home Boot up: Office on iPad, BlackBerry v leaks, Galaxy S5 on sale early, and more

Plus sneaky Android apps mine cryptocoins on your phone, why Facebook's Oculus buy is a worry, Microsoft and Dell sign, and more

Samsung's Galaxy S5 has gone on sale early in South Korea. But why? Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

A burst of 9 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Announcing the Office you love, now on the iPad >> Office Blogs

Over a billion people on the planet use Microsoft Office to get more done at work and at home. Every day we hear from you how important it is to have a great productivity experience on all the devices you use. We take that very seriously – we know that means you want the authentic experience of Office, made right for the device you're using.  Whether you're creating an Excel spreadsheet on your tablet, authoring a Word document in the browser or making edits to a PowerPoint on your phone, you want the great Office experience you love, everywhere you are. Today, we unveiled Office for iPad® – specifically Word, PowerPoint and Excel. But this isn't simply Office on another device.

Mobile Office for Android phones (and in effect tablets?) is now free too, but much more feature-limited. Going to be fascinating to watch how Microsoft plays its hand over (full touch) Office for Android tablets: should it push, or wait for the enterprise pull?

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Microsoft Excel for iPad on the App Store on iTunes

So does this mean people can do "real work" on iPads?

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What happens when finance companies dump BlackBerry >> CITEworld

Ryan Faas:

Although BlackBerry may tout its relationship with financial services companies, easily one of the most regulated and risk-averse verticals out there, the story on the ground seems to be very different. A new study of financial services firms, commissioned by EMM vendor MobileIron and undertaken by the Ponemon Institute, found that one of BlackBerry's traditional strongholds is crumbling. The study was released [on Thursday] morning.
The survey, which was conducted across a range of financial services organizations and was more expansive than a simple query of MobileIron's existing customer base, found that one-third of financial services companies were completely BlackBerry-free, 41% are in the process of planning or implementing a migration to other mobile platforms, and that slightly more than half (52%) have a team dedicated to migrating from BlackBerry to other platforms. Those numbers show that even the most conservative of organizations are heeding Gartner's call from last fall to plan and start a migration within six months.

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Privacy and security settings in Chrome >> noncombatant

Chris Palmer:

Chrome has a lot of handy privacy and security options, but it isn't always obvious how to use them. In this post I'll demonstrate my favorites, and try to explain a bit about what they do.
My goal with these configuration changes is to get Chrome to expose less attack surface to potentially malicious web pages, and to be less chatty on the network.

Palmer works at Google on Chrome security.

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Facebook, ego, and Oculus Rift >> Mobile Opportunity

Michael Mace:

Isn't it interesting how companies impose their own mental paradigms on technologies? Google looks at glasses and sees a way to search and consume web services on the go. Facebook looks at goggles and sees a new means for social communication.
That's exactly what scares the fans of Oculus. They wanted the next great gaming experience, not a communication tool.
That brings us to the dangers in the Oculus deal. Let's start with the thing not to worry about: the money. Facebook has more cash than it can possibly spend. An acquisition like this is just a way of recycling some of it. It's kind of like Japan Inc. buying golf courses in the US in the 1980s. They had to do something with the money.
What I'm worried about are the odds that the deal won't live up to Facebook's lofty expectations. Let's start with the risks to Oculus.

Very definitely worth the time reading in full.

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Mobile malware mines dogecoins and litecoins – for bitcoin payout? >> Trend Micro blog

The coin-mining apps discussed above were found outside of the Google Play store, but we have found the same behavior in apps inside the Google Play store. These apps have been downloaded by millions of users, which means that there may be many Android devices out there being used to mine cryptocurrency for cybercriminals. We detect this new malware family as  ANDROIDOS_KAGECOIN.HBTB. (As of this writing, these apps are still available.)

Millions of downloads in two apps alone: Songs and Prized. Where might it - or something similar turn up next? Meanwhile, this comment on the article seems to sum up its readers' reaction.

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Taking action to stop leaks >> Inside BlackBerry

John Chen, chief executive of BlackBerry:

Leaks are, at their best, distracting, and at their worst downright misleading to our stakeholders. The business implications of a leak are seldom advantageous.
This is why I want to make you aware that, right now, we are pursuing legal action against a party who stole confidential information about a future BlackBerry product and made that information public. This person falsely posed as an employee of one of our carrier partners to obtain access to secured networks.
I recognize that, in some cases, the leaks reflect people's genuine interest in BlackBerry. There are a lot of people whose enthusiasm for our company and our products makes them want to know what we will do next — and that can be a tremendous asset for us as a brand.
But, when curiosity turns to criminality, we must take strong action.

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Microsoft and Dell sign patent licensing agreement >> Microsoft

Through this arrangement, Microsoft and Dell have agreed to license each company's applicable intellectual property related to Android and Chrome OS devices and Xbox gaming consoles. Under the terms of the agreement, they agreed on royalties for Dell's products running the Android or Chrome platforms and on consideration to Dell for a license for Xbox gaming consoles.

The first part is standard - dozens of Android OEMs pay Microsoft patent fees - but does the second mean Dell is going to make Xboxes?

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Korea's top carrier starts selling Samsung's Galaxy S5 early >> The Next Web

SK Telecom's move is almost certainly because the Korean government has imposed 45-day business suspensions on the country's mobile carriers on a rotational basis for giving illegal subsidies to new users who switch their service providers. This means that SK Telecom, which is suspended from April 5 to May 19, is unable to sign on new subscribers and upgrade existing customers during the time period when the Galaxy S5 officially launches.

The other two operators, which also face government bans on sales during the launch period, are doing the same thing.

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