Google Drive updated with new Material Design-inspired “home screens” for the web

Google has updated Drive with brand new “home screens,” which feature an updated view to find your most relevant and recently edited documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

The new look is clearly inspired by Material Design, which we expect to continue its rollout to other Google products in the coming months. There’s also some nice drag and drop functionality that has been added, allowing users to quickly place documents into created folders. You’ll be able to view your most recent activity on a right sidebar as well — this feature is especially useful if you’re sharing the account with others.

To activate the new look, just head over to your Google Drive account. You may be prompted to be able to try out the new Google Drive, but if not, you can click the gear icon on the top right of the page, and click on “Experience the new Drive.”

If you want to revert back for whatever reason, you can click on the gear again and click on “Leave the new Drive.”

Source: +Google Drive

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Google issues patch for Android’s Fake ID vulnerability to AOSP and OEMs

Another day, another Android security scare so it seems. The latest comes by way of what researchers are calling the “Fake ID” exploit. The vulnerability — found in all Android devices since 2.1 — allows for malicious applications to bypass normal Android security by faking their secure IDs, giving them access to potentially sensitive data like user credentials, emails, payment history or anything else you’d like to keep away from prying eyes.

How is this possible? It’s simply because Android fails to verify the validity of an app’s cryptographic signature, something the OS uses when deciding which special privileges to grant an app (like access to NFC or act as a plugin) allowing it to bypass normal Android sandboxing. Apparently KitKat has helped curb some of what this exploit allows, but it’s still left somewhat vulnerable.

Upon hearing the news, Google was quick to respond to the issue and even though there hasn’t been any recorded incidences of the malicious apps actually attacking anyone’s devices, they thanked the folks at Bluebox Security for their findings. The good news? A patch has already been pushed to AOSP and sent to OEMs for them to apply as they deem fit. The bad news? There’s no telling how long something like that can take before it hits your T-Mobile G2X. Here’s the statement Google gave ArsTechnica :

“We appreciate Bluebox responsibly reporting this vulnerability to us; third-party research is one of the ways Android is made stronger for users. After receiving word of this vulnerability, we quickly issued a patch that was distributed to Android partners, as well as to AOSP. Google Play and Verify Apps have also been enhanced to protect users from this issue. At this time, we have scanned all applications submitted to Google Play as well as those Google has reviewed from outside of Google Play, and we have seen no evidence of attempted exploitation of this vulnerability.”

In the meantime, you may want to exercise a little caution when downloading any “special” apps not found on the Google Play Store.

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Blackberry no longer wants to force their awful UI down our throats

Never mind the notion that the Blackberry Messenger ship has failed — let’s talk about the fact that Blackberry tried so hard to force a user interface on us that didn’t feel like it belonged in the first place. Even if you still value BBM as a respectable messaging service, you probably have reservations about its UI. Their goal was to build an identity and brand with their BBOS user interface.

Thankfully Blackberry seems to be taking a 360-degree turn and changing their ways. The company discussed the app at the Blackberry Security Summit this week, and when asked why Windows Phone received a “homely” UI compared to the BBOS-like clones on iOS and Android they responded by saying the latest changes in their vision prompted the need to create user interfaces native to each respective platform.

“You can expect to see that manifest itself in our Android and iPhone BBM apps,” said president John Sims. It’s certainly a long time coming, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with. Unfortunately Blackberry didn’t give a time frame as to when these updates would be available, but we can tell you it can’t come soon enough.

[via N4BB]

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Tuesday App And Game Sales: Ninja Village, Space Colony LWP, R-Type II, And More

How's your day going? Good? Would some app and game sales make it better? Well, it doesn't matter—you're getting them anyway. There's a pretty good selection of them today, so prepare to spend a little money.

Apps

FlickFolio for Flickr HD – $1.99 from $2.99

Network Connections Unlock Key – $1.99 from $3.99

Live Jellyfish – $0.99 from $1.99

Calls Blacklist PRO – $0.99 from $2.49

A Better Camera Unlocked – $3.49 from $6.99

Camera Block – $1.87 from $2.69

Note Anytime – $1.99 from $4.99

Planets Pack LWP – $0.99 from $1.95

Space Colony LWP – $0.99 from $1.95

Field Compass Plus – $1.17 from $1.99

Games

Shiver: Poltergeist CE – $1.99 from $2.99

Ninja Village – $1.20 from $4.99

Jewellust – $1.49 from $2.95

Tentacle Wars – $0.89 from $1.79

Toca Cars – $0.99 from $2.99

R-TYPE II – $0.99 from $1.99

FINAL FANTASY V – $7.99 from $15.99

Tuesday App And Game Sales: Ninja Village, Space Colony LWP, R-Type II, And More was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Samsung Level Over, On, In, And Box Review: Samsung May Finally Be Getting Sound Right

Samsung's finally getting into the premium personal audio market with its Level line of products, but can they just walk into this increasingly crowded space, one that is, frankly, dominated by the oft-maligned Beats Audio? Two pairs of headphones, one pair of earbuds, and a portable Bluetooth speaker comprise Samsung's first real effort to break into this lucrative space - are any of them worth your attention? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer could be yes.

Samsung Level Over, On, In, And Box Review: Samsung May Finally Be Getting Sound Right was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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[Deal Alert] BACtrack's Mobile Bluetooth Breathalyzers Are On Sale At Touch Of Modern Until August 3rd

At the end of last year, I reviewed BACtrack's police-grade Bluetooth mobile breathalyzer. I came away extremely impressed (and drunk), but it was quickly pointed out in the comments that $150 is pretty pricey for such a gadget. While the price has since dropped to $120, it's still out of many users' reach. Good news! Touch of Modern is selling it for $90 till August 3rd. That's a solid deal.

[Deal Alert] BACtrack's Mobile Bluetooth Breathalyzers Are On Sale At Touch Of Modern Until August 3rd was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Samsung, Apple, and LG Lose Smartphone Marketshare in Q2 2014

As usual, IDC has just released their smartphone marketshare numbers for Q2 2014, which ended on June 30th. We’ve already seen the tablet marketshare numbers, and they were right where we expected them to be. Now we’re looking at smartphone numbers. Now remember that this isn’t just the US, but the entire world. It’s interesting to see that it’s Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Lenovo and LG (in that order) in the top 5.

As of Q2 2014, compared to Q2 2013, Samsung lost roughly 7% marketshare year-over-year. Going from 32.3% to 25.2%. While Apple didn’t see as big of a marketshare decrease, they still went from 13% to 11.9% year-over-year. LG also saw a slight decrease in marketshare. Going from 5% in Q2 2013, to 4.9% in Q2 2014. Meanwhile, Huawei saw a 2.6% increase year over year and Lenovo saw a 0.7% increase year-over-year. So the Chinese OEMs are really starting to do pretty well. I mean they’ve overshadowed the likes of HTC, Motorola and even Sony. The thing to remember is that China is now the largest smartphone market. So the Chinese OEMs are hitting the Top 5, just by selling devices in China. Which is kinda crazy.

While Apple and LG did see rather small decreases, Samsung was the only one that shipped less devices in Q2 2014, than in Q2 2013. They shipped 77.3 in Q2 2013, compared to 74.3 in the past quarter. Everyone else saw double-digit growth, and Huawei saw a whopping 95.1% increase, which is pretty insane. Maybe this is why we saw Samsung going on a hiring spree lately to find some new ideas and find the next big thing. While marketing is doing well for Samsung – heck they spend more on marketing than most OEMs make in revenue – it looks like that won’t be enough for them.

How many of you are surprised by these numbers? Be sure to let us know in the comments down below.

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