Did you really buy that app? XDA member exposes Play store vulnerability

Over at XDA forums a vulnerability in Googles Play store application has been exposed by user Zanderman112 that means anyone could use your phone or tablet to purchase applications, even if you have the app set to use pin protection to prevent unauthorised purchases.

The Play store app allows you to set a pin code for security so that, when someone goes to purchase an app, they have to know the code you chose in order to complete the transaction.

If you have purchased apps before then this is of course a very useful feature to have as it means that no one but you can run up a bill by purchasing apps.

Except that, it turns out, they can.

As Zanderman112 points out "All someone has to do to be able to make purchases on a supposed secure play store is go to Settings>Applications>All>Google Play Store and click clear data. No more pin".

And surprisingly it really is that simple, try it yourself and see. What will happen after clearing the data is that you will get the notice about Play Store and the first time screen asking you to click the button to accept the terms and conditions.

When you do that the Play store app will automatically recognise the account your device is logged into and all your apps will show up in the Play store with no purchase restrictions, meaning anyone with access to your phone or tablet can easily purchase applications as if they are you.

Zanderman112 provides an easy solution to the problem for Google, if they choose to implement it "The fix to this would obviously be that google have the pin be connected to your google account, instead of stored locally on the device". The question is will they?

In the mean time a temporary but effective solution is to lock your Android device with a pin code. For some that may get a bit tedious having to type in a code but unlike the Play store app code the system lock code is not so easy to bypass and will provide a much more effective form of security against the purchase of apps by others than relying on Play stores pin.

Dredd 3D hit or miss?

Ok I'll admit it, I was a big fan of the Comic books and not so keen on the Stallone version of Judge Dredd so the recently released Dredd 3D was something I really wanted to be good, but would it be?

In Dredd 3D America is a waste land ravaged by radiation, in the middle of this waste land sits Mega City One which, as the name suggests, is a very big (mega) city.

Suffering from high crime rates the only form of justice are the judges, armour clad police who are quite literally judge jury and executioner. Justice is instant, there are no courts and no legal trickery to get the guilty free, the judges decide your fate when they catch you and it's as simple as that.

The most feared of these judges is Judge Dredd, he sees the law as black and white. To him there is only guilty or not guilty and even the best excuse in the world won't change his mind if he finds someone guilty.

Tasked with taking a trainee judge out to test if she is ready for active duty Dredd and the rookie, a mutant named Anderson, respond to a grizzly multiple homicide in one of the cities huge towers where thousands of people live and work.

Unfortunately for the judges this particular two hundred storey tower is home to some very nasty characters headed by the drug queen Ma Ma who has her own reasons for wanting the two judges dead.

And so, as a result, the building is locked down and no one can go in or out until her order to kill them is carried out.

Cue two hours of non stop action, plenty of impressive 3D sequences and of course the well known Dredd 'catch phrase'  "I AM the law".

Fans will be happy to know that this is not in any way like the light hearted Stallone version, there are a few stern faced one liners of course but nothing to make you laugh out loud or worse still to make you groan.

No, this is definitely Judge Dredd for grown ups.

There is a lot of blood, lots of gory killing of the guilty, a serviceable plot, some enjoyable 3D set pieces and of course plenty of action.

Yes you read that right, the story is serviceable, not great but not rubbish either. It is clearly there to set up lots of action and it does so very well, it doesn't introduce noticeable plot holes, it tells us what we need to know and who the bad guys are and it doesn't bore the viewer.

Basically it does what any good action film ought to do, set up a hero and a villain and then set them against each other.

Karl Urban is exactly as you'd expect Dredd to be, he looks the part and he gets straight into dispensing justice in the way only Dredd can. Lena Headey is far from her normal self in the movie. Gone, well obscured, are her good looks but as usual she still plays the role of a strong independent woman very well and does a good job as the films big bad guy Ma Ma, well the films big bad girl.

It's surprisingly hard to fault the film, the action is constant, the actors all do a good job, the special effects are very well done and despite not having a plot that will win any Oscars it certainly doesn't bore and it won't have you looking at your watch and wondering how much longer it's on for.

The 3D is great in some key scenes (most notably the scenes involving the use of the slow mo drug), but there are some scenes that don't look really amazing in it but then that is probably the only negative thing to say about the film from the point of view of a fan of the action genre.

Dredd is a film for those who like lots of action, or who grew up reading the comic books. It is a fun no holds barred action movie that will easily keep you entertained right up to the end titles and for those who are fans of the character already this is a film that delivers the Judge Dredd we know and love.

The not so amazing iPhone 5? - details and reactions

As expected Apple unveiled the new iPhone 5 today and while it's quite different to the 4S that it replaces the new model has already convinced even some die hard Apple fans that, with the passing of Steve Jobs, the company really did lose their source of inspiration.

With a four inch display the iPhone  5 has a better chance of competing with its Android rivals, there is still no NFC which could put some people off and it does essentially look like someone simply stretched an iPhone 4S rather than looking like the polished design icon fans have come to know and love, something that has already caused some of those fans to criticise it even before it has gone on sale, but surely there is plenty about the phone to get excited by?

If you're an Android user of phones such as Samsungs S3 then the answer to that is no, but for 4S users there are some big changes.

The phone is taller with a larger screen, it has a higher resolution which while not HD is pretty close at 1136 pixels by 640 which allows for an extra row of icons (yes that really is a selling point apparently) and although it still isn't quite a 16:9 format screen, and it isn't high definition, it is a significant step up for current iPhone users.

Data wise it will support pretty much any standard used by carriers around the world including LTE (and yes that does mean the UK version of 4G will work just fine) so in theory if you can get one unlocked you could potentially use it anywhere.

Apple claim the iPhone is the worlds thinnest smartphone at just 7.6 millimetres thick, and while fans of the company will undoubtedly spout this claim verbatim the thinnest smartphone is actually the Oppo Finder at just 6.65 millimetres thick, but it is slightly thinner than its main rival the Galaxy S3.

The camera is the same eight megapixel one as that of the 4S but with a few tweaks such as a new low light mode, sapphire crystal lens cover, faster photo capture, ability to recognise ten faces at once, better stabilisation and panorama software, there is a new much smaller dock connector which will render all previous iPhone accessories unusable with the iPhone 5 unless you use Apples adaptor which will set you back £18 ($30) and it has a new A6 processor which is claimed to be twice as quick as that used in the 4S.

No details on how many cores the A6 chip uses are available but based on battery life of ten hours video playback it is most likely to be a dual core Arm A15 design similar to Samsungs Exynos 5 which runs at up to 1.7 gigahertz although Apple would likely lower it to around 1.2 gigahertz.which would still make it much quicker than that of the previous iPhone, the 4S.

Software wise the phone runs iOS 6 which has turn by turn satellite navigation to help keep up with Android which has already had this feature for some time, Siri can now start apps and the iPhone has three microphones tucked away inside to help it better understand your voice and help with noise cancellation.

The new iPhone goes on sale September 21 st but already, just hours after its debut, even some of Apples staunchest supporters are voicing disappointment and noting that it doesn't compete well in some areas with other high end phones and that the design lacks Apples usual sense of style.

When endgadget got their hands on the new model the reader feedback was split with comments from Apple users ranging from:

"That is seriously the ugliest design "upgrade" apple has done. WTF were they thinking. Two-tone of non-contrasting colors looks HORRIBLE. looks like something is wrong with the back. I saw the leaks and refused to believe apple would come out with such an ugly design. Top that off with is narrow and long look, they've turned something beautiful in the 4s into something just UGLY. No upgrade for me."


"i have a 4s, its this phone minus a row of icons....not worth upgrading", "I have an iphone 4s....i think the old design looks nicer, the new cable will require all new (costly) accessories, and from all i can see the new phone is adding LTE and another row of icons"




"They're just playing catch-up, and Apple can't pretend like it has resisted changing the iPhone's design all those years because it was unquestionably the best and the others were erring in their quest for bigger screens and faster connection speeds.

The iPhone 5 is the final nail in the coffin of those who defended the designs of the iPhone 4 and 4S versus the crop of high-end Android phones. It's an admission by Apple that they were wrong to stick to the smaller 3.5-inch screen and to mock those who went with bigger screens, that it was wrong to ignore LTE connectivity. It's an admission that, in some important ways, the iPhone 4 and 4S were inferior to the competition."

to the more die hard comments which focussed more on having a dig at Android than defending the new iPhone, such as

"For the s3 people, how to you like the need of a backpack to carry a phone around? Are they subsidized by Samsung? I think the iPhone 5 is good looking phone, nothing surprisingly new, but it is quite nice".

Apples stock rose after the product launch, as expected, but the lack of anything special in the iPhone 5, and the fact that Apple have ignored Steve Jobs views to make a larger iPhone, has left some asking if Apple can continue to compete as strongly as it always has when it isn't offering anything that challenges the competition and is instead beginning to be seen as trying to play catchup with Android phones.

There is no doubt that it will sell, and sell well, but already doubts are being aired about Apples continued success in the smartphone market just hours after what could have been a ground breaking product launch but instead became more of a "meh" than a "wow".

Sales figures will tell the story better than forum comments, reports in the media or the guessings of industry analysts but one thing is clear, not everyone is happy with the change in direction of the iPhone 5. Apple will lose some customers, how many remains to be seen although it is doubtful that it will be many, but if Apple are unable to do more than play catch up to the competition then at some point more and more customers will inevitably notice and consider buying an alternative product that has more or better features.

This can be seen already with some apple fans expressing their disappointment before the product has gone on sale, and the recent spate of lawsuits against companies such as Samsung and HTC now more than ever look like an attempt to keep iPhone market share by limiting the choice of alternatives available to consumers.

Apple claim grocery store is trying to copy them

Fresh from their billion dollar win over Samsung for their copying of such patented apple innovations as rounded corners, a flat black border on phones and tablets and rounded icons Apple are at it again.

Having already launched fresh lawsuits against other Android manufacturers, and having renewed their efforts to get a number of Samsungs phones (including the Galaxy S3) banned in America and Europe as stores worldwide prepare to sell the new iPhone, Apple have another target in their sight who, they claim, are blatantly copying their logo and site design in an effort to confuse Apple customers.

The company in question is Polish food retailer a.pl whose sister site fresh24.pl uses an apple as part of its logo. Yes you read correctly, Apple are suing a food retailer for using an apple that in no way resembles Apples iconic logo, and using the website address a.pl.

As you can see from the logo shown here the website are simply using an apple, it is not the same look colour or design as the famous Apple logo nor does it have a bite out of it.

Not surprisingly, the Polish website doesn't sell electrical products and so cannot really mislead Apple customers into buying products under false pretences....because they simply don't sell anything similar, so there is zero chance of an Apple customer mistaking an actual apple (fruit) for an iPhone or iPad and mistakenly buying one only to get it home and find that the dock connector doesn't fit.

Last year Apple ordered a German cafe called Apfelkind (AppleChild) to stop using an apple in their logo as it could cause confusion and was in violation of their trademark. Before that they sued a Canadian school for using an apple as part of its logo because, apparently, no one can now use an apple as part of any logo nor the word apple or something similar such as apl for fear it will confuse Apple customers.

Apple, it seems, genuinely believe that their customers are moronic or illiterate enough (or both) to not only mistakenly buy other companies products but also mistake food stores and schools for Apple stores and that they therefore need to be protected from themselves.

What is almost as surprising as Apple suing grocers, schools and cafes is that most Apple customers don't understand that Apples victories are based on their arguing that they (the customers) are stupid.

Apple successfully argued recently that people were mistakenly buying Samsung products because they confused the two brands, something that you just can't do in a real world environment because aside from the obvious branding on Samsung devices Apple products are always displayed in their own section away from those of their competitors.

But to try arguing that their customers can be confused by a food store might be a harder sell for Apple, although if Apple are correct about some of their customers you may soon see queues of upset people in Apple stores holding kumquats and cucumbers, wanting to know why they won't power up.

Red Dwarf back for new series

Almost twenty five years after it first aired a new series of cult sci fi series Red Dwarf hits UK tv channel Dave in just under a month.

After a mixed reception to the crews most recent outing in the three part special "back to earth" it became clear that fans still loved the show but weren't overly keen on the convoluted and at times unfunny story.

Dave decided to listen to the fans and give the Red Dwarf crew a full series now set back aboard the ship fans have come to know and love rather than on earth. The crew are understandably older, it has been quarter of a century after all, but sneak peeks and trailers show their funny bones are clearly still very much intact.

Craig Charles, who plays everyones favourite slob Dave Lister, sums up the new series in an interview with Bleeding Cool:

"We’ve stopped being an action adventure series and gone back to being more of a sitcom. Back To Earth looked fantastic and was very clever but it wasn’t as funny as it could have been, choosing to be more of an emotional journey. We’re now back to being four clowns in a room, each trying to be funnier than the next man. We’re still 3 million years into deep space, looking for a way home and really hot curry. But now it’s a bit more like Grumpy Old Men".

Red Dwarf X airs on Dave at 9 pm on the fourth of October.

"Android inspired" iPhone to debut next week

Apple have now officially confirmed they will premiere a new product next week, and the invites have a big number five as the shadow underneath that products launch date which means, yes you guessed it....the new iPhone is about to go public.

What you may not know is that the new iPhone is designed to challenge the likes of Samsungs Galaxy S3 and other high profile Android smartphones and as such will be sporting a new look for what will in effect be "iPhone - the next generation".

What do we know, and of course what can we safely guess at about the new iPhone?

Well unsurprisingly it is (unofficially of course) inspired by Android. No that doesn't mean that Apple suddenly like Android but it does mean that they have looked at the popularity of the best selling Android phones and designed the new iPhone to include some of their rivals most popular features.

Reliable news sources such as Reuters have confirmed that the iPhone will sport a larger four inch screen and the resolution of this screen is likely to be 640 x 1146 and sport a new row of apps if the developer version of iOS 6 is anything to go by.

When set to this resolution, to match the expected screen size of the new iPhone, iOS 6 automatically adds a new row of applications on screen and adapts to fit the increased display size whereas previous versions of the operating system simply space the apps out more.

This is the first sign that Apple have taken note of their rivals success, Steve Jobs always refused to make a larger size iPhone, he simply hated the idea of a larger screen size and while he was alive Apple were not allowed to change it.

And yet after his death sources inside Apple began saying he actually worked on the new iPhone and that he supported the idea of larger screen sizes. The skeptically minded among us may think that this is simply Apple using Jobs popularity to boost sales by saying "Steve Jobs helped design this", and that this will be said about other upcoming Apple products, but whether this is true or not the new iPhone will sport a larger screen. And it will be a widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) one.

It will also sport a different dock connector. The traditional thirty pin connector has been dropped in favour of a smaller connector. And yes this will render it unusable with current iPhone accessories but no doubt Apple will already have an adapter cable available, for a price, that will help connect the different interfaces.

We don't know the cpu type but a new Apple battery has leaked, it is just ten milli amp hours higher rated than that of the iPhone 4S and is claimed to be the new iPhone 5 battery. It could of course be destined for the current 4S but if it really is (as claimed) that of the new iPhone then it suggests the phones cpu will be a dual core model and not the quad core monster that many people are expecting.

This would explain the small increase in battery life, the battery for the iPhone 4S had the same amount of increase over the iPhone 4, and would mean Apple have chosen to play it safe with a dual core processor rather than risk utilising a quad core which would traditionally necessitate a more powerful battery.

The cpu will clock in at between 1.2 and 1.5 gigahertz, probably dual core rather than quad core, and while some may argue this is not enough to compete with the higher end Android phones it's important to realise that a number of high end models still use dual core processors and that iOS is already optimised to work with a dual core processor, so in practice a dual core processor would actually make sense.

Despite recent claims to the contrary it is very likely the new iPhone will indeed feature Near Field Communication. Apple have moved the new iPhones camera and it would make sense to do so if they were planning to put an nfc chip there as the rumoured stronger metal back would prevent an nfc chip from transmitting signals properly whereas placing the chip where the camera previously went would be a better location.

So, will it or won't it have near field communication? With experts divided on the subject the likelihood, if only from a common sense point of view, is likely to be yes.

NFC is emerging rapidly as a popular technology, here in the UK and a growing number of other countries it is used for quick cashless payments in a number of shops enabling you to just swipe your phone over a reader in order to pay a bill. It is also increasingly being used in areas such as home automation (switching on appliances when you enter or exit your home for example) and in initiating file transfers between compatible devices.

As more and more Android phones take advantage of this it makes sense for Apple, who will be competing with them, to do the same otherwise they risk falling behind and that's something Apple won't want to do.

It makes commercial sense for Apple to include nfc in the new iPhone, that doesn't mean they will but if they decide not to it will put them at a disadvantage against rival phones such as the S3.

Feature wise iOS 6 on the new iPhone finally adds some things Android users have had for a while (and no I'm not referring to the notification centre iOS now has, something that Apple "borrowed" from Google).

With the new iPhone you can dismiss a phone call with a message or set a smart reminder, UK users can now finally use Siri to get UK based information, there is better facebook integration, turn by turn satellite navigation comes in and users of the new iPhone will now be able to download applications in the background and no longer need to type in their password when they want to download free applications.

With a larger screen size, nfc, a smaller dock connector and features such as the recent notification centre and upcoming iOS features such as dismissing calls with messages, better facebook integration and turn by turn satellite navigation the new iPhone will be more in line with its Android rivals but unless it has a few new tricks up its sleeve Apples latest offering may not have what it takes to threaten Androids increasing dominance in the smartphone arena.

Regardless of its features you can be sure the newest iPhone will sell very well as always helped along by the fact that the late Steve Jobs was "involved" in its design (something which no doubt will also be claimed for the iPad Mini should it see the light of day in October).

New Android version doesn't call home

Want all the fun of Android but without the bits that send your data back to Google? Well a new version of Google, made by and for Russians, does just that. Yes you heard correctly, Googles servers will no longer penetrate your shields (and yes, that was a nod to star trek).

At it's unveiling at the IFA in Berlin to Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin the projects manager, Dimitry Mikhailov, claimed the new version of Android is un hackable and has all the features of Android as we know it but that it won't send any data to Google.

Although only available for the Russian top brass right now a tablet running a slimmed down version will go on sale to the public later this year for $460. Perhaps by then some enterprising developer will figure out how to put this on to some of the popular smart phones, while this will of course appeal to the foil hat brigade the Russians own reasons for making this, that they are concerned their data may be leaked from Googles servers and therefore compromise their privacy, is a valid one.

It may seem overly paranoid, and perhaps it is, but then as the old saying goes "it's not paranoia if their really after you". So, for those who prefer it the Google free Android experience is on its way.

And for those curious about the Android logo used for this article, it's a rather neat twist from Richard Racz on the traditional Google version.

iHard - Bruce Willis set to take on Apple over iTunes

You've heard of Apple and Samsung battling each other in court but the fruity giant from Cupertino may soon star in a legal face off with Hollywood star Bruce Willis who is considering suing over ownership of his iTunes collection.

As you may or may not know you don't actually own the music or videos you purchase from Apple using iTunes, you pay for a license to use them, so should you wish to give your collection away, or leave it to a loved one, you can't.

Bruce, unhappy that he can't leave his collection to his daughters, is said to be willing to face Apple in court in order to get the right to transfer ownership, a right many iTunes users may not even be aware they don't have.

Apple have the power to freeze the use of any iTunes account if they  believe that account is being shared illegally, something that would render the stars collection unusable.

The chances are that Apple will come to an agreement to avoid such a high profile celebrity court case where they could be seen as being in the wrong but, if they don't then Willis's next starring role could just be in court.