Some fake apps in the Beta & Web feeds 34
As you well know, we are big fans of Palm's Web App Feeds and Beta App Feeds, both of which allow developers to distribute apps directly to users (who know how to use them) without the need for review from Palm.
With great freedom, however, comes the occasional ne'er-do-well. Plenty of readers have tipped us off on some apps that popped up in these feeds over the weekend, including (links to apps intentionally not included):
- 'Android / OperaMu' an app that purports to be Opera Mini
- 'X-Code' Mac OS X development tools on webOS? We think not
- 'Rolando,' it'd be nice to think it's available, but it's not
- Most egregious of all, 'Flash Installer,' which claims to do just that. Of course, it didn't and Palm has pulled the app from the feeds.
Fortunately, webOS Internals took a look and doesn't see anything malicious - or even functional - in any of the above apps. Still, definitely not worth your time installing.
More in our forums, where Rod Whitby puts it in the right context:
Palm specifically does not do any review of the beta or web feeds. This is to allow legitimate author to get updates to customers quickly.
The process is working as intended. Scam artists submit rogue apps, Palm is informed, and the apps are pulled from the feeds
Thanks to everybody who sent this in!
34 Comments
first! lol and damn it =[
Wow, great work. It was a busy week last week and we ran out of Online Special Olympic medals, but you're still a winner in our hearts. Here's a gift card to Arby's in place of the medal. Keep the visor down on the your posting helmet so you dont poke your eye with a curly fry! Enjoy!
thx for the laugh!
I only trust P|C to give me advice on what beta feed apps to check out. I suspected from the start that these free-wheeling apps in the beta feed would be a prime target for those with less than pure intentions.
It's sad that it only takes a few people to ruin an experience, but we should all be mindful and a bit more careful when it comes to this kind of stuff. Thankfully there was no malicious code embedded in these apps, but that would be the next logical step for these hackers/thieves.
Predick your lame and not funny, if I was there I would poke you in the eye with my curly fry!
yes exactly.... but when is the real flash app finally goin to show up... 2012 or 14
Go Palm!
I feel good about this week. I see a software update and new hardware announcement. Of course my crystal ball has a crack on it, I could be wrong.
Looks as if the Opera mini is AKA OperaMu... I DL'd it and didn't know if it wasn't firing up due to some 'user-error' or what... Thanx for the heads up!
Good to see Palm like Apple is proactive and pulled those apps off.
as of this morning, the apps are still there ( for me at least)
Is there a $100 app still in the app catalog?
surprised people are kirfing webOS apps already.
It was only a matter of time. When you have an app publishing method that's as open as Palm's people are going to abuse it. This time we got off lightly, I'm not sure we'll be so lucky in future.
I'm sure this is just what those enterprise clients are looking for - a platform which allows the end user to easily install an app that can do just about anything to the device including harvest whatever the content is and send it wherever. One has to wonder how long HP is going to be supportive of this.
Doubt enterprise users would even think of tinkering with these feeds. Your Klingon paranoia wont stop the enterprise from forming an alliance with HP.
What I meant was that enterprise clients might be concerned about the security risk posed by their users installing these apps.
I'm sure enterprise users would be thrilled to know their is a specific and active site they can block. Malware can be anywhere, but HP is facilitating a testing zone that is not total anarchy and at least has some level of review and control. All platforms are under threat of malware, why single out Palm? Congress just took the teeth out of jailbreak, trust no-one.
All those people who are critical of beta apps, should not download them. I think its a great way to get some apps out with some risks.
why are the fake apps still there?
We might as well add these fake app guys to our Blacklist:
PreCenter, Inc
Namgo
Palm Soft
how does palm allow developers to register for the program with such deceptive names?
flash is out if you have android 2.2 which i do. i bought my pre for flash now 14 months later still no flash. i still love my pre but come on already no new hardware no word on 1.45 USA and still no flash they need to pick it up fast or lose what few customers they still have
how does palm allow developers to register for the program with such deceptive names?
I was duped and sent in a tip about Flash. It wasn't working, but I figured it might be cause I don't have 1.4.5 yet, heh.
Blacklist worked with PreCenter, but NOT PreCenter, Inc. Just remove the "Inc" to blacklist this rogue.
I was so excited to have flash, and of course it was a fake :(
If they want to make their fakes a bit more believable, maybe they should learn to spell a little better.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i totally fell for 3 of these yesterday......
looks like people who use homebrew/ beta feeds will soon be almong the ranks of Android users... having to watch out for spam/ spyware... too bad preware doesnt let you rank or comment on apps.. without those and this website there is no real way to determine if apps are real etc
If we have something like flash it would more than likely be announced before released in a beta feed. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is :(
Blacklist the apps..
blast ... Foiled again!!!
PreCenter, Inc is at it again. Fake Flash is back.
Engrish in the bio is a HUGE clue it's bogus.
Someone needs to find these scammers and beat the ever loving **** out of them! This is NOT funny and it's pathetic that some scumbag would fake something like this! Every single great thing ends up being ruined by scammers. So from now on when I see a Beta app, I will wonder if it is real.