Facebook for Android updated to version 1.3.0 on Tuesday, and while we wouldn't say that it's as elegant and accessible as Facebook for iPhone, the Android version is absolutely improving.

A done-up interface greets you on boot-up, with seven icons for your news feed, profile, friends, photos, message in-box, events (like birthdays), and pending friend requests. The latter two are new additions and welcome ways to easily manage your Facebook account.

Below the icon dashboard is a photo reel that lets you swipe through thumbnails of friends' recently uploaded photos, although there's no context surrounding the image until you click through to your buddy's profile page. Even then, you won't be able to enlarge the image until you click again.

The start screen is also home to a notifications bar that slides up to share the latest news. In addition, there are shortcut buttons for updating your status and searching your friend list or the global Facebook roster. We also hear tell of videos playing back through H.264 encoding, though we couldn't find any videos in our newsfeed to subject to testing.

While the update certainly makes Facebook for Android easier on the eyes and more socially utile, it still pales to Facebook for iPhone 3.0, which we can't help but look to as the standard--not only for its visual sophistication but also for its workflow.

The Android and iPhone versions have essentially switched which screen stands in as the home screen--on Android it's the dashboard whereas on the iPhone, that honor belongs to the newsfeed. This organization on Android adds a step when posting a photo or status update because you'll need to switch over to the newsfeed first. The Android version also lacks Facebook chat and notes. There are a few other extra goodies in the iPhone app as well, including syncing Facebook photos with address book contacts from the app.

One user niggle, the fact that Facebook on Android loads an optimized version of Facebook.com to deliver content like photos, events, and your message in-box, is an identical operating procedure for iPhone as well. If your network speeds are slower, you're more likely to notice a delay.

Considering we called the predecessor, Facebook for Android 1.3, a "simple" and "limited" alternative to Facebook.com that wasn't saying much, this update's ability to get you in front of invites, events, and photos (two ways) is an indisputable march forward.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

A couple of weeks ago, I put in my picks for the CNET 100 best iPhone apps (check out all the CNET editors' picks here). One title I chose, Aqueduct, continues to be a go-to game for me whenever I have a few moments.

For those who haven't played, Aqueduct combines the old sliding tile and pipeline types of games into an enjoyable and challenging puzzle experience with tons of levels to conquer. Unique board tiles add to the challenge with some that teleport your piece to a different part of the board and others that act as conveyor belts. As you work your way through the levels, you'll quickly find that special tiles and unique board layouts introduce added challenges when trying to get the water from spigot to drain.

Today, I got an e-mail from the Kieffer Bros, developers of Aqueduct, announcing that version 1.1 had just been posted to the iTunes App Store. This fun puzzler is now a Universal app featuring silky-smooth graphics optimized for the iPad as well as the iPhone 4 Retina display. There are also 48 new levels to try that show up as "Extra Puzzles" on the level select screen of the game.

If you're looking for a simple but challenging puzzle game that's easy to pick up and play or were already a fan of Aqueduct, the update adds even more content to what was already a solid puzzle game.

BlackBerry maker RIM officially announced BlackBerry 6 on Tuesday, alongside the company's unveiling of the BlackBerry Torch smartphone.

In fact, BlackBerry 6, RIM's newest operating system, will debut on the BlackBerry Torch. It will be available exclusively from AT&T starting August 12. In addition, BlackBerry 6 will also have backward compatibility for select BlackBerry smartphones, quite probably the BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry Bold 9650, and the BlackBerry Pearl 3G. Of course, the BlackBerry OS 6 upgrade to those devices and others will be subject to carrier certifications in the ensuing months. RIM has not named specific roll-out dates.

The system improvements and additions found in BlackBerry 6 are no secret, as RIM has been plentifully releasing "sneak peek" videos ever since RIM first announced the new version of its operating system at the WES conference last April.

RIM's official word on the matter is what we expected, with lots of goodies that so far look like a significant improvement to the current OS. CNET Senior Editor Bonnie Cha gives her first impressions here and in the slideshow below. Also stay tuned for her full BlackBerry Torch review.

Interface
The interface has been refreshed for devices with touch screens or trackpads. The home screen lets users swipe a ribbon to filter applications and content by five categories (All, Favorites, Media, Downloads, and Frequent). You can also add shortcuts to contacts and favorite Web pages to the home screen. Action Menus, another addition, pop up common tasks when you press and hold with your finger or the trackpad. Multitasking has also gotten a makeover, with a visual grid of running applications popping up when you press and hold the Menu button.

We're most excited by the Universal Search bar on the home screen, which will simultaneously look for keyword matches to your search term in the phone memory, BlackBerry App World application storefront, and the Web.

WebKit browser
RIM has received plenty of guff over the years for its laggy browsers. BlackBerry 6 changes this by picking up a variant of the WebKit standard that powers both the Apple iPhone and Google Android browsers. (In fact, the BlackBerry Torch is named in honor of Torch Mobile, the browser company RIM acquired a year ago for this purpose.) The new BlackBerry browser will support HTML5 standards, but there was no word on Flash support. We can look forward to browser tabs, text-wrapping, and pinch to zoom.

Multimedia
Album art and syncing are the main themes for the BlackBerry 6's improved multimedia tools. RIM's complementary desktop app, BlackBerry Desktop Software 6, will sync photos, videos, and music wirelessly over Wi-Fi or via a USB cable. It will support iTunes and the Windows Media Player. BlackBerry Desktop Software 6 was released as a Windows beta in late July.

The BlackBerry camera will also add or enhance camera modes to improve editing, organizing, and sharing photos. In addition, a new Podcasts application serves the purpose of discovering and subscribing to audio and video podcasts. A YouTube app will come preloaded on phones with BlackBerry 6.

Texting and social networking
RIM introduces threaded text messages in BlackBerry 6, as well as provisions for sharing photos and videos through MMS (multimedia messages.)

On the social side, the BlackBerry 6 OS adds a Social Feeds app to aggregate social networking accounts and RSS feeds, including BlackBerry Messenger (known as BBM), Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. You'll be able to post status updates across networks.

SDK
RIM has one more announcement in addition to the operating system and BlackBerry Torch smartphone news. It's also releasing a new SDK (software development kit) for BlackBerry 6, so developers can get a start creating OS-specific apps and updates that tie into new features such as Universal Search. BlackBerry 6 OS will be compatible with all existing BlackBerry apps, according to RIM CTO David Yach.

Originally posted at Dialed In

The jailbreak for the iPhone released over the weekend may have exposed a flaw in the iPhone's mobile Safari browser.

Unlike previous jailbreaks, which required the iPhone to be connected to a computer to run the software update, the latest jailbreak, posted by the iPhone Dev Team at Jailbreakme.com, is accomplished via the Safari browser loaded on the device.

But the fact that it can be performed just through Safari, and the way it's done, points to a larger problem, as several CNET readers and listeners wrote to us to point out Tuesday. It means potentially anyone could control your iPhone (or iPod Touch or iPad) just by visiting a certain Web page. A site can present the exploit as a simple PDF link, which requires no explicit user action short of clicking a link. It can then launch an exploit that takes advantage of the way the PDF viewer loads fonts.

The end result is that the program can then have unrestricted access to your iPhone or iPad or iPod Touch on virtually all versions of iPhone firmware, short of the iOS 4.1 beta, currently in the hands of developers for testing.

When reached for comment, an Apple representative said Apple is "aware of the reports and is investigating." We'll update if we hear more.

"It's really serious," said Charlie Miller, a principal analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, who was the first person with a public remote exploit for the iPhone.

There are two distinct vulnerabilities and two distinct exploits, he told CNET. One flaw is in the way the browser parses PDF files, enabling the code to get inside a protective sandbox, and the other hole allows code to break out of the sandbox and get root, or control, privileges on the device, he said.

"Basically, the way the iPhone is made to be secure is through several layers of defense, so even if someone were to compromise your Web browser, it limits what they can do," Miller said.

"There are a lot of people known for doing iPhone research, but I've never heard of this guy," Miller said, referring to whoever created the iPhone 4 jailbreak. "It goes to show you that for every researcher who is known, there are a bunch of others who know the same stuff and probably more"--and whose intentions might not be honorable, he said.

While this exploit is not malicious, other hackers could take the software, reverse-engineer it, and then release an exploit that takes control of the device for nefarious purposes.

"Vulnerabilities with reliable exploit code tend to get reused and repurposed for other attacks/malware/uses," David Marcus, security research and communications manager at McAfee, wrote in a blog post.

"This should serve as a wake-up call for anyone with a mobile device: remote exploitation is real and here to stay," he wrote. "For now, these vulnerabilities are being used only (as far as we know) to jailbreak iPhones, but they could be used to do many other things to iPhones and their owners around the world."

CNET's Elinor Mills contributed to this report.

This post was updated at 3:28 p.m. PDT with McAfee comment, at 12:51 p.m. PDT with Miller comment, and at 12:05 p.m. PDT with more details.

Originally posted at Circuit Breaker