I was really surprised by a message on the logon screen saying that passwords are sent in clear text:

I figured this might just be for the API but decided to investigate whether this is also the case on the main site and it seems it is. Running LiveHTTPHeaders you can see the following when you log on to foursquare.com (I’ve put some asterisks in to remove user identifiable stuff):


F***231419577AFW=true&F*****1419575D1V=********%40gmail.com&password=4square


(this is the same on the ‘/mobile/’ site)

And when you change your account password (in this example to ‘nothidden’):

-----------------------------*****591617307847261632891267
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="****2314598660HU"
nothidden
-----------------------------*****591617307847261632891267
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="****231459867BB4"
nothidden


I’m really surprised at this as it means a packet sniffer could easily pick out your password. It also suggests a relaxed attitude towards sending and maybe even storing users data. I wouldn’t be surprised if the smartphone apps (such as the Android one) also send password details in clear text although I haven’t tested this hypothesis.

So, if I keep using it I will definitely use a unique password for Foursquare.com and not store any sensitive data in your account. Like my erm.. email, date of birth, where you’ve been for the past few days for example…

Link to engadget article about Droid X with Swype here.

I also found this comment by one of the creators of Swype that says that the Swype technology was actually patented before the Shark technology from IBM was created and the two were developed separately in parallel.

Although I’m a last.fm man myself currently it would be interesting to see how close the integration runs with the device. Comments on the Android Guys page suggest that it isn’t part of the initial ROM so it seems maybe it will be available from the market place later.

Given that Spotify is currently a European phenomenon I would imagine there are a few more steps before this would be available to US carrier devices.

Watch this space…

However, Handango have also been mentioned in reference to Android so it sounds highly likely that the Android Marketplace won’t be the only point from which people can access software. I’m personally not a huge fan of the ‘grim’ Handango’s way of dealing with developers or customers. So I hope Google treats people with more respect.

A more worrying trend in mobile gaming is in multiplayer games using GPS. From what I can understand of this phenomena, this could lead to it becoming a normal day to day experience to see geek types spontaneously jumping on each other and battering the cr&p out of each other with their mobile phones. Whilst i’m sure Darwin would approve, I’m not sure what the police will make of people on tube platforms taking sniper shots at each other with their G1′s.

I’m sure the tabloids would also have a field day with titles such as Slashwars [cached link here] where random punters are meant to attack each other by swiping their phones in the air (presumable simulating knives). I guess if they keep their cameras switched on then this could create a whole new genre of ‘happy-slapping’.

This could make picking your voice and data tarriff more like choosing which drink you prefer with your lunch. I think this would make nice change from signing your life away (well… 18 months of it) to an operator.

Google do file plenty of patents so this isn’t necessarily going to get the carriers quaking in their boots just yet. However, it does look interesting and makes a lot of sense if the technology will allow for it.

This is an area where Google hopes that Android’s ‘openness’ will shine. The idea being that the Google marketplace will be a democracy rather than the App Store’s dictatorship. It could be argued that this will lead to a lower quality threshold but hopefully the voting system on the market place will help wade through some of the rubbish. I would forsee that users could also access applications via other sites and will not be restricted to just the Google market site.

I think that it will be interesting to compare security on the different platforms given the the ‘openness’ of Android relative to closed platforms such as the iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Although the iPhone is a closed platform it is generally not considered secure enough for most enterprises to embrace it yet. This is perhaps reinforced by the simplicity of the latest password hack for the iPhone.

Blackberry is generally considered secure (if you enforce the appropriate policies) with the occasional hiccup(!). Windows Mobile is becoming more security conscious with each release and at least has the concept of signing applications as does Symbian.