Earlier this month, we found out that after a software update HTC’s Android handsets had a serious security flaw — any app could gain access to user data, including recent GPS locations, SMS data, phone numbers, and system logs. To its credit, HTC responded quickly to the security issue, and now an OTA update with the fix is going out to those on the Now Network. Sprint users with an EVO 4G, 3D, Shift 4G, Design 4G or View 4G can get the download, as can Wildfire S owners. The patch available now for a manual download, and more info on the fix can be found at the source below.

[Thanks, Korey]

Sprint issues OTA fix for HTC Android handset vulnerability originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

So far the appcessories — yeah we said it, APPcessories — we’ve seen include some good ideas, and some less so. The Bluetooth LE 3D-Sport and Weather offerings from Mosoro fall into the former category (if they make their way into a shipping product that is). The 3D-Sport is a motion capture device you attach to sports equipment. The on-board accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer beam motion data to your iOS device, where it can be analyzed by Rocky-style Russian coaches to see where your throw or golf swing is going wrong. The latter is a mini weather station that reads temperature, humidity, elevation, and barometric pressure to tell you the conditions where you are right now. More usefully, it nabs your GPS location and uploads it all to Mosoro’s aptly named “Cloud” Server that presumably maps out some crazy real-time crowdsourced weather report. Both also use Bluetooth 4.0′s low energy technology so they won’t need to see a charger for a long time. Now we just need a company that likes collating personal data, perhaps with a weather service, to snap this one up… any takers?

Continue reading Mosoro Bluetooth LE iOS accessories improve your golf, if the weather’s right

Mosoro Bluetooth LE iOS accessories improve your golf, if the weather’s right originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

What good is an Ultimate Driving Machine if it can’t get a little help from its friends? A new hazard-dodging system from BMW could help these Bavarian autos get a bit more chatty, each vehicle talking to nearby traffic across long-range wireless networks. In a series of video demonstrations, the car maker shows how the car-to-x system could give advance warnings of traffic, emergency vehicles and weather hazards by enabling one car to beam warnings directly to others. BMW hopes to connect the system to mobile phone networks as latency times improve and possibly even access data from traffic light systems. Sure, GM and Ford got there a bit earlier, but you can see BMW’s implementation demonstrated after the break, and check out the via link for more videos of the world’s most boring game of GTA.

Continue reading BMW presents car-to-x communication, wants vehicles to talk more (video)

BMW presents car-to-x communication, wants vehicles to talk more (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Siri ported to iPad, still getting silent treatment from Apple servers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

In the wake of yesterday’s devastating earthquake in Turkey, Google has launched a specialized Person Finder to help victims find missing loved ones. First developed in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Google’s Person Finder has since been deployed to several other natural disaster zones, including post-tsunami Japan earlier this year. The idea behind the company’s Turkish initiative remains as straightforward as ever: users can enter information on the person they’re looking for, or add any details they may have on people who aren’t already accounted for. Of course, all submitted records remain available for public search and viewing. If you’ve been affected by the earthquake or have any information on someone who has, you can find Google’s Person Finder at the source link below.

Google launches Person Finder app following earthquake in Turkey originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

LG’s biggest, fastest phone to date, previously known as the Optimus LTE, has made its first landing outside of Korea. In a not-so-thinly-veiled reference to the retina display-beating resolution density, it’s now answering to the name, Optimus Eye. The smartphone’s been leaked in a preview video from The Source, a Canadian retailer which is owned by Bell — who’ll evidently be making the phone available on their network. We also get to see LG’s latest AH-IPS display technology in action, alongside a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and the increasingly standard eight megapixel shooter. No whisperings just yet on pricing or a launch date, but we’d expect these top-drawer specifications to be matched with an appropriately top-drawer price tag when it does arrive. You can eye it up for yourself after the break.

Continue reading LG Optimus Eye: LTE smartphone renamed with a view to landing in Canada

LG Optimus Eye: LTE smartphone renamed with a view to landing in Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout attips at engadget dawt comand let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

• Given up on the HTC Thunderbolt’s mystical Gingerbread update? HTC’s still insisting that it’s on its way, despite multiple delays. This time, however, the OEM isn’t giving a timeframe for ETA. [Droid-Life]
• The T-Mobile G2 was boosted to Android 2.3.3 in July, but we’re glad to see the device getting yet another refresh. This time the G2 is getting hooked up with 2.3.4, which promises better battery life and improved data roaming, among other minor fixes. [AndroidCentral]
• What other device is getting 2.3.4 this week? The Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, that’s what. It’s only rolled out to parts of Europe and the Middle East, so be patient if you haven’t seen an update show up for your unit yet. [AndroidCentral]
• Up north, the LG Shine Plus on Telus is getting Android 2.3.3. [MobileSyrup]
• Anyone using a Motorola Atrix or Milestone 2 in the UK should expect to have an update to Gingerbread sometime next month. [Unwired View]
• Motorola mentioned on its Facebook page that the Droid Bionic will receive Ice Cream Sandwich, though it wouldn’t share details on when. [Thanks, Grant]

Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery

• Amazingly enough, the Samsung Epic 4G is still missing Gingerbread (officially, at least). In hopefully what could be considered another step forward, Sammy’s pushed out the kernel source for Android 2.3. Keep those fingers crossed, Epic 4G owners. [AndroidCentral]
• Motorola released the kernel source for the Droid Bionic. [AndroidCentral]
• Speaking of kernel source, HTC’s also gone ahead and released code for the myTouch 4G Slide, Desire (Gingerbread), and the Raider 4G. [AndroidCentral]
• Three days after its kernel was made public, T-Mobile’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S II has now been successfully rooted. [Phandroid]
• Looking down at your HTC Sensation 4G (or any other Sense 3.0 or higher device) filled with Dre envy? Wish you had the cool Beats that’s starting to trickle out to the latest HTC handsets? Leave it to XDA to find a way to port the new audio functionality over to any Sense 3.0 or 3.5 phone without having to ditch your current ROM. [Droid-Life]
• Anyone frustrated by the news about the HTC Thunderbolt above and is savvy to the rooting world may want to check out a new Gingerbread RUU just leaked for the device. [Android Police]

Other platforms

• Select Symbian Anna devices are currently getting a bug fix. Sadly, it’s not Belle. [Unwired View]
• The Windows Phone Team has reported that the Mango update is available to nearly everyone now. [Windows Team Blog]
• The iPhone Dev Team brought out a new version of Redsn0w, 0.9.9b7, which was designed to significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to jailbreak your iDevice. [Pocketnow]

Refreshes we covered this week

• HP TouchPad gets webOS 3.0.4 update
• Kindle 3 gets software upgrade, ready to soar into the cloud
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich roundup
• Android 4.0 now official, includes revamped design and enhancements galore
• HTC: we’re reviewing ICS and determining future plans
• Motorola RAZR to get ICS in early 2012
• ICS unofficially ported to Samsung Nexus S 4G
• Sony Ericsson bringing ICS to Xperia handsets?
• ASUS: Android 4.0 tablets coming by end of this year
• HTC’s new audio API beats OpenSense into developers

Refresh Roundup: week of October 17, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

We’re not gonna lie: we’re on one. One heck of a crazy week, that is! Two big phone launches kept our feet close to the fire, and a couple of odds n’ ends rounded out the week in the way that only odds and ends can — oddly. It’s the Engadget Podcasters, live in a room together, at last, and with devastatingly informative consequences.

Hosts: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater
Guest: Dana Wollman
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Devil’s Haircut

02:30 – Samsung and Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich event liveblog!
03:30 – Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus gets official: Android 4.0, 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display (video)
06:22 – Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on (video)
07:57 – Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus launches in November on NTT Docomo, Verizon, and more
08:18 – Android Beam takes us to the future of close-proximity data exchange (video)
18:00 – Motorola Droid RAZR unveiled: LTE, 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, available November for $299
27:00 – Motorola Droid RAZR hands-on (video)
29:15 – Motorola RAZR to get updated to Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012
34:45 – Samsung’s Won-Pyo Hong: Galaxy Nexus wasn’t designed just to skirt Apple patents
38:37 – Motorola Motoactv hands-on (update: video with Dean Karnazes!)
41:45 – Research in Motion announces BBX, ‘combines the best of BlackBerry and QNX’
43:36 – Lytro camera hands-on (video)
46:45 – ASUS’ Jonney Shih: Padfone will ship in Q1 2012 with Ice Cream Sandwich
46:55 – Microsoft’s Andy Lees: Nokia will announce ‘its Windows Phones’ at Nokia World
51:36 – The Engadget Show
56:04 – Listener questions

Hear the podcast

Subscribe to the podcast

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace

Download the podcast

LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)

Contact the podcast

Send your questions to @tim_stevens.
Leave us a voicemail: (423) 438-3005 (GADGET-3005)
E-mail us: podcast at engadget dot com
Twitter: @bheater, @timstevens, @danawollman

Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 261 – 10.21.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Are you in DevCon withdrawal? Need a little BBX preview to ferry you safely into the weekend’s arms? Well, you’re in luck, as German site Macberry.de took the time to film a walkthrough of the recently released BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 developer beta. The homescreen of this new build now offers users folder options similar to that on iOS, neatly collecting your gaggles of data into appropriate bundles — like documents and games. But you probably care less about that, and more about seeing BlackBerry Runtime for Android apps in action. We’re happy to report those Google-specific applications are shown here running quite smoothly, filling the 7-inch tab’s screen without any hint of lag. You can download the dev build now for your own first-hand account, or simply click on past the break to gawk at the silent tour.

Continue reading BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 developer beta previewed, Android apps look right at home (video)

BlackBerry Playbook 2.0 developer beta previewed, Android apps look right at home (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Less than a week after it disappeared from iTunes, the Apple-friendly Google Voice app is back and declared iOS 5 friendly, per its official Twitter account. Also improved is operation when you don’t have a data connection, as there’s no data required for all numbers previously called. Hit the source link below for v1.3.1.1891 — we’ll never go back to the dark days of v1.3.0.1771.

Google Voice app returns to iTunes, iOS 5 crash bug fixed originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink