Your smartphone is spying on you!

Nowadays, people are relying more and more on their Smartphone, they even save all their private information on their phones without thinking of the consequences. A group of scientists from Indiana University and the Naval Surface Warfare, built a cellphone spy malware called “PlaceRaider” to show that smartphones are a major security risk, and that they could be turned against their users.

This malware works on all versions of Android 2.3 Gingerbread and above.  It’s functions consist of taking random pictures every two seconds of wherever its user is to produce a 3D picture without attracting attention.  The pictures are sent to a server that filter the numerous graphics and rebuild the scene in a 3D format, getting as a result a clear and detailed idea of the place. This is possible through the orientation and location functions that are incorporated in the program

The access that SpaceRaider requires are similar to the ones of many advanced camera applications, so users can install it without knowing that they are giving permission to this malware to take pictures and send them. Additionally, once it is installed, the shutter sound is deactivated, so the victim will not notice that pictures are being taken. Therefore, burglars could download the physical space to steal the objects in it, such as information on computer monitors, financial documents, and personal information.

              Pictures taken  at different hours

However, we don’t have to be afraid “yet.”  As I said before, it was built as an academic exercise, but can you imagine yourself being stalked and having things stolen from you through your cellphone? What if the government were to use this kind of malware to spy on its citizens?. It is  clear that we are losing more of our privacy every day, so we must be more careful with the programs that we choose to download from the internet,we should always have antivirus software installed and above all else, keep our private information in a safe place.

-You can find further information in this research paper, written by the scientists from Indiana University and the Naval Surface Warfare:http://arxiv.org/pdf/1209.5982v1.pdf

The perceived technological obsolescence and its social cost

For this year, it was expected that the Blackberry London, Samsung Galaxy Note III, and i-Phone 5 were launched the market; what caused high degrees of anxiety in consumers addicted to Smartphones since their numerous new applications promised to  exceed their previous versions. But what is the aim of those people at buying another telephone if their old ones are supposed to be in perfect conditions?

This phenomenon of people buying goods and services they do not really need is a consequence of an economic system that has based its success in an active consume habit, which means that companies are forced to sell their products at any cost. For that reason, they spend million of dollars in violent advertisements that pretend to convince the audience of purchasing their new creation by exaggerating the advantages of it and highlighting the downsides of those already existent up to the moment.

The power of those campaigns are so strongly persuasive that most of the time they make us believe that getting the device is almost a must. 

As a consequence of this, every year more and more technological  wastes are being piled up in sumps located in undeveloped African countries where our rubbish is carried.

Nevertheless, in this respect, there is an aspect that is even more worrying, and it has to do with the fact that we decide to get rid of our gadgets not only because they are not working but also because they are old-fashioned, which is a stupidity! 

To finish, I would like you could reflect about this issue since we are all involved in the same problem: we are all unconscious consumers of technology that do not want to see how manufacturer companies and astute economists are manipulating our behaviour, so the call is to be more sceptical and less individualist; this world belongs to everybody, not just to the richest nations.

 After having reading this article, could you think in a more suitable way of making our economy sustainable without destroying our environment?

To know more about this interesting topic, watch this video

Technology connects us to wildlife.

The advancement of technology seems to have come at the expense of nature, at least in a large part. Nature space and wildlife are left to provide materials to create more devices, gadges, manufacture, and so on; people let behind the connection between our own mental and emotional state with nature. Yet, despite the drawbacks, there are ways in which technology can and does bring us closer to natture, especially to those of us who have lived in areas where the connection to healthy wild spaces and wild things are fragile at best. 

Applications for walking nature trails from smartphones can help us to see where we are, what we are looking at, and what is around, for example Wheres a Bear. Others can help for identifying species such as NOAH. With this one you can photograph an interesting plant or animal that you want to learn about, send the photo along with a little information about where you found it, and store it in species database. How cool is it to think that your camera phone image could help to identify a new trend in spring flower blooms or the spread (or decline) of some species? 

Moreover, over the years, we have witnessed how nature documentaries bring awareness and appreciation for wildlife. Technology have improved recording and play-back equipment. We now have incredible high-definition cameras recording things capturing all the amazing details. Most of us do not have nature right outside the window, and many of us cannot get away to witness these kind of things. Nevertheless, livestreams and camera traps are very useful; we can watch nature from wherever we are.  

But, one of the most impotant things technology can do is to show us what damages we are doing to the planet. It helps us to gain a more clear perspective, and have inspiration to innovate and solve these problems in order to protect habitats and species. There is the existence of the satellite imagery which shows a large and small scale some serious issues like deforestation, pollution, etc. Of course, one of the most useful implementations of satellite imagery is Google Earth. This has been an important resource for conservation efforts and vital tool in reconnecting us with nature across the planet. But I wonder myself, do people use these devices to appreciate what is happening, or they just use them to entertain? Is our culture and society interested in this?