Google unveils plans to bring continuous malware monitoring to Android

Back in February, we first reported on a rumor suggesting that Google was preparing to bring constant scanning to Android, extending on the existing functionality of Android’s “verify apps” service. Taking to their official Android blog, Google has now made the change official.

Previously “verify apps” was used to check for malware the first time you installed a new app. The new Android security service does the same thing as before, except it continuously checks the device to ensure that everything is running as it should.

In their official blog post, Google boasted about how the existing Verify Apps system has been used over 4 billion times, though most users never actually run into malware issues. For those that do, Android’s scanning system will deliver a warning box telling you not to install the app. Google says that less than .18 percent of installs last year occurred after the user received a warning suggesting the app might be potentially harmful.

Scanning regularly should further help Android catch any possible malware that sneaks in

So why allow the ‘verify apps’ service to continuously scan, versus only running when new apps are first installed? There are a number of reasons, really.

First, an app could appear clean upon first scan, but could have hidden malware that doesn’t become apparent until later. There’s also the possibility that an app could contain malware that is unknown when first installed, but is latter identified. With the continuous scan method, Google’s scanner would eventually identify the app and prompt you to remove it.

Bottom-line, scanning regularly should further help Android catch any possible malware that sneaks in. Of course the best way to ensure that you don’t encounter malware is to only download apps from reputable sources such as Google Play, but even then, things can and sometimes do manage to make their way in.

When is continuous scanning rolling out?

So when we’ll the update for continuous scanning arrive? Although Google doesn’t specify, previous reports about the change to ‘verify apps’ suggested the new functionality will come with the next update to Play services — though no word on exactly when that will occur. Either way, we expect the change to occur fairly quickly.

What do you think about Google adding constant scanning to Android? A good idea, or largely unnecessary for those that are smart about where they install apps from?

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Startup unveils plans for wearable processor that could offer 30 days of battery life

A relatively unheard of India-based start-up by the name of Ineda Systems has officially announced its own “wearable processor unit”, which could open the door to dramatically better battery life for wearable devices. 

The wearable market has yet to truly explode the way that some analysts have predicted, but that’s not stopping various industry giants and even smaller startups from giving it the old college try. We’ve seen all sorts of different wearable projects from modest devices like the Pebble Smartwatch, to Samsung’s Gear watches and the upcoming Android Wear platform. There’s also headgear such as Google Glass and the list goes on.

So are we standing at a major turning point, where the floodgates are about to burst open, taking wearables to the mainstream? That’s a good question but honestly the jury is still out, as there are still several hurdles standing in the way. Probably one of the biggest hurdles is battery life, particularly when it comes to smartwatches.

Are we standing at a major turning point, where the floodgates are about to burst open, taking wearables to the mainstream?

Many early smartwatches needed nearly daily charging, and while this has improved with newer devices like the Gear 2 and power efficient products like the Pebble, the 3-7 day battery life of modern smartwatches don’t hold a candle compared to the multi-year life of a standard watch. While it’s impossible to deliver year-long battery power to a smartwatch, Ineda Systems is coming as close as humanly possible.

The newly announced Dhanush chip line is said to be able to potentially bring 30-day+ battery life to wearable devices, and will come in four different tiers, ranging from the very basic ‘nano’ to the ‘advanced’ variant. The plan is for these chips to make their way into all sorts of different products including IoT-related devices, fitness trackers and smartwatches. 

Dhanush chips can be combined with low-power MIPS processor cores and Power VR graphics in order to provide a more ‘complete’ wearable solution

The Dhanush chips offer performance anywhere from a measly 10MHz all the way to 500Mhz and will run in an-always on state, allowing them to take around-the-clock readings from sensors, push and pull info from the web at all hours, and so-much more. Dhanush also uses a patent-pending Hierachical computing architecture that is different from architectures like x86 and has its own security built right in.

If you are afraid that the low processor speeds will prevent the Dhanush from providing a quality wearable experience, you’ll be happy to know the chips are designed to be combined with low-power MIPS processor cores and Power VR graphics in order to provide a more ‘complete’ wearable solution for higher-end devices, while still providing excellent battery life.

Dhanush sounds cool, but will the chips make their way into major devices?

Although Dhanush certainly sounds cool and could open the door to month-long battery life, we have to wonder if the company has what it takes to attract big players to the market and become a major player in the wearable space.

For what’s it worth, Ineda Systems does seem to have already attracted the attention and investment dollar of some pretty big players, with some of the company’s investors including Samsung, Qualcomm, Imagination Technologies and many others. In total, Ineda has already raised 25 million to date, has over 180 employees and has several well-known board members including Young Soh, president and chief strategy officer at Samsung Electronics, Krishna Yarlagadda of Imagination Technologies, and several others.

Ineda also says they have already begun conducting customer trials for the chips, and could announce product deals as early as 3 to 6 months from now. If Ineda Systems can eventually get its Dhanush chips to play nicely in wearable products from big-name companies like Samsung, could 30-day battery life be the big push needed in order to take wearables to the next level? Would you consider a smartwatch or other wearable form factor if it boasted near-month-long life without the need for charging in between?

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TechStars London Unveils Its 2014 Teams — Five Of The 11 Have Already Raised $4M In Total

It’s the second year of operation for TechStars London and the accelerator has just named the 11 companies in its 2014 cohort — which this year come from eight different countries including the U.S., Estonia, Germany, Spain, Israel, Ireland, South Korea and the UK.

Last year’s debut TechStars London cohort included several fintech companies but our favourite, OP3Nvoice, played in the search sphere — offering APIs that make voice and video data searchable by translating its audio to text.

TechStars London’s Jon Bradford said applications to this year’s program numbered around 1,500 — pushing up on the ~1,300 received last year, continuing to demonstrate the global pull of the TechStars brand.

Companies gaining a place on the 2014 program include several that have attracted funding already. Five of the 11 have already raised $4 million in total. The cohort also includes two previously successful entrepreneurs. And the entire cohort already comprises more than 50 staff in total. Not all of whom are coming to London for the three-month bootcamp, obviously. TechStars said it had to get 13 prospective entrepreneur visas ahead of the program’s kick off.

Bradford said the 2014 line-up “really challenges” people’s perceptions of the kind of companies that participate in an accelerator. ”Experienced entrepreneurs are much more pragmatic and recognise what they know and what they don’t,” he told TechCrunch when asked what more established startups are seeking to get out of the accelerator process.

“Teams with funding and product benefit hugely from TechStars,” he added. “It allows them to concentrate on building their business without the need for raising funding. They can use the program to accelerate customer traction and engagement through the network we expose them to.”

What of last year’s TechStars cohort? IPTVbeat, which does real-time analytics for TV viewing habits, has since raised $2m in seed funding, according to Bradford.

He adds that there are a number of others “who are looking at chunky term sheets at the moment”.

The full list of TechStars’ 2014 London teams follows below. Demo Day for the teams will take place in London on June 20.

• Avuba (Germany) is fixing banking by building a mobile first bank service.
• Eat In My Seat (U.K./U.S.) allows you to skip the queue at venues by ordering directly to your seat.
• eRated (Israel) lets you use one reputation score in a world of marketplaces.
• Good Audience (U.S.) increases your reach and gets your brand, product or service in front of over 400 million active social media users.
• Lingvist (Estonia) is an adaptive language learning tool that significantly reduces the time needed to learn a new language.
• Magnific (U.K.) connects readers, writers and curators for a more personalised reading experience.
• Proximus (Spain) is an analytics engine that examines the behaviour of consumers using innovative indoor geolocation technology.
• Pubble (Ireland) uses everywhere your customers live online to build an active community on your website.
• Smile Family (Korea) is a mobile community for mums.
• Spatch (U.S.) is a new decentralized communication protocol built on top of email.
• Zzish (U.K.) helps developers make education apps more engaging and effective.