The BBC:
Security researchers say they have discovered a huge botnet running on the smartphones of more than a million unsuspecting mobile users in China.
The devices had been infected by a Trojan-based attack first discovered in 2011, news agency Xinhua reported.
The botnet can allow the smartphones to be hijacked remotely and potentially used for fraudulent purposes.
Guess what mobile OS it runs on.
Boris at The Next Web:
We tried an Android magazine, and found out it just isn’t worth the effort. Does that mean that Android sucks? Ehm, no, and there is no reason to tell us how cool Android is in the comments, because we understand it is. It just means that with the current state of technology and the way the market is divided we can’t afford to invest in it anymore.
Google recently enabled CardDAV syncing with Google Contacts, and has a nice support document on how to set this up with an iOS device.
While this is quite easy to configure (and works really well in my experience), the same thing can be done on the Mac, bringing your Google contacts to your computer.
Update: Here’s how you can set this up on iOS devices.
There are several different ways to add a Google Contacts to Contacts.app, but I’ve found this to the most reliable.
Google:
Starting January 30, 2013, consumers won’t be able to set up new devices using Google Sync, however, existing Google Sync connections will continue to function. Google Sync will continue to be fully supported for Google Apps for Business, Government and Education users who are unaffected by this announcement.
In short, if you’re using Google Sync now, you’re good, for now. That said, this method is a great alternative to Exchange.
Who wants this type of thing?
Abdel Ibrahim:
In the end, you have to make a choice between what you want a tablet for. Is it to just browse the web and check your email? If so, the Nexus 7 is a great device for that. But if you’d like to do those things as well as play a game here and there, read a book, and do a whole bunch more due to the availability of of nearly 300,000 apps, then the mini is the clear winner. It’s not that these other tablets are bad – it’s just that the iPad mini is so good.
During yesterday’s keynote, Apple’s Phil Schiller burned the Nexus 7 several times. Here is a bit of copy from Apple’s site:
iPad mini is small enough to hold in one hand, yet it has a 35 percent larger screen area than a 7-inch tablet.
Apple also continues to make a big point out of the fact that there are 275,000 iPad apps out there, and that they are far more than blown-up phone apps. This of course is also a jab at the Nexus 7, which runs phone apps in the absence of a tablet interface.
Google has opened the doors to its data centers via Google Street View.
Man, I love hardware.
Dieter Bohn:
One of the biggest questions surrounding the “New Motorola” after the Google acquisition is a simple one: if it’s owned by Google, why isn’t it shipping stock Android software on its new RAZR M and RAZR HD phones? We presumed the answer was a simple one: Verizon’s demands, and Motorola has essentially confirmed that assessment.
Speaking to a group of reporters last night, Motorola Senior Vice President, Product Rick Osterloh pointed out the company’s main focuses going forward, and one of them was obviously Android. Specifically, he addressed the question of shipping unaltered, stock Android software on phones.
The lack of Street View is a step backwards, without a doubt.
This is a nice alternative to using Exchange on your iOS device for Google Contacts.
It works in Mountain Lion’s Contacts app, too.
Phil Dzikiy at iLounge:
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt told reporters that his company needs Apple’s approval before it could bring its Google Maps app back to the iPhone.