HTC is the latest smartphone maker to acknowledge a vulnerability in their software that allows a user’s Wi-Fi password and SSID to to be stolen by a malicious application runnning on the phone according to Bret Jordan’s blog that first revealed the issue.

Thankfully, HTC has rolled out an update to several phones. Some phones, however, will need to be manually updated. HTC promises more details on the update next week according to PC Mag.

Chris Hessing and Bret Jordan were the first to report the vulnerability to CERT. The CERT Web site describes the vulnerability as such:

Any Android application on an affected HTC build with the android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE permission can use the .toString() member of theWifiConfiguration class to view all 802.1X credentials and SSID information. If the same application also has the android.permission.INTERNETpermission then that application can harvest the credentials and exfiltrate them to a server on the Internet.

The vulnerability affects only a certain number of HTC phones including the Desire HD, Glacier, Droid Incredible, Thunderbolt 4G, Sensation Z710e, Sensation 4G, Desire S, EVO 3D and EVO 4G. The MyTouch 3G and Nexus One are not affected.

If your phone is one of those listed above, you can download an update starting next week from the HTC help page.

HTC just can’t seem to catch a break. We reported last December that HTC had many of their phones banned from being sold in the U.S. after a successful patent lawsuit from Apple. HTC had to remove the offending feature from all of their phones.

Once again, these kind of problems will always come up with smartphones as they move towards being more computer-like. People will attempt to exploit their weaknesses while manufacturers will attempt to patch them as they come up. Just remember to be smart and safe with your smartphones by not storing a lot of personal information, like Wi-Fi passwords, on them.

Almost 90% of these travelers expect free Wi-Fi to be available as part of their accomodations. Over 40% report that they have never paid for Wi-Fi in a hotel and 65% report that they have used Wi-Fi in hotel lobby’s and other common areas to avoid additional room charges for the service.

93% of the hotel representatives surveyed reported that they do offer some variety of free Wi-Fi for customers. Also of interest, over 50% of travelers claim they have canceled reservations because they found other places to stay that did offer free Wi-Fi.

The second most important factor in deciding to stay at a hotel was whether breakfast was included in the stay, followed by the availability of guest loyalty points. The number four factor was the availability of nearby restaurants. And finally, the number five deciding factor was the availability of some form of shuttle service.

Hotel representatives and customers alike, rated the above five items as the most important factors in deciding what hotels to stay at. This reveals, at least in the hotels surveyed, that representatives truly understand their customer’s needs.

Delta Airlines is trying to combat these exact problems for their clients. It started about a year ago when the airline introduced the Facebook Ticket Counter App. The application allows flyers to check in on Facebook, view in-flight amenities and entertainment, and share flight details with friends and family.

Communication doesn’t stop there, gripes and bitches can be lodged on Twitter. Technical issues can be resolved via Delta assist. This is especially helpful if you have a smart phone. iPhone, Blackberry and android all have apps (Fly Delta app) available to alert customers about parking issues, airport specifics, tracking baggage, paying for extra baggage, and travel updates.

If you’re feeling a little disconnected during flights, like me, Delta is nearing completion on a project to install in-flight Wi-Fi on more than 800 of their aircraft. What else is cool is that they have even upgraded their top 19 airports to include branded charging stations. Great news if your ambition exceeds your battery life.

So what else can you ask for? Flying is still going to be a pain in the ass but at least you can surf the net and find your baggage right from your seat. If you’re having a crappy flight you can complain to corporate right from your seat in mid-flight!

PC World Magazine recently named Delta “Top Tech-Friendly U.S. Airline” because of all the innovations they have made. If you’re a tech savvy flyer, you may want to check out Delta for your next flight. If you’re like me and can’t tolerate the inefficiencies of air travel, it may provide some relief.

Well, new research from the peer-reviewed publication Fertility and Sterility suggests that laptop internet browsing could be damaging sperm. And it appears that the Wi-Fi could be the culprit.

The study took semen samples from 29 healthy men in order to take a look at the effects of laptops using Wi-Fi on sperm. The divided the sperm from each subject into two groups. First, the experimental group was subjected to Wi-Fi-connected laptops for a period of four hours. The control group was kept in the same conditions, but without the laptop hovering over them.

What they found was that the Wi-Fi seemed to be affecting the sperm in a pretty alarming way.

While the sperm in the laptop-exposed group was not killed, it did show signs of both lost mobility and DNA fragmentation. Basically, the researchers witnessed that the experimental sperm group weren’t swimming much anymore, and many of the ones that were were damaged.

The laptop-exposed sperm lost mobility 11% more than the control group, and 9% showed DNA fragmentation, as opposed to just 3% of the control group.

The researchers suggest that keeping a Wi-Fi-connected laptop near the testes for extended periods of time could be harming sperm.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the direct impact of laptop use on human spermatozoa. Ex vivo exposure of human spermatozoa to a wireless internet-connected laptop decreased motility and induced DNA fragmentation by a nonthermal effect. We speculate that keeping a laptop connected wirelessly to the internet on the lap near the testes may result in decreased male fertility. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to prove this contention.

Of course, some in the field are skeptical of these findings. The president of the Society for Male Reproduction and Urology told Reuters that while interesting, the study wasn’t biologically relevant; “This is not real-life biology, this is a completely artificial setting,” he said about the new study. “It is scientifically interesting, but to me it doesn’t have any human biological relevance.”

Still, this isn’t the first time that some sort of electromagnetic radiation has been linked to sperm problems. The long-believed position that cellphones, kept in pockets all day, damage sperm got more support in August when an Italian study found a link between Rf-EMR and decreased sperm count and mobility.

Despite how you feel about the accuracy of these studies, I’m sure I won’t be the only one that at least thinks about reevaluating the position in which I browse the web at home.

PCPro’s Real World wireless expert, Paul Ockenden, states, “Modern homes constructed largely of plaster board also use signal-bouncing foil coating in bathrooms and kitchens“.

A quick Google images search, for the product in question, returns some interesting images. You can see in the image above that the entire house has been wrapped in foil, not just the bathroom and kitchen. So with that in mind, what kind of Wi-Fi signal could these homeowners expect?

The foil coating discussed is Protect TF200 Thermo, a type of insulation. According to the site, “Protect TF200 Thermo is a high timber frame membrane with high tear strength, weather resistance and vapor permeability. Protect TF200 Thermo has all the features and benefits of the tried and tested TF200 membrane, but with the addition of a highly reflective surface enhancing the thermal performance of the final wall construction“.

Sure, a “highly reflective surface” is great for home insulation, but it could be causing your Wi-Fi signal fits, as it will more than likely cause radio signals to just bounce around. Along with Wi-Fi, televisions, mobile phones, and even digital radios could be affected by the rouge signals.

Short of tearing down the your walls and removing the coating, there really isn’t a lot that can be done if you suspect your signal is being bothered by your insulation.

Aircell offers Gogo on nine of the 11 major U.S. airlines and on nearly 6,000 business aircraft. The financing will be used to fund growth in both commercial and business aviation markets.

“2010 was the year Inflight Internet went mainstream and Aircell established its leadership in this exciting new mobile Internet venue," said Michael Small, Aircell President and CEO.  

"Since securing our exclusive spectrum license in 2006, we’ve raised more than $500M."

Existing investors include Ripplewood Holdings, a major private equity group, Blumenstein/Thorne Information Partners and other investment entities associated with investor/entrepreneur Oakleigh Thorne.

In 2011, Aircell expects to increase its base of installed aircraft by an average of three per day in the airline market. Gogo is available on all AirTran Airways, Virgin America and mainline Delta Air Lines flights; as well as flights operated by Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways, with service on Frontier Airlines expected to begin shortly.

People flying on AirTran, Delta or Virgin America between November 20, 2010 and January 2, 2011 will have free Wi-Fi on any of their domestic flights.

“We are constantly working to help provide a better web experience to users around the world,” said Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management at Google.

“Whether it be building a better browser with Chrome or bringing free Wi-Fi to air travelers this holiday season, we are constantly innovating to ensure users’ access to the web is fast, simple and seamless.”

As the three airlines that have outfitted their entire domestic fleet with in-flight Wi-Fi, this promotion will bring free Internet service to more than 700 planes and approximately 15 million expected passengers this holiday season.

This season marks the second straight year that Google has provided free Wi-Fi to travelers over the holiday season. Last year, Google worked with Virgin America as well as more than 50 airports to provide free Internet both on the ground and in the air.

The company said Rodale, Nick Jr. Boost and DonorsChoose.org will join the previously announced content providers iTunes, The New York Times, Patch, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo and Zagat.

"We’re creating an online destination that will be true to, and expand upon, the Starbucks experience by delivering free, premium offerings that are selected specifically for our customers and localized for increased personal and community relevance," said Stephen Gillett, Starbucks CIO and general manager of Digital Ventures, a business unit of Starbucks.

"To bring this to life, we partnered with Yahoo to develop the platform as well as to power the search feature and contribute content."

The Starbucks Digital Network will offer customers free Wi-Fi with access to six different channel categories including news, entertainment, wellness, business & careers, my neighborhood and Starbucks.
 

Overall, 74 percent of Americans view Google favorably, but 65 percent say the Wi-Fi scandal is one of the things that "worries them most" or a "great deal" with another 20 percent saying it "raises some concern" when considering online issues.

Google’s cooperation with the National Security Agency without saying what information is being shared. Even more people are calling for Congressional hearings on "Google’s gathering data from home WiFi networks and its sharing of information with U.S. spy agencies like the National Security Administration, the NSA" (69% favor, 19% oppose).

"This poll shows that the Wi-Spy scandal is a political minefield for both Google and Congress, and it has the power to scar both," said John M. Simpson, consumer advocate with the group.

"The company and the government need to come clean about how Google is cooperating with NSA."

The majority (90%) of consumers support more laws that protect the privacy of their online personal information.  Among these, 67 percent say it is "very important" and there is not much difference based on age. Consumers under 50, including those ages 18-29, are just as likely to say more privacy laws are needed as those over the age of 70.

A "make me anonymous button" is favored by 86 percent of consumers, followed by preventing online companies from tracking personal information or web searches without their approval (84%).

"It’s time for Congress to act on these issues and for Google and the government to deliver real privacy protections like a make me anonymous button or a do not track list," said Simpson.

"These privacy protections are ripe for ballot initiatives in states like California if Congress and statehouses won’t act."
 

Nearly half of all adults (47%) go online with a laptop using a Wi-Fi connection or mobile broadband card (up from the 39% who did so as of April 2009) while 40% of adults use the Internet, email or instant messaging on a mobile phone (up from the 32% of Americans who did this in 2009)

The report found the use of application not related to making calls has grown significantly over the last year. Compared with a similar point in 2009, cell phone owners are now more likely to use their mobile phones to:

*Take pictures-76% now do this, up from 66% in April 2009

*Send or receive text messages-72% vs. 65%

*Access the Internet-38% vs. 25%

*Play games-34% vs. 27%

*Send or receive email-34% vs. 25%

*Record a video-34% vs. 19%

*Play music-33% vs. 21%

*Send or receive instant messages-30% vs. 20%

"The growing functionality of mobile phones makes them ever-more powerful devices for on-the-go communications and computing," said Aaron Smith, Research Specialist and the author of the Pew Internet Project report.

"Cell phones have become for many owners an all-purpose chat-text-gaming-photo-sharing media hub that is an essential utility for work and a really fancy toy for fun."

African-Americans and English-speaking Latinos continue to be among the most active users of the mobile web. Cell phone ownership is higher among African-Americans and Latinos than among whites (87% vs. 80%) and minority cell phone owners use a much wider range of their phones’ features compared with white mobile phone users. In total, 64% of African-Americans access the Internet from a laptop or mobile phone, a seven-point increase from the 57% who did so at a similar point in 2009.

Young adults (those ages 18-29) are also heavy users of mobile applications, but older adults are gaining fast. Compared with 2009, cell phone owners ages 30-49 are significantly more likely to use their mobile device to send text messages, access the internet, take pictures, record videos, use email or instant messaging, and play music.

 "The mobile user population is becoming more diverse over time and more people are relying on their cell phones as their primary form of wireless connectivity," said Smith.

"Even as laptops have become more commonplace in recent years, significant numbers of young adults and minority Americans are relying on a cell phone as their on-ramp to the mobile web."

Other highlights from the report include:

*More than half of cell phone Internet users (55%) go online from their mobile phone on a daily basis.

*Most wireless laptop users go online wirelessly at home, but six in ten wireless laptop users go online from multiple locations. One in five (20%) do so from home, work and somewhere other than home or work.

*Laptop computers are now nearly as common as desktop computers-55% of American adults own a laptop computer, just below the 62% who own a desktop machine. In the past year, laptop ownership among African-Americans has risen dramatically (51% of African-American adults now own a laptop computer).