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Tag: Bouncer

  • Pope Francis, Bouncer and Holy Father

    His Holiness…and nightclub bouncer?

    Pope Francis, 76, recently told parishioners that he held various odd jobs before becoming God’s enforcer, including a bouncer in a Buenos Aires bar.

    Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as he was known then, was a college student and in addition to his doorman duties also earned extra money by sweeping floors and running tests in a chemical lab, according to The New York Post.

    The pope’s has recently made waves around the world with his commitment to helping the poor and asking other head believers to do the same. He even gave up the office’s traditional scarlet slippers and gold cross pendant, instead choosing to wear well-worn black shoes and a plain iron cross.

    Francis’ humble past has given him the reputation of being an everyman pope, one who embraces and blesses the head of a horribly disfigured man and mingles with the poorest of villages he visits. However, his mildly colorful past makes his human qualities even more intriguing.

    According to The Washington Times, the pope was a a literature and psychology teacher before putting on the priestly robes and also loved to tango with his girlfriend on the dance floor.

    But on Sunday during his first Mass as pope in a church on the outskirts of Rome, the pope’s dancing shoes were stored away as he met with parents of newborns and urged them to be patient with their little ones. “When we baptize them, we bring home not just our child but also a seed of divinity that we have to help grow,” he said.

    The pontiff also recalled many nervous moments after being elected pope on March 13, 2013, succeeding the newly retired Pope Benedict XVI.

    “Was I anxious? A little, yes, but everyone was nice. But it’s true, having a lot of people in front of you is a bit scary,” he said. “[But now,] thank God, I feel really good. The Lord helped me be a priest, to be a bishop and now to be the pope.”

    Luckily, the bar job didn’t stick. As New York Magazine humorously points out, Francis had to be the world’s worst bouncer:

    Pope: Come in, please! All are welcome

    Club Owner: Look, uh, Jorge, is it? I know it’s your first day, but you need to be a little more discerning about who you let in to the club. We’re going for an “exclusive, V.I.P.”-type vibe, and I’m seeing a lot of poorly dressed losers in here. Also a number of lepers.

    Pope: Is not all of mankind deserving of respect? The street urchin and the nobleman alike are equally blessed by the Lord’s grace.

    Club Owner: You’re fired.

    Pope: Yup, okay.

    image via: Wikimedia Commons

  • Google Integrates Its App Verification Tool Directly Into Google Play

    Malware is a serious concern for mobile devices. Android devices are especially vulnerable thanks to the platform’s open nature. Now Google is making sure almost every Android device owner is adequately protected from malicious apps.

    Computer World reports that Google has integrated an Android 4.2 feature called Verify Apps directly into the Google Play store. Now every Android device with Google Play will automatically scan every app you download and alert you upon finding anything out of the ordinary. It doesn’t just apply to apps downloaded from Google Play either as the Verify Apps feature will scan sideloaded apps as well.

    As you can probably already see, this makes Android a lot more secure than before. Before this update to Google Play, only Android devices sporting Android 4.2 had access to the Verify Apps feature. Now any device with Android 2.3 or higher will be able to scan for potentially malicious code.

    So, how will the new Verify Apps feature work? Upon downloading an app from the Google Play store, the app will ask if you want to turn on the feature. If you agree, the app will then began to scan every app downloaded and alert you to any suspicious behavior before it’s installed. Of course, you can always turn the feature off at any time.

    The new Verify Apps feature joins what Google calls Bouncer in protecting Android users from bad apps. If you recall, Bouncer scans every app uploaded to the Google Play store and rejects those that contain malware. It’s not perfect, of course, but the Verify Apps feature will protect you from the apps that somehow make it past Bouncer.

    Oh, and if you’re one of the lucky ones to get Android 4.3, you’ll find that Google has implemented a third level of security to make the OS even more secure. It’s called Security-Enhanced Linux and it makes it so that malware can’t affect core system functionality. In other words, malware can’t destroy your phone from the inside out on devices with Android 4.3.

  • Google Bouncer Scanning Android Market For Malware

    Google Bouncer Scanning Android Market For Malware

    Are you afraid of malicious software on the Android Market? Google has you covered.

    Today on the Google Mobile Blog, Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s VP of Engineering for Android, announced a new software system for Android phones called “Bouncer.” It provides automated scanning of the Android market for “potentially malicious software without disrupting the user experience of Android market or requiring developers to go through an application approval process.”

    Lockheimer goes into more depth as to how the new software works:

    The service performs a set of analyses on new applications, applications already in Android Market, and developer accounts. Here’s how it works: once an application is uploaded, the service immediately starts analyzing it for known malware, spyware and trojans. It also looks for behaviors that indicate an application might be misbehaving, and compares it against previously analyzed apps to detect possible red flags. We actually run every application on Google’s cloud infrastructure and simulate how it will run on an Android device to look for hidden, malicious behavior. We also analyze new developer accounts to help prevent malicious and repeat-offending developers from coming back.

    The good news is that the service has already been running for a while now searching for malicious software. Between the first and second halves of 2011, they saw a 40 percent decrease in the number of potentially malicious downloads from the Android market. He points out that the drop occurred at the same time that “companies who market and sell anti-malware and security software have been reporting that malicious applications are on the rise.” He wants to clarify that while that may be true, the number of malicious applications on the actual Android Market are way down.

    Lockheimer takes the opportunity to remind users why Android is better than traditional PCs when it comes to dealing with malware. He points to the “sandboxing” technique used by Android devices that puts virtual walls between applications and other software on the device. Android devices also have a broad range of permissions that go down to an application requesting access to SMS to send texts. Finally, Android was designed so that malware can’t hide from the user so it can be easily removed.

    Lockheimer ends the post by saying that Android will continue to improve its security. He invites the community to help them keep Android safe.

    With this news, we can expect the Apple fanboys to stop lording their safer app store above us Android users, right?