Hackers Claim To Publish List Of 4.6M Snapchat Usernames And Numbers

A site called SnapchatDB.info claims that they’ve saved usernames and phone numbers for 4.6 million accounts and made the information available for download. SnapchatDB says that it got the information through a recently identified and patched Snapchat exploit and that it is making the data available in an effort to convince the messaging app to beef up its security. We’ve reached out to Snapchat and SnapchatDB for comment.

SnapchatDB said it “censored the last two digits of the phone numbers” in order to “minimize spam and abuse,” but that it still might release the unfiltered data, including millions of phone numbers.

The Next Web did a WHOIS lookup on SnapchatDB’s domain and found it was created just yesterday on December 31. The registrant’s name is protected, but its mailing address and contact number are both listed in Panama.

The site appears to have been created in response to recently identified flaws in Snapchat’s security. Last week, ZDNet published an article on how white-hat Gibson Security researchers had tried to alert Snapchat to ways that hackers would connect usernames to phone numbers for user in stalking, but were ignored. Gibson Security then published the exploit publicly on Christmas Eve.

The firm said that hackers could use two exploits to gain access to users’ personal data, including their real names, usernames and phone numbers, through Snapchat’s Android and iOS API. Snapchat did offer a public statement, but as TechCrunch’s Josh Constine wrote, it wasn’t very satisfactory because it did not offer details on how its countermeasures would work, such as rate limiting, bad IP blocking, or automated systems that scan suspicious activity. Snapchat said:

“Theoretically, if someone were able to upload a huge set of phone numbers, like every number in an area code, or every possible number in the U.S., they could create a database of the results and match usernames to phone numbers that way. Over the past year we’ve implemented various safeguards to make it more difficult to do.”

To be sure, SnapchatDB might be a prank meant to call attention to these issues. On Hacker News, several people have had trouble downloading the data files (I just got an error message for both of them, but that may be because of high traffic). Some commenters who did manage to get ahold of the files said they couldn’t find their own numbers in the lists and entire area codes appeared to be missing.

Either way, the Gibson Security report and SnapchatDB are both reminders that even in an ephemeral messaging service, it would be a mistake to be lulled into a sense of security about the information that you do have stored with the app. “People tend to use the same username around the web so you can use this information to find phone number information associated with Facebook and Twitter accounts, or simply to figure out the phone numbers of people you wish to get in touch with,” SnapchatDB stated on the site.

Source: TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/99cub5pdBbc/

Sony Rumored To Be Considering A Windows Phone Handset In 2014

According to The Information, Sony could release a Windows Phone device, diversifying its mobile device lineup, bolstering Microsoft, and perhaps demonstrating a growing wish among hardware firms to hedge against an Android-dominated future.

Sony appears to be strongly interested in the project. The Verge wrote this morning that the company has continued the project despite Microsoft’s plan to purchase Nokia’s handset business. Its willingness to consider building a Windows Phone device despite the platform having a firm home-advantage tilt towards Microsoft’s own hardware is indicative.

For Sony the move would diversify its mobile line away from Android, a platform now generally associated with Samsung hardware. The irony to that is the simple fact that Nokia is the de facto Windows Phone OEM, so Sony would be entering into a second realm where it would be a second-place player.

The winner in Sony’s potential entrance is Microsoft, even if the release of a Vaio-branded Windows Phone handset could potentially slow sales growth of its — soon to be owned — Lumia phones. Microsoft would collect a per-unit fee, perhaps enjoy faster overall platform sales growth, and, of course, there has ever been an implied connection between the Windows Phone and Xbox product lines. We have yet to see hard evidence in my estimation that one leads to greater use of the other, but the shared Xbox platform experience must have some impact on consumer activity.

Therefore, Sony building a Windows Phone would have some positive impact on Xbox. And that would, presumably, come at the cost of Playstation momentum.

According to the latest public data, Nokia’s control of usage share in the Windows Phone hardware ecosystem is now more than 92 percent. That’s dangerous for Microsoft as betting your mobile platform on a single device stack could lead to platform risks (a poor hardware update cycle could slow growth for a year, etc.), meaning that Sony’s joining the Windows Phone cadre could better moor Windows Phone.

When Windows Phone launched, it did so with OEM partners as diverse as Dell. There has been a winnowing. If Microsoft can flip that trend, it will have gone a ways to proving that the progress it made in 2013 was no fluke.

Top Image Credit: Flickr

Source: TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/bViw7umvuOw/

Sony may get into the Windows Phone game, launching a model as early as mid-2014, according to The I

Sony may get into the Windows Phone game, launching a model as early as mid-2014, according to The Information. If it pans out, it would be a break from Sony's Android loyalty, and bring some variety to the Nokia-heavy Windows Phone segment. [The Information via The Verge]

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Source: Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/sony-may-get-into-the-windows-phone-game-launching-a-m-1492298121

Sony may release a Windows Phone in 2014, according to The Information

Sony is considering launching a Windows Phone sometime next year, according to a new report from The Information . If true, such a move would break Sony's current loyalty to Android and give Nokia some fresh competition in the Windows Phone segment. Both sides have reportedly held numerous discussions, with Sony going so far as to draw up designs for a prototype device. Any future product could be branded under Sony's Vaio line, according to The Information. Microsoft's takeover of Nokia's devices unit seemingly hasn't given Sony any second thoughts; talks have continued even after the acquisition was first announced. But the report notes that a deal hasn't yet been finalized and plans could come undone if Microsoft and Sony disagree over...

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Source: The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/31/5260828/sony-may-release-windows-phone-2014

Samsung Got A Bigger Tablet Boost For Christmas Than Apple, According To Onswipe

Touchscreen publishing company Onswipe has good news for Samsung. As Onswipe’s Chief Marketing Officer Jason Baptiste put it in an email, “Samsung clearly won Christmas when it comes to tablets.”

Specifically, the company looked at visitors to Onswipe-optimized sites for the period of Dec. 26 to Dec. 29 in comparison to Dec. 19-22, as a way to measure the growth that different tablet platforms saw over Christmas. The results? Samsung’s Galaxy tablets grew 50.4 percent, Nexus 6 tablets grew 33.8 percent, iPads grew 20.4 percent, and Kindle Fires grew 19.5 percent.

Now, the fact that Onswipe focused on percentage growth is an important caveat here. After all, Samsung was presumably starting from (much) less, so it didn’t need to sell as many tablets to see significant growth.

It’s also interesting to see the line about Samsung’s victory coming from Baptiste, who recently wrote a blog post telling people to “stop believing the fairy tales about the iPad’s demise.” I asked him if the data made him reconsider the post, and he said no: “Though they enjoyed more growth post Holidays, Samsung is still very tiny compared to the iPad and the same goes for the rest of Android. What will be interesting is seeing whether people still use Android tablets 90 days out from now.”

Baptiste also provided some numbers about usage. He said the average session time from Samsung users was 3 minutes and 9 seconds after Christmas, down from 3:32 before. On iPad, the average session was 4:03, compared to 4:12 before. And the Kindle Fire had the longest session time on average, 4:51.

As for how many people this data represents, Baptiste said Onswipe (which recently upgraded its platform) reaches 31 million unique visitors each month on the mobile web.

Source: TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/rZ-U9BteYbo/

These Apps Will Help You Make 2014 Less Filthy

This year, several notable apps that connect users with house cleaners have launched or gained traction. These include Homejoy, Exec and laundry service Prim. There are a lot of benefits to hiring a professional cleaning service but, unfortunately, I live outside the area covered by these apps. Letting people I don’t know into my apartment also makes me feel exposed. I just don’t like having strangers judge my lovingly curated collections of masking tape, dolls, and whiskers shed by my cats over the years. But I do enjoy living in an (occasionally) neat apartment and my New Years resolution is to develop chore routines that will make housekeeping easy and stress-free by using these iOS apps.

Unfuck Your Habitat

My favorite chore app is called Unfuck Your Habitat, though it is listed as Unfilth Your Habitat on the App Store to get around Apple’s ban on profanities in app names (there is also an Android version). I think Unfuck Your Habitat is totally worth its $1.99 price because curse words make me giggle. Also, many housekeeping apps and blogs seemed tailored for people who are already pretty organized. Unfuck Your Habitat is aimed at the rest of us.

Its nifty features include a “To-Unfuck List,” or your personal list of chores, unfucking challenges for different rooms, a built-it in timer that balances 20-minute unfucking sprees with 10 minute breaks, and Facebook integration so you can share your unfucking achievements with your friends.

My favorite part of the app, however, is the Random Unfucking Motivation button, which is like a verbally abusive fortune cookie that says things like “NICE ASS. NOW GET OFF IT.” and “MY NANA WOULD BE SO ASHAMED OF YOU.”

The Unfuck Your Habitat app is an offshoot of a popular blog of the same name, with inspirational before-and-after photos of real homes, not domiciles that look like they were ripped out of Domino magazine.

HomeRoutines

If you are looking for an app with less swearing, try HomeRoutines, which is relatively pricey at $4.99 but provides a very thorough list of cleaning tasks for every part of your residence. Another helpful feature is My.HomeRoutines, which gives you the option of creating an account to back up your data and edit it on HomeRoutine’s site. HomeRoutines also syncs across different devices, which means you can share your account with family members and roommates.

The app lets you create to-do lists and then rotate tasks by day or week, so you develop a routine that makes keeping your house neat relatively mindless. HomeRoutines splits your home into five zones and gives you a list of tasks for each area. This is handy as a reminder for small tasks that often get overlooked, like dusting baseboards.

BrightNest

If you already have a chore routine in place, but want to figure out better and more efficient ways to organize your home, then try BrightNest. The free app builds a customized list of projects for you based on whether or not you have pets or kids, the appliances or spaces you have to take care of (I appreciate this because I rent an apartment and don’t have to deal with stuff like basements, swimming pools or water boilers), and what your goals are. For example, do you want to make environmentally-friendly alternatives to commercial cleaning solutions, find craft projects or learn some money-saving tips?

BrightNest can also give you home maintenance advice based on your region’s climates, but only if you enter a zip code, so this feature doesn’t work if you don’t live in the U.S. or prefer not to divulge the area where you live. Unlike Unfuck Your Habitat and HomeRoutines, BrightNest also requires that you sign up for an account using your email or Facebook login.

If you are comfortable creating an account, BrightNest is the most attractive of all the housekeeping/chore apps I’ve tried so far. Weekly projects are illustrated with photographs and an estimate of how much time they will take. Some of them are pretty obvious (I really don’t need yet another closet organizing guide), but there are many fun and surprising tips, like using leftover tea or tea leaves as a cleaning agent. BrightNest doesn’t give you a list of routines, but you can create your own schedule with its projects and opt for reminder emails.

Chorma

Do you live with sloppy roommates that you are planning to strangle? Instead of killing them, try Chorma. It’s an easy app that lets you create lists of repeating chores and then assign them to your “housemembers,” who can check-in with their progress. To keep people from slacking off, you can create individual or group rewards that are redeemable once all tasks are created, but this feature is only available if you subscribe to Chroma Pro for $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year per household.

Image by Hey Paul Studios on Flickr

Source: TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/bO9uZS7L27w/

Microsoft's OneNote Android app updated with native sharing and widgets

Since its major overhaul back in July, Microsoft's OneNote Android app has languished while the company built out the Windows version of its note-taking tool. That changed today after Microsoft pushed live a new update to the Play Store, which ...



Source: Engadget RSS Feed http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/31/onenote-android-app-sharing-widgets/?ncid=rss_truncated

OneNote for Android updated with new widget and multi-window support

Microsoft is updating its OneNote Android application today, adding some useful features to its note taking app. While OneNote has previously supported simple widgets with quick access to photos, audio, and new notes, the latest update now includes a recent widget to display recent notes on the home screen. The widget supports recent notes by default, but you can also add pages, sections, or notebooks to the home screen too.

Other improvements include a new share button that allows apps like Chrome and RSS readers to simply share links and content directly into a new OneNote. Microsoft has also added in support for the multi-window mode used on some of Samsung’s Galaxy devices, allowing the app to open side-by-side with other Android...

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Source: The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/31/5259912/onenote-android-update-multi-window-support-recent-widget

Off-contract Moto G might be coming to Verizon for $100

Motorola's Moto G smartphone might soon be available to Verizon customers for as low as $100 — without a contract. Google+ user Josue Joseph, who claims to work at Best Buy Mobile, posted a picture of the Android phone in Verizon retail packaging. Joseph later commenting that it "looks like it's going for $100."

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Source: The Verge - All Posts http://www.theverge.com/google/2013/12/30/5258884/moto-g-for-100-off-contract-verizon-says-leak

Nokia wins German injunction banning HTC Android devices

Nokia is clearly on a roll in the courtroom as of late -- following lawsuit wins in the Netherlands, the US and the UK, the company has landed a German injunction banning all of HTC's Android-based devices. The ruling lets Nokia provisionally block ...



Source: Engadget RSS Feed http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/30/nokia-wins-injunction-banning-htc-android-devices-in-germany/?ncid=rss_truncated

Chromebooks overtake Android tablets and Macs in US business sales

Chrome OS is at last gaining some momentum -- among US businesses and schools, anyway. The NPD Group reports that Chromebooks represented 9.6 percent of all computing devices sold through American commercial channels in 2013, or enough to surpass the ...



Source: Engadget RSS Feed http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/30/chromebooks-overtake-android-tablets-and-macs-in-business/?ncid=rss_truncated

Archos To Launch A Line Of “Pebble-Like” Smartwatches For iOS And Android At CES

Archos just dropped a huge smattering of CES news in advance of the huge annual tech show, which kicks off next week in Las Vegas. Among the various announcements, tucked away near the bottom, is the revelation that it will be introducing a “selection of smartwatches” for 2014, which will start at under £50 (roughtly $82 U.S.).

Archos doesn’t go into much detail about its smartwatches, saying only that they’ll have a “pebble-like” design and will work with both Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. The “pebble-like” seems like a blatant shot across the bow of Pebble, the Kickstarter-backed hardware startup that began building smartwatches under that name this past year, though it’s probably meant on the surface to indicate the things will look somewhat like rocks.

The Pebble is arguably the current leader in the smartwatch space, having sold somewhere around 300,000 units to date according to the latest official figures released by the company. Archos, the French company behind a line of moderately successful media players, and subsequently many Android-based tablets and gaming gadgets of questionable quality, looks to be trying to exploit the opportunity exposed by newcomer Pebble with cheaper devices in a range of options to suit the needs of various consumers.

Archos is targeting “simplicity and function” with its smartwatch designs, the company says, which could actually seem to be at cross-purposes. Maybe they’ll have some feature heavy designs, more like the Samsung Galaxy Gear, and some that are essentially just streamlined data delivery devices, more like the Pebble itself. Either way, I highly doubt Archos will find a red-hot seller in any smartwatch design – but that doesn’t mean it can’t meddle with the grand plans of Pebble and other startups.

Pebble is currently running a lot of sales and promotions, and giving away a good number of devices. This means that either A) it’s finding interest is dropping off after initial demand has been satisfied; or B) it’s gearing up to release second-generation hardware. Regardless, I still think we’ve yet to see any proof that watch-based computing is something that’s feasible as a mainstream device, and entrants from Archos are unlikely to provide said evidence.

Source: TechCrunch http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/A7lcvtMh9VQ/