Download Defense Added To Chrome Browser

Google has updated Chrome to version 12, adding a new feature that warns users when they’ve downloaded files from dangerous Web sites.

New to Chrome 12 is a tool that flags questionable files pulled from the Web. Chrome now shows an alert when users download some file types from sites that are on the Safe Browsing API (application programming interface) blacklist, which Google maintains.

The messages reads: “This file is malicious. Are you sure you want to continue?” If they wish, users can ignore the warning and install the file on their system’s hard drive.

“This warning will be displayed for any download URL that matches the latest list of malicious websites published by the Safe Browsing API,” said Google last April when it debuted the feature in an earlier edition of Chrome.

Safe Browsing already identifies suspicious or unsafe sites, then adds them to a blacklist. Chrome, Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari all tap into Safe Browsing to warn users of risky sites before they actually visit them.

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Mobile App Locates Cheaper Prescriptions

Medco Health Solutions and Verizon Wireless teamed up last month to release a mobile application that aids smartphone users in locating places where they can buy the lowest-cost prescription drugs.

Verizon stated the new Medco Pharmacy mobile app can also identify potentially harmful drug interactions based on Medco members’ medication histories.

Medco, which provides pharmacy services to more than 65 million customers, said its pharmacy mobile app is available for BlackBerry and Android smartphone users. It provides information about out-of-pocket costs for any prescription drug and lower-cost options specific to a person’s prescription drug plan, even if a patient is being treated by several doctors or fills prescriptions at many different pharmacies.

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Nokia Expects Windows Phone Before EOY

Nokia has “increased confidence” that the first of its smartphone devices to run on the Windows Phone platform will ship by the fourth quarter, the company said on Tuesday.

Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop is putting his full weight behind getting a Windows Phone-based product out for the important end-of-year holiday shopping season, in order to help turn around the company’s smartphone fortunes. The company’s teams are aligned around that goal, he said in a statement.

The company won’t reveal ship dates until closer to when the first phones arrive, but the pressure is on to deliver the devices this year, Elop said when the company announced its first quarter results.

Nokia will have several more opportunities to divulge more information shortly. On June 21, Elop will give a presentation at the Connection 2011 Conference, which is organized in conjunction with CommunicAsia 2011 in Singapore. He will give an update on the company’s partnership with Microsoft, and set the stage for a number of product and service launches, according to the program.

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Google Moves Quickly To Plug Data Leaks

Google confirmed that it’s starting to roll out a server-side patch for a security vulnerability in most Android phones that could allow hackers to access important credentials at public Wi-Fi hotspots.

“Today we’re starting to roll out a fix which addresses a potential security flaw that could, under certain circumstances, allow a third party access to data available in Calendar and Contacts,” said a Google spokesman in an emailed statement. “This fix requires no action from users and will roll out globally over the next few days.”

Google will apparently apply the fix to its servers since it does not need to push out an over-the-air update to Android phones.

Experts applauded Google’s fast reaction.

“It’s impressive how quickly Google fixed this,” said Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer and a co-founder of San Francisco-based mobile security firm Lookout. “Google’s security team, especially on Android, is very, very quick to deal with issues.”

Whatever Google is implementing will shut the security hole that three German researchers publicized last week.

According to the University of Ulm researchers, who tested another researcher’s contention last February that Android phones sent authentication data in the clear, hackers could easily spoof a Wi-Fi hotspot — in a public setting such as an airport or coffee shop — then snatch information that users’ phones transmitted during synchronization.

In Android 2.3.3 and earlier, the phone’s Calendar and Contacts apps transmit information via unencrypted HTTP, then retrieve an authentication token from Google. Hackers could eavesdrop on the HTTP traffic at a public hotspot, lift authentication tokens and use them for up to two weeks to access users’ Web-based calendars, their contacts and also the Picasa photo storage and sharing service.

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Google SEARCH Goes SSL

Google is finally taking privacy seriously to a degree by offering its users a secure form of searching while using Google Search. Moving forward users will have the opportunity to enable SSL (Secure Socket Layer) for added security.  Be advised, the service will only cover the Google search and clicks made through Google to other non-secured sites will be visible.

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Microsoft To Discontinue Vista SP1 Support By July

Microsoft reminded users on Monday that it intends to stop supporting Windows Vista Service Pack 1 on July 12.

“From that date onward, Microsoft will no longer provide support or free security updates for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1),” the company stated in a blog entry on its TechNet website.

The company recommended users upgrade to Vista Service Pack 2 or Windows 7 to receive continued support and patches. Vista SP2 also includes operating system updates such as a new version of Windows Search, and drivers to support new hardware.

Users can install Vista SP2 using Windows Update, or by manually downloading the 32-bit edition or 64-bit edition of the service pack.

Users must have Windows Vista SP1 installed prior to applying SP2. Further instructions on installing SP2 are available on Microsoft’s website.

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EBS Coming To Your Smartphone

In the event of local and/or nationwide disasters, wireless carriers will soon begin alerting the public by sending emergency SMS text messages to mobile phones.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless have all agreed to a participate in this new Emergency Broadcast System alert method. It  will initially be rolled  out in New York and Washington, D.C., later this year, and nationwide next year, in April at the earliest.

The emergency text messages will cover public safety threats, Amber Alerts for missing children, and messages from the president, the New York Times reports. Messages will be free for customers, who can opt out of them all except the presidential messages.

We don’t expect the alerts to be frequent,” Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, told the Times. “They will be reserved for when they are truly needed, for tornadoes or for disasters like 9/11.”

Genachowski said the emergency texts will look different from ordinary messages, making them more difficult for hackers to infiltrate or fake. They’ll probably appear directly on the screen, along with a special vibration or other signal. No word on how closely they’ll resemble the tone and color bars of the current Emergency Broadcast System for televisions, or whether users can expect “this is a test” messages on a regular basis.

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Google Facing DOJ Probe

Google is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice concerning practices within its advertising program, and has set aside $500 million for a potential resolution fund, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

In its quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Google said that in May it accrued $500 million for the three-month period ended March 31, 2011 in connection “with a potential resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers”.

Although it cannot predict the ultimate outcome of the matter, Google said that it believes that it will not have a material adverse effect on its business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.

The company did not explain why the charge had been taken retrospectively on its first quarter earnings. It is also not clear to whom Google would have to make the payment in the event of settlement.

Google declined to comment, stating that it was a legal matter. The company has updated its first-quarter results press release on its web site, to reflect the new charge.

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Apple Outs Patch For Tracking Issue

As Apple promised last week in several discussions regarding its location tracking issues, iOS 4.3.3 addresses three bugs related to the database of location information on iOS devices. Firstly, it reduces the amount of the cached location information to a week’s worth, rather than relying on a size limit, as it previously did.

Secondly, it no longer backs up the cache to your Mac or PC via iTunes upon syncing, so the information isn’t available to anyone with access to your computer. And finally, the cache is now deleted from the device when Location Services are disabled in iOS’s Settings app.

Apple has also announced plans to encrypt the location information on iOS devices itself in the next major update to the operating system, which presumably means it will be incoporated into iOS 5.

The iOS 4.3.3 update applies to the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad, iPad 2, third-generation iPod touch, and the fourth-generation iPod touch. Exceptions to this fix though, are the iPhone 3G and the second-generation iPod touch, both of which were supported by the original release of iOS 4 when the location database is believed to have been created but have since been dropped from compatibility. Also missing in action is the CDMA iPhone 4, although some reports have suggested that it didn’t log data in the same way as the GSM model.

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Motorola Xoom Sales Better Than Expected

Motorola Mobility shipped 250,000 Xoom tablets in the first month the device was released, the company said on Thursday as part of their first-quarter earnings report.

The tablet, the first to run Google’s Android Honeycomb OS, went on sale in February. Within weeks, several analysts said early sales numbers were disappointing. By early April, one analyst estimated that Motorola had sold a total of 100,000 of the tablets.

Shipping a quarter of a million in a month isn’t quite the same as  Apple first iPad shipment, but the number appears to be better than most had expected.

For the full year, Motorola is expecting to sell 1.5 million to 2 million tablets, it said. It plans to introduce new tablets, including some with new form factors, this year, executives said during a conference call to discuss first-quarter results.

During the quarter, Motorola Mobility also began selling the Atrix, a phone that can be docked into a device with a full keyboard and monitor. Some analysts have also said sales of the Atrix are unimpressive.

The company did not release Atrix sales numbers separately. It said it shipped 9.3 million mobile devices, including 4.1 million smartphones, during the quarter.

Motorola expects to record an operating profit for the full year, but faces challenges ahead. It has delayed the launch of the Bionic, its first LTE device, and on Thursday said the delay is related to a software problem. That same problem is also pushing back the launch of LTE on the Xoom, which was initially expected for the first half. Both the LTE Xoom and the Bionic are now expected to come in “summer,” which in North America could be as late as September.

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