Once installed it gives a remote Command and Control server the ability to send SMS messages, make calls, and download new apps that might cause further damage to your phone (or tablet). According to NQ, there is likely already up to 160,000 devices affected by the malware. The direct reason for the existence of UpdtBot is unknown, but you can pretty much bet that making money is at the root of whatever is behind it.

While Android does have its major security flaws that are exclusive to Google’s platform (many more than Windows Phone or iOS), let’s be fair. These kinds of text/email viruses and malware have been around for other platforms, such as Windows, for well over a decade and honestly could probably happen just as easily with other mobile operating systems. The frustrating part is that a little common sense is generally all that is needed to avoid these kinds of scams, regardless the platform. Think about it, is it really still 2001? What kind of modern phone OS uses text messages like this for legitimate updates? None that I know of, but I could be wrong.

Never download anything from SMS, never from email, and always check the permissions that are being used by an app. A little research before downloading anything can save you time, frustration and even money.

[ source ]

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Black SMS is a new App Store app which encrypts texts and emails so that they are unreadable without installing the said app and a password. This means that, those who have sexting as a serious hobby or are in an illicit relationship via SMS will love the new app more, although anyone with an iPhone or iPad can use it.

It’s simple to use and no jailbreak is required. It works with iMessage and it will allow you to send black chat bubbles between iPhones.  All you have to do is open the Black SMS app and type your secret text message after entering your password in the top line. You just tap the ‘lock’ icon and the app will prompt you to go to iMessage and paste the black chat bubble into a new message. Then you simply send it and wait for the reply.

But your secret lover has to have the app installed in his/her iPhone, and also has to know the password. The person will have to copy your black chat bubble into the iPhone’s clipboard, and then open the app to paste it into the large box after the password is entered. Then tap the ‘unlock’ icon to read the message. Sending and receiving an encrypted email link involves the same process. And since the message is sent with AES encryption, decryption is almost impossible.

But the app is not that perfect. You should know that the black chat bubble will be sent as an MMS, since it is encoded as a rainbow-like image. That won’t be good if you did not sign up for a good MMS plan and also sending an MMS will take a few more seconds. Another inconvenience is that you have to switch between the Black SMS app and Apple’s Messages app manually.

But getting the $1 app will always be better than suffering the embarrassment after someone sees your sexy messages. Head her e to get the Black SMS app for the iPhone and iPad.

The post Black SMS: The iPhone App Any Sexter Would Love appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

50 Cent’s new line of headphones are stylish, sleek, and bassy. Their professionally tuned sound hits hard, and 50 would have it no other way. SMS Audio also announced a deal with “Jersey Shore’s” Pauly D for his own line, coming out sometime later this year.

Sync by 50 and Street by 50 have an MSRP of $399.95 and $299.95, respectively.

Features

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The SwiftKey app for Android is supposed to be intelligent. It gradually learns your typing habits and your favourite words to help speed up your typing, then gives you a predictive text experience that is more personalized than that lousy autocorrect. The keyboard picks up all the special and uncommon words you frequently use and stores them in a library, then offers them up as word suggestions the next time you begin to spell the word.

Now TouchType have released a second version of the app called SwiftKey X, which takes predictive text even further by accessing your SMS, Facebook, Twitter and Gmail to create a profile that captures the way you speak. The app is constantly learning how you use language to offer a text prediction experience that might give you the eerie feeling that it’s reading your mind.

SwiftKey X uses word context and personalized language models to think about words like you do, helping to ease the strain of typing on smartphones. It is continually learning from the way you write to give more accurate predictions and allow you to type faster and faster. SwiftKey X adapts the touch-sensitive area of its keys, based on your actual touchscreen input actions, resulting in predictions that are based not just on the words you tend to use, but also the way you type. Since the app knows how you type, it should eliminate those awful autocorrect fails where phrases you used once come back to haunt you.

SwiftKey X is available as a beta app, but if the idea of SwitfKey going through your personal accounts freaks you out, you can get the regular SwiftKey for $1.99 on the Android Market. SwiftKey is also working on a version for the Android tablet, and that beta version should be coming soon.

The post Swiftkey X Android App Now Even MORE Predictive appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

“Facebook for SIM enables operators to leverage two of their main assets: the SMS to communicate with the web application and the SIM for application distribution to the masses,” said Philippe Vallée, Executive Vice President of Gemalto, in his statement at the Mobile World Congress. “Over 200 million people already use Facebook on handsets and those are twice as active as non-mobile users. By providing anytime, anywhere availability to the social network, Gemalto delivers on the growing demand for mobile connectivity all over the world.”

The software is as compatible with any SIM cell phone as the SIM itself, the companies announced at the Mobile World Congress, which means Facebook on the go is no longer solely in the hands of smart-phone users.

“Increasingly people want to be able to stay connected and communicate with their friends on Facebook anytime, anywhere,” said Henri Moissinac, Head of Facebook’s Mobile Business. “Gemalto has developed a creative solution in Facebook for SIM that enables people without mobile data plans to stay connected to their friends on Facebook in an affordable way.”

The application doesn’t require a data plan either, they say, as it was designed to work entirely through SMS technology. Users log into the SIM application, and SMS updates with friend requests, status updates, wall posts and messages.

The service will be available at an unspecified date on a limited free trial period before switching to a subscription model.

[via Gemalto]

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I spotted this little jem during the CES Unveiled event. The little brick connects with the satellites, pairs with your smartphone via Bluetooth, and effectively gives it enough of a connection for you to communicate with the world. It helps that Globalstar is a part of this project too, since they specialize in satellite communications.

The good news is that you’ll be able to send out text messages, check your email, and even update your Facebook and Twitter through your smartphone. The bad news is that it won’t do voice calls, so you’d better have a lot of Twitter followers who can get you out of a bind with a Bengal tiger.

The Spot Connect device itself carries an MSRP of $170, but most retailers are selling it in the $150 range. Then, you’ll need to subscribe to the $100/year basic service. From what I understand, regular SMS can get truncated (to 41 characters, unless you use the pre-composed 120 character messages) and there are some other limitations. You can add more features for more money, naturally. At least the Android and (pending approval from Apple) iPhone app are free.

[SPOT]

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Whether it’s a fire, a bank robbery, or a stroke, the idea is that you’ll be able to pick up your cell phone and fire off a quick SMS to 911. Emergency dispatchers will send help your way and, thanks to the beauty of text, there is potentially less ambiguity regarding location.

That’s one advantage, but there’s one other big one: Users won’t be overheard while reporting an emergency. Imagine that you are in a hostage situation and you want to call for help. Calling 911 can get you in trouble with your captors, but secretly texting 911 can be much more stealthy on your part. That is, if we ever ran into that situation.

I’m thinking that the FCC is going to be a minor speedbump in getting such a system implemented compared to the funding concerns that would go along with getting it all set up properly… especially the personnel to respond to the influx of emergencies that would be reported. Making it more anonymous may get more reports, but I would imagine the texter would receive an immediate call back in order to provide more information.

Recently, PowerPhone Inc. received a US patent for their “Integrated Call Handler and E-Mail Systems and Methods.” This will allow “Incident Linked Multimedia” (ILM), meaning photos and video will be able to be transmitted to 911 too. [Mobile Burn]

The post 911 emergency reporting upgrade coming soon appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

A company called ASiQ, based in Melbourne Australia has announced a new SafeCell App in conjunction with a Bluetooth access point for airlines to offer passengers affordable SMS, MMS, voice messaging and text email from their mobile phones. It’s not going to allow you to make a full-duplex telephone call, but sending a quick message like “hey, my flight is delayed” or “pick me up at gate 14” will only run you about .10 to .50 cents with AsiQ’s Bluetooth setup.

The access point operates as a Personal Area Network (PAN) so there is no Wi-Fi or internet link required, which is pretty expensive right now at 20,000 feet. Two of these Bluetooth access points in a Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 will give 192 mobile phones a Bluetooth link. The downside, they would have needed to download the SafeCell App prior to boarding their flight. The AsiQ website doesn’t explain which devices their app is for, but a photo shows a BlackBerry handheld with the software, so we can safely assume there is BlackBerry support at the moment.

“ABI Research reports that nearly 2 billion Bluetooth chipsets are forecast to ship in 2014 alone. More than half will be found in wireless handsets. In 2014, Bluetooth will be found in 70 percent of all handsets and 83 percent of all netbooks.” In all reality, only 10% of mobiles have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth seems to make sense for a cheap, alternative to in-flight passenger communications.

To deploy a SafeCell system airlines will only have to shell out about $10,000 USD per airfract, compared to $100,000 for a Wi-Fi in-flight system, or up to $500,000 for a GSM Picocell system.

The post SafeCell app uses Bluetooth to make in-flight passenger communications cheap appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Monach University conducted some research on heavy mobile users aged 11 to 14 and found some startling results. The heavy mobile phone users tended to have more inaccuracies in their IQ-style tests. Does this mean that texting is making teenagers dumber? Not necessarily.

What they found is that these heavy texters had an overall tendency to value speed over accuracy, rifling through the questions as quickly as they could rather than taking the time to make sure they had the right answers.

This is just a theory, but the researchers are thinking that because text messages involve so much shorthand and truncated words that it became more important to send the message quickly than to have it 100% grammatically correct and with correct spelling. This mentality has seemingly spilled over into other areas too.

Source: Intomobile

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