What are these services & do I need them running?

[EdNerd]

I'm not having any problems with my phone; I'm just a bit of a contrl freak about what's running on it. Using up battery and memory, doing unknown stuff in the background, popping up unexpectedly in the middle of another app - those are my concerns.

So I was checking the running services and saw these:
GTalkService
VoiceSearch (two different ones)
SnsService

I can't see ever talking to my phone (other than using it as a phone) or having it talk back to me. Can I stop the GTalk and Voice services from starting unless called for?

I have no clue what the SnsService is for. Is there a guide somewhere for common services and what apps or functions they go with?

(Just a note: I'm still running 2.1; Froyo failed, but I'm working fine and see no reason to change that.)

Ed

 

[ggt1_02]

Just because they are running does not mean that they are actually running in memory. Android holds services in memory that may be used frequently, which is different from how pc's and blackberrys run.

Gtalk is google talk which is a messaging service similar to texting but with out the text charges, voice search is, well it's voice search, and snsService is the messaging app I believe.

If you stop these services the system will just start them right back up again and hold them in memory. Which will lead to the cpu actually running and using battery.

Let it go man, let it go!

 

[EdNerd]

I'll let it all go when they promise not to collect, store, or share any personal information unless they specifically ask first. In the meantime, I will remain suspicious of any app or service that looks like it wants to connect me to "somewhere out there", and not let me know I'm connected or tell me what info is going over the air.

Plus, it's annoying to be in the middle of an action and hit a wrong button, and now my phone is off on a search or launching an unwanted app or such. I do have Advanced Task Killer, and I did note that I can kill a buncha tasks - but they pop right back up! Zombies on my phone - they won't stay dead!!

Never had these problems with a flip phone. 'Course, I also couldn't do all the stuff I can with the Android, which is why I got it in the first place.

Time to just suck it up, I guess.
Ed

 

[zaphodbebleebrox]

Actually your phone is spying on you, NO B.S.! If its turned on it is collecting audio data such as conversations or your television. By picking up key-words used in conversations and through television this enable google to deliver a better user experience through advertising. WTF that means. I dont even know what that means. It is total B.S. that i pay almost 100 bucks a month so I can be spied on.

And no I am not paranoid or wear tin hats or anything, this is common knowledge. Everybody does it, Windows, Apple and Google. Our privacy is GONE. Get used to it.

 

[nunyazz]

and we never landed on the moon too! jeez.

 

[zaphodbebleebrox]

and we never landed on the moon too! jeez.

Nunyazz, are you doubting me ?

 

[zaphodbebleebrox]

and we never landed on the moon too! jeez.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Smartphone Apps That Listen: A Crime Or A Feature?

ComputerWorld reported about three iPhone and Droid apps that use the microphone on consumers' smartphone to listen to whatever you are doing:

"The apps use ambient sounds to figure out what you're paying attention to... The apps are Color, Shopkick and IntoNow, all of which activate the microphones in users' iPhone or Android devices in order to gather contextual information that provides some benefit to the user."
​

The Color app reportedly uses both the smartphone microphone and camera to:

"... detect when people are in the same room. The data on ambient noise is combined with color and lighting information from the camera to figure out who's inside, who's outside, who's in one room, and who's in another..."
​

The app makers promote these listening apps as a feature. to me, it's a crime.
Do consumers really need a smartphone app that listens to what you are doing, or watching on television, to serve up the appropriate social networking website? This seems like a bridge too far. Way too far.
Now, some apps, like Shazam on the iPhone, are appropriate. When engaged, this app identifies a song a consumer can't readily identify. Then, the consumer can presumably go buy the song.
And, I do like the voice-activated Bing search on my Windows smartphone. When I engage it, the app makes searching easier and faster -- provided I am in a fairly quiet location.
Me? I want more privacy, not less. Listening apps should work only in the foreground when activated, not sneakily and constantly in the background. And, when I visit somebody, I shouldn't have to worry about whether their smartphone is listening in or not. Notice and opt-out both seem impossible in these situations.

 

[zaphodbebleebrox]

Your phone isnt listening to you , is it Nunyazz ??????

 

[nunyazz]

It is a function of the program that is running on the phone to "listen". Don't want 'them' to listen, turn the freaking app off.

Kassner: Can you explain how the Shopkick app uses the microphone?
Roeding: The microphone is used as part of our location technology called the ‘Shopkick Signal,’ which enables the app to verify presence within a store or mall.
Stores have transmitters on-site that emit inaudible audio, which is picked up by the microphone on a user’s smartphone, when (and only when) the Shopkick application is open.
Because the detection occurs on the phone rather than by the store, privacy of presence information is completely under the users’ control.
Kassner: What does the app do with the captured Shopkick signal?
Roeding: As for the application, it samples the ambient audio through the microphone and isolates the Shopkick signal, which appears in inaudible portions of the audio spectrum. This is analyzed using digital signal processing technology to decode the signal.
Kassner: What assurances do people have that the audio is indeed unusable?
Roeding: We don’t store or transmit recordings of the audio itself, only processed information about the Shopkick signal.

 

[ggt1_02]

The answer is quite simply, don't use those apps. Read what an app does before installing, check it's required permissions. If you don't like something it does, then don't use it.

Furthermore your phone has gps, vzw and google location services. Oh noes. And on top of that it has a radio that communicates with towers so the system knows where the phone is at all times. Oh me, oh my. And E911 location that can't be turned off. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Sploosh (The sound of another Fascinate being flushed down the toilet).

Seriously though verify apps before you use them. They have to declare what it is doing on your phone. The apps from your OP have nothing to do with Big Brother watching or evil corporate America plotting against your wallet. If you really are that wound up about it, root the phone load a custom rom that is cleaned up, get titanium backup and freeze the apps that make you loose sleep. Of course then you have to worry about the indy developers writing in snooping codes too!!!

 

[EdNerd]

The E911 isn't a bad thing. I read about a lady who fell into a sinkhole. It was too deep to climb out of, and her phone couldn't get a good signal. So she dialed 911 and tossed her phone above ground. They traced the signal and rescued her.

Can someone explain the differences between VZW, Google, and GPS location services? Is one a "finer" location than another? Do they share data? Or do you have to turn on a specific service for a specific app?

And I love they way the marketers tell you "it's to give you a better experience!" A **better** experience would be for themarketers to _get off my phone_!!! It's ~my~ phone, not their "mobile advertising device"!! </rant>

Ed

 

[zaphodbebleebrox]

yea I paid 200 for my Fascinate back a year ago and I cant get rid of the crap I would like to.

 

[Cotton123]

The E911 isn't a bad thing. I read about a lady who fell into a sinkhole. It was too deep to climb out of, and her phone couldn't get a good signal. So she dialed 911 and tossed her phone above ground. They traced the signal and rescued her.

Can someone explain the differences between VZW, Google, and GPS location services? Is one a "finer" location than another? Do they share data? Or do you have to turn on a specific service for a specific app?

And I love they way the marketers tell you "it's to give you a better experience!" A **better** experience would be for themarketers to _get off my phone_!!! It's ~my~ phone, not their "mobile advertising device"!! </rant>

Ed

From what I have been told, none need to be turned on unless using 1. a gps or 2. Want personalized web searches. As far as apps go, yes some of them do require them to be on but will let you know when you try to use them if you have the locations all turned off. Then you can just hit ok and use the app and turn it off when your done. Its a pain to keep doing that but as far as I know its the only way unless you keep them all on. I dont keep any on except for google because of certain apps I use. Verizons is used for their navigator app along with others they have, googles are for a good majority of the apps and having it off you will be prompted to turn it on before the market app will open. The gps I was told is for linking it with, well a gps for personalized searches as well.

This is all info received from the carriers tech team so take it for what its worth I suppose

 

[goat-head]

This thread strikes me as very, very hilarious!!!
..............They know!!!!!!!!!!!!