The Sony Xperia Tablet Z, alongside the Xperia Z, now has access to a fully stock Android experience that should surely be enticing for those who love the hardware of the Tablet Z but favor vanilla Android. The build for the tablet is now available in GitHub, but the experience may not be as fluid as you’d want it to be right now. The build isn’t intended for daily use, and Sony is encouraging developers to join in.

Even if the Sony Xperia Tablet Z never gets a fully functional and stable build of vanilla Android 4.2.2, it’s the thought that counts. We only wish other handset makers would offer up such an option for developers.

Be sure to check out the video below and see AOSP on the Xperia Tablet Z in action!

[Via: AndroidCentral]

Even the ATF is having trouble, with CNET’s report saying that an ATF agent spent three months last summer trying to find a local, state or federal law enforcement agency with the skills needed to decrypt an iPhone 4S before calling on Apple.

Brute force password attacks are possible on iPhones, and can be cracked fairly easily if the pin is only four or five digits. Passwords that are nine or ten digits long however can take years to crack. Apple has the ability to crack passwords with ease, a method that the Cupertino company is keeping close to their chests.

Unlocking mobile phones by law enforcement is increasing in popularity, and raises privacy concerns. If done without a warrant, the process raises Fourth Amendment concerns.

Google has a process for helping law enforcement crack Android devices, by resetting the password of the device and then handing it over to authorities. If this process is initiated, Google also notifies the user that their device has been compromised.

[Via: Gizmodo , CNET] [Image: ArsTechnica]

Chat Heads unifies multiple messaging clients and displays a floating chat bubble on the screen, no matter what app one is using, allowing users to have quick access to their chats while surfing the web or checking an e-mail. The feature runs great on Android devices, thanks to the OS’s penchant for running multiple apps concurrently. But because of Apple’s insistence on running only one app at a time on the iPhone, the chat heads feature was reduced to a floating Chat Head inside of the Facebook Messenger app.

Developer Adam Bell spared no time in creating a solution for this, and in hours had created a way to have hat Heads run “on top” of iOS as it does on Android. Bell achieved this by isolating the Facebook app that resides in Chat Heads, taking the remote view feature and making that part of the app transparent. The Facebook app must run while this tweak is in effect, but Bell reports that it doesn’t really affect the battery life as one would expect.

According to The Verge, who has gotten the tweak running on a jailbroken iPhone 5, the app runs the same as it does on Android devices, but is not perfect. Sometimes Bell’s version of Chat Heads freezes, a problem Bell blames on the iPhone’s restrictions on how long an app can run in the background. The app also does not integrate iMessage messages or SMS, but he is working on a version that will do just that. Bell will be launching the project for free on the jailbreak app store Cydia and Github in a few days time.

[Via: The Verge]

Before we all start panicking, let me just assure you that this app, dubbed PlaneSploit, is by no means in the public realm. Teso has been keeping his code close to his person, and has only been tested on flight simulators thus far. The software exploits the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS), which facilitates controls between the aircraft and ground control. The code also exploits the Automatic Dependence Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), which functions as the aircraft’s radar system. Thankfully, the code cannot be used on actual planes, and can be de-activated simply by turning off the plane’s auto-pilot feature.

“You can use this system to modify approximately everything related to the navigation of the plane, that includes a lot of nasty things.”-Teso to Forbes

Teso developed this app over a period of three years, gobbling up old computer hardware that is commonly used on airplanes across the globe via eBay to develop his framework of code called Simon. Teso revealed his app in Amsterdam, at the Hack in the Box security conference. Teso has reached out to aircraft manufacturers and software developers in an attempt to ensure that they close the security gaps that he has exploited. Here’s a list of some of the apps features:

• Please go here: A way of interacting with the plane where the user can dynamically tap locations on the map and change the plane’s course.
• Define area: Set detailed filters related to the airplane, for example activate something when a plane is in the area of X kilometers or when it starts flying on a predefined altitude.
• Visit ground: Crash the airplane.
• Kiss off: Remove itself from the system.
• Be punckish: A theatrical way of alerting the pilots that something is seriously wrong – lights start flashing and alarms start buzzing.

Thankfully, this White-Hat hacker has developed this software to showcase exploits, not actually enable them. With the increasing move from traditional warfare and terrorism tactics to the virtual world, finding exploits such as these are critical to the ensuring the safety of aircraft passengers the world over.

[Via: Android Pit, CNN]

Features:
* Multiuser support
* OPEN SOURCE (https://github.com/koush/Superuser)
* Pin protection
* Manifest permission support
* Per app configuration
* FREE
* Request timeout
* Logging
* Notifications
* Proper Tablet UX

Upon release, this app was only available in a flashable form, but it has now been optimized for availability on the Google Play Store. Koush does advise however that users may still need to flash the file if they are having issues with installation via the Google Play Store, as well as for those users who have not yet rooted their device.

So if you’re rooted, head over to the Google Play Store and check it out. Otherwise, the .APK can be downloaded here. Check out the video below of ClockworkMod Superuser in action!

[Via: Phandroid]

“At Sony Mobile, we continue to evaluate innovative technologies that can help deliver the premium user experiences that Sony’s consumers expect. Our engineers are now working with Firefox OS Mobile and HTML5, evolving technologies which show great potential.”- Bob Ishida, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Head of Products Business Group at Sony Mobile Communications

So if you’re an adventurous tinkerer who is curious about the new Firefox OS, check out the developers portal which will point you in the direction of modding your phone. The ROM, although having the blessing of Sony, still carries with it the downsides of flashing any custom ROM. Users will still get the warning messages about voiding their warranties when unlocking the bootloader.

Have you tried installing the Firefox OS ROM? How is it? We’d love to know.

[Via:Engadget]

At Erlangen University in Germany, researchers used a Galaxy Nexus device to demonstrate a method called “cold-booting” on certain Android devices to bypass security features.  The process, which has been a favorite of computer hackers since it was first demonstrated on PC’s in 2008, uses a freezer to complete its objective. This technique is possible because of the tendency of RAM to keep tiny bits of data for a few seconds after shutdown. By putting the device in a freezer, hackers can get 5 to 6 seconds of data retention, which allows the hackers to get the device into fastboot mode and grab the data using a toolkit called FROST (Forensic Recovery of Scrambled Telephones). After capturing the remnant data, hackers have full access to the device.

For this technique to work, the target device needs to have a removable battery, and has to have an unlocked bootloader. Luckily, the vast majority of Android devices have their bootloaders locked, so this shouldn’t be something to worry about too much. That said, the ability to steal data from you smartphone via throwing it in a freezer is real, unlike microwaving your smartphone to charge it up.

[Via: ArsTechnica]