CoreSecurity and Google have an ongoing dispute over the nature of a Wi-Fi Direct vulnerability found in various firmware versions, including KitKat devices. The bug allows attackers to manually reboot a user’s device through an Unhandle Exception. Google maintains it is not critical and so far refuses to provide a fix.
The post No Timeline for Wi-Fi Direct Vulnerability , Says Google appeared first on xda-developers.
It has been but a year since but a year since CyanogenMod let out its theme engine, alongside the launch of CyanogenMod 11S on the OnePlus One. The Android ROM community, however, is hardly one to rest on its laurels and is once again working on a new theme engine in time for a Lollipop-based CyanogenMod 12 release. CM Theme Engine co-author Clark Scheff gives an overview of how the engine works and some of the idiosyncrasies theme designers have to consider.
The astute reader may have noticed that a previous CM12 update mentioned dropping support for themes based on the T-Mobile theme engine. That was the CM11 engine that the developers made in collaboration with the carrier. The new theme engine, however, will be based on code that has been contributed by Sony (once again, kudos to the manufacturer!) to the Android Open Source Project, and this engine revolves around the concept of "resource overlays".
In a nutshell, when an app starts, the Android system loads the resources, the icons, images, text strings, and others, that the app needs. This all happens at runtime, when the app is loaded, instead of compile time, when the app is built. When a theme is applied, Android first looks if there is a themed version available for a specific resource, say a button, and if so, it uses that instead of the default system version. This is basically how Sony's Runtime Resource Overlays or RRO works, but naturally, CyanogenMod wants to extend the idea further.
There are a few quirks to RRO, some of which can limit what CM and themers can do. In particular, the implementation processes some of the resources at build time in order to be more efficient. Sony's RRO also doesn't support changing things like fonts. For some of these, CyanogenMod had to roll out their own changes. For example, each CyanogenMod build includes the Android Asset Packaging Tool or aapt, the same tool used by app developers to process resources. Whenever a new theme is installed, aapt is run on those in order to do the same process and index resources for efficiency.
CyanogenMod has to perform a tough balancing act, however, to ensure that even with the power theme designers are given, they won't overstep their boundaries. For example, themes shouldn't be allowed to change app text, which would make for a security nightmare. The theme engine must also be able to provide a smooth fallback to the default system theme in case the user-installed one goes awry.
The new CM Theme Engine is still in its initial stages and it might be quite some time before we will be able to see a final, polished product. It will also be interesting to see how far CM will take this theming business, with rumors that Cyanogen, Inc. might look to paid themes as a way to make money on the sides.
SOURCE: CyanogenMod
A smartphone isn't much without apps. It's where the whole "smart" part of the equation comes from. Without them, we're back in the 1990s again. Nobody wants that—except maybe Dustin Diamond. So exercise some of those smarts and outfit your phone with the best apps of the week.
It used to be that we're already satisfied if our headphones play good music. But lately, we've been wanting more than just a decent sound experience from them as manufacturers started introducing smart headsets and a whole slew of wearable technology. A new Kickstarter project can now give you a lights and sounds show right on your headphones with Glow.
Well, the name itself is a giveaway as to what the main attraction is. The developers say that it's the world's first headphones with laser light. Your earbuds have specially-designed wires that will diffuse lights from a laser, and the beat goes according to the rhythm of the song you're currently playing. Of course you can also expect great sound quality from such a "high-end audiophile product", providing you natural highs and lows as befits your ears.
But more than just having a glow party on your head, the headphones can also make calls, send messages, and use apps on your connected smartphone, aside from of course, controlling your music. It has a 5-way remote with dedicated buttons to control music, including Spotify, Google Play Music, Pandora, etc. There are also buttons to answer phone calls, activate Google Now, take a picture with your smartphone remotely, and listen and respond to text messages as well. Another great feature for the headphones is that it has a, intergrated heart rate sensor that can also make your headphones Glow to your heartbeat.
The Kickstarter project has already reached its goal of $100,000 (more than, in fact!) with still 43 days to go on their campaign. To have your very own Glow, you need to spend $149 to back the project (the $127 early bird special is all gone). Estimated delivery is July of this year.
SOURCE: Kickstarter
As far as music streaming is concerned, Spotify seems to still be the king (Taylor Swift brouhaha and all) despite similar services cropping up left and right. They're further expanding their market with the recent announcement of a partnership with Sony, in effect killing the Japanese OEM's own music service called Music Unlimited. This may be a bit of bad news for those attached to that particular brand, but great news for Sony users who have yet to discover the joys of Spotify.
To start off their partnership, Spotify will be sent out to 41 markets, beginning with Playstation consoles, then moving on to Sony Xperia tablets and smartphones. The music service will become the exclusive partner of Sony Playstation Music, and those with Playstation Network wallet accounts can now directly subscribe to Spotify and they don't need to have a separate, second account. Those who already have Spotify accounts need to just sign in with their accounts to access the apps and portals.
If you're a Playstation 4 user, you will actually be able to play Spotify even while you're playing games on the console, if you don't like the . But probably the biggest change that will happen with this partnership is that Sony Music Unlimited will officially shut down by March 29. As a going away "present" all existing Music Unlimited subscribers will enjoy the service for free starting February 28, until the rest of the time it will be operational.
Spotify will then be offered on a special limited introductory cost for the Music Unlimited subscribers, which will most likely be like what they will offer to all the other Sony users as well. No details yet as to what this special offer will be.
VIA: SlashGear
Late last year, Microsoft released a preview of Office for Android, initially as an invite-only program and then an open one, and today, the Office Blog announced the final release of the suite – Word, Excel and Powerpoint – unbundled and published as individual apps on Google Play.
The post Microsoft Releases Final Builds of Office for Android appeared first on xda-developers.
Microsoft announced this week that the official preview for Outlook for Android is now available to download. The app is available for Android tablets and smartphones. Microsoft figures that the reason users will want to move from the native Android mail app they are using now is because Outlook for Android is more like working with email on a desktop than other apps out there.
Users will be able to sort through lots of email, manage calendars, and share files via the Outlook app. Outlook app brings together the ability to manage email, calendar, contacts, and files on your mobile device. Outlook will separate mail into two tabs with one called Focused and one called Other.
Important emails will come into the Focused box with all others going into the Other box. The Outlook app also has a one click unsubscribe offering for newsletters and other email you subscribe to that you might not want anymore. The app also supports customizable swipe gestures.
Swiping left or right on a message allows you to do things like archive, delete, move, flag, and mark as read or unread. You can customize these gestures to do what you want with swipes. The app also has predictive search for finding email on the go and full integration with your calendar. Attachments can be saved to cloud storage like Dropbox. Outlook can sync email with Office 365, Exchange Online, Exchange Server, Outlook.com, Gmail, iCloud, and Yahoo Mail. You can download the Outlook for Android preview here.
SOURCE: Office