Cellphones

Twitter Introduces Two-Step Authentication

22 May 2013 9:13 PM

Twitter has finally introduced two-factor authentication to more securely protect accounts, the company announced Wednesday.

The move comes after a number of hacks of high-profile Twitter accounts, including The Onion, the Associated Press and E! Online. Jim O’Leary from Twitter’s product security team announced the new feature via a blog post, saying it is in response to accounts “occasionally” being compromised by phishing schemes or password breaches on other sites.

Twitter is calling the new feature “login verification.” It works similarly to other two-factor authentication systems, especially Google’s: After the account holder logs into an account, Twitter will send a special code to the user via SMS text message that the person must enter to gain access to the account.

Users can enable login verification via their Twitter settings page. You’ll need both a confirmed email address and a verified phone number on your account to use the feature, and the system will send a test message to finish the activation.

Importantly, apps that you’ve linked to Twitter will continue to work “without disruption,” O’Leary wrote. For apps other than a browser that require you to log into Twitter, you’ll need a one-time password, available on Twitter’s application page (this is also similar to how Google two-factor authentication works).

Twitter built login verification out of its Twitter for SMS feature, which has been around almost since the service debuted. O’Leary says the work the company put into the new feature will enable more security enhancements in the future.

Calls for Twitter to introduce some kind of two-step verification service grew louder after account hacks became a frequent occurrence. Besides the companies mentioned earlier, the BBC, the Financial Times, Burger King and Donald Trump have all experienced Twitter hacks in recent months.

Currently it’s not available in UK/France

Update 25-May-13 10:54PM: This feature is now available in the United Kingdom, you will need to add a phone to your Twitter account to enable this feature.

How to Easily Capture Photos In Snapchat Without the Other Person Knowing

18 May 2013 3:03 AM
(c) Snapchat | Free for iOS and Android

(c) Snapchat | Free for iOS and Android

We knew that Snapchat security isn’t the best, but not this much! There is a method to easily capture images sent through Snapchap with no technical know-how whatsoever. Just a couple clicks and, boom, that nude is yours to keep forever without the other person knowing about it.

Before there was a method that required multiple steps, a computer and some technical ping pong. But this is super easy, requiring only two actions on your own iPhone:

  • Open the photo in Snapchat before it expires.
  • Take a screenshot by pressing the home and power buttons while keeping a finger on the screen.
  • Double tap the home button to bring up the application bar.

That’s it, you’re done.

Thanks to Raj Vir for his help and for bringing this to our attention. (Source)

AppShopper returns to iOS App Store

23 April 2013 5:19 PM

Even before AppGratis was famously removed from the iOS App Store earlier this month, AppShopper, a similar app discovery service, had already been there: it was removed from the App Store late last year for similar reasons. It had been so long that I thought I would never see an updated version of the native AppShopper app back on my device again. But I was very happy to find out that AppShopper has recently returned to the iOS App Store with a completely new app titled AppShopper Social (free on iOS).

The team behind the app announced the news in a blog post on Sunday and sent an email out early this morning.

This is a brand new app, so it is a separate download (not an update). You will be able to keep your existing AppShopper app on your device as well.

AppShopper Social has a very familiar look and feel to it when compared to the original app. The app name has changed, which means I can continue to use the new app and the older version of App Shopper to find new apps to download. But the big difference in this version is that is no longer lists every app in the App Store in ranked order, which was too similar  to what Apple does with its own App Store lists.

New Social Features

The main view is now composed of your Friend Stream which shows you apps that your fellow AppShopper friends have added to their Wish List or My Apps lists.

With AppShopper Social, you can maintain a Friend/Follower list. When you add a friend to your list, your personalized stream becomes composed of apps that that they have added to their own lists. While you can add any other AppShopper user to your friends list, we’ve created a few special accounts for you to get started with.

Same Old Features, Some Coming Back

Long time AppShopper users will be happy to know that the core Wish List and My App features remain in place. You can still get Push Notifications for updates and price changes to your apps. You can also search for any apps. Following the AppShopper user will get you a list of the AppShopper Featured apps.

A few features didn’t make the first cut. “What’s New” and “Top 200″ were temporarily dropped while we sought re-approval. We will see about returning those features in a future version.

Also, in the interest of time, we haven’t yet updated the iPad version yet. In its present form, AppShopper Social is not a Universal app. We will be working on a Universal update soon.

 

Download now: iTunes Link GB / Download now: iTunes Link US

‘Mailbox’ for iPhone You Can Finally Download and Use Mailbox’s App Without Waiting in Line

19 April 2013 7:33 PM

If you’ve been interested in trying out Mailbox’s app, but didn’t feel like waiting behind thousands of people in line, now’s your chance! Orchestra’s mail management app, Mailbox, debuted in the App Store in February and while it impressed many, there was a long virtual line before most people could actually use it. Yesterday, Orchestra announced that the virtual line to use the app has been eliminated. You can download Mailbox now for free [iTunes link]

Good news! Mailbox is now available without having to wait in line. After 10 weeks of around-the-clock hard work, our engineering team has scaled the Mailbox service to deliver over 100 million messages per day (and growing). We believe we can now confidently handle new users as they sign up, so we’ve pulled down the reservation system.

If you missed the hub-bub around Mailbox, the app lets you manage your email inbox with gestures to re-order, delete, archive, and even snooze your emails for later handling. Here’s the promo video so you can see it in action below:

It works only with Gmail accounts at the moment and the app is free to download and use. I was able to start using Mailbox a couple of weeks or so after it was released and while I like the concept, it doesn’t help me be more productive for work though if it gets the ability to handle IMAP accounts outside of Gmail, I’d definitely use it for my personal email. If you’ve been waiting patiently to give Mailbox a whirl or are just hearing about it for the first time, now is the time to get it. If you’re already using Mailbox, you’ll be happy to know that it got some smarter snooze options, interface improvements, and bug fixes in version 1.2.0 that was released earlier this week.

Last month, Dropbox acquired the app and the team behind it — 13 employees in total — in a move that both companies said would help the app expand more quickly.

Have you tried using Mailbox yet? Share your thoughts about the app in the comments.

Apple iMessage and FaceTime not working for some users

10 April 2013 12:48 AM

Apple has confirmed that its iMessage and FaceTime services are not currently working for some users. On Apple’s System Status page, both iMessage and FaceTime are listed as having issues with a note underneath each that reads “Some users affected.” All other services are up.

iPhone owners have already been aware that iMessage is down. As “iPhones” and “iMessage” have both been trending on Twitter in relation to the downtime. If you thought it was just your phone, rest assured it’s not. You will still be able to send messages to friends though, they will just send as normal text messages rather than iMessage’s, of course that means you will have to suffer with those ugly green chat bubbles temporarily.

The issues began around 3:15PM eastern time according to Apple. It’s been a little over three hours now. The actual problem itself is unidentified at this point, so there’s unfortunately no way of knowing when Apple will resolve the iMessage and FaceTime woes.

Apple has a history of having issues keeping up its services like iMessage and iCloud. This is far from the first time iMessage has been down and if I was a betting man, I’d say it probably won’t be the last.

UPDATE 1:30 AM Wednesday, April 10, 2013 (BST): It looks like iMessage and FaceTime is working again.