Database Info

[Q] Changing user location in Market (country setting)

I am currently stationed in Japan, and I use a local internet service provider. Whenever I connect to Market, it defaults to Japanese currency. Is there a way that I can change my default location to the US so I can see prices that make sense? I have seen a post for doing this with cell phones, but not the gTab.
Thanks for any and all help.
linesma

I'm also interested in this. If you figure it out post what it was, I'll do the same.

Unfortunately not..it determines your location via your ip. There are some network tricks that you can do on a pc but don't know what you can do on here. if you could install a proxy on the tab that would work but I'm not aware of any proxy clients for the tab.

stanglx said:
Unfortunately not..it determines your location via your ip. There are some network tricks that you can do on a pc but don't know what you can do on here. if you could install a proxy on the tab that would work but I'm not aware of any proxy clients for the tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the information. I was afraid that what you said was the case. I guess I will have to have a currency converter handy while I am in Market. On the plus side, it does put the cost in US dollars when I go to checkout.

It is possible. Use marketenabler, and choose US t-mobile. The prices will be in USD.

if you use Marketenabler, you may not see what you see on Japanese based market though.

If He wants prices in dollars i doubt he cares about their apps. I know just the fact google shows me prices in pesos despite my account being american, having an american cc etc infuriates me.

Orz-Orz said:
if you use Marketenabler, you may not see what you see on Japanese based market though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for bringing that up. I can see how it can be a concern. It is not a major concern for me because I do not read or speak Japanese. I do speak some of the language, but it is slow going. I wish google would allow one to set their country preference or base the country off of ones account.

Which country should I choose for Apps Catalog settings???

Hi, I am a new user to the world of WebOS, just got my TouchPad today and been playing around with it, very happy about it, thinking it is better than Android and possibly iOS too (in terms of user friendly and structure)
Back to my question. I aware that there is more apps available in the US apps catalog than in the UK (I am from UK), especially they are giving away free paid apps in the US market. I wonder could I actually set my catalog country setting to US (even I am in UK) and enjoy the apps in US market (as well as the free apps offer which is on now)?
If I can, how do I change it as it is now set to UK (and I remember it saids I can't change it later on the page where I selected UK) ?
Thanks, enjoy this good piece of technology, everyone!

ninesky browser - privacy worry

Hi everybody!
I recently started looking for a browser to replace the stock one and I think I installed every possible option there is without giving much thought to the consequences - app permissions and possible violation of my privacy and misuse of my data.
So I found what I thought was a really nice and well-functioning browser called Ninesky from the Android market.
Luckily for me I did not get to use it for long, before I detected a strange pattern - Ninesky would automatically start itself upon boot, connect to a server in China, upload some data and receive some back and then just sit there and wait idly.
The server that it connects to belongs to a company called aBitCool, which is, according to Bloomberg, an ISP in China.
So I kill it off and after a while it's back, doing the same thing. I also noticed a similar behavior for Dolphin HD, except that it would send data just once very quickly after boot-up and then close itself and stay quiet. That led me to Google it a little, which in turn led me to an existing thread about Dolphin HD on this forum.
So here are my noob questions that I hope somebody can answer, please:
1. Can somebody take a look at Ninesky browser and let us all know what kind of data it is transmitting about its users upon boot and maybe even later on during the actual use of the browser? The list of permissions that Ninesky asks for is huge and that makes me a little worried. Also, Ninesky runs a "safety check" of every URL visited. I wonder what that really is.
2. Say it would try to steal information from its users - would it be possible for the app to somehow get access to my stored usernames and passwords from other programs (such as Gmail or Skype) or are these encrypted? I presume that if I were stupid enough to let Ninesky's password manager "remember" my usernames and passwords for certain websites then that information would be easily accessible to them.
3. Can an app with such permissions also function as a keylogger?
4. I can understand why folks here would write some apps on their own and share them with the rest of us. I can understand why a developer or a company would write an app and make one version available for "free" or as an ad supported one and/or offer a premium version for $$$. At the end of the day developers need to eat and pay their bills just like the rest of us and companies are (for the most part) profit-seeking institutions (unless they are GE or MS that have money to burn). That said - why for the love of god would anybody, other than an enthusiast, develop a browser, for which they will not ask for any $$ or won't even display any ads in it? Where is the catch? Now, I know that Opera and Firefox get money from Google to use it as their default search engine, but would this really apply for a few random Chinese companies? Where is the catch?
Thank you.

I was a big supporter of Ninesky but I uninstalled today. It does seem to be constantly running and transmitting data, though what data is being transmitted I don't know. LBE also kept notifying me that it was trying to obtain my location information even when I wasn't using it. I uninstalled it through the Market and left a one star review.
Drunk texted from my MIUI Thunderbolt.

I'm writing a review of about 13 different Android browsers, and came across Ninesky. Has anyone heard anything more about the privacy concerns and what data it might be transmitting?

well....if it keeps requesting the location even while its closed, thats not a good sign...

Not good. This needs addressing.
I have changed my review on Market also until we get some answers.
Cheers to the OP.

I agree. I think my review should come out tomorrow, hopefully the developer reaches out. It really is a decent browser.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium

´I'll leave you here my tests made since Monday with last versions of each app:
==|Boat 4.0.1|==
#Just after starting#
- Ask for GPS location
- 211.151.139.246 (China Network Information Center)
#When going to any website#
- IP from that website
--------------------------------------------------------
==|Dolphin HD 8.6.1|==:silly:
#Just after starting#
- 184.73.86.141 (AMAZON.COM - amazonaws.com - US)
- 65.52.32.12 (Microsoft Corp - US)
- 107.20.57.0 (AMAZON.COM - amazonaws.com - US)
and one more on this IP range type...
- 205.251.242.197 (AMAZON.COM - amazonaws.com - US)
- 205.251.242.165 (AMAZON.COM - amazonaws.com - US)
- 72.21.195.98 (AMAZON.COM - amazonaws.com - US)
#When going to any website#
- IP from that website
--------------------------------------------------------
==|Firefox 14.0.1|==
#Just after starting#
- No Ping
#When going to any website#
- 80.67.92.43 (AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES US) *
- 93.184.219.20 (EdgeCast Networks - US) *
- IP from that website
* note: not always, most of the times just go to IP website we asked
--------------------------------------------------------
==|Opera 12.0.4|==:victory:
#Just after starting#
- No Ping
#When going to any website#
- IP from that website
note: DON'T use Opera Turbo or EVERY single info WILL pass through their servers...
--------------------------------------------------------
It's pretty obvious to me who are the most privacy oriented here...
STAY WAY FROM OPERA MINI AND DOLPHIN MINI AND ALL MINI VERSIONS. They process all info on their server first for speed.

Anyone researched Xscope or could research this browser?
If you explain how, I could do it myself!!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium

But the OP got it wrong with money burning by GE & MS. There's no such thing, its all business. Just to let you know, in the browser wars - Firefox was Google's first step into browsing. Then came Chrome.
For all privacy concerns, LBE Privacy Guard is a good option. Though its Korean, if am not wrong.
Well, finally there's options out there. Nobody is forcing us to download, install & use their apps.
Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk 2

bombayboy said:
But the OP got it wrong with money burning by GE & MS. There's no such thing, its all business. Just to let you know, in the browser wars - Firefox was Google's first step into browsing. Then came Chrome.
For all privacy concerns, LBE Privacy Guard is a good option. Though its Korean, if am not wrong.
Well, finally there's options out there. Nobody is forcing us to download, install & use their apps.
Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree with everything BUT Firefox was never connected to Google like Chrome. Firefox's current existence is owed almost exclusively to its search partnership with Google wherein Mozilla Corp receives a portion of ad revenue from Google queries initiated from Firefox's search bar. This revenue amounts to tens of millions of dollars. But Mozilla and Google Relations Strained Due to Chrome.
Firefox its independent and don't collect your data like Chrome/Google do...

sushidog said:
Agree with everything BUT Firefox was never connected to Google like Chrome. Firefox's current existence is owed almost exclusively to its search partnership with Google wherein Mozilla Corp receives a portion of ad revenue from Google queries initiated from Firefox's search bar. This revenue amounts to tens of millions of dollars. But Mozilla and Google Relations Strained Due to Chrome.
Firefox its independent and don't collect your data like Chrome/Google do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Connected with reference to Google promoting & supporting Firefox before they decided to go with Chrome.
I still use Firefox, Aurora & Chrome
Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk 2

If you're not paying it, you are the product being sold.
Remember this when downloading free apps which are not open source.

DnaPolymerase said:
If you're not paying it, you are the product being sold.
Remember this when downloading free apps which are not open source.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like facebook which sells our data
Sent from my MT11i using Tapatalk 2

Calamitous with Ninesky
Hi,
I stumbled upon XDA Developers forum today and I was so grateful to find this write-up; it was the only honest review I could find of Ninesky. So, thank you.
I want to share an experience our family went through a few weeks ago. Perhaps it will answer some of your questions and alert some users out there of what this browser could do. We have an unfortunate incident happen to our child: My little boy received an android tablet for a gift this October. He was so eager downloading all the apps and games he could find, and in about a month, it was completely personalized. We regularly monitored his downloads, the games he played, and the apps he utilized.
Much to our regret, we really did not give much thought to the browsers he had installed. He had more than three at one point and Ninesky was always in the background. Sadly, whenever he would search for apps, we later discovered Ninesky directly linked him to several stores that was not common to Google or Firefox. Some of them had Anime icons (mostly innocent looking), nicely titled games for their tiles. Some apps were legitimate and very cool games; however, some apps were direct links to hard-core porn websites and a whole universe of filth (not excluding child-porn). They attached themselves to the tablet like trojans and was quite aggressive in linking the user to overseas app stores (inappropriate). Every time a game would be uploaded from one of these stores, it gives auto-access to these atrocious websites and videos. Because Ninsky always functioned in incognito--one of it's touted features--we almost had no access to the history or cookies when this browser was used. Almost anyway ... it took us hours (and some hacking) to track and identify what was really going on, the seeming source of it was this "sophisticated" browser.
So the catch may be that this browser has no advertisements because it plays host to several groups funding the porn industry. That's my suspicion anyway, based on what we went through.
I cannot begin to say how grieved we are that our son was exposed to all this, especially that we discovered it so much later. We thought we paid attention. That being said, he's back to playing with his remote control car outside, where life is a bit less complex.
More power to your forum and thanks again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
xenofont said:
Hi everybody!
I recently started looking for a browser to replace the stock one and I think I installed every possible option there is without giving much thought to the consequences - app permissions and possible violation of my privacy and misuse of my data.
So I found what I thought was a really nice and well-functioning browser called Ninesky from the Android market.
Luckily for me I did not get to use it for long, before I detected a strange pattern - Ninesky would automatically start itself upon boot, connect to a server in China, upload some data and receive some back and then just sit there and wait idly.
The server that it connects to belongs to a company called aBitCool, which is, according to Bloomberg, an ISP in China.
So I kill it off and after a while it's back, doing the same thing. I also noticed a similar behavior for Dolphin HD, except that it would send data just once very quickly after boot-up and then close itself and stay quiet. That led me to Google it a little, which in turn led me to an existing thread about Dolphin HD on this forum.
So here are my noob questions that I hope somebody can answer, please:
1. Can somebody take a look at Ninesky browser and let us all know what kind of data it is transmitting about its users upon boot and maybe even later on during the actual use of the browser? The list of permissions that Ninesky asks for is huge and that makes me a little worried. Also, Ninesky runs a "safety check" of every URL visited. I wonder what that really is.
2. Say it would try to steal information from its users - would it be possible for the app to somehow get access to my stored usernames and passwords from other programs (such as Gmail or Skype) or are these encrypted? I presume that if I were stupid enough to let Ninesky's password manager "remember" my usernames and passwords for certain websites then that information would be easily accessible to them.
3. Can an app with such permissions also function as a keylogger?
4. I can understand why folks here would write some apps on their own and share them with the rest of us. I can understand why a developer or a company would write an app and make one version available for "free" or as an ad supported one and/or offer a premium version for $$$. At the end of the day developers need to eat and pay their bills just like the rest of us and companies are (for the most part) profit-seeking institutions (unless they are GE or MS that have money to burn). That said - why for the love of god would anybody, other than an enthusiast, develop a browser, for which they will not ask for any $$ or won't even display any ads in it? Where is the catch? Now, I know that Opera and Firefox get money from Google to use it as their default search engine, but would this really apply for a few random Chinese companies? Where is the catch?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

VPN and Politics - how secure is it

VPN and Politics - how secure is it
===================================
VPN:
The miracle solution for corporate users on-the-go.
The solution for political disdents and street movements or "freedom fighters".
The solution for watching what Holywood bosses decided you may not see in Europe or somewhere else.
The solution for downloading what you are not allowed to.
And the fancy list continues.
But have you ever thought that everything has a price, nobody gives something for free without thinking of own profit and that physically, you connection and data must pass a certain server somewhere?
But ...who has access to that server?
Which land host it and how the policy and government of that country affects you?
Well... let's take few examples:
1. Chinese disidents in Hong Kong. Well, if they use F-Secure Freedom VPN, it could be quite good.
F-Secure is locate din Finland, it's a pro NATO and USA partner.
For the chinese disident does not matter if american NSA watches them.
2. Islamists in Europe or somewhere else.
Now F-Secure Freedom VPN could be their capital mistake and last program to use before NSA reacts and ...a ticket to Guantanamo is paid by the USA tax-payers.
3. Normal Europe citizen wanting to watch Country music... well, Nashville and Holliwood bosses are quite restrictive and aware of money losses. Now a good VPN program comes handy, but beware for BSA catching you if your VPN goes via an "ally" of USA. Perhaps vpn servers ouside Europe are better...
But beware of own personal data if VPN program comes from East or Far East and your traffic goes same way...
Conclusion: based on who you are, how you are politically situated in respect to major powers of the world, what you want to do..
Then choose you VPN program and with a good firewall and sniffer watch out what the VPN program wants to access more on your device.
Never trust a VPN program, based on its adverts from producer or comments from internet.
Investigate yourself first, and never trust without deep checking.
With respect,
Zeno Sloim
http://zenosloim.blogspot.com/2014/10/vpn-and-politics-how-secure-is-it.html

How secure are in fact VPN or Red Phone
Article inspired by a PM asking about my thoughts on VPN and Red Phone.
"Hello there! Finally someone who cares about security.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iunlock
Greetings, I've been reading some of your posts and all that info is right up my alley. It's hard to find someone who actually cares about this stuff like I do. Anyhow, I have some questions that you may be able to answer for me. A lot of people I've tried to run this by doesn't have any passion for security so I've only received half "" answers, which is not what I'm seeking.
What do you think about this set up.
1. I use a VPN that claims they don't keep logs on my phone. But who knows...better than nothing? Or are these companies compromised? See if I was the big bad wolf, I'd either create VPN companies to give people options to trick them into thinking they have security with a VPN (illusions) and/or pay VPN companies a dollar amount that they can't refuse for a backdoor...ie...easy access any time to the traffic and data. So what if VPN companies lie about their claims...who's going to tell right? $win-$win situation for big bad wolf and the VPN company that couldn't refuse the $ offered. Interesting eh?
2. Tor/Orweb. Hmm....slow as a dead turtle, but does it really work like they claim? I do see some truth to this though with its concept, but going back to what I said above. $ talks?
3. Password managers like last password, 1 Password etc... again if I was the big bad wolf, would I not be able to make $ talk? Make you think.
4. Secure apps...like jitsi, xabber, encrypted stuff...etc. ..
On the flip side of the coin, there are true security nuts who hate the big bad wolf and a lot of these people are the founders of some of these VPN companies and alike. So there's some comfort in knowing that I assume....also open source stuff is good because they are transparent. No messing around there. Anything funny or fishy would be known for any vulnerability in the app etc....
With all that stuff aside, assuming you did trust the VPN, tor etc....what's the best we can do security wise for our phones?
Well I think using a VPN is a must. Next using gpg to encrypt all emails along with encrypted chat clients. Then the use of tor to proxy your connections like mail, chat, fb, twitter etc....
What are your thoughts?
BTW, I don't use Facebook (Cia / prism) buffet....
I think gpg is the only sure way of true security.
In the real world, having the convenience for non important things makes the use of Gmail and other Google apps convenient.
Never do I ever use any real info for any of these accounts lol.
So the question is....will using a VPN, encrypted email, encrypted chat client, and tor do the trick?
How about the use of redphone app with Google voice on VPN since it uses data and not voice tunnel?
A lot of cool stuff....would love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers"
Hi sorry for so late answer.
Please read my posts on my security blog.
As a guide line:
There is no secure VPN or provider, all depends on your "enemies" or whom are you afraid of. It all depends on who "don't care about you".
And what you want to do.
Everything located on US territory will report in case to US authorities. Same goes for Germany, Russia, China.
Also for smaller countries: Canada, New Zealand, Australia - all will report to UK and USA.
Same for Austria, Finland, Sweden - all will report to USA, UK, Germany.
The closed ties in SIGINT cooperation are 100% same in so-called VPN providers/software.
IMHO it's money waste to pay for VPN. If you want to do something against law.
Respect the laws and ignore VPN.
All above is for private persons.
If enterprise, own physically the VPN server and never trust any 3rd part.
With kind regards
Zeno Sloim
Part 2
Red Phone - bogus for naive people
Any product (hardware or software) produced on German territory HAVE backdoor for German state authorities and Germany SIGINT close partners: USA, UK
Any product made on USA territory has back doors for US state authorities.
The whole Apple FBI encryption scandal was bogus for big public, all Apple products have backdoor.
It's a matter of time for how quickly will authorities know and decrypt your private data "travelling on internet".
Best solution is to try to keep it LOCALLY, as much as possible, by controlling anything going out of your phone.
It's not easy for a normal user.
But use only verified by you, apps.
With regards
Zeno Sloim

Phone privacy and security, is it possible to be completely private and secure?

I have always known that companies like google and facebook for example collect our data, web searches etc and sell this information for profit. Today, this has become an even bigger issue with what we see in the media with the nsa and other government organizations tapping into our devices and monitoring our usage. At the end of the day, most of us, myself included really dont have anything to hide, so it may not be a real issue. I have often thought that if anyone poked around in my pc or phone they would simply get bored as they are just full of geeky engineering files lol. The real thing for me is simply that it's an invasion of privacy and just not right. With that said, I find myself wanting to go the extra mile to make my pc and my phone completely private from outside sources taking my information, watching my web searches and seeing my data. My question is, is it possible to be 100% secure and private, and if not, how close can we get, and how? I have heard that VPN's can achieve this. Is this true? and if so are there any free secure VPN's for our android devices and or pc's that are really good? Do VPN's slow down our devices? Also, Is there a way when we delete android files to permanently delete them? I noticed when I flashed my rom, after doing the complete wipe that is still contains files from before the wipe.
(I know this isn't a pc forum, I only included the pc because it's relevant.)
Thank you all in advance.

There are no data retention laws in the United States. Meaning, if a data center does not want to hold any logs to their users' activity, they're not required by law to do so. Multiple countries are similar, which is why I recommend using Private Internet Access for your VPN. They have a client for PC and Android and they're really great. I've been using them for many years and have had no issues. And, if you're really wanting to remain "anonymous", you can pay for your VPN subscription using gift cards from popular outlets like Walmart, Starbucks, etc. And for search engines, I'd recommend DuckDuckGo, which doesn't log anything you search. For PC, I'd recommend disabling your IPv6 protocol in your router settings and getting uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, and PrivacyBadger. They're wonderful add-ons for Firefox or Chrome. uBlock Origin and PrivacyBadger can block WebRTC leaks which would leak your IP address and can be used to identify you. If you want more information, feel free to reply to my post and I'll help you out as much as I can.

Hoxic said:
There are no data retention laws in the United States. Meaning, if a data center does not want to hold any logs to their users' activity, they're not required by law to do so. Multiple countries are similar, which is why I recommend using Private Internet Access for your VPN. They have a client for PC and Android and they're really great. I've been using them for many years and have had no issues. And, if you're really wanting to remain "anonymous", you can pay for your VPN subscription using gift cards from popular outlets like Walmart, Starbucks, etc. And for search engines, I'd recommend DuckDuckGo, which doesn't log anything you search. For PC, I'd recommend disabling your IPv6 protocol in your router settings and getting uBlock Origin, HTTPS Everywhere, and PrivacyBadger. They're wonderful add-ons for Firefox or Chrome. uBlock Origin and PrivacyBadger can block WebRTC leaks which would leak your IP address and can be used to identify you. If you want more information, feel free to reply to my post and I'll help you out as much as I can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hoxic,
Thank you for all of the information. With the private internet access VPN on my PC and android, will that slow down anything like web surfing, uploads or downloads? I am limited to using Verizon's high speed DSL connection as they refer to it, (I refer to it as slowest speed connection lol) in my neighborhood and this is the only provider for me so it's already pretty slow compared to Fios and other broadband connections. I would hate to slow it down any more.
You mention to pay for these services using gift cards and such. Well as I mentioned, I do not have anything that I am actually worried about anyone seeing, this is simply my way of trying to protect my privacy so I wouldn't go that far but I am curious about that statement. Do you mean that using a VPN truly isn't private or is this just to remove any paper trail linking me to the use of a VPN provider? I have been using DuckDuckGo for several years already just to stop google from taking and selling my info. Weather it truly works or not I dont know but its a great search engine anyway so I figured why not use it.
Your advice to disabling IPv6 protocol in my router settings: I do not see anywhere in my router settings to do this so I googled it, and it looks like there's a way o do this in windows. Is that different that what you're advising? Also I read a windows blog on this and windows 10 says IPv6 is a mandatory part of Windows that they do not advise on disabling. Can you give me some more detail on this, and how to disable it, assuming the windows warning is bull.
Thanks for all of your help.