Top 10 Security Tools for Your Smartphone

What would you do if you misplace your mobile phone, or worse still, had it stolen? Would you even know where to start to get it back, and what about all that personal data that is linked to your phone?
If this has ever happened to you, you know what a nightmare it can be. Although there are some good Samaritans in the world, more than likely they’re not going to be the ones who would steal your mobile device.
So what can you do to minimize the effects of a stolen smartphone? You can start by installing some form of security for your device. With all of the mobile apps readily available for use (and many for free), there’s really no excuse for not giving your phone ample protection. Even for apps that aren’t free, it’s worth paying that small fee in order to give your smartphone and the details it contain the security it needs.
Let’s take a look at some of the best tools available for protecting your smartphone.

Our Top 10

Lookout Mobile Security

Lookout is a free app that protects your iOS or Android device around the clock from mobile threats such as unsecure WiFi networks, malicious apps, fraudulent links, etc. You can also use it to backup your contacts by scheduling automatic backups and then accessing the information online, or using it to restore your device in case of a crash or data loss.
If you lose your phone, Lookout can locate it on a Google map – even if the GPS is off. It will also activate a loud alarm – even if your phone is on silent.

Want more features like remote locking, safe browsing, phishing protection, privacy scans and app reports? You can upgrade to Lookout Premium for $2.99/month or $29.99/year.

Snap Secure Mobile Security

Snap Secure will securely and automatically back up your data to your online account so that you can access it, restore or transfer data to a new device if needed. It comes with anti-virus and anti-spyware protection, and will scan all of your new applications for malware.
It also includes a call-blocking feature that lets you block calls from unknown or unshown numbers. You can even block unwanted emails on your BlackBerry device, and block unwanted SMS messages on Android devices.

The Privacy Manager can also let you know how apps are using your personal information, and it has an anti-theft and location tracker which will help you catch the thief who took your phone. Best of all, it has a unique feature called the Personal Guardian. This is a panic button for the user to silently send out an email, SMS message, or tweet along with your location in case of an emergency.
Snap Secure is available for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry devices. There are both free and Pro versions. Most of the better features are only available with a Pro account, but you’ll get a 30-day free trial of Snap Secure Pro with the free version. The Pro version is $3.99/month or $17.99/year.

BullGuard Mobile Security 10

With BullGuard you get an online account that lets you remotely access your smartphone, along with a Mobile Security Manager that works with your device’s GPS. If you lose your device, you can lock it remotely and wipe it clean.
It also includes a Parental Control module so that you can keep your kids protected without having direct access to the phone. It includes anti-virus and anti-spyware, firewall, spam filter, backup/restore feature for contacts, and SIM card protection.

BullGuard is available for Android, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry, and is available at the cost of $29.95/year.

iHound Phone and Family Tracking

iHound is great for families and includes various tracking tools, yet it is also a great tool for protecting your device. iHound can use your phone’s GPS to track your device and report its location. It includes an alarm that can be set off via a push notification and heard even when the device is silent. If you use this on an Android device, you can also remotely wipe your data and lock your device.
iHound can also protect you with the unique geofencing feature that automatically checks you in on Facebook or Twitter when you arrive at your destination.

iHound is currently free in the iPhone App Store and includes 3 months of service. After this, you can extend your subscription for 3 months ($3.99), 6 months ($5.99), 12 months ($10.99), or 24 months ($19.99). If you’re on an Android, it’s only $3.99/year after a 7-day free trial.

McAfee WaveSecure

McAfee has also created an excellent mobile security application for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian OS, Windows phone, and Java. It includes all of the same features as the rest: remote wiping and locking; backup and restoring of data; and location and SIM tracking. With WaveSecure, not only can you backup your contacts, but you can also backup photos and videos.

Also, the tracking feature does not only track the current location, but plots several locations on a map so you can see the vicinity of your device. This feature works even if your GPS has been turned off.
McAfee WaveSecure is available for all devices at $19.99/year.

Kaspersky Mobile Security 9

Kaspersky Mobile offers many features, but includes the most features for Symbian and Windows mobile devices. These features include: anti-theft, anti-virus, anti-spam, privacy protection, data encryption, parental controls, and firewall protection. The phone tracking feature shows your device on a Google map and provides coordinates.

One of the unique features it has is the ability to wipe your device clean even if the SIM card has been replaced. The Private mode feature is also useful because you can completely hide incoming calls and SMS messages manually, automatically, or remotely. So if your device is stolen or someone is trying to hack into your phone around, the joke is on them because they won’t be able to access that data.
Kaspersky Mobile is currently on sale for $9.95/year (regular $29.95) or $29.95/2 years (regular $59.90). If you want to try before buying, there is a 7-day free trial.

F-Secure Mobile Security

If you’re using an Android, Symbian, or Windows mobile device, you may want to try out F-Secure. It offers the basics such as protection against viruses and malware, parental controls, safe browsing, identity protection, location tracking, and call/SMS blocking.

There is currently a 30-day free trial of the Mobile Security service after which it’s $3.50/month or $39.50/year. If you prefer something totally free, you can download the always free Anti-Theft app, which protects the data in your phone if it is lost or stolen. The app will help you locate your device and let you wipe out the data contained and lock it remotely.

Norton Mobile Security Lite

Here we have Norton, another well-known anti-virus provider. Norton Mobile is unfortunately only available for Android devices. It protects you against unauthorized access, viruses, malware, phishing, and theft. If your device is stolen, you will be able to locate it, wipe the data within, and lock it remotely.
Even when you’re browsing the Web, you’re being protected with a privacy guard. If your device is compromised, it will detect and eliminate the threat. All apps will also be scanned to make sure they’re not malicious. Calls and SMS messages can be blocked as well.

Norton Mobile Security Lite is free in the Android Marketplace. Norton also offers the Mobile Utilities and Task Killer, Snap QR Code Reader, and Anti-Theft plug-ins all for free.
A very similar Android-only mobile security app you might like is by Trend Micro. It offers all of the same features as Norton Mobile and comes with a 30-day free trial, after which it’s $17.99/year.
I’ll throw AVG for Android in here as well. Along with all of the same features, it also helps to enhance the performance of your device by identifying applications that may be slowing it down. AVG for Android is also free.

Avast! Mobile Security

Avast! Mobile is yet another Android-only application, but I wanted to address it in more detail because of the many features it offers – all for free. When compared to the other free and paid mobile security options, Avast! delivers the same features and more.
It has real-time protection, customizable updates, privacy reports, a Web shield, call and SMS message filtering, a firewall and application manager. If your device is stolen, you can do everything except access or restore your contacts – because it doesn’t include a backup feature. Yet, you can locate your device and wipe or lock it remotely, set off an alarm, and even receive a notification if your SIM card is changed.

Now for the more: The App Disguiser is a unique feature that lets you choose custom names for your apps so that if your device is stolen, it will be harder for thieves to find the apps containing your personal data. Another great feature is called “Stealth Mode”. Once the anti-theft feature has been enabled on your device, the Avast! app icon will be hidden so that the thief can’t detect it; they’ll never even know that they’re being tracked.

GadgetTrak

Lastly we have GadgetTrack, an app only for iOS devices that not only tracks your stolen device, but takes a snapshot of the thief! If your device doesn’t have a camera, you can still use it to create tracking reports with and give you coordinates for your missing device.

While you’ll get better location-tracking with the GPS on, it’s not required. You can also lock the settings on the device so that the thief can’t change them. Plus there’s a “Deleting Apps” restriction that you can enable so that the thief cannot delete any of your apps – including GadgetTrack.
GadgetTrack is available in the App Store for $3.99.

Bonus: 2 more..

VirusBarrier

iOS users, if you’re looking for something only for your device, check out VirusBarrier. This app is $2.99 and can be used to scan email attachments and other files as needed. It checks for spyware, trojans, adware, hacker tools, dialers, keyloggers, and more. VirusBarrier even works with remote services like DropBox, iDisk, and WebDAV.

Due to the limitations of iOS, this app cannot automatically scan files or schedule automatic scans; this is probably the reason why most of the abovementioned apps are mainly for Android.

Webroot SecureWeb

Here we go, iOS users, an application that you can use too! Webroot SecureWeb is available for iOS and Android, and mainly focuses on securing your Web browsing experience. On the iOS app you can browse using the integrated and secure tabbed browser and safe search feature, which identifies phishing and malicious websites. There are no anti-theft features included, unlike the Android version.

For Android there is both a free and Pro version (for $9.99/year – regular $19.99/year). In the free version you get secure browsing along with an anti-virus, location tracking, alarm, call and SMS message blocking, and remote locking. The PRO version has all of the above plus SIM card locking, remote wiping, and app scanning.

Conclusion

When it comes to your privacy and security, it’s better to be safe than sorry. So be sure you’re protected at all times!
If you’re using a mobile security application, which one are you currently using? If you’re not using one, which one do you plan on trying out after reading this list? Feel free to let us know in the comments!

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20 Gadgets That Make Your Smartphone Even Smarter

It’s called smartphone, but is it really smart? After all, most people use the smartphone to browse social networks, listen to music, play games, make memes and upload photos to Instagram. Not much advanced intelligence needed to run those things. However the smartphone is essentially a small computer. You can do pretty amazing things with it including launch it into space as a nanosatellite.

(Image Source: ICEdot)

But that is for dedicated use. In cases where you want to keep using your smartphone for your online activities, you can also set your smartphone to do other things like locate your missing car, lock and unlock your homes, watch your health and contact your relatives if you get into an accident, etc. Check out a few other ways you can make your smartphone smarter, and your life easier. You’ll probably look at your smartphones differently now.

Viper SmartStart

Make the Mercedes-Benz owner envy you, with Viper SmartStart, a device that allows you to perform regular tasks your remote key can do, for instance lock the door, honk the car and release the trunk, all with your smartphone. On top of that, with Viper SmartStart you can even check your vehicle status to ensure it’s safe, and ready to rock and roll. [$149-$399]

Hone

Keys have a special ability to disappear right when you are looking for it. Hone is a Bluetooth device for iPhone and iPod that helps you find your key. The setup is easy – just tie the device to your key and press the Find button on your iPhone. The device will light up and emit a sound to indicate its position. That’s it, smart and elegant. [$49.00]

Lockitron

The Lockitron not only lets you unlock the door with just a touch on the smartphone, but also notifies you when someone is knocking at the door. With the right customization, you can even set your door to unlock whenever you get near the door – no more fumbling around with your house keys especially when your hands are full. [$179.00]

Square Register

Square Register is a revolution that’s disrupting the current old, static transaction system. It takes the advantage of the smartphone’s mobility to let you accept any credit card payment anytime, anywhere. The buyer signs on the smartphone to authorize payment and avoid potential fraud, and the information is encrypted before any processing initialize.

Geode

Geode can convert all your physical credit cards, loyalty cards, and membership cards into digital information. To use the cards, you can transfer the card information to the provided Geode card temporarily. Flick to activate the card, say a credit card, then swipe it through the terminal as normal.
You can also store all the barcodes from your loyalty cards and display it at the back of the Geode to allow for scans. [$159.00]

Tōd

Use these smart beacons, called Tōd, to track the location of your child, a beloved pet or even your car. Get notifications via email or text when they make an unscheduled departure from the compound or if they wander off too far from you. [$32.00]

Pico Genie A100

Heavy projectors are so last-century. I’m going for the Pico Genie A100, a speaker-enabled projector as mini as the iPhone! The outcome is a 60″ viewing area with sound-boosting effect, not to mention that you could carry the Pico Genie 100 around during presentations. But honestly, I think it fits better as a gaming device! [$262.00]

Botiful

Just plug in your smartphone to Botiful, the robot, and you can move it anywhere and communicate with any human using the minimalistic Skype interface. What’s even more fun here is that you can also explore everywhere that your big human body cannot reach with this feet-sized robot. It makes me feel like a god that’s omnipresent, only I’m a little bit mini! [$199.00]

Scanbox

You can use your smartphone to help you scan codes such as QR Codes but even better, you can get a simple, portable Scanbox to stabilize your camera to perform bulk scanning tasks! The Scanbox comes with LEDs that light up from the bottom, providing prominent light sources for the best scanning quality possible. [$15.00]

NODE Chroma

You can call NODE Chroma a real-life Photoshop color picker, as it really is. Place the Chroma on the colored object, and the color will be saved into your smartphone or personal computer with the standard formats of RGB, HEX, CMYK and LAB for your future reference and even comparison. [$149.00]

Sensordrone

Sensordrone is a sensor computer that harvests vital information around your environment, such as air quality, gas leaks, temperature, humidity etc – practically anything that can be sensed! Great for people with jobs that require technical measurements while on the go. [$175.00]

Crash Sensor

Your life will be safer with the ICEdot’s Crash Sensor. All you need to do is mount the device on your helmet before you take off to any of your extreme sports or cross-country races. The device will notify your emergency contacts and send GPS coordinates to initiate rescue attempts should an accident occurs.

Misfit Shine

Misfit Shine helps you track your physical activities on-the-go. Upon equipping it on your body, Shine will track your physical activities and inform you at the end of the day that if your body movements are well enough to keep you fit and shiny. [$79.00]

Health Appliances

While Withings Blood Pressure Monitor helps you monitor your blood pressure intelligently, Medisana ThermoDock checks if your body temperature is beyond dangerous parameters. Your data is stored within the VitaDock app for future reference. Smart health management for smartphone holder! [$158.00, $80.00]

Deeper

I have never imagined that my smartphone can detect fish underwater, but Deeper makes the impossible possible. The magic is made possible by the Friday Lab’s sonar that can detect movement of fish within a 50m radius, and reflects its ‘catch’ on your smartphone’s screen. The best app for tech-savvy fishermen. [$149.00]

Smart Radiation Detector

The nuclear meltdown happened in Japan has raised awareness about the absorption of radioactive materials into the food and water. The Smart Radiation Detector can detect and confirm radiation levels to help you avoid contaminated resources. Medical professionals and rescue team operators could use this when working in nuclear-related disasters. [$100.00]

SkyLight

The SkyLight could connect your smartphone camera to a supported microscope, and let you capture microscope photographs with the option to switch the focal planes with a touch of your finger. [$65.00]

Smart Baby Monitor

After the installation, the Smart Baby Monitor will start sending live streaming audio and video through secure connection. The monitor gets even more awesome with the WithBaby app that let new parents check on their baby via wireless connection. The monitor can even detect your baby’s activities as well as the room’s humidity and temperature. [$352.00]

Wise-Pet

Built to protect your phone, the Wise-Pet doubles as a tech pet, promising 5 different pets possessing 5 different personalities. The app is also built with some educational features, like the video feature that broadcasts fun lessons, or the recording feature that saves up your voiced bedtime stories, and let the Wise-Pet reads out for you! [$20.00]

iPhly

Tired of losing the remote controls for the TV, air conditioner, garage door opener or even your toy car/plane? Store up all your controls in iPhly. With the iPhone/iPod Touch combined, you can steer the R/C car, or swipe it up to throttle up the R/C airplanes, or run your devices all with your smartphone. [$70.00]

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30 iPhone Apps To Help You Watch Your Health

As the tech savvy community that we are, we spend most of our time working in front of our computers and mobile devices. As a result, we often let our health take the back seat, never really finding the time to go to the gym or a fitness class and more often than not choosing fast food over much healthier options.
This is especially true for workaholic freelancers who sometimes work longer hours than their office-bound counterparts. The good news is if all you need is some help with record-keeping or to keep track of your progress, you can actually find iOS apps that can help you do that.
Here are 30 iPhone health-related apps that will help you stay fit and healthy.

Workouts

Get the correct lessons and instructiosn to tone your problem areas and work those abs with these 8 workout apps.

Workout Trainer

Workout Trainer provides many different routines (with step-by-step audio) for weight loss, yoga or weightlifting. If you’re undecided, try Shakerciser, all while staying connected with the fitness community. [Free]

Ab Workouts

Ab Workouts is a handy app which guides you in abdominal exercises, complete with animations and a trainer’s voice. You can even design your own custom workouts.The app also comes with a food list that informs you which food are good for fighting abdominal fat. [Free]

Authentic Yoga with Deepak Chopra and Tara Stiles

Practice yoga from home or the office with this comprehensive and useful app which showcases many different levels of yoga routines. Develop your flexibility, balance and strength by learning the correct poses from the video lessons (accompanied with voice or music) assembled by the yoga masters. [$1.99]

Vitogo Fitness: Personal Trainer

Vitogo is your virtual personal trainer who coaches and gives you a customized workout program that evolves with your progress. Other than tracking exercise data, Vitogo also provides weekly overviews of your workout and serves as a timer for rest periods between exercises to keep you on track. [$0.99]

Daily Ab Workout

Daily Ab Workout is a simple, straightforward app that features three brief daily ab routines and video demonstrations to help you exercise from the comforts of your own home. Tone your abs and train your way to pure fitness by exercising regularly and in the right ways. [$0.99]

FitnessClass

FitnessClass showcases high-quality workout sessions from all over the world, all in one app. You can find the right lessons for your needs, post your own reviews of the videos, calculate the amount of calories burned per session or post the progress of your exercise sessions to your social media sites. [Free]

Nike Training Club

Nike Training Club is your very own personal trainer. With detailed instructions and audio support for all 130 featured dynamic drills designed to build your strength and train your stamina, you can also track details of your training progress and workout history with the app. [Free]

GymGoal Plus

GymGoal has an extensive database of workouts with step-by-step instructions, and helps you schedule workouts, track progress and measurements. The workout history by muscle is handy to let you know which muscles are neglected during workouts. BMI, BMR, Body Fat Percentage, TDEE and Target Heart Rate calculators are included. [$4.99]

Running

Daily runners or those who aspire to become a regular jogger can use any of these apps to help them map out their running routes, track their personal mileage and keep track of goals.

MapMyRUN GPS Running

MapMyRUN is an awesome app fit for every runner: it tracks and logs your distance and pace, can calculate calories and even your nutrition intake. Discover new running routes with the app’s built-in map. [Free]

Nike+ Running

Nike+ Running lets you map your runs easily from trail to treadmill as well as record your running distance, time and pace to help track your progress. Even better, you can run while listening to your favorite tunes with PowerSongs. Need more motivation? Then broadcast your route to Facebook when you start a run or share your route maps with fellow runners. [Free]

RunKeeper

RunKeeper keeps track of your fitness stats: pace, distance, time and heart rate as you run. Improve your running performance with RunKeeper by viewing your detailed history of progress. Set goals and deadlines and the app will notify you whenever you hit personal bests or reach certain milestones. [Free]

Watch your Calorie Intake

Not only should you exercise, but you should also watch what you eat, or at least let these apps help you keep track of your food intake. There are apps to help scan your food labels for hidden information, track the amount of nutrients you’ve swallowed and find healthy recipes for you to try out.

Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker

With a large database of over 2,000,000 types of food, Calorie Counter and Diet Tracker by MyFitnessPal is a great app for monitoring your diet. It scans, saves, tracks and calculate the calories and nutritional content of food you have eaten. You can also diet with your friends by monitoring and supporting each other’s progress. This app also summarizes your daily nutritional intake and tracks your weight in a motivation report. [Free]

MyNetDiary

Another calorie counter with built-in barcode scanner which analyzes food labels and food scores, this app provides a daily analysis of what choices you can make to eat more healthily. This app also tracks your water intake, and allow exercise calorie entry. It also features over 500 exercises for you to follow. [Free]

Foodily Recipes

Find and share delicious, healthy recipes with Foodily. Search for recipes easily (by ingredient) or get your daily recipes from top chefs. You can also spread the love by sharing photos of your own cooking. Foodily also lets you follow your favorite chef’s latest recipe additions. [Free]

Fooducate

Fooducate helps you eat healthier by scanning barcodes of products and providing a nutrition grade instantly, ranging from A to D. You can read unbiased information of a product, such as the controversy behind food coloring and make better, educated choices for your food intake. To help Fooducate, you can also submit products for analysis and write your own review. [Free]

Calorie Tracker

Livestrong.com’s Calorie Tracker helps you reach your fitness goals by tracking your daily calories, fat, carbohydrate and protein intake, and exercise. It also lets you access MyPlate to calculate your nutrition intake. Calorie Tracker’s community will keep you motivated and disciplined enough to stick to your goals with daily reminders. [Free]

Lose It!

Lose it! lets you track your food intake with a convenient barcode scanner. You can also setup customized recipes for more complicated food, and share custom recipes and exercise routines with friends. It also acknowledges your reached milestones by awarding you badges, and will remind you when you forget to log your meals. [Free]

Weight Watchers Mobile

Weight Watchers help you make smarter food choices with featured heathier recipes, shopping lists and interactive Cheat Sheets. You can also read health news, exercise info, success stories and weight-loss tips, all from the app. [Free]

Healthy Diet & Grocery Food Scanner

Like its name suggest, this app helps you eat healthier by scanning food label barcodes to know which foods match your diet needs. It can also help you avoid certain ingredients such as trans fat and sugar. It’s also a handy app for the those with food allergies like an intolerance for lactose or gluten. [Free]

General Body Checks

Cardiograph

Measure your heart rate with Cardiograph. It calculates your heart rate by scanning the arterial changes on your fingertips to let you know how fast your heart is beating. It can then generate a report of your heart rate , let you keep notes and also track multiple profiles. Reports for each individual can be easily exported and printed with AirPrint. [Free]

Instant Heart Rate

Instant Heart Rate lets you measure your heart rate and display it on-screen. Just place the tip of your index finger on your phone’s camera for it to detect your pulse, and you will be able to get your heart rate. [Free]

uHear

If you’re worried about your hearing, then take this hearing loss screening test from UHear to check if your hearing is within normal range. There are three tests available: Hearing Sensitivity, Speech in Noise and Questionnaire. [Free]

EyeXam

EyeXam is a handy app for your eyecare needs. With vision screening tests, doctor locator, appointment scheduler, jargon dictionary, real time chat and even special coupons for eye treatment, EyeXam ensures your eyes get the attention they need to stay healthy. [Free]

Glucose Buddy

Glucose Buddy is a handy logbook for diabetic patients to store their glucose numbers, insulin dosage, monitor carbohydrate consumption and activities to manage their weight and blood pressure. Glucose Buddy can also integrate with CalorieTrack to track food consumption and exercise. [Free]

Sleep Cycle alarm clock

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock is a smart alarm which analyzes your sleeping patterns and wakes you up in your lightest sleep phase. The app even provides detailed sleep graphs, where you can see which days of the week you sleep best, and read notes on what affects your sleep quality. [$0.99]

Period Tracker Lite

Period Tracker keeps track of your past menstrual cycles to help you predict the date of your next period. You can also easily view future period dates, ovulation and fertile days to plan for events like a wedding, travel or even to start a family. [Free]

Symptom Checker

HealthTap

Get fast and reliable answers to your health questions, for free. Get multiple answers from more than one specialist regarding anything from symptoms to medications, share your health scans with doctors securely and directly, schedule an appointment and save your time by skipping the queue. [Free]

iTriage

Learn about telling symptoms you have, potential causes to health problems and seek appropriate medical treatment and doctors with iTriage. You can also find the nearest hospital and set appointments during emergencies, or save your Personal Health Record (PHR) with Microsoft Health Vault. [Free]

Web MD

WebMD provides useful health information anytime, anywhere even without an Internet conncetion. Its comprehensive key features include Symptom Checker, Conditions, Drugs and Treatments, Pill Identification Tool, First Aid Essentials and Local Health Listings. [Free]

Pill Identifier

This one is to help you check your medications. With more than 10,000 Rx/OTC medications, Pill Identifier helps you identify that pills without labels, by searching through imprint, drug name, pill shape and color. You can also learn more from the description, strength and Rx/OTC availability. [$0.99]

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