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Android Things Is Google's New OS For Smart Devices (theverge.com)
Google wants to put Android in the next wave of smart devices that'll be vying to fill up your home. It's launching a version of Android today called Android Things that can run on products like connected speakers, security cameras, and routers. A report adds: The OS is supposed to make it easier for companies to start shipping hardware, since they'll be able to work with the Android dev tools they already know. Android Things is a new name, but the operating system itself isn't strictly new. It's basically an update and a rebranding to Brillo, an Android-based OS for smart devices and Internet of Things products announced a little more than a year and a half ago. Brillo has -- publicly, at least -- gone close to nowhere. It was more or less a no-show at CES last year, and there's been little mention of it since. But today's rebranding marks a key update meant to make developing a product with this operating system much easier. Unlike Brillo, development on Android Things can be accomplished with "the same developer tools as standard Android," according to Google. The hope is that experienced developers will be able to quickly get up to speed and start work on a new product.ArsTechnica has more details.
That seems like adding a whole lot of overhead and existing a pretty wide attack surface just to afford the use of development tools more "familiar" to (some) developers.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
I think I'll be sticking with my pfSense firewall, maybe I'd allow these to run on a segregated network, but I certainly don't want a do-it-all OS to run on IoT devices as well as control the firewall that seems like a recipe for disaster.
Can you imagine install "apps" on your firewall from the play store ( yes I know there are modules for pfSense but the people using a custom firewall/gateway are probably a little more paranoid than the average user going to the play store for their next random App.
I, for one, know that when I think "security" and "timely updates" and "product lifecycles long enough for things I'm going to embed in my building"; I think "Android".
And, when it comes to support and ecosystem consistency for IoT, I think "Google"; because they've earned my trust!
Seriously guys? I realize that 'IoT' is a garbage fire in a hazmat facility at this point; but adding Android? What are you thinking?
we already have embedded linux everywhere and is working just fine.
And no I dont need "apps" for my security camera.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
ONLY apps can app apps, NOT FILTHY LUDDITE software! Appdroid for Apps is the appiest apperating app, so if you don't use it, you're a LUDDITE!
Apps!
Do I want Android, with all of its known, unknown, and upcoming security issues to run on every freaking device in my home? I certainly don't!
Google seems to be run by a pair of ADHD-afflicted billionaires. Add in the fact that this is unlikely to be much of a money-maker for them, at least in the near term, and you end up with a product that already seems destined to be abandoned in 3-4 years.
#DeleteChrome
Look on the bright side. At least this means we know the devices will run Linux.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Not to be outdone in the competition for silly names, Apple announced their new OS named 'Stuff' and Microsoft followed with their new OS appropriately named 'Junk'.
You can embed any of these in all kinds of things, stuff, and junk.
Until next year.
'Cos that's where Google should shove this idea.
Android Thinks It's Google's New OS For Smart Devices and I thought "Wow, that's appropriate!".
The real headline wasn't anywhere near as exciting.
Could Google be trying to preempt Tizen?
Google can't be bothered to keep Android working on their flagship devices much past a couple of years and we're supposed to believe they'll keep a device sitting in our homes secure for years to come? I'll pass.
I can already see myself telling a grandkid, "See this screen on the refrigerator? The settings and options you use every day have an operating system that controls its functions, and that operating system was called 'Android Things' back in the old days. That operating system has a core kernel that makes all of the hardware/software interfaces happen, and that kernel was written back when I was a 37-year-old young guy working in IT. See [pushes button], it's still here today, working just like it did then."
Kid: "Grandpa, what is it that makes us have to push the Big Red Button so much?"
Me: "Ahh, that's the restore automation trigger. It reboots the unit and restores the factory default unmodifiable ROM settings like you know, but the reason is that everything is connected these days. A new thing that hacks into the core of the refrigerator's Linux Kernel from 2016 at least ten times/day. We push the button to restore everything back to working and block network access for an hour, just to help the world slow down the process of using devices like this to take advantage of other devices."
Kid: "Grandpa, why don't they just fix the problem that allows hackers to take advantage of it?"
Me: "Do you know what the word 'profitability' means?"
Kid: "Yes. That's when a corporation makes more money than they spent on producing a product, I think."
Me: "You're correct. Corporations don't consider it profitable to fix problems in their products unless there is overwhelming governmental or social pressure that might make them unable to produce new crap that looks and works great until it fails. Back in 2018, there were so many problems with every new product on the market that it became a 'base norm'. That means everything is expected to be that way, but anything that's better in performance than that has a much higher 'cost to it and very few people can afford it. It's also not considered to be 'cool' to have something different than your family or friends; you know that, don't you, kiddo?"
Kid: "Oh, yes. Grandma and momma remind me of that every day at least 20 times *sigh*."
Me: "Don't sass your grandma and momma, kiddo. They know what's best for you. That's why we have things the way we do. This refrigerator is just a normal product, like anything else that has the Big Red Button on it. [hears alert noise] See? It just got hacked again. It's good for my body. Keeps me exercising by standing up and walking around every part of the house at least once an hour. Do you wanna hit the Big Red Button this time, kiddo? Just hit it hard to make sure it gets activated."
Kid: "Now I think I understand. [whacks the Big Red Button on the fridge and watches it start a hard reboot process] That's why you call all of the people with nice things lazy asses?"
Me: "Watch your mouth! But yes, that's why. Stupid rich fuc... err.. people.. don't want to get up out of their comfortable little chairs to maintain their equipment. Google brought muscular health back to the people of the world by starting the Big Red Button project. Bless their souls. I love watching the kernel throw console messages. See the lines of words scrolling up the screen really fast, kiddo? If you used to watch those, you were considered a very smart cookie. It's a damn shame those days have passed. Now, watching a kernel boot with console messages is like breathing - everyone does it so much they don't even realize it. You know, kiddo, we used to have to read these lines of messages on the console back in my old days.... Kiddo? Hello? Did you just disconnect from the real world and go into VR mode??? Damnit, I wish I would have invested in Google back in 2005. [snores while standing with the Google Sleep Optimization muscular control unit running Linux kernel 80.22.11.0.29.13.15]"