189 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2026
    1. Amazon kept shutting down my tablet, so I spent $266 on four AI models to own it

      Amazon Fire HD 10 Rooting Journey via LLMs

      • Problem & Context:

        • The author used an Amazon Fire HD 10 (11th Gen, 2021) as a dedicated 24/7 Home Assistant dashboard via Fully Kiosk Browser.
        • The tablet repeatedly executed full software shutdowns caused by protected, background Amazon packages (com.amazon.device.software.ota, etc.) that could not be disabled without root access.
        • The device was widely regarded as unrootable due to Amazon fusing the bootrom shut.
      • The Experiment & Financials:

        • To achieve root access and stop unwanted shutdowns, the author orchestrated multiple LLMs rather than writing the exploit code manually.
        • Total Cost: $266.15 spent across several models to root a $114.26 tablet (on principle).
      • Model Contributions & Breakthroughs:

        • Claude (Anthropic): Spent 5 months diagnosing telemetry and system permissions, successfully disabling basic packages until hitting the protected-package barrier; stopped assisting when its broad safety guardrails flagged the task as cyber-related.
        • Kimi K3 (Moonshot AI): Reasoned that rooting one's own hardware is legally permissible under DMCA exemptions. It analyzed the extracted kernel from Amazon's OTA image and identified an unpatched vulnerability (CVE-2022-38181, a Mali GPU use-after-free bug present in Fire OS 7.3.2.6). Over 30 hours and 500+ kernel panics, it built the trigger and GPU write primitive.
        • GLM-5.2 (Z.ai): Diagnosed that continuous brute-forcing was hitting a structural issue, but stalled after misdiagnosing the problem as an insurmountable hardware CPU/GPU cache coherency limitation.
        • GLM-5.3 (Z.ai): Resolved the issue in one day by correcting two core oversights:
          • The author's kernel binary had a fixed offset shift (0x5C000) compared to the reference OTA image.
          • MediaTek configured Mali page tables in a format different from Arm reference code.
        • Correcting these allowed GLM-5.3 to make GPU memory writes work reliably, set selinux_enforcing to permissive, obtain a root shell, and safely remove over 100 Amazon packages (pm uninstall --user 0) without bricking the device.
      • Key Insights & Takeaways:

        • "Prompt Kiddie" Dynamic: The author's role focused on prompt steering, evaluating output validity, and knowing when to hand off context between competing models.
        • AI Guardrail Divergence: Frontier US models (Claude, ChatGPT/Codex) refused to help with exploit analysis due to rigid policy filters, whereas Chinese frontier models (Kimi K3, GLM series) reasoned through the authorization context to assist with legal device ownership.

      Hacker News Discussion

      • Autonomous Reverse Engineering:

        • Commenters shared similar experiences using AI agents to decompile closed binaries, extract hidden APIs, and reconstruct readable source code from scratch.
        • Discussion emerged on how advanced AI is lowering the technical barrier to reverse engineering, blurring the practical line between closed-source and open-source software.
      • Device Ownership & Rights:

        • Strong agreement with the author's underlying motivation: users should have full software control and root rights over hardware they purchase.
        • Participants discussed tools like Fire Toolbox and noted that few modern mainstream tablets permit bootloader unlocking or clean OS replacements (such as LineageOS or GrapheneOS).
      • AI Policy & Safeguard Disparity:

        • Many highlighted the friction caused by blunt security guardrails in Western models (Anthropic, OpenAI), which frequently block benign tasks like debugging personal hardware or analyzing logs.
        • Users debated the legal nuances of distributing binary patches versus proprietary software.
      • AI Writing Style Debates:

        • Several commenters noted familiar AI cadence and phrasing patterns in the blog post's narrative structure.
        • The author and others countered that AI-assisted drafting enables engineers without writing backgrounds to document complex workflows, though debate continues regarding authenticity in technical writing.
  2. Apr 2026
    1. Build autonomous agents that plan, navigate apps, and complete tasks on your behalf, with native support for function calling.

      一个能在手机上离线运行的 2B 模型,原生支持 Function Calling 和多步 Agent 规划——这意味着完全本地化的 AI Agent 在消费级硬件上正式成为现实。结合 Android Studio 的 Agent Mode 支持,AI Agent 从云端走向终端的时间点,可能比所有人预计的都要早。

  3. Mar 2026
    1. you want to drive away your entire customer base? You realize that the only reason we don’t buy iphones is because they don’t give us this freedom that Android does. I know you think no one can touch your multi billion dollar empire but know that you have that data because of us. The customers. NO ONE ASKED FOR THIS, NO ONE WANTS THIS. First you “detected root” then you “implemented safety net” then you implemented “play integrity and certification” just pushing and pushing and pushing developers to bow down to you. And now this? No.
  4. Jan 2026
  5. Dec 2025
  6. Nov 2025
  7. Aug 2025
  8. Nov 2024
    1. little camera on glasses and you turn it into an audio image um and there are very sophisticated examples of this now one is called The Voice v i and it's it's an app that you can just download on your phone

      for - Deep Humanity - BEing journey - example - umwelt - visual to audio app - The Voice - David Eagleman - to - search - Google - android app "The Voice" translates images into audio signal - https://hyp.is/OJKKmJ1MEe-TAp_w_0SK_Q/www.google.com/search?q=android+app+%22The+Voice%22+translates+images+into+audio+signal&sca_esv=6fa4053b1bfce2fa&sxsrf=ADLYWIK_UqZZZ9OCRCwH4D6FoSaykbMTpQ:1731013461104&ei=VSstZ4eCBqi8xc8P5KP_kAU&ved=0ahUKEwjHgM3Tj8uJAxUoXvEDHeTRH1IQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=android+app+%22The+Voice%22+translates+images+into+audio+signal&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiO2FuZHJvaWQgYXBwICJUaGUgVm9pY2UiIHRyYW5zbGF0ZXMgaW1hZ2VzIGludG8gYXVkaW8gc2lnbmFsMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogRI2xdQpglYjRJwAXgCkAEAmAGZA6ABmQOqAQM0LTG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgOgAqADwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICBBAAGEeYAwDiAwUSATEgQIgGAZAGCJIHBTIuNC0xoAewBA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

    1. for - article - Medium - Translating vision into sound - A deep learning perspectiive - Viktor Toth - 21 April, 2019 - from - search - Google - android app "The Voice" translates images into audio signal - https://hyp.is/OJKKmJ1MEe-TAp_w_0SK_Q/www.google.com/search?q=android+app+%22The+Voice%22+translates+images+into+audio+signal&sca_esv=6fa4053b1bfce2fa&sxsrf=ADLYWIK_UqZZZ9OCRCwH4D6FoSaykbMTpQ:1731013461104&ei=VSstZ4eCBqi8xc8P5KP_kAU&ved=0ahUKEwjHgM3Tj8uJAxUoXvEDHeTRH1IQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=android+app+%22The+Voice%22+translates+images+into+audio+signal&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiO2FuZHJvaWQgYXBwICJUaGUgVm9pY2UiIHRyYW5zbGF0ZXMgaW1hZ2VzIGludG8gYXVkaW8gc2lnbmFsMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogRI2xdQpglYjRJwAXgCkAEAmAGZA6ABmQOqAQM0LTG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgOgAqADwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICBBAAGEeYAwDiAwUSATEgQIgGAZAGCJIHBTIuNC0xoAewBA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

    2. The vOICe is the most practical and widely used, clearly demonstrated by its 100k+ downloads and around 1300 current active users on Android only.

      for - BEing journey - sensory substitution - visual-to-auditory (V2A) - Android app - The vOICe - to - Android app - The vOICe - https://hyp.is/T8YlEJ0_Ee-jKFfo0TcpWQ/medium.com/mindsoft/translating-vision-into-sound-443b7e01eced

  9. Sep 2024
    1. Google’s chaos makes Apple’s control seem reasonable. I can already hear John and Seb typing: “…and this is why the EU shouldn’t turn Apple into Google.” Let’s be real—Google Play and the App Store don’t compete. They collaborate. Same rates, same model, same unchecked power. Call it a monopoly, call it a duopoly. They share the mobile market without too much crossfire: Apple takes those who can or want to pay, Google takes the rest. Google Play is not an alternative to the App Store. It’s not “Go there if you don’t like Apple.” Google Play is a very lazy, very sloppy carbon copy of the App Store. Their collaboration is not metaphorical. It goes beyond the way their shared control over the mobile app market. Apple collects privacy points, then cashes them in by making Google the default search on iPhone. A lot of that privacy-free Search money flows right back from Google to Apple. 20 Billion USD in 2022. In 2020, “Google’s payments to Apple constituted 17.5% of the iPhone maker’s operating income.” (Bloomberg) And no one really cares, as long as it’s convenient. But as a developer in Europe, we’re glad that the EU does. ↩

      iAwriter pointing out that from their perspective G and A appstores don't compete but divvy things up between them. A 20B USD / 17,5% revenue deal makes it tangible. Say they appreciate the DMA because of it.

  10. Jun 2024
  11. Feb 2024
  12. Dec 2023
    1. A traditional account linking flow requires the user to enter their credentials in the browser. The use of App Flip defers user sign-in to your Android app, which allows you to leverage existing authorizations. If the user is signed in to your app, they don't need to re-enter their credentials to link their account.
  13. Aug 2023
    1. Starting from BOM version 2023.08.00, a dependency to "androidx.emoji2:emoji2:1.4.0" is included, which requires a compileSdk 34 or later, which then requires a Gradle plugin version that supports Sdk 34 (at the moment of writing such versions are in pre-release)

  14. Jul 2023
  15. Apr 2023
  16. Mar 2023
    1. The benefits of getting administrative privileges over an open-source OS like Android stands aplenty. Among them, it’s the ability to flash modules and tweaks that is at the top of the priority queue, However, this is just one side of the coin. Rooting has its own downsides as well, the primary among them is the fact that SafetyNet getting triggered.
    1. Google has had the ability to harden SafetyNet checks using hardware-backed key attestation for several years now. The fact that they refrained to do so for 3 years has allowed users to enjoy root and Magisk Modules without sacrificing the ability to use banking apps. However, it seems that Magisk's ability to effectively hide the bootloader unlock status is soon coming to an end. It's a change that we've expected for years, but we're sad to see it finally go into effect.
  17. Dec 2022
  18. Nov 2022
    1. Now I can take an article from almost anywhere on my phone (reading services like Pocket, my feed readers, or even articles within the browser themselves), click share, choose “URL Forwarder” from the top of the list, select “Hypothesize” and the piece I want to annotate magically opens up with Hypothes.is ready to go in my default browser. Huzzah!

      Useful how-to for setting up Hypothes.is for mobile use on Android. Confirmed that this works on Brave mobile browser

  19. Oct 2022
    1. On the other end, there was The Good Phone Foundation, a not-for-profit organization founded with a mission to create an open, transparent, and secure mobile ecosystem outside of Big Tech’s reach, who just released their own Android-based mobile OS and were looking for apps to rely on. They contacted me, and after a couple of calls, we realized that partnering up on the smartphone makes a lot of sense for both of us. So, here we are, introducing you to our brand new Simple Phone. Only having control over both software and hardware ensures the ultimate privacy and security. The target audience consists of more privacy-oriented people that do not want to be tracked or rely on big corporations, Google Play, etc. It focuses on people who just want to get things done in a simple way without having to keep closing ads and wondering what does the system do in the background. Not to mention consistency again as the core apps are developed by us. Hope you will like it just like we do 🙂

      Simple Phone's effort to release its own mobile OS is promising for ordinary users. Because Simple Mobile Tools represents a full suite of basic Android applications, in can, ideally, provide a privacy-friendly and user-friendly alternative to stock Android by providing a unified suite of apps. /e/ OS (aka Murena) is attempting something similar, but its app collection is not quite as unified as the Simple Mobile suite.

  20. Aug 2022
    1. ```css .body, .wrapper { / Break the flow / position: absolute; top: 0px;

      / Give them all the available space / width: 100%; height: 100%;

      / Remove the margins if any / margin: 0;

      / Allow them to scroll down the document / overflow-y: hidden; } ```

    1. How do I turn off the requirement to have a lock screen?Today, I'm suddenly unable to use any Google related apps on my phone, because I am now REQUIRED to set up a lock screen on my phone. I get that you want to be super-secure for businesses using enterprise devices. I am not a business. I'm some guy who just happens to have a domain name. My only "employee" is me. I have a two email addresses: My real first name, and the shorter version that most people call me. I do NOT want a lock screen on my phone. I don't want to be forced to give myself permission to use apps on my phone. Why am I now required to add all this bull$%^? Nobody is hacking my interwebs. Give me a f#$%^& break! I don't need a lock screen. I've been using this account for everything (gmail, youtube, etc) for over five years now. I'm not interested in deleting it and going back to my gmail.com account. I'm also not interested in being forced to click multiple times just to use my phone. Let me disable it.So, how do I turn this garbage off?
  21. Jul 2022
  22. Jun 2022
  23. May 2022
    1. The phone will try to go into deep sleep as soon as the screen is turned off. If it wakes up to process an interrupt then it will go back into deep sleep as soon as possible. If you come from a Linux background like me, it's hard to adjust to the idea that during normal operation, the phone is constantly dropping in and out of suspend.

      ahh

  24. Apr 2022
  25. Mar 2022
  26. Jan 2022
    1. This runs a loop 555 times. Takes a screenshot, names it for the loop number with padded zeros, taps the bottom right of the screen, then waits for a second to ensure the page has refreshed. Slow and dull, but works reliably.

      Simple bash script to use via ADB to automatically scan pages:

      #!/bin/bash
      for i in {00001..00555}; do
         adb exec-out screencap -p > $i.png
         adb shell input tap 1000 2000
         sleep 1s
      done
      echo All done
      
  27. Nov 2021
  28. Aug 2021
  29. Jun 2021
  30. May 2021
    1. LocationManager can provide a GPS location (lat,long) every second. Meanwhile, TelephonyManager gives the cellID=(mmc,mcc,lac,cid) the radio is currently camping on. A cellID database[1], allows to know the (lat,long) of each CellID. What is left is to draw the itinerary (in red) and, for each second, a cellID-color-coded connection to the cell.

      To design such a map, one needs to use these 2 Android components:

      • LocationManager - provides a GPS location (lat,long) every second
      • TelephonyManager - provides a cellID=(mmc,mcc,lac,cid) the radio is currently camping on

      and cellID database to know the (lat,long) of each cell ID.

    1. Heart Rate Monitor LED Green Sensor The Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) LED green sensor measures the amount of green light that is reflected back from a person's blood vessel. The following table lists the measurement data that the HRM LED green sensor provides.

      Tizen API accessing amount of green, red, and IR light reflected from a blood vessel

    1. Wear OS is a smartwatch operating system created and maintained by Google. It was announced on March 18, 2014 as Android Wear, only to be rebranded as Wear OS on March 15, 2018. Wear OS is an Android-based operating system that receives semi-regular feature and security updates, just like the version of Android that powers billions of smartphones around the world.

      Wear OS description

    1. The Google Fit APIs for Android are part of Google Play services. The Google Fit APIs are supported on Android 4.1 (API level 16) and higher. Using these APIs, your app can do the following: Read near-real-time and historic data, including data from Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices. Record activities. Associate data with a session. Set fitness goals.

      Google Fit API for Android allows raw data access!!!

    1. Depends on vendor, it would be possible to access the raw ppg signal of wear os sensor, should you have access to sensor hardware driver. Some researchers did analysed PPG raw signal from Huawei watch 2 and here is the paper.

      android /wear OS allows for raw PPG data access, but need drivers...

  31. Apr 2021
    1. GitHub Actions is GitHub’s platform for automation workflows. A workflow is a sequence of jobs that can run either in series or in parallel. A job usually contains more than one step, where each step is a self-contained function. To learn more about GitHub Actions, go through the tutorial on Continuous Integration for Android.

      Brief description on what GitHub Actions is.

  32. Mar 2021
    1. On the other hand, you might notice that this is a pretty goddamn low standard. In other words, in 2016 Android is still struggling to deploy encryption that achieves (lock screen) security that Apple figured out six years ago. And they’re not even getting it right. That doesn’t bode well for the long term security of Android users.

      Compare Android (full-disk) vs Apple (file-based) encryption strategies.

  33. Feb 2021
    1. An intent filter is an expression in an app's manifest file that specifies the type of intents that the component would like to receive. For instance, by declaring an intent filter for an activity, you make it possible for other apps to directly start your activity with a certain kind of intent. Likewise, if you do not declare any intent filters for an activity, then it can be started only with an explicit intent.
    2. Explicit intents specify which application will satisfy the intent, by supplying either the target app's package name or a fully-qualified component class name. You'll typically use an explicit intent to start a component in your own app, because you know the class name of the activity or service you want to start.
  34. Jan 2021
  35. Dec 2020
  36. Nov 2020
    1. It’s quite a bind. We’re committed to everybody on the planet having secure and privacy-respecting communications. And we know that the people most affected by the Android update problem are those we most want to help - people who may not be able to buy a new phone every four years. Unfortunately, we don’t expect the Android usage numbers to change much prior to ISRG Root X1’s expiration. By raising awareness of this change now, we hope to help our community to find the best path forward.

      Android, the ever growing, ever rotting eldritch horror. A horror mash up of ill-supported buy-once dispose-after consumerized devices and advanced internet connected computer. All with locked bootloaders, to insure you are indeed stuck, saddled with whatever level of support the device maker feels fit to give you.

  37. Aug 2020
  38. Jul 2020
  39. Jun 2020
  40. May 2020
    1. When android:autoVerify="true" is present on any one of your intent filters, installing your app on devices with Android 6.0 and higher causes the system to attempt to verify all hosts associated with the URLs in any of your app's intent filters
  41. Apr 2020
    1. AinD launches Android apps in Docker, by nesting Anbox containers inside Docker.

      AinD - useful tool when we need to run an Android app 24/7 in the cloud.

      Unlike the alternatives, AinD is not VM, but IaaS based

  42. Mar 2020
  43. Feb 2020
    1. Mobile App Development Agency with Dedicated App Developers

      Need help turning your great idea into an app on the App Store? ROEMIN Creative Technology has the mobile app developers that can turn your dream into a reality. Did you know that there are numerous apps that start from great ideas, but fail because of poor development or positioning in the App Store or Google Play? Don’t let a great idea go to waste! Work with professional mobile app developers that know how to turn it into a top app.

  44. Dec 2019
  45. Nov 2019
  46. Oct 2019
  47. Sep 2019
  48. Jul 2019
  49. Jun 2019
  50. Apr 2019
    1. In a new article, the New York Times details a little-known technique increasingly used by law enforcement to figure out everyone who might have been within certain geographic areas during specific time periods in the past. The technique relies on detailed location data collected by Google from most Android devices as well as iPhones and iPads that have Google Maps and other apps installed. This data resides in a Google-maintained database called “Sensorvault,” and because Google stores this data indefinitely, Sensorvault “includes detailed location records involving at least hundreds of millions of devices worldwide and dating back nearly a decade.”

      Google is passing on location data to law enforcement without letting users know.

    1. Google says that will prevent the company from remembering where you’ve been. Google’s support page on the subject states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.” That isn’t true. Even with Location History paused, some Google apps automatically store time-stamped location data without asking. (It’s possible, although laborious, to delete it .)
  51. Mar 2019
    1. Sharing of user data is routine, yet far from transparent. Clinicians should be conscious of privacy risks in their own use of apps and, when recommending apps, explain the potential for loss of privacy as part of informed consent. Privacy regulation should emphasise the accountabilities of those who control and process user data. Developers should disclose all data sharing practices and allow users to choose precisely what data are shared and with whom.

      Horrific conclusion, which clearly states that "sharing of user data is routine" where the medical profession is concerned.

  52. Feb 2019
  53. Oct 2018
  54. Sep 2018
  55. Aug 2018
    1. In addition to using the catalog for the 2017-2018 school year, school performance data for the past three years has been uploaded into the app. Altogether this year, 120 teachers and almost 1,500 students will benefit from this solution in Alba Iulia. With e-album iulia, available on Android and iOS, tourists have access to information about the city's main objectives, and local businesses can hold dedicated campaigns.
  56. Feb 2018
  57. Oct 2017
  58. Sep 2017
  59. Dec 2016
  60. Oct 2016
  61. Jan 2016
  62. Dec 2015
  63. Oct 2015
  64. Aug 2015
    1. Your party’s inventory doesn’t even have a button assigned to it — it’s accessed by flipping your device to portrait mode, a clever trick that I expect other games to rip off before long.

      This was bugging the crap out of me. If this was mentioned in any tutorial or guide in the game I totally missed it. It is, however, a pretty good mechanism.

    1. If I'm in the Spotify app's UI in Auto, Auto will try to open Google Play Music if I give a voice command to play a specific track or album without specifying an app, and I don't use Google Play Music, which leads to a dead end. That's exceptionally annoying.