Posts Tagged ‘Google’

Google updates the Android software with Bouncer to help fight malware

February 6th, 2012

Google has launched a new service that the company hopes to help fight the malware in the Android Market. The new tool is called “Bouncer” and it automatically scans the Android Market for any suspicious software that could be harmful to your device if downloaded. Malware has been on the rise for mobile devices in the last year as criminals make their way into the mobile world, following the scores of users that upgrade from feature phones. Malware is a billion dollar business and the criminals have been floating around the Android Market since it launched in 2008.

The Bouncer scans through new apps, as well as older apps already in the Market and also takes a peek at developer accounts to make sure malicious content will not make it onto your smartphone. Once your app has been submitted, the Bouncer software will check it over for known malware information that could cause a smartphone to react to being remotely activated by a hacker. Google said that Bouncer actually takes new apps, downloads them and runs them to test and make sure they do not contain malware.

Google said the software is not really new and that it has been around “for awhile now”. According to reports, the between the first half and second halves of 2011, there was a 40 percent increase in malware content on the Android Market. Google claims that malware numbers were already dropping as more security companies were reporting the amount of malware on the Android Market. The company also claimed that a rise might be from Android apps being downloaded from other sites and that in the Android Market the malware “is declining significantly”. As of October of 2011, the Android Market had over 400,000 mobile apps and that is prime hunting grounds for new malware to be released.

Right now, Google says that almost 70 percent of the mobile apps that are available for download can be done so for free. When the market launched Google actually had a 24-48 hour refund window, but changes that have been made put that window at a much smaller 15 minutes. In 2011, Google also added a PC client for the Android Market making it easier to browse, read about and select apps for your mobile device. Google has also added various categories to sort apps like “Top Developers” and “Top Grossing” apps.

Source:http://www.technobloom.com/google-updates-the-android-software-with-bouncer-to-help-fight-malware/225134/

Palo Software simplifies business with easy, web-based apps

January 24th, 2012

Saving time and staying current

As a small business owner or a freelance or contract worker, you know that your time and money are valuable commodities in your day-to-day life. If you use software to run your business, you’ve undoubtedly had to deal with incessant updates, installations, and licensing. These complications can cause additional errors and lost data. And as someone who doesn’t have the necessary time or resources, keeping on top of up-to-date software and other technology can cause more problems than it’s worth. But there is a solution.

Palo Software is a startup based out of Austin, Texas that provides that much-need solution. The company specializes in creating easy-to-use web-based apps that make running your business simple. One of the team’s apps, TidyContact, is specifically designed for managing your business contacts. You can import your contacts from LinkedIn, Google, and several other sources and accounts.

While TidyContact is currently in beta mode, Palo Software is continually working on “providing worry-free apps to help you organize, communicate, and share information with your customers and your peers.” So, keep an eye out for new apps in the near future. All apps are hosted on secure servers that are monitored twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Palo Software is safe, fast, and installation of the software is never required.
Unique: no contract

Another benefit that Palo Software offers its users is there are no contracts. You simply pay as you go. So, if you decide it isn’t the right solution for your needs, you won’t have to worry about getting out of a contract. Palo Software understands your basic needs as a small business owner, which is essential software that is easy to use, convenient, effective, and affordable.

Palo Software has a small and strong team of three. Headed by its founder, Ricardo Sanchez, Palo is also run by two advisors with ample experience with technology, software, and startups. While it has started out small, it has the potential to provide realistic answers to difficult questions that many, if not all, small business owners face in today’s economy.

Source:http://agbeat.com/cities/austin/palo-software-simplifies-business-with-easy-web-based-apps/

Kiwi’s software wows Google, Nasa

January 11th, 2012

What began as a side project has gone global after a New Zealand student’s software was picked up by Google and NASA.

“I never expected it to take off like this,” said University of Waikato student Paul Hunkin.

“It started off as little afternoon project and it’s gotten reasonably popular.”

Hunkin might downplay his success, but NASA called the software an “innovative solution”.

The computer science doctoral student created ClusterGL to connect multiple screens to form one huge image for the university’s display wall in 2008.

“The problem that you have when you want to make a really big wall of screens is that you need to use lots of computers, but computer programmes are usually written on one computer, so it’s quite difficult to spread them over a multiple of computers,” said Hunkin.

“My system lets you take any normal program and split it up to run across as many screens as you want.”

Hunkin was talking to Google about another project while applying for their Summer of Code internship, but when he mentioned ClusterGL they jumped on the idea.

“It turns out this problem is something a lot of people have.”

Google offered Hunkin the internship and paid him to further develop the software for their own curved display walls called Liquid Galaxy.

The Liquid Galaxy consists of several screens in a circular arrangement which run Google Earth in parallel for an immersive virtual experience.

After catching the eye of Google, the program is now being used globally, including at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre.

Hunkin hit headlines around the world in 2010 after he created a programme called “Bid Bot” which trawled through auction site Trade Me looking for rare items to bid on for just $NZ1.

While the Tauranga-local brushes aside his unexpected success calling it “nice points on my CV”, the future looks bright.

“I’m in the final bit of finishing a PhD and then I’ll look for a real job. Google would be an interesting place to work for, but the industry is evolving so rapidly. I’ve spent a bit of time in Silicon Valley, there’s some very interesting work happening out there.”

Source:http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/kiwis-software-wows-google-nasa-20120111-1pump.html

Waikato student’s software picked up by Google and NASA

January 9th, 2012

Software written by a University of Waikato computer science student has found its way to Google and NASA and is being used at the Johnson Space Center.

Computer science doctoral student Paul Hunkin’s software ClusterGL was created for the university’s display wall in 2008 and joins multiple computers together to make one huge display screen.

After catching the eye of Google earlier this year, the program is now is being used around the world.

Hunkin says there are five computers behind the Waikato display wall, with each computer controlling four screens. ClusterGL turns a display wall into one giant screen, by letting a single program on one computer control all monitors.

While the Waikato display wall is relatively small, ClusterGL can scale to let you have a display wall made from a handful to hundreds of monitors.

“I was talking to Google about another project I was working on and happened to mention ClusterGL. They have these curved display walls and thought ‘this will be brilliant for what we want’.”

Google offered Hunkin a Summer of Code internship where they paid him to further develop the software for their own curved display walls.

“ClusterGL was designed to work on a flat wall like the one we have at the university. Google’s involvement was to make ClusterGL better and work on a curved geometry.”

After releasing the software to the public, NASA saw the program and are now using it in the Johnson Space Center.

“NASA saw one of Google’s curved display walls and bought one of them. I was pretty surprised to hear they were using it considering it started out as something that I put together one a rainy Sunday afternoon,” says Hunkin.

Bid Bot, another program created by Hunkin which drew global media attention last year, works by scouring TradeMe every evening looking to bid on and buy newly-listed items for $1. After scouring TradeMe, Bid Bot would pick the rarest item and after a successful auction, tweet what it had bought.

Source:http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1201/S00002/waikato-students-software-picked-up-by-google-and-nasa.htm

Google stopped submitting patents to the USPTO: why?

January 6th, 2012

Software patent wars have always existed: companies fought them (or paid up), sometimes quietly, sometimes making a big fuss. However, something has changed over the last year or so: people started getting directly affected by software patents (ask anybody wanting a Samsung Galaxy Tab in Australia for Christmas 2011…). Lately, two things came to my attention: Google acquired 200 patents from IBM. But, more interestingly: Google hasn’t filed any patents over the last several months.
This can be confirmed by looking at Google’s own patent search.

Why not? This is certainly a very fair question. A slowdown could have been something understandable — a complete halt, however, is definitely more interesting.

Really, how many “processes” can you really patent? Getting a patent through is a long, drawn process which requires tons of paperwork and money. Maybe they just got stuck — it happens to people, and it can happen to companies too. Maybe it just so happened that they reached a point where they just couldn’t make up new ways of implementing auto-completion, or suggesting translations to words.

Reading through Google’s own filed patents, you end up reading a lot of obviousness, a few really obscure things, and not much more. This is something that software patents simply cannot help: with software, what you are really “inventing” is processes, and you cannot really go very far.

The (non-existent) list of patents filed by Google over the last 7 months
So, maybe — and I say maybe — Google is going a different direction: maybe it’s acquiring existing, half-meaningful patents from existing vendors, and the transfer of patents from IBM is only the beginning.

This second hypothesis is the one I like the best: with Microsoft actually making money from Androoid (!), maybe Google is preparing a new strategy in terms of patents — a strategy where filing patents is not the priority.

This is supported by the fact that acquiring existing, granted patents gives Google an immediate weapon to defend themselves from Microsoft — and anybody going after Android for that matter.

Maybe Google is preparing a patent alliance that will effectively defend them — and Android — from the competition’s attacks.

So, why has Google not filed a single patent application to the USPTO for 7 months now? We shall see.

Source:http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/google_stopped_submitting_patents_USPTO_why

New Software Simulates Insurance ‘Green’ Scoring Systems

January 5th, 2012

GRC-Pirk Management has disclosed the measures used for green performance reporting to insurance companies. Computer-modeling techniques are used to simulate the Key Performance Indicator “KPI”scoring schemes established by insurers.

The computational software was developed in association with the U.S. EPA apps-for-the-environment www.findgreengarage.com program to promote state and local green businesses. The Google software locates eco-friendly shops and displays their greenhouse gas reduction rating.

Shop owners and managers are now able to use greenhouse gas reduction rate scores to predict the KPI score used by an insurance company. By utilizing non-intrusive data acquisition from utility suppliers, performance scores can be computed without intervention. An insurer’s performance score can pack a big wallop and knowing what indicators make up the score is essential, according to GRC-Pirk.

Green metrics computer-modeling is now capable of coming within 5 percent of an insurer’s KPI scoring system without the use of proprietary and confidential information, such as how long it takes to repair a car, how many cars can be repaired within a specific time frame, or how much it costs to undertake specific repairs.

Source:http://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/Article/95361/new_software_simulates_insurance_green_scoring_systems.aspx

Google Pulls Fake Siri App from Android Market

January 2nd, 2012

Google has apparently pulled an application which represented itself as Siri, Apple’s revolutionary voice command software, from the Android Marketplace.

Siri imitators have swarmed the Android marketplace since Apple launched their latest handset, the iPhone 4S. This particular app was taken down, however, because it represented itself as Siri, in violation of an Apple copyright.

The app, which went live in the Android Market on December 28, was produced by Official Software. Google removed the application from the Android Market just hours after appearing, according to The Next Web. More than one thousand people downloaded the app before it was removed.

Google does not filter its app store, so software producers can upload just about any application to the Marketplace. Though Google was quick to act in this situation, such a system raises the risk of copyright breaches.

Source:http://www.tapscape.com/google-pulls-fake-siri-app-from-android-market/

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