Survey Shows We’re Too Lazy About Mobile Phone Security

A new survey shows U.S. consumers are shockingly lax about basic security on their mobile phones.

Most of us have no qualms about making purchases via mobile, and the vast majority of us use the same phone for business and personal use — two common vulnerabilities in web security.

Yet in spite of these yellow flags, few of us use phone-locking passwords and duplicate the same passwords for mobile apps that we use on our desktops.

The survey [PDF] in question comes from security firm AVG and research and consulting firm The Ponemon Institute.

One key finding we mentioned was the crossover between business and personal use of the same device. Around 84% of consumers use the same smartphone for both professional and personal tasks. In those cases, if the user’s phone ever becomes lost or compromised, the amount of risk is automatically doubled, since both kinds of private and confidential data could be accessed.

When it comes to the kind of data that puts consumers at further risk, 66% of respondents said they kept personal and personally identifiable data (such as an email address, name, contact lists, photos, videos, anniversary and personal dates, etc.) on their phones. And 23% of respondents also said they stored passwords on their phones.

And we’re not as wary as we should be about mobile viruses, either. In fact, more consumers are bothered by mobile ads than by malware. Roughly 67% of consumers surveyed said they were concerned about receiving marketing ads and promotions, but just 44% said they were worried about the possibility of a mobile virus attack.

According to the survey, 66% of respondents have made at least one purchase on their phone, 38% make payments on their phones and 14% do mobile banking. A full 12% have been the target of attempted mobile payment fraud. Yet a mere 6% do a monthly check of their cell phone bill, and only 8% check their phone statement when it’s unusually high.

And in spite of all these security risks, less than half of consumers in this survey used keypad locks or passwords to secure their mobile devices, and only 29% said they have thought about using a mobile anti-virus application.

Take a look at the man-or-woman-on-the-street clips below, and in the comments, let us know what you’re doing about your own mobile security.

View the original article here

Groupon’s “Real” U.S. Revenue Numbers For February

Two days ago, I published the chart below with monthly estimates of Groupon’s U.S. revenues. The chart shows a startling 30 percent falloff in February from the month before. As I noted in the post:

Again, these are just estimates based on the equivalent of scraping Groupon’s site, and thus could be missing something.

Well, at least for February, it looks like those numbers are way off. The post obviously caused some ripple effects to the extent that Groupon had to start addressing the issue with potential hires. As a result, it knocked loose the real revenue numbers for February and January. Groupon wouldn’t comment on the revenue numbers when I asked them about it, but according to a source, Groupon is now privately countering the numbers in my post: instead of $62 million in U.S. revenues, the company did $103 million in February. And that is up from $92 million in January (compared to the $89 million in the original data below).

I did some checking around, and I’ve been able to confirm that these two numbers (the $103 million and the $92 million) are right. I was also able to confirm that the 60/40 mix between U.S. and international revenues is about right.

But getting back to the cause of the drop. My original source on the data cautioned that there is a lag time between when the data is published and collected, and it is “definitely possible” that could account for the drop in February. Note that both January numbers are pretty close. The real discrepancy is with February. Also, if Groupon changed the way it published the pages in February, that too could have changed the numbers.

Other external guesstimates such as Yipit’s also point to a drop, but again, the more I learn about how this data is collected, the clearer it is that these are all imperfect methods. Groupon, of course, brings this speculation upon itself by being so tightlipped about its financials. That will change only if and when it files for an IPO.

View the original article here

Arguing the Case Against the Libya Attack, Xtranormal Style [VIDEO]

Perhaps the most cogent argument yet against the U.S.’s recent airstrikes on Libya comes from a cartoon character.

This Xtranormal video, with a decidedly right-leaning point of view, compares President Obama’s decision to bomb Libya with President Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. With close to 100,000 views since it was loaded four days ago, the argument seems to have struck a chord.

Of course, it’s a fairly lopsided debate. The Bush defender here is presented as rational and well-informed while his liberal coworker is pretty dim, brushing aside his objections by noting, “I don’t care. Obama is cool and awesome. His bracket picks were outstanding too,” and declaring that she gets all her news from Saturday Night Live, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

The cartoon animation and the robotic delivery typical of Xtranormal has a distancing effect, but it also prevents the discussion from becoming too strident. Perhaps this is the way the country will argue amongst itself going forward. Good thing we now have an easy way to do so.

View the original article here

Panasonic Lumix GH2 review roundup: impressive video recording, murky still images

By Richard Lai posted Mar 27th 2011 4:18PM In case you're still wondering if Panasonic's mirrorless Lumix GH2 is worth your $900, we've rounded up a handful of reviews to provide a pointer for your next big purchase. While most reviewers agree that this Micro Four Thirds camera appears to be very similar to its predecessor, they universally praise the subtly improved ergonomics, speedy liveview autofocusing, and refined image quality, especially with its 1080p AVCHD video recording (although Digital Camera Resource Page did notice some artifacting in its clips). Noise is also a non-issue up to about ISO 800 or 1600, though it's apparent that the 16 megapixel stills are comparatively dull and, like those from many other MFTs, aren't quite on par with DSLRs -- expect plenty of manual processing work here, as demoed by the good folks over at Digital Photography Review. All in all, the GH2 is a great kit for high quality video capturing, bundled with a pretty good still performance that requires some extra TLC afterwards -- kinda ironic in a way, but hey, this isn't a problem for lovers of video bokeh. Head over to the links below for some in-depth analysis and walk-through before you leave a small dent on your bank account.

Read - Digital Photography Review
Read - Photography Blog
Read - Let's Go Digital
Read - Digital Camera Resource Page

View the original article here

Comcast's Xfinity TV app for iOS updated with more streaming and customization

By Richard Lawler posted Mar 25th 2011 2:34PM Comcast is back with what it's calling the third major release of its Xfinity TV app for iOS, and while the product team says it's added streaming content from IFC, Adult Swim, BBC and more the key upgrade is in customizations. It features a new favorites list that is most improved by its ability to sync with the XfinityTV website, a new channel keypad for quick changes when used as a remote and the ability to jump to specific dates in the TV listings. The iPhone version has also gotten a tweak, with the addition of a "flip through previous channels" feature previously restricted to the iPad version. Of course the next question is when we can expect these enhancements to filter over to the recently launched Android version, and also when Comcast is planning to follow Time Warner through the live channel streaming door, despite the loud protests of some of the TV networks against it.

View the original article here

London Underground to get 120 WiFi hotspots in advance of the 2012 Olympics

By Laura June posted Mar 26th 2011 9:12AM A big announcement arrived today if you live in or around London: to prepare to the onslaught of data-hungry visitors for the 2012 Olympic games that the city is hosting, 120 WiFi hotspots are being added to various locations along the Underground subway system's stations and platforms, in addition to other measures being taken to beef up tech. No WiFi will be in the actual tunnels, mind you, but it should definitely come in handy for all those tourists trying to find their way around the city. British Telecom has already tolled out a trial run at the Charing Cross station, with further installations expected in the lead up to the games.

View the original article here