Cover records the following items:
The list of apps installed on your phone, including which apps are
on your homescreen and dock
The number of times you run an app, including the time and place
where you ran it (specifically, the cell tower or wifi network you
were connected to, or that you were located within a geographic area
you identified such as home or work)
The number of times you turn on your phone (i.e. view your Cover
lockscreen), and what you do subsequently: launch an app, slide open
the cover, or simply turn the screen back off (e.g. just glance at
the clock).
Information from connected Bluetooth devices, such as the Bluetooth
device ID of your car.
Information from the sensors in your phone, such as the
accelerometer, gyroscope, and GPS (though GPS is used exceptionally
sparingly in order to save your battery).
The system starts to collect data as soon as you install Cover. The
data collection continues until you remove Cover from your phone.
The data is uploaded from your phone over a secured connection to
our servers.
Cover is tracking every app you launch on your phone, when you launch it, where you are when you launch it, and even what angle you're holding your phone when you launch it. Privacy concerns notwithstanding, sounds like valuable data.
I agree with you. I like the idea and concept, but I prefer that apps like this actually let me do some of the teaching manually. Perhaps try to define the apps I want to appear at certain times of the day.
One of the reasons I stopped using Aviate was that I felt like their scenes just didn't really match what i was doing at the time.
This terrifies me. There's an instant problem of paranoia, and trust here. I would never be okay with the idea of an application monitoring what I'm doing, in order to reorder itself. Mind you, I say all this without knowing if it requests network access.
How do I know you're not sending my usage patterns upstream to CoverCorp? How do I know that you're not reading the Android Music Provider database, and sharing my data back?
So, let's say your worst fears are true, and it's sending up a log of every app you use. What happens then? What's the harm? I'm not being rhetorical, I really don't follow what the fear is here. I can't imagine how my life would be any different if some company knows that I launched chrome at 12:22, then hangouts at 12:30, then some half-assed game at 12:35.
Apps on your phone (that have the right permissions) already have the ability to do everything that this app does. Did you personally audit the source code/reverse engineer every app to find out whether it is abusing these privileges? Do you trust the author of every privileged app on your phone?
This is the reality of smart phones. The only difference with this app is that it is upfront about profiling you. Coverscreen has a lot to lose if it anyone finds out they are misusing your data. You should be more worried about apps that aren't telling you how you're being profiled/monitored.
I feel like the benefits outweigh the potential for downsides. Seeing potential is immediately obvious - but a company having anonymous application launch data seems harmless, and finding a way that the information you're sending them could directly impact your life in a negative way seems like a snipe hunt. Especially if you limit it to scenarios where the data benefits their company and negatively impacts you - it just doesn't seem realistic.
I may be biased here though - I do a lot of work on user interface tailoring for Microsoft, which inherently requires a lot of tracking.
I agree. Wouldn't an optimal solution (from both consumer and business viewpoints) be to have 3 "chips" that use NFC or some other touch enabled technology - home, car, work. You stick them wherever you want actually.
The problem with most lock screen enhancements is that anything you put there is outside your phone security "firewall" and available to anybody who picks up your phone. The 4.2 lock screen widgets work fairly well with this (eg: you can open the camera app without unlocking the phone, but attempting to swipe over the gallery forces you to unlock). However they are (I assume) using the core framework APIs to do that and I presume support for it is coded into the apps, while this seems to be doing it for any app.
What happened to the dreams of a computer in your pocket that knew what you wanted to do?
All anyone can think of is to complain about privacy? Really?
I once did a brainstorm session with a facilitator who taught me a great technique. Whenever someone suggests something you aren't allowed to so "No" or "But" - instead you should say "Yes" or "And".
Try it for a second:
This application tries to predict what you will need when you pick your phone up. Currently it uses serverside processing to help with that. Yes, and imagine what else it could do with that serverside power! No battery constraints to worry about!
Privacy problems are a great way to kill good ideas. Put those concerns aside for a minute and imagine the portability of handheld devices merged with the power of always-on servers.
Yes and privacy problems are still real issues especially as privacy rights are continuously eroded every single day.
Just because you wanted something in your pocket to solve all your problems, doesn't mean everyone else did. Many of us wanted a great tool, not a buddy or advisor or mind-reader.
Every technological development has many possible routes it can follow, it can't follow them all. And you will inevitably be disappointed at some of the routes it takes.
Can you imagine what it must be like to be Richard Stallman or Ted Nelson with a clearly articulated vision of the future but so many things go the other way?
Why can't this be a good thing with strong privacy protections? What privacy problems are exactly holding it back?
I imagine such a tool that collects such information to make things easier as possibly a wonderful thing. I also imagine such a tool that shares all that information with a third party as possibly a horrible thing.
I would be willing to go along with your thought, as long as I knew that the information being collected was heavily encrypted and that the only person who would ever get to see it is me. Even then, recent events have shown us that encrypted data on someone else's server is not exactly safe from prying eyes.
Don't be so willing to casually toss away your privacy. Once it's gone you may miss it and be unable to get it back.
I have found the opposite: If you expose your ideas to the criticism of others, you expose flaws in your idea, which leads you to improve the idea. If you don't like something, say no. Say but. Say the truth.
I'm sad to see that EVERY SINGLE REPLY to this comment was "Yes.. but", and the issues raised were exactly the same as in every other thread on this story.
I find that more disappointing than the undoubted privacy issues in the application itself. I would note that the privacy issues in this application are no different to those in any other application with a serverside back end.
But I guess we feel we need to prove how smart we are by dissecting them.. again.
The Android app SayIt has a widget that does something similar to this. It learns purely from usage/recency and is generally very good at presenting you with the apps your most likely to launch. All of the analysis is performed on the device so no information is shared with 3rd party servers. It also sports very fast voice based app launching. No affiliation just use it. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rn.sayit
On a semi-related topic, is it really possible for an app to properly replace the Android lockscreen? I haven't found any way to do it. As far as I can tell, all the "lock screen" apps use a hack where they disable the stock lock screen and then emulate a lock screen by asking you to make the lockscreen app your default home screen and then launching your "real" home screen when you "unlock" them. I've seen it said that they do this because it isn't truly possible to replace the lock screen. The problem is, of course, that this hack sometimes doesn't work or produces weird results often enough to discourage me from using any custom lock screen.
There are some other alternatives. HTC had a lockscreen API for a while. Similarly, generic Android has started supporting widgets on the lock screen, basically. One of the evangelists even has a popular widget lockscreen with extensions called DashClock that many people are writing for.
Lastly, I haven't tried it, but I suspect replacing the Android Launcher would also let you do it. This is the method Facebook used for putting their talking heads in every app.
I hate the idea it needs all sorts of server connections for their business model. I don't know a way around that, but if they or another company figure out how, that's what people will gravitate toward. Especially given the paranoid climate.
I was excited for about five seconds, and then I realized that this thing is way the hell more complicated than I need.
All I want is a way to put the current weather on my lockscreen under the time, and to put immediate access to camera, flashlight, and Google Now there. Everything else I'm perfectly comfortable doing myself. Any suggestions for an app that does that?
Shortcuts... edge swipe from bottom on my lockscreen gives Google Now (after asking for the security code). On my Nexus 4, edge swipe from right brought the camera, though that doesn't seem to be working on the Nexus 7 I have now.
If you were using AOKP or CyanogenMod or any of a dozen other alternate Android builds, you would already have that.
When I tap the power button, I get: current weather, time, next calendar item.
When I touch the unlock symbol, dragging it right unlocks the phone, but dragging it up, down or left gets me to the phone, camera, and my ebook reader.
All of this is configurable, including the number of items available at unlock time. Downside: the unlock icons are not available if you use a PIN or password.
They're going to have the same problem as Facebook Home. They're essentially doing an overlay activity like most of us do. It only works as they describe provided the user keeps the device unlocked in the system. You can't bypass the device lock screen without rooting the device.
This looks really nice UI wise and the video aesthetic is clean. Great job on that.
Are those interactions simulated though? I'm not an Android user so when I saw how thin the bezel was on that white phone they use I had to look it up.
Turns out it's the S4 Play Edition[1] without the Samsung logo. That bezel isn't right though, I mean the S4 bezel is pretty thin but the video makes it look razor thin. Also: I want razor thin bezels, let's get there.
I'd imagine they're ignoring lock screen stuff for the moment. When you send them your email address they ask if you use a lock screen. I bet they're filtering invites to those who don't. MVP, and whatnot.
I wrote an iOS speed-dial app that does the same sort of predication for contacts that this does for applications. It's definitely an order of magnitude less sophisticated, but I though it might be worth sharing:
http://nate-at-lightspeed.appspot.com/swiftdial
I must've missed something because the site says "launched" but I can't find the app on the site or in Google Play. Or is it only available for certain devices? I have an HTC One Google Play edition.
Try Twilight. Its reason for existence is to redshift and dim your screen in the evening hours so the excess blue light doesn't impact sleep quite so much, but if you don't like the red shift you can disable it and it'll just auto-dim.
[+] [-] fidotron|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mortenjorck|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fbnt|12 years ago|reply
I'd be happy with 1% of what they raised , anyone interested? :(
[+] [-] srhngpr|12 years ago|reply
One of the reasons I stopped using Aviate was that I felt like their scenes just didn't really match what i was doing at the time.
[+] [-] cik|12 years ago|reply
How do I know you're not sending my usage patterns upstream to CoverCorp? How do I know that you're not reading the Android Music Provider database, and sharing my data back?
[+] [-] tene|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] avree|12 years ago|reply
Secondly, why would you care?
[+] [-] bitwizzle|12 years ago|reply
This is the reality of smart phones. The only difference with this app is that it is upfront about profiling you. Coverscreen has a lot to lose if it anyone finds out they are misusing your data. You should be more worried about apps that aren't telling you how you're being profiled/monitored.
[+] [-] zwily|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jjcm|12 years ago|reply
I may be biased here though - I do a lot of work on user interface tailoring for Microsoft, which inherently requires a lot of tracking.
[+] [-] miguelrochefort|12 years ago|reply
Oh boy, how will you survive the next 20 years? Saying "I will never touch a computer" 40 years ago would have had the same effect.
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] jw_|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MWil|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zmmmmm|12 years ago|reply
The problem with most lock screen enhancements is that anything you put there is outside your phone security "firewall" and available to anybody who picks up your phone. The 4.2 lock screen widgets work fairly well with this (eg: you can open the camera app without unlocking the phone, but attempting to swipe over the gallery forces you to unlock). However they are (I assume) using the core framework APIs to do that and I presume support for it is coded into the apps, while this seems to be doing it for any app.
[+] [-] radley|12 years ago|reply
> When you send them your email address they ask if you use a lock screen. (re: @ev9)
[+] [-] nl|12 years ago|reply
What happened to the dreams of a computer in your pocket that knew what you wanted to do?
All anyone can think of is to complain about privacy? Really?
I once did a brainstorm session with a facilitator who taught me a great technique. Whenever someone suggests something you aren't allowed to so "No" or "But" - instead you should say "Yes" or "And".
Try it for a second:
This application tries to predict what you will need when you pick your phone up. Currently it uses serverside processing to help with that. Yes, and imagine what else it could do with that serverside power! No battery constraints to worry about!
Privacy problems are a great way to kill good ideas. Put those concerns aside for a minute and imagine the portability of handheld devices merged with the power of always-on servers.
[+] [-] huxley|12 years ago|reply
Just because you wanted something in your pocket to solve all your problems, doesn't mean everyone else did. Many of us wanted a great tool, not a buddy or advisor or mind-reader.
Every technological development has many possible routes it can follow, it can't follow them all. And you will inevitably be disappointed at some of the routes it takes.
Can you imagine what it must be like to be Richard Stallman or Ted Nelson with a clearly articulated vision of the future but so many things go the other way?
[+] [-] talmand|12 years ago|reply
I imagine such a tool that collects such information to make things easier as possibly a wonderful thing. I also imagine such a tool that shares all that information with a third party as possibly a horrible thing.
I would be willing to go along with your thought, as long as I knew that the information being collected was heavily encrypted and that the only person who would ever get to see it is me. Even then, recent events have shown us that encrypted data on someone else's server is not exactly safe from prying eyes.
Don't be so willing to casually toss away your privacy. Once it's gone you may miss it and be unable to get it back.
[+] [-] eternalban|12 years ago|reply
"Yes", the dream lives on; your pocket, your computer, your life -- dream on.
"But" this is a for profit business.
[+] [-] normloman|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nl|12 years ago|reply
I find that more disappointing than the undoubted privacy issues in the application itself. I would note that the privacy issues in this application are no different to those in any other application with a serverside back end.
But I guess we feel we need to prove how smart we are by dissecting them.. again.
[+] [-] jackbewley|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrisrh|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rcthompson|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lnanek2|12 years ago|reply
Lastly, I haven't tried it, but I suspect replacing the Android Launcher would also let you do it. This is the method Facebook used for putting their talking heads in every app.
[+] [-] 27182818284|12 years ago|reply
I hate the idea it needs all sorts of server connections for their business model. I don't know a way around that, but if they or another company figure out how, that's what people will gravitate toward. Especially given the paranoid climate.
[+] [-] ghiculescu|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pc86|12 years ago|reply
This makes me want an Android. Great job, guys!
[+] [-] PhasmaFelis|12 years ago|reply
All I want is a way to put the current weather on my lockscreen under the time, and to put immediate access to camera, flashlight, and Google Now there. Everything else I'm perfectly comfortable doing myself. Any suggestions for an app that does that?
[+] [-] bergie|12 years ago|reply
Shortcuts... edge swipe from bottom on my lockscreen gives Google Now (after asking for the security code). On my Nexus 4, edge swipe from right brought the camera, though that doesn't seem to be working on the Nexus 7 I have now.
For flashlight you could maybe add this extension to DashClock: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fleckdalm....
Note: this is assuming that you have a stock Android 4.x lockscreen. No idea whether these things work on one of the custom vendor lockscreens.
[+] [-] dsr_|12 years ago|reply
When I tap the power button, I get: current weather, time, next calendar item.
When I touch the unlock symbol, dragging it right unlocks the phone, but dragging it up, down or left gets me to the phone, camera, and my ebook reader.
All of this is configurable, including the number of items available at unlock time. Downside: the unlock icons are not available if you use a PIN or password.
[+] [-] Sir_Cmpwn|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] radley|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smackfu|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lurkylurk|12 years ago|reply
Are those interactions simulated though? I'm not an Android user so when I saw how thin the bezel was on that white phone they use I had to look it up.
Turns out it's the S4 Play Edition[1] without the Samsung logo. That bezel isn't right though, I mean the S4 bezel is pretty thin but the video makes it look razor thin. Also: I want razor thin bezels, let's get there.
[1] http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s4-google...
[+] [-] ejp|12 years ago|reply
How well does it work with some kind of lock-screen security? The UX for that is always a hassle, and I'd love to find someone who is doing it well.
[+] [-] ev9|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gameguy43|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wayward-yeah|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jfaghm|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scep12|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] samstave|12 years ago|reply
It would be good to be able to define actions based on location (either by which wifi I connect to or GPS) - as well as time of day.
(I'd like to have my screen auto dim at 10PM)
[+] [-] explosivo2k2|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamie_ca|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orenbarzilai|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thoughtpalette|12 years ago|reply