Under attack from Hamas rockets? There’s an app for that.
A new app has been made available for smartphones that allow Israelis to track the incoming rockets from Hamas and give themselves time to get to shelter. Half a million people have already downloaded the app in just three days.
Many Israelis are seeing the app as vital because the traditional ways to inform citizens about incoming rockets was radio stations and television interrupting programming. However, with the increased use of satellite radio, iPod and other electronic devices, many Israelis do not have a television or radio on 24 hours a day.
“It gives us a sense of control in a situation where there is no control,” writer and journalist Debra Kamim, who lives in Tel Aviv, told the Washington Post. “It’s especially useful at night because people are worried they won’t hear the sirens while they sleep, and this way they can have the phone next to their beds.”
The app includes a social element where users can post comments about attacks in their area, damage from any rockets that land and requests for help if necessary.
The app is available in English for users in the West to keep track of the rockets if they wish to pray for Israelis when a rocket is approaching them. The app is available for iPhones, iPad and Android.
If you have played the mobile game Angry Birds on your phone at any time since its release, then you likely have a file at the NSA with your personal information.
A new document released by fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden shows that the NSA has a list of online games that have security leaks which can allow them to obtain information without having to hack into someone’s smartphone.
The program could capture everything from the model of phone and its screen size to someone’s age, gender and GPS location. The apps can also be used to determine sensitive personal information such as a person’s dating preferences or preferred restaurants.
Most smartphone users have no idea of the potential weaknesses in security of smartphone games and the ease with which security groups can obtain their most personal information.
The data skimming from games is part of a $1 billion budget the NSA has used for online spying targeting phones.
A new document released by fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden shows that the National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on movements of cell phones around the world.
The records are placed in a database that stores information on at least hundreds of millions of cell devices. The database tracks the movements of the cells and any interactions they could have with other cell devices in their area.
The report says that the NSA does not target Americans by design but that data on Americans is also collected by the system. The report calls the connection “incidentally” meaning legally it was a foreseeable but not deliberate result.
Government officials said there was nothing illegal about the collection of the data and that it was used only to develop intelligence against foreign targets.
The NSA has said the data is used for programs like CO-TRAVELER which allows them to identify unknown associates of known intelligence targets.
A technologist with the American Civil Liberties Union told the Washington Post that the only way to hide your location is to disconnect from modern communications and live in a cave.
A Colorado woman woke up to find that she missed 48 text messages and a phone call from “Satan.”
Jenn Vest was understandably upset when she saw the messages because she was half-awake feeding her son when she saw the messages. She was so disturbed she spent the rest of the night crying and praying because of the messages.
If you call back the number, it says it’s out of service. The text messages also bounce back as a number that is no longer in service.
Police say the caller IDs of the calls were manipulated to say the origin was Satan with the number 1-666-666-6666.
The prank has reportedly been played around the country.