| Google pencils in Android event on July 24th, new Nexus or Moto X Jul 17th 2013, 16:36, by Cory Gunther Our good friends over at Google have just started sending out invites for an event scheduled for July 24th in San Francisco. It’s time to get excited folks because next Wednesday Google will be dropping some Android news on us. The invite simply asks select press to join Google “for breakfast with Sundar Pichai,” who is the head of Android and Chrome these days. 
While there’s nothing teased on the actual invite, this only means one of a few things. Google will either be announcing the long awaited update to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean along with their new Nexus 7 2 tablet, or this could also be the Moto X. We’re not entirely sure, but the Moto X news should be kicking up any day now. This is an invite-only press event, where we’ll likely be seeing everything that’s new with Android, and possibly some new things with Chrome as well. The fact that it’s going out to Android sites confirms this will be an Android event, and we’re pretty excited. Don’t worry guys, we’ll be there live to capture anything and everything revealed and announced. And for those who can’t attend, Google will also be hosting a live stream on YouTube so you can watch at home. What are you most looking forward to? |  | Toshiba Excite Pure, Pro and Write tablet retail availability expands Jul 17th 2013, 16:18, by Robert Nelson Toshiba announced a trio of tablets back in early-June. The models included the Excite Pure, Excite Pro and Excite Write. At the time Toshiba announced the full set of specs, the pricing and even had the tablets available in June. The catch with that last part, the June availability was limited to the Toshiba website. They did however promise that additional retail availability was coming in July. 
Well, it is now July and it looks like that additional retail availability has quietly begun. The Excite Pure, Excite Pro and Excite Write have recently been spotted with Amazon and also with Best Buy. The Excite Pure sits priced at $266.42 with Amazon and at $299.99 with Best Buy. The remaining two models, the Excite Pro and Excite Write are $499.99 and $599.99 respectively with both retailers. The other point worth mentioning, with the exception of the Excite Write listing with Amazon — they all appear ready to ship at the time of purchase. The Amazon listing for the Excite Write is currently sporting a “usually ships within 1 to 2 months” label. Otherwise, these may not be the cheapest tablets available at the moment, but two of the three are powered by a Tegra 4 processor. 
The Tegra 4 models include the Excite Pro and Excite Write. These two also feature a 10.1-inch 2560 x 1600 display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera, 8 megapixel rear-facing camera and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The Excite Write, as the name would imply also features stylus support. Basically, the Excite Write has support for inking and note taking and ships with apps to include TruCapture and TruNote. The final of these three models is the Excite Pure which is powered by a quad-core Tegra 3 processor. This model is running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and features a 10.1-inch display at 1280 x 800 with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot and 3 megapixel rear-facing camera. Bottom line here, retail availability has expanded and this trio of tablets is now available from a few additional outlets. VIA: Android Police | | Google Glass QR code exploit quietly patched Jul 17th 2013, 15:27, by Robert Nelson Google Glass had a security issue that dealt with QR codes. Google has already taken care of the issue, which means those wearing Glass shouldn’t be afraid of QR codes. But perhaps more important here, given Google has patched the issue means it can be further discussed. The exploit was originally discovered by Marc Rogers, a Principal Security Researcher at Lookout Mobile Security. 
The short version of the story is as follows — QR codes could have been used to trigger WiFi and other configurations with Glass. Basically, these codes could have been used to have Glass connect to a compromised network. This network would be controller by the attacker and as such, that person (or persons) would be able to monitor the connections made by Glass and even see any images that are being uploaded. While it seems pretty harmless thus far, the attacker could take things even further by sending an exploit to Glass. This exploit would allow the attacker to remotely control Glass from a web interface. This last part was when combined with a known web vulnerability with Android 4.0.4 and would allow the attacker to remotely monitor and control Glass to the point of turning on the camera and seeing what the person wearing them was looking at. Anyway, this all stems from the way Glass was designed. It seems this QR code approach was intentionally done to make the setup process quicker and easier. The way it originally was, Glass would automatically identify QR codes in images and act accordingly. This helped users set up things such as a Wifi connection or Bluetooth device. As far as the fix goes, Google (with the XE6 update) changed the way Glass responds to a QR code. Moving forward Glass will only identify and react to a QR code when specified by the user. End result here, it seems this “Explorer Edition” trial period of Glass is having some positive side effects. While there are likely a few upset they cannot buy Glass just yet, as was pointed out by the Lookout researcher, this trial period means additional users should be "able to trust Glass … because it has been tested." VIA: SlashGear SOURCE: Lookout | |
