We have a project where we would like to use android tablets as screens to display advertisement in several places ( I know advertisement sux , but we need to make this project )
We need to be able to 'push' advertisements to the devices when needed, over Wifi or mobile data
I'm looking for a ROM which would allow an app to run at boot time ( the adds play list ) , and play it , and would allow remote access to the device to update the adds and it's playing order
Does such ROM/APP exist commercially, or it needs to be developed from scratch ? We haven't settled on the tablet's plans yet, just pondering with the idea and cost involved to know if it's feasible or not
Any help / ideas are appreciated
Thanks to all
Related
Hi!
For privacy reasons, I'd like to use my CM7.2 Atrix [Neutrino ROM] without any ties to Google. I've got all servers set up myself [Contacts, Tasks, Mail etc.], so this would be perfectly possible, except that I basically need the Play Store. ATM, it's still the only decent source for apps at least here in Germany, so I'd like to retain the functionality somehow while being able to remove it and the Google account it requires from my device.
Are there any decent solutions for that? I know that there's been some work going on to get it to run in an Android emulator, but this seems to include a lot of unreliable hacking, and I'm not sure how usable it would be for practical purposes. Basically, I'd just like to have some way to retrieve the APKs for free apps and those I paid for without resorting to dubious third-party download sites.
Please not that I'm not trying to do anything illegitimate here, for some reasons someone looking for privacy seems to get accused of that a lot. I could just get the APKs from the phone itself if I wanted to redistribute them or similar.
Thanks!
David
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.
How would it be possible to make an android phone run my app on startup and not let the user out of the app unless they use a password
The device is created for our app.
Not sure about from start up, but you can use the screen pinning function in Lollipop or if it's running an older version of Android then you would need to create a kiosk type app.
Good luck!
There are 3 well known 'kiosk' apps available. They are all capable of doing what you want to a greater or lesser degree. (Kioware, Mobilock and Surelock ....others are available). The problem for you is the cost, if you intend to scale up your devices. If you are putting your app on a $20 Chinese tablet, then these apps listed above all want another $15 or so to install, which doubles your costs!
I'm looking at a similar problem, and I think the true answer is a specialist ROM with most of the opsys actually stripped out. Only problem with that is...... that it is WAY beyond my talents and abilities! I would be enormously interested in how you get on (without needing to know your application specifics). Keep in touch?
Paul
Hello,
First of all I would like to say that I'm completely new to android (except for the occasional dabblin on a friends phone) so please go easy on me. I am tech savy, but just never had anything to do with this platform, due to my not so nice opinion of google...
I am on blackberry passport and am/was a loyal bb customer with all that follows. But please I do not wish to start android vs bb vs ios etc thread. It is a matter of taste in the end.
So long story short, never had anything to do with IOS or android as I prefered BB for security, productivity and slimeline OS. However due to recent BB swithc to android and priv (which id god awful imho) and apparent abandonment of OS10 i am faced with increasing frustraton over current passport usage as it is more and more laggy problematic every day. So seeming that bb has abandoned os10 I have finnaly decided that perhaps it is a time for a different platform.
I am considering getting the oneplus 3.
So my questions are:
- What kernel and ROM to flash? I explicitly do not want anything to do with google or google services, i do not have gmail and have no intentions to open one. I do not use any service connected to google, no cloud sync, no FB, no instagram etc.... I want my phone google free, bloatware, spyware, ads free, cloud sync free etc. so basically I want as much control over what is installed as possible, with preferably NO personal info shared to any service.
- What is the most open source build? (coming from a viewpoint that google is evil, apple too.. I am putting my trust in the open source community) - replicant project peaked my interest, but the supported phones are too old and too few. I would be extremely pleased tho, if sth like this existed for newer phones.
- Encryption is a must, both of memory and communication (pgp)
- advanced app permission control is a must
- if there exist sth like BB hub or other similar true multitasking option even better
to put it simply, what custom rom and kernel to flash to get the most secure, opensource, google and similar companies free phone with maximum control over os and no to minimum personal info shared.
I would very much appreciate if you could point me in the right direction. As i said no experiance with android, but am quick learner and tech savy. so no need to dumb it down for me.
Thank you !!
OK here's a question for all you android-heads: How to get rid of it ???
Android was originally developed as open source but then Google 'bought it' and converted it to a proprietory system which requires a Google 'account' which colates and tracks personal info across devices and systems. Huawei may finally give us a way out of the Yank back-end snooping problem but that can only be defeated by getting rid of the American OS (Android and IOS) which steal and pass all data directly to American authorities and companies. What happened to privacy ???
Sailfish, Ubuntu touch and Tizen may be useful but it would be infinitely better if we could install our own Linux versions and take back control.
The 'newspeak' labelled "Smartphones' remind me of the old 8088 computers from the 1980's that could hardly be used as they were so basic. "Smartphones' are so very very basic that you cannot even access the root to install your own OS and software. Surely someone can link the ideals of the Rapberry Pi to the advanced hardware of the "Smartphone" to get a device that can actually be used normaly ! THAT will be the day! Oh and by the way - in Australia there existed "Communicators" - just like a "Smartphone", but without Sim cards, using only wi-fi and telephony with mVoIP (but that didn't give billions of $' to the phone companies...) We seem to be going backwards technologically Over and out....
Update 22.12.2019:
A new (really) open source Linux phone has just been announced - the Pine-Phone which can run any Linux system. Details at fossmint pinephone-an-open-source-smartphone-for-linux
Install Armbian if it's kernel supported hardware that you can build a map for. Otherwise there isn't really an option, irritating as that is.