Another security hole has been made public that affected a number of HTC handsets, including the Thunderbolt. The issue was first discovered back in September of 2011 and was then patched in most of the handsets through OTA updates without any of you knowing. The vulnerability had to do with the way some of their handsets connect securely to WiFi networks, potentially leaving your password available.

A list – from what we can tell – of devices that have already been updated is not available at this time. HTC has asked that we all check back next week to see whether or not your phone has already been fixed or if you need to manually patch your phone yourself.

Via:  TheNexWeb, HTC

Deals, deals and more smartphone deals. If you have yet to pick up a Galaxy Nexus, maybe this option from Costco will motivate you. Not only are they slashing around $50 off the 2-year contract price, but they are tossing in the extended battery at no extra cost. Extended batteries – if you can find them – normally run for around $50, so this deal is worth a look if you are in the market.

Buy.

Cheers Jason!

OK, so our sources from yesterday were 1 day off on the DROID 4. According to Verizon’s equipment guide, the device will actually launch everywhere on February 10, next Friday (same day Star Wars in 3D hits theaters). Pricing is still unconfirmed, but the last MAP list we saw pegged it at $199 on contract.

For those of you patiently waiting for a slider with power and 4G LTE, this is your only option for the time being. And it’s not a bad one either, with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, a 4″ qHD screen, edge-lit keys and dual cameras. I think the only question we all have now is, “When is the DROID 4 MAXX coming out?” I’m only sort of kidding with that, too.

We had some time with the device at CES, you can check it out here.

Cheers ___!

Someone in the Android community was bored over the last few days and decided to open up one of the .xml files for the Face Unlock feature in Ice Cream Sandwich. They noticed a list of items that for some reason, made them jump to the conclusion that these are a part of Google’s rumored voice recognition/artificial intelligence service codenamed “Majel.” As you can see from the list, they appear to be somewhat witty responses to actions. The only thing is, these are clearly alternate responses that appear on the screen when the Face Unlock doesn’t recognize you.

The first response listed is “Sorry, don’t recognize you.” If anyone has used Face Unlock at all, you will know that this is the canned response that appears every time. The others, are options that can probably be enabled, but for whatever reason, have not been. It’s not Majel. These aren’t voice-related or intelligent responses. They are pre-set lines that are displayed on the screen when the unlock feature does not recognize you. That’s it.

Moving on…

Now that we know for sure that Samsung will not be unveiling a new flagship device at MWC at the end of the month, the device pictured above has surfaced to confuse the hell out of everyone. Is it a Galaxy SII re-hash? The Galaxy SII Plus that was floating around yesterday? Is it a fake?

What we have is a device that looks like all other Samsung devices that were released from within the last year, only the normal navigation buttons have been swapped out to mimic the on-screen keys that we have been introduced to with the Galaxy Nexus. We also can see that the calendar has been updated to mention Sammie’s keynote at MWC. The location on the calendar even says “Barcelona” which is where the event will take place. The device is clearly running Ice Cream Sandwich too.

What do you guys think? Re-hash of the Galaxy SII to hold everyone over until the Galaxy SIII is ready or is it a fake?

Update:  We are all pretty sure that this is a fake, right? Plus, not every app on the planet is built for ICS and does not have the new “action bar.” If you don’t go with on-screen buttons and then remove the menu button from the physicals, you are simply put, screwed.

Via:  Twitter, BGR

People with this much creativity and skill amaze me. And a girlfriend to one of our readers has done just that with her amigurumi Android. You can find more of her work at this blog.

Cheers Kham!

Last minute reminder emails have been sent – it’s time to get your XOOM 3G from Verizon upgraded to 4G LTE for free. After months of delays, owners of the world’s first Honeycomb tablet were given the option to upgrade their tablets and also receive a free docking station at the end of September. We know that not many of you actually purchased this device and instead went for the cheaper WiFi version, but we wouldn’t want those that did to get left behind.

Verizon gave us a 6-month time frame to utilize this free upgrade service. Being February, you have around 2 months left to take advantage.

Upgrade details | Reasons to upgrade according to our friend Peter Alfonso | Motorola site