Bad news for Android users, and Google alike. Researchers in Germany have discovered a security flaw in Google’s Android OS. What’s more frightening is that, 99 percent of Android users are affected, as the flaw hits users who are presently on any version of the OS lower than the most recent 2.3.4. Yup, that means who doesn’t have an updated Nexus One or Nexus S. Sucks to be you bro.

The security flaw is from a lack of secure connection between Android and Google’s authentication system. When a user submits login credentials for Calendar or Contacts, Google returns an authentication token that’s sent over HTTP. That token can be used for 14 days for access to a user account. However, this doesn’t affect Android versions 3.0 or 2.3.4 as they use HTTPS for Calendar and Contacts. Picasa, however, remains transmitted insecurely, so those using Android 2.3.4 and above may still be affected slightly.

Researchers say that hackers can easy extract this information from an Android phone through the use of a fake, “dummy” wireless network that a user’s phone would try to connect itself to.

To collect such authTokens on a large scale an adversary could setup a wifi access point with a common SSID (evil twin) of an unencrypted wireless network, e.g., T-Mobile, attwifi, starbucks. With default settings, Android phones automatically connect to a previously known network and many apps will attempt syncing immediately. While syncing would fail (unless the adversary forwards the requests), the adversary would capture authTokens for each service that attempted syncing. Due to the long lifetime of authTokens, the adversary can comfortably capture a large number of tokens and make use of them later on from a different location.

Of course, Google has already acknowledge the issue, and is able to implement a server side fix that should patch things up for Calendar and Contacts on all Android versions, though Picasa is still a question mark.

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. This fix requires no action from users and will roll out globally over the next few days.

SOURCE via Computer World

The Japanese has really started to implement Android in their products, as we’ve seen quite a few remarkable Android smartphones in the Japanese market. This time, KDDI has just announced a new INFOBAR A01, which is an Android smartphone running Gingerbread. But what makes this different from the usual Gingerbread smartphone is its totally redesigned UI.

The INFOBAR A01 has a completely custom UI designed by Yugo Nakamura that follows some similar glance-able design principles to Windows Phone 7’s tile-design, or what KDDI describes as a “single band of information.”, which I have to agree is more user-friendly than the original Android OS. Even the buttons also have tile-line design, which is similar with previous INFOBAR phones.

Of course, the Android UI is not the only thing cool about this smartphone. It boasts a 3.7-inch qHD display, which has a 300 ppi that can challenge Apple’s iPhone 4, an 8 megapixel camera, a 1Seg TV tuner, and dual-mode GSM / CDMA connectivity. Sadly they didn’t mention what processor is used here.

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Apple’s Retina Display that debut on the iPhone 4 really made headlines, and till now nobody managed to take down Apple’s throne in terms of mass products with such display. Samsung and LG did demonstrate a few high pixel density LCDs, and Toshiba managed to develop a 367ppi display for smartphones. However, not many are in mass production.

Now, E Ink Holdings and Epson will do something for the fans of ePaper and e-Reader, as E Ink Holdings and Epson have just announced the co-development of a 300ppi ePaper display. To be exact, E Ink will be in charge of producing the sharp-looking 9.68-inch 2,400 x 1,650 display panel, whereas Epson will take care of the high-speed display controller platform to go with E Ink’s part.

Of course, the technology is still in its early stage at the moment, so no availability has been announced just yet.

It’s always fun to play around with ‘challenging’ flash games that will review some kinky skins every time you win a stage, and it’s now being applied again.

Duke Nudem is a promotional website for Duke Nukem Forever, launched by 2K. It features real women’s breasts and a mediocre Flash game where you compete against the owners of said breasts. Yes, that’s real boobs, so don’t try playing this in your office, or in front of your wifu. Get a decent score on the NSFW version and you get to download a wallpaper of each lady – nipples and everything revealed!

Then again I have to warn you, this game isn’t that easy to play. Some people are screaming ‘Fucking Aimbot!’ already.

SOURCE via Duke Nudem

Do you fancy transparent screens? They’ve been demoed couple of times by Samsung, but now it’s going into real products. Samsung just showcased their 22-inch Transparent BLU LCD TV at the SID 2011 today, and they’ll be up for grabs starting next week. Samsung says that the product is targeted more for commercial market, specifically advertising, but I’m sure a few weird people would want this in their living room.

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Ready to embrace even slimmer smartphones that might be 5mm thick? Apple has been using OmniVision camera sensors for quite some time, but last we heard, the next round of sensors won’t be from them. However, that didn’t stop OmniVision from continuing to innovate.

The company has announced a new sensor called the OV5690. It’s a 5 megapixel chip, and the first to use the company’s second-generation OmniBSI-2 pixel architecture. In addition to shooting 5 megapixel stills, it records 1080p video at 30 frames per second and 720p movies at 60fps.

Now, what’s more impressive is not its spec. OmniVision cut the sensor’s height by 20 percent in the hopes that it’ll find a home in “slimmer” smartphones and tablets. Of course, the camera sensor has just been announced, and we won’t be looking at them being in smartphones and tablets soon.

The company says key vendors are sampling the sensor at the moment, with mass production expected to begin in the second half of this year.

Right, we had quite enough of all those slender and ‘almost’ powerful laptops from Samsung and HP and Apple, so let’s have a look at something more monolithic awhile, shall we? Toshiba’s Qosmio X500 gaming laptop got a modest update earlier this year in the form of the X505, but it’s now getting a proper successor with the company’s new X770 model. Call it a facelift before a proper new generation, though that facelift is short lived.

Besides slapping on a more metallic enclosure, this one actually shrinks the display from 18.4 inches to a slightly more portable 17.3 inches but still retaining the awesome 1920 x 1080. The standard configuration offered here is a powerful Core i7-2630QM processor, along with gigantic and meaty 8GB of RAM, a whopping 1.25TB of storage from a pair of hard drives, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M graphics. Also available is a separate X770 3D model, which adds a 3D webcam to the equation, along with a pair of active shutter glasses, and some very 3D price tag as well.

Both will be available in the next few weeks, with prices starting at €1,300 (or roughly $1,850).

SOURCE via Notebook Italia

I have to admit that although the Resident Evil movies aren’t really going along truly according to the game, but it’s still a nice trilling action movie nonetheless. But how did Paul W.S. Anderson, director of all those Resident Evil movies, keep coming up for ideas for new entries in the running franchise? According to his wife, who is also the popular series star Milla Jovovich, “professional video game players” do his research for him.

Yes, Mr Anderson (not the guy from Matrix) didn’t play the game at all (or at least he didn’t claim to), and directed the movie based on how others played the game. Yup, he literally watched people playing the console game for days.

Thanks to the clone army introduced in Resident Evil: Extinction, Anderson doesn’t have to worry about having sex withheld any time soon, so he can focus instead on watching footage of kids playing Resident Evil games in front of the console for hours.

“Paul knows kids that are professional video game players,” Milla said. “All they do is play the games until they master every level and unlock every code. They play the games for weeks and give Paul the footage. So he’s literally watching days of the most awesome Resident Evil players out there to get inspiration for the next installment of the franchise.”

Right, did you hear anybody that are interested in hiring Starcraft 2 players in Hollywood?

SOURCE via Milla Jovovich Loses Her Husband To Zombies! [ShowbizSpy]