henfredemars

This article goes into more detail about how these new measures will actually work compared to the blog post earlier this year from Google. Namely:

1. Enabling the OEM unlocking setting will no longer prevent FRP from activating.
2. Bypassing the setup wizard will no longer deactivate FRP. FRP restrictions will apply until you verify ownership of the device by signing in.
3. Adding a new Google account is blocked.
4. Setting a lock screen PIN or password is blocked.
5. Installing new apps is blocked.

In this post, we’ve discussed the technical details of how we are restructuring memory in Android to get faster, more performant devices. Android 15 and AOSP work with 16 KB pages, and devices can now implement 16 KB pages as a development option.

I have a large DVD collection containing lots of niche titles that don’t appear to be on any public tracker. I would like to share my love of these films with the world.

I have access to a server that’s online 24/7 with a symmetric link and no data cap. My plan is to use a docker container with a web transmission instance to seed all of my material through a VPN provider (for my own safety). My server was last rebooted 200 days ago; I intend to rack lots of uptime seeding with my server. I have technical skills and I can ensure I’ll have an open port to accept connections.

Questions: what steps should I take to protect myself in seeding these DVDs? Is there a guide or some recommendations you can provide to get the best quality out of the many hours I’m going to spend ripping? Is it possible to trace the DVD reader that made the rip? Are the cool kids still uploading torrents or is there a better technology I should be using?

Overall, I have plenty of content to share, but I don’t want to put myself at risk when I do.

Article refrains from drawing conclusions, instead presenting the data. Android is doing better at moving users to newer versions, but the overwhelming majority of users don't have the current Android OS version nor the previous version, combined.

Bullet points stolen from the linked article:

• Code suggests the satellite connectivity feature on Pixel devices could be called “Pixel Satellite SOS.”
• We’ve also found a clue suggesting that the feature will be offered for free for two years, which would match Apple’s current offer on the iPhone 14 and 15 series.

I want to share this post because I was disappointed to see this popular smartphone cracking tool works very well across Android versions and devices while iPhone enjoys relative security.

The graphic also shows premium devices specifically are vulnerable to their tools, so one cannot argue that the problem is funding or cheap devices getting owned because of dumb changes by the vendor -- premium devices fare not much better. Even Google controlling the hardware and the software of their Pixel line remains vulnerable to data extraction while the latest iPhone versions aren’t.

To me, this sounds like the state of Android physical security might be inferior. Why? What can be done to fix this? Perhaps is it because Android is more popular globally so they get more work targeting Android?

It could also be coincidental that at the time the documents leaked, the iPhone stuff was being finished up and there is actually not that much difference if you have an attacker who has lots of time and money.

EDIT: Removed wrong information. EDIT: Added more material for discussion.

After Linux reduced LTS releases from 6 years to 2, Google has committed to supporting its forks for 4 years.

AI-generated Summary:

A new leak suggests the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, featuring an Adreno 830 GPU, will support frame interpolation, allowing games like Genshin Impact to run at 1080p 120 FPS. Frame interpolation, similar to Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR, increases framerates by adding artificial frames but can cause input lag and visual artifacts. This feature might also be available on older Snapdragon models via firmware updates, potentially enabling AAA PC/console games on Android.

My take:

Fascinating that this feature could be supported on mobile, but I'm personally not convinced that there are many mobile gamers pushing the hardware. Most mobile gamers are very casual, and even Apple has trouble getting consumers to take AAA games on mobile seriously.

Points taken from article:

• Android 15 is adding a built-in mechanism to protect your device from “juice jacking” attacks.
• Charging will be allowed when lockdown mode is enabled in Android 15, but USB data access will not.
• Juice jacking is a largely theoretical problem you don’t really need to worry about, but it’s still nice that Android will protect you against it.

AI Summary:

Google Messages will support texting 911 via RCS starting this winter, offering features like location sharing and read receipts. This upgrade improves emergency texting which is already supported by over half of US dispatch centers. Google collaborates with RapidSOS for enhanced responder info. This announcement precedes Apple's expected RCS support in iOS 18, aiming to broaden RCS adoption.

This sounds like a nice step towards modernizing texting, but it's a shame that Messages doesn't have an open RCS API to encourage broad adoption across messaging apps.

Google claims that privacy is a priority, and perhaps it is, but we can't deny there's an essential conflict of interest between protecting your privacy and Google being an advertising company.

Recent events in this space include Google's new Ad Topics framework, which purports to offer users more control. I feel it's an improvement over cookies, but having my device participate in tracking me is backwards. After all, my device should be protecting my privacy first, not implementing features to track my behavior.

Data "nutrition labels" in the Play Store are a step forward by encouraging proactively a discussion about how user data is processed and used. On the other hand, recent attempts at DRM for the web in Chrome remind us that the main vendor behind Android doesn't always have user interests at heart.

Is Android doing enough to keep your data safe? If not, what steps could reasonably improve the situation?

In sharing your opinion, please take care to distinguish between Google the company and Android the product. While related, given Google may have privacy issues in one line of business doesn't necessarily define privacy practices on the Android platform. Also, another interesting angle includes what's best for you versus what's best for users as a whole. For example, a privacy feature, to be successful, needs to be reasonably understandable by most users and offer a net benefit without complicating the platform for casual users.