Big Fat Ostrich

Yep, it’s totally possible!

I found this article recently on Lookout which has a pretty big list of Android apps found to include RuFraud. This is one of those SMS fraud malware downloaders that so far has mainly affected European. The fake SMS code doesn’t affect users in Canada or the US thanks to the limitations of their North American SIM cards.

Note that the malware was found in supposed downloaders of popular games, not the games themselves.

Here’s the full list of apps which Google has removed from the Android Market.

Corazon LLC:

Horoscope (horoscope.android)
Horoscope (com.corazon.horoscope)

Corelly LLC:

Horoscope (com.corelly.horoscope)

Ranzy LLC:

Twilight (com.Twilight.wallpapers)
Puss in Boots (com.Puss.Boots.wallpapers)
Moneyball (com.Moneyball.wallpapers)

Astrolog LLC:

Sim City Deluxe FREE (com.astrolog.sim.city.deluxe.free)
Need for Speed Shift FREE (com.astrolog.need.forspeed.shift.free)
Great Little War Game FREE (com.astrolog.great.little.war.game.free)

Logastrod:

Cut the Rope (com.Cut.the.Rope)
Angry Birds (com.Angry.Birds)
Assassins Creed (com.Assassins.Creed)
Talking Tom Cat (com.Talking.Tom.Cat)
NEED FOR SPEED Shift (com.nsf.Shift)
Where is My Water? (com.swampy.Water)
Great Little War Game (com.Great.little.War.Game)
World of Goo (com.World.Goo)
Shoot The Birds (com.Shoot.The.Birds)
Riptide GP (com.Riptide.GP)
Talking Larry the Bird (com.Talking.larry.Bird)
Bag It! (com.Bag.It)
Talking Larry the Bird (com.Talking.Larry.Bird)
Angry Birds (com.Angry.Birds.free)

Allwing Concept:

TETRIS (com.tetris.free) (God! Even my beloved Tetris! Oh the humanity!)
Pool Master Pro (com.Pool.Master.free)
Reckless Racing (com.Reckless.Racing.free)
Paradise Island (com.Paradise.Island.free)

Hello everyone.

Yeah, I’m still alive. More alive than ever actually. And I got a shitload of things to talk about. Starting with Android. I’ve been a happy iOS/Mac OS user for quite some time now. 4 years or so? Anyway. What I always loved about my iPhone and my Macbook is the elegance, reliability and simplicity of the whole deal. I’ve been working in IT for more than a decade now, forced to implement, support and use shitty, out of date software every single day. Let’s just say, the appeal of recompiling my Gentoo kernel has faded a little at this point. I’m still a geek but I really really appreciate the Apple way of doing things. You know, when you just get used to doing stuff in the apps, completely oblivious to the OS because it’s so fuckin tight and out of the way.

Up until a couple of months ago, I was the happiest camper on the campground. But then I got bored. There I said it; perfection is boring. So I bought me an Android handset and decided to spend a whole month with it. “If it doesn’t pass the test” I said to myself, “I’ll sell it or make it my Android iPod touch or something”. After all, my iPhone was still right there, ready to be reactivated.

After a couple of weeks, I almost wrote a very negative review about it (lack of polish, crashes, shitty audio quality during calls, etc). THEN I DISCOVERED NES AND SNES EMULATORS AND SIXAXIS CONTROLLER SOFTWARE!!! That’s right, my LG Optimus 2X has an HDMI port so I can connect it to the TV and play all my favorite NES and SNES games using my PS3 controller via blue tooth. I also found fixes for microphone shitty performance during calls and an SMS app that lets me draw penises and send them to Mike, just like in the old days with MSN messenger. I also ordered better batteries (2 of them, since they were only 14 bucks each). They’re like 1800 mah instead of only 1500. That’s 300 more mah!! I don’t have the slightest idea of what a “mah” is and how much longer my battery will last with 300 more of them. But I don’t give a fuck. NES GAMES! ON MY TV! WITH MY PS3 CONTROLLER! AND SMS PENISES!!!

So yeah. My conclusion is: Android is not quite there yet but the possibilities and freedom it offers make up for it. Also, the LG Optimus 2X is a stunning piece of hardware. The HDMI port and Gorilla Glass are awesome. I also love the fact that I can upgrade the battery and storage memory (micro SD) up to 32 GB.

OK, now, on another topic, the Smashing Pumpkins are back. These past years, Billy Corgan had kind of, lost his way. And I guess someone told him. And he fuckin listened. Their actual tour kicks ass. The new drummer is a machine. The other 2 are also very good (the new bassist is not Melissa Auf Der Maur, but she totally rocks in her very own way),  most of all, they sound and feel like a band again. Billy seems to be enjoying himself, he’s all fat n bald now but he plays the shit out of that signature strat of his. And as a long time fan, I couldn’t be happier.

Dark Souls is like Demon’s Souls except more beautiful and with more complex maps and better AI, bent on destroying the shit out of you. Even though I hate it with all my heart, it definitely is my game of the year.

I started training at a crossfit place. Every single time feels like I’m getting a solid beating in an alley. And for some reason, I want more. Seriously, those guys are fucking awesome.

Other than training in a place where they hurt me, I’ve also been trying to eat healthier. And after years of reading about different healthy options and theories, this is pretty much the least shitty I could find on the nets. Thanks Mark.

On a less healthy note, I baked awesome apple muffins last weekend and I am totally gonna share the recipe with you guys… BUT IN A DIFFERENT POST! Because this is way too long. So stay tuned. Stay healthy. Stay fit. Keep listening to good music. And keep using Android. (see what I did here?!?!)

LAT0RZ

-D

Oh yeah, this week my Nexus S received an update from Android’s Gingerbread version 2.3.5 to 2.3.6.

Here’s the changelog:

1.Voice search bug fixed

That’s it.

Kind of anti-climactic and even more so since I haven’t used the voice search feature yet. Then again, up til now I haven’t run across any other bugs or functionality issues.

Guess we’ll have to wait until Honeycomb is released before we see some real changes to an otherwise rock solid OS.

Even better, I really cannot wait for Ice Cream Sandwich aka Android 4.0, the tastiest of all operating systems.

Having a smart phone is supposed to be all about the Apps because…or was that productivity? Anyway, why would you want to be productive? On a phone. Whatev.

So I installed a few games that are supposed to be the best ones. And popular too! However, I did stay away from Angry Birds since it just looks lame.

1. OpenSudoku – If you like sudoku, you’ll like this. If you don’t like sudoku, why would you even play it? Seriously, man. Why would you do something like that? You can download the apk here from  code.google.com.

2. Trap – Remember Qix? This is basically the same thing. You have to claim the majority of the playing field without touching the Qix entity thing. Trap, in comparison to Qix is, how they say in Singapore: Same Same, but Different. It’s not bad, just that it doesn’t have the playability of the original version which was released in 1981. I’ll admit that I haven’t figured out how to play it properly yet. Also, “it’s a trap”. haha. Here’s a comparison shot of the two.

3.Robotek HD – This game came as a recommendation, which is interesting because it’s easily in my top 5 worst games I’ve ever played. Ok, you’re a robot on the left side of the screen and you have to defeat “The Mainframe” on the right side. All of your attack moves are based solely on the roll of the dice, or in the case of Robotek, the results of a slot machine spin. Yes, the results of the spin determine how much you get to attack that idiotic mainframe (which just looks like a rocket). Here’s a screen shot. The colors are vivid, and the music is what I envisioned Lounge Linux to sound like. This game sucks almost as bad as the formatting on this post. Jesus.

4. Sushi Slash – This was weird. Bunch of sushi pieces floating around and you’re supposed to slash them with your katana? What? But how do you win? Then I realized that you’re actually supposed to slash the sushi cutting board until there’s almost nothing left. Yep, this is the same concept as Trap aka Qix. One of the weirder re-packagings of a game I’ve seen. Sushi Slash ain’t bad and does take a little skill. The levels get more challenging too in a fun puzzle way. Look out for that flying sashimi!

5. Zombie Village – by fungame land.  I’ll let the creators describe Zombie Village for you: “Zombie Village is the most fun and challenging game if you are so into about Zombie game…” Indeed, Zombie Village couldn’t hold my attention for more than 3 minutes. This side scroller goes on forever and it looks like that over there on the right. So yeah, if you see this game or have the opportunity to install it. Don’t. Run away. Run as if you were being pursued by rotting hordes of mindless corpses. You see, to actually sit down and play Zombie Village is to become one of them! Save yourself!

Yep. Now that I can control my Samsung TV with my Nexus S, I can confirm that we are totally living in the future now.

All you need (If you have an android phone that is, so suck it iPhone people) is the Samsung Remote app. And that’s pretty much it. It’s like I spent my entire life up to now not buying a TV just so that I could finally buy a TV that I could control from my phone. And it all works via my LAN through my wireless router.

I won’t bore you with the features. You know what a regular TV remote looks like, right? Well it’s that. On a phone.

Technology!

But I found a fix for it.

I just got back from New York City weighing 20 pounds more (huge portions!), and I figured that I needed a new lighter phone. That Sony Ericsson of mine just wasn’t going to cut it anymore. So I got an Android (2.3.4) Samsung Nexus S. Which is bigger and heavier. But fuck it. It has WiFi (why five!).

I like the phone a lot but seeing as the Nexus S is my first smart phone, I’m playing technological catchup once again. I know, I’m like 4 years late, so just shut up about it already.

After the initial setup, I installed a few basic apps which have proved helpful:

OI File Manager: This lets you browse the entire file system. Makes it easy to manage and create folders wherever you want to. Pretty much a must have. Just don’t delete /etc.

Droid Comic Viewer (aka ACV, aka Android Comic Viewer): What else do you need to know? Read all your favorite comics with cbr and cbz extensions. Maybe more. Haven’t checked.

ConnectBot: If you need to do ssh and command line crap, ConnectBot is pretty good for all that. Reboot servers remotely at will. For no good reason. Do it for the fuck of it because you can. Fuck it.

Now about the Wifi. Only after receiving the phone did I start to read and learn about all kinds of wifi issues (with the Nexus S and generally a lot of Android phones. You might see messages/errors like, “not in range” or “disabled, secured with wep“. You should probably be using WPA. Long story short, FXR Wifi fixer fixed the problem with my wifi connection dropping and basically not staying connected for more than 3 seconds. Or maybe I had the wrong password.

One issue that is not resolved is that many Android phones cannot connect to a hidden wireless network. So I had to turn on visibility on my router in order to connect from my Nexus S to the wireless network and obtain an ip address. Also, wireless strength is ok at best, but usable.

That’s it. Here’s a picture of a Nexus S with porn on it. That is if multicolored lines get you off. Hey, to each their own, you sick perv.

Fido. They called me today to see if I was interested in spending my well earned Fido Dollars (240$) on one of their overstocked crappy phones.

“You have enough Fido Dollars to get yourself one our Nokia handsets!”

A Crappy Nokia 2720

“But I have a phone.”
“You can use it as a spare or hold onto it for when you replace your current phone!”
“Yeah, but it’ll be outdated by then!”
“Did I mention that this phone has FM radio?”
“…” Wow.”Well no thanks.”
“Well have a nice day.”
“Oh wait, oh hey! Does Fido have any Android phones?”
“Uh…what’s that?”
“Android. You know. Google’s OS?”
“Haven’t heard of it.”
“Ok, well, good luck pushing those Nokia 2720′s”

So yeah Fido, stop trying to offload your shitty phones on me! I know you have a LOT of them due to people not buying them the first time around. Note that in Canada we regularly get raped by our cellular companies. Fido Solutions is no different, but is particularly nasty. Their money-grab 25$ “hardware upgrade administration fee” is complete bullshit and makes upgrading your phone for “free” using Fido Dollars completely moot. I don’t know what other companies are doing, but the audacity of the 25 dollar hardware upgrade fee is nothing short of stealing. A class action suit should be filed because they are clearly taking advantage of their clients. I’m taking my money elsewhere. Fuck you, Fido.