Once you allow the developer access to connect to the Internet, they could potentially upload your pics to any server right under your nose. There is no information leading us to know if Android applications currently do this, but there is always that chance. Google has responded to the matter, and let us know that this feature was designed in the earlier stages of the OS when photos were stored on the SD card rather than the internal storage we find in newer devices.

In Google’s word’s they are “considering a fix”, so hopefully they take it as serious as the Google Wallet security incident. The Wallet application had an update just yesterday that supposedly blocks hackers from accessing your information, and I suppose it will take an equal amount of time for Google to tend to this issue. In my own opinion, this vulnerability trumps the Google Wallet issue – as it potentially affects everyone.

[via SlashGear]

Considering the locked bootloader, this change in the Nook Tablet’s software is not unexpected. Barnes & Noble is certainly aware of how popular the Nook Color was and is as a modder’s cheap tablet, and have not raised any serious objections thus far. But as pieces of consumer electronics, the Nook Color and Nook Tablet are sold on extremely thin margins with the expectation that users will buy books and other media from Barnes & Nobles and its partners, justifying the low profits on the hardware itself. Every user who buys a Nook without the intention of using it primarily as a reader for Barnes & Noble’s ebooks is undermining their business model. Since advanced users aren’t breaking any laws, the best that the company can hope to do is frustrate their aftermarket efforts.

The solution for those who want to keep modding their tablets is simple: don’t upgrade to version 1.4.1 on the Nook Tablet’s software, at least until another work-around is found. Those who have already updated can flash to the original retail image and work forward from there. Strangely, third-party apps that have already been installed on updated tablets are still working, so users who already modified the Nook Tablet and gotten it to their desired level of functionality will probably be able to wait it out until someone finds another weakness in the device’s software armor.

When this sort of thing happens to an Android smartphone, I tend to get very irate. But remember that the Nook series of tablets only uses Android as a means to an end – Barnes & Noble is using these readers to keep their entire business relevant as the world shifts to ebooks. It’s hard to blame them for protecting such a forward-looking business model, even if it does mean that a much loved avenue of Android modding is closed off.

In HTC’s words, the company will “allow third-party developers to harness the potential of Beats Audio and bring that top-notch audio experience to their own apps.”  That’s great news for developers of music apps and services, not to mention anyone who owns one of the high-end HTC handsets that feature Beats Audio, like the Sensation XL. Previously Beats integration had been limited to specially-coded first party music apps.

HTC has been investing a lot lately: in addition to the Beats purchase, they bought a stake in online game streaming company OnLive and bought the kid-friendly browser developer Inquisitive Minds. Like Beats, HTC has said that they’ll integrate their partners’ services into their smartphones and tablets while still operating them like independent companies, a tactic that has served Amazon well in its own acquisitions. The forthcoming Beats APIs are a promising start to this strategy, and a good indication that non-HTC owners will continue to enjoy the services of Beats, Inquisitive Minds and OnLive.

The Satellite AR app, which allows users to track satellites in the sky above them, uses the GPS signal on your device as well as its compass if your device has the hardware, to show what lies in the skies above them. The yellow line on the augmented reality shows the projected path of the satellites and can be used to visually track the estimated path of the UARS projectile.

As the satellite falls to the surface of the earth, most of the satellite is expected to disintegrate as it enters the atmosphere, however 26 pieces are expected to crash along a 500 mile path. The largest piece to fall is approximately 500 pounds. For you North American readers, NASA has ruled out the continent as of late Wednesday.

Check out the Satellite AR app on the Android Market here.

[via NYTimes]

The marketing head of Isis, Jaymee Johnson, believes that the broad spectrum of compatibility for the payment system will give it the competitive edge over Google Wallet. Isis is backed by Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile, as well as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have spent a total of approximately $100 million to support the system. This in response, no doubt, to Google’s choice of one carrier to debut Google Wallet.

While Isis does have the partnerships in place to size up to its strongest competitor, there are a couple of snags that might hold the service back. First of all, Isis has yet to announce a release date more specific than early 2012. Additionally, in the minimum four-month gap between the launch of Google Wallet and Isis, other credit card companies have been added to Google’s service. Though we have yet to see if the other carriers will follow suit, Google’s heavy influence is sure to play a part in their decisions.

[via FierceMobileContent]

While many of you are coming to the terms with the 5GB soft cap placed on your unlimited data plans, any effort to reduce the amount of bandwidth used on your device is worth it. While torrenting directly on your device would take an overwhelming amount of that now soft-limited space, uTorrent alleviates the stress on bandwidth by supporting drag and drop on downloaded torrents.

Of greater interest however was the suggestion that future builds of uTorrent will support automatic conversion of file types compatable with the device that the file is being copied over to, further simplifying the process. Though uTorrent has said that the inclusion of the convertor is but a teaser, we’re looking forward to future builds that might include the feature.

[via TorrentFreak]

While many applications on the Market offer free text-messaging from an email address, textPlus is unique in that it provides users with real phone numbers that they can share with their friends to contact them on. Upon the first launch, textPlus scans the user’s contact list to determine whether or not existing phone numbers are associated with textPlus accounts.

Cross-platform support means that for those of you wi-fi tablet users, textPlus would provide your device with a phone number for others to contact you with. And because textPlus stores messages in the cloud, the application will remain synced between multiple devices. Unlike Google Voice, another popular text messaging alternative, textPlus bring support for picture and group texting.

Best of all, textPlus is free.

You can find textPlus on the Android Market here.

Now some users might not check what permissions an app actually can access when they install something as most are pretty safe, but installing random 3rd party applications that aren’t widely available and known you should always check what you are installing and allowing access. Circled in the image above are the two scary ones here. Record audio and intercept phone calls — no thank you! If you see anything that doesn’t seem right you should probably not install that application.

Apparently this jem of an app will record your phone calls and then save it to your external storage or SD card and it will then be uploaded to the totally awesome (lame) people that produced this terrible application. Your entire call can be remotely uploaded right to the bad guys and even though we don’t always say important things over phone calls, for some this is a huge deal and something I don’t want happening whether the conversation is important or not.

Don’t be too alarmed as these applications are far and few between and we rarely see them around for very long. Most likely all you daily users are safe but just use caution when installing random applications and always read the permissions especially if the list is unusually large.

[via CA Security]

Fly Delta is Delta Airlines official Android app. It lets you check in for your flight, watch flight statuses, and even download a mobile boarding pass to your phone. But you could already do all that. This update’s big feature is the ability to choose your seat from a handy little map.

Normally you have to choose your seat when you purchase your ticket, and if you want to try and change it at the airport (should someone have canceled or not shown up) you have to wait in line for a terminal to check availability. Now you can do it on your phone wherever you darn well please, except maybe while going through security. You can even check your upgrade eligibility.

When it comes down to it isn’t the most mind blowing of programing at work here. What the Delta app is a great example of how much Android can do just to make the little things easier. I’m a little young to go on a “in my day!” rant, but lets face it smartphones have come a long way in the last few years.

Joy unto the mountains! Now I can load Gameloft games and whatnot! Having an Android phone that disallowed sideloading apps was like owning a car that only allowed you to put one kind of gas into it. Sure it worked ok, but what if I want premium gas? AT&T turning the switch back to optional is like a renewed ability to do anything to their devices, including pouring super tasty sugar into the tank. And what about that Infuse 4G?

It was and is a big deal that the Samsung Infuse 4G allows the 3rd-party installation of apps because it’s the first AT&T phone to do so. It’s also a big fat amazing fantastically bright display-having Samsung phone having the largest Super AMOLED Plus display in the world, so loading up some non-market games is certainly a perk for those wanting utterly excellent bigtime winners via the Amazon App Store, for example. Freedom forever!

[Thanks Frank!]

Some minuses for this app are that you can’t refresh from the menu, and it doesn’t seem to automatically refresh. Also, there are ads at the bottom of the page. One of the commenters asked the developer to “please remove the Zombie ad now”, so it seems some of the ads might be a bit questionable. The app is free, but honestly, it isn’t that different from just accessing Google News from your browser, I guess it saves you a few seconds because you just click on the app to open to news, but that doesn’t seem very valuable. This doesn’t look like a keeper to me.

Let us know what you think. You can check out the app on the Android Marketplace here.

See the photo above for the hard proof. That is the new Samsung Infuse 4G on AT&T, and it is allowing non-market installs. For now as far as we understand AT&T policy is still the same, and they do not allow the installation of 3rd party applications. So either this is brand new, just breaking. Or Samsung forgot to lock it down on the new Infuse 4G.

We don’t have a lot to go by yet for this, we are looking into it now and will report back as soon as we hear more. For more information on the Infuse 4G go here.

That’s exactly what MobileApps is saying they’ve got going right this moment, their marketplace opening up for business very soon. They’re aiming for a “Robin Hood” sort of situation, a way for you to be able to grab the entirety of the profits you might feel you’re entirely entitled to. Take a peek at these words from CEO and founder of MobileApps:

“Ultimately, our highest intent is to be portrayed as the Robin Hood of app developers that truly champions their interests. We pay the highest payouts we can and provide the best facilities such as app discovery solutions, payment infrastructure, negotiations with carriers for bulk carrier-billing rates, etc. We strive to discover gaps in the present app store markets and fulfil them to the benefits of app developers. By taking care of the needs of app developers, they now get to focus on what they do best: building better apps and providing better customer service.”

Sound good to you? Make you want to join their team? Or does it inspire you to sell your own app in your own marketplace?

[Via SlashGear]

This action combined with their recent addition of Twidroyd Factory and other new features, gives Twidroyd a shot at claiming to be the best Twitter app for Android. Twidroyd says it best with, “You Commented. We Listened, And Responded.”

[Via Twidroyd on Twitter]

The rating levels include:

• All
• Pre-teen
• Teem
• Mature

Starting next week all applications that get submitted for update or initial entrance into the Android Market will need to have a rating included by the developer. In addition, developers will have the next few weeks to give a rating to all of their current applications on the Android market, if they fail to do so they will be labeled “Mature” until the proper rating is submitted.

[Via Google]

AppEliza is a free ELIZA style therapist chat-bot for Android phones.  You talk to it and tell it your problems, and it responds via Text To Speech.  It can also echo your conversation to a Twitter account.  AppEliza incorporates Google’s speech recognition web service and the Eyes-Free Text To Speech package, the former is part of every Android phone and the later is a free download from the Android Marketplace.

The excitement here isn’t the app since AppEliza is a simple pattern based chat-bot that reacts to trigger words and phrases, mainly those dealing with feelings and family, and uses the power of ambiguity to “fake it” the rest of the time.  The excitement is due to AppInventor, the tool that was used to create AppEliza in a single day, except for the Twitter support that I added to it this morning and that took a little over an hour.

Hyperbole is a huge problem on the web but I feel confident as a veteran developer to call AppInventor one of the best rapid development tools I have ever used and I am astonished at how fast I am able to create Android applications.

Not yet in the Android Market, you can download the AppEliza .apk file here and check out the sort of Twitter integration that’s possible here.  If you’ve tried App Inventor we’d be interested to hear from you; let us know in the comments.

The widget allows you to scroll through new tweets in your timeline together with composing a new update of your own directly from the desktop.  Meanwhile the new retweet functionality allows you to choose between traditional quote method, or Twitter’s newer retweet system.

Finally, geotagging can automatically or manually add location data to newly posted updates.  Seesmic for Android v1.3 is available – free – from the Android Market.

Tag is available starting today as a free download from the Android Market (I’d be giving it a go, if it were not for some connection problems on the phone).  To use the app, you’re supposed to focus your smartphone’s camera at a tag (a smaller version of the QRCode), take a picture, and the Tag program will then proceed to interpret it.  First thought?  We already have a fairly competent barcode scanner app for Android.

This is remarkable to note for the reason that Android is Microsoft’s direct contender in the mobile operating system arena.  However, seeing as Microsoft has established Tag with the BlackBerry, Symbian, J2ME (Java), and even iPhone platforms, they apparently have no qualms on leveraging other competing platforms to get their technology across.

[via Techcrunch]

Some App devs (with apparent time on their hands) have coded up an iPhone app that actually duplicates the lock screen interface built-in all Android operating systems.  Take a look at the video below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpepNj8qk8g&feature=player_embedded#[/youtube]

Guess our lock screen feature is cool enough that Apple devs would want to copy it  – I’m sure Jobs & Co won’t be as amused as we are.

Listings in the App Directory can be as simple or as info-rich as you want, and the whole thing is organized by category with user-ratings and commenting.  You can also see which software is getting the most attention or the most feedback.

We’ve got a number of new features planned that should roll out over the rest of this week, again answering some of the more common requests we’ve had over the past few months.  Let us know what you think – we’re always open to suggestions!