Twitter Bug Blew Up Android Phones

A recent Twitter for Android update may have been the cause of android phones heating up, batteries draining and some exploding in people's pockets.

As a techie, it is imperative to keep my technology up to date. As such, the latest Twitter for Android app seemed to have some great features which induced an immediate update on my phone.

Direct message sync, mobile search improvements and more

For all of these platforms, you’ll now be able to sync direct messages (DM) across all your devices and Twitter accounts. When you read a DM on your Android phone or iPhone, it will be marked as read in your browser, your desktop apps, or your tablet. And vice versa. Please note that syncing will roll out gradually: you’ll need to get the latest version of each app to ensure it works on all of your devices. 

More info on the Vine update.

After the Twitter for Android Update on July 8 my Android phone began heating up and the battery drained quickly. The logical assumption was that my lithium-ion battery had gone bad. However, the phone was getting so hot, I feared a battery explosion and began popping out the battery.

Removing the battery is something Apple iPhone users cannot do. Apple phones automatically turn off at a certain temperature. So, if this problem had occurred on an iPhone, my clients would not have been able to contact me. So, at least I was comforted in knowing that my aversion to iPhone worship allowed me to continue my business until a new battery could be purchased.

My assumption of a bad battery was thrown on its ear when my wife's Galaxy S III began running low on power and warming. We had not put the causality together, but in retrospect this also occurred after her Twitter for Android Update.

Regardless of the battery issue, I happened to be deciding between the new Galaxy S IV and a Galaxy S III phone upgrade. Maybe the "bad" battery was a biased excuse to get a better toy, but I began searching the Samsung Galaxy News. The following story caught my attention:

Samsung Galaxy S III Explodes In User’s Pants, Burns Leg

An 18-year-old girl's Samsung Galaxy S III exploded in her pants when she was at work and what was once a usable phone became a mangled, warped slate of fire that severely burned her leg. It's insane to think that the phone you're either using right now (or maybe just put down 5 minutes ago), can become a burning a bomb. The girl whose phone exploded actually had to have her pants ripped off in order to prevent further injury.
And the burn was bad. Real bad. 

 Here is the result of the explosion to the woman's leg.

OK, something was fishy.

The first thing I did was go into my Android Settings App and investigate what was draining all my power. The path About Phone > Battery Use normally shows Display takes about 85% of my battery life. At that time Twitter for Android was taking 60% and Display was 30%. YIKES!

Knee jerk Jedi style Force Stop was used on the Twitter app. The searching began for ways to reduce the app's power usage in its settings. Notifications for my account were turned off and in retrospect I should have turned off Sync Data. Sync Data was set to 30 minutes so it didn't seem to be a likely problem, but the phone heating was not fixed.

The battery drain began to affect my business. At one point, my phone remained charging in my car while an important work related call was missed. Luckily, the person making the call stumbled upon me in person and we had a discussion before tragedy struck.

Being a blogger, my inclination was to take my evidence and let the world know of the danger to their beloved Smart Phones. Being a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (programmer) and Microsoft Silver Partner for Small Business here is what must have happened.

Twitter, in a rush to address complaints that Vine Twitter had more features than other Twitter apps, pushed a buggy update. The code must have contained an infinite loop. My assumption is that the loop was in the Sync Data code. This loop drained batteries and heated phones by running the devices processor at near maximum. Phones do not have CPU cooling fans so depending upon the situation, the battery may completely drain before anything dangerous occurs or the heating might boil the lithium-ion battery and cause a battery explosion.

On July 17th I checked the Google Play Store before blogging in order to be sure that the problem had not been addressed. The review led me to a new update in which Twitter fixed the problem.

Twitter for Android update brings in-line replies, sharing through direct messages.

Of course the public relations department spun the emergency update as "improvements." At least my phone has stopped heating up and my battery life is restored.  There will be no blogging war path for me, but the truth does matter and now you know.

Note

SLOBS author KT Cat published a story about Twerking using Storify.com and this was originally written there as a test, but the site stopped working and I can't log back on.

Gun Control: California DOJ Confiscating Guns (updated)

1/25/2013 5:31 PM

The California Department of Justice is running a program to confiscate registered guns from homes that local law enforcement refused to implement. Mark LeForestier, California Supervising Deputy Attorney General & Legislative Affairs Director, testified to a Congressional Task force determined to implement gun controls about the Armed Prohibited Persons program.

It is intended to disarm people who are prohibited from owning or possessing firearms under both federal and California law. It is really a preventative law enforcement program that we believe is critical to enhance and move forward and should be used as a model nationally.

This program works into the framework we have been discussing in which "public health" is being used to subvert the civil rights of Americans as protected by the second amendment. Our report "ObamaCare Insurance Will Not Cover Gun Owners" outlines a theoretical strategy in which the second amendment may be subverted at the federal level. The California state constitution does not include the right to keep and bear arms which has led to draconian state gun laws.

Mr. LeForestier goes on to report:

California retains the records relating to purchases to handguns. That provides us with the data to create a firearms registry. I understand that is very controversial in some quarters, but it is essential in our efforts to disarm prohibited persons.

Coming online in January 2014, will be sales of long guns and we will be retaining those records as well.

He doesn't stop there and goes on to describe the APPs program as carried by Jim Brulte, "someone who is in line now to be the chairman of the California Republican party." The APPs program empowers the CA DOJ to create the firearms registry mentioned above by cross referencing criminal history records, domestic violence databases, as well as mental health records. A list of those who are both armed and prohibited is the result.

It allows us to capture people who have purchased weapons and then subsequently become prohibited as a result of a felony arrest or mental health issue. 

In 2005, the program began and local law enforcement failed to enforce the program. So, in 2007 the CA DOJ started their own force to confiscate weapons and by 2010 had 18 full time agents.

Today we have 33 agents dedicated to this program, but it is still not enough. We have close to 20,000 people on the APPs list. That is a backlog of people that we know to be prohibited. The thirty-three agents that we have dedicated can clear about 2500 cases a year. Yet, each year we have 3000 more cases.

The CA DOJ wants to again double the number of agents dedicated to confiscating weapons in 2013. The list of "Armed Prohibited People" is uploaded to the federal NICS system. In July 2011, mental health records were added to the NICS upload.

Don't believe bloggers... here is the video testimony  You may click the image below to watch on C-SPAN. This video is 7 minutes and 18 seconds.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4335886

Additional Information:
NCIC
San Diego Police Chief: "We can disarm Americans within a Generation"
Sheriffs v. Political Police Chiefs and President Obama

Update 2/19/2013:

Senate Bill 5737 out of Olympia, Washington  (h/t Glenn Beck), Shocking proposed law would give sheriff access to the homes of gun owners:

In order to continue to possess an assault weapon that was legally possessed on the effective date of this section, the person possessing shall safely and securely store the assault weapon and the sheriff of the county may, may, but no more than once per year, conduct an inspection of the house

“I’m a liberal Democrat — I’ve voted for only one Republican in my life,” Palmer told me. “But now I understand why my right-wing opponents worry about having to fight a government takeover.”
He added: “It’s exactly this sort of thing that drives people into the arms of the NRA.”

Update 3/9/2013:

AP via Yahoo News
State Senate OKs money for gun-seizure program
State Senate approves money for program that seizes guns from people banned from having them

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Legislation approved Thursday by the state Senate would send more money to a program unique to California that seizes guns from people who are prohibited from having them, a number that has risen to nearly 20,000.

The bill authorizes $24 million for the state Department of Justice's Armed and Prohibited Persons program, which is the only one of its kind in the nation. It prohibits gun ownership for people convicted of a felony or a violent misdemeanor, who are subject to a domestic violence restraining order or who are determined to be mentally unstable.

The department has confiscated more than 10,000 weapons under the program since 2006 but has a backlog of nearly 20,000 people because it has too few agents to go after the weapons. Those individuals own about 39,000 handguns and 1,600 assault weapons, said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, the author of SB140.

The additional money would come from a surplus in fees paid for firearms purchases. It would let the department hire six supervisors, 30 special agents and support staff to create six new teams to seize the weapons.

Update 3/11/2013:
Tense moments as California agents confiscate illegal guns
CBS rode along on a gun confiscation. Two legally registered guns owned by a felon, but 5 guns confiscated. Who owned the other 3 guns was not reported. See report for video.

In six years, agents have been seizing guns. They've prevented shootouts by showing up unexpectedly in force, as many as 10 agents.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris said that the people on the list are the ones who should not be in possession of a gun.

Last year, Harris' agents seized 2,033 guns.

The reporter does not report how many shootouts have occurred, how many people have been killed or injured, who prioritized which people were targeted for confiscation or how the targeting was done. The report fails to mention that "violent" misdemeanors are also justification for gun confiscation or whether a judge determines "mental instability."

As you can see by the screen capture above, the neighborhood raided was a gated community.

Update 3/12/2013:
Bloomberg.com Picks up the story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
California Seizes Guns as Owners Lose Right to Keep Arms

Merely being in a database of registered gun owners and having a “disqualifying event,” such as a felony conviction or restraining order, isn’t sufficient evidence for a search warrant, Marsh said March 5 during raids in San Bernardino County. So the agents often must talk their way into a residence to look for weapons, he said.


At a house in Fontana, agents were looking for a gun owner with a criminal history of a sex offense, pimping, according to the attorney general’s office. Marsh said that while the woman appeared to be home, they got no answer at the door. Without a warrant, the agents couldn’t enter and had to leave empty- handed.

They had better luck in nearby Upland, where they seized three guns from the home of Lynette Phillips, 48, who’d been hospitalized for mental illness, and her husband, David. One gun was registered to her, two to him.

“The prohibited person can’t have access to a firearm,” regardless of who the registered owner is, said Michelle Gregory, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office.

Update 3/13/2013:
The Blaze Picks up the story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guns of Law-Abiding Husband Confiscated After Wife’s Single Voluntary Mental Health Visit 

Phillips told TheBlaze she had an adjustment to her medication in December and could not stop crying. Her personal psychiatrist suggested she go to Aurora Charter Oak Hospital in Covina, Calif., where she said she was admitted voluntarily, not a threat to herself or others. Then, when she reviewed her file, Phillips said the nurse had recorded that she was involuntarily admitted and indicated she might be a suicide risk. Phillips claims the nurse had put words into her mouth. 

“I kept telling her I had a grand-baby at home and had to be better for Christmas,” she said. “Does that sound like the words of someone who is a risk to themselves and others?”

Update 3/15/2013:
Legal Insurrection gives us a mention!!
California’s mental gun law

San Diego conservative activist Charles Fettinger offers more concerning details about the new state program that was used to confiscate Phillips’ guns.