Tag: Technology

Posted on

Android Web Market Review

This afternoon Google held an event focused on Android, specifically Honeycomb, its tablet centered version of the Android operating system.  There were several neat things that were shown off.  I will let Engadget provide you with the specifics if you are interested.  Here , Here and Here.

One other thing before I talk about the New Android Market in the browser.  Google choose to stream this event live, for free, for anyone with a browser and a copy of flash.  Proving Google is all about being open, this was open to all devices (well nearly).  You could even watch it live on your iPad if you watched the TWIT stream which was in a non flash format.  The main stream looked and sounded great. This is really the way it should be and I applaud Google for making their event viewable for all.

For me the biggest thing announced was the new Android Market . This in your full size browser on your computer.  This is unique, the competition doesn’t  have this feature and instead force you into their walled garden that is iTunes to buy or browse your apps on a computer. This requires you to be at your computer. The Android Market has nothing like this, proving Google’s openness. You can download apps from anywhere you have a desktop and cell service.  At the Library, at work, at a Friends house you name it.  Use any old computer, find your app in the web browser press install and your done, more on that in a minute. The design of the new store is clean and fresh.  It has large graphics, screenshots of the application, a description and then users reviews.  It also has a related apps bar on the side.  The website also has featured apps and the ability to search for applications and then filter your search results by lots of things such as price (Free or Paid) etc.

The neatest thing is the ability once logged in to the store is once click install and purchases all from your computer.  It is very simple.  First you find the application you want to install, next you click install.  You are presented with a screen that shows what services this app uses and you have to agree.  If this was a paid app you are then presented with what your funding source is.  Click OK and the payment processes.  Now within about 3-4 seconds your phone the app is pushed to your phone.  The download and install starts automatically.  In your Notifications menu you will notice a small down arrow to show you are downloading the file, just like if you downloaded any application.  It then installs and that is it.  The website also
allows you to link to specific applications with emails or IM.  There is even a direct Tweet button on the page of every app so you can easily publish apps to your twitter stream. No longer do you have to share the name of the app and how to get there with your friends you can just give them a link.

In app purchase is not a huge thing for me but it is for developers.  In the past it has been hard to do and as a result many developers believed the marketplace did not work for them.  Now that this is available it helps to solve these problems.  It also shows that Google is listening to developers and making chances to improve the process so it  Android ecosystem continues to grow and flourish.

The web Android Market is a game changer for Android, its users, and developers.  I predict app downloads will increase greatly just because it is so easy to try apps.  It is also much easier for payment of apps as well since you can easily change your payment source.  I showed this to a few people at work today and they were blown away with how easy it is.  Apps kind of scare some people, but now they feel more comfortable because things are larger and the experience of using a web browser is better than on the small phone of your screen.  You can open many tabs now in your browser when comparing like apps too. It’s slick and just works! Way to go Google, keep up those innovations!

Some screenshots of the process.

An App’s Homepage

What happens when you click install

Install screen, Click OK and thats it.

Posted on

Adobe Reader X Quick Review

I originally wrote this article for HijinksInc.com
_________________________________________________
Background
Last week Adobe released a new version of Adobe Acrobat, version X.  This is a new version of the program that many of us use every day.  In the past people shied away from new versions of Acrobat reader because over the years the program had become bloated and slow.  However this new version offers important security benefits and speed improvements that make the upgrade worth it.

As many people know Adobe Reader has become one of the favorite attack vectors for hackers and malware over the past few years for a number of reasons including.

  1. The install base is huge! Most new PC’s come with it preinstalled, if not almost everyone needs a PDF viewer and Adobe’s is the most popular.
  2. Quarterly updates that Adobe releases are too slow and infrequent, Only if an exploit is really bad does Adobe decided to do an out of cycle update.  Even with these updates few people know that the program needs updated.  The automatic updates in version 9 have been better but still seem to fail most of the time.  Manual updating seems to be required.
  3. The ability to run things such as Javascript in a PDF exist and are on by default.  Just about everyone does not need this feature and it represents a large place to exploit.
The Good
Security
The biggest feature of version X is the introduction of a Sandbox.  A sandbox provides isolation  of the program from the operating system, to lessen the chance of security exploits.  Adobe does a great job in explaining all about the sandbox features in these two blog posts, Sandbox Post 1,  Sandbox Post 2, Sandbox Post 3, Sandbox Post 4.  This is such a big thing from a security angle that the SANS institute has recommended that everyone install Adobe Reader X to get this feature.  https://isc.sans.edu/diary.html?storyid=9976

Speed
Surprisingly this new version is faster than the old version 9.  It appears to be less bloated and quicker responding.

Other changes
I noticed the voice that will read text to you if you want seems to be more like a human.  The flow is greatly improved. The interface has been tweaked slightly to have more of a beveled edge, silver stainless steel look.  I like it.  Its nothing revolutionary but a nice, clean change.  The updater also now allows for you to set it to automatically download and install updates.  Hopefully this works well and allows the program to stay up to date without much user intervention.   I do hope Adobe changes their company policy and moves to a monthly update policy on the second Tuesday of the month, like Microsoft.  This will make the task of corporate administration much easier on the administrator.

The Bad
By default two security settings are on, when they should be disabled for increased security.  They pertain to features that a very, very small percentage of users actually use.  If for some reason you needed these someday you can easily turn them on, but for maximum security they should be off.  Adobe has even recommended doing this when the program has had problems in the past.
So to disable these settings go under EDIT—> Preferences —-> Then on the Left hand side choose JavaScript and then at the top of the page, uncheck the box that says “Enable Acrobat JavaScript
”
The second option that needs changed is under this same menu.  Choose Trust Manager on the left hand side of the page, then at the top of the page uncheck the box that says “Allow Opening of non-PDF file attachments with external applications”

The other bad thing is that despite these new security features the very people you are trying to keep out are trying to take advantage of this new release to push their spamware most of it dubbed “Adobe Acrobat 2010” THIS IS FAKE and Malware, DO NOT INSTALL.  The SANS institute has a nice post about this as well, even with photos! https://isc.sans.edu/diary.html?storyid=9982

In conclusion when combined with the new security features and increased performance this seems like a great thing to have if you like the official client.  Here is a direct download for Windows ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/10.x/10.0.0/en_US/AdbeRdr1000_en_US.exe