All Posts in Mobile

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Blippar, the world’s largest image recognition & augmented reality platform, launched the first-ever proprietary mobile visual search. This re-launched version of the original Blippar app will change the way consumers interact with the physical world.

Opening the free Blippar app, users will be able to simply “look” at any object via the camera on their mobile devices to activate instantaneous digital search and draw information directly from the world around them.

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Blippar Founder and CEO Ambarish Mitra said

Blippar has already worked with thousands of the world’s largest brands and publishers to create engaging branded experiences that are triggered by objects, magazine pages, advertisements and more, “blipped” by millions of users around the world. It is the healthy appetite for this new behavior that has fueled the move into visual search.

The human imagination, curiosity and the quest for knowledge are all often limited by our capacity to define and assign language to describe and seek answers from the world around us. Today marks the beginning of a new era of search, where curious users will be able to visually search the world through the lens of the Blippar app.

The technology holds massive potential for enriching real world experiences and delivering genuine value to our users. The visual search is not replacing text-based search, it’s an alternate behavior which satisfies people’s spontaneous needs of instant object focused curiosity, therefore introducing the light web.

Blippar is launching this new capability by first making all English-language DVD covers and movie posters including some Bollywood movies, sports logos for the Indian Cricket League and other US and European sports league blippable.

When users’ blipp one of these items or images, they will instantaneously be presented with a range of contextual, snack-able information. For example, if they blipp an movie poster they may be presented with access to the trailer of the movie, details on what people are saying about it on Twitter or more information about the cast.

This is just the first step in Blippar’s ambitious mission to make the entire physical world visually searchable via mobile devices and wearables. In the future, Blippar will add to its growing catalogue of blippable objects in stages with the ultimate aim of making everything blippable – from an apple, to a chocolate bar, to a dog on the street, to the Eiffel Tower and beyond.

Web-based search as it exists today has dominated the digital experience, both online and mobile. From inputting keywords to digging through pages of links to access information, this governing search behavior is limited by vocabulary and literacy. Blippar’s image recognition capabilities will extend beyond the confines of language to empower consumers to instantaneously pull timely, relevant information directly from the environment around them.

Blippar’s proprietary search engine is net neutral. Blippar users will be served the highest quality and most accurate sources of information within the app, displayed on a fluid user interface that uses design and color input directly from the blipped item itself. The speed and accuracy of the Blippar platform allows users to blipp and access information faster than traditional web search, with no delay in latency. Further, Blippar’s location-based predictive computing uses deep learning and artificial intelligence to refine and personalize its visual search results for each user.

Blippar will continue to work closely with brands and agencies to bring products to life through engaging interactive experiences. The updated Blippar app is available for download on iOS and will soon be available on Android.

About Blippar

Blippar is the world’s fastest growing image recognition and augmented reality app. Utilizing proprietary, best-in-class image technologies, Blippar enables users to instantaneously pull interactive, informative digital content directly from the environment around them, their favorite publications, brands and objects via their iOS, Android or Windows devices. Since launching in the UK in 2011, Blippar has expanded rapidly, partnering with some of the biggest and most exciting media owners and brands in the world — including TIME Inc., Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Heinz, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch, and Jaguar. To learn more, visit blippar.com

[Image Credit* – BusinessWire]

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

The “hits” keep on coming for Android’s mediaserver component. Trend Micro discovered yet another Android mediaserver vulnerability, which can be exploited to perform attacks involving arbitrary code execution. With this new vulnerability, an attacker would be able to run their code with the same permissions that the mediaserver program already has as part of its normal routines.

This vulnerability has been designated as CVE-2015-3842. While it affects Android versions 2.3 to 5.1.1, Google has fixed and published details this vulnerability via the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Currently, there are no known active attacks against this vulnerability.

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This discovery closely follows three other major vulnerabilities in Android’s mediaserver component that surfaced recently. CVE-2015-3823 may allow attackers to trap phones in endless reboots, ANDROID-21296336 may render devices silent, while CVE-2015-3824 [Stagefright], can be used to install malware through a multimedia message.

How it works

The vulnerability involves AudioEffect, a component of the mediaserver program. It uses an unchecked variable which comes from the client, which is usually an app. For an attack to begin, attackers convince the victim to install an app that doesn’t require any required permissions, giving them a false sense of security.

Possible threat scenarios

This attack can be fully controlled, which means a malicious app can decide when to start the attack and also when to stop. An attacker would be able to run their code with the same permissions that mediaserver already has as part of its normal routines.

Since the mediaserver component deals with a lot of media-related tasks including taking pictures, reading MP4 files, and recording videos, the privacy of the victim may be at risk. Devices with customized versions of Android but with no modification made to the mediaserver component are also affected.

A dilemma users may face is that it will be difficult for them to locate the cause once an attack occurs. In our demo, we simply triggered the attack by running an app; this is convenient and intuitive for disclosure. While attacks can be triggered by apps alone, real-world attacks won’t involve apps that are easy to detect.

The malicious app will try as much as possible to appear legitimate and use dynamic load technology to remain undetected while triggering the attack several days/months later, either persistently or intermittently, similar to other malware.

Solutions

End users can block this threat from the onset by downloading Trend Micro Mobile Security (TMMS), which can detect threats trying to use this vulnerability and running any of the scenarios presented. Android users can also reboot their device using safe mode to un-install the malicious app.

However, this method might prove difficult, especially for those unaccustomed to tinkering with their devices. We also recommend that device manufacturers patch their devices regularly to prevent their users from suffering from attacks that use this vulnerability.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in security software, strives to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Built on 26 years of experience, our solutions for consumers, businesses and governments provide layered data security to protect information on mobile devices, endpoints, gateways, servers and the cloud. Trend Micro enables the smart protection of information, with innovative security technology that is simple to deploy and manage, and fits an evolving ecosystem. For more information, visit TrendMicro

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Money View – an android app that empowers its users to take informed decisions to be financially fit – has recently added an interesting feature that will help one to remain within budget and save more!

The feature called Budget Management, allows users to set monthly budgets and track ‘available to spend’ cash based on the set goal.  To make it user-friendly, this feature has been designed as a quick-to-comprehend graphical representation of how much more they can safely spend; which in turn desists Money View users from overspending and be credit free.

Additionally, the Money View app has an expense tracker that gives the user multiple categories of spends which is also represented by icons for ease of use, to show where the money is being spent. With another inherent feature that flags impending bill payments, Money View ensures that its users get a holistic outlook of their finances month on month and are empowered to stay on top of their funds with minimal effort.

Features of MoneyView app

With the Free Money View app, you get a real-time visibility into your entire Personal Finances. It works by itself without any manual data entry – our daily expense manager app organizes your financial summary by analyzing SMS sent by your bank and billers to your phone. The app auto-tracks your expense, bills and account balances across all your financial accounts to help you stay on top of your money. The app is highly secure as it never reads any sensitive data – no full bank account numbers, no OTP, and no Net-banking login/password. [Source – MoneyView App Link]

Easy Expense Tracker

  • Auto-tracks all your spend through credit/debit cards, net-banking, cash withdrawals or cheques.
  • Categorizes your spend to show where your money is being spent.
  • Easy cash management tool to track your cash income and spend.

Bill Tracker and Bill Management

  • All your mobile, credit card and utility bills & EMI’s in one place with timely reminder to pay bills on time.
  • Easy and fast bill payment through the app; Whiz Pay – one-click bill payment for select billers.

Smart Financial Planning

  • All your bank and credit card accounts in one place.
  • Real-time tracking of transaction activities and account balances

Shared expenses

  • Best way to manage shared expenses – shared apartment expenses with room-mates, vacation with friends, etc.
  • Keep track of personal loans – with friends or family.

Highly Secure

  • No access to sensitive information – No full account numbers, never reads OTP.
  • Your financial information is never shared.
  • Set Passcode on the App for added security

You can find MoneyView in action below

The MoneyView app for Android can be downloaded from here

For more information visit www.moneyview.in

|In: Mobile|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Mobile penetration is increased by a huge margin in India and one of the factors that is driving this change is the “competitive data rates”. In fact, gone are the days when consumers used to send SMS’es; the entire SMS platform has been more or less replaced by OTT services like WhatsApp, Skype, Viber etc. With the PC market shrinking, consumers are preferring tablets over PC’s due to the portability factor 🙂

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Portable computer tablets are beneficial for both business people and gadget fans alike because they offer both easy access to emails and word processing programmes, plus they are equipped for gaming and listening to music on. Busy work people can reply to emails, edit word documents or even host online calls, which makes dealing with work issues convenient and accessible at any time.

With the growing penetration of internet in India, many consumers are using the tablet not only for consuming internet content but also using the Calling Tablets which is definitely an add-on while using the tablet. Users craving for faster network can now breath a sigh of relief with the launch of Airtel’s 4G services.

Benefits of switching to Airtel 4G

Airtel,as a network provider has tried to maintain it’s upper hand by combing it’s network services with Wynk Music etc.

  • After rolling out 4G trials in many cities, Airtel 4G will be commercially available in 296 towns. However, a question that comes to mind is 4G rates would be much higher as compared to 3G rates, right ? In fact, Airtel is claiming that all it’s customers can now enjoy 4G speeds at 3G cost 🙂
  • They are also providing upgrades to their existing customers where they can move to 4G. Airtel’s home-grown music service Wynk would now be carrier agnostic mobile app ‘Wynk Movies’ that offers a library of thousands of movies and other popular videos. The company also announced that Samsung stores will educate customers on Airtel 4G and facilitate SIM swaps.

Airtel_Plans

In order to check if your device is 4G compatible, please visit the following link. Airtel has announced that Samsung stores would educate it’s customers about the 4G & SIM Swaps. With every SIM swap, Airtel customers can enjoy six months of unlimited music streaming & downloads on Wynk Music and five movies per month on Eros Now channel on Wynk Movies.

Sit back, enjoy the latest Airtel 4G advertisement

If your phone is 4G compatible, than time is now… to switch to Airtel, the Smartphone Network !!!

[Image Credit* – MobiGyaan]

|In: MakeInIndia|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

MakeInIndia

Mr. Sudhir Hasija & Mr. Pradeep Jain, Promoters of Karbonn Mobiles have partnered with Water World Co. to launch Million Club Manufacturing [MCM] in Noida. Aligned with the ‘Make in India’ campaign to boost local manufacturing, the plant is set up with the objective to fulfill the mobile manufacturing needs of companies domestically and internationally. The initial investment made to set up the unit is INR 50 crores; and INR 100 crores will be invested in the next stage of development.

Spread across 1,50,000 square feet, the manufacturing unit employees close to  2,000 technicians & has the capability to produce 1.5 million phones per month.

WW3

The unit was inaugurated today and Dr Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretory, Department of Electronics and Information Technology [DeitY] & Mr. Pankaj Mohindru – National President, Indian Cellular Association were present at the inauguration ceremony.

Speaking at the occassion, Mr. Sudhir Hasija, Director, MCM  said

India is one of the fastest growing mobile phone markets, and device makers are keen on setting up manufacturing units here to cater to the flourishing demand. The manufacturing unit will be a great opportunity to mobile companies to start local production. As part of the plan, the manufacturing unit will have a capacity to produce 1.5 million phones per month. We are looking to scale up to 3 million phones per month in one year.

Michael Qui, G.M. Operations, MCM said

This is great news for domestic as well as global mobile phone makers who are aggressively pushing their businesses in India. This manufacturing unit is a state of the art facility and is a testimony to the efforts being made by mobile phone makers, ensuring the ‘Make in India’ initiative is a huge success.

About Water World

Water World Technology Co. Ltd. – is a leading mobile phone designer, manufacturer and supplier in the global market. Water World has full product lines including WCDMA, CDMA, GSM and EVDO terminals, and also provide total solutions and service to global customers, such as ID/MD, HW/SW design, PCBA manufacturing, Testing and QA.

Water World has strategic tie-up with international chipset suppliers such as MTK, Qualcomm, Spreadtrum and takes ”innovation” as its core value of company culture. It has in-house R&D capability covering chipset-base software and hardware development, ID & mechanical design, quality control and production management. It has R&D center in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Xiamen and Beijing. For more information, please visit Water World

|In: Android|Last Updated:

In December 2014, HDFC Bank launched its “Go Digital – Bank aapki mutthi mein” campaign on the banks of the Varanasi river with an aim to provide holistic banking services in all possible digital channels. Today, HDFC Bank provides 175+ banking transactions through its Net banking platform and 80+ transactions through Mobile banking [Mobile and Tablet apps]

With the launch of wearable devices & potential demand for wearable devices in India, consumers are highly likely to add yet another digital interface – a wearable device – to their current portfolio of devices. A banking experience on a personalized wearable device would take the consumer’s interaction with the bank to a whole new level.

HDFC_Bank

Hence, HDFC Bank thought that it was the opportune moment to introduce a new category in digital banking, leveraging the emerging wearable platforms, and becoming the first bank in India to launch Watch-Banking for Apple Watch.

Why Apple Watch?

HDFC Bank is starting with the Apple Watch and aims to provide banking services through all wearable devices across platforms like iOS and Android.

We have started with Apple Watch since it is designed from ground up keeping in mind what the user would want to do with such a device in a jiffy. HDFC Bank’s App has been made keeping this in mind and the features are chosen accordingly.

Features of HDFC Bank Watch Banking

HDFC Bank will provide a total of 10 banking transactions in the current launch phase. Some of the features include:

  • View Account Information
  • Bill Payments, Recharges
  • Hot-listing facilities
  • Locate nearest branch/ATM/offer
  • Request statement/chequebook etc.

Moreover, HDFC Bank’s Watch-Banking does not require our customers to download a separate App. Customers can activate Watch-Banking from an upgraded version of HDFC Bank’s Mobile-banking App itself!

Security features and how will it work?

HDFC Bank brings in the same level of high security of its Mobile Banking App to its Watch Banking experience.

  • Any user information or data flow that happens, it if from the mobile phone to the bank’s secure servers. The watch is merely a projection device
  • For added security, there is a watch banking PIN that the user himself sets during the one time set-up process. This can be done only after entering his customer id and password known only to the user.
  • Additionally the Apple watch itself has a pass-code lock just like other iOS devices.

You can see the HDFC watch-banking in action below

If you have  already tried the HDFC watch-banking app, please share the experience in the comments section!!

|In: Android|Last Updated:

Trend Micro is a company with a simple, yet ambitious goal, to protect their users from cyber-criminal activity. Everyday, thousands of people browsing the internet are in danger of being digitally assaulted. While there is no way to be one hundred percent safe from malware attacks; there are certainly, numerous ways to avoid them. The first step to being safe, is to be informed, for which Trend Micro has launched its first quarterly Security Roundup. In this report, the most present threats up to this month are explicitly detailed and advice is given to both companies and customers on how to avoid said malware threats.

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Dhanya Thakkar, Managing Director, APAC, Trend Micro adds

Cyber threats are exponentially growing with every passing second, and Trend Micro in the hopes to better inform and prevent cyber attacks, has released in its first quarterly security roundup of the year, the main security risks that users have faced since the beginning of the year. This first quarter’s threats range from the exploits that Adobe Flash faced back in February, to applications ridden with Adware in Google Play, to point-of-sale malware attacks in retail stores.

In only three months, there have been some serious incidents that have put the user’s information and security at risk. Trend Micro states that the people behind malware, will “not hesitate to take advantage of even the slightest security loophole to get what they want”, and in today’s digitized world, there should not be any room for this kind of errors.

Malvertisements are not in any way new, in fact, many internet users have already become accustomed to them. Trend Micro, in this round-up report has revealed that how a business model based on web advertising is, and always will be putting the user at risk; this is because site owners cannot control the ads that are being seen by users.

A major company was recently the target of this zero-day exploit, in which malvertising was sent out through Adobe software, so victims of this kind of attacks were no longer required to visit a specific website to infect their computers.

Highlights of the report

  • In the first quarter of 2015, Adobe suffered from three different exploits that targeted each new release of Adobe Flash; in total, over 10,000 computers were infected with BEDEP malware. All the issues were quickly addressed by Trend Micro’s Deep Security Rule and removed traces of the malvertisement found in Adobe Flash.
  • But, not only computers were targeted by these malicious attacks based on advertising, mobile devices were also affected. Adware was also found on several apps inside Google Play, these apps all used MDash software development kit; this made harmful apps present on all mobile devices that had any of these apps installed. According to the report, millions of devices were infected before Google took responsibility and removed over 2,000 malicious apps.
  • Crypto-ransomware is another kind of malware that was greatly present during the year’s first quarter. The goal of this type of malware is to hold the user’s computer “hostage” and restrict all access to it, until a ransom has been paid. Crypto-ransomware, not only targets the average consumer, it also takes aim at companies and their interactions, meaning that anyone that shared a link with the already infected computer, now has possibly became ill with crypto-ransomware.
  • In order to avoid Crypto-ransomware, users can download and install specialized software that can stop a crypto-ransomware attack before it lock down your computer. It is uncertain the amount of malware that is released each month or quarters, as it is evolving at a similar pace.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in security software, strives to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Trend Micro enables the smart protection of information, with innovative security technology that is simple to deploy and manage, and fits an evolving ecosystem. Their solutions are powered by cloud-based global threat intelligence, the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network infrastructure & are supported by more than 1,200 threat experts around the globe.  For more information, visit TrendMicro

[Image Credit – TrendMicro]

|In: Android|Last Updated:

Zoho has launched Zoho ShowTime, a web and mobile app focused completely on making better presenters out of speakers. Presenters now can engage with their audience, drive self-improvement through feedback and showcase their work on a secure cloud platform.

With Zoho ShowTime running on computers or mobile devices, audiences can view and participate in presentations as they interact with presenters. Presenters, meanwhile, can view participant engagement, activity and appreciation—at the slide level—so they can improve their presentations like never before.

A video overview of Zoho ShowTime is below

Diving into the product, Vijay Sundaram says

Presentation software for decades has focused exclusively on creating pretty presentations,” said , chief strategy officer of Zoho. “The focus has been on graphics and special effects rather than on tools that engage. Who needs yet another twist-and-turn animation?

That traditional approach misses the goal of most presenters, who don’t just want to create presentations. They want to talk with their audiences—not at them. They want to understand the messages that worked and those that didn’t, so they can improve their material and tactics over time. However, the disconnect between vendor offerings and presenter objectives leaves audiences in a slideshow stupor and presenters in the dark.

During a presentation, attendees use Zoho ShowTime to ask questions, vote on slides, and even go back and revisit slides to cement their understanding. Presenters can step out from the confinement of the lecturn, roam the room, and connect with people. Later, they can examine audience activity, like ratings and questions, to assess what worked and what didn’t.

Zoho ShowTime: How It Works

To turn a presentation into a conversation, presenters upload their PowerPoint or PDF files into Zoho ShowTime. Presentations can also be created using Zoho Show, the cloud-based presentation software. At the start, the presenter assigns a key that audience members use for secure access from their computers or mobile phones.

During the presentation, Zoho ShowTime gives audiences many ways to remain engaged. They can go back slides, “like” individual slides, pose questions, and rate the presentation at the end of the session.

The speakers can leave the podium, interact with the audience, and control the presentations from a smart phone. Zoho ShowTime ensures that the speaker is always in control and not interrupted by all this engagement. Speakers, at their discretion, may select questions, project them on the screen and drive interaction whenever they choose.

After the presentation, Zoho ShowTime provides the speaker with a dashboard of detailed analysis of the presentation with insights into audience engagement. For example, speakers can observe the slides that received the most likes, those where audiences spent the most time, look at overall ratings, and more.

Zoho ShowTime is transformative presentation software. It restores the engagement between speakers and their audiences that robotic presentation technology has robbed.

Pricing and Availability

Zoho ShowTime is available immediately for free in desktop, iOS and Android versions. The Zoho ShowTime apps for presenters is available here [iOS] & here [Android]. The Zoho ShowTime apps for viewers are available here [iOS] & here [Android]

For more information on Zoho ShowTime, please visit official link