Friday, July 13, 2012

Android Phone Fans

Android Phone Fans

Android Forums Security Breach – Change Your Passwords, Penetration Tester Wanted

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:17 PM PDT

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It seems like online security breaches are, unfortunately, just a sign of our times. Whether you’re Yahoo or Formspring — of which 450,000 passwords were recently exposed — it seems like online attacks are becoming ever more prevalent. It’s with that I regret to inform you that our own dedicated forums site, Android Forums, was recently the target of such an attack in which passwords may have been compromised.

There’s a lot of information here, and we want to make sure you guys know that our best men are on top of it, and that your security and trust are our top priority. I’ll let our Android Forums community manager Talton Phases take it from here. He’s got all the deets, but first — make a short trip on over to Android Forums and change your password. Also, we are looking for a penetration tester that can help us with an audit. If you fit the bill, drop us an email at security@androidforums.com and our pubkey can be found here: Android Forums PGP Key

Done? Cool. You may continue…

I have some unfortunate news to pass along. Yesterday I was informed by our sever/developer team that the server hosting androidforums.com was compromised and the website’s database was accessed. While the breach is most likely harmless there are important and potential pitfalls, and we want to provide as much helpful information to our users as possible (without getting too technical).

The trust of our users is extremely important and several staff members worked through the afternoon, evening, night, and morning to ensure we’re doing everything possible to regain complete security.

Here are the facts:

- The exploit used has been identified and resolved. The server has been further hardened and extra “just in case” actions have been taken.. and will continue to be taken.

- All code that resides in the database and the file system has been thoroughly reviewed for malicious edits and uploads.

- No other sites in our network appear to have been accessed (we’re triple checking).

- The user table of AndroidForum’s database was (at a minimum) accessed. While we can’t prove or disprove whether or not the data was downloaded (due to the way the data was transferred), it’s completely possible.. and we’ve taken action assuming this is the case.

- Information in the user database includes: Unique ids, usernames, emails, hashed (encoded) passwords, registration IP addresses, usergroup memberships, infraction levels, last time online, last post date, post count… as well as far less critical things like number of PMs, visitor messages, last online dates, and some vbulletin options set in your UserCP.

- Immediately following the incident, all ~100 staff were notified of a pending password change – and all passwords to were changed to random strings. Almost all are back in with new passwords. Because gaining access to a staff member account could pose the biggest threat, we first moved to secure these accounts.

What Probably Happened

This was, in our current opinion, most likely an e-mail harvesting attempt. A spammer could theoretically attempt to bulk e-mail all AF users with the user database. Luckily, GMail and similar e-mail services offer a “spam” button that helps it to collectively identify and automatically filter potential spam.

It’s also absolutely possible that nothing of consequence happened. There is some chance they did not get enough of the database to matter, did this for fun to see if they could, or will not move forward with any plans after finding out we’re actively investigating. This is a serious offense and you can best bet we are doing just that.

What Could Happen?

We take matters like these incredibly seriously and want to make sure you’re warned of ALL the possibilities, regardless of how slim the chances. You can never be too safe, so we’re asking you to consider the possibilities and protect accordingly.

- This could be someone who is upset with us who hopes to use the information against staff

- With username, email, and IP information, a skilled hacker could pretend to be other users.

- They could blackmail us and threaten to publish the information publicly.

- Knowing your IP one can get a general idea of where you are located in the world, though most your IPs are dynamic and will change before too long anyway.

- With a username and hashed password one could open a session with accounts on other sites that use the same credentials – if they gain file level access to that site first.

What should you do?

Although we’re confident the threat is neutralized it is still highly recommended that you change your password here and on other sites where you use the same username/password. This can be done while logged in through your UserCP, or using the “forgot your password?” page if logged out. You can also contact me via PM orContact Form and we will help you if you need.

No website wants to make an announcement like this. I assure you we, as the Neverstill Team, could not apologize profusely enough. Websites come under attack all time time – and sometimes the bad guys make it in. Unfortunately for us, yesterday was our time. We have been attacked before but never breached, and please know we are going to continue to do everything in our power to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

If you have any questions please let us know – we will do our best to answer them. I will leave this thread open for discussion as long as it remains productive.

-Phases, Rob, and the Neverstill Team

UPDATE: I forgot to mention. If you are using the Android Applications – they will not register the password change and may flood your email with “someone has tried to access your account” emails. Unfortunately the only advice I have for that is to uninstall/re-install the app, if you cannot change your password from within.

 


P.S We are looking for a security expert to pentest androidforums.com. You will be compensated monetarily if selected.

if interested our email is: security [/at/] androidforums.com

our pubkey is located at key please send as an attachment anything you need to pgp.

Verizon Bound HTC 6435 Appears In GLBenchmark – Full HD Display and S4 Pro Processor Crushes The Competition

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 05:25 PM PDT

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Alright, this is all getting a bit complicated but try to keep up. Earlier today we told you guys about a possible HTC “Evitareul” heading to AT&T as a souped up One X, featuring a Tegra 3 processor and the (now standard) 720p display. Weird that a follow up One X would be coming to AT&T a few months later with only a quad-core processor to show for itself, but let’s move along.

Before that, there was a benchmark leaked for an HTC Vertex HD complete with Tegra 3 processor and 720p display. No word on display size, but I’d expect something along the lines of a 7-inch tablet ala the HTC Flyer from back in the day. So what about the high-end 10-inch tablet market? Well, it’s looking like HTC could be soon covering their bases there as well.

Now, we have a GLBenchmark for a certain “HTC 6435 LVW,” a mysterious device headed to Verizon Wireless with a codename all too similar to the HTC Rezound (6425). Could this mean a follow up handset? Maybe. Let’s get to the interesting part. The HTC 6435 isn’t your run of the mill Android device. No, sir. This device features a full 1080p HD display and one of Qualcomm’s all new S4 “Pro” processors. This isn’t the typical S4 processor we’ve been seeing in smartphones and tablets lately. The S4 Pro features a more powerful Adreno 320 GPU capable of smashing benchmarks and breaking hearts. Don’t believe me? The benchmarks below speak for themselves.

Compare that same GLBenchmark to one from the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity — a tablet with 1080p display, and quad-core Tegra 3 processor — the Infinity was only capable of reaching 76.6fps under the Egypt off-screen 720p test. While that’s still nothing to sneeze at, that’s a far cry from the HTC 6435′s blistering 121.1fps. Sweet, mother of pearl.

The only thing left unanswered is whether or not this device will be a phone, tablet or both? It’s been long rumored HTC has been hard at work on a 5-inch Galaxy Note competitor, but I have a feeling that may be nothing more than the previously benched HTC Vertex HD. This… this is something more. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up (seriously, this is more than likely a tablet), but given the rumor mill has been unusually quiet regarding Nexus rumors — how cool would it be if this was a Google sanctioned, HTC Nexus device? Excuse me, sirs, I’ll be needing to change my underpants now.

[GLBenchmark | Netbook Italia]

Motorola ATRIX HD won’t have Lapdock/Webtop capabilities

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 03:48 PM PDT

With all of the great things we’ve been told about from the Atrix HD, there’s one black spot on an otherwise good apple: it won’t be coming with Lapdock support and the accompanying software, Webtop.

Motorola says they stripped these features out to keep costs down, and the likely cause of that decision is due to the operator who will be offering it: AT&T. The functionality in the phone itself costs almost nothing to implement, we imagine. It’s the Lapdock accessory that would incur most of the expenses for both parties involved.

We can’t imagine AT&T was happy with the sales of the original Lapdock. The device was grossly overpriced — you could buy a decent tablet or laptop for how much they were asking for. Moving it off the shelves must have been a pain and supply that heavily outweighs demand is an ugly issue for any company.

While we’ve seen Lapdocks for other devices considerably cheaper since then, AT&T probably just doesn’t want to be bothered. In any case, if you’re a bit vexed by this news there’s always the option of not buying it. Or you could just use the money you were going to spend on it to buy a very nice 7 inch tablet. [via The Verge]

Nexus 7 tablets to ship in the coming days

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 02:42 PM PDT

We’ve gotten more than a few reports to be confident enough to inform you folks that Google seems to be shipping the Nexus 7 tablet starting this ween and early next week. Some users are getting confirmation that their orders will ship either today, tomorrow, or July 16th, the first business day after the weekend.

Most reports we’ve gotten say standard 2-day shipping is in order so things should arrive no later than the middle of next week for most. This would tie-in perfectly with Google’s initial mid-July launch window, though there was reason to believe that devices wouldn’t begin shipping until July 19th.

Perhaps that date was for orders not yet placed as of the time of that posting. Either way, some users will find nice hardware at their doorsteps starting next week. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

New HTC phone hits benchmark listing sporting 1.7GHz Tegra 3 processor? [RUMOR]

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 01:57 PM PDT

After finding out about a possible Tegra 3 HTC tablet over at Nenamark 2, a listing from GLBenchmark seems to suggest HTC is working on a 72op, 1.7GHz quad-core Tegra 3 phone. There’s reason to believe the device could be another One phone. Its listing shows the name “evitareul,” and the HTC One XL’s codename was “evitare” before its launch.

There’s no telling if this is a variant of an existing model, but we see it being a One phone either way. The listing also suggests this will be going to AT&T’s network, and since we know they prefer their high-end phones to have LTE it’s safe to suggest this will sport the necessary radios for high speed wireless data.

As we know, the Snapdragon S4 chipset is more desirable in America right now due to its LTE compatibility, but NVIDIA has been sampling their LTE-ready Tegra 3 SoC for quite some time and we expect to see it in devices in the latter portions of the year. That doesn’t say anything about when we can expect this device to arise, though — that could be anytime between now and until the cows come home. [via Notebook Italia]

HTC Vertex HD tablet in the works?

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 01:21 PM PDT

Yesterday we were discussing how HTC would be bringing a new tablet to the UK despite no rumors of a new tablet to be found. Welp, here’s that rumor we were looking for: HTC could soon be coming to market with one HTC Vertex HD. It’s said to be an Android 4.0+ tablet that will feature NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor and a 1280×752 display.

That resolution doesn’t do much to help us narrow the unknown display size, but it could be anywhere between 7 and 10 inches. HTC only released two Android tablets to date.

Their lack of focus on the market may have been indication that they were finding it hard to compete, but if this benchmark listing is anything to go by it looks like they may be ready to jump back into the fold.

Kernel source for HTC EVO 4G LTE kernel 1.13 released

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:59 AM PDT

It looks like HTC’s just posted a nice treat for EVO 4G LTE developers. The kernel source for the device’s 1.13.651.1 has been uploaded to HTC’s developer site. This will allow folks to develop better ROMs against the latest upgrade. This OTA introduced a new kernel so this should help developers out tremendously. If you want to get started with the download be sure to head to HTC Dev now. [via AndroidForums.com, thanks Capt Throwback!]

Motorola DROID RAZR and RAZR MAXX Ice Cream Sandwich Fastboot files released

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:44 AM PDT

Folks who want some peace of mind for their Motorola DROID RAZR and RAZR MAXX will want to pay attention. Fastboot files have been made available for the device. These particular files are the ones that will get you back to a clean start on 4.0.4.

These are useful for people who seem to have soft-bricked their phones or who just want to get back to stock for whatever reason. While we much prefer the convenience of SBF files, these aren’t much harder to handle. you’ll need RSDLite to flash them should you ever find the need. [Download via Droid-Life]

IMDB for Android updated in the Play Store

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 11:00 AM PDT

If you’re a fan of IMDB you’ll love their latest Android update. The new version brings information about filming locations and soundtracks, a “similar titles” feature for TV shows and movies, the ability to log in using your Amazon account, Metacritic ratings, mobile message boards, and a whole lot more. Pretty soon there might not even be a reason to go to the website itself. Go ahead and grab the update in the Google Play Store.

Image of Motorola XT907 for Verizon surfaces, could be mid-range RAZR

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 09:11 AM PDT

Verizon and Motorola’s RAZR lineup looks to be expanding once again. Along with the upcoming Motorola RAZR HD, a newly leaked image suggests we may be getting a mid-range model as well. Identified as the Motorola XT907 with Verizon and 4G LTE logos squarely in place, the device pictured above carries the trademark Kevlar backing of the RAZR series and a design that would mesh right in as well, though the phone takes more cues from the recently announced ATRIX HD than it does from the likes of the Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX.

The model number positions the device below the original RAZR (XT912) and upcoming RAZR HD (XT926), which implies that the device will rank slightly lower in terms of hardware. Rumors place a dual-core Snapdragon S4 and qHD display as some of the expected components. Little else is known about the device at this time.

[via DroidLife]

Samsung to announce Galaxy Note 2 during IFA Unpacked event?

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 08:25 AM PDT

The next big tech industry trade show on our docket is IFA, which takes place in Berlin during the first week of September. While typically not the host to as many big mobile announcements as the likes of CES and Mobile World Congress, the presence of such devices at the convention has been growing. Now comes word that Samsung Mobile will host an Unpacked event on August 30th just prior to the IFA’s kickoff. With the Galaxy S III in the rearview mirror, little is left on our radar for the Korean manufacturer to unveil. Could we see the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2?

The sequel to last year’s so-called phablet seems like the only logical option, and rumors about the device are starting to ramp up in recent weeks. The Note has fallen in place as a secondary flagship device in Samsung’s line that offers a different sort of functionality than the company’s other premier device, the Galaxy S III. Samsung has introduced tablets at IFA in the past, and a hybrid phone/tablet would certainly feel at home. Of course, we could instead be introduced to a new line of Galaxy Tabs, or perhaps both. Only time will tell, at this point.

[via SammyHub]

Sprint announces white HTC EVO 4G LTE for July 15 launch, priced at $199

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:52 AM PDT

Today Sprint is introducing us to a new color variant of their HTC EVO 4G LTE. The long-rumored white deco will be available for purchase starting July 15th. The new version of the latest edition to the EVO line was expected, to say the least, with leaks tipping us off to the exact release details weeks ago. Other than the altered exterior, the phone will retain the same specs as the original. This includes a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 4.7-inch HD display, and Android 4.0 with Sense 4. Users hoping to pick up the phone next week can do so for $199 when buying the device alongside a new two-year contract.

[via Sprint]

Sprint posts Android 4.0 changelog for Samsung Epic 4G Touch, update rolling out today

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:27 AM PDT

And with little fanfare Sprint has made the rollout of Ice Cream Sandwich for the Samsung Epic 4G Touch official. Via a posting to their community forums, software version FF18 was made official via an abbreviated changlog that lists email enhancements and a Google security patch right next to the obvious main goal of the update, which is bringing the Galaxy S II variant to Android 4.0.4. The announcement comes after rumors pointed to today as a likely candidate for the software upgrades launch as well as Samsung posting the source code of build FF18 to their open source site.

The update is rolling out over the air and likely will hit devices at a staggered pace, but you can attempt to pull it now by heading into your phone’s settings and checking “System updates” under “About phone.” Then go pop a bottle of champagne, you’ve waited long enough.

[Sprint via PhoneDog]

AT&T to offer exclusive Garnet Red Samsung Galaxy S3, pre-orders begin July 15

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:15 AM PDT

Don’t fancy yourself the Marble White or Pebble Blue type? AT&T and Samsung are giving you one more choice when it comes to the color of your Galaxy S3. An exclusive Garnet Red Samsung Galaxy S3 will be available from the carrier this month, featuring all the specs we’ve come to love about the phone in a package that is all the more fiery. From the initial renders the new deco doesn’t look half bad, but we’ll wait to see a production model to pass final judgement. We all remember the problems Samsung had with the Pebble Blue paint job. The Garnet Red edition of the Galaxy S3 will be available for pre-order on July 15th. It hits stores on July 29th.

[via AT&T]

Verizon becomes last major US carrier to offer Samsung Galaxy S3, in stores today

Posted: 12 Jul 2012 07:04 AM PDT

If you have been holding out on picking up the Samsung Galaxy S3 until it was available from good ol’ Verizon Wireless, here’s your friendly reminder to head down to your local shop and pick one up. After a minor delay, the phone is now available for purchase online and in stores starting at $199 for the 16GB model. Verizon should have both the Marble White and Pebble Blue variants in stock. The caveat is online orders ship until 7/16, so heading to a nearby retailer is your best bet. If you haven’t done so yet, go ahead and check out our review of the LTE superphone. If you don’t have time to read that, here’s a synopsis: you are going to want the Galaxy S III.

[Verizon]
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