And in the category of weird business names, I got this email today:

"Price Protector is now Eyeona"

Eyeona?
Eyeeeeeeyyoooooonnnaaaa?

Like in a wild hyena laugh? What does bargain-hunting have in common with hyenas? Is that supposed to be a riddle? I know I can follow the links on that email and read the back-story and all that in the time it has taken me to write this out here. But really, first impressions are the worst and the most fun.

In addition to the default apps that came with the Nexus one phone, I have the following additional ones installed:.

1. estrip
2. ezPDF Reader
3. File Expert
4. GNotes
5. Opera Mobile
6. Pomodroido
7. Maildroid
8. Quickoffice
9. Wifi file transfer

Out of that list, I see these as apps with a ton of access and with the potential for troublemaking

• Wifi file transfer

Access:
Storage (modify/delete SD card contents)
Network communication: full internet access, view network state, view Wi-Fi state

• Maildroid

Access;
Your location (coarse- network-based location, fine GPS location
Your personal information: read contact data, read sensitive log data
Storage (modify/delete SD card contents)
Network communication: full internet access, view network state,
Phone calls: read phone state and identity
System tools: prevent phone from sleeping, automatically start at boot
Hardware controls: control vibrator

MAN! that is a hell of a lot of permissions. But this app is SO useful because it keeps me updated about my work email - a paleolithic MS Exchange server 2007 based system

I think these came with the phone. I don't use them and want them out. Someday, I will root this phone and chuck them out.

1. Amazon MP3
2. Car Home
3. Facebook
4. Goggles
5. Magic Smoke wallpapers
6. Music Visualization Wallpaper
7. Twitter

Huh? What do these even do?

1. HTC Radio Info
2. KickBack
3. Google Backup transport
4. Google One time Init
5. Google Partner Setup
6. Pico TTS
7. SoundBack
8. TalkBack

Traditionally, it has been very tough or very unsatisfactory for virus-creating hackers to target the Linux OSes because the field is so fragmented. There are as many distributions as there are stars in the sky... and possibly more.

I was recently wondering about the situation in Android because the field is somewhat unified with limited number of variants. Anyone who writes an application can get entry into the Android market and peddle their apps. This is great for reaffirming the open source and free nature of the Android operating system but is quite a nightmare in terms of security.

And sure enough, I spotted this article:

I am kind of spooked. I try out random apps all the time and I certainly am one of those people who just says yes to the permissions screen. No one, apart from expert hackers can actually tell whether or not an app is going to cause extensive harm just by looking at them in a cursory fashion. But everyone can definitely pay more attention when it comes to what apps they choose to install.

I am going to start a running list of apps I have on my android devices here, I started this for chrome apps a while back but it has fallen into oblivion. I need to revive that as well. Hacking chrome is somewhat tougher but the basic playing ground is the same. I think, for non-hackers, knowledge about the apps they are using is 3/4ths of the battle against the viruses. The other 1/4ths is resisting temptation to download chunks of the whole marketplace willy nilly.

I went to check how much a simple 32 GB micro sdhc memory card was. All these choices and classes tumbled out of the closet.

It blows my mind that someone actually took the time to benchmark all these cards:

Sandisk 16 GB Class 2 Read: 7.5 MB/sec    Write: 5.5 MB/sec    
Samsung 8 GB Class 6 Read: 16.8 MB/sec    Write: 7.6 MB/sec    
Lexar 32 GB Class 10 Read: 20.3 MB/sec    Write: 8.1 MB/sec    

And those numbers don't tell the entire story. Apparently the higher classes have a tendency to burn out faster.

Nothing is simple anymore. I should have known that.

My wacom stylus has started some crazy erratic behaviour. Its eraser-end works but the pen tip does not. I recently found this "cure" on the internet:

You just whack the stylus against a padded surface (for example, your palm) till it starts behaving. The technique works around 70% of the time. For the 30% of the times it doesn't, even if you are tempted to search ebay and random shady websites for replacements, grit your teeth and whack the stylus a few times more. Chances are, the beating you gave it earlier is not sufficient enough to make the errant stylus realize who is the master here.

Wacom. Whack 'em.

NB: I am really not sure how much more whacking the pen can take. Maybe I should get a replacement.