Most smartphone owners have dropped their phone once or twice, but a new Android app game from Norwegian developer Carrot Pop may lead to an increase in phone accidents. The app is called Send Me to Heaven (S.M.T.H.). It encourages players to throw their  phone as high as they can and then catch it in order to score points. Users can save their scores to the Carrot Pop server and compare them against the scores of other players.

Using the phone’s accelerometer, the app measures the height that the phone reaches as it goes up in the air. The higher its thrown, the higher the points. Hopefully players will actually catch their phones and they won’t end up smashed on the street beneath players. The company’s disclaimer  says that they aren’t liable for any damage to phones hurt in game play.

It may be an app worth downloading, the week before you upgrade to a new phone.

If you use your Android device as a microphone to make recordings for interviews, you may want to think twice if you want to keep your sources private. According to reports, the FBI is using software to remotely turn Android devices into wiretapping devices.

Taking their cue from hackers who use malicious links and spyware to hack into other people’s computers, it is becoming a regular practice for law enforcement to turn a user’s device into a spying tool.

The Wall Street Journal has the story:

The FBI develops some hacking tools internally and purchases others from the private sector. With such technology, the bureau can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google Inc.’s Android software to record conversations, one former U.S. official said. It can do the same to microphones in laptops without the user knowing, the person said. Google declined to comment.

Many writers and other media professionals focus on Apple’s iOS devices when creating apps and other mobile content.

In a recent Copyright Clearance Center interview, Wattpad co-founder Allen Lau explained why writers need to pay attention to Android readers. Currently, 15 million users spend 3.5 billion minutes on the community writing site and  80 percent of that traffic comes from mobile devices. Lau concluded:

Android launched in 2008 and became a really popular platform in ’09 and 2010, at that time, Wattpad was really taking off, because, using Android as an example, it’s a free operating system. The Android device that you can buy in developing countries today, the lowest high price point is approaching $50 right now. It’s very affordable. And in many cases, the Android phone is the gateway for people living in those countries to the Internet. That’s their only connection to the Internet. They skipped the desktop era.

Microsoft has released Microsoft Office Mobile 365 app for Android users. The app lets MS subscribers access, view and edit Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint documents on their phone. The release follows the release of a Microsoft Office app for iPhone which launched last month.

The app lets you access and work on MS documents from your Android phone. Once you are done editing a document, you can save it to the Microsoft cloud SkyDrive or email it to yourself. Here is more from the Microsoft blog:

Office Mobile has been optimized for the small screen of your phone so you can get things done efficiently.  When reviewing Word documents, the Resume Reading feature takes you to the exact point in the document where you left off on your PC so you don’t waste time searching. The new Slide Navigator lets you browse through PowerPoint presentations fast while Speaker Notes help you practice on the run.

The app is free, but requires an Office 365 subscription to work. You can sign up for a free 30 day Office 365 trial here.

FEMA’s latest app feature came out in its Android update this week – a social tool for disaster efforts that allows anyone to upload geotagged photos of ongoing disasters. In addition to location specific images, users can also add a small description of the images prior to submission., All photos go through an approval process to ensure authenticity and then placed on a publicly accessible map for everyone to view.

In a statement to Mashable, Craig Fugate, FEMA’s adminsistrator said, “The public is a resource and oftentimes the initial and first reports we get are people putting up information, from tweets, from Flickr. Rather than waiting for that to come up, they would be doing that in the app that will allow it to be shared with other responders.” The next logical step is to use social crowdsourcing to fund  disaster relief efforts. Read more

Ubuntu desktop users can pledge to get the Ubuntu Edge phone on Indiegogo, paying $830 for a new phone.

The ambitious campaign aims to raise $32 million on Indiegogo, and they have already raised over $3 million with 30 days to go. Here’s more about the mobile device:

We’re fascinated by converged computing, the idea that the smartphone in your pocket can also be the brain of the PC on your desk. We’ve shaped Ubuntu so you can transition seamlessly between the two environments … On day one, you’ll be able to launch the Ubuntu desktop from within Android using our existing Ubuntu for Android app. That integration is fully functional today, as you can see from this video.

Read more

Cashing in on the NSA’s surveillance scandal, app developer Fergus Macpherson has created an Android app that lets you assist the NSA in its spying efforts.

The USA PRISM app will randomly take shots of your phone and tweet them directly with the National Security Agency, and your friends, giving you the ability to prove that you aren’t doing anything illegal with regular shares to the NSA with the hashtag “My #USAPrismPlus random security check.” Or perhaps the app is designed as an aggressive protest against the NSA’s practices, designed to overwhelm the security agency’s Twitter account. Check it out:

Photos taken from your mobile phone without your awareness will be used to determine that you are not engaging in illegal activities. Your activities can be verified by members of the community on Twitter, or you can send the photos straight to the National Security Agency for extra verification.

(Via CNET).

Facebook is opening its beta testing program to all Android users, so if you have a hankering for the latest and greatest from the social network, head over to the Google group. Why Google? Facebook is utilizing Google’s new beta testing program that allows companies to roll out updates in stages, by joining you’ll be getting previews of updates before most users.

Anyone can join the beta program. When you join, you will get a small batch of fixes and new features every month. We ask that you use your app as you normally would, but submit a report when you encounter a bug or other issue. Because the beta build will have features that are still in progress, the app may be less stable than you’re accustomed to. Feedback on stability, as well as any other performance issues you experience, is crucial and deeply appreciated.

Read more

Twitter’s popular video sharing app Vine is now available for Android.

The app, which lets users make 6 second videos and share them to their social networks, launched for iOS devices this past January. Since then, the app has more than 13 million users.

The new Android app has most of the features of the iOS app — users can create and share short looped videos to Vine or Twitter, as well as follow friends and check out the videos of other makers.

The Android and iOS apps are not identical. For example, the Android app has a unique zoom feature that has yet to hit iOS. Here is more from the Twitter blog:

Over the coming weeks, you’ll see frequent updates with new features –– including front-facing camera, search, mentions and hashtags, and the ability to share to Facebook –– as well as bug fixes and performance improvements. Of course, this is only the beginning –– we have exciting plans for features that could exist only on Android.

While the Apple App Store leads the app market in terms of total revenue, a new report from Distimo suggests that Google Play is capturing more revenue share in the app business.

The report, which compared revenues from Apple’s App Store and Google Play in April 2013, revealed that Google Play’s “piece of the pie has increased significantly over the past six months.” Back in November, Google only owned 19% of the combined revenue between the two marketplace, but in April 2013, Google’s this share went up by eight percentage points to 27 percent.

Revenue shares in in Japan and South Korea helped fuel this growth. Here is more from the report:

We draw the conclusion that although the majority of applications still generate more revenue in the Apple App Store than in Google Play, there appears to be a great opportunity in Google Play in terms of revenue – and (as noted in previous publications) localization is the key.