iCosmoGeek - The Technology News Blog

Check out this awesome ‘Temple Run The Movie’ (Trailer) made by StopMotionClub. Temple Run is one of the popular iOS addictive games which is in Apple top charts. The game is developed by Imangi Studios consisting of three member team and have been highly creative since they launched. The iOS version of Temple Run for iPhone and iPad boasts over 40 million downloads in the App Store since its debut in August 2011. Also, the team recently announced that they are bringing this game for Android devices on March 27 as a free download.     Of course, the below trailer is not a real movie but the game fans would love to watch if it is made into one.  

Before the much hyped Apple’s iPad HD (or iPad 3?) event , Google introduced a new cloud based media platform called Google Play which is similar to Apple’s iTunes. Google Play will be the users’ one place shop for movies, music, apps, games and books. The giant integrated the current Android Market, Google Music too into this new service.       And similar to Apple’s iCloud, Google said on its official blog post that all your purchased content will be backed up automatically so there is no need to worry about losing your purchases. To celebrate the promotion, Google will be offering a different album, book, video rental and Android app at a special price each day for the next week in ‘7 Days to Play’ sale. Head over to the Google Play link for more exciting content and features. [ via ]

Today, Google announced that it is going to increase Android app size limit from 50 MB to 4 GB. Until now, Android apps have been limited to a maximum size of 50 MB. Even though this works for most apps, there are instances where developers felt trouble uploading HD and 3D apps especially games which require more resources.   According to official blog post , Application APK size remains limited to 50 MB, however, developers can now include two 2 GB expansion stores which are stored in shared storage on the client device. If you are an Android app developer, head to this link for more information. [ Picture ]

May be, in the future, your Android smartphone could run the same apps on your Google powered computer too. A recent patent filing by Google shows the tech giant is in the process of bringing its mobile operating system, Android, to desktop and notebook computers. With Apple already integrating more iOS powered features into its next OS X, Mountain Lion , the trend of the tablet moving into the desktop space started. Even Microsoft is in the race with Windows 8 and Windows Phone operating system.     This new patent which was originally discovered by Patently Apple showcases desktop control features similar to Apple’s multitouch MacBook trackpad and Magic Trackpad. [ Source ] [ Picture ]

Google’s self driving cars vision is becoming reality now. Nevada has become the first state in the US to approve self-driving cars. Las Vegas is the largest city in this state. This could be the real future in the automobile industry.     Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles along with its Legislative Commission gave the stamp of approval provided that these autonomous test vehicles are distinguished from regular vehicles by a red license plate. Once the technology in the test vehicles have developed enough for public use, they will then carry a green license plate. Here here is a video of the Google self-driving car in action shot back in 2010 in its initial testing phase -     Other major car makers such as Audi and Volkswagen also have autonomous cars in the works. [ via ]

The magic has been paused – Google Wallet which is an innovative way of payment technology from Google has been hacked today. Not with one vulnerability, but two. The first hack is able to use brute-force attacks to reveal the Google Wallet PIN which keeps the application secure. The second hack allow access to Wallet app in your Android device and will add the ability to add the prepaid balance that is tied to the device.     To those who are hearing Google Wallet for the first time, it lets you digitize your credit cards and the ability to pay things using near-field communication (NFC) technology. It means, you can just touch your phone to an NFC device and the item you are buying is automatically charged to your account. Currently, only Google has implemented this technology with Google Wallet in its Android powered Nexus S 4G available on Sprint. The first vulnerability which was discovered by Zvelo , reveals Google Wallet PIN in Android devices which are roote...

The very first iPhone was launched on the 29th July 2007 and on that day, the world of mobile phones changed for ever. Other cell phone manufacturers cowered, whispering amongst themselves. No single phone blew its horn in challenge. And then came Android .     And today we are actually talking about 20 things that Android can do better than iPhones! 1. Android Supports Multiple Hardware Options About 10 brands of smartphones use Android OS at the moment, and the list is growing. iOS, on the other hand, is used only by iPhones and other Apple devices. 2. Android Runs Multiple Apps Simultaneously IPhone’s application multi-tasking is limited to email, iPod and Phone apps in the background. Android phones can run both system and Android marketplace apps at the same time. GPS data recording and app notifications continue to run even when the apps are closed. 3. Android Makes Us Life Easier Through Widgets On Android phones, you can launch appli...

As most of you know about Google’s latest changes in terms of privacy policies that will change effective from March 1, 2012, the giant covers multiple products and features into one single intuitive experience. Take some time and read those new changes that are mentioned in the page as well in FAQ page. As stated in those pages, Google will never collect/sell your personal information. Taking the advantage of this new step, Microsoft released a cheap advertising campaign where it asks users to consider some of its popular alternatives like Bing, Hotmail, Office 365.     This ad campaign which was originally posted on TechNet blog comes after a fair amount of discussion here . From the page - “So, if the news about Google has you feeling frustrated, or concerned, or both, we have some great, award-winning alternatives:…” Click the image below for full campaign.     Later, Google replied about all these false points in its official public p...

Here comes one more security flaw from official Android market. Things just keep on getting worse if you are using an Android device. We have seen many instances in the past related to Android security and now a new potential security has been identified by Symantec claiming that 13 applications from three developers could be collecting data and performing malicious activities without user knowledge.     Symantec also analyzed that the result could be more than five million devices could potentially running those apps. This could be the biggest security risk till date. Following are the apps that have been identified by Symantec as of today - Counter Elite Force Counter Strike Ground Force CounterStrike Hit Enemy Heart Live Wallpaper Hit Counter Terrorist Stripper Touch girl Balloon Game Deal & Be Millionaire Wild Man Pretty women lingerie puzzle Sexy Girls Photo Game Sexy Girls Puzzle Sexy Women Puzzle Fro...

It’s raining tablets and smart phones everywhere. They all are packed with never heard of features and that too in real small packs. But a major drawback of any tablet or smart phone is its limited storage capacity. Even the top of the class devices cannot carry too many movies or audios. Those with expandable memories are too limited by inadequacy of flash drives. It seems hard drives would have been a better way out. And Seagate cared to come out with a solution. They released an external hard drive - GoFlex Satellite - capable of streaming data to iPads, Android tablets and even smartphones.   Good Goflex Satellite external drive looks similar to any Goflex Pro or Goflex Slim. However, it sports an internal battery and wi-fi connectivity. Size of the drive is 4.72X3.46X1.26 inch and weighs only 0.59 pounds 267.62 grams. GoFlex Satellite can store up to 500 gigabytes, which means you can take along your complete movie and music collection. Goflex Satellite ca...

So you finally gave in – you finally decided that it’s time to invest in an e-book reader.  But which one?  Apple’s iPad?  Amazon’s Kindle?  Noble’s Nook?  Choosing an e-reader may seem like an overwhelming task, but with the right information and the awareness of your particular needs, the choice should be a simpler one than you may think. Reader or tablet Are you looking for just a book reader, or do you want access to magazines and newspapers as well?  Do you want a device that allows you to browse the Internet, listen to music, and watch movies, or do you have your laptop for all of that? If all you’re looking for is a device on which to read books, and maybe newspapers and magazines, in black and white, a simple e-ink reader is your best – and cheapest – bet.  The $79 Amazon Kindle, not touch screen, is the least expensive, most basic option available.  You could also look into the Kindle Touch or Nook Simple Touch. For more versa...

When Steve Jobs claimed that Google “stole” Apple’s innovation, today, the United States Trade Commission (ITC) agreed and all those HTC infringing products are banned from the US. This rule applies to several popular HTC products including Evo 4G, Droid Incredible, G2, etc. The rule applies to all Android HTC devices running 1.6 to 2.2 in the United States effective April 2012. Before reading all those long pages of patents and infringements, here is the main ‘copycat’ reason. CNN Fortune took an in-depth review of this patent and according to them, it works like this -   When an iPhone receives a message that contains a phone number or an address -- e-mail, Web or street -- those bits of data are automatically highlighted, underlined and turned into clickable links. Click on the phone number, and the iPhone asks if you want to dial it. Click on the Web address, and it opens in Safari. Click on the street address, and Maps will display it. Any Android phone will ...

Since Apple’s iPhone 4S launch, everyone has been talking about one awesome feature: Siri. This feature was the first of its real kind of piece of software using normal talking language. We had many voice command software before, just like Microsoft’s Tellme , open source, commercial software, but Siri lit a fire. Even though Siri is technically still in beta, it impressed us in many other ways. Now, everybody started copying it. First in the line is Google. Read on..     A new report by Androidandme claims Google is working on its own voice recognition assistant for Android, with codename “Majel”, from the voice of the on-board computer in Star Trek. The late actress Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (picture above) voiced the Federation Computer from Star Trek. The report also mentions that the company’s secret lab team is working round the clock to prepare the product for end of this year release or early 2012. Will Google stand in the line of the competition of bot...

The latest buzz about Carrier IQ is all around tech and non-tech world. Yesterday, we learned how to verify and remove Carrier IQ from your Android device. But, that method requires you to root your device. Now, we learn how to detect about this spying software, but not yet remove, and no rooting of your Android device is required.     While this Carrier IQ crap develops, battle between OS developers and mobile carriers continues, a free app Voodoo Carrier IQ Detector lets you verify whether your Android device is infected or not. Unfortunately, it only verifies but do not remove. After installing, once you launch this app, if you see the detection score as 0 which means best, and anything above zero means Carrier IQ is present and you should seriously consider rooting your Android phone. Unfortunately, Apple admitted that it included a copy of Carrier IQ in all devices up through iOS 5. This option is disabled on iOS 5; older versions may send back information. ...

You must have read this shocking news about Carrier IQ software already. This piece of software logs texts, key taps, calls, emails, strokes, etc. without your knowledge. Here is how to verify and remove Carrier IQ on your Android device. Trevor Eckhart, the same security researcher who actually discovered Carrier IQ’s fishy activities now posted an .APK with name Logging Checker. This software checks logging activity on your phone and lets you know where the logging data is going to. Additionally, it can also look for Google and HTC usage logs, Dropbox logs, etc. There are two versions of this logging checker – free and paid. The paid version guides you to remove Carrier IQ activity. Before installing, you need to ensure that your phone is rooted and ‘Unknown sources’ option is enabled from Settings > Applications. Download Logging Checker from official xda-developers thread here . Download Logging Checker Pro from Android market here . [ via ] The Verge

We have seen many security loop holes in Android related to either malware, apps, custom carrier modifications. Now, 25 year old Android developer Trevor Eckhart has discovered an interesting piece of software that comes pre-installed on most Android, Blackberry and Nokia phones. It records everything you do from your phone. It can even grab your passwords and queries! Worse!       The below embedded video recorded by Trevor shows how it works. The spying software called Carrier IQ (developed by www.carrieriq.com ) secretly logs everything a user does with his phone including text messages, encrypted web searches, phone calls, location and you name as well! Carrier IQ as described on their website is a software meant to monitor user’s experience with a phone so that carriers and manufacturers can do quality control.     This 17 minute long video is lengthy but interesting. Fast forward to 8:45 for the actual scene. A unique identifier is ...

Yesterday, Logitech hosted an Analyst and Investor Day and CEO Guerrino De Luca says that his company’s dance with Google TV was a big mistake and announced that it will stop producing the set top boxes. It is estimated that Logitech spent about $100 million on the product and has little to show it.     For those who haven’t heard of it, Google TV is a software platform for set-top boxes and HDTVs based on the Android OS. And Logitech developed a separate box Logitech Revue that includes a companion box, which is an external device that connects to your TV though an HDMI port. One of the main advantages or applications with this device is video conferencing using a Logitech HD camera. According to Seeking Alpha transcript , the company’s executive says the introduction of Logitech Revue with Google TV “cost us dearly” and when supplies are sold out, that will be it for the ill-fated venture. He says - The second mistake we made is Logitech Revue and it’s not...

In a recent blog post by one of its executives, Adobe said that it would no longer be developing its popular Flash for mobile devices. Instead it would aggressively contribute towards HTML5.     Here is the key point from the post - “Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations. We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.”   This is a serious threat to Android devices that often take advantage of flash compatibility over the iPhone and ...

Google India announced a new initiative program ‘India Get Your Business Online’ which offers free websites, domain and hosting services to small businesses in India. This program according to Google India , designed with local partners provides Indian businesses the tools and resources to establish a website, find new customers and grow their businesses.     So, how is this all free? Google is investing in Indian businesses by creating www.IndiaGetOnline.in and paying for your .in domain registry for 12 months. HostGator , one of the leading hosting providers is providing with hosting services, their leading site building tool and support. To be part of this program, Google authenticates that you or your organization resides in India using PAN/ TAN/ CIN number. Google claim that although there are an estimated 8 million SMBs in India, only about 5% have a website. From the official blog post, Free : It’s free to set up your website. The domain is free for ...

Have you guyz noticed ‘ Switch to the new look’ link in the bottom right of your Gmail? Yes, Gmail gets all new look.     Before you try out this new look, here are some major enhancements - Streamlined conversations: You will now be able to see pictures for your contacts Elastic density : Click the wrench button to change the display density New HD themes Smarter navigation Better search All Gmail users should not get this option to change into new look. Did you like it?