Signs That Your Mobile Device Is Infected By Malware Or Viruses

Windows used to be the playground of malware and viruses and it still is but as more and more users migrate over to mobile, the spread of bad apps and data stealing malware have spread especially on Android.  There is no denying that.

Here is a sort of a beginner's post from Read Write regarding virus and malware on your mobile and signs that your device might be infected.  While the post is directed at Android devices, make no mistake, it's about all mobile including iPhone, Windows Phone, and other platforms as well.

First, your battery life.  True if the malware is doing stuff in the background.  The post talked about displaying ads.  I think worse things can and probably are happening.

Then there's dropped calls.  I'm not so sure about this one.  While the post hesitates to blame the carrier, I don't have that issue.  However, the rest of the post are more interesting.  Slow performances, higher than usual phone bills, and data spikes.

Now, keep in mind that none of these alone could be attributed to malware.  Battery life on any device is pretty bad in general even a pristine Android install like that on a Nexus 4.  And yes, while Apple has done wonders with the battery life of the thin iPhone 5, it's still "meh" to me.

But you get bad battery life, lots of data, slow performance, and you getting charged for things you did buy or services you don't have, that's usually a good sign your device is infected.

No, Apple Is Not Secretly Trying To Out Tim Cook - Forbes Now Just A Regular Blog And Throws Journalism Out

There are a couple posts since this week that seemed like an orchestrated effort to discredit Tim Cook specifically and Apple in general.  See, there are folks who are suggesting that Apple has begun looking for Tim Cook’s replacement.  Bull crap (feel free to go stronger than that).  I’m not going to be linking to them because it just feeds this beast.

So, I’ll like to Fortune’s counter post on this and I recommend reading it as it puts what’s going on at Apple in perspective – namely, a dysfunctional stock market with blatant abuses and manipulations that the government is helpless to do anything about and an once respected business magazine (Forbes) that has turned to company hacks with agendas or axes to grind.

Apparently, and I've felt this as well, Forbes has hired itself out to be used as an investment and agenda driven blog site for "financial" and tech bloggers that has questionable analytic skills and documented biases towards one company or another.  And these days, Forbes knows that to drive traffic, getting on the Apple bashing bandwagon gets eyeballs.

In fact, on this Tim Cook replacement topic, Forbes has competing posts about that.  What better way to game the click-bait game than to play both sides?

However, it’s not to say that Tim Cook isn’t without blame.  Heck, I’m not sure he is to be blamed for anything.  All I am saying is that maybe someday, just maybe Tim Cook may be replaced for something he did.  After all, no one is perfect.  Even Steve Jobs made a few blunders at Apple and elsewhere.  But if does happen, it’ll be cause Apple fans demand it.

And right now, Apple fans and bloggers are just as happy with Tim Cook as they have been with Steve Jobs.

Whatever happens or results from Apple’s earnings for the last quarter, I only know that they’ll make billions and add that much if not more in cash to its accounts and will do what’s good for the company with it and the stockholders be damned.

Tale of Two App Discovery Apps: AppShopper Back But Big-Mouth AppGratis Can Forget About It

Source:  Pocketgamer.

AppGratis as we know by now gets developers to pay for installation.  It’s a manipulation of Apple’s ranking as Apple sees it but others like the AppGratis investors think it’s a form of advertising.  The way to set things right would be for AppGratis developers to try to talk to Apple and find a common ground.  In fact, AppShopper probably did just that – opening a dialogue between itself and Apple.  The result?  It’s now back in the App Store.

On the other hand, CEO Simon Dawlat lied about AppGratis’ business model which he said the app doesn’t take payment from developers for installation and promotion in an attempt to manipulate app ranking. And when documents leaked online that showed he lied, he still would not back down.  In Apple or anyone’s book, that’s a no-no.  This TechCrunch post explains it all.

What also isn’t likely to make Apple happy is an online petition to get AppGratis back into the App Store.  Dude, I could have told them this would not work.  If anything, AppGratis is screwed entirely.

Meanwhile, AppShopper is back in.  AppShopper probably was pulled because it attempted to be an app store within Apple’s App Store.  Now, that’s changed.  What’s new is a social component and gone are rankings for the time being.  Personally, I don’t care for the ranking because I realized I like apps that are not necessarily high up anywhere.  But I do like the wish list function, which drives me nuts because I think it’s something Apple should include in all of its stores across iTunes and iCloud.

It’s a lesson for developers in this app drama when it comes to dealing with Apple.  Private dialogue is preferred over public outrage that means absolute nothing to Apple and only serves to alienate Cupertino all the more.  On top of that, trying to game Apple’s rules just isn’t the way to engage Apple and to manipulate its users.

As for AppShipper Social, I think this is a good first step and I like to see better social engagement in future versions.

Apple Donates Money and Devices to The Chinese Affected By Major Quake

Source: Arstechnica.

Apple is donate about $8 million dollars to the Sichuan region of China that was hit by a major earthquake.  On top of that, it’ll also be donating devices to schools affected by the disaster.  It’s a PR move.  It’s also a good move.  And Apple is letting the Chinese know about it.

However, knowing the leech mentality of the Chinese government, they’ll find some way to discredit the help from Apple and other foreign entities by suggesting it was inadequate or something worse while playing up domestic help that may not even come close.  This kind of myopic focus on national pride has already shown signs that it is wearing thin on the masses.

Transcription Would Be A Bigger Deal If Apple's Voice Dictation Works Off-Line But Google Already Does That

I'm sure the voice dictation function built into iOS and OS X devices will eventually work off-line, like Google's does now.   Eventually, Siri I have phone functions that were off-line.  By off-line, I mean without having the need to connect to the Internet and send the voice thing Apple server farms.

I started thinking about this when I thought how great iOS will work if it also has a powerful transcription. It will serve a lot of professionals.  Doctors, lawyers, writers, journalists, and even students.

It has taken me a while to get used to voice dictation. I try to use it as often as I can. So the most part, I avoid doing it because either I am in public, at work, are at a place where there is no Internet connection. And of course, speaking into an iPhone and having that information sent through the Internet to Apple and getting the results does take a valuable battery power. No, iPhone battery life these a lot to be desired.

I have found a few apps that does transcribing for you.  You speak into the app and that gets sent to the company that offers the app and you get the results back.  And while the apps are free, some of these companies charge by the minute.

And, as far as I know Dragon Dictate also requires the user to have a live Internet connection.

That leaves only Google's: users of Android devices can dictate to their messaging app or email app or any other text app without requiring live Internet connection.

For my fellow mobile warriors, I really encourage you to give dictation thingies regardless of whether you're an iOS or Android user. In fact, I am dictating this post instead of typing. There are some corrections that I may hear there, but for the most part it has been keyboard free.

Apple, Please Release A 5" or 5.5" iPhone

My mom called me today and said the iPhone 5 sucked.  Well, she didn't exactly used those words but I know the lady, giving birth to me and all.  In fact, I gave up the iPhone 5 and took her iPhone 4S for my own.  I think she considers the 4S to be Steve Jobs' last iPhone.  But that's not the reason why she wants to give up the iPhone 5.

She thinks the screen is too small.  I think she saw more and more of her friends with Galaxy devices from Samsung.  Maybe even the Note 2.  I don't blame her.  I've thought for months about getting a Note and I'm think I'll wait for the Note 3.


My only issue for not getting her the Note 2 is because she's overseas a lot and if she has a problem now, I would not know how to deal with it because I don't have a reference unit here to help walk her through it.

So, Apple, you may have to think twice about the perfect size for the iPhone.  I do think the 3.5-4" screen is perfect for a major of the mobile market.  But I think there is a segment of the market who would like to have a 5" or greater screen that still fit into one's pocket.

Okay, no stylus.  I don't need a stylus.  It's too limited unless Apple can really work some magic on that front.

A 5" screen or greater iPhone with LTE would be something that would sell like hotcakes and may even revitalize the market's confidence in Apple, especially Wall Street despite their stupidity.

For my mom, her interest in Note had to do with gaming.  She plays tons of game on her iPad mini.  However, when she's out and about, she doesn't want to be carry the iPad mini around with her all the time.  It's not convenient.

So, the has her iPhone 5 with her.  However, playing games from the 7.85" iPad mini screen down to the 4" iPhone 5 screen did not offer the same experience.  I'm not sure a 5" screen would either but it still is better than a 4" screen.

More and more of my friends are switching over the Android because of the screen size.  Sure, they complain about the experience from time to time but I think Google will one day close that experience gap.  After that, there would be nothing to keep some users from sticking with the iPhone.

Game Center Should Become Social Center

I have been thinking long and hard about this for a while.  Even before Facebook released Home for Android.  But I think Apple should do something about Game Center and I'm not talking about the look of GC but about what it can offer.  From day one, I thought it would make sense for Apple to allow messaging.  Then of course, we got iMessage instead.

What Apple should do is turn GC into Social Center.  Notifications, messages, widgets, game updates, and social components that give Apple users, Mac and iOS, a place where their social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and even Apple's own updates, can be located in one place.

It is possible?

I don't know if that's the direction Apple would ever consider taking but it does make sense to do this.  Social Center would gather up iTunes, Messages, social networks, gaming and media into one place.

And what's more, the value of Social Center will only serve to augment other features and products that Apple wants to push out.  As it stands now, I don't know how many people actually use Game Center but with Social Center, maybe more people will discover the value Game Center offers which could lead to more engagement and game sales.

Adding a component for music and other media sharing from friends and family could also lead to iTunes sales.

Apple should also add its own social layer that provides updates.  Think of Path, a social network app, and you'll know what I'm talking about.

With Path, you can upload pictures, update status, sharing locations, and tell your friends what you're watching or listen to.  Apple should adopt a similar approach (or buy Path outright).  And Apple should be able to allow users to update that information to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ or other social networks.

The bottom line is that Apple would then also have its own social network that could make sure it doesn't have to be at the mercy of competitors like Facebook or Google.

Social Center would instantly give Apple an added cool appeal that some said has been sorely missing in the last couple of years.

The question in people's mind is whether this could happen.  Sadly, no.  This is not in Apple's DNA.  In all likelihood, Apple got stung by the failure of Ping and has sworn off social media services and apps.  Game Center is as close as it'll ever come to that.  To a lesser extent, iMessages is as social as Apple will get.  Furthermore, Apple seems content to leave creating social apps and services to third party developers.

It's a shame.  A native social layer would greatly enhance the values of not only Apple's hardware but its services like iTunes, iCloud, and future media pushes.  Social Center would be the kind of next step achievements that Apple should be going after.