Network and Security

Innovations in computing form factors such as All-in-One (AIO) and tablet devices that combine desktop-like performance with multi-touch-enabled, high-resolution screens are giving people fun new ways to experience making music and giving new meaning to the often-said statement that music is a universal language. Recognizing this trend, TheBestSync, a China-based software company focused on integrated software and hardware solutions, entered the Intel App Innovation Contest 2013 (Intel AIC 2013) in partnership with Intel® Developer Zone with the idea of combining game and music technology with an AIO device to create an exciting new way for people to play and enjoy music. TheBestSync and its CEO, Alpha Lam, have been on a mission to create innovative, interactive experiences for the entertainment market for the last three years and are no strangers to Intel Developer Zone contests. They recently took the grand prize in the Intel® Perceptual Computing Challenge with their submi...

In today’s world almost every individual owns a smartphones, and there has been a lot of development in the field of smartphone application ever since smartphones started working on Android. There is absolutely no such task that a smartphone cannot let you do. Starting from the basin Internet surfing or instant chat messengers to complex functionality like Bluetooth controlled robot. We have applications for image editing and processing, voice modulation and navigational tracking. Every customization is possible. But still it does not allows us to modularize our smartphone from the scratch. To eradicate this deficiency Google has stepped up on the platform with its Project Ara. Teams at Google have been searching for a way to swap phone components as better ones release, much like someone with a high-end PC might do when they upgrade. And with new details on Project Ara, Google may be one step closer. Google’s modular phone, Project Ara, has been in development for quite a w...

The Android platform provides resources for handling media playback, which your apps can use to create an interface between the user and their music files. In this tutorial series, we will create a basic music player application for Android. The app will present a list of songs on the user device, so that the user can select songs to play. The app will also present controls for interacting with playback and will continue playing when the user moves away from the app, with a notification displayed while playback elapses. Introduction Building the music player will involve using the ContentResolver class to retrieve tracks on the device, the MediaPlayer class to play audio and the MediaController class to control playback. We will also use a Service instance to play audio when the user is not directly interacting with the app. You should be able to complete this series if you're an intermediate Android developer, so if you've already built a few apps, then this series shouldn...

One of the key components of the Android OS has always been the notifications system where you get all kinds of notifications in the notification bar. Sadly, some app developers seem to abuse it by putting ads there. If you have many apps installed, it becomes annoying to see all these notifications. To fix this problem, the best way is to block the ads on certain apps to not appearing. If you have Android phone running 4.1 Jelly Bean or higher, you can easily block this ads by turning off notifications for an app. Here I will show you how to do it. If you already know the apps which displaying ads, just go to the Settings -> Application Manager, then tap the required app to open the App Info pane. Uncheck the box next to the “Show notifications” and tap ‘OK’ to the warning that appears. And you are done. If you don’t know the apps which displaying ads, then follow the following steps: Pull down the notification bar and long press on the advertisement. A...

Cyanogenmod is one of the best and most widely-used custom ROMs in the Android world. It supports the most devices out there and offers a variety of features & enhancements that are not found in the official Android based firmwares of vendors. Normally, installation of a custom ROM involves various steps like downloading files, flashing a custom recovery, booting and more. Fortunately, the team behind CyanogenMod have offers an easy solution for installing the ROM called CyanogenMod Installer. All you have to do is just install the app on both the Android device and Windows computer, and follow the easy instructions, and the installation process will be done for you automatically behind the scenes. The best thing of it is you don’t need to root your devices. Now, let’s see how to install CM ROM using Cyanogenmod Installer. Requirements Supported Android device. Check the supported device list here. USB debugging enabled. (Learn how to enable USB debugging mode here). CyanogenMod In...

Hacking is an art that requires significant in depth knowledge of everything that abounds the digital world. Tech savvy users like to play around with their smartphones. Android devices are everywhere these days. The following apps are aimed at turning your mobile into a hacking device. Let's have some fun, shall we? 1 1.SpoofApp SpoofApp is a Caller ID Spoofing, Voice Changing and Call Recording mobile app for your iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phone. It's a decent mobile app to help protect your privacy on the phone. However, it has been banned from the Play Store for allegedly being in conflict with The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009. 2.Andosid The DOS tool for Android Phones allows security professionals to simulate a DOS attack (an http post flood attack to be exact) and of course a dDOS on a web server, from mobile phones. 3.Faceniff Allows you to sniff and intercept web session profiles over the WiFi that your mobile is connected to. It is possible to hijack sessions on...

Android SQLite database is an integral part “built-in” component. Any databases you create will be accessible by name to any class in the application, but not outside the application. Here we will see how to use SQLite API to perform database common operations. Objectives: How to start using SQLite API? How to create new database & database tables? How to perform CRUD “Create, Read, Update and Delete” operations? Environment & Tools: Android Developer Tools (ADT) (or Eclipse + ADT plugin) AVD Nexus S Android 4.3 “emulator” Min SDK 8 What we are building here? We will build an App that can store & retrieve books title and author name. ( 1 ) Create Android Application File >> New >> Android Application Enter App name: SQLite App Enter Project name: android-sqlite Pakcage: com.hmkcode.android Keep other defualt selections, click Next until you reach Finish ( 2 ) Data Model Design “Table Structure” We want to create the...

Android represents a big potential market. It is also the most open of the "big" phone platforms. All the tools you need to create an Android App are free. You don;t need to pay anything to join a club to create and even distribute your Android App. If you want to sell using a well known marketplace such as Google Play or Amazon then there is usually a small annual fee, but you don't have to use any particular distribution method. All that stands between you and your Android app is your imagination and programming ability. I can't do much to improve your imagination but I can help with the programming side of things. In this ebook I will show you the fundamentals of Android programming. Not the tips and tricks, but how to think about what is going on - that is the general principles that will make it possible for you to master anything that you encounter that is new in the future. What do you need to know to get started? You need to be able to program in a modern obje...

A lot of people root their phones not knowing the possibilities. Here is the list of Top 10 Apps for Rooted Android Phones to make the best of the smart phone. Rooting a Android phone opens up a room of new applications that use root access to gain control. Almost all of the popular phones have tools for rooting. Let us take a loot at the Top 10 Apps for Rooted Android Phones these applications help you get the best out of your Android device. 1.SU ( Super User App) Superuser App is the first app anyone should have once your phone is rooted. Superuser app provides root access to other apps who request for it. Superuser App is usually installed automatically while rooting your device, although some root exploits don’t have it included. It can be downloaded from the Google Play Store if required. Download for free from Google Play Store. 2. Juice Defender Ultimate Are we ever happy with the battery performance on our Android devices? Everyone wants more power to do more. It’s possible by...

You might have noticed that lot of android applications introduced a sliding panel menu to navigate between major modules of the application. Previously this kind of UI was done using some third party libraries where a list view and some swiping gestures used to achieve this. But now android itself officially introduced sliding panel menu by introducing a newer concept called Navigation Drawer. Most of the time Sliding Menu (Navigation Drawer) will be hidden and can be shown by swiping the screen from left edge to right or tapping the app icon on the action bar. In this tutorial we are going to learn how to use navigation drawer to add a sliding menu to your application. Example Applications You can see lot of popular applications like Facebook, Youtube , Google + already introduced navigation drawer menu in their applications. Following are the navigation drawer menus of multiple apps. In order to demonstrate navigation drawer, I am taking an example of Google+ navigation drawer and e...