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Cambridge researchers retrieve information even after factory reset in Android

May 24, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

CAMBRIDGE- Computer researchers at the University of Cambridge came with a new study claiming that the “factory reset” options in most of the Android smartphones isn’t capable of completely removing the files residing on the device. Researchers were able to recover texts, images and in-app conversations from the second-hand devices.

Researchers conduct their research on 21 smartphones manufactured by the Google, HTC, Samsung, LG and few other brands. In all of these smartphones, the researchers successfully recovered the information stored on the devices after the reset. The recovery includes the Google account credentials, messages, in-app conversations, images, and emails that were sent and received on the device.

The research stated that each of the devices had some internal issues that didn’t let it wipe a part of the memory storing the recoverable information. However, the study reflected that out of the all, Google Nexus 4 performed exceptionally well in the tests, but still had issues in completely wiping off the information.

Some other devices including, HTC One, didn’t completely wiped the internal SD card. The option in the phone settings allows the user to make a complete wipe-off, but it didn’t perform as per that. There were images and app data residing on the SD card. Apart from that, Google has been blamed by the researchers for gradual upgrades and an irregular structure leading to such issues.

The research was not conducted on the iOS devices, however, there is no confirmation about whether they retain any data or not. Google and Apple both provide features to do the remote wipe in case the smartphone is lost; however, the study has brought its pitfalls to the surface. We aren’t sure how Apple stack up to this but is expected to do the complete wipe-off.

Android has always been in the news for such issues. Apart from this study, there have been few other investigations claiming that the information can be quickly recovered from the second-hand devices, whether it is to be an iOS or Android smartphone.

Google integrates real-time Twitter content in Mobile search results – Happy Time for TWITTER

May 19, 2015 by Marian Dumitri Leave a Comment

Google and Twitter has reached to a mutual agreement where Google will be displaying unique real-time tweets in its mobile search results list based on the search term of users. Starting today, Google users in EN-US will experience tweets in Google search results on their mobile devices. The above said arrangement is going to give a boost to Twitter and will bring some peace of mind to its investors as well.

The real-time tweets integration will also help Google to serve latest info on current events and happenings all around the world. Earlier, Google was only dependent on its own Google News result snippets for latest coverage on any given search term, but the Twitter integration will surely proves beneficial for Google as well when it will come to real-time coverage of an event.

Let say, if one will search for “Barack Obama” on Google, tweets from his latest account and related to Barack Obama will appear in search results. Tapping on tweets in result will take you directly to twitter where you can view the tweet and discover additional content.

The similar kind of arrangement was made between both the companies back in 2009 also but it lasted for two years only when Twitter decided to back out from the deal.

As of now, this integration is available for both iOS and Android mobile users. The desktop integration will be coming soon in recent days.

Google to debut feature packed Android M at I/O 2015

May 13, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is only a few days away from unveiling the next generation Android 6.0 or Android ‘M’. Android M is expected to come loaded with exciting features, however, the user interface is expected to remain almost the same as the Android Lollipop.

Apparently, Google with the release of Android M is going to focus on upgrading the features under the hood. First in the line is the notifications, Android M is expected to push only the relevant notifications and Google is going to unify the notifications across every device we use. Whether it is to be a tablet or smartphone, Google will unify your notifications.

Another important feature of the Android is going to the Smart Home. Android in its core libraries will boast features to support and control the connected homes. The Android M is going to have much better communication with the smart appliances and IoTs.

Google team is also working on the improving the security of the device, however, there are no reports about what company might put into the upcoming release of the operating system.

One significant feature that we all expect to see at the Google I/O is Android Wear. Companies, including Apple, are already giving the Wear a severe competition and to return in the game, the Internet giant is expected to release feature packed operating system and devices this year.

Google is also focusing on the Android Auto, which is a functionality that can be built into the upcoming cars. Reports suggest that the Android Auto will control a majority of parameters in your cars from GPS, Music and more.

There are no dates about when the Android M is going to release, but Google is expected to launch it in the fourth quarter of this year. However, not all devices are supposed to support the Android M, for it being developed to take the full advantage of 64-bit processors and high memory.

Google Self-Driving cars were involved in 11 accidents till now

May 12, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Google has released a report stating the number of self-driving cars that have been involved in the road accidents. As per the reports from the Internet giant, out of the 23 self-driving cars that successfully travelled a distance of 1.7 million miles, 11 were involved in the minor accidents with no reports of substantial injuries or loss of life.

The self-driving project started about six years ago, and so far it encountered only 11 minor accidents. These cars have been traveling nearly 10,000 miles a week in the cities, which is surprisingly more than an average American driver driving for the entire year. Primarily, these cars have been operating in California and Nevada.

The autonomous fleet of self-driving isn’t just about making our lives easier, but about making it safe on the roads. If statistics to be believed, a person who is spending much of the time driving on roads is very likely to end up with an accident, however, these self-driving cars act much before than an alert driver. The sensors and software that has been built into these cars allow them to respond quickly to a situation so as to avoid any mishaps.

However, there are cases when drivers know that the roads are clear to move, but the autonomous system in the car stops it for some reasons. At the times, it can be frustrating for the driver in this future car and other commuters behind it.

Every other automobile pioneer, including Mercedes-Benz, Tesla and BMW, are developing vehicles that are capable enough to drive on their own. Days aren’t far when the owners will have smartphones controlling the cars. Roads are going to much safer than before, and amounts of deaths that occur in the accidents will be significantly low.

Google Introduces ‘Pre-Register’ button for upcoming apps in Play Store

May 11, 2015 by William Harper Leave a Comment

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is now allowing its users to pre-register for the upcoming releases of games and applications on Google Play Store. Apparently, it is the first time when a store is offering pre-registrations for the future apps.

The most appropriate reason behind this is to notify users about the release of new apps or games, and once they pre-register for it, Play Store will push out notifications to the registered users for the availability of the game or the app. This goes out to both the paid and free apps, and the first game to have this feature is the upcoming ‘Terminator Genisys’ game by Glu Mobile.

It can also be seen as a good marketing strategy and to create hype for the upcoming releases. The ‘Pre-register’ button will keep the user’s occupied and will not allow them miss a chance to try out that app.

However, there are no reports whether Google will be charging the developers a premium for it or not, or whether this feature will be available for all the developers, or to only a limited set of those which are popular on Play Store.

There can be a lot of speculations about this new feature, however, for now only ‘Terminator Genisys’ is going to have it. The description of the game is as follows, “The year is 2028 and humanity is on the brink of extinction. Help John Connor in the war to save the human race in the official game of the new movie Terminator Genisys. Escape from the Skynet prison camp and fight the machines in this action-packed sci-fi shooter!”

Apart from that we should not forget that Google I/O 2015 is around the corner, and we can expect the announcement of new Android operating systems. Several reports suggest that the Google in the upcoming releases of Android is going to give users the control over which permissions apps ask for.

Google now allows users to download entire search history of their account

Apr 22, 2015 by Ambika Mahajan Leave a Comment

The search giant Google is now allowing users download their entire search history. Users will have to go to the Web & App Activity section in their browser to be able to do that. With this feature at their disposal, Google users will now be able to download all details right from the time they first signed in to their Google account on any device.

It has been rightly pointed out that this data, for regular surfers, could form a small mountain or stretch for several miles if laid across a flat surface.

Though this might seem interesting and lots of fun for most casual surfers, there are billions around the world who are scared at the prospect of their dark secrets (like porn searches, etc.) becoming public.

The tech giant has clarified that the data shall be made available only to users themselves and that they need not worry on either of the accounts-the volume of the search data or its content but the assurance has done little to placate worried surfers.

Downloading the search history is easy. Open your web and app activity page and log in to your email account. This will throw open all the search results. You will be given the option to create an archive of your search history data.

Inspite of the reassurances about the privacy of their search history, Google has warned users against downloading their archive on public computers while adding that their archive is always under their control.

“Protect your account and sensitive data with two-step verification, (which) helps keep bad guys out, even if they have your password.”

Google says: “If you have decided to take your data elsewhere, please research the data export policies of your destination. Otherwise, if you ever want to leave the service, you may have to leave your data behind.”

Genetic tests for breast and ovarian cancers is now affordable

Apr 22, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

Silicon Valley – A few individuals who are ex- employees of Google joined hands to form a new start up called Color Genomics. The company claims that they have developed a DIY method to carry out breast cancer genetic screening test. This DIY test will cost just $249 and it could end up saving a life.

This test can be performed at home and it costs comparatively less than what the other tests cost to determine the risk of breast and ovarian cancers cost. The company is positive that they would in the future make available genetic testing for mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes for women. BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes can increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women, along with 17 other genes that can have a role to play in the development of breast and ovarian cancer in women.

“We’ve tried to democratize access to this type of genetic information around breast and ovarian cancer risk and we wanted to do it in a responsible way,” says company co-founder Elad Gil.

The issue of breast and ovarian cancer gained momentum when famous personality Angelina Jolie did not shy away from public to speak about her decision to have her breasts, ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. She was tested positive for BRCA1. This prompted her to have her breasts, ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as she wanted to cut down the risk of cancer.

Now that the company has developed a cost effective method to test the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women, medical practitioners are positive that many women will come ahead to make use of the DIY kit. This kit can be purchased from the official website of the company. The woman is required to carry out the saliva swab test at home and send the sample to the company. The test results are emailed to the individual by the company.

Google search algorithm update now allows mobile friendly sites to rank higher

Apr 19, 2015 by Karla Fetrow Leave a Comment

Palo Alto, Calif. – Google Inc. has announced that it will start working on making search results friendly to mobile users. In order to make sure that mobile users get benefitted in the best way possible, Google will start giving high rankings to those websites that can run effectively on mobile devices.

As per the reports, the procedure will start on Tuesday and focus on enhancing the overall experience of mobile users.

Earlier most of the websites used to target only the desktop users, but the situation has changed over the past couple of years. The number of people who use the internet on mobile phones has elevated significantly, which has prompted Google to change how the internet search works.

In order to make sure that mobile users get benefitted in the best way possible, Google will start giving high rankings to those websites that can run effectively on mobile devices.

According to one of the Google spokesmen, “As the number of people using the internet on mobile devices has enhanced in the last two years, we want to make sure that they can find content that is timely, relevant, and mobile friendly.”

It’s not the first time when Google has made a comment focusing on the mobile friendliness of the content. In a blog post published in February, it said that change in the mobile search would be introduced in all the languages across the globe.

In order to take its initiative to the next level and give developers a chance to test the efficacy of their web pages in relation to smaller screen devices, Google even launched an online tool. With the help of this device, developers could check the friendliness of their web pages on mobile devices.

A large part of users search for various things on Google from their mobile devices; hence, they should get the most relevant results that could easily fit on the small screens.

Experts call it a revolutionary step and expect to enhance the experience of Google’s customers significantly in the coming days.

Google Search on Android will show relevant apps to users

Apr 17, 2015 by Vamien McKalin Leave a Comment

Google Search for Android will now give users the option to download and install apps relevant to whatever query the searched about. This new feature will no doubt please app developers who have always wanted more promotion of their work via the search giant.

The new feature is a mere extension of the App Indexing feature Google made available back in 2013. App Indexing was a proven failure because it was of no help if users did not have the app installed. Therefore, Google canned it and chose to add it within its search engine instead, which is a good move.

Users will see relevant links to apps within the search results, and these links will take them directly to Google Play Store. Strangely enough, app indexing will work whether or not the app is installed on a user’s Android device. We hope the search giant comes up with a way to tell if a user has already installed an app, and thus refrain from recommending them to download it again.

Google principal engineer Rajan Patel, had this to say:

“The goal is for developers to continue to create great content in apps and create deep links into that content so users who have particular questions can directly access that content”. He also said that “the team is looking at how it can grow this project beyond Android.”

Going beyond Android will no doubt be a huge undertaking for Google, but it would be great. Just imagine iOS and Windows Phone users being able to come across relevant apps via Google Search, it would be a huge payoff for the search giant.

We promise to give a deep analysis of the feature once it is available. We have to wonder though, will this even help developers gain more users and make more money? Time will tell.

Source: [Ubergizmo, TechCrunch]

European Commission preparing to hit Google with antitrust charges

Apr 16, 2015 by Vamien McKalin Leave a Comment

The European Commission is making moves to charge Google for using its dominant position to advertise its products and services to consumers. This has been in the pipeline for quite some time, and we can only guess it was heightened after Barack Obama’s statement.

This could turn out to be one of the biggest antitrust cases since the regulators went after Microsoft years ago. Should the search giant be found guilty, it could face a hefty charge, or forced to be broken into several divisions.

Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s competition chief, is expected to make an announcement in Brussels on Wednesday about Google using its dominant position to make its products and services stronger.

Google facing another lawsuit by the European Commission is the latest twist in the never-ending battle between the company and the commission. At this rate, it might go along for a number of years or until Google falls apart under the pressure.

Google has over 90 percent of the European search market, which is one of the main reasons why the company is being targeted. Smaller search companies such as Yelp are having a difficult time carving out a sizeable chunk of the market, so should Google lose this case, these small companies could find a way to compete more effectively.

“Everyone should have equal treatment,” said Thomas Vinje, a lawyer for FairSearch Europe, which represents rivals to Google. “Google should apply its own algorithm fairly to everything, including its own services.”

Only time will tell at this point if Google can phase off the wrath of the European Commission because the problem between the two has been going on for quite some time and needs to end.

Companies like Microsoft and Yelp, will no doubt have a say should Google goes to court. It should be interesting to see what they have to say.