[Q] Bluetooth Networking Project - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello,
I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction for a Bluetooth Networking Project I'd like to do.
The ultimate goal:
- Having some sort of bluetooth app with root privileges, which, when walking past someone, would allow some sort of passive communication without the users authorisation nor involvement.
This is similar to the idea on the 3DS called "SpotPass":
(I would have posted the link, but I'm not allowed to)
I do not have much experience on the subject, but suppose it would involve having root permissions to access the bluetooth module, being able to broadcast a message (to other users of this application).
I'm not sure if this might involve creating a completely different driver.
The reason is actually to create a short-distanced-passive-communication application useful for getting short messages or announcements across, with the low power consumption of bluetooth (vs wifi).
If this kind of communication if not possible, could someone please explain why, or at least give me some sort of link with the reason.
Thanks in advance

Related

[Q] Is android right for my project?

Hi folks,
I have had this idea in my mind for a couple of years now and would like to get on with it and stop dreaming about it and just jump in and do it already!
My experience during the past 20 years has been working as a programmer on MSSQL and VB and VB.net with good working knowledge of C, HTML5, Javascript, VB, VC, Access, MSSQL, MySQL, PHP, CSS, some Java, etc...
I don't mind learning new skills and actually looking forward to getting started, but I need to know that I am not barking up the wrong tree.
I intend to make this an open source project and not as a commercial product.
My dream is to make my phone, my voice-driven computer. Where the phone might not have enough resources, I need to use my main computer as top tier and act as server.
I know ubuntu touch might be a contender but it lacks many drivers for GPS, Propriety drivers, etc...
Let me tell you about my idea first as a high level plan due to my ignorance of the details of this implementation.
I want to make my phone (Nexus 4) be able to listen to my commands via a Bluetooth headset (Through a speech recognition engine), and tell me in in natural speech, things that I need to know or care about. For example: "You have a new email from David. Do you want me to read it or display it?" Sort of like what is now a movie called "Her" without the science fiction and the lovey dovey story part .
I want to write an internet agent that would search the net (from a list of sites) for what I am interested (through an AI program like freehal.net), and keep them for display in the order of relevance when I query it.
I also need to take over the telephony hardware when needed. For example: A call comes in, I want to be able to look-up their number in my database of contacts, if an entry is found, to tell me "Sam is calling. Do you want to answer it?"
I also want to keep a black list table where I know they are trying to sell me something and answer the phone (without me pushing any buttons) and tell them that I am not interested in answering their calls and that they are on my black list. Then hangup. Without sending them to voice mail.
I tried asking the android community on Google 2 years ago to ask why the SDK doesn't provide telephony API front end to answer the call without user interaction, but got no replies.
I've installed ubuntu on my laptop to learn Linux and got it working properly after a couple of days and have downloaded and installed all the programs and sdks I think I'd need. There are a lot of interesting projects in AI and user agents going on and I like to participate in them once I am up to par with the linux environment.
Can anyone give me some guidance, pointers or what to look for. If there are any project in development that I could join, would be much appreciated.
I tried to explain my interest as best as I could. If you need more info, please let me know.
Thanks for all your help guys.

[Q] Security framework aproach (ROM for Kids)? APP or ROM?

Hello.
I am here seeking for help and advice on how to approach the development of a security framework (via APP or via hacked Android ROM to be used by kids, that could be monitored by adults (parents or legal tutors).
The idea would be to develop a (white hat) hacked ROM, that would allow the kids to communicate with their friends, but also would allow their parents to supervise/monitor in real time what their children are doing, who are they communicating with and that way protect their children. The thing is not to spy on our kids, but to be able to check regularly if there is anything wrong going on with our kids (mobbing, insults or harassment). Kids aged (10-14) could be influenced by other kids, adults, or adults simulating being kids, and on some occasions they can be tricked to do things without their parents consent/knowledge that can lead to a tricky situation.
When I was a kid, we had the telephone (wired telephone, of course) on the middle of the hallway, so all our conversations were basically family-public. The truth is that there are not many secret things a 10yo kid could/should talk about, but nowadays, it could be a little bit worrying to lend a smartphone to a kid. I think it's just as letting a kid drive a car; he can do it right, or not be able to evaluate the whole consequences of driving a car.
Talking to other parents around me, they all found very interesting the idea of having a telephone that one could lend to their son, having the kid available all the time, and with the peace of mind that you could know what's going on. Of course the kid should be aware of this, and that the telephone comms are being supervised. I think it's no big deal. "Kid, it's very simple. The telephone is mine, and if you want to use it you have to use it under my terms".
Probably, all of us working for a company, have also our communications supervised, cannot make personal phonecalls with the company's telephones, probably cannot navigate to webs looking for personal content, and we asume those rules (because neither the company's phones nor the computers are ours but our company's). It's basically the same, switching the company-employee role to a father-son one.
So, let's get to the point (technically). I am a tech-geek, linux pro-user, have compiled a few ROMs just for personal use, but don't feel capable enough of starting a project of these magnitude alone. If there is anyone willing to help, opine, or whatever, will be very welcome.
First of all, APP or ROM? I basically think that the ROM is the way to go, but I'm asking just in case someone can convince me on the contrary. I will make a poll on this question.
APP An APP could be easily downloaded and installed but would require a rooted phone, and I don't see it clearly if an APP could resolve all the needed issues (access to communications for example) and could be fairly easily uninstalled too.
ROM On the other hand, a ROM would be trickier to uninstall (basically flashing another ROM) but wouldn't be as easy to install as an APP (though the installer model of cyanogenmod could be kind of a solution). There could be an universal (if possible) independent flashable module, over whatever android ROM, or an entire ROM solution.
Features that I want to develop in this ROM (by the way, I call it 'Vigilante ROM'):
Suitable for as many devices as possible
Web interface for parents available to see device-related information
Some hack-proof measures to avoid kids bypassing the ROM's security
Alerts triggered on some events (offensive words, whatever)
Position of the mobile -just in case-
Suitable for as many devices as possible
The first thing I though was what platform should be used for this ROM. To select Android over others (iOS, Blackberry, W7) was a no-brainer. Now, the question is should we use pure Android or make a CyanogenMod fork?
In my opinion, even though every phone maker has to supply their ROM sources publicly, they usually introduce so many modifications (HTC Sense, Samsung Touchwizz and so on) that it looks more difficult to develop a common security framework over each manufacturer's version of Android, rather than using a more standardized one like CyanogenMod.
CyanogenMod already works with a wide number of devices (and a wider one if you count the unofficial supported devices), I think CyanogenMod should be the base of this ROM. If all the 'things' needed could be flash on top of any Android device, would be even better, but technically I need help with this one.
I understand that basically there should be an internal proxy setup, so that all the communications go through this internal proxy, and based on the kind of communication, we could log whatever we need. For example:
Visited URLs
Whatsapp or other messaging apps should be decrypted
Incoming/Outgoing calls/SMS
Social network activity
I know the Whatsapp protocol because I'm familiar with a project called WhatAPI. The key point to be able to intercept whatsapp messaging is a key generated and exchanged during the app install (although there are ways to later ask the Whatsapp server to renegotiate this keyword) and that's used later to encrypt all the messages between the phone and the whatsapp server.
Web interface for parents available to see device-related information
Behind every kid with a smartphone there should be a responsible adult supervising the kid -even if it's remotely-. In my idea, logs of messaging activity, incoming/outgoing calls/SMS and even the position should be available to the supervisor through a web interface.
Some hack-proof measures to avoid kids bypassing the ROM's security
That's an easy one. CRC checks on some keyfiles would guarantee that the device is not being 'counter-hacked'. Some kids are also very techie, and we should make some defences against kids trying to hack (counter-hack?) the phone.
Alerts triggered on some events (offensive words, whatever)
It could be interesting if somehow the supervisor could receive a notification whenever the kid sends/receives and offensive word, or tries to enter some special tagged website.

[Q] Looking for: Peer to Peer location based assistance request app

I'm looking for an app that allows users to send a request for help/assistance with built in location, short message and some pictures.
Other users detecting a request within a preset range would be notified of the event and be able to respond.
I've found a couple of apps that do this sort of thing, however they are centralised/restricted to specific areas. For example Australia has only two cities covered, each by a different app.
My desire implement it for off-road driving recovery requests. I'm a member of a Facebook group for such requests of people whom are bogged or otherwise challenged. The most common issue I see it people asking where the stuck vehicle is located and where is "such and such" track located.
A few times when a request has been nearby to me, I've not seen it until too late because Facebook felt it wasn't important enough to show it to me.
I've search everywhere I can think of but an unable to find anything close to suitable. I'm hoping someone here might know of something (or even be willing to start a new project).
Many thanks in advance for any assistance.

Need best way to monitor Android device for random crash/freeze/other misbehavior

I support users of various Android devices (mostly Samsung tablets, 5.1/6.0) and we frequently encounter reports of app behavior that is not (easily) reproducible-- crashes, freezes, etc-- and because we only get these reports after the fact, or cannot remote in the moment using Mobicontrol due to state of the device or poor connectivity, we can only attempt to surmise what might have happened instead of knowing for certain what did. Logcat files don't really help us because we cannot connect via adb for geographically distant users, and we need to have such a session running to capture the condition but we cannot know in advance when it might occur. Furthermore, these users are not technically proficient in the least so we cannot rely on their information or trust that they can reliably follow directions beyond simple point and click interface elements.
Root is not an option for us so whatever tool or method might be recommended must meet the following criteria:
-Run unattended, but can be scheduled start/stop
-Should impact system resources minimally so it doesn't possibly contribute to performance issues
-Should keep a rolling log of CPU. RAM, events, etc that is automatically purged to avoid buildup of unnecessary logs, say 24 hours, or configurable interval
-Ideally would email log, with user description/annotation, to preconfigured recipient list upon command from local or remote user when app performance warrants
-License would need to permit us to deploy on "suspect" devices via apk push via Mobicontrol package rules, not Play store, for between 5 and 10 devices as needed
I am hoping to find what the offending app(s) are, under what specific conditions the users experience the interruptions to their work, and what the actual experiences are-- is slow performance being experienced as a freeze? Is an app trying to connect to a network when none is available? Etc. Again, we can't rely on our users to accurately assess and describe what led up to the crash or freeze and unless we are connected via Mobicontrol when it happens we cannot get the details later without such a tool as described above.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated, thank you
Matt
No ideas? Bump
Hoping that someone may have recommendations, we can really use the help. Thanks.

System Managed Devices

Howdy, folks. I hope someone can help answer this question. Mods, if I posted this in the wrong section, please relocate.
I'm helping a friend who is expanding his business by hiring 3 field sales reps and they need to be provisioned with smartphones and tablets for doing quotes, reviewing e-blueprints, accessing email, and so on. So, that's six devices in question, with more to come.
There's a question about whether iOS or Android is the better platform for what we're gong to need. Yes, I know XDA is Android-centric, but this decision isn't about what I want to do, but about what's right for his business. So, your honest input is appreciated.
Essentially, what I think we need is an ACL Management utility of some sort that will support these functions:
Remote access to configure devices in the field
Track and 'nuke' devices if lost/stolen
Remote backup of data/settings
Remote install/configuration of apps by managment
Enforce password protection
Good antivirus/malware/firewall software(?)
Prevent users from installing or deleting data/apps
Prevent users from changing settings
Though I have some technical skills, a 'dashboard' style interface to manage the devices and set a group policy would be preferred. I am aware of Android Device Manager, but I was unable to determine if it will do all of the above that we need.
If you think I've left anything out, please let me know.
Thanks in advance for your help!

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