techknology's blog

An unsuspecting Vodafone customer got quite a nasty surprise when she got her new HTC Magic (MyTouch 3G in the states). Upon plugging it into her Windows PC, Panda Antivirus sounded the alarm. It turns out that the new phone contained several malware programs including an installer for the Mariposa botnet.

This wasn’t just any poor soul, lost in the wilds of technology though. Nope, the victim of this sneak attack works for Panda Security. As you can imagine, her coworkers were terribly interested in the phone. Closer examination showed an autorun.inf and autorun.exe that would load the malware on any PC the phone was plugged into. Panda confirmed that the botnet was active, and when installed the software “phoned home” for instructions. They also found a Confiker variant and a password stealer.

Vodafone recently discontinued the Magic, so after current stocks are sold out no one will need fear the phone baddies. Well, until the next time this happens. So how did a Spanish hacker group get their malware on this phone? And more importantly, are more phones affected? It seems unlikely there was just one infected phone, and that it happened to be sold to a Panda employee.

Alright, geeks–this week’s feature Chrome extension is calling out your name.  While most net-savvy individuals can always surf on over to Google to run most any calculations they need to run (quick: 12 cups is how much of a gallon!), there’s an easier way to go about solving the answers to life’s tougher mathematical issues.  In fact, you can do it straight from your Chrome browser without having to surf on over to a secondary page.

The genius behind this functionality is a little extension called Chromey Calculator. Don’t let the cute alliteration fool you–this little wonder is akin to packing Einstein’s brain into a tiny little button next to your address bar.  Clicking on said button pulls up a little pop-up window with a simple, console-style prompt.  Type in a common equation you need solved (1+1), and the extension will spit out an answer in a running field that keeps track of the last few commands you’ve entered.  Not only does this beat the one-equation, one-answer style of Windows’ default calculator program, but Chromey Calculator also taps into the power of the Web to fuel more complex commands.

For example, if you need to run some mixed unit calculations — what’s two miles plus 24 light-years — the extension can calculate out this absurd request by turning to a mix of Google and Wolfram Alpha for its answer.  Similarly, you can input common Wolfram Alpha queries for advanced mathematics if you really feel like taking Chromey Calculator to the next level.  Clicking on any result will automatically copy it to your console command area, which is perfect for running extra calculations on previously displayed answers.

Will you need any other calculator program after you’ve used Chromey Calculator?  Faster than you can say Soh-cah-toa, I’ve calculated the answer to be a firm “n – o.”