Tag Archives: android

Related News: Battery power alone can be used to track Android phones

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One new article link has been added to our Related News page. BBC News published an article titled Battery power alone can be used to track Android phones.

Android phones can be tracked without using their GPS or wi-fi data by studying their power use over time, a study has found.

A smartphone uses more power the further away it is from a cellular base and the more obstacles are in its way as it reaches for a signal.

Additional power use by other activities could be factored out with algorithms, the researchers found.

They created an app designed to collect data about power consumption.

Source: BBC News

Related News: Facial recognition app matches strangers to online profiles

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One new article link has been added to our Related News page. CNET published an article titled Facial recognition app matches strangers to online profiles.

Soon your face could be your calling card. An upcoming app for Android, iOS, and Google Glass called NameTag will allow you to photograph strangers and find out who they are — complete with social networking and online dating profiles.

Spot someone out and about that you want to identify, and you can capture their face using your device’s camera. The app will send the photo wirelessly to NameTag’s server, where it will compare the photo to millions of online records and return with a name, more photos, and social-media profiles, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, where the person (or their friends) might have publicly posted photos of themselves.

Source: CNET

Related News: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world

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One new article link has been added to our Related News page. Computerworld published an article titled Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world.

If an Android device (phone or tablet) has ever logged on to a particular Wi-Fi network, then Google probably knows the Wi-Fi password. Considering how many Android devices there are, it is likely that Google can access most Wi-Fi passwords worldwide.

Recently IDC reported that 187 million Android phones were shipped in the second quarter of this year. That multiplies out to 748 million phones in 2013, a figure that does not include Android tablets.

Many (probably most) of these Android phones and tablets are phoning home to Google, backing up Wi-Fi passwords along with other assorted settings. And, although they have never said so directly, it is obvious that Google can read the passwords.

Source: Computerworld