's certainly poor coordination on the part of Google and its newly acquired mobile handset maker, and it's no way to treat customers.

The newest Android OS is the best thing to happen to that platform since it started to beat the iPhone in global marketshare. Here are the features that make this frozen treat hot - and the lucky phones that will first get the update.

Motorola's Android OS Upgrade Timeline Is Mostly Bad News

By Jared Newman.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream SandwichMotorola has promised to upgrade many of its smartphones and tablets to Android Ice Cream Sandwich, but not any time soon.

So far, Motorola's Xoom Wi-Fi is the only device that has received Android 4.0, and the Xoom Family Edition is the only U.S. device scheduled for an update in the first half of the year. Five other Motorola devices will get Ice Cream Sandwich in the third quarter, including the Atrix 4G, Atrix 2, Photon 4G, Xyboard 8.2 and Xyboard 10.1.

Meanwhile, rumors have it that Android 5.0, codenamed "Jelly Bean" may arrive this spring.

Ice Cream Sandwich is a major upgrade for Android, combining Google's phone and tablet software into a unified platform. In addition to the new look, ICS includes hardware acceleration to make the interface smoother, a face unlock feature, better voice dictation, built-in photo editing, a redesigned contacts app, and the ability to answer a call with an automated text message, among other features. It's also the only version of Android that supports Google's Chrome browser.

So far, only 1 percent of Android users who have recently accessed the Android Market are running Ice Cream Sandwich.

Motorola has promised that its latest phones will get Ice Cream Sandwich, including the Droid Bionic, Droid Razr, Droid Razr Maxx and Droid 4. But those devices, along with nine other U.S. phones and tablets, are listed as in "Evaluation and Planning," with no release timing given.

A post on the Motorola owners' forum has complete upgrade details for all the company's Android devices. That, at least, should be applauded, considering that most Android phone makers don't offer one place to get all of this information.

Details for upgrades for all of Motorola's Android devices.

But the lack of upgrade timing for Motorola's latest phones is a letdown. The wording in Motorola's press releases for the Droid 4 and Droid Razr--"to be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich"--suggests that the company at least had upgrade plans in place. The actual timeline tells a different story, with all the latest phones still in the evaluation phase.

Motorola recently tried to blame slow Android upgrades on hardware, telling PCMag that "multiple chipsets and multiple radio bands for multiple countries" were to blame. Conventional wisdom holds that software modifications by device makers and wireless carriers also slow down the process, because of the time it takes to merge their code with Google's.

Follow Jared on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for even more tech news and commentary.

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Motorola's Messy Ice Cream Sandwich Speaks Volum

Motorola's Messy Ice Cream Sandwich Speaks Volumes On Android

BY Eric Zeman.

Motorola says that many owners of its most popular devices will have to wait as long as six months for Android 4.0 updates. The Android update model is clearly broken.

Android system updates have been a contentious issue for as long as the platform has existed on more than one device. The newest system available from Google, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, was announced in October, and Google released the code to its manufacturer partners in November. So far, only one smartphone--the Galaxy Nexus--is shipped with Android 4.0 on board.

Motorola has brought a number of new smartphones in the last few months to market, including the Droid Razr, Razr Maxx, and Droid 4. All three phones, sold by Verizon Wireless, were sold with the promise that they'd be updated from Android 2.3 Gingerbread to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

According to Motorola, those updates won't arrive until the third quarter of this year.

The company provided an update to its update schedule on Wednesday, and the outlook is bleak. The vast majority of Motorola's Android smartphones are looking at a four- to nine-month wait for the latest system software to become available. In the meantime, smartphone makers will begin to bring Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphones to market and they'll be in numerous supply by the time the third quarter comes around.

Other manufacturers, notably HTC and Sony, have committed to slightly less awful time frames for updating their devices to Android 4.0, but we're still looking at months and not weeks before those updates show up.

The pattern is repeating. The same thing happened when Android Gingerbread arrived in December 2010. Smartphone makers promised to update Android 2.2 devices to Android 2.3. Guess what, those updates are still being delivered 14 months later. You can bet the bulk of Android phones that ship during the first half of 2012 with Android 2.3 won't see Android 4.0 until late in 2012 the earliest.

Why does this take so long? As Motorola explains, the process is not a simple one. First, it has to decide exactly what devices are going to be updated, evaluate whether they can be updated, and then make the necessary plans to devote the resources to make it happen. Only then do developers get to work writing the code. Now, the code needs to be tweaked for different screen sizes and resolutions, for different processors and baseband radios, for different chip makers, and on and on.

Once the code is complete, it goes to wireless network operators for testing. This step in the process can take months. Only after carrier testing is complete is the software offered to customers. The whole process, from start to finish, can take three to six or more months, and, according to hardware makers, can cost almost as much as developing the original system for the device.

I have to ask, why the hell bother at all?

Don't get me wrong, I want the latest and greatest system software on my phone, too. But considering all the time and resources it costs the manufacturers--which could otherwise be spent on developing new products--the effort hardly seems worth it. Moreover, by the time the updates are available, the devices and even the software itself has been outdated by newer, better stuff.

The Android update model is clearly broken. It doesn't serve anyone: not the handset makers, not the carriers, and least of all not the owners of Android devices who are stuck waiting ages for the updates to arrive.

Although I'd argue that every smartphone deserves the best and newest software, the idea has its practical limitations. We appear to have reached them.

I say bag the whole system-level update thing. Device makers and carriers do need to provide maintenance and security updates to keep smartphones running their best and safest, but I think smartphone owners need to simply get used to the idea of owning outdated software. If you want the brand-newest mobile platform, buy a device that has it installed from the get-go. Otherwise, don't get upset if it is almost a year before your device is updated.

The other alternative: Google needs to devise a way so core system updates can be provided independently of manufacturer and carrier control.

Massive Surge in Android Malware

By eSecurityP.

In the last seven months of 2011, malware targeting the Android platform jumped 3,325 percent.

According to Juniper Networks' Mobile Threat Report, malware targeting the Android OS grew by 3,325 percent in the last seven months of 2011.

"Android malware accounted for about 46.7 percent of unique malware samples that targeted mobile platforms, followed by 41 percent for Java Mobile Edition," writes eWeek's Fahmida Y. Rashid.

"The explosion in Android malware is a direct result of the platform's diverse and open marketplace where developers are free to post their apps as well as growing market share, according to Juniper," Rashid writes. "Google's market share in the mobile space, at 46.9 percent, is statistically the same as the proportion of Android malware detected by Juniper."

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Malware loves Android, but iOS users could be at

Malware loves Android, but iOS users could be at risk too

By Lance Whitney.

A new study from Juniper finds that Android is the hardest hit by malicious apps but says iOS could be vulnerable as well.

Android has gotten a lot of negative buzz for its susceptibility to malware. But a new study from Juniper Networks suggests that iOS could also be at risk.

Scanning hundreds of thousands of applications across the mobile landscape for its 2011 Mobile Threats Report, Juniper uncovered more than 28,000 pieces of malware last year, a rise of 155 percent from 2010.

As expected, Android was the post popular target.

Malware aimed at Google's mobile OS surged to 13,000 samples at the end of last year from only 400 in June, an increase of 3,325 percent. The platform's leading market share and the lack of control over the apps found in Android app stores have attracted more malware writers.

Before 2011, most mobile malware was targeted at Nokia's Symbian and Java ME, which runs on feature phones. But since then, Juniper has witnessed a huge shift toward Android.

Juniper's database didn't include malware samples for iOS, not necessarily because none exist, but because Apple doesn't release such data or open its platform for such analysis.

"While malicious applications on the iOS platform are limited in large part due to Apple's closed application marketplace and stringent screening model, it does not necessarily make it fundamentally more secure," Juniper said in its report released on Tuesday. "For one, when a user 'jailbreaks' their device by removing the limitations on the operating system, the device can be susceptible to malicious applications downloaded from third-party sources."

In fact, an IOS security flaw was discovered in November that allowed apps to download potentially malicious unsigned code. Apple patched the flaw with its iOS 5.0.1 update. And an app exploiting this type of flaw would've been rejected during Apple's approval process. But the incident did show that even iOS isn't invulnerable.

Further, Apple doesn't provide developers with the tools to create anti-malware apps, according to the report. The company may feel secure and justified in not allowing such development. However, such a policy could prove problematic should any risky apps manage to sneak through Apple's approval process.

"This lack of software protection and a competitive security market leaves users with little protection if malware were ever to make it through Apple's application vetting process," Juniper noted. "In the long run, this could create a false sense of security for Apple users and prove to be an even bigger risk than Android's open model."

Android Market alone has seen its share of misbehaving apps. But Juniper uncovered a large number of malicious apps from third-party Android app stores, which aren't protected by Google's new Bouncer service, a tool that can scan Android Market for malware.

Google's open-source platform for Android also means that it's up to device makers and carriers to push out security patches, a process that can take a long time.

"Many device manufacturers build customized versions of the Android operating system and, as a result, certain devices do not receive - or must wait months to receive - security updates," Juniper said. "This means that even patched security vulnerabilities and new security features may not get pushed to all devices, making them less secure and more vulnerable to malware."

The bad guys themselves became more sophisticated last year, tricking Android users into downloading their dirty work. DroidKungFu sneaked past detection by using encrypted payloads, while Droid Dream masqueraded as a legitimate app.

Google itself was kept quite busy last year removing malware from Android Market and from mobile devices.

The company has tried to keep up by jettisoning the malicious apps as quickly as possible. But the discovery process can sometimes take days, Juniper noted, leaving more than enough time for the payloads to infect smartphones and tablets. That's one key reason why Google has implemented its Bouncer scanner.

More malicious code written for mobile

VIA:centerbeam.com.

Hackers are coming out to play in the smartphone market, and it wont be fun for anyone but them. Businesses will soon start to see employees bring their own devices into work, if they already haven't, which could open the door to potential security vulnerabilities if the devices aren't properly managed. To maintain control of how the devices are used, companies need to invest in a mobile device management solution and institute a mobile use policy as soon as possible.

Juniper Networks' Mobile Threat Center reports that the amount of malicious code for smartphones rose 155 percent in 2011. In that same time, the report said malware shifted away from Java ME devices and over to the Android operating system.

"It's a direct result of consumer demand," said Bob Dix, Juniper's vice president of government affairs and critical infrastructure protection. "This is a phenomenon we couldn't have seen even a few years ago."

Users may not necessarily be aware of the data dangers associated with smartphones, as the mobile devices aren't thought to be a big attraction for viruses, but with a big shift in companies allowing employees to use their mobile devices, it may be a smart move for businesses to bring in mobile device management to help protect against security breaches.

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US says children have easy access to smartphone

US says children have easy access to smartphone apps but parents are unaware of privacy risks

By RICHARD LARDNER.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Who is monitoring the apps that kids use on their phones? The government complained Thursday that software companies producing games and other mobile applications aren't telling parents what personal information is being collected from kids and how companies are using it.

Apps could quietly be collecting a child's location, phone number, call logs and lists of friends, said a report by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC blamed the companies that make the apps, and the stores that sell them, for failing to explain where that data might be recorded, for how long and who would have access to it.

"As gatekeepers of the app marketplace, the app stores should do more," the report said. "This recommendation applies not just to Apple and Google, but also to other companies that provide a marketplace for kids' mobile apps."

Apple declined to comment on the FTC report. Google, which created the Android software, said it has an "industry-leading permission system" that tells consumers what data an app can access and requires user approval before installation. "Additionally, we offer parental controls and best practices for developers to follow when designing apps that handle user data," Google said in a statement.

The FTC report signals a renewed interest by federal regulators who could pursue legal action against companies they accuse of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The law bans collecting and disclosing personal information for children under 13 without their parents' consent.

The FTC is especially aggressive protecting the privacy rights of children. Last year a mobile app developer paid $50,000 last year to settle FTC charges that it violated the children's privacy law.

That company, W3 Innovations, doing business as Broken Thumbs Apps, developed and distributed apps for the iPhone and iPods that allowed users to play games and share information online, according to the FTC. Several of the apps, including Emily's Girl World and Emily's Dress Up, were directed at children and encouraged them to email their comments, the commission's complaint said. The FTC said the company collected and maintained thousands of email addresses from users of the apps.

The new FTC report does not identify any of the apps or software vendors that were part of its survey, which began last year. Using the word "kids," the government searched Apple's App Store and the Android Market and examined promotions for apps for word, math and number games and entertainment purposes. Most said they were for children. Prices ranged from free to about $10. The FTC said it found almost no relevant disclosures about data collection practices or information sharing on Apple's service and only minimal information on just three of the Android promotion pages.

Tessa Donner of Evansville, Ind., bought her teenage daughter a smartphone because she wanted to be sure she could reach her, especially in an emergency. But she didn't know that the mobile apps her daughter is able to download to the phone could act as hand-held spies.

"To know now that it could be unsafe, that is concerning," she said.

Advocacy groups credited the FTC with drawing attention to a problem they said has grown as the market for mobile apps has exploded. In 2008, there were about 600 apps available to smartphone users, the FTC said, and now there are nearly one million that have been downloaded more than 28 billion times.

"There is almost no information on what data is being collected and how it is being shared," said David Jacobs of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

The FTC said most Android apps require children to allow the software to access at least some services on the phone. The government report said Apple relies on its own review process to prevent apps from targeting minors for data collection but added, "The details of this screening process are not clear."

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group in San Francisco that studies children's use of technology, said privacy is eroding as the mobile app industry grows. More than half of U.S. kids have access to smartphones, tablets and other digital devices, said James Steyer, the group's chief executive. But the mobile app industry, which includes developers, stores and wireless carriers, are not providing the tools and information to monitor and protect a user's privacy, Steyer said.

"While industry lobbyists are concerned about the burden that basic disclosure will place on mom and pop app developers," Steyer said. "we're worried about the burden for real moms and pops."

The FTC urged app developers to describe clearly their data collection practices. Developers should also disclose whether the app connects with any social media services or includes advertisements, the government said.

Associated Press writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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Gov't says parents need more info on apps for ki

Gov't says parents need more info on apps for kids

VIA:smh.com.au.

Who is monitoring the apps that kids use on their phones? The government complained Thursday that software companies producing games and other mobile applications aren't telling parents what personal information is being collected from kids and how companies are using it.

Apps could quietly be collecting a child's location, phone number, call logs and lists of friends, said a report by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC blamed the companies that make the apps, and the stores that sell them, for failing to explain where that data might be recorded, for how long and who would have access to it.

"As gatekeepers of the app marketplace, the app stores should do more," the report said. "This recommendation applies not just to Apple and Google, but also to other companies that provide a marketplace for kids' mobile apps."

Apple declined to comment on the FTC report. Google, which created the Android software, said it has an "industry-leading permission system" that tells consumers what data an app can access and requires user approval before installation. "Additionally, we offer parental controls and best practices for developers to follow when designing apps that handle user data," Google said in a statement.

The FTC report signals a renewed interest by federal regulators who could pursue legal action against companies they accuse of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. The law bans collecting and disclosing personal information for children under 13 without their parents' consent.

The FTC is especially aggressive protecting the privacy rights of children. Last year a mobile app developer paid $50,000 last year to settle FTC charges that it violated the children's privacy law.

That company, W3 Innovations, doing business as Broken Thumbs Apps, developed and distributed apps for the iPhone and iPods that allowed users to play games and share information online, according to the FTC. Several of the apps, including Emily's Girl World and Emily's Dress Up, were directed at children and encouraged them to email their comments, the commission's complaint said. The FTC said the company collected and maintained thousands of email addresses from users of the apps.

The new FTC report does not identify any of the apps or software vendors that were part of its survey, which began last year. Using the word "kids," the government searched Apple's App Store and the Android Market and examined promotions for apps for word, math and number games and entertainment purposes. Most said they were for children. Prices ranged from free to about $10. The FTC said it found almost no relevant disclosures about data collection practices or information sharing on Apple's service and only minimal information on just three of the Android promotion pages.

Tessa Donner of Evansville, Ind., bought her teenage daughter a smartphone because she wanted to be sure she could reach her, especially in an emergency. But she didn't know that the mobile apps her daughter is able to download to the phone could act as hand-held spies.

"To know now that it could be unsafe, that is concerning," she said.

Advocacy groups credited the FTC with drawing attention to a problem they said has grown as the market for mobile apps has exploded. In 2008, there were about 600 apps available to smartphone users, the FTC said, and now there are nearly one million that have been downloaded more than 28 billion times.

"There is almost no information on what data is being collected and how it is being shared," said David Jacobs of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

The FTC said most Android apps require children to allow the software to access at least some services on the phone. The government report said Apple relies on its own review process to prevent apps from targeting minors for data collection but added, "The details of this screening process are not clear."

Common Sense Media, a nonprofit group in San Francisco that studies children's use of technology, said privacy is eroding as the mobile app industry grows. More than half of U.S. kids have access to smartphones, tablets and other digital devices, said James Steyer, the group's chief executive. But the mobile app industry, which includes developers, stores and wireless carriers, are not providing the tools and information to monitor and protect a user's privacy, Steyer said.

"While industry lobbyists are concerned about the burden that basic disclosure will place on mom and pop app developers," Steyer said. "we're worried about the burden for real moms and pops."

The FTC urged app developers to describe clearly their data collection practices. Developers should also disclose whether the app connects with any social media services or includes advertisements, the government said.

Associated Press writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.

This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency as an additional service to readers. Spelling follows North American usage, along with foreign currency and measurement units.

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Apps for kids get poor grades for privacy

Apps for kids get poor grades for privacy

By Cecilia Kang.

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday criticized the privacy policies of mobile apps aimed at children and Apple's and Google's apps stores, saying a broad range of information about young users could be being collected and parents aren't being adequately informed that it might be happening.

In a report titled "Mobile Apps for Kids: Current Privacy Disclosures Are Disappointing," the FTC said it surveyed apps designed for children and found that data such as geolocation, phone numbers, contact lists, call logs and other "unique identifiers" could be being collected.

But the consumer protection agency said the Apple iTunes store and Google's Android Marketplace failed to disclose the collection and sharing of that data by businesses.

"Companies that operate in the mobile marketplace provide great benefits, but they must step up to the plate and provide easily accessible, basic information, so that parents can make informed decisions about he apps their kids use," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement.

Lawmakers and the FTC have been showing much greater interest in the protection of children, from toddlers to teens, online. Children and teens are among the most active users of smartphones and tablets, and scores of apps are targeted directly at them, from teaching them the alphabet to propelling Angry Birds.

The FTC recommended that app developers provide simple and short disclosures on how they collect and share information about users, including whether children's data are connected with social media apps such as Facebook. The agency said parents should be informed if kids' apps have ads - a concern of privacy groups who say games and other youth-oriented apps contain behavioral, and sometime mature, ads hawking everything from soda to concert tickets to children.

App stores such as iTunes and Android Marketplace should also give parents more information about privacy practices of the apps it sells and allows users to download for free.

"As gatekeepers of the apps marketplace, the app stores should do more," the staff report suggested. The FTC noted that apps stores create their own age ratings for apps.

An apps trade group agreed that developers need to do a better job of informing users of the privacy policies. But federal rules are confusing for app makers, who often don't know what their requirements are.

"Many children's education app developers are unaware of existing privacy regulations and how they may be interpreted to prevent seemingly innocuous features," said Morgan Reed, executive director of trade group The Association for Competitive Technology.

Privacy advocates have pushed federal regulators for greater enforcement of privacy violations on kids apps. They lament that parents are often left with little guidance on what kids of data is being collected about their children online and if that data is being shared with third-parties to target the preferences of individual users.

Sometimes, according to public interest group Common Sense Media, ads and inappropriate content are deeply in apps, when users progress levels of a game, for instance.

Parents need to be clearly informed if a puzzle game or other children's apps are connected to social media features such as chat rooms and apps like Google+ or Facebook, the agency said. Such third-parties can also collect data about users without their knowing.

"Consumers, especially children, should not have to contend with mobile phone spies," said Jeff Chester, executive director of privacy advocacy group, The Center for Digital Democracy. "Both Google and Apple, the two leading mobile app companies, must do a much better job protecting children's privacy."

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GSA Prepares For Federal Mobile Push

GSA Prepares For Federal Mobile Push

By Elizabeth Montalbano.

Anticipating the influx of new mobile technology in the federal government, the General Services Administration (GSA) is preparing to simplify the purchase of wireless equipment and services, just as GSA itself is beginning to explore the use of iPhones and Android-based devices.

The GSA, the federal government's chief procurement agency for technology products and services, will soon release a wireless blanket purchase agreement (BPA) under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI), according to a GSA blog post by Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for the Office of Integrated Technology Services in the agency's Federal Acquisition Service.

The BPA will allow agencies to purchase wireless service plans, devices, and infrastructure, such as messaging services and devices, according to the GSA. BPAs allow agencies to make repeated buys of certain products and services, simplifying their purchase by reducing time and paperwork as well as allowing them to take advantage of discounts.

The BPA will include requirements to enable enterprise-level management and reporting, and will integrate with planned modifications to the GSA's Telecommunications Expense Management Service (TEMS) FSSI, Davie said. This will allow agencies to manage their mobile inventory and expenses through a single, secure interface.

The GSA also is part of a mobile government, or mGov, team that's examining opportunities in acquisition, inventory, and expense management to further aggregate and leverage what and how wireless products and services are bought, she added.

The move supports a trend across agencies to bolster their use of mobile technologies to improve internal efficiencies and how they do business with partners and customers. It also supports a standard mobile strategy that U.S. CIO Steven VanRoekel is working with agencies on to accelerate the adoption of mobile technologies.

The BPA coincides with a decision by the GSA to join other agencies that will expand its smartphone use, beyond the stalwart BlackBerry, to iPhones and Android-based devices. The agency is giving a small number of its more than 12,000 employees these devices in addition to ones based on Research in Motion's (RIM's) OS, which long has dominated the federal market.

BlackBerry's position has been challenged recently by more widespread adoption of iOS and Android, as well as a bring your own device policy many agencies are instituting, allowing employees to use their own smartphones at work.

Just last week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it will replace the agency's BlackBerry devices with iPhones, a full-stop move that is more dramatic than the slower transition other departments--like the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs--are taking.

However, a RIM executive told InformationWeek recently that the company's government business remains strong and continues to grow, despite more competition from other smartphones.

Android Fragmentation does not matter to you

By Chris Burns.

If you are an everyday average user of a smartphone that just so happens to use Android instead of iOS or Windows Phone or BlackBerry, you might have heard the word "fragmentation." This is a word that in this case means there are many different kinds of hardware surrounding the Android software and many different versions of Android out there on these devices today. This can pose a problem for developers making apps that, if at all possible, should work on every different Android-laden device. For you though, the problem with fragmentation is this: it's a scare tactic.

When Apple decides to update its mobile operating system iOS for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, it does so with a precise set of measures that allows for the vast majority of its modern devices to get the update quickly. Google's Android is not in a position to do such a thing, nor will it ever be. You the user purchase an Android handset with a version of the software on it that you pay for as a part of the whole package. When you purchase a laptop, you also get a single version of whatever software that laptop comes with.

Each time Google releases a new version of its software, its biggest aim is to get manufacturers to create new devices that feature that software for the masses. It is not profitable enough for Google to consider creating software that can be adopted instantly by devices that are already on the market.

Google has a line of devices it's created to feature the newest version of the software they produce in its purest form - this line is called Nexus. Though Google's original intent was to create one device, manufactured by them and pushed to all carriers in a country at once, this did not pan out. Instead we've got releases of one device on one carrier followed by the rest of the carriers one by one - the Galaxy Nexus for example was released to Verizon first and will soon be carried by at least one or more other carriers in the USA soon. This device features Google's newest mobile OS Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

If you purchase an Android device with the latest operating system inside several months of it being released, you are at a bigger disadvantage than every other Android device owner. The reason being that developers must catch up with the software in that period of time, so you may not have access to every app you love until they update their builds for all versions of Android.

When you purchase an Android device, you are not guaranteed anything more than the software it comes with. You shouldn't need anything other than the software the device comes with unless it is found to have bugs, in which case free updates are entitled to you. You get what you pay for.

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Facebook Cites Google+, Mobile Shift Among Poten

Facebook Cites Google+, Mobile Shift Among Potential Risks

Editors: Nick Turner, Dan Reichl, VIA:businessweek.com.

(Updates Zynga share trading in 14th paragraph.)

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc., the social network that filed for an initial public offering yesterday, listed rivalry with Google Inc., regulatory scrutiny, hacker attacks and the shift to mobile technology among the risks it faces.

Facebook's competition with Google, Twitter Inc. and other social-networking providers could impede growth, the company said in the risk-factors section of its filing. Facebook also said it would face competition in China if it manages to gain access to that market, where it's currently restricted.

"Certain competitors, including Google, could use strong or dominant positions in one or more markets to gain competitive advantage against us in areas where we operate," Facebook said. Their tactics may include "integrating competing social -- networking platforms or features into products they control," the company said.

Facebook, the world's biggest social-networking service, has attracted more rivals as its popularity among users and advertisers soars. The company said it faces "significant competition" in almost every aspect of its business.

The company also cited concerns about its mobile strategy. Almost all of its revenue comes from ads delivered to computers, not phones and tablets. Facebook's mobile software currently generates no "meaningful revenue," the Menlo Park, California- based company said.

Apple, Android

Facebook further cautioned that key mobile devices, such as Apple Inc.'s iOS products and gadgets running Google's Android software, may not feature Facebook in the future. If either of these companies gives preference to another social network -- say, if Google promotes its own Google+ more aggressively -- Facebook's growth could be jeopardized.

Bigger pitfalls could yet emerge, said Kevin Landis, the portfolio manager for the Firsthand Technology Value Fund, which holds Facebook shares. Google, for instance, couldn't have foreseen the emergence of Facebook in 2004, when it went public.

"Let me put it this way: If you go back to Google's S-1 in their risk factors, there's no mention of Facebook," Landis said. Facebook was founded in 2004.

Facebook also has considered entering China, which would bring its own challenges. The country has censorship laws that have kept Facebook and other social-media companies, including Twitter Inc. and Google's YouTube, from operating there.

China Question

"We continue to evaluate entering China," Facebook said. "China is a large potential market for Facebook, but users are generally restricted from accessing Facebook from China. We do not know if we will be able to find an approach to managing content and information that will be acceptable to us and to the Chinese government."

Another risk: Facebook relies on Zynga Inc. for 12 percent of its revenue, according to the filing. San Francisco-based Zynga is the biggest developer of Facebook games, including "CityVille" and "Texas HoldEm."

The revenue comes from Zynga's sales of virtual goods and from direct advertising purchased by Zynga. In addition, Zynga produces a "significant number" of pages on which Facebook displays ads. The dependence goes both ways. Zynga gets more than 90 percent of its revenue from the social network.

"If we are unable to successfully maintain this relationship, our financial results could be harmed," Facebook said of Zynga.

Zynga's Bounce

The IPO filing helped make Zynga investors more bullish on that stock. Zynga shares jumped 17 percent today to $12.39.

Facebook also said it faces pressure from governmental bodies. It's possible that a regulatory inquiry might lead to changes to policies or practices, the company said.

"Violation of existing or future regulatory orders or consent decrees could subject us to substantial monetary fines and other penalties that could negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations," according to the filing.

Facebook agreed last year to settle complaints by the Federal Trade Commission that it failed to protect users' privacy or disclose how their data could be used. The proposed 20-year agreement would require Facebook to get clear consent from users before sharing material posted under earlier, more restrictive terms, and it would include independent reviews of Facebook's privacy practices.

Private Shares

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, meanwhile, is probing transactions involving shares of closely held companies, including Facebook. Secondary exchanges, such as SecondMarket Inc. and SharesPost Inc., have been used to buy and sell Facebook stock ahead of the IPO.

"We have received both formal and informal requests for information from the staff of the SEC and we have been fully cooperating with the staff," the company said in the filing.

The company also could suffer if its users' data is compromised by attacks from outsiders.

"Any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security, and availability of our products and technical infrastructure to the satisfaction of our users may harm our reputation and our ability to retain existing users and attract new users," Facebook said.

The media could hurt Facebook as well, by portraying its privacy and product changes in a negative light. The company received a "high degree of media coverage," Facebook said.

The company has 845 million active users. That compares with more than 90 million for Google+, which started last year.

--With assistance from Peter Burrows and Adam Satariano in San Francisco.

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