Learn HTML5 and javascript for Android

Learn HTML5 and javascript for Android teaches the essential HTML5 and javascript skills you need to make great apps for the Android platform and browser.

This book guides you through the creation of a mobile web app. You'll put the HTML5, CSS3 and javascript skills you learn into practice, giving you invaluable first-hand experience that will serve you well as you go on to develop your own web apps for Android smartphones and tablets. Throughout this book, you will learn new skills and bring these together to create a web app that runs on the Android platform as well as other mobile platforms.

• What you'll learn Android 4.0 compliant, this book shows you how to: 
• How to build a HTML5 and javascript-based mobile Web app that runs on Android devices and browsers.
• What is HTML5 and how to best use it for your presentation tier in your. 
• Web app What is CSS3 and how to best employ it for a richer presentation tier in your Web app. 
• What is javascript and how to best use for any needed logic in your web app. 
• How to make use of some of the HTML API’s such as Canvas, Video and Audio for mobile to create a richer experience for users. 
• How to build a Web app, case by case, tier by tier, for your Android devices and for your prospective audience. 

Who this book is for:

This book is for Android and web developers needing to learn the mobile web skills needed to build reactive, dynamic and fun HTML5 and javascript-based Web Apps that run on Android devices and its browsers.

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Spyware Android Carrier IQ

Spyware on many smart phones monitors your every action, including collecting individual keystrokes. The company that makes and runs this software on behalf of different carriers, Carrier IQ, freaked when a security researcher outed them. It initially claimed it didn't monitor keystrokes -- an easily refuted lie -- and threatened to sue the researcher. It took EFF getting involved to get the company to back down.

Carrier IQ is reacting really badly here. Threatening the researcher was a panic reaction, but I think it's still clinging to the notion that it can keep the details of what it does secret, or hide behind marketing statements and hair-splitting denials.

Several things matter here:

1. what data the Carrier IQ app collects on the handset 
2. what data the Carrier IQ app routinely transmits to the carriers 
3. what data can the Carrier IQ app transmit to the carrier if asked.

Can the carrier enable the logging of everything in response to a request from the FBI? We have no idea.

Expect this story to unfold considerably in the coming weeks. Everyone is pointing fingers of blame at everyone else, and Sen. Franken has asked the various companies involved for details.

One more detail is worth mentioning. Apple announced it no longer uses Carrier IQ in iOS5. I'm sure this means that they have their own surveillance software running, not that they're no longer conducting surveillance on their users.

By Bruce Schneier

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Smartphone Malware Threats

Two articles of note here. The first is about the prevalence of malware on Android phones. I'm not surprised by this at all. The Android platform is where the malware action is. I believe that smart phones are going to become the primary platform of attack for cybercriminals in the coming years. As the phones become more integrated into people's lives -- smart phone banking, electronic wallets -- they're simply going to become the most valuable device for criminals to go after. And I don't believe the iPhone will be more secure because of Apple's rigid policies for the app store.

The second article is a good debunking of the first article. The author is right. Malware on portable devices isn't going to look or act the same way as malware on traditional computers. It isn't going to spread from phone to phone. I'm more worried about Trojans, either on legitimate or illegitimate apps, malware embedded in webpages, fake updates, and so on. A lot of this will involve social engineering the user, but I don't see that as much of a problem.

But I do see mobile devices as the new target of choice. And I worry much more about privacy violations. Your phone knows your location. Your phone knows who you talk to and -- with a recorder -- what you say. And when your phone becomes your digital wallet, your phone is going to know a lot more intimate things about you. All of this will be useful to both criminals and marketers, and we're going to see all sorts of illegal and quasi-legal ways both of those groups will go after that information.

And securing those devices is going to be hard, because we don't have the same low-level access to these devices we have with computers.
Anti-virus companies are using FUD to sell their products, but there are real risks here. And the time to start figuring out how to solve them is now.

Article 1
Article 2

By Bruce Schneier

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Secure Android Phone

AppFence is a technology -- with a working prototype -- that protects personal information on smart phones. It does this by either substituting innocuous information in place of sensitive information or blocking attempts by the application to send the sensitive information over the network.

The significance of systems like AppFence is that they have the potential to change the balance of power in privacy between mobile application developers and users. Today, application developers get to choose what information an application will have access to, and the user faces a take-it-or-leave-it proposition: users must either grant all the permissions requested by the application developer or abandon installation. Take-it-or-leave it offers may make it easier for applications to obtain access to information that users don't want applications to have. Many applications take advantage of this to gain access to users' device identifiers and location for behavioral tracking and advertising. Systems like AppFence could make it harder for applications to access these types of information without more explicit consent and cooperation from users.

The problem is that the mobile OS providers might not like AppFence. Google probably doesn't care, but Apple is one of the biggest consumers of iPhone personal information. Right now, the prototype only works on Android, because it requires flashing the phone. In theory, the technology can be made to work on any mobile OS, but good luck getting Apple to agree to it.

AppFence

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Android Application Development For Dummies

This is a well written book and a must have for anyone serious and wanting to develop Android Applications, or even looking for somewhere to start. The Author has taken the time and walked through each component of Android Development and shares a great in depth knowledge of Android Application Development that may be hard for the beginner to find all the straight forward answers that they may be looking for.

A must have book even for the experience Android Developers, as the author shares some insightful tips and approaches to Android Development.

With the assistance of this book and the Android Platform expanding, this is the perfect time to get into Android Application Development.

Download Android Application Development For Dummies

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