TimesToCome Mobile

McAfee, who has a strong monetary interest in WM viruses, is reporting it found one in the wild. Perhaps they have? I’ve yet to hear or meet an individual who has caught a virus on his/her mobile device.

If you are concerned about viruses on your mobile device, then take the following precautions:

1) Turn off blue tooth visibility. No one else needs to see your device but you.

2) Download programs from the source. If you are downloading Google Maps, download it from Google. Not a file sharing site.

I think for now the risk is too small to be a great concern to most of us. But the two precautions above should cause you no effort.

Several reports are coming in on laptops and phones having data copied when you cross the border. Arriving in the US, people are reporting that security is insisting on looking through the data on your laptop and cell phone and often copying the data from your cell phone or laptop.

More information:

iPhone meets the 4th amendment
Civil liberties groups sue Homeland Security
US Confiscating data at the border
US courts consider legality of laptop inspections.
Examining Search and Seizure of Electronics at Airports

Another concern is having your cell phone stolen. Most cell phones now allow you to enter a password that will turn on after a set time. Since I almost lost a phone on a trip I’ve used passwords on my phones. Don’t wait until you lose the phone to decide you need a password.

I just had a fishing scam text messaged to my phone.  For goodness sake, if you get a text message telling you to click on a link and log in don’t do it.

This one claimed to be from service@sterilingonline.com.  I don’t have an account with them.

Subject: NOTICE

Your STERLING BANK online service is expired, for renewal please login using ‘www.banksterlingonline.com’ ASAP

The link takes you to www.banksterilingonline.com.  My guess is Bank Sterling does not own that url.

I had hoped by the time I wrote this there would be some fixes posted on the forums but I’ve yet so see one.

If you are using a Sprint or Verizon phone and you dial 911 an alarm goes off. On some phones you will hear a very loud alarm on some it is just 3 short beeps.

It also turns out that some phones connect you to 911 as soon as you hit the final ‘1′ with out you pressing send – some wait for a send button.

Sprint and Verizon claim it is ordered by the government specs on 911. ( Sprint is currently in trouble with the feds for not meeting 911 standards so that you can be located when you dial 911 ) However this is not true. The 911 specs require that you notify someone that a 911 call has been made, it does not say you should announce it to the entire neighborhood, nor do they state it must be audible.

. . . Carol, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of making herself or her land a target for vandals, called for help recently when she arrived at some vacant property she owns in east Austin and found her security chain gone.She grabbed her new Casio G’zOne phone from Verizon Wireless, which to her horror made an audible alarm when she called 911.Fearing vandals were still on the property, she hung up and hid, then put her hand over the earpiece and dialed again to muffle the sounds. . . .[read more Verizon customer calls phone alarm 'dangerous']

This is one of those rare items that has to be filed under bad things. National Geographic put out a camera phone book last month. With great hopes and anticipation I ordered up a copy from Amazon.

What the book really is, is a digital camera how to book, not a cell phone camera book. The tips and techniques are all those you find in standard digital camera books. The list of equipment they recommend misses the whole point of a cell phone camera – ie that it is very portable and you don’t have to spend time setting up shots.

Save your money and skip this book.