If you’re an Android and a PC, you should check out BlueStacks — before hackers catch on or Chrome sneaks in this functionality, take advantage. The startup’s software has been going like hotcakes over the last few months, as it’s offering a much-needed service for Android and PC users, having developed software that allows Android users to run their apps on all Windows PCs, tablets, and laptops — without any modifications.

Thanks to this appealing concept, BlueStacks lured $7.6 million in venture funding pre-launch, before adding another $6.4 million a few months later — all from investors like AMD, Citrix Systems, Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Ventures, and more.

The startup finally released its public beta on March 27th, and so far users have been eating it up. In the first 10 days after its release, BlueStacks’ App Player racked up more than 1 million downloads, with over 12 million apps collectively being run by its users. It’s on the heels of this early traction that the company is today announcing it has found yet another investor — this time from global telecom giant, Qualcomm.

Acting through its venture arm, Qualcomm Ventures, the chipmaker invested an undisclosed amount in BlueStacks, but from what we’ve been hearing from those familiar with the matter, the round was in the seven-figure range.

The startup now has over $15 million in outside investment, which is notable both in size (relative to the age of its product) and for the fact that BlueStacks has been able to bring together (at least symbolically) two of the biggest semiconductor/chipmakers on the market — Qualcomm and AMD. Not two names one typically finds side-by-side on a startup’s roster of investors.

“Consumers are increasingly looking for computing experiences that enable them to access their apps across different platforms,” said VP of Qualcomm Ventures Nagraj Kashyap. “We believe BlueStacks is well-positioned to capitalize on the marriage of mobile and PC.”

Again, for a recap for those unfamiliar, BlueStacks’ App Player is a free software download that gives Android users the ability to get one-click access to their apps on any Windows PC, including full-screen viewing. In turn, the startup’s Cloud Connect lets users push apps from their phone onto their PC easily and remotely, turning PCs into extensions of any Android-based mobile device, using their own personal cloud-based app channel.

Obviously, the big goal for BlueStacks is to bring the some 450,000 Android apps to those billion-odd PC users out there. If done right, it’s a fairly sizable market, to say the least. The other key to the startup’s beta release was the new ability to run graphics-intensive Android apps on desktop PCs, using its patent-pending technology called “Layercake.” Essentially, as we wrote at the time, Layercake allows Android apps to run on x86-based PCs, including apps written for the ARM processor, like Angry Birds Space or Fruit Ninja, for example.

The beta release leverages the PC’s graphics card to enable apps running graphics-intensive engines like Unity to process without hiccups, and also offers accelerometer tilting and pinch-to-zoom smartphone UI features to the desktop via mouse and keyboard prompts. Users can also now download apps from within BlueStacks even if they don’t have an Android phone, and can send and receive SMS messages on their PCs.

The company partnered with the developers behind apps like Fruit Ninja, SliceIt!, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, Townsmen, Evernote, Defender and StumbleUpon for its beta release. Shainiel Deo, the CEO of Halfbrick (the makers of Fruit Ninja), said that the appeal of BlueStacks’ software is that developers don’t have to port or modify apps to run them on PCs, meaning there’s no heavy lifting for those who’ve already developed apps for Android.

Of course, Android fragmentation could be a problem, as some users of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in particular have complained of trouble in syncing app data between devices and PCs — beyond simply syncing APKs — something which will be crucial for its long-term viability. It will also be interesting to see how BlueStacks deals with security, as some users pointed out that the software could become a victim of having to make repeated security upgrades as hackers catch onto loopholes.

But, in the meantime, BlueStacks could offer Android users a great way to avoid using data-time on their smartphones, reducing bills across the board. It also offers Android developers of all stripes access to the billion-user PC market, something which has previously only been offered for a select few, like Rovio and Cut the Rope.

In that sense, BlueStacks wants to become a developer platform, by which developers can build for Android and get a PC app version for free. It’s without a doubt a smart play, and with big money from Andreessen, AMD, Qualcomm and more there’s reason to believe its product will continue to improve, though it will certainly be interesting to see how sustainable the company’s concept can be in the long term. If Windows 8 tablets take off, long-term viability could be within reach.

For more on BlueStacks, check ‘em out at home here. Below you’ll find a demo video of Fruit Ninja fullscreen on a PC using BlueStacks software:

This week on Ask Lifehacker we're debating the feasibility of Google's futuristic augmented reality glasses, protecting ourselves from hacks and viruses, blocking porn in every possible way, and fitting our big hard drives on small SSDs. Also, we take a look at a few downloads that can turn your diet and exercise routines into games, make Windows 7 feel like new, and turn the pages of PDF documents with your face. It's an action-packed episode this week, so come check it out! More »

Right on the heels of the release of its Android app, Instagram was acquired by social media giant Facebook. What does this mean for Instagram users? For now, not much. The creators of Instagram want you to know that the service isn't going anywhere and this should only mean positive change: More »

Lenovo is keeping the Ice Cream Sandwich social rocking with its upcoming IdeaTab S2109. Inside the sleek 8.9mm thick casing is a 9.7-inch 4:3 IPS LCD with a 1.3MP camera sunk into the bezel. Four speakers reside on the backside, which Lenovo claims will help with bass reproduction, therefore capable of producing a richer sound. There’s also a microUSB port, microHDMI, and a microSD card slot for connectivity options.

Lenovo has yet to reveal the rest of the tablet’s pertinent information: processor type or speed, release date, price point, and target markets. However, when the tablet does hit the market, it will further strengthen Lenovo’s already-strong tablet lineup and likely replace the original IdeaPad Tablet K1.

Out of the major Android tablet market, Lenovo has been the most consistent with its offering. Lenovo’s tablets have always been priced well and featured enough standout features to make them a bit special in the crowded Android market. The S2109 will hopefully follow the same path.

Instagram for Android has been updated to allow you to install the app on an SD card, one of the biggest initial complaints from users. This version, 1.0.3, also brings support for tablets and Android devices that are WiFi only.

Unfortunately, from initial feedback, this update does not appear to add support for the HTC One X’s camera.

What’s in this version:

1. Open up support to Tablets and WiFi handsets
2. Allow app installation on SD card
3. Fix audio mute bug during capture
4. Several small bug fixes and improvements

On Tuesday, Instagram released its photo sharing client on Android. It racked up a million downloads in a day and we found it to compare well to its iOS counterpart. Instagram also wrote its own push notification server for the Android app, and it is offering it up as open-source.

➤ Instagram for Android

It’s no shock that one of our favorite things to do with our smartphone is to take pictures. What is is surprising, however, is that one app is quickly becoming the “default” applications for this picture taking.

The iPhone, Apple’s leap into telephony that changed the mobile world as we know it, was announced in 2007. The revolutionary device made everything easier, including snapping a picture and sharing it with friends. Google acquired the company behind the Android operating system in 2005, and made its debut on a handset in late 2008.

Little did both companies know that just three years after the iPhone launched, both of them would quickly lose control of their main feature, photography.

Instagram was founded in 2010 and launched in October. At the time, MG Siegler covered its launch and featured this quote from its CEO Kevin Systrom:

I think that communicating via images is one of these mediums that you’re going to see take off over the next few years because of a fundamental shift in the enabling technology.

Systrom was right and it’s been off to the races for Instagram ever since. I remember the first time I saw Instagram, I clicked a link in a tweet from a good friend of mine and was impressed with the page’s simplicity. The photo itself wasn’t impressive, but the fact that this company had done a fantastic job in presenting it to me grabbed my attention. I’ve been an avid member of the community ever since.

It’s no surprise that Apple featured Instagram numerous times, as it raced up the charts as one of the top free apps available for your iPhone. Almost immediately, Android users were pining for the day that they too could take simple photos and have them displayed in a beautiful way. Those Android users got their wish this week, as Instagram finally hit Google Play.

A picture is worth a thousand words

The idea of Instagram is simple in and of itself; you take a photo, throw a stylized filter on it, add a few words, and share it with your friends. People can comment on the photo, “like” it, and share it to their social networks as well. The fact that Instagram has stayed this simple is a testament to the team’s original vision.

That vision? Become the default photo application on every smartphone in the world. While this vision isn’t a direct quote from the company, it’s surely something in the back of its mind, and the minds of its investors.

AllThingsD reported this morning that Sequoia is going to lead a $50M round of investment, valuing the company at upwards of $500M. Those kinds of numbers are astronomical, considering that it’s, as some put it, “just a photo app”. But those people are missing the point. Instagram isn’t “just a photo app”, it’s quickly become the photo app. When your friend gets a new phone, they’ll probably ask you what apps to get, and surely Instagram will be one of your suggestions? Why? Because well, it’s quickly becoming the default.

When you think about how powerful the word “default” can be, then you start to realize that a $500M valuation for a company that is becoming the default application to do one of the most popular things on a smartphone makes complete sense. After all, Apple wants its Camera app to be the default way to take photos on an iPhone, and the same goes for Google’s Android. Stealing away marketshare from the two companies that are behind the manufacturing of the top selling devices has to be worth something, right?

Forget the fact that Instagram hasn’t figured out, or shared, how it’s going to make money. Grabbing this many users is not simple to do, especially within the first two years of your product’s existence. Instagram has done it though, and it’s time to stand back and watch a juggernaut in action.

Not just the #1 photo app

Instagram has a very real chance to become the number one App for smartphones, period. Yup, not just the number photo sharing app. As of right now, here’s where Instagram sits in the charts for both iOS and Android:

Even though Instagram has only been out for less than a week on Google Play, it’s already the number 2 free app. That excitement has also fueled the iOS version of the app to number 4. The new Android users are doing the marketing to the remaining iOS users who haven’t gotten in on the Instagram act yet. That ping-ponging may very well turn Instagram into the number one app on both platforms.

Sure, we’ve seen one app hit the top of both charts before, but that feat has been primarily accomplished by games like Angry Birds. Those games also have ways of making money baked in, sure, but the free versions don’t require you to pay to play.

How much is the #1 app in the world worth?

If the reports are true, it just may very well be $500M. Look at Draw Something, the app made popular by OMGPOP, and the success it had on both platforms. That game’s success got Zynga to dig in and make a real offer to the company, and turned into a $210M acquisition. It was OMGPOP’s biggest hit and Zynga simply couldn’t pass up having a huge presence on both mobile platforms.

Unlike photography though, games have a shelf life and can drop off the face of the earth after a solid run at the top. This doesn’t apply to Angry Birds though, since Rovio has done a great job in fending off this trend with by constantly reinventing it with new themes and characters. Instagram doesn’t have to go through that much trouble to breathe new life into its community, a few new filters now and then will do.

At some point in time, Instagram will have to return some of that money to its investors, but for right now, its rise to the top is more than enough to bring in new money.

If I had a few million bucks laying around, I would be very tempted to become part of a round of funding for a company that is the first thing people think about when they hear the word “photo”. Being the number one photo app isn’t Instagram’s goal, it’s becoming the number one app overall. It just might do it.

We recently brought you the news that the popular iOS game Temple Run had hit 1 million downloads for Android in the first week of its release. In addition, Instagram just hit Google Play this week to much fanfare, and 1 million downloads quickly, so it seems like developers are starting to see traction on the Android platform.

Speaking of traction, Temple Run has just passed the 5 million download mark and it’s safe to say that it’s a runaway hit for the Android platform.

In what could become a trend for mobile app developers, proving out a model on the iOS platform, which is easier to gain traction on, and only then porting over to Android might be the recipe for success. To date, Temple Run has been downloaded over 50 million times on all platforms, and those numbers are going to continue to skyrocket.

The game has only been available on Google’s mobile platform since March 26th, and gamers have been frothing at the mouth to download it since the company behind the game, Imangi Studios, announced that it would be available just a few weeks before.

Watch out, Angry Birds.

I'll come right out and say it: I'm not a big fan of Instagram. And no, it's not because iOS users have had their underpants in a wad over the Android release, but because for me, it really doesn't live up to the hype. Here's why, and more importantly, here are some just-as-good alternatives for Android users (and some for iOS users too!) who want to take and share photos with or without those filters that make a 5-megapixel cell phone camera look like a 70s Polaroid. More »

There’s panic about a security hole in Facebook’s iOS and Android apps that surfaced this week, but the threat of identity theft is being blown out of proportion. You only need to worry if your phone is actually stolen, and even then a hacker would need it to be jailbroken, use tools like iExplore, or they’d have to take the device apart. Once a hacker has full physical access to your phone, you have a lot more than Facebook to worry about, as the thief could steal your contacts, cookies, and access all your apps if the phone was unlocked.

Really, this security hole highlights the new dangers of having your phone stolen. Owners should make sure they have a remote wipe solution ready to nuke all their data or else things could get ugly quick.

So here’s what happened. Developer Gareth Wright published a blog post this week stating that there’s some ways for hackers to read the .plist file of a user’s Facebook for iOS or Android app that contains the app’s access token, full oAuth key and secret. With that a hacker could log into your Facebook account and act as you, as well as log into third-party apps that rely on Facebook’s identity platform.

However, experts tell me that details of the post were inaccurate or misleading, namely because Wright didn’t specify that he was using jailbroken devices. The .plist can only be accessed by the Facebook app itself, and not by someone else unless a phone is jailbroken or rooted, or if the flash memory is physically unsoldered from the device. Sure, jailbreaking gives you deep access to your mobile’s hardware as well as the ability to install blackmarket apps, but it also disables critical security measures. Also, if someone has full physical access to your phone, tools like iExplore and others can help them surmount most any security feature.

Facebook has released the following statement on the issue:

“Facebook’s iOS and Android applications are only intended for use with the manufacture provided operating system, and access tokens are only vulnerable if they have modified their mobile OS (i.e. jailbroken iOS or modded Android) or have granted  a malicious actor access to the physical device. We develop and test our application on an unmodified version of mobile operating systems and rely on the native protections as a foundation for development, deployment and security, all of which is compromised on a jailbroken device. As Apple states, “unauthorized modification of iOS could allow hackers to steal personal information … or introduce malware or viruses.” To protect themselves we recommend all users abstain from modifying their mobile OS to prevent any application instability or security issues.”

This is one of those largely theoretical security flaws that makes headlines occasionally. Yes, watch out for plugging your jailbroken phone into a stranger’s stereo dock or USB cable, but really, don’t lose your phone and then not wipe it. Protect yourself by setting up remote wipe through Find My Phone for iOS or Exchange for Android. Then if you get off the train or stumble home from a drunken night to find your phone missing, wipe it first, and start crying/searching/buying a new one later.

In the world of online mapping, it feels like things aren’t quite going in Google’s direction these days: Apple switched away from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap when it launched iPhoto for iOS. Foursquare, too, announced a similar switch just a few weeks ago and today, Wikipedia switched to OpenStreetMap in the latest versions of its iOS and Android apps.

As our own Josh Constine wrote last month, Google’s plan to charge high-volume users for access to its Maps APIs could backfire and this most recent defection is yet another clear signal that we will probably see quite a few more of these moves in the near future.

While OpenStreetMap’s data wasn’t quite ready for prime time not too long ago, the service has greatly improved the quality of its maps recently. The service also now has the backing of a number of large companies interested in the online mapping space, including Apple and Microsoft.

Wikipedia would probably qualify for a non-profit grant from Google and be able to use the service for free (or for a relatively small fee). For Wikipedia, however, this switch is actually more about using an “open and free source of Map Data” than about money. Wikipedia’s Yuvi Panda also argues that not using Google’s proprietary APIs in the code “helps it run on the millions of cheap Android handsets that are purely open source and do not have the proprietary Google applications.”

For the time being, the Wikipedia apps are using MapQuest’s tile servers to render the OpenStreetMap data, but Wikipedia’s parent organization Wikimedia plans to switch to its own tile servers soon.

What Else Is New?

Besides this switch to OpenStreetMap, the new versions of the Wikipedia apps also introduce a number of new features for both platforms. iOS users, for example, can now get search suggestions, save pages to Read It Later and perform full-text searches (these features were already available in the Android app). Android users only get a smaller update this time, which includes quick search bar integration and an improved tablet interface.