Rah - Rahsheen - Sheen

This is a guest post by Alia Haley

Many of the business leaders realize the fact that depending merely on advertisements alone cannot suffice for the brand building process. However, entrepreneurs do not put much efforts of building the business brand which can sustain in difficult times of business. Therefore sustainable business is a new idea in the world of business, although it’s gaining popularity slowly and steadily in business circles. Still people find it an abstract or some call it a theoretical thing in business practices. The reason behind this story is because most of the businesses solely depend upon the external factors of brand building. The fact is efforts should be put forward in emphasizing upon the internal brand integration and activation process then only a proper sustainability for business is possible.

Sustainability is the last factor to follow: Generally what you will find in business today is the strategies for sustainability and marketing generally is considered the last choice for businessmen. This is called as a shotgun approach, wherein the businessmen think about the marketing somewhere after six months and then counts on factors like the sustainability in his or her business. The entrepreneurs at times misunderstand this idea and end up embarking with a plan wherein they try things like charity and community relation drives. However, sustainable business is neither the charity thing nor the marketing plan. It is basically the ideas to generate revenue in a consistent way. The entrepreneurs often misunderstand this idea and end up trying something weird and frustrating.

Ways of developing sustainable business: When you as a businessman want to have a sustainable business, you need to start doing it by inviting key players all across the unique value chain of your enterprise. Then you are required to identify and find opportunities to carry out business operations in such a way that you effectively use all the resources in the business creatively. When you have key players at such stages in a value chain you find out opportunities to design and implement plan for better sustainable business. Hence at the end of the day you get cost effective and creative strategies and remain economically driven.

Enhancing and developing the management system: The idea of sustainable business is still at nascent stage; however, it is gearing up in number of business places. At such point of time the entrepreneurs should incorporate this aspect at the policy level of the company or business. This will help implement it in a right way adopting this idea in their core principle of the business. For this you do not have to reinvent things, rather it comes through a couple of things like with cultural orientation, procedures, extensive refinements to systems procedures and practices.

In order to sustain in the business world and remain economically driven, it’s important that the businesses implement this idea the best. Though this still seems to be in its initial stages, however, things are changing with changing times. Certainly for every business implementing the sustainable business ideas would be different. Smaller ones would have some different idea than the bigger ones; however, with factors like perseverance, ingenuity and cooperation the desired result can be achieved.

About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and luxury. Beside this she is fond of travelling. Recently she bought two Invicta Watches for herself. These days she is busy in writing an article on alternative energy sources.

Also check out:

• Make Money: Even with no product and no website
• Leads are Unproductive and a Waste of Time
• Never Listen To Marketers About Social Media

This is a guest post by Alia Haley

Marketing techniques may not be your preferred tools and having your own website may seem too taxing. And you are not interested in selling a product you do not like! On many occasions, you have ample time (even if you already have a job) to spend constructively for handsome earnings. But resource crunch, lack of desired qualification, improper guideline, etc. pose a restriction in progressing in the desired path. There are many ways which can help you earn reasonably. If you can really browse hard and spend some quality time, you can find multiple opportunities.

There are various entities which pay you for what you do for them, irrespective of your marketing or professional skill. However, be prudent to verify the credibility of any individual/organization before joining hands with it. To make your job a little easier, here is an overview of certain options.

Blog

You can start your own blog easily and without spending anything. One such location is Blogger. No special skill, like web architecture or designing, is needed. Simply have your blog set up within minutes. But here, traffic is vital. Affiliate links help add to your income. You get paid for clicks on your advertisements. You need to choose an appealing subject. Write creatively to attract attention and take help from your friends.

Connecting employers and employees

When you connect employers to employees, you get paid. There are several web sites which pay for networking. Payment can be at $50 and go beyond many thousand dollars. You can now get rewarded by indulging in the recruiting business without having to spend anything. Getting in touch with job seekers is quite easy these days. You may visit ReferEarns, WiseStepp and Zyoin, to name some. Broaden your networking to earn handsomely.

Resource hub

If you have expertise on a subject, exploit your skill to get paid. The web can be your resource for creating opportunities. Work on a topic to channelize its resources and create a hub. Traffic is not an issue with many good sites on the web to help. You get paid higher if you can work on your own. Examples are HubPages and Google Knol.

Twitter

A twitter account can also be your tool for earning. You have to work on increasing your followers. There are different revenue scales for different number of followers. There is a web site Adly which can help you earn once you have more than 100 followers. When at Adly, you need to work on an offer. You may use the Buzzom in increasing your followers.

Freelancing

There are multiple categories of freelancing jobs which can be opted for. Some like copy writing, data entry, web designing, etc. are popular choices. Payment is done mainly on the numbers of hours you work or the assignment given to you.
Becoming a freelancer may seem a bit difficult initially. But once you establish a worthy portfolio, earning opportunities increase. Some of the web sites ask the applicants to qualify a test before hiring them. The flexible work environment is worth giving a try.

Providing buyers to sellers

You can work as a vital link between the buyers and suppliers of a product. Although not common, online referral can get you paid. The dealer can set the referral fee which gets paid on execution of a transaction. You get paid when the transaction happens. Individual sites may work in their own way. There may be another online merchant willing to pay for meetings and transactions.

Gaming

Playing games can no more be a waste of time. If you have love for computer games, you may get cash rewards for playing video games online. You may look for opportunities in MSN Games and Gamesville.
The opportunities do not end here. You can find many more suited to your individual skill and need. However, be careful before jumping to any of the offers. Be careful and prudent in your search.

About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger who is fond of writing on tech help and most expensive gadgets. She is all into computers and in recent times she learnt a lot about software downloads and android on windows mobile. Recently she is busy in writing on Automotive Design and tattoo designs

Also check out:

• Sustainable business: Be economically driven
• Leads are Unproductive and a Waste of Time
• Never Listen To Marketers About Social Media

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You should also read:

• Apple and Mozilla Copy Chrome’s Crash Behavior
• Ping.fm: Updating Your Social Networks Without Spamming FriendFeed
• Foursquare Secures $20 Million in Series B Funding

Anyone who has driven a vehicle has encountered a driver who has a touch of road rage or is just highly impatient. These are the people who change lanes repeatedly and for no apparent reason. They try to blow through every yellow light they can. They follow dangerously close, hoping you’ll move out of their way. They seem to have no earthly idea that there are actual legal speed limits posted along the side of the road.

You, on the other hand, cruise along patiently (unless you are the speed demon). You may exceed the speed limit, but only by a bit and you don’t swerve in and out of traffic like a maniac. You know your destination isn’t going anywhere. So, in all that dodging, speeding, switching, changing, and endangering that these speed demons are doing, what always happens? When you pull up to the next red light, or the one after that, guess who is sitting right next to you?

You don’t have to always be doing something to get what you want out of life. You don’t have to always be rushing around like a chicken with your head cut off tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, developing, marketing, vlogging, parenting, downloading, uploading, meeting, greeting, and checking in so that you can reach your goals. Notice, I’m not saying you never have to do things, but most of us are just doing too much to actually be productive.

Your creative mind, that magic piece of genius where the good ideas come from, cannot operate if you are never idle. John Cleese, Brian Eno, and others agree that being idle is essential. Most people might be paying the bills and probably feel like they are getting the job done, but they are merely running in place. While you are actively doing things, your genius is on hold.

So, go sit your ass down somewhere and chill out. Let your mind be at ease. While you relax, that spark of genius grows, new ideas form, the things you really want move closer to you. Stop speeding, kick back, and enjoy the scenery.

I leave you with a quote from The Matrix:

Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?

Morpheus: No, Neo. I’m trying to tell you that when you’re ready, you won’t have to.

You should also read:

• Students Circle Network Aims to Be Globally Accessible Education Resource
• How To Use Hootsuite to Coordinate Your Team and Manage Your Brand
• Firefox 4 Final Set for March 22nd

Hyper-Gate is a Brooklyn-based IT Services, Software Development, and Social Media Management company composed primarily of Latino and African-American shareholders. Their business is geared towards African-American and Latino brands.

Hyper-Gate does what they call an Optimized Business Branding process, registering businesses in 300+ Social Networks, 300+Business Listings, and search engines. Once the basics are done, Hyper-Gate maintains, manages, develops and distributes content for your brand on a daily basis. This allows small businesses to focus on their core products and services while Hyper-Gate keeps their brand competitive on the social media side.

Social media has transformed the way we do business today. The prizes have been huge for those businesses that have harnessed the power of social media. Successfully managing your social media presence can be very time-consuming and quite often requires the use of full-time staff, who in our experience are quite often not the most ‘trained’ Social Media Managers.

Hyper-Gate is the technical arm of Nuyorican Media Corp., combining Education, IT and Business Consultants to customize services for businesses. Founder of Nuyorican Media Corp. Miguel Algarin is known for his work as the Founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, which has long stood as “a beacon for emerging poets, hip hop mavens, musicians, visual adventurists, and sonic/visual artists of virtually every other stripe.” Algarin is also the subject of the The Miguel Algarin Story. Executive Producer and Director Will Roberson, also President of Diggin 4 Brown Films says:

“The golden years of Algarin’s life are no Shakespearian sonnet. A better comparison would be a full-on slam (body, not poetry), as Algarin labors to get on the same page again with the landmark club he founded, keep his home, and manage his HIV+ status. The result is a documentary in progress that’s also a race against time.” — SonicScoop

Umar Bin Hassan of the Last Poets introduced the production team from Diggin4Brown to produce “The Miguel Algarin Story”. Hyper-Gate CTO Anton Prakash is a six sigma blackbelt and former General Electric IT manager. Robin Benton is the Hyper-Gate designer and Miguel’s business partner along with Mirta Serrano, Roy Skodnick, and John Howard Algarin Esq.

Designed to lend Social Media and IT support for Latino and African-American business (B2B), Hyper-Gate will work closely with business owners as Ambassadors for their Brand. Check out the video below for more info on Hyper-Tech. You can also connect with Hyper-Gate on Facebook.

Restart to Safari

MacRumors reports an interesting feature in Mac OS X Lion called Restart to Safari. This feature is reminiscent of Google’s Chromebook, which cuts away your operating system and puts all the focus on accessing the Internet via a web browser. In Apple’s case, though, the motivations are different. They are probably not planning to dump Mac OS X in favor of providing a lightweight, browser-only interface.

This feature seems to be part of the “Find My Mac” feature set which allows users to get access to the internet. Though the premise appears to be to give your Mac a chance to phone home, the feature seems very useful for day to day use.

Updates to Google Sync for iOS

Google Sync is the technology that keeps your phone’s native mail and calendar apps in sync with your Gmail, Calendar and Contacts. Google has released 3 updates for Google Sync that should make some iPhone and iPad users more productive:

• Now, you will be able to search all your emails in Gmail, not just the ones stored locally in your iOS Mail app.
• Accept, decline or edit calendar events from the iOS calendar app.
• Send email from the address you want. Many of us manage multiple addresses and Gmail’s “Send Mail as” feature was not available on your iOS device. Now, you can keep things more consistent as the iOS mail app will respect those settings.

Lady Gaga and 50 Cent All About Bre.ad

Bre.ad is a custom link shortener funded by Lady Gaga’s manager Troy Carter. There are many…many link shorteners already out there, but Bre.ad seems focused on big brands and those looking to promote themselves. Promoting online requires strategy. There is a delicate balance between promoting your own stuff and helping others to shine. Bre.ad sort of allows you to do both at the same time. Clicking a Bre.ad link takes you to a splash page where you spend five seconds reading a custom message and viewing a branded image before being forwarded to the actual destination. Sounds annoying as all get-out, but Lady Gaga, 50 Cent, and Pepsi have all already signed on. With most users not willing to wait any more than a few seconds for a site to load, it will be interesting to see how Bre.ad does.

via BetaBeat

Facebook Moves in Against Apple and Photo Sharing

Two major leaks from Facebook this week. The first is a photo sharing app which has the potential to completely change the game. Photo sharing is a hot area right now with apps like Instagram and PicPlz exploding. Facebook, still quite popular for sharing photos with friends, apparently has no plans to be left behind. Their leaked photo sharing app seems to do way more than just share photos, building on features from Color, Path, and even Path’s new side project, With. Check out TC for a healthy helping of screenshots from the mobile app.

Facebook has made a commitment to support HTML5, which powered their recent upgrade of the mobile Facebook site and is likely behind the upcoming photo sharing app. Development using HTML5 also happens to be one of the ways to get around Apple’s lockdown. One could distribute apps across most mobile platforms using HTML5 web apps. Facebook’s Project Spartan is allegedly going to do just that, and more. Instead of simply using HTML5 support in the Safari mobile browser to bypass Apple’s App Store, they are rumored to be planning a full on attack by distributing mobile apps and games through the mobile browser. I have long been a supporter of HTML5 as a mobile development platform as it gives the developer full control, but I never thought Facebook would leverage it in this way.

Excited about Gingerbread?! Loving the fact that you can stream Netflix?! Well, too bad you can’t have both on your Evo. The latest update to the Evo, which includes Gingerbread, apparently renders the device incompatible with the Netflix service. Netflix has even removed the device from its supported list.

Having this service available on Android is great, but it has also been a great disappointment for Android users. The fact that it is only compatible with a few devices is definitely a big issue in and of itself, but it seems like OS updates might be bringing issues as well. One does wonder if this problem will rise up every time a device receives an update. What do you guys think? EVO users, are you upset about this?

Am I upset? Nope. I’ve been running Gingerbread for quite a while using CyanogenMod 7. Rooting was painless and CyanogenMod with Gingerbread is a beautiful thing. Reminds me why I love using Android: Control. Not being controlled by a wireless carrier or a hardware manufacturer, but the ability to control my device and do whatever-the-hell I want with it.

via Android and Me

Also check out:

• How I Accidentally Upgraded to Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread
• Are Google And Amazon’s Cloud Music Services Dead in the Water?
• Why I Decided Against Apple From Jump

Samsung and Apple Trade Prototypes

Apple filed suit against Samsung a while back, saying that Samsung is basically biting Apple’s style with their line of Android phones and tablets. As part of this suit, Apple demanded to see pre-production samples of the upcoming Droid Charge, Infuse 4G, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 so that they could evaluate any similarities. What does Samsung do in response? They demand access to the upcoming and unannounced iPhone 5 and iPad 3. A pretty ballsy move by Samsung, with the goal being to get Apple to move on and resolve this lawsuit. Are Samsung devices similar to iPhones? I’d say so, but so are all the other touchscreen smartphones out there. Apple was the innovator, but I doubt they can really stop other companies from leveraging that innovation. Check out the full rundown at This Is My Next.

Tupac and Biggie Alive and Living It Up in New Zealand?!

No, not really. Just a prank pulled by a group called LulzSec. They hacked into the PBS.org website and, among other defacements, posted this fake story about Tupac and Biggie staying in some unnamed town in New Zealand. Besides defacing the site, they also compromised network, server, and database details, and user login data for some PBS staff and contractors. In a statement, LulzSec sort of explains why they attacked PBS:

Greetings, Internets. We just finished watching WikiSecrets and were less than impressed. We decided to sail our Lulz Boat over to the PBS servers for further… perusing. As you should know by now, not even that fancy-ass fortress from the third shitty Pirates of the Caribbean movie (first one was better!) can withhold our barrage of chaos and lulz. Anyway, unnecessary sequels aside… wait, actually: second and third Matrix movies sucked too! Anyway, say hello to the insides of the PBS servers, folks. They best watch where they’re sailing next time.

via BoingBoing

Twitter Launches Photos and Follow Button

Twitter had two interesting announcements this week. The first being a revamped search interface with tighter integration for photos and videos. This comes in part via a partnership with Photobucket, one of the first photo sharing sites in the game. See relevant photos and videos right alongside your searches at Twitter.com. We will also soon see the rollout of a feature that lets you add photos directly to your tweets. Yes, you could do this before with 3rd party services, but it’s a feature of the official Twitter.com interface now.

Next up is Twitter’s new Follow button. This makes it a snap to follow people and brands on Twitter instantly from their sites. It’s almost exactly the same as the Facebook Like button, except you’re actually subscribing to someone on Twitter. In addition to integration across sites like About.me and MTV.com, you can integrate the follow button into your own site.

Klout Introduces +K for Topical Influence

Speaking of buttons, the popular social media influence monitoring site Klout has announced a feature they call +K. This allows you to vouch for your peers on specific topics.

Microsoft Gets $5 Everytime HTC Sells an Android Phone

Windows Phone 7 may not be the hottest mobile platform out right now, but at least Microsoft can make some change off Android. Wait…What?! According to Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, this is exactly what’s happening. Microsoft makes 5 bucks for every Android device sold by HTC. This is due to a patent settlement with HTC over intellectual property infringement. They aren’t stopping there, though. Microsoft is seeking anywhere from $7.50 to $12.50 per device against other handset manufacturers. Why not go directly after Google? Probably because the actual manufacturers are easier to pick on. There is also the fact that Google isn’t actually selling the phones, just providing the OS.

via TNW source BI

Twitter Officially Buys Tweetdeck

In a deal finalized on Tuesday, Tweetdeck has officially been acquired by Twitter. It’s both exciting and scary, kind of like when Microsoft acquired Skype. It means that TweetDeck will now have abundant resources to do what they do, but there is really no telling what Twitter will do with it. They haven’t exactly been to keen on third-party clients and developers. TweetDeck could very well be scrapped for parts to bolster the #1 Twitter interface: Twitter.com. Remember, TweetDeck has already created a multi-column HTML5 version of the popular TweetDeck client that works in Chrome.

Quora Launches SMS Support

You can now search and add questions to Quora via SMS on your mobile device. No fancy iPhone or Android app. No fancy HTML5 mobile website. This is straight up text messaging. Might sound archaic, but the fact is that most people still do not have a smartphone. Most of those people can text and they probably have questions they want answered. Holden Page says this move is pure genius, citing chat only 17% of Gen X and Y folks have a smartphone and pointing to Twitter’s rise being powered by initial SMS support. This now puts Quora in competition with services like ChaCha. If you are not already using Quora, will this make a difference?

HTC to Unlock Bootloaders

Due to consumer feedback, HTC will soon make it much easier to install custom ROMS on their Android phones. You know, the ones they pay Microsoft $5 a piece to sell (see above). ROM creators like @Cyanogen, who develop the popular (and totally awesome) CyanogenMod, had to resort to hackery and other mischief to get their product onto HTC devices. Now, this process will be much easier. After outcry from the HTC community, HTC CEO Peter Chou’s released the following statement:

There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience.

via MobileLuv source GDGT

Square Moves Towards Mobile Wallet

The app that lets anyone accept credit card payments using their mobile device has taken things to the next level. Their Card Case feature turns your mobile into a virtual wallet, eliminating the need to actually pull out a physical card to pay for anything when you visit a trusted business.

Card Case is a new venture by Square that essentially puts a mobile wallet on a consumer’s iPhone or Android smartphone that they can use at any Square-enabled business. Users can store credit card information for each business they frequent. Upon entering the business, users can enter their name, select their virtual card from the Card Case app, order their stuff, and Card Case takes care of the rest.

Holden Page at Pages Are Social recently wrote a piece about the relevant web being nameless. I can’t say that I really disagree, but it got me thinking about a few things. It’s true, services like my6Sense take the focus away from the authors/brands and place it on the actual content.

So what are bloggers and blog owners to do? While My6Sense is on the small scale of things, and the few who support My6Sense have come to love it, there is no doubt in my mind that a backlash will occur.

A number of things came to mind here. I remember not so long ago, when bloggers lamented the loss and fragmentation of blog comments. Services like Disqus came out of nowhere, giving ownership of comments to the commentators rather than the bloggers. I don’t see many blogs these days that don’t use Disqus or something similar. The blogosphere changes, content creators change with it.

I view an experience like my6sense as something like the radio for the written word. Of course, my6sense is not a corrupt industry where content creators pay the stations to play their junk, tricking the listener into thinking what’s popular. Rather, you have a channel of content customized by the reader. What they see is exactly what they are looking for.

The similarity with the radio is that, once you come across awesome content, you will want to know who wrote it in the same way that you would want to know who sings your favorite song on the radio. You will probably go further than just waiting for the radio to play that song and go buy the album. Just on the strength of that one piece, you are motivated to own tho whole shebang.

My6Sense and future technologies like it are fundamentally changing how we consume news, and its a benefit is purely for the consumers, not the producers.

Uhm….kinda. There is a saying that any blogger worth his salt has heard. Many have taken it to heart and many others write it off as bull: “Content is King.” As it stands now, you can pretty much write crap as long as you market it well. If you are awesome and networking and connecting with people, your writing skills don’t have to be that strong. I won’t point out any artist in particular, but how many have you hear don the radio or seen on stage at an awards show and wondered how the hell they got there?

Now, take the front man away. Ditch the artist and the blogger. All you have left is their content and, if it can’t stand on its own, that creator fails. This is where my6sense and the few other services like it are taking us. You won’t choose your favorite sites by how awesome you think the author is, but by how great their content is.

Great for the consumer, but all you bloggers half-assing it better get back to basics before it’s too late.

• via Holden Page on The Relevant Web is a Nameless Web
• Get my6Sense here

Also check out:

• Klout for Chrome Adds Influence Scores to Twitter
• my6sense Still Makes Sense
• Why Services Like my6sense Just Makes Sense

Well, it’s not actually free, but you probably have 99 cents knocking around under your couch cushions. Why so cheap? To get more users for their shiny new Cloud Player storage locker.

Lady Gaga Fan? Cop the album here and store it for free in the cloud. Play it on your mobile device or from your browser without ever having to actually download it.

Check out the details at AllThingsD, where they Peter Kafka goes into detail about the love-hate relationship between Amazon’s Cloud Player and the music industry.

Also check out:

• Did You Get Your 20GB of Free Music Storage on Amazon Yet?
• Are Google And Amazon’s Cloud Music Services Dead in the Water?

If a web page calls itself an “experience” and requires Chrome Canary, the “cutting-edge experimental version of Google Chrome,” it’s gotta be awesome…RIGHT?! Check out the behind-the-scenes video below, download Canary, and check out the experiment.

“3 Dreams of Black” is Chris Milk’s new interactive film, created in WebGL with Google for Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi’s ROME, featuring Jack White & Norah Jones. The project is a Chrome Experiment which pushes the boundaries of HTML5 and showcases the potential of video on on modern browsers. Watch the “Creation Of” video:

via hypebot.

Also check out:

• Android Market Gets Home On The Web, But Can Anyone Login?
• Google’s Movie Rentals for Android Blocked for Rooted Devices
• Are Google And Amazon’s Cloud Music Services Dead in the Water?

That fancy new movie rental section on the Android Market? You can’t use it if you have rooted your device. Kinda sucks and I can understand why many rooters would be upset, but I think Android Central goes a bit overboard here:

So now people who root their phones, whether to get rid of the crap “open” that’s forced down their throats, or to have a current version of Android, are punished and lumped in with folks who steal movies. Nice move, Google. That makes me want to buy more of your products and use more of your services, so I can be treated like a criminal just because I’m smart enough to get rid of CityID, or want a safe version of Android on my phone.

There is one important point we have to remember here: Google did not create these movies. In order for Google to distribute them, they need permission from the movie industry. We’ve already learned from the Netflix launch on Android that this industry forces those distributing their content to be very careful. This is one of the reasons Netflix isn’t available on all handsets yet.

Let’s also take a peak at the new Google Music and Amazon Cloud Player services. Both operate as simple cloud storage lockers which just so happen to be geared towards playing music. Without the music industry behind it, you are forced to simply upload all your junk instead of having these services recognize and match your library as Lala has done in the past. More than likely, Apple’s cloud-based music service will have this ability. Remember? Apple bought Lala and later shut it down.

Let’s not go blaming Google and try to realize that, without these restrictions, there probably wouldn’t be any movies at all for any Androids.

Also check out:

• Are Google And Amazon’s Cloud Music Services Dead in the Water?
• Android Market Gets Home On The Web, But Can Anyone Login?
• Amazing Danger Mouse, Jack White, Norah Jones HTML5 Experience

Android Users Vulnerable to Man-in-the-Middle Attack

Due to an insecurity in Google’s ClientLogin Protocol, it seems any Android user running 2.3.3 or earlier could unknowingly give away access to personal data. Researchers at uulm claim that authToken information, stored for 14 days any time you login to sites like Facebook and Twitter, can be easily obtained by hackers:

“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.”

Today, Google announced a fix for the problem, which will be completely transparent to users. You won’t have to do an update or install anything. Picasa synchronization, introduced in Android 2.3, will remain unencrypted. If you think you already got got, you will still need to change your Google password.

Keep in mind that, in order for the attack to work, you would have had to connect to a “fake” unencrypted WiFi network at some point.

via Gizmodo

AT&T Sees the Light. Removes App Restrictions.

It’s been a long time coming for AT&T Android smartphone customers, but you will FINALLY be able to install 3rd-party applications on your devices (sideloading). This means you will also now get access to Amazon’s Android Appstore, which is still giving away a free app on the daily. The Samsung Infuse, which just launched recently, will be the first phone to get this functionality.

“Over the next few weeks, we will also roll out this capability to existing devices in our base for which an upgrade is possible,” an AT&T spokesman said.

It appears those free daily apps from Amazon were a huge factor in AT&T changing their position. Customers were very vocal and AT&T had no choice.

via Wired

Netflix Single Largest Source of Interenet Traffic in the US

According to a report by Sandyvine, Netflix now accounts for 29.7 percent of peak downstream traffic in North America. This puts it ahead of Bittorrent, YouTube, and all HTTP websites by a pretty big margin. Bittorrent still dominates upstream traffic, though. The reasons for Netflix dominating our downloads? Video streaming eats up a lot of bandwidth, so it doesn’t take much actual usage to post big numbers. Still, this report highlights the major changes in how we consume visual content.

via TechCrunch

Google Teaches Developers How To Turn Apps Into Businesses

Apps are where it’s at right now, but there is more to success than just developing an app. Just like any other creative pursuit, there is work to be done once you have a finished product. It’s highly likely that, just like your average musician, developers need a little direction when it comes to the business end of things. This is where Google’s Guide to the App Galaxy comes in:

App Galaxy isn’t an eBook, PDF, or subscription you have to pay for to take advantage. You don’t have to specifically be an Android (Powered by Google) developer either. App Galaxy is pretty awesome website (no sign-up required) that’s designed as a spaceship taking off that carries you through the many aspects of the app business, regardless of what platform you choose to develop for, as it blasts off into the app success stars.

via BrothaTech