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Tag Archives: applications

Aussie Geek Podcast – Episode 46

The latest episode of the AGP is in the feed. This week Dave and I go over a few things that took place during our long absence and discuss news from Google, Twitter and Linux. We also have some fantastic apps for mobile, tablet and web and an illuminating story of recycling and ingenuity.

Dave and I had a great time putting this show together, and I had the opportunity to produce an episode of the AGP for the first time in well over a year. It felt good to get my hands dirty again, and I think Dave appreciated the break. ;)

 

Leaking Tokens: Time to Change Your Facebook Password

I don’t do this kind of thing lightly, but it might be a good idea to post this on your wall:

  • Facebook found a problem in the way that it was authenticating applications.
  • Any time you used an application a token was created that would allow the application to do it’s thing — including posting on your wall, accessing photos or whatever other permissions it requested.
  • The tokens did not expire and were being “leaked” through normal operation on Facebook.
  • Anyone who found a token would be able to use it to do the same things that you allowed the application to do — including posting on your wall, accessing photos or whatever other permissions it requested.

It is important to note that Facebook has said there is no evidence that this has been exploited — yet.

The problem has now been fixed, but all the old tokens could still be usable until September 2011. You can re-secure your account by simply changing your Facebook password. This will invalidate any of the existing tokens.

Information Week has an article with more detail.

Wrapping Up — Flip, Out.

This is the fifth and final post in my series of reviews of the BlackBerry 8230.  These were originally written in April, 2009 on an internal blog and are being reposted here.

005-black-pearl-flip-thIt’s been a great three weeks testing out the Flip. I’ve really enjoyed playing with the phone and getting the chance to share the reviews. It’s been very interesting to read through the comments on the posts, as well as the posts done by the other reviewers. Overall, I think the first set of team-member product reviews has been pretty successful.

After looking over what I’ve already written and staring at the Flip sitting here in its box, I find myself pondering the question: “So what’s the bottom line?”

005-pro

  1. AMAZING screen. I don’t think I mentioned this before now, but the screen is bright, clear and great to look at.
  2. Decent camera. The camera takes good pictures – for a phone.
  3. AppWorld. It’s a great way to get things installed on the phone.
  4. Applications. The bundled applications, along with the availability of decent applications make the BlackBerry a super-functional platform in any form factor.
  5. Email. BlackBerrys are email devices, and always have been.

005-con

  1. Keyboard. The lack of a QWERTY keyboard is the biggest issue I had with the phone. Talking to people who have been long-time Pearl users, the keyboard does certainly get easier to use the longer you have it. But with my usage (need to key in Twitter usernames, login IDs for websites and lots of strange email addresses) the SureType system isn’t.
  2. Battery Life. The battery life was passable, but for something that is notably thicker than many other phones on the market the battery should be spectacular.
  3. Casing. I understand that the Flip is geared as a ‘Consumer’ phone, and isn’t targeted at higher-end customers, but the casing feels cheap – a sentiment shared by a large number of people that came by my desk to check out the phone.

005-gavel

The phone is a pretty good entry-level BlackBerry, but the lack of a good keyboard and the overall form factor aren’t for me. Given the choice I’d stick with my Curve.

Applications a Go-Go – Apps on the Flip 8230

This is the fourth post in my series of reviews of the BlackBerry 8230.  These were originally written in April, 2009 on an internal blog and are being reposted here.

004-black-pearl-flip-thSince I wasn’t overly impressed with the email functionality built-in to the Flip’s mail program, when it came to Gmail integration at least, I thought I’d come back and talk about something quite a bit more cheerful: running applications on the Flip. The newer operating system on the Flip has a new application gallery called the BlackBerry AppWorld. The AppWorld, at the time of this post, has over 260 applications ranging in price from free through about $50… at least that’s the most expensive one that I saw.

The installation and setup experience is quick and easy. I was able to find several interesting apps to help me through my final week with the Flip. I had the opportunity to play with a number of different apps and explore some functionality that I hadn’t tried on my other BlackBerry.

Having access to the BlackBerry AppWorld is a great step forward from previous methods of getting apps on the BlackBerry. They’ve made great strides in usability and ease of installation, and the new method is similar to the experience on the iPhone , with one major caveat – the number of available applications. The BlackBerry OS is not a new platform for developers, but it hasn’t gained the same following with application developers as Apple’s rival platform.

In addition to downloading from the application store, I’ve also installed the Gmail application from Google. This provides a more seamless experience than trying to use the built-in mail settings as it takes advantage of Gmail’s secure IMAP protocol to exchange messages with the server. This helps to keep the mail on the BlackBerry synchronized with the mail on the server including whether or not messages have been read. IMAP compatibility is something that I’d really like to see RIM implement in future revisions of the BlackBerry OS.