Tag Archives: Google Play

Computers

California sues Delta Airlines over app privacy policy

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California’s attorney general has sued Delta Air Lines for failing to include a privacy policy within the company’s mobile application, an alleged violation of the state’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

The lawsuit, filed in Superior Court of San Francisco on Thursday, marks the first time the state has taken legal action to enforce the privacy law, which was enacted in 2004, according to a news release from Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. Delta also violates California’s Unfair Competition Law, the lawsuit alleged.

Since 2010, Delta has distributed a mobile application called “Fly Delta” that allows people to manage their bookings, according to the suit. The application collects information such as a person’s name, phone number, birth date, email address, frequent flyer account number, and pin code, photo and geo-location data. It is alleged in the lawsuit that Delta customers do not know how their data is collected or used by the airline.

Delta could face a penalty of US$2,500 for each time a non-compliant mobile application is downloaded, the attorney general’s office said. The application has been downloaded millions of times from Google’s Play and Apple’s iTunes application markets, according to the lawsuit.
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Source: PCWorld

Computers

SwiftKey Flow beta debuts as worthy rival to Swype

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Although Swype was once the champion of gesture-based typing for Android phones, it now faces some serious competition from the new SwiftKey Flow.

SwiftKey Flow just launched in beta; it was first unveiled back in October. Android users who’ve enabled their phones to install apps from outside Google Play can download it for free.

Just like Swype, SwiftKey Flow lets you type each word by gliding your finger across a sequence of letters. Even though your finger may pass over other letters in the process, these keyboards use word prediction to figure out what you’re trying to type.

SwiftKey Flow offers plenty of options for customization.

It takes some getting used to, and it tends to work better for longer words where there’s less room for misinterpretation. But once you get used to typing this way, it’s hard to go back to tapping out each letter.
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Source: PCWorld

Computers

Snapseed brings advanced photo editing tools to Android

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Nik Software’s robust photo editing app, Snapseed, has finally made its way to Android. The app, which is also available on iOS, lets you edit your photos using simple gesture controls, and
allows you to share your newly-minted masterpieces via Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

An image edited with Snapseed

One of the best things about Snapseed is its relative ease of use. The app makes it extremely easy to change certain aspects of your photos without having
to dig through countless menus or take a class at your local learning annex. Most edits can be done with a simple swipe, and you can always undo any
changes you make. The basic controls lend themselves well to editing on a smaller screen, though the app is best experienced on a 7 or 10-inch tablet.

So if you’re sick of Instagram and really want to make your
photos pop, check out Snapseed. The app is available for free from the Google Play store, and is a must have for anyone that likes using their phone to
take pictures.

Source: PCWorld

Computers

Google Play now lets businesses host their own app stores

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Google announced Tuesday that companies with their own in-house Android applications can now distribute them internally via the new Private Channel feature of the Play Store.

“Whether you’ve built a custom expense reporting app for employees or a conference room finder, the Google Play Private Channel is designed to make your organization’s internal apps quick and easy for employees to find. Once your company has loaded these internal apps using the Google Play Developer Console, users just need to log in with their company email address to browse the Private Channel and download apps,” said Google Play product manager Ellie Powers in an official blog post.


The system is controlled via the aforementioned Developer Console, which allows administrators to choose which users are allowed to upload apps to the private channel, and which have download access. A support articleon the new feature recommends that dedicated administrative Google accounts be created, so that access isn’t lost if a key employee leaves the company. A $25 publisher registration fee is required, and the functionality is currently restricted to Google Apps for Business, Education or Government customers.
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Source: PCWorld

Computers

Microsoft’s #DroidRage Twitter campaign backfires

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When the folks behind marketing Microsoft’s Windows Phone asked Android users on Twitter to share “malware horror stories” Wednesday using a #DroidRage hashtag, it’s safe to assume they expected a positive response from some malware-plagued users.

Others might say they were just asking for it.

Twitter users showed up en masse to spread the #DroidRage hashtag, but the campaign looks to be backfiring on the Windows Phone team. Some examples:

There were a few Twitter users who were in support of Windows Phone, however, and the marketing team does make a valid claim that Android phones, thanks to the open source nature of the Google Play store, can sometimes be susceptible to malware.
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Source: PCWorld

Computers

Two years after debut, Gingerbread still dominant Android OS

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Although Google’s Android has made some impressive leaps forward over the last two years, roughly half of its users aren’t seeing those improvements because 50.8 percent of Android devices are still running Android 2.3, known as Gingerbread.

The figure comes from Google’s developer website, whose data is based on the number of devices that have accessed Google Play within a given 14-day period.

As Dwight Silverman at the Houston Chronicle points out, Google released Android 2.3 on December 6, 2010 – two years ago this week. The new data from Google, updated Monday, shows that the two-year-old Gingerbread still has wider distribution than any other version of Android.

Android 4.0, known as Ice Cream Sandwich, appears on 27.5 percent of devices, according to Google’s data. Android 4.1 and 4.2, both known as Jelly Bean, appear on 5.9 percent and 0.8 percent of devices, respectively.
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Source: PCWorld