Let me tell you about this app I’ve been playing around over the weekend. For the longest time, I’ve been looking for something that would let me send and receive SMS messages on my HTC phone using my desktop PC without any cables. Then I heard of AirDroid, a free app that allows you to control your Android device via WiFi.

How does it work?

With AirDroid, all you need to do is simply download the app, make sure your device and PC/laptop are in the same wireless network, start the app and you’re good to go. No need to download a desktop client, all you need is your web browser. AirDroid will give you an IP address and password that you need to enter on your browser so you can access the phone.

The web client looks really simple and nice, and it’s so easy to use. You can control various aspects of your phone from this client.

Probably the most helpful function to me is Messages where I can send and receive messages on my browser even when my phone is in another room charging. I can also delete message threads and save contacts straight from the message as well. My only issue here is that you won’t be alerted when there’s a new message. You need to refresh your message list if you think you got a new message.

I also love Files which lets me access my phone’s SD card from my PC. No need to Dropbox files if I want to copy things to and from my phone. And I don’t need to pull my USB cable from the charger just to copy photos off the phone.

Contacts is also helpful because it lets me edit my list of contact’s details. Easier to manage and clean up my list of contacts on a bigger screen with options in just a single click. It’s not as snappy as I want it though especially if you have plenty of contacts.

Music transfer is so easy as well. No need for cables. If you want to upload, just select your new MP3s and click Import to start transferring. Easy to export too if you want to download songs from your Android device to your friend’s PC.

Apps lets you manually install .APKs (app installer files) on your phone. Or export your APKs.  This is really useful for reviewers. I always download the same things from the Market every time I have a new Android device to review. With Apps, I can just install my set of apps wirelessly from my laptop.

There are other handy things you can do with AirDroid, you can access Photos, Call Logs, set Ringtones, and send a piece of text into your phone’s clipboard and they’re working on new features as we speak.

Overall, it’s a very useful app for Android users who spend a lot of time on their PCs or laptops. You can hide the phone inside your desk or in my case, have it placed outside our room where signal is much stronger so I won’t miss a call or a message.

Go ahead and give AirDroid a try. It’s absolutely free. Go search for it in the Android Market.

With a lot of people moving to smartphones these days, it becomes more of a problem if one loses his or her smartphone. It’s not simply about losing messages and photos but also allowing somebody access to your online accounts such e-mail, social network, calendar, cloud storage, etc.

Kaspersky introduced their Mobile Security app for Android devices which comes in free and paid version. Even the free or “Lite” version has some nifty features that you may find useful if you’re an Android user.

• Anti-Theft. The free version has an Anti-Theft feature that allows you to protect or even locate your phone when it’s stolen. You can send a special text message (with your passcode) to your phone that will render it useless for the person holding it. Or you can also send a special text message to wipe your data off it instead. Then you can also Find your phone by sending a message to it and it will reply to you via SMS its GPS coordinates.
• Call and SMS Filter. Another cool feature of the free version of Kaspersky Mobile Security is the Call and SMS Filter which lets you add contacts to your black or white list. HTC phones have a built-in block caller feature but blocking text messages is twice as useful. It’s like the Spam button on your mail client. When you receive a spam text message, put it in your black list and you won’t be bothered by that number again.

Sounds really nice for a free app so what can the paid version do for you? Well you’ll get real-time antivirus protection, on-demand and on-access scanning, and regular antivirus database updates via GPRS or Wi-Fi. You will also get another feature for Anti-Theft called SIM watch which will send you an e-mail the new number of your phone if the SIM gets replaced and locks it.

The paid version currently retails for PHP433.70 in the Android Market.

ESET, the leader in proactive protection against cyber-threats, today announces the launch of its flagship products ESET Smart Security 5and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 5.

The latest generation of the company’s home user products offers even more advanced detection technology and multi-layered security features. ESET has been pioneering security solutions against malware since 1992and has been awarded with the highest consecutive number of Virus Bulletin VB100 awards.

The top five new features of these latest products are:

• ESET Live Grid, cloud-based reputation and protection technology
• New Removable Media Control, with more granular control of external devices
• Parental Control (ESET Smart Security 5 only)
• Advanced Host-based Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS)
• Gamer Mode

According to an independent security research and testing organization, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 leads the web browser industry in protecting users against malware. Microsoft’s latest version of their web browser builds on the security features and contains a robust set of built-in security and privacy technologies.

NSS Labs reported that IE9 caught an exceptional 99% of live threats, of which 95% were blocked with its SmartScreen URL Reputation, and an additional 4.8% with Application Reputation. What really makes it stand out is that other browsers are left way behind when it comes to security against malwares.

[Source: NSS Labs, August 2011 – Socially Engineered Malware Protection Comparative Test Results, Asia-Pacific] https://www.nsslabs.com/research/endpoint-security/browser-security/socially-engineered-malware-asia-pacific-q3-2011.html

In addition to this, the report also states, “IE9 with SmartScreen offers the best protection of any browser against social engineered malware.”

IE9 provides the first Download Manager with integrated SmartScreen malware protection and introduces SmartScreen download reputation. SmartScreen download reputation is a groundbreaking browser feature that uses reputation data to remove unnecessary warnings for well-known files, and show more severe warnings when the download has a higher risk of being malicious. Users today are often conditioned to ignore generic warnings that are shown for every download. Other browsers show the same warning whether a file is an extremely common program or a piece of malware created literally minutes ago. IE9 is the only browser that uses download reputation to help users make safety decisions.

“Users are always looking for a browser that will let them explore the Web without worrying about unnecessary nuisances and Microsoft provides them with a tool that gives them just that,” said Mae Moreno, Windows Client Product Manager, Microsoft Philippines. “With Internet Explorer 9, users are not only equipped with a browser that will allow them to unlock the beauty of the Web, but also give them an experience that is rich, fast and secure.”

Monster.com, a leading online career and recruitment solutions provider in the country, recently announced the launch of its Android applications for both employers and jobseekers to help them find candidates/jobs on the move. Or when they get rejected from the interview they can look for another job as soon as they head out of the building.

To further strengthen its penetration in the mobile space, Monster Philippines has also launched a new employer/ recruiter interface on its WAP portal. The company has also recently revamped its WAP portal for jobseekers with newer and enhanced features.

Monster.com has taken the first mover advantage in launching its Android application and the WAP portal for the employers/ recruiters to help them find the right candidate anywhere and anytime.

Monster’s Android application can be downloaded for free on the Google Android marketplace. The application has all the features and services which are present in Monster.com.ph, but gives users the choice to choose the way they want to search for their next job opportunity.

For job seekers, the new app provides them with:

• On the move access: Mobile access to  available jobs on Monster.com;
• Search and apply on the move: Ability to view and apply to job postings directly from their Android mobile phone;
• Manage account on the move: Effortless management of their Monster.com account; and

For employers, the new app provides them with:

• Mobile access:  to post and manage new job postings,
• Search on the move: Capability to search and shortlist relevant resumes

The WAP portal for employers will help them to search, shortlist, reach out and interact with prospective candidates. They can also post, renew and manage job postings.

Despite the number of teams who competed this year, Philippine team Signum Fidei emerged as winners, placing second in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011 World Finals Game Design Web Subcategory with its entry titled Conjunct!, a puzzle game where the player is required to clear boards overlaid with photos of real-life problems around the world.

The Imagine Cup is the world’s premiere student technology competition, which gathers the best developers around the world and harnesses the creative minds of the youth to address problems faced by the world today using the power of information technology.

“Winning in this year’s Imagine Cup is a big achievement for thePhilippines. This is the second consecutive year that our students’ talents were recognized, even placing in one of the top spots in the competition,” said Tim Vergel de Dios, Academic Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Philippines.

(L-R) Team Signum Fidei Jeriah KJell Miranda, Thomas Tiam-Lee, Keven Hernandez, and Jenina Chua as they emerge in the top three of this year’s Microsoft Imagine Cup Game Design Competition in New York, U.S.A.

Hailing from De La Salle Univerisity, Jeriah KJell Miranda, Thomas Tiam-Lee, Keven Hernandez, and Jenina Chua form the winning team Signum Fidei. According to group, the concept of Conjunct! was inspired by the game Tetris and the millennium development goals.

“As we realize the vast problems faced by the world today, we saw how Filipinos can make a difference and through our game Conjunct!, we have combined social awareness concepts in order to help make a difference by showing the people the various realities taking place in our world. We saw them with our own eyes and we hope to be able to make our own contribution in solving the world’s problems in our own simple ways,” said Thomas James Tiam-Lee.

For the Game Design Web subcategory, as the Philippines won second, Poland took first while Slovakia, third. Two teams from France made it to the top two spots while a team from the United States grabbed the third one in the Mobile subcategory. Brazil, Thailand, Czech Republic were the teams who won in the Windows/Xbox Game Design Category. Ireland bagged first in the Software Design category, followed by United States of America and Jordan. In the Embedded Development category, Taiwan, China and Romania garnered first, second and third places, respectively. Romania won first, Oman second and Taiwan third in the Digital Media contest. Lastly, in the Windows Phone 7 category, two Korean teams dominated the top two places while a team from the United States entered third.

“We have worked very hard into putting Conjunct! together from the simple ideas we had, primarily, into the game it is now. All great things in our world start with simple ideas and the Imagine Cup is the perfect place where you can showcase these ideas and evaluate, improve, and nurture them. We encourage everyone to join next year’s contest, to be proud of your ideas and to treasure all the learnings that you will get from the experience,” Tiam-Lee shared.

Microsoft also unveiled plans to launch a three-year, $3 million grant program to help participating Imagine Cup students. The grant will include a combination of cash, software, training, consulting and other support to the Imagine Cup teams.

“Our Philippine teams have shown potential in the aspect of using technology to help transform simple ideas into technologies that can help transform the way people work. We are very proud to tell the world that Filipinos always have a chance to demonstrate how technology can bring about change to the nation,” de Dios concluded.

Wanna learn how to develop apps or games for the iOS but don’t know where to start? Well you’re in luck because Power Mac Center is giving a seminar on the basics of iOS app development in their Greenbelt 3 branch on July 23, Saturday, 6 PM.

Speaking would be Ramon “Bong” Pastor, Managing Partner of Numlock Business Solutions Co., which is a mobile development company in the Philippines specializing in the development of applications for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (iOS) and Android devices. They’re reponsible for the mobile app called StreetSmart (iOS and Android) which allows users to view and share traffic updates in Metro Manila on a real-time basis.

Participants will get to hear topics covering the basics of iOS development:

• Intro to Cocoa Touch & iOS SDK
• Intro to Objective C
• Intro to Frameworks: Foundation & UIKit
• Intro to Tools: Xcode 4

For those who are interested, you can e-mail training@powermaccenter.com for a slot. Remember, it’s next Saturday, July 23 at Greenbelt 3, 6 PM.

The latest release of the popular Linux flavor, Ubuntu release 11.04 “Natty Narwhal”, developed by the open source community and Canonical, is expected to elicit new experiences from older users of Ubuntu, as well as new users with its much improved graphical user interface (GUI) called Unity.

The new GUI is far more than a design change but is seen to attract other software developers to Ubuntu, which should improve the availability of additional software on business and ordinary desktop use.

Two of the popular desktop environments are still available in Ubuntu 11.04; these are GNOME and KDE, which offer the traditional method of input for previous users of Ubuntu. However, Unity is targeted at notebook and netbook users, whose screen space is somewhat limited.

Among the applications that are included with “Natty Narwhal” are the office desktop application set called LibreOffice (which replaced OpenOffice), music player Banshee, Firefox 4.0, photo management software Shotwell, video player Totem, torrent client Transmission, optical media editor Brasero, among others.

The release of “Natty Narwhal” was celebrated in the country by the local organization Ubuntu Philippine Team Local Community (Philippine LoCoTeam) last July 1 at the office of software development firm Orange & Bronze Software Labs (O&B).

According to Zak Elep,  Philippine LoCoTeam leader and also the head of the IT Services Division at O&B, the new Ubuntu release is designed to be easily used by first-time users of a Linux operating system.

Elep said many private companies are now using Ubuntu for their computers. This is due to the free-to-use nature of Ubuntu, as well as the availability of desktop applications that are just as good as traditional applications.

“Over other Linux desktop distros [distributions], Ubuntu has the advantage of being easy-to-use, as well as having a solid infrastructure underneath. Ubuntu also has a broader coverage of language support, with the widely used Unicode as the default character encoding,” Elep added. “Furthermore, there are Ubuntu variants that cater to specific needs, such as Ubuntu Server, Edubuntu for schools, Mythbuntu for home theater PCs, and Ubuntu Studio for professional multimedia editing.”

He said that there are already a number of government offices that are using Linux. Due to the budget constraints of public offices that have multiple computers, Linux has become the best alternative to traditional desktop operating systems and applications. This could be a potential market for Ubuntu in the Philippines.

“Ubuntu’s Unity is an improved desktop interface that can be easily used even by first time PC users,” Elep said. “It is also a secure operating system due to the fact that there are only few viruses and trojans that target Linux.”

Elep also said that the local community team for Ubuntu will be conducting additional events in some locations in the Philippines. The group will be participating in the Ubuntu Global Jam in September, as well as the upcoming Software Freedom Day.

Ubuntu 11.04 “Natty Narwhal” is available for download at www.ubuntu.com. Conversely, the local community team will also distribute pressed CDs to specific areas in the country.

Microsoft showed a bit of their latest operating system at Computex 2011 in Taipei. Windows 8, which is just a codename and not really what the final version will be called, will remind of you the Zune UI which later became the Metro UI on Windows Phone 7 translated on a bigger screen.

Icons are now replaced by Live Tiles which displays app info without launching the app themselves. Looks really pretty but it’s a bold move by Windows which might not bode well for the oldies who are used to their Windows desktop. But it’s a step into the right direction for a company wanting to be successful across all devices.

The main reason why Windows 7 tablets aren’t selling really well is that the OS is just too unwieldy and hard to use on a touchscreen device. With Windows 8, PCs, laptops and tablets can all enjoy the same user experience whether you’re using it with your fingers, a stylus or the conventional keyboard and mouse.

Another thing about Windows 8 is that it runs even on ARM powered-devices so tablets won’t require the typical Intel Core processor just to  perform smoothly. Again, across all sorts of devices.

Don’t think of it as a touch-based only OS though even if it looks like that at first. Think of it as a Windows 7 OS with a Windows Phone UI layer on top of it. Launching applications such as MS Word will be the same. You’d get the familiar ribbons, the taskbar, system tray, Start button when you’re doing some heavy lifting on your machine. The Live Tiles screen will replace your desktop and I won’t be surprised if you can view the new OS in Classic Mode for the purists out there who doesn’t want the change.

Check out this Windows 8 demo to further appreciate what Microsoft has done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p92QfWOw88I

I’m still seeing it as a desktop theme for Windows 7 for touch-based devices. What do you think?

Well what do you know? According to a test made by AV-Test which is an independent IT-security institute, BitDefender’s Internet Security Suite 2011 provides the best performance for a security software in the areas of protection, repair and usability.

The test results indicates performance for the 1st quarter of 2011 only though. They were 9th in the 3rd quarter of last year. Where are the other big names for the 1st quarter of this year? Kaspersky: ISS 2011 is at number 4 while Norton Internet Security 2011 is trailing behind it. Microsoft’s Security Essential 2.0 is way below at number 21.

The report looked at twenty-two security software suites in the categories of protection, repair and performance.  BitDefender Internet Security 2011 was found to have the joint-best overall score, alongside another product that uses BitDefender technology. It was also the only product to receive the maximum score for protection.

Andreas Marx, AV-Test CEO, commented:

“BitDefender offered the best protection during our tests, which ran for the full first quarter of 2011. Besides this, it also reached very good scores for cleaning up already infected systems without slowing-down the system too much or producing a lot of false positives. That’s a very impressive result.”

So anybody using BitDefender here?