New Android Spyware Threat Disguises Itself as Google+ App

Security researchers from Trend Micro warn of a new information stealing Android trojan that disguises itself as an app for Google's new social product Google+. This latest threat is a variant of a recently discovered trojan called ANDROIDOS_NICKISPY which is able to record phone calls. This new version stands apart from the rest because it is capable of answering incoming calls if the phone's screen is turned off and if the calls originate from a number predefined by the attackers. "From the looks of it, the developer of this app went for the more real-time kind of eavesdropping as well, apart from the one ANDROIDOS_NICKISPY.A used, which involved recording calls," the Trend Micro researchers write. "The 'auto-answering' function of this malicious Android app works only on Android 2.2 and...

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Intel Z77 Motherboard Lineup for Ivy Bridge Processors Revealed

Together with the launch of its first Ivy Bridge processors, Intel is also expected to release a series of new LGA 1155 motherboards based on the Z77 PCH (platform controller hub) that will offer native support for USB 3.0. No less than 11 LGA 1155 models will be introduced in the first half of 2012, two of them belonging to the company's extreme performance series. These are the DZ77RE and DZ77GA and both feature “Max-OC” support (whatever that might mean), are two-way SLI and CrossFireX compatible and use the standard ATX form factor. The DZ77RE however will also get support for the Thunderbolt interconnect, making it one of the first motherboards to integrated this technology. Intel's remaining 2012 LGA 1155 solutions in the Media and Executive...

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Google+ Moving Away from Early Adopters to 'Early Mainstream' Users

Unsurprisingly perhaps, but Google+ is moving away from the early adopters crowd to a more mainstream group of users, according to new research. Of course, this trend is unavoidable, but this is happening a little over a month after Google+ launched. Granted, Google+ is not exactly mainstream yet, but it is becoming more popular with what Experian Hitwise, the company doing the research, calls 'early' mainstream users. "Using the Experian Hitwise sample of over 10mm Internet users in the U.S., combined with our New Mosaic segmentation system launched this summer, its possible to visualize the adoption of Google+," Hitwise writes. "Careful analysis of the Mosaic segments since launch; reveal that in just over six weeks, we’ve moved from innovators to early adopters to early mainstream users...

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Google Analytics Changes the Criteria for What Counts as an User Session

Google is making a slight change to what counts as a session for visits measured by Google Analytics. The change is small, but will affect some visits and will most likely alter the data reported for most websites. "Beginning today, there will be a small change in how sessions are calculated in Google Analytics. We think this update will lead to a clearer understanding of website interactions," Google said. Until now, Google Analytics would end a session for a visitor in three cases:More than 30 minutes have elapsed between pageviews for a single visitor. At the end of a day. When a visitor closes their browser. The first two cases remain intact, but the third one has been changed to make it more specific and detailed. A session will end: When any traffic source value for the user...

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