Meta warns of password-stealing phone apps

Meta warned a million Facebook users Friday that they have been "exposed" to seemingly innocuous smartphone applications designed to steal passwords to the social network.

So far this year, Meta has identified more than 400 "malicious" apps tailored for smartphones powered by Apple or Android software and available at the Apple and Google app stores, director of threat disruption David Agranovich said during a briefing.

"These apps were listed on the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store and disguised as photo editors, games, VPN services, business apps and other utilities to trick people into downloading them," Meta said in a blog post.

The apps often ask people to login with their Facebook account information to use promised features, stealing usernames and passwords if entered, according to Meta's security team.

"They are just trying to trick people into entering in their login information in a way that enables hackers to access their accounts," Agranovich said of the apps.

"We will notify one million users that they may have been exposed to these applications; that is not to say they have been compromised."

More than 40 percent of the apps Meta listed involved ways to edit or manipulate images, and some were as seemingly simple as using smartphones as flashlights.

"Our sense is these types of malicious app developers try to target multiple services," Agranovich said, noting the app creators are likely after passwords to more than just Facebook accounts.

"The targeting here seemed to be relatively indiscriminate – get people to download the applications around the world in an attempt to get access to as many login credentials as possible."

Meta said that it shared what it discovered with Apple and Google, who control what is offered at their respective app shops and each vet offerings.

Apple told AFP that only 45 of the 400 applications highlighted by Meta were on its operating system, and that the company has already removed them from its app store.

Google said that most of the apps Meta flagged had already been identified and removed from the Play store by its own vetting systems.

"All of the apps identified in the report are no longer available on Google Play," a spokesperson told AFP.

"Users are also protected by Google Play Protect, which blocks these apps on Android."

Agence France-Presse

YouTube, Google Play suspend payment-based services in Russia

Alphabet Inc's YouTube and Google Play store are suspending all payment-based services in Russia, including subscriptions, as Western sanctions start to pose banking challenges in the country.

Google will also pause ads for advertisers based in Russia across its properties and networks globally, the company said. This is in addition to the company's recent suspension of ads in Russia.

Google and YouTube had earlier stopped selling online advertising in Russia following similar pauses by Twitter Inc and Snap Inc after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. 

"As a follow-up, we're now extending this pause to all our monetization features, including YouTube Premium, Channel Memberships, Super Chat and Merchandise, for viewers in Russia," YouTube said in a statement on Thursday.

YouTube channels in Russia will still be able to generate revenue from viewers outside of Russia, which include Super Chat and merchandise sales. Free apps on Google Play also remain available in Russia, according to a company support website.

-reuters-

App store antics: Legal screws tighten for Google, Apple

PARIS - David Barnard owes his entire livelihood to Apple.

In 2008, he sold his car to start a company building apps for the fledgling iPhone. He's since found success making what he self-deprecatingly calls "boring" apps, including ones that check the weather or help drivers monitor their gas use.

But his conflicting feelings sum up a growing debate -- playing out in courts and parliaments around the world -- over whether both Apple and Google are abusing their monopoly over the app market. 

In a world first, South Korean MPs passed a law Tuesday banning the two tech giants from forcing app developers to use their payment systems.

Until now, those restrictions have allowed Apple to take a cut of up to 30 percent from payments made inside apps downloaded via the App Store, and Google to do the same through its Play Store. 

The tech giants, whose operating systems run on 99 percent of the world's smartphones, have argued this is fair recompense for providing the platforms that allow apps to be downloaded in the first place.

And to some extent, Barnard agrees. "Apple enabled me to build a business, which I'm incredibly grateful for," he said from his home in Texas. "But it comes with some pretty big trade-offs."

Barnard said he had witnessed frustrating cases of companies building clever apps, only for Apple to release similar features that work better with the phone's technology "in ways that developers can't compete with".

And with tens of billions of dollars floating through Apple and Google's payment systems as apps become increasingly integrated into people's shopping and entertainment habits, the commission charges have come in for particularly fierce opposition.

EPIC LEGAL BATTLES 

The fees are at the heart of a bitter lawsuit between Apple and Epic Games, maker of the phenomenally successful video game Fortnite.

The game lets players spend real money on digital items like clothing and weapons. It sounds frivolous, but the trial revealed that this translated to at least $100 million collected by Apple. 

Furious over these lost profits, Epic is also suing both Apple and Google in Australia and has filed complaints with EU and UK competition authorities, in what competition lawyer Pierre Zelenko described as a "worldwide battle" against the tech giants.

"They're piling on the pressure on multiple fronts to have more chances of a recognized authority coming out in their favor," the Linklaters lawyer said. 

Epic are not the only challengers taking on the app market overlords.

In July, 37 US states banded together to sue Google, alleging that the Play Store represents an illegal monopoly.

They claim Google used various strategies to prevent viable competitors to the Play Store emerging, including offering to pay Samsung to make its Galaxy Store less appealing. 

Consumers are meanwhile waging class actions against both companies in the US and UK, while France's competition authority has joined forces with an alliance of start-ups to take Apple to court.

'TOXIC MESS'

Analysts say the new South Korean law could set a precedent as US and European lawmakers debate similar proposals to ban tech giants from forcing customers to use their app stores and payment systems. 

Both Apple and Google have sought to fend of criticism that its hefty fees strangle smaller businesses, by taking a reduced 15 percent from companies earning less than $1 million a year from app sales.

Last week, Apple also proposed a settlement to a class action that would see it pay $100 million to smaller developers like Barnard. 

The offer "clarified" the company's policies to state that developers can use information collected inside apps -- like customers' email addresses -- to tell them about payment efforts that don't involve handing money to Apple.

But developers have complained that the changes are much less radical than Apple claims.

"I've finally come to the conclusion that it's going to take regulation to get Apple to do right by developers and ultimately customers," Barnard said. 

Both tech giants have argued that their stores help consumers by vetting apps, offering better security and privacy. 

Without the App Store, Apple chief Tim Cook told the Epic trial, the app marketplace would be "a toxic kind of mess". 

Barnard broadly agrees that Apple's system makes life easier for consumers, and that it's entitled to reward itself for that.

But he also thinks the vast amounts the company is paying itself are untenable.

"It's time for Apple to rethink how much they charge," he said.

Agence France-Presse

Google phone cameras will read heart, breathing rates with AI help

Cameras on Google Pixel smartphones will be able to measure heart and breathing rates starting next month, in one of the first applications of Alphabet Inc's artificial intelligence technology to its wellness services.

Health programs available on Google Play's store and Apple Inc's App Store for years have provided the same functionality. But a study in 2017 found accuracy varied and adoption of the apps remains low.

Google Health leaders told reporters earlier this week they had advanced the AI powering the measurements and plan to detail its method and clinical trial in an academic paper in the coming weeks. The company expects to roll out the feature to other Android smartphones at an unspecified time, it said in a blog post on Thursday, but plans for iPhones are unclear.

Apple's Watch, Google's Fitbit and other wearables have greatly expanded the reach of continuous heart rate sensing technologies to a much larger population.

The smartphone camera approach is more ad hoc - users who want to take a pulse place their finger over the lens, which catches subtle color changes that correspond to blood flow. Respiration is calculated from video of upper torso movements.

Google Health product manager Jack Po said that the company wanted to give an alternative to manual pulse checks for smartphone owners who only want to monitor their condition occasionally but cannot afford a wearable.

Po said the technology, which can mistake heart rates by about 2 percent, requires further testing before it could be used in medical settings.

The new feature will be available as an update to the Google Fit app.

Google consolidated its health services about two years ago, aiming to better compete with Apple, Samsung Electronics Co and other mobile technology companies that have invested heavily in marketing wellness offerings.

-reuters-

Call of Duty Mobile smashes records with 100M downloads in 1st week

The mobile version of videogame franchise "Call of Duty" racked up 100 million downloads in its first week, industry site Sensor Tower said on Tuesday, dwarfing the debuts of previous smashes including "Fortnite" and "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" (PUBG).

PUBG, Fortnite and Electronic Arts' "Apex Legends" scored 26.3 million, 22.5 million and 25 million respectively in their first week of release.

"This is by far the largest mobile game launch in history in terms of the player base that's been built in the first week," said Randy Nelson, head of mobile insights at Sensor Tower.

"Call of Duty: Mobile" was launched by its publisher Activision Blizzard Inc on Oct. 1 and Sensor Tower said the numbers reflected worldwide unique downloads across Apple's App Store and Google Play in the period since.

The smash hit is a "first-person-shooter game" that allows gamers to portray elite soldiers hunting down targets in different parts of the world.

The game's console-based editions have enjoyed a loyal following but the meteoric rise of free-to-play online games have forced companies to adapt and develop their games for the smaller screen.

"Call of Duty" was developed for mobile by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, which also has a stake in PUBG's Bluehole and Fortnite's Epic Games and is credited with popularizing the battle-royale format, where dozens of online players battle each other to death.

The United States was mobile edition's main draw, with 17% of the downloads in its launch week, followed by India, where PUBG has a strong foothold. Tencent is yet to launch the game in China.

Activision, which will launch the next console edition of "Call of Duty" on Oct. 25, has labeled 2019 a "transition year".

The company said in May it would cut 800 jobs and invest heavily to develop its key game franchises "Call of Duty", "Candy Crush", "Overwatch", "Warcraft", "Hearthstone" and "Diablo".

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Huawei to support its devices after Google Android bar

LONDON - Huawei will support its smartphones and tablets by providing security updates and services, it said, after Google barred it from updates to the Android operating system.

But the Chinese technology firm did not say on Monday what would happen with phones it sells in the future, which are unlikely to have access to Google's popular services, including Gmail, YouTube and maps unless a special licence is obtained.

Huawei's devices in its home market use a custom operating system based on open source Android but do not include access to any Google services, which are banned in China. But Google's curbs will hugely damage Huawei's global appeal.

"Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally," a Huawei spokesman said by email.

"We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem," Huawei, which aspires to leap-frog Samsung to be the world's biggest smartphone maker, said.

"As one of Android's key global partners, we have worked closely with their open-source platform to develop an ecosystem that has benefitted both users and the industry," it added.

Almost half of the 208 million phones Huawei shipped in 2018 went outside mainland China, and Europe is the most important overseas market where its devices had a 29% market share in the first quarter of 2019, technology research firm IDC says.

The Google loss was likely to cost Huawei all of its smartphone sales outside China as "device purchasing is now almost entirely driven by the ecosystem," industry analyst Richard Windsor said.

"Huawei will not lose access to Android itself, which is open source, but Android devices outside of China must offer access to Google services in order to have any prospect of being sold," Windsor added.

TRADE BLACKLIST

Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, said it would enact restrictions on Android updates after US President Donald Trump added Huawei to a trade blacklist, making it extremely difficult for it to do business with US counterparts.

"We are complying with the order and reviewing the implications," a Google spokesman said.

Huawei, which is the largest supplier of telecom networking equipment, is at the centre of trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. The United States has said its gear could be used by China to spy on Americans, allegations Huawei has repeatedly denied.

Google said its Google Play app store and the security protections from Google Play Protect would continue to function on existing Huawei devices.

As well as restrictions on the software running its devices, Huawei faces the prospect of losing access to some of the US hardware suppliers it needs to produce its technology.

Chipmakers including Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc , Xilinx Inc and Broadcom Inc have told their employees they will not supply critical software and components to Huawei until further notice, Bloomberg reported.

Founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei said on Saturday that Huawei's growth "may slow, but only slightly" due to the US restrictions and that it would be "fine" even if Qualcomm and other American suppliers would not sell it chips.

Huawei's chip arm HiSilicon had been secretly developing back-up products for years in anticipation of the unlikely scenario that Huawei may one day be unable to obtain advanced chips and technology from the United States, President He Tingbo said in a letter to staff dated May 17.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle Editing by Georgina Prodhan and Alexander Smith)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Nude-free Playboy hits iTunes, Google Play

WASHINGTON - Playboy said Wednesday its nude-free magazine would be offered for the first time as Apple and Google digital subscriptions, as the iconic brand shifts to win over a new generation.

The magazine, which recently threw in the towel on nudity as part of an effort to reach a broader audience, made its debut on the iTunes and Google Play stores.

"Since introducing a brand new vision for Playboy magazine earlier this year, we have expanded our distribution channels in many powerful ways, including higher visibility on an increased number of traditional and digital media platforms," said David Israel, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Playboy Enterprises.

"Inclusion in the iTunes and Google Play stores is an important milestone for Playboy as we continue to explore opportunities to introduce our content to new audiences all over the world."

Playboy, which broke lifestyle taboos in the 1950s with bare-breasted pictures in a magazine for the mass market, unveiled "a top-to-bottom redesign" starting with its March 2016 edition.

Facing a deluge of online pornography, Playboy shifted its focus in a bid to offer lifestyle content that is "safe for work" and more widely distributed on social media.

Playboy still includes provocative pictorials of women, but without nudity, a major turnabout for the magazine which launched in 1953 with an edition featuring Marilyn Monroe.

The magazine also gained fame for its interviews of major public figures from Jimmy Carter to Fidel Castro, and fiction from writers including Vladimir Nabokov, Haruki Murakami and Margaret Atwood.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

YouTube Gaming app launched in PH

MANILA -- YouTube, the video-sharing subsidiary of tech firm Google, is making its YouTube Gaming mobile app available to users in the Philippines, allowing gamers to watch, livestream, and share gaming-related content.

The mobile app, which is available on Android Google Play and Apple App Store, allows users to watch game-related news, reviews, tips, walkthroughs and even live tournaments.

Several local gaming channels are already accessible through the app, including MineskiTV, Radapedaxa, and UkieKookie, to name a few.

YouTube Gaming, essentially a channel dedicated to gamers, was launched in the U.S. and U.K. in August 2015. It is a response to a growing community of video game enthusiasts worldwide.

In a statement, Google Philippines said gaming channels make up 20 of the top 100 most subscribed channels in the world. Millions of gamers watch over 140 billion minutes of gaming videos and livestreams every month.

In addition, the app itself also provides easier access for gamers since more than half of YouTube gaming views are on mobile devices, which validates the creation of the YouTube Gaming app.

The company said that Asia is one of the fastest growing regions for gaming content.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Google adds feature to Santa Tracker

Google makes counting down to Christmas more educational and fun with additional features to its tracker for Santa Claus.

The Google Santa Tracker will unveil one tool a day leading up to December 25, allowing users to learn basic coding skills, exercise geography knowledge and create printable ornaments while learning about charitable groups.

The Google Santa Tracker also has an Android app that tracks Santa's trip around the world this Christmas eve and lets users play with the reindeer and elves.

The app is available for download in the Google Play Store while desktop users can go to santatracker.google.com.

-ANC's News Now, December 04, 2015

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

LOOK: Rody rumbles with 'Go Duterte' game app

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte shoots criminals and corrupt politicians in the new Android game called "Go Duterte."

It's from Manila-based app developer Kulit Games which is also responsible for the recent "Tanim Bala " game app.

The app currently has an average rating of 4.9 stars from over 300 users on Google Play, and has been receiving positive feedback.

- Mornings @ ANC, November 30, 2015

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

PLAY: Avoid bullets in this 'tanim-bala' app

MANILA - Don't let "greedy administrators" plant a bullet in your bag in this new mobile game application created amid the "tanim-bala" controversy.

The application, named "Tanim Bala (Bullet Planter)" and offered by Kulit Games, can be downloaded through Google Play.

Users will have to move their cursor from left to right to avoid the bullets that fall to their luggage.

"These greedy administrators want to plant a bullet in your bag and if they succeed, you'll end up paying $1000. Of course you would not let them do that!" the app description read.

The tanim-bala extortion scheme is the latest scam to victimize travelers, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), putting to bad light the country's airports.

How does the 'tanim-bala' scam work?

Travelers have already become wary, securing their bags with plastic wraps, packaging tapes, or a combination of both, just to ensure that bullets won't get inside their baggage.

Here are some tips on how to avoid being victimized by the tanim-bala scam as well as what to do if a bullet is found in your bag.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Google launches free streaming service ahead of Apple Music debut

SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. launched a free version of its music streaming service on Tuesday, as it sought to upstage the debut of Apple Inc.'s rival service next week.

Google Play Music has offered a $9.99 per month subscription service for two years but Tuesday's launch is the first free version of the streaming service. It is available online and will be available on Android and iOS by the end of the week, Elias Roman, Google product manager, said.

Apple said earlier this month it would launch a music streaming service on June 30 for $9.99 per month along with a $14.99 per month family plan, with a free three-month trial.

As with other streaming services, such as Spotify and Rhapsody, Google Play Music curates playlists. Users can tailor playlists based on genre, artist or even activity, such as hosting a pool party or "having fun at work."

"We believe this is a play that will expose a lot of people to the service," Roman said in an interview.

Unlike Google's subscription music service, the free service will carry ads, be unavailable offline and exclude certain songs.

Roman said millions of people look at Google Play Music each month but are not ready to pay for a subscription. By offering a free version of the service, he said, the search engine hopes more people will be compelled to pay for an upgraded version.

Ted Cohen, managing partner of TAG Strategic, a digital entertainment consultancy, said the timing of Google's launch was strategic.

"It's a smart time to do it with all the attention around Apple," Cohen said. "If they did it absent the Apple service, it wouldn't be the same story."

Google declined to say how many subscribers it has but said they more than doubled in 2014 from the previous year. But rivals Pandora, Spotify and Beats Music had far more mobile downloads than Google Play Music in 2014, according to data from analytics firm App Annie.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

PLDT Telpad app gives patients, doctors direct link to Asian Hospital

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has created applications that would allow patients, doctors and medical staff of Asian Hospital and Medical Center to easily access useful information through Telpad.

“Telpad will make it easier and more convenient for a patient to access information about doctors, their HMO accreditation, specialization, and schedule. The patient will just have to tap the Telpad Asian Hospital App, and choose from the search options for the relevant information to appear,” Patrick S. Tang, PLDT's vice president and head of Home Marketing for Voice and Microbusiness, said in a statement.

Telpad is the world’s first landline and fully interactive tablet, allowing users to make and receive unlimited local calls, and access unlimited internet and exclusive PLDT services.

According to Tang, one of Telpad's features is web browsing, which enables users to access their favorite websites, play streaming videos, update their social network status, and compose and check for messages in their email accounts.

He added that new applications are being developed by PLDT for Asian Hospital. These include the Doctor’s Portal, which will provide immediate access to a doctor’s schedule, his patients’ profiles, details of medical records, historical laboratory results, collaboration with other doctors, and bills.

These applications will allow doctors and patients to track and monitor medical records in digital format which they can access anytime.

Other apps that PLDT is currently developing for Asian Hospital are the Patient’s Portal, Enhanced Schedule of Doctors, and On-line Nursery.

Telpad plans start at P1,849 at 1.5 mbps Internet speed, supported by PLDT myDSL. Each plan is bundled with unlimited local calls and unlimited online access. Android-powered Telpad offers subscribers more than 450,000 applications that are available for download on Google Play (formerly known as Android Market).

source: interaksyon.com