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Guys, theres a movement in the community to get rid of this site which sells access to pirated paid apps. Now, this isnt to promote the site, this is to get rid of it. Please go here and sign the petition. All the information is there. Support app developers who work hard to make our phones better by helping to get rid of these pirates.
http://bit.ly/bkKwaZ
Support your community!
Also, if you follow this link: http://twitter.com/Mini_Lee/status/20682622042 it will take you to the tweet i put out with the petition link directly in it. So if you're one of those people with thousands of followers on twitter, send it out!
Done, and tweeting it.
Signed - thank you to whoever started this petition!
Been following this on Twitter today. Retweeted protests, and just signed this. I'll be honest, I pirate a lot of stuff, but I wouldn't pirate from a hard working Android dev. If pirating Android apps grew, devs might be less inclined to develop good apps for Android.
OP updated with link to RT'able tweet link.
Kusotare, what do you intend to do with the results of the petition?
I checked, their domain is registered through GoDaddy and hidden by DomainsByProxy. I sent an e-mail to DomainsByProxy to see whether they actually respond to information about illegal activity. It has been my experience that such complaints to GoDaddy will go unanswered but e-mail is cheap so I hit them up too.
But in all honesty, this will be a minor hiccup, if it gets them taken down at all. The overall IP block is owned by Worldstream out of the Netherlands (according to the RIPE branch of IANA), although some tools report the actual location as Portugal. If you run a reverse IP lookup (try a good one like YouGetSignal), the web server at the same IP is also host to a bunch of Iranian spam and piracy blogs under the vatanblog.com domain, so my guess is whomever owns the server (which isn't going to be the same as those running the network where the IP block is managed) isn't going to be too worried about the results of a petition.
But I suppose it can't hurt to hit up Worldstream, so I've e-mailed them as well.
P.S. Phromik, speaking as a software developer who has been victimized by piracy, you're a hypocritical tool.
^ really no need for that last part, though I understand why you would say it.
s15274n said:
^ really no need for that last part, though I understand why you would say it.
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Click to collapse
Really no need for him to roll in here and brag about his piracy, is there?
Fighting piracy is and will always be a losing battle, but when people are actually out there profiting from other people's hard work something needs to be done.
Signed and tweeted and facebooked. I will also follow suit and send emails to godaddy and Domainsbyproxy.
Except he's not bragging... he's being honest.
srqt said:
Fighting piracy is and will always be a losing battle, but when people are actually out there profiting from other people's hard work something needs to be done.
Signed and tweeted and facebooked. I will also follow suit and send emails to godaddy and Domainsbyproxy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GoDaddy are the domain registrant. The actual website is hosted on a dedicated server provided by worldstream.nl so you want to be contacting [email protected] as well as the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN at [email protected]
It's interesting to note that the same dedicated server is being used to host several other warez sites including some pornography forums. I'm pretty sure neither the server provider or BREIN would be happy about these.
It's interesting to note that within the last 12 hours androidplayground has been taken offline. However I suspect this was done by the owner rather than any takedown notice. He has already set his twitter account to private and one of the last tweets he sent was about having a new server ready.
To Bad google isn't jumping on this. I mean you see his lame comment on nearly every app that comes out in the market.
What confuses me is why would somebody send him money to become a member knowing he/she is a thief in the first place.
The results of the petition will be sent to the domain registrar, the host and paypal in a three way attack. If all goes well, they'll lose their domain, hosting and ability to charge people through paypal simultaneously. I have already emailed all three of the companies to let them know about the petition.
So yes, while it may be a losing battle in the long run to fight piracy, at least we can do what we can. Signing a petition or firing off an email takes the same amount of time it does to write a post here, so why not help out?
Response from Worldstream:
Hi,
The website has been taken down earlier today.
Met vriendelijke groet / Kind regards,
Dirk Vromans
Technical Engineer
Worldstream C.V.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although from one of the earlier posts it sounds like the site owner was already planning to move it anyway -- which is what I was getting at earlier. The best you can hope for is to just go chasing him around endlessly.
I saw the same crap over and over in the Palm Treo software world...
The new licensing system might help. =]
Phromik said:
...If pirating Android apps grew, devs might be less inclined to develop good apps for Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever....
Without defending what I consider to be a low-life, who spams every review on the Market, most pirates wouldn't really buy most products they steal, just as most people don't normally pirate stuff they genuinely want and like.
There are a ton of pirate sources for the iPhone, yet good developers do pretty well in the App store.
The only developers whining are the ones who have a crappy product and blame the nebulous evil of "piracy" for their lack of success.
This is outrageous!! Piracy should be free.
I mean that completely tongue-in-cheek, as I spend a LOT of money on android software. I admit I don't hate piracy in general, as a sort of try-before-you-buy system, but charging money for stolen goods is evil. These people are scum.
Former AndroidPlayground.net user
I used to use this site because I just assumed that they had an agreement with the developers. I couldn't even imagine the audacity it would take to charge people for pirated software.
One thing I do wonder, why do Android apps cost more than iPhone apps? This might be part of the reason people feel like they are being ripped off by the android developers and say, "screw you then".
NOT trying to justify it, but it is something to consider.
jswanstr said:
One thing I do wonder, why do Android apps cost more than iPhone apps? This might be part of the reason people feel like they are being ripped off by the android developers and say, "screw you then".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just guessing, but so far all data indicates that iPhone users seem to be significantly more willing to pay for apps. I'm hoping this changes as the Android becomes more mainstream.
So coming from the world of iPad.. yeah yeah, groan, another one of these, haha... I find that there's a big gap that Samsung\Android\Google has in the following areas when it comes to apps for tablet:
- Lack of an easy way to sort by "tablet optimized" ... the market has a Tablet featured section, but it doesn't seem to be able to search and sort by tablet only apps. This is very difficult to navigate.
- The term HD used to mean tablet optimized, but it seems this is becoming less and less common as some phones are now "HD" so the developers are more and more reluctant to call them HD to mean Tablet Edition.
Does anyone have any advice for me as to a good way to sort through and find apps specifically designed for the Tablet devices? I have the 10.1 so obviously the tablet apps are kinda a must, otherwise my eyes hurt looking at the low-res conversions of phone apps, haha.
Or is there a tracker that tracks Android TABLET Versions of apps available and as they come out?
There is a thread in the xoom or transformer forum that is keeping track of tablet compatible apps.
xManMythLegend said:
There is a thread in the xoom or transformer forum that is keeping track of tablet compatible apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No link? (usually it's customary to provide the link when referencing another forum)... kinda gives credibility to the comment, hehe.
bella92108 said:
No link?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
. . . . . .
bella92108 said:
Entitlement in this country is so strange
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vansmack said:
. . . . . .
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Way to try and boost your post count. Congrats on posting the most worthless post of the day. You clearly need to look up the word entitlement and educate yourself as to what's entitlement and what's not.
Oh by the way, I just found a website selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 32 GB models for $529... wanna know the link? Oh, it's on google, or yahoo or somewhere.
The point is when someone asks a question, and you take the time to respond, it's generally the norm that if you're are going to point them in the direction in the name of being helpful, that you indicate a location of a thread.. Saying they thought they saw something, maybe in the xoom, maybe in the transformer thread, that narrows it down to only about 2500 threads. Common sense. If you don't know an answer it's OK to say I DONT KNOW, or say nothing at all.
A smart man keeps his mouth shut when he doesn't know an answer.
EDIT - I just did a review of your last 10 posts. Every one you argue for the sake of arguing, providing zero benefit to any of the 150 conversations you've participated in over the past 4 years.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1032381
Took about one minute to find
dagaetch said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1032381
Took about one minute to find
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Click to collapse
Ahh, yes, I've read this post before and was afraid that's what that user was referring to.
Unfortunately the question I asked was not which apps are COMPATIBLE with Android 3.1\Galaxy Tab, but that are in fact optimized for Galaxy Tab.
Sorry I thought I was clear. I understand most apps will run and be compatible with 3.1. but their resolution is poor ... so I was more looking for info as to if there is a thread where someone is keeping track of native tablet apps as they're released.
Thanks!
EDIT: I re-read my OP, and I was clear that I wasn't looking for a "compatible app" list as most apps are in fact compatible, but in fact looking for tablet-optimized\specific apps.
if you read that thread, you would see that there is a green asterisk next to all apps that are optimized for tablet viewing. Honestly, someone has to do the work of compiling these lists...if you're unhappy with what's available, create one!
dagaetch said:
if you read that thread, you would see that there is a green asterisk next to all apps that are optimized for tablet viewing. Honestly, someone has to do the work of compiling these lists...if you're unhappy with what's available, create one!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, was going to create one of the apps as I find them, but no need to reinvent the wheel until I've asked if anyone has already, hehe.
I'll open a thread in the general or apps section under galaxy tab 10.1
I had that same question and I wrote to someone at the Android Market and this is the response I got:
"Thank you for your feedback. The ‘Android Apps for Tablets’ section contains featured apps for the tablet. As you’ve mentioned, it isn’t a comprehensive listing of all apps that are designed for your Honeycomb tablet.
If an app is listed in the Android Market accessed from the tablet, the developer of the app has indicated that it is compatible with your device.
I appreciate your feedback regarding the labeling of this section and will forward it to the rest of the Android team."
I had asked about apps optimized for tablets/honeycomb...but regardless of what I asked, the above is the response I got.
tlegower said:
I had that same question and I wrote to someone at the Android Market and this is the response I got:
"Thank you for your feedback. The ‘Android Apps for Tablets’ section contains featured apps for the tablet. As you’ve mentioned, it isn’t a comprehensive listing of all apps that are designed for your Honeycomb tablet.
If an app is listed in the Android Market accessed from the tablet, the developer of the app has indicated that it is compatible with your device.
I appreciate your feedback regarding the labeling of this section and will forward it to the rest of the Android team."
I had asked about apps optimized for tablets/honeycomb...but regardless of what I asked, the above is the response I got.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't seem to see value in their own new OS. The biggest anti-android tablet marketing tool Apple is using is "look, they don't even have apps for tablet" and when Android hides them or doesn't give option to show they do have tablet-optimized apps, it makes Apple look right.
1. First I highly suggest you install AppBrain as you'll get a lot more detail from there about apps. Visit appbrain.com and you will see what I mean. It gives you the links to the Android marketplace so you won't have to install unknown apks.
2. Sorry about the people on the forum. Sometimes people can be testy about newbies and their questions. Feel free to PM me with any questions. It takes a while to get the hang of things but the core Android supporters are pretty good at finding things for themselves. We've had plenty of practice.
3. Don't be afraid to start threads about things like this. Most of us don't pay attention to little things like this. To you, this a big thing and I can see it might turn alot of people away from Android tablets if they don't fix it. Perhaps a petition or thousands of e-mails will get their attention.
4. All of the apps I have installed (152) look great. Which ones are you having problems with? E-mail the developers and let us know as well so we can test them out. If they suck, we could all give the developers some feedback on it.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
goalweiser said:
1. First I highly suggest you install AppBrain as you'll get a lot more detail from there about apps. Visit appbrain.com and you will see what I mean. It gives you the links to the Android marketplace so you won't have to install unknown apks.
2. Sorry about the people on the forum. Sometimes people can be testy about newbies and their questions. Feel free to PM me with any questions. It takes a while to get the hang of things but the core Android supporters are pretty good at finding things for themselves. We've had plenty of practice.
3. Don't be afraid to start threads about things like this. Most of us don't pay attention to little things like this. To you, this a big thing and I can see it might turn alot of people away from Android tablets if they don't fix it. Perhaps a petition or thousands of e-mails will get their attention.
4. All of the apps I have installed (152) look great. Which ones are you having problems with? E-mail the developers and let us know as well so we can test them out. If they suck, we could all give the developers some feedback on it.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I completely forgot about Appbrain Thanks And thanks for offering to help. I appreciate it.
There are very few apps that don't work... in fact, I haven't run into any that don't work, I was more asking because for example when comparing an app like Stock Alert - Tablet Edition to an app like Fidelity which doesn't have a tablet app (well they have iPad but not Android 3.1 tab yet), I more meant I just like the ones that are specifically made to take advantage of the tablet's great screen size.
Thanks again, you're class all the way, your response picked me up and made my day. I appreciate it.
tlegower said:
I had that same question and I wrote to someone at the Android Market and this is the response I got:
"Thank you for your feedback. The ‘Android Apps for Tablets’ section contains featured apps for the tablet. As you’ve mentioned, it isn’t a comprehensive listing of all apps that are designed for your Honeycomb tablet.
If an app is listed in the Android Market accessed from the tablet, the developer of the app has indicated that it is compatible with your device.
I appreciate your feedback regarding the labeling of this section and will forward it to the rest of the Android team."
I had asked about apps optimized for tablets/honeycomb...but regardless of what I asked, the above is the response I got.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's say it this way. If the Android Market doesn't have a up to date tablet/honeycomb section, it is very difficult for developers to develop tablet optimized apps. Because, why investing in this new platform when you get buried between the 400.000 apps currently on the market?
It's the first section that's on the market's main page... how is it hard to find or view apps marked as tablet friendly?
X10D3 said:
It's the first section that's on the market's main page... how is it hard to find or view apps marked as tablet friendly?
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Click to collapse
I guess it is even harder to comprehend the word "featured"
Agreed. When visiting the app store on an iPad, there are two very distinct sections, iPhone apps and iPad apps. Everyone knows that the phone apps will run on the tablet, but that's not a reason to lump them all together.
I think the use case is something like this:
1. I need a nice twitter client.
2. Check tablet section for twitter client.
3. If none found, settle for phone version.
Obviously the tablet version (like Tweetcomb) will use fragments to utilize the screen real estate. A phone client would not. The problem with not seperating the app market properly is that you may end up settling for a Honeycomb "compatible" app when there was a much more useful "designed for Honeycomb" app you didn't notice.
I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like people here are hesitant to accept some of these flaws as they try to justify their $500-$600 purchase. I for one love my Tab, if merely for the widget capability and Flash support. We need to realize that the way to bring Android tablets more mainstream is to take our heads out of the sand, accept that these are real issues, and make it known to the powers at be. Ignoring the problems and pretending that all is well with the Honeycomb ecosystem just won't work.
Edit: If Apple isn't too proud to copy Android's multitasking ability, notification system, etc to make a superior product; Android shouldn't hesitate to do the same where it makes sense. It's just good business, and even better for consumers.
Blaine12 said:
Agreed. When visiting the app store on an iPad, there are two very distinct sections, iPhone apps and iPad apps. Everyone knows that the phone apps will run on the tablet, but that's not a reason to lump them all together.
I think the use case is something like this:
1. I need a nice twitter client.
2. Check tablet section for twitter client.
3. If none found, settle for phone version.
Obviously the tablet version (like Tweetcomb) will use fragments to utilize the screen real estate. A phone client would not. The problem with not seperating the app market properly is that you may end up settling for a Honeycomb "compatible" app when there was a much more useful "designed for Honeycomb" app you didn't notice.
I hope I'm wrong, but I feel like people here are hesitant to accept some of these flaws as they try to justify their $500-$600 purchase. I for one love my Tab, if merely for the widget capability and Flash support. We need to realize that the way to bring Android tablets more mainstream is to take our heads out of the sand, accept that these are real issues, and make it known to the powers at be. Ignoring the problems and pretending that all is well with the Honeycomb ecosystem just won't work.
Edit: If Apple isn't too proud to copy Android's multitasking ability, notification system, etc to make a superior product; Android shouldn't hesitate to do the same where it makes sense. It's just good business, and even better for consumers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree with you Blaine. There's no reason why they can't use the exact same structure and call it something else. Apple is taking features like BBM and now Google is working on their own. The market is getting better but it should be further along now.
I wonder how we as consumers can get this message across. I try using other App Markets but I would really like the Google Marketplace to get with the program. They should at least require them to put HD in the title or market them with a special color.
X10D3 said:
It's the first section that's on the market's main page... how is it hard to find or view apps marked as tablet friendly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not here in Europe. There is nothing that even remotely refer to such a category or section.
http://www.google.com/support/androidmarket/?hl=en_US
We should all e-mail the Android Market support team and tell them of this. I'm going to link to this thread in my correspondence.
Hello All,
This past summer, I formed a focus group consisting of university students from various technology disciplines. Together, we conducted an analysis on what businesses and individuals need in order to get started with NFC. Our findings developed our first hypothesis. The team then put its findings into motion by creating a business model canvas, cloud based product and conducting many interviews with potential users.
The technology start-up community here in Helsinki has a keen bias toward learning and adopting “The Lean Start-up” methodology for building successful products. Indeed, I find myself supporting many of the principles and ideas that Eric Ries proposes. Currently, my project is in stealth mode. Nonetheless, I have been actively building product concepts and things are gaining momentum.
If it's anything to gauge things by, just last night me and my buddies were counting how many NFC cards we already have in our wallets. NFC is really moving rapidly here in Finland. In my case, I had 3. One was for the "K" chain of stores, a monthly bus card and the last one was for the gym.
Right now, I'm looking for a person that knows how to code Android. I need a small app built and it probably can be done in about 8 hours or so, depending upon the persons level of expertise. Here's what the app needs to be able to do.
Nutshell version:
1. When the app is launched it automatically logs into the users account and knows who you are.
2. When the users touches a NFC tag the UID is read and sent to the backend via https.
3. Our backend server takes the UID and provisions it accordingly.
4. Once provisioned, confirmation is sent to the app which instructs the user to touch the tag again in order to write it.
Right now we are just concerned with building the minimal viable product as regards this app.
The next step will be to tie everything we already have together with the app and beta testing it through pilot projects we have lined up.
The purpose of this thread is to find out from others where I can find someone skilled enough to help me with building this app. I thought I could do it myself using tools like "appinventor" from MIT but that didn't work for me.
Anyway, if you are interested in learning more please drop me a note.
Thank you for your interest,
Suomalainen
I'm not saying it is overly complicated but, it will take more than 8 hours to get this thing to a working product. Not only is there the task of setting up the back-end of the app but also the layout of it. You then have to consider how it will talk to the server as any thing other than a basic webview, which completely defeats the point and purpose of a stand-alone app, requires use of web services which will require the setup and integration of said service.
Point is, it's much more complicated and involved than you seem to understand. Good luck with your project but you might take some time researching what it is you're wanting so as to better comprehend the time and effort involved.
Actually it's not that bad as you think. The web service is up and running. Now I need an app to get the UID from the tag and send it over to the web service so it can be provisioned. Once that's done on the back end the back end then sends a confirmation to the app to write the tag.
Does this help you?
Suomalainen said:
Actually it's not that bad as you think. The web service is up and running. Now I need an app to get the UID from the tag and send it over to the web service so it can be provisioned. Once that's done on the back end the back end then sends a confirmation to the app to write the tag.
Does this help you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you've gone that far the only other question I have is, why not finish it out? If all you wish to do is read an NFC tag and pull then send its UID to the web service, you should be able to do so at this point. The android tutorials cover basic NFC use which is what you are trying to accomplish.
There may be some confusion?
I thought in the opening intro I wrote that I explained trying to build it with MIT appinventor?
You wrote "I thought I could do it myself using tools like "appinventor" from MIT but that didn't work for me.". So it sounds like you hadn't made much progress and/or thought about not using appinventor. Are you still trying to do this using appinventor or do you want to build a native Android application?
I would like to have a Native Android App. I'm not a coder but wanted to take on the challenge using the Appinventor tool but found it would not work for me. Now, I'm just looking for a person that knows they can code the app and can get it to do what we need it to do.
Are you looking to pay a developer for this work? if so, I could probably take a look.
@ wseemann, Thanks for the offer! Right now the team that I have put together has been formed by folks interested in NFC. Each person contributes to the team a unique piece of his/her expertise toward our end goals and vision... The obvious hope being to get this "startup" off the ground...
Suomalainen said:
@ wseemann, Thanks for the offer! Right now the team that I have put together has been formed by folks interested in NFC. Each person contributes to the team a unique piece of his/her expertise toward our end goals and vision... The obvious hope being to get this "startup" off the ground...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, good luck.
Thanks! Please also feel free to pass along the word to your friends and others you feel may be interested. Feel free to message me as well.
Thanks again!
This [New Approach to get HTC to listen.] thread was OP by hasoon2000, and stickied into Tony Stark's "General sticky."
It is more important now than ever to ask HTC to lend a hand, especially in making some unreleased code available.
Please see the link for the simple instructions.
Thanks,
pbergonzi
pbergonzi said:
This [New Approach to get HTC to listen.] thread was OP by hasoon2000, and stickied into Tony Stark's "General sticky."
It is more important now than ever to ask HTC to lend a hand, especially in making some unreleased code available.
Please see the link for the simple instructions.
Thanks,
pbergonzi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I followed the advice, contacting them, and within 12 hours got this reply, and attempted to provide the requested information:
"Dear (pbergonzi),
Thank you for contacting HTC Technical Support.
(pbergonzi), first of all I would like to thank you for being a member of our family of smart mobile devices. In this case, I want to make sure your request is passed along to our proper department. Remember your thoughts are imperative for us to grow as a community. Our goal is always to provide you with top of the line devices as well as a spectacular HTC experience.
In this case, in order to pass this information to the proper department, I will like to know the following:
• Carrier
• Android version / Software version requesting source code for
• Radio Version Note: This is Baseband version on Android devices
• Serial Number/MEID/ IMEI/ESN
• Software Number
• Full Name
• Email Address
• Contact Number
• Mobile Number
• Preferred Contact Time
• Time Zone
• Carrier
I look forward to your reply with the necessary informaiton. Please do not hesitate to contact us through http://www.htc.com/us/contact/email/ or call us at +1-866-449-8358 from (8 Am – 1 Am) ET, 7 days a week or you can reply to this email by clicking on the link below.
Thank you for being a member of our HTC community and I wish you a good day!
If this answers your comment or question, please click here to complete the process.
To submit another comment, please click here.
Sincerely,
The HTCDev Team
Want to see what others are saying? Have a question to ask other HTCDev fans?
Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/htcdev
Explore our development resources www.htcdev.com
We are unable to receive replies to this email account. Please visit us at www.htcdev.com if you have any questions or need further assistance."
I can only imagine what would happen if 5 million more of us contacted them.
pbergonzi said:
I followed the advice, contacting them, and within 12 hours got this reply, and attempted to provide the requested information:
"Dear (pbergonzi),
Thank you for contacting HTC Technical Support.
(pbergonzi), first of all I would like to thank you for being a member of our family of smart mobile devices. In this case, I want to make sure your request is passed along to our proper department. Remember your thoughts are imperative for us to grow as a community. Our goal is always to provide you with top of the line devices as well as a spectacular HTC experience.
In this case, in order to pass this information to the proper department, I will like to know the following:
• Carrier
• Android version / Software version requesting source code for
• Radio Version Note: This is Baseband version on Android devices
• Serial Number/MEID/ IMEI/ESN
• Software Number
• Full Name
• Email Address
• Contact Number
• Mobile Number
• Preferred Contact Time
• Time Zone
• Carrier
I look forward to your reply with the necessary informaiton. Please do not hesitate to contact us through http://www.htc.com/us/contact/email/ or call us at +1-866-449-8358 from (8 Am – 1 Am) ET, 7 days a week or you can reply to this email by clicking on the link below.
Thank you for being a member of our HTC community and I wish you a good day!
If this answers your comment or question, please click here to complete the process.
To submit another comment, please click here.
Sincerely,
The HTCDev Team
Want to see what others are saying? Have a question to ask other HTCDev fans?
Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/htcdev
Explore our development resources www.htcdev.com
We are unable to receive replies to this email account. Please visit us at www.htcdev.com if you have any questions or need further assistance."
I can only imagine what would happen if 5 million more of us contacted them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to rain on your parade, but you're referencing a nearly two year old post that was made at a time when HTC wasn't unlocking devices or providing source code for them. Tens of thousands did write letters and signed several online petitions, the most famous of which was at change.org. HTC eventually did bow to pressure and provided the means to unlock boot-loaders and released the source code. It's why we and other HTC owners can run different kernels and ROMs now, without jumping through hoops trying crazy hacks and exploits to do so.
The issues are now with the component manufacturers like Texas Instruments and Qualcomm who have yet to release up to date open sourced drivers for newer kernels. Heck, it took petitions and a letter writing campaign just to get them to release the stale sources we have now that were already nearly two years old. Don't hold your breath that they'll be inclined to release any newer ones for a device as old as ours is.
Sorry to give you the bad news but you're jumping in with this pretty late in the game. Our device wasn't a big seller, and was eclipsed by lighter more powerful units within 3 months of its release. All but a handful of devs left for greener pastures long ago. What we have left is a small group of dedicated diehards who are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. Just be thankful that we have them, and that any work is still being done here.
Look at this forum, on a busy day there's maybe 6-7 posts, but on average 2-3. Were lucky that the powers that run this place haven't relegated us to "legacy" status yet. Again, I don't want to down you out, but even if every active reader of this forum were to run out and immediately do as you suggest, we'd be lucky to get a hundred sent in. I'm sorry, but these are the facts. To believe anything else would be at best hopeless optimism, or at worst pure fantasy. Just my opinion.
Ciao
Oh, thanks Odysseus. The history lesson was edifying and poignant. Since the subject was stickied, it still seemed relevant.
Nevertheless, after ravike mentioned just recently about communicating with someone there, I thought communication at the very least wouldn't hurt, and who knows if someone somewhere might just change something. I think that energy spent in changing my mind would be better spent and more psychically rewarding directed toward HTC, even though presumably useless. You for example, are certainly articulate enough that your words might well work a lasting sympathetic response in a developer, and who knows where that will go, even if he doesn't directly reply in kind--he might for example, be kinder to the person who brings his coffee, just as an example.
Granted, 5 million members of xda are not about to contact HTC, however, as the little sparrow, with feet pointed skyward to prevent it from falling, said to the chuckling farmer who doubted him, "One does what one can."
Sorry to Burst Your Bubble
Odysseus1962 said:
I hate to rain on your parade, but you're referencing a nearly two year old post that was made at a time when HTC wasn't unlocking devices or providing source code for them. Tens of thousands did write letters and signed several online petitions, the most famous of which was at change.org. HTC eventually did bow to pressure and provided the means to unlock boot-loaders and released the source code. It's why we and other HTC owners can run different kernels and ROMs now, without jumping through hoops trying crazy hacks and exploits to do so.
The issues are now with the component manufacturers like Texas Instruments and Qualcomm who have yet to release up to date open sourced drivers for newer kernels. Heck, it took petitions and a letter writing campaign just to get them to release the stale sources we have now that were already nearly two years old. Don't hold your breath that they'll be inclined to release any newer ones for a device as old as ours is.
Sorry to give you the bad news but you're jumping in with this pretty late in the game. Our device wasn't a big seller, and was eclipsed by lighter more powerful units within 3 months of its release. All but a handful of devs left for greener pastures long ago. What we have left is a small group of dedicated diehards who are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. Just be thankful that we have them, and that any work is still being done here.
Look at this forum, on a busy day there's maybe 6-7 posts, but on average 2-3. Were lucky that the powers that run this place haven't relegated us to "legacy" status yet. Again, I don't want to down you out, but even if every active reader of this forum were to run out and immediately do as you suggest, we'd be lucky to get a hundred sent in. I'm sorry, but these are the facts. To believe anything else would be at best hopeless optimism, or at worst pure fantasy. Just my opinion.
Ciao
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+1
@pbergonzi I do appreciate that you are trying to help, but the Amaze is LONG dead. If you decide to visit HTC's official website, the Amaze has vanished. They are pretending it never existed. The only things left are old drivers and antiquated software support from HTC (doesn't apply to us anymore). From what I saw, they only released source because they would have been breaking the GPL, thus decreasing their reputation as a smartphone manufacturer.
Also, it's not that HTC doesn't want to support us, it's that they can't. Texas Instruments doesn't support our chipset, and never will because this phone didn't sell. HTC has absolutely no obligation to release source code for less than a dozen hobbyist developers. They have better things to do, like develop for the HTC One. Why would they care about us. That's the ugly unwritten truth about companies.
If they do decide to spontaneously resume support, I will buy 3 goats, paint numbers "1", "2", and "4" on them and release the goats while in school and let them run wild!
pbergonzi said:
Oh, thanks Odysseus. The history lesson was edifying and poignant. Since the subject was stickied, it still seemed relevant.
Nevertheless, after ravike mentioned just recently about communicating with someone there, I thought communication at the very least wouldn't hurt, and who knows if someone somewhere might just change something. I think that energy spent in changing my mind would be better spent and more psychically rewarding directed toward HTC, even though presumably useless. You for example, are certainly articulate enough that your words might well work a lasting sympathetic response in a developer, and who knows where that will go, even if he doesn't directly reply in kind--he might for example, be kinder to the person who brings his coffee, just as an example.
Granted, 5 million members of xda are not about to contact HTC, however, as the little sparrow, with feet pointed skyward to prevent it from falling, said to the chuckling farmer who doubted him, "One does what one can."
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Listen, I hope my comments haven't dampened your enthusiasm. I truly love this device. It's the perfect size for my needs, takes great photos, and connects to the net much faster than the HD2 it replaced. The hardware still holds its own 3 years after release. It was the top of the line when it came out and the build quality that one would expect from a high-end product is evident wherever you look on the device.
The only problem with it is software, in particular an outdated OS. The very software that allows lesser devices to perform better than this, is what's holding it back. Please don't be discouraged, instead learn what you can so that you too can contribute to our small, but loyal community. Together, each in his own way, we can continue to keep the amaze alive.
Maybe it should be "New Approach to get Texas Instuments to listen."
Like for example, in the TI Engineer to Engineer community, where ravike14 is trying to get a little satisfaction regarding unreleased code:
http://e2e.ti.com/support/low_power_rf/f/307/p/305896/1089531.aspx#1089531
Guys and Gals, we have been struggling with unlocking the S4 Bootloader for well over a year. I stay current with where our progress is. I'm not a developer and i know this is a crazy suggestion but what have we got to lose?
Why don't we pool our old devices and use OpenCL (or similar) to tap into our phone GPUs and try a targeted attack on our bootloader? Yes, I know, I know it will take a billion years for a million supercomputers to brute force the SHA1 key. But headway has been made in the last year in finding ways to target attacks on SHA1. I'm not saying it will be easy...it won't. Hell, I don't even know how to get started but that's why I bring the request to you guys. I have 2 or 3 old devices....we all do. Plus if we continue this then every year each of us is adding a device to the computational network.
I know there will be many "nay-sayers" so don't post with negativity. If you are interested and want to contribute then post and let me know.
@Surge1223 @joshuabg @ryanbg @NighthawkXL @RuggedHunter @SamuriHL
I like the idea but this could take a very long time, but there is a chance that one of the first keys we gen is the right key. And why exactly did you mention me?
Sent from my OtterX running AICP using Tapatalk
Why utilize under powered devices?
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/sha-1-crypto-protocol-cracked-using-amazon-cloud/
I'm going to bow out, though, as I'd only be one of the naysayers on this.
joshuabg said:
I like the idea but this could take a very long time, but there is a chance that one of the first keys we gen is the right key. And why exactly did you mention me?
Sent from my OtterX running AICP using Tapatalk
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Because you keep up with the threads on our bootloader, so I figured you would have some interest.
SamuriHL said:
Why utilize under powered devices?
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/sha-1-crypto-protocol-cracked-using-amazon-cloud/
I'm going to bow out, though, as I'd only be one of the naysayers on this.
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Because they are free. Our community doesnt have a good track record for paying for research and development to benefit themselves directly, much less benefit the greater good. I didn't post to claim I have THE answer...I posted with a crazy ass idea which I hoped would spark some ingenuity in others. Anyway, thanks for the link and thanks for being honest.
Hash Collisions
Finding a hash collision isn't like bruteforcing a password. It's (very basically) finding another file that has the same hash. It's not so much guessing the 'password' as it is hoping that mathematical computation outputs the same hash as another file, by sheer chance. There are academic and private researchers who have been working on this for years, with exponentially more processing power and resources than we could ever hope to see. While I admire your will to find a solution, this won't be happening for us. Your efforts are more fruitful by calling Samsung/Verizon/AT&T and complaining, leaving feedback, and doing it relentlessly. I call/email/chat with Samsung and Verizon on a daily basis, leaving feedback and asking to have my bootloader unlocked. If enough fuss is made, they may come around. Verizon and AT&T are the main targets, I just call Samsung when Verizon gets sick of hearing me.
To put it into perspective, you have a greater chance of winning the powerball 100 times, and getting hit by lightning every time you go to collect your prize.
Even today's most basic quantum computers that are being developed could theoretically take years to crack SHA1 (when used properly), granted it could do it in much less time then any Von Neumann machine could do. But nonetheless it's unrealistic to use this as a method to crack encryption. You'd have a better chance getting the NSA to provide the info on backdoors they have (assuming the Snowden leaks are true) that they have broken nearly all modern encryption by providing researchers with a flawed RNG.