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The Future Of... Kitchen Counters

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Artist re-imagines flight with amphibious planes

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Android Malware Surfaces in Chinese App Markets

A new Trojan horse aimed at Android devices has recently surfaced in China.

Named “Geinimi,” San Francisco firm Lookout Mobile Security says the Trojan is “the most sophisticated Android malware [the firm has] seen to date.”

“Geinimi is effectively being ‘grafted’ onto repackaged versions of legitimate applications,” most of which have been games, the firm says. The apps are then sold in Chinese third-party Android app markets. Affected apps will request permissions “over and above”� those requested by the legitimate version of an app.

“Users should make sure that the program is asking for permissions appropriate to the app,” a spokesperson from Lookout told Wired. “If the program is asking for your IMEI or your location, and it has nothing to do with the app’s function, that’s a big red flag.”

IMEI is short for International Mobile Equipment Identity, the internationally-used, unique identity number used by many phones.

Lookout hasn’t yet established an intent for Geinimi, though the firm claims the Trojan is “the first Android malware in the wild that displays botnet-like capabilities.” The firm claims that it’s “botnet-like” because it hasn’t yet seen the command server communicate back to affected devices, a Lookout spokesperson told Wired.

The firm has evidence that Geinimi is being distributed only through third-party Chinese app markets. Lookout hasn’t seen any Geinimi-compromised apps in the official Google Android marketplace.

Lookout released an update to its own Android antivirus app, which it says will protect users against Geinimi.

Photo: alachia/Flickr

The 19 Most Wired iPhone and iPad Apps of 2010

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Apple's iOS App Store hit the ground sprinting two-and-a-half years ago, and it hasn't slowed down. In 2010, programmers unleashed a plethora of high-quality apps for the iPhone and its brand-new big sibling, the iPad.

For Apple's tablet, many of the most impressive apps focused on the reading experience. That's not surprising, because what better to do with that big, beautiful screen? And for the iPhone, we saw some clever apps that made excellent use of the handset's always-on data connection, geo-awareness and camera.

With 400,000 apps crowding the iOS App Store, it's tough to choose what's worthy of a space on your screen. Here are Wired staff's picks for the best iOS apps of 2010. There may be a lot of useless apps out there, but these are worth downloading.

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NAO report highlights education success in STEM subjects

Dawinderpal Sahota, Computing, Monday 15 November 2010 at 14:09:00

Take up of Maths and Science subjects on the up, but Department of Education
not meeting its teacher recriuitment targets

The Department for Education has made good progress in improving take up and
achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects,
according to a recent report from the National Audit Office, although there has
been less success in attracting more teachers to these areas.

The report, entitled
Educating
the Next Generation of Scientists, recently published claims that take-up
and achievement in A-Level Maths and GCSE Triple Science has improved, and that
the knock on effect of the success has been that pupil take-up of the three
individual sciences at A-Level has increased by almost 150 per cent in the last
five years.

The NAO claims that there is evidence that pupils taking Triple Science GCSE
are more likely than those studying combined science to choose science subjects
at A-Level and to achieve higher grades. However, by June 2009, almost half of
secondary schools still did not offer Triple Science.

It is often said that qualifications in the pure sciences are a good basis
for a career in IT and technology.

Meanwhile, take-up of Maths A-Level has already exceeded the targets for 2014
set by the Department of Education, but take-up of physics A-Level has increased
only slightly since 2005-06.

The Department is not on course to meet the targets set by the previous
government for recruiting more mathematics and physics teachers by 2014.

?The Department for Education has focused its resources on improving pupil
take-up and achievement in school science and maths, and has made good progress
in areas such as A-Level maths and GCSE Triple Science,? said Amyas Morse, head
of the National Audit Office.

?To make further progress, what?s needed is a more joined-up approach,
bringing together key success factors to maximise successful results and
efficient use of public resources.?

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2273121/report-highlight-education

Next-generation GPS gadgets

Remember when GPS was limited to delivering simple driving directions? Those days are history.

Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40758666/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

Hits and misses in five-tech forecast

Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: In the year 2015, will we be using holographic 3-D cell phones powered by air-breathing batteries in energy-saving offices to protect the planet and anticipate traffic jams? IBM's forecasters think we will.