Tech Review: Friday, October 14, 2011

New 6" Kindle for $79

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ref=pe_70020_21439970_pe_hero/?ASIN=B0051QVESA

• 800,000 titles for $10
• very small
• Wi-Fi
• E-Ink display
• holds 1,400 Books
• this seems a little small
• read up to one month on the battery
• adjustable text sizes
• email PDF and personal documents to device
• free cloud backup
• borrow from you public library
• buy once, read everywhere
• NO TOUCH!
• lots of difference between Kindles

Secure Android Kernel and 'classified' smart phones

http://gcn.com/articles/2011/10/11/ausa-secure-andriod-kernel-technology.aspx?s=gcndaily_141011

• research team
• Google
• George Mason University
• National Security Agency
• hardened kernel for Android 3.0
• final stages of certification testing
• secure national wireless network for first responders
• looking to replace radio with smart phones
• Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications (CSDA) program
• Michael McCarthy
• Army's Brigade Modernization Command's Mission Command Complex
• right security accreditation to operate on military networks and classified networks
• hardware accreditation
• software accreditation
• triple-level security
• OS accreditation help from NSA
• Android kernel being tested for Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2 certification
• mid-Oct
• testing complete, just filling out paperwork 
• FBI and Justice planning pilot projects on a larger scale than Army

Android a likely target once mobile crime pays

http://gcn.com/articles/2011/10/11/android-malware-trends-waiting-for-money.aspx?s=gcndaily_121011

• open-source Android operating system
• enabling an increase in malicious applications
• researchers say
• which researchers?
• huge uptick on malicious software targeting devices
• smart phones?
• Android?
• poor return on investment for mobile malware
• keeping the market for this type of crime small
• Vikram Thakur
• security response manager for Symantec
• PDF paper mentioned
• http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/motivations_of_recent_android_malware.pdf?om_ext_cid=biz_socmed_twitter_facebook_marketwire_linkedin_2011Oct__androidmalwarewhitepaper
• Premium Rate Number Billing
• example code
• Spyware
• Search Engine Poisoning
• Pay-per-click
• Pay-per-install
• Adware
• mTAN Stealing
• Transaction Authentication Number (mTAN)
• sent by bank
• Android.Smssniffer
• There should be some ways to safeguard this number
• ok
• near-field communications (NFC)

Google's Dart Web Language

http://gcn.com/articles/2011/10/11/google-dart-web-programming-language.aspx?s=gcndaily_121011

• all-purpose programming language for Web development
• class-based optionally typed
• company blog about
• http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/10/dart-language-for-structured-web.html
• design goals
• structured yet flexible
• familiar and natural
• high performance
• main site
• http://www.dartlang.org/
• runs two ways
• browser VM
• Chrome
• JavaScript engine
• resistances from JavaScript enthusiast 
• complex operation without plugins
• in HTML 5

New Style of Attack Can Slip Past Firewalls, Prevention Systems

http://gcn.com/Articles/2011/10/12/AETs-delivered-via-HTTP-traffic.aspx?s=gcndaily_141011&Page=2

• techniques minipulates TCP/IP protocols to fragment packets and TCP segmentation.
• confuses intrusion prevention systems
• packets reassembled by host device
• advanced evasion technique (AET)
• Stonesoft
• Finnish security company
• Vasburgh

Java Review: Tuesday, October 12, 2011

Java Run-time Exceptions

http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/IllegalStateException.html

• Class IllegalStateException
• example
• throw new IllegalStateException();
• use to catch programming development errors.
• exception should never occur unless there is a programming error.

http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/exceptions/throwing.html

• tutorial

http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/RuntimeException.html

• Class RuntimeException
• not checked
• not extra code
• danger of being a 'lazy programmer'

http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/exceptions/runtime.html

• can use to side step catch and specify requirements
• Runtime exceptions represent problems that are the result of programming problems
• If the client can reasonable be expected to recover from an exception, make it a checked exception

Garbage Collection in Java VMs

http://terracotta.org/products/bigmemory?asrc=eliminate-java-gc-tuning-2-gc-sno&gclid=CKzY28G346sCFcPt7Qod4kU9Rg

• Big memory
• works with
• JVMs
• HotSpot
• IBM JDK
• JRockit
• what about Dalvik?
• off-heap store
• not subject to Java GC
• Terracotta's tiered cache
• Enterprise Ehcache
• store up to a terabyte in the off-heap

http://www.koushikdutta.com/2009/01/dalvik-vs-mono.html

• Dalvik vs Mono

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3078301/dalvik-memory-allocation-how-to-change-the-default-limits

• heap-limits set by OEM with Dalvik

http://pallergabor.uw.hu/androidblog/dalvik_opcodes.html

• Dalvik opcodes

http://mylifewithandroid.blogspot.com/2008/12/dalvik-opcodes.html

• DEX file format

http://mylifewithandroid.blogspot.com/2009/12/understanding-dalvik-bytecode-with.html

• Dalvik bytecode and Dedexer tool

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Virtual_Machine

• overview of Java VM

http://ryanolson.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/test-how-changing-the-max-amount-of-memory-per-vm-heap-can-effect-your-rom-cyanogen/

• Cyanogen allow Dalvik VM settings to be modified

http://blog.javia.org/android-allocation-free-code-avoids-the-gc-freeze/

• allocation-free code to avoid GC freeze

http://developer.android.com/guide/practices/design/performance.html

• Android, designing from performance

http://www.xinotes.org/notes/note/1449/

• heap size can be change in 'dx'
• example of changing

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2298784/determine-when-the-android-gc-runs

• code to see the android GC run

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1521317/is-it-possible-to-call-gc-in-android

• requesting GC
• System.gc();
• no guarantee it will run

Java Constants and Conditional Compile

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/javatips/jw-javatip5.html

• No textual preprocessor
• constants and conditional compilation
• use public static final boolean constant for  a regular if statement in regular code
• Have class using the constant interface implement the constant interface