Database Info

Blackboard Application

I'm looking for a Blackboard Application for Android (obviously). If you don't know what the program is here is a link. It's used for class work at a lot of colleges. There is a mobile app available for iPhone and I believe one is in development for Blackberry.
http://www.blackboard.com/

I previously have worked with Blackboard as both a student and an instructor. Aside from the fact that Blackboard, eLearning, WebCT, etc are all crappy tools, I believe their API for access is completely closed off so developing an Android app relies mostly on Blackboard's end to develop it.
I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but there are other tools on the web like Blackboard that provide your own private course set up to keep track of your documents for class, etc. If you just keep on top of what's being uploaded for Bloackboard then you can keep a pretty nice management suite for all of your coursework, but it obviously won't be up to date with what your teacher uploads.
I hope you find something that works, cause I've looked into this myself. Let me know if you have any luck.

If I recall, blackboard is basically implemented as a website.
That being the case, just point your browser at it and be done.

dossa002 said:
I previously have worked with Blackboard as both a student and an instructor. Aside from the fact that Blackboard, eLearning, WebCT, etc are all crappy tools, I believe their API for access is completely closed off so developing an Android app relies mostly on Blackboard's end to develop it.
I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but there are other tools on the web like Blackboard that provide your own private course set up to keep track of your documents for class, etc. If you just keep on top of what's being uploaded for Bloackboard then you can keep a pretty nice management suite for all of your coursework, but it obviously won't be up to date with what your teacher uploads.
I hope you find something that works, cause I've looked into this myself. Let me know if you have any luck.
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Yes I figured as much. I wrote blackboard on the situation and I've not received a response and I don't think that I should. I had heard however that certain rooted Android based phones are able to run iPhone apps. I don't know if thats because of developers converting the apps or there is actually an emulator available.

lbcoder said:
If I recall, blackboard is basically implemented as a website.
That being the case, just point your browser at it and be done.
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That was my initial attempt actually. Their are various plugins with the site that make that complicated. The website rejects logins from mobiles. I actually have trouble accessing the website unless I'm using either Firefox or IE.

FWTechGeek said:
That was my initial attempt actually. Their are various plugins with the site that make that complicated. The website rejects logins from mobiles. I actually have trouble accessing the website unless I'm using either Firefox or IE.
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You sure about it rejecting mobile sites? I do remember accessing the site via Opera Moblie 9.5 beta(when it was just leaked) on my WM phone and via Opera Mini 4 with out an issue.

tbaker077 said:
You sure about it rejecting mobile sites? I do remember accessing the site via Opera Moblie 9.5 beta(when it was just leaked) on my WM phone and via Opera Mini 4 with out an issue.
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Yes it actually has to do with the school. While Blackboard is run via a website that website is administered by the school. The school I go to blocks all connections from cell phones for some reason. I've spoken to the IT support guys but they don't seem to care about working with me. I'm transferring schools next semester so hopefully I won't have to worry about it after that.

Im not positive, but i am pretty sure i have accessed blackboard with my mytouch. i am running CM 4.2.8 and enochx. what you have to do is go into the browser and go into settings, there is an option called mobile web settings and in there you can choose desktop and it makes you phone like a regular browser. thats what worked for me, hope it works for you too.

Works on Dolphin for me, check my grades there often.

I have also been able to access blackboard just fine on the default browser and Dolphin Browser.
A stand alone app would be cool, but would require alot of work and possibly authentication from the school? which would not happen

I use blackboard with my g1 browser quite often. I cannot say that there are no problems, but can that ever be said in regards to blackboard?

as a student I've used Blackboard, WebCT and Moodle..and i gotta say I found Moodle to be the coolest (and as I recall it's open source).
Anyway, if your school blocks connection from mobile phones, you can use the Dolphin Browser (or the default one if it's modded) and change the user-agent to Desktop instead of Android. Maybe that would work?

Bb on G1
It's always been a bucket of headaches, but i can confirm that perseverance pays off. The main issue is endless loop/failure on trying to login. My most reliable way around this is by accessing my school's main student portal page first and after logging in there, using the Blackboard course link. Kind of a backdoor in but if your school provides that sort of portal, it's worth a shot. Also FYI, when I had a BlackBerry I never had any luck with stock browser, but Opera always worked. Good luck, hope this helped.

so apparently there is a Sprint only Blackboard app out now for Android phones, does anyone know why it's only for Sprint phones or if it'll ever be a standard market app?

YES!! my school has quite a bit of trouble working blackboard, and there are always issues getting students into class, allowing them to see the class shell etc... And on dolphin I can check it, but sometimes it would block me. This app is extremely needed. Sucks its only on sprint....but I'm glad i got a sprint hero!

I am desperately trying to find this app so I cant install it on my phone even though i am with T-mobile.

kmills3 said:
YES!! my school has quite a bit of trouble working blackboard, and there are always issues getting students into class, allowing them to see the class shell etc... And on dolphin I can check it, but sometimes it would block me. This app is extremely needed. Sucks its only on sprint....but I'm glad i got a sprint hero!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you upload the apk?? I'd love to see if it'll work on my nexus! :-D

newjaruz said:
I am desperately trying to find this app so I cant install it on my phone even though i am with T-mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat as you, any luck finding it?

look here for the app....
simple google search for sprint blackboard apk brought me this link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6836687&postcount=3

Why doesn't someone just use skyfire, let's you fool a page that you're a desktop and not a phone.

Skyfire for Android (Beta)

Here is a beta for Skyfire: Android does not have flash, it wudve been nice though, Enjoy!
Skyfire is a downloadable, free mobile browser that gives you a Web browsing experience exactly like PC browsing.
Did not see it posted here, Be Safe!
* Mod EDIT *
Please refrain from posting Alpha/Beta versions of Skyfire as we will be required to remove them as per Skyfire's request.
Appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

thanks for the upload

so is this as good and fast as opera mini?

Awesome, I notice it doesn't compress as much as Opera(pictures look better) but it still renders pages very quickly. Thanks for sharing!

Oh cool. I used Skyfire on my Windows Mobile phone before; it's an impressive browser. Going to try it out, thanks!

so whats the verdict guys? im in love with opera at the moment so not sure if ill use this?

I could not get videos to play

Extremely slow for my liking I will stick with opera

Yes! How's flash player?

bikcmp said:
Yes! How's flash player?
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lol he specifically said that no flash on android yet

Everyone is saying they use opera. Is it really that much better than the stock app? I tried opera a while back (like in october or november) and found it buggy, awkward, and basically unusable. Especially the bug with not being able to see what's being typed. Has it really improved past the flawless stock internet app?

Opera is amazing right now, trillion times better and faster

Seems really fast to me. The image quality is the best I have seen in a browser so far.

I have loved Opera Mini so far. It has been super fast, however here are some things that bother me and I wonder if there are workarounds.
1) When I click a link in a text, email, etc. I never have an option to open it with opera.
2) I can't find a way to put any Opera bookmarks on my homepage. I like to have a few bookmarks I can just click on for the few pages I visit often. Some type of widget would be even better.

All I got were fc's when I tried to run it

venumx said:
lol he specifically said that no flash on android yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that... I mean that this is rendered server-side, for the purpose of showing flash. Otherwise, what's the point?

Hello to those on this thread. We appreciate the interest in our latest product for Android.
The early alpha version of our product that is being circulated is unauthorized and has been purposely disabled from connecting to our cloud service. Hence the controls are there, but without our server-side connection, the video and other functionality won't work. So if you think you have it working, you surely do not as all the key functionality that defines it as a Skyfire product has been disconnected.
Don't worry, you won't have to wait long as we will soon be launching the product for the public.
Jeff Glueck
CEO, Skyfire
Sent from my Nexus One using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

crash447 said:
I have loved Opera Mini so far. It has been super fast, however here are some things that bother me and I wonder if there are workarounds.
1) When I click a link in a text, email, etc. I never have an option to open it with opera.
2) I can't find a way to put any Opera bookmarks on my homepage. I like to have a few bookmarks I can just click on for the few pages I visit often. Some type of widget would be even better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use opera bridge for bookmarks

amd_203 said:
Hello to those on this thread. We appreciate the interest in our latest product for Android.
The early alpha version of our product that is being circulated is unauthorized and has been purposely disabled from connecting to our cloud service. Hence the controls are there, but without our server-side connection, the video and other functionality won't work. So if you think you have it working, you surely do not as all the key functionality that defines it as a Skyfire product has been disconnected.
Don't worry, you won't have to wait long as we will soon be launching the product for the public.
Jeff Glueck
CEO, Skyfire
Sent from my Nexus One using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kind of a **** attitude for a CEO

DirtyShroomz said:
Use opera bridge for bookmarks
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Click to collapse
I am not finding Opera Bridge or operabridge in the market. Not having any luck finding an apk anywhere else either.

Android 2.3 Security Bug...?

Not sure if this is an issue for us, but just in case - I thought I'd share this...
Via Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/29/android-2-3-security-bug-shows-microsd-access-vulnerability/
So I am assuming that I should stop using stock browser for now, and switch to something like the Dolphin browser? And if so, which is better full or mini? Sorry, new to all this, so your suggestions/and or input are greatly appreciated.

Nexus S doesnt have a MicroSD unless this also includes the internal "sdcard" space.

It does include sdcard space. The issue is with being able to access storage, not specifically sd cards.

Right, to the OS, doesn't matter whether it's internal or external, it's whatever device is mounted as /sdcard...

so does this mean no more going to Russian porn sites on my phone?

slowz3r said:
so does this mean no more going to Russian porn sites on my phone?
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Click to collapse
It looks like it.

slowz3r said:
so does this mean no more going to Russian porn sites on my phone?
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Click to collapse
lol Slowz3r! You're too funny, I can always count on you for a good laugh or 2 - thx! On a side note; hopefully this gets fixed when they roll out the fix for the re-booting issue.

Bmerz said:
Not sure if this is an issue for us, but just in case - I thought I'd share this...
Via Engadget:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/29/android-2-3-security-bug-shows-microsd-access-vulnerability/
So I am assuming that I should stop using stock browser for now, and switch to something like the Dolphin browser? And if so, which is better full or mini? Sorry, new to all this, so your suggestions/and or input are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dolphin would not keep you safe. It, along with almost every other replacement browser, still uses the stock browser's rendering (Webkit) and javascript (V8) engines, and thus would still be vulnerable. There are two notable exceptions, though: Opera Mobile and Firefox Mobile. A quick look at the download size of all other browsers makes it clear that they are basically shells/wrappers on the stock browser's engines with the sole purpose of adding functionality to the native browser. There's no way to cram an entire browser (housing more features than the stock browser), complete with javascript and rendering engines in a megabyte.
Opera Mobile uses the Presto and Carakan engines for Rendering and Javascript, respectively. Similarly, Firefox Mobile uses Gecko and Spidermonkey. Because of the different engines used, these two would not be subject to the same set of vulnerabilities.
I use Opera Mobile (not mini, which is quite limited for me) for almost everything. It has much better panning, zooming, and rendering performance than anything else available.

Kindle Cloud Reader

I believe I've done my due diligence in trying to find this by searching. My goal is to eliminate as many textbooks as possible from my backpack, but there seem to be a number of arbitrary walls in ebooks. CourseSmart and Kindle both carry the book I need. CouseSmart doesn't allow offline reading, which I need, and Kindle doesn't sell that particular book to anything but their cloud and a kindle.
So I try to open up the kindle cloud reader and their website only supports firefox 6+, chrome 11+, safari 5+ or Safari ipad ios 4+.
Thus my question is, is there a way to get any of these browsers to play nice with my xoom in such a way to make amazon show me some love?Either that or a way to circumvent CourseSmart's offline issue, but SourseSmart texts are more expensive, at least for my accounting books this semester.
32GB wifi only running 3.2.1
Links not allowed for a noob like me or I'd save you a trip to google with a link or two. If there's a thread on this feel free to throw rocks and sticks at me, as long as I can get the link as well.

Why don't you just download the Kindle app?

nycebo said:
Why don't you just download the Kindle app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The book I need is specifically blocked from being purchased on the xoom with the kindle app.

Ah, I see. So you can read it from the Kindle Cloud Reader and not the Xoom? Very strange. What about on a smartphone?
I hate when publishers come up with these arbitrary rules.
Well, you're going to have to download a ton of browsers to the Xoom and see if one of them will let you load the cloud reader in desktop mode.
Feel your pain.

nycebo said:
Ah, I see. So you can read it from the Kindle Cloud Reader and not the Xoom? Very strange. What about on a smartphone?
I hate when publishers come up with these arbitrary rules.
Well, you're going to have to download a ton of browsers to the Xoom and see if one of them will let you load the cloud reader in desktop mode.
Feel your pain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried smartphone, it still tells me my browser is not supported.
I would imagine if I can get an accepted browser to run, then cloud reader would think I am on a PC or rather that it doesn't care. I kind of gave up on this thread after a day of no responses, I'm currently using google to see if I can make linux run on the xoom which would then let me install firefox or chrome.

Have you tried changing the user agent that the browser uses?
In honeycomb, you will need to browse to about:debug to enable the advanced settings and then change the user agent string in the advanced settings.
In ICS you can try the "Request Desktop Site" option from the menu.

teameos said:
Have you tried changing the user agent that the browser uses?
In honeycomb, you will need to browse to about:debug to enable the advanced settings and then change the user agent string in the advanced settings.
In ICS you can try the "Request Desktop Site" option from the menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That did it. I had tried this on firefox and dolphin but those didn't work. Not sure if I was doing it properly. I had read on the forums that dolphin was a better browser before I even got the xoom so I didn't use the default browser. It let me try as an ipad and a desktop using the wizard walk through, but didn't work. The website specifically mentioned chrome and firefox do I downloaded both of those with no success, but now I think they might work if I use debug. I can read my books now so I'll goof around more with other browsers on study breaks once school gets started.
Huge thanks. Between this semester and next fall this xoom might pay for itself in reduced textbook costs.

Surlock said:
That did it. I had tried this on firefox and dolphin but those didn't work. Not sure if I was doing it properly. I had read on the forums that dolphin was a better browser before I even got the xoom so I didn't use the default browser. It let me try as an ipad and a desktop using the wizard walk through, but didn't work. The website specifically mentioned chrome and firefox do I downloaded both of those with no success, but now I think they might work if I use debug. I can read my books now so I'll goof around more with other browsers on study breaks once school gets started.
Huge thanks. Between this semester and next fall this xoom might pay for itself in reduced textbook costs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad I could help.
(Sorry the for the pointless post, need to get this account to be able to post in the dev section)

teameos said:
Glad I could help.
(Sorry the for the pointless post, need to get this account to be able to post in the dev section)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, spam away. How'd you get more thanks than posts btw?

Surlock said:
No problem, spam away. How'd you get more thanks than posts btw?
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Click to collapse
I thought that what happens when more than one person thank posts.
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium

I'm interested in knowing what the book is now...sparked my curiousity

ZonyX said:
I'm interested in knowing what the book is now...sparked my curiousity
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Click to collapse
Advanced Accounting 9th edition

Shame
I found the 11th in pdf format
Sent from 3D land

ZonyX said:
Shame
I found the 11th in pdf format
Sent from 3D land
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking a look around, but those are different authors. Finding free textbooks in current use would be a neat trick though.
I thought you were wondering about the subject matter. The only way to make sure you have the right book, normally, is the ISBN because all the books at this level seem to have the same name.
The book is 9780078136627
Occasionally you can look it up by authors, name, and edition, but my google always gets clogged up with other books of the same edition or other books by the same author(s).

Beware Firefox Aurora: check the permissions

Firefox Aurora, which will be Firefox 12, has a whole bunch of new permissions. Do you want your browser to take pictures, discover known accounts, administer accounts, etc.? Me, I just want it to render HTML while leaking as little info as possible. So, if you're concerned about privacy and security, heads-up.
This is too bad, because other than the spyware permissions, it's a big improvement over previous non-ndk Fennec, meaning actually usable.

i noticed the camera ..ect prior to installing went and checked official and beta its the same thing
not new
and the whole account ect. this has to do with new firefox sync app that comes with Aurora
so you can set up an account to sync your desktop browser to your phone

cashmundy said:
Firefox Aurora, which will be Firefox 12, has a whole bunch of new permissions. Do you want your browser to take pictures, discover known accounts, administer accounts, etc.? Me, I just want it to render HTML while leaking as little info as possible. So, if you're concerned about privacy and security, heads-up.
This is too bad, because other than the spyware permissions, it's a big improvement over previous non-ndk Fennec, meaning actually usable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are no "spyware permissions".
Permissions are just FYI, they're not telling you that an app is a spyware or not. I know sometimes it's hard to figure out why an app includes certain permissions, as a developer i can tell you that most of the times i have to add a permission in order to include code which is so poorly related to the scary permission's description.
Atm I'm having trouble with a user's review, it argued my app was malware just because new permissions were added.
In my opinion firefox products are safe and i'm using Aurora at the moment.
With this i'm not saying "go and install all the worst stuff you can find", paying attention to privacy and security is obviously a good thing... unless it turns into "android-specific-permissions-fobia", sure, because the other systems (PC, Mac, Linux, iOs, whatever) don't have user permissions so you just install a new app and stay happy.

There are a lot of apps that will request things like "read phone state and identity" that have no plausible reason for doing so except tracking/spying. Many run fine with it disabled.
I don't want to keep my bookmarks in the cloud, so the Aurora perms are just a privacy/security risk for me. Note that if a browser process is hijacked by malware, the malware will presumably inherit the permissions, making the trustworthiness of Mozilla moot.
If Aurora only needed the permissions when attempting to set up sync,
that would be tolerable for me, but it crashes on startup without them.

i set up one time sync to transfer bookmarks
then went to sync under the setting witch brings me to my OS account/sync menu
and disabled from attempting sync it still working fine for me
you can also delete the sync account also and still works fine
sync is not integrated into the browser for some reason maybe because it still alpha
but its integrated into official and beta browser and don't have these permission you're worrying over nothing

Actually Aurora got Sync back a few nightlies ago: now you have an icon in Programs and it's in Settings - Account too. Sync is the main reason I use FF on Android, it's brilliant!

I'm sure a lot of people are not concerned with security, data-harvesting, etc. I am, and some other folks must be also or CM wouldn't have added permissions management. A lot of things work fine with half their permissions disabled (Firefox being one). Others don't. Audible, for example, just won't run without "read phone state." I guess Amazon really wants that IMEI #.
Maybe they will patch Aurora so it will run without accounts access unless you try to set up sync.
Google's whole business model is based on data-harvesting. The ICS stock Music Player won't even work at all until you sign in.
Not everyone wants to be monetized in exchange for convenience.

Mozilla is trustworthy enough, they are a non-profit open source company that has been around for years, I'm sure they have a legit reason for the permissions.

Solution = who uses firwdox anyway?.. Boat browser!
Sent from your bedroom with my GT-I9100

Boat is what I mostly use. It wants a lot of permissions but runs just fine with them disabled. I was using Aurora as much as possible until I discovered the permissions.
Boat also stores bookmarks locally, and can save/restore from sdcard, just what I want. No shipping them off to Google or wherever they go for me, thanks.

Why would anyone use Firefox anyways?
It's slower than the default browser and it STILL doesn't support FLASH!

Odd how suddenly permissions became an issue when android decided to tell you what permissions are requested, yet before when you had your nokia/htc/motorola running other OS's, you would install any crap and not worry about it. What is the developer gonna do? Hack naked pics of your gf from your phone? Phone your friends and prank them? Show your mom you browsing dodgy pornsites from her pretty new android phone? Seriously now, everyone is making such a huge fuss about this its bordering on conspiracy paranoia

I put this posting up as a heads-up for my fellow paranoids, people who actually think about who might get their credit/phone/ssn/email etc., not for the benefit or convenience of app writers. It's like the whining from Swype about how they really needed accurate imeis or whatever so they could count unique installs. And dear Google wants everything they can get, now in one convenient location, so and only so they can serve you the right ads, and you can trust that they will never decide to more directly realize the huge shareholder value locked up there, and that they will never be cracked.
Privacy and security are like a gun: you don't need them until you *really* need them.

cashmundy said:
I put this posting up as a heads-up for my fellow paranoids, people who actually think about who might get their credit/phone/ssn/email etc., not for the benefit or convenience of app writers. It's like the whining from Swype about how they really needed accurate imeis or whatever so they could count unique installs. And dear Google wants everything they can get, now in one convenient location, so and only so they can serve you the right ads, and you can trust that they will never decide to more directly realize the huge shareholder value locked up there, and that they will never be cracked.
Privacy and security are like a gun: you don't need them until you *really* need them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand your point of view, what i can't understand is why some people scream "beware spyware!" while they actually have no proofs at all.
permission + permission = spyware, it's a weird math which tends to damage developers and the whole android's world.

cashmundy said:
I put this posting up as a heads-up for my fellow paranoids, people who actually think about who might get their credit/phone/ssn/email etc., not for the benefit or convenience of app writers. It's like the whining from Swype about how they really needed accurate imeis or whatever so they could count unique installs. And dear Google wants everything they can get, now in one convenient location, so and only so they can serve you the right ads, and you can trust that they will never decide to more directly realize the huge shareholder value locked up there, and that they will never be cracked.
Privacy and security are like a gun: you don't need them until you *really* need them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scared your mom/wife/girlfriend sees an add for fleshlight while playing angry birds? Seriously this is a joke, 99% of developers dont give a rats ass about your bank account, email, pvt sexts. All we want is to deliver an application that would benefit the the community, and warnings like these would be the reason ppl move to other platforms because it spreads the idea that Android is an unsecure platform. So what if it logs which sites you visit? Firefox is one of the software applications that brought OSS software into the mainstream. It has been long established as more secure than IE. If it wasnt for software like this, we would not have had an open platform for our devices, making them much more affordable

Magnumutz said:
Why would anyone use Firefox anyways?
It's slower than the default browser and it STILL doesn't support FLASH!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 both Firefox and this Aurora are horrible browsers. Firefox team needs to get their **** together. Opera is just SO MUCH better. fast, easy, pretty much all options, hardware acc., flash, , and not once it slowed down or crashed on me.

firefox is supporting HTML5 (without h.264 because of licence) and flash is just added, it's still buggy because of AURORA. Aurora is very buggy as you noticed, lets think why? Oh, yes, it's just an alpha relase not even beta. I'm usin firefox beta in my mba 11" and old school 19" pc and both uses sync (which is amazing) I'm also giving feedback all the time with reports, logs and surveys. In mobile I was using dolphin but I can see posibilities.
Firefox is coming with steady steps. Everyone knows ff, and also chrome. Chrome just relased v.17 for pcs and macs. but still no mobile (except ICS beta) (also chrome is a google product and gathers your datas so many times more than firefox) I want to say people could remember time gaps between 3.5 and 3.6 and 4.0 of firefox and you see, now they are relasing new versions on few months which is very good (because now you don't need to wait new features for 5 months or you don't need to install minefield etc.)
About permissions, yes new permissions could be dangerous but hey, these permissions for give you something new like sync, flash plugin or new features. Mozilla is trustworhty and helpful. They are bringing Free Internet Space for years and you can't say they are spying us. there is versions for qr droid, with/without some permissions, maybe firefox can do samething for paranoids.
Also yes I'm supporting and defending firefox but no, I'm not a fanboy, at least I'm still using dolphin for manything and also safari.

Magnumutz said:
Why would anyone use Firefox anyways?
It's slower than the default browser and it STILL doesn't support FLASH!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The alpha supports flash and is huge improvement over official and beta that is currently on market
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

I use "spyware permissions" in a pretty loose sense of "permissions which are not clearly essential to the core functionality of the app". I agree that Mozilla is trustworthy, moreso because you can read the source. But the browser is the most internet-facing and thus most dangerous app, most likely to be cracked, most likely to have access to lots of personal info, so needs to receive the closest privacy /security scrutiny.
Unlike the Facebook crowd, I look at my info as my property, and ask not why I should not share my info with the world at large, but why should I, what benefit do I receive in exchange for giving away what someone else can monetize (the whole Facebook/Google business model) and which may do me real harm if for example app writers Ivan Ivanovich and his friend Bala Babangida turn out to be not such nice guys, and use my info to send me spam texts or clean out my bank account.
Case in point: Google+ app just added "record audio", but the app doesn't have any audio capability, you can't record and post a sound. I remembered that some years back Google wanted to be able to record audio on laptops, "purely for analytical purposes". That didn't fly back then. I uninstalled Google+.

cashmundy said:
I use "spyware permissions" in a pretty loose sense of "permissions which are not clearly essential to the core functionality of the app". I agree that Mozilla is trustworthy, moreso because you can read the source. But the browser is the most internet-facing and thus most dangerous app, most likely to be cracked, most likely to have access to lots of personal info, so needs to receive the closest privacy /security scrutiny.
Unlike the Facebook crowd, I look at my info as my property, and ask not why I should not share my info with the world at large, but why should I, what benefit do I receive in exchange for giving away what someone else can monetize (the whole Facebook/Google business model) and which may do me real harm if for example app writers Ivan Ivanovich and his friend Bala Babangida turn out to be not such nice guys, and use my info to send me spam texts or clean out my bank account.
Case in point: Google+ app just added "record audio", but the app doesn't have any audio capability, you can't record and post a sound. I remembered that some years back Google wanted to be able to record audio on laptops, "purely for analytical purposes". That didn't fly back then. I uninstalled Google+.
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Click to collapse
Best you can do is contact the developers and ask them about the permissions included. If Ivan Ivanovich & Bala Babangida say their notepad is not able to work without your bank account then ok, let's warn all the other people.
Probably you won't have any reply from google but most of the developers (or app writers, as you prefer) are just glad to answer via email since they're not allowed to reply in the android market.
Instead, the actual scenario is more and more devs who get their clean apps targeted as malware and users who get paranoid by reading too many reckless comments.
In general, devs are not wolfs and users are not sheeps... otherwise there were no open sources (eg Mozilla), no android, no xda-developers!