access - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Cracking Glass – Saurik Posts Account Of Google Glass Root, Controversy, Exploits, And How To Crack Your Own Glass

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, Glass, Google, News

Several days ago, something happened that sent a not insignificant ripple through coverage of Google Glass: someone "jailbroke" the device.

Saurik, who posted the above photo to Twitter, had modified Glass' software "while in the Bay Area after picking it up from Google's headquarters in Mountain View."

Understandably, this idea was a bit bedeviling to the press – ostensibly, Glass is a relatively limited platform for developers, who can only write apps using a web-based API, allowing software to be integrated with the device over the internet. Eric Schmidt's words regarding the relative closed-ness (or at least, less-than-total openness) of Glass' platform to start were still wet on the page.

Jan

Titanium Backup Updated To Version 5.8 With Web Server Backup Upload/Download, Support For USB MTP, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Titanium Backup, perhaps the most popular and powerful root backup solution available, got an update to version 5.8 today, an update that brought with it fixes, added support, and new features.

Probably the most significant new feature is the addition of web server backup uploading and downloading (for Pro users). If that sounded like a sentence written in Greek, we'll try to expound – what this means is that your device can now start a web server right from the Titanium Backup interface. You can then download and upload backups on your PC by accessing the server (in a method similar to AirDroid).

Feb

AT&T's Galaxy Note Already Rooted Via Odin

Posted by Liam Spradlin in AT&T, Development, Galaxy Note, News

Today has been a busy day in the world of rooting – we've already seen root access given to the Xoom Family Edition and the LG Spectrum. The Galaxy Note, slated for official release tomorrow (but already in the hands of some eager pre-order customers) has also been granted root today, thanks to Da_G over at XDA. The method appears to be similar to the Epic 4G Touch's original root procedure, and requires just a couple of quick Odin commands.

For detailed instructions on rooting AT&T's new phablet, and to download the necessary files, just click through the source link below, and start enjoying the power of root access on your new Galaxy Note.

Feb

LG Spectrum Gets Root Access Thanks To Dan Rosenberg

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, News, Spectrum

Last Updated: August 27th, 2012

Dan Rosenberg, a security researcher and rooting mastermind, has done it again, this time making quick work of the LG Spectrum. In a post to his blog just moments ago, Rosenberg simply states "Yawn. LG loses, users win," and gives instructions on downloading the scripts he provides for Windows, Linux, and OSX.

Considering all that Rosenberg has done (and continues to do) for the community, I'd highly recommend supporting him by hitting the donate button below. Having already taken that possibility into consideration, Rosenberg has the following to say on the subject of supporting his efforts with money:

I encourage anyone thinking of donating in thanks to direct your donation to the American Red Cross or another reputable charitable organization.

Feb

Motorola Xoom Family Edition Rooted (Again) Following Latest OTA Update

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, News, XOOM

After learning that yesterday's XYBoard root (which was thought to work on all Gingerbread/Honeycomb Moto devices) didn't play nice with Motorola's Xoom Family Edition, highly respected security researcher Dan Rosenberg decided to have a look, hoping to bring root back to the FE.

In a post to his blog earlier today, Rosenberg announced that he has found a working exploit for rooting the Xoom Family Edition. Rosenberg has again beaten others to the punch, namely a developer called Evil_DevNull, who Rosenberg calls out in the post for the alleged plagiarism of a previous FE exploit.

The post goes on to explain the "stupidest root ever," making clear a convenient vulnerability that was evidently begging to be exploited:

The first few arguments cmdclient supports are “ec_recovery”, “ec_btmac”, “ec_snid”, “ec_skunumber”, and “ec_imeiwithbarcode”.

Feb

[Update: Download Now] DROID 4 Universal Motorola Root Methods Discovered, Both Being Withheld Until A $500 Bounty Is Raised

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, Droid 4, News

Update: You can download a batch script to root your DROID 4 now (you'll need to have USB debugging and Unknown Sources enabled in the Application settings menu). Find the file on this page, and if you can spare it, take the time to donate to Dan Rosenberg for finding the exploit. All proceeds will go directly to charity, in this case, the American Red Cross.

Widely known and respected security researcher Dan Rosenberg has evidently uncovered a root method for the Droid 4, in addition to a universal Motorola root method. Though the Droid 4's root access was discovered less than a day after its release, both exploits are being withheld until a $500 bounty is raised.

Mar

Want An Invite Code For The Friday Personal Assistant App We Previewed? Come On In, Because We've Got 50 Of Them

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Applications, News

A few days ago I previewed an interesting analytics app called Friday which catalogues all the events on your phone into an easily digestible format. Friday generated quite a bit of interest, but due to its alpha status, was invite-only, thus not letting any of you without an invite give it a proper try. After discussing the situation with Friday's developers, we managed to convince them to provide Android Police readers with 50 invites.

If you would like an invite to use the Friday app do the following: on the Friday website, enter your email address. On the next page, in the field that says "why do you want to try out Friday?" input: "AP FOLLOWERS".

Oct

Broadcast Networks Block Google TV, Stay Stuck In The '90s

Posted by Brad Ganley in Google TV, Internet TV, Logitech, News, Sony

Google TV hasn't been in the wild for long, but major content providers like ABC, CBS, and NBC are already blocking their content from Google's awesome little TV companion. This, as you might have guessed, sucks.

With the advent of TV on the Internet, broadcasters have shown us time and time again that they just aren't ready to embrace the fact that we can get their content from sources other than our TVs. Luckily, says Reuters, Google is reported to be in active negotiations with the networks to get this content back on. As I'm sure you've guessed already, that essentially means that Google is figuring out how much money the networks are going to demand.

Sep

Samsung Galaxy Tab Rooted A Month Before Launch

Posted by Brad Ganley in Galaxy Tab, News, Samsung

This article mentions rooting and flashing of custom ROMs. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

The Galaxy Tab: It has been hyped as the first serious Android tablet. It is now seriously rooted.

Sera-Apps, the group responsible for cracking the Motorola Milestone wide-open, have been up to their antics again. This time, they've set their crosshairs on the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The result? Headshot. Even though the device is not set to launch for about another month, you can rest assured that your warranty won't even have enough time to start feeling safe.