Google IO Recap: Firebase, Jetpack, Kotlin, and R8

May 15, 2019 2153 Views Matt Insko

PreEmptive had the opportunity to send a couple of representatives to Google IO this year. IO 2019 didn't tell us what dessert starts with a Q, but it did showcase some great tools and frameworks as well as provide insight into the direction of Android:

Firebase and Jetpack speed up development and allow better compatibility with older platforms. Google reinforced its commitment to Kotlin stating that most of their samples and frameworks will be available first in Kotlin and later to standard Java. R8 is now the default for minification. Android will do more on-device processing to ensure better privacy.

At PreEmptive, we have similar goals:

Staying up-to-date with the latest features of Android development while maintaining compatibility with older platforms.
Support for Kotlin since DashO v8.3 (2017).
Support for R8.
On-device Checks which help protect application data.

The highlight of the trip was the ability for face-to-face meetings with Google employees. We were able to discuss what we have done to incorporate R8 with DashO's Gradle Plugin for Android (available with the DashO 10 Beta) and found we were on the same page regarding the direction of R8. We actually had a chance encounter with a developer who needed a specific piece of advice which we had already listed on The Unofficial R8 Documentation.

Overall, it was a great experience. There was a lot of information to cover in such a limited time. As in prior years, sessions were recorded and are available on YouTube. We recommend the following sessions as they provide a general overview of Android developments:

Latest Blog Posts

Top 3 Cyber Attack Vectors During the Pandemic

Cyber-attacks have increased in quantity and sophistication in 2020, but we may not have heard about them in the news. Covid-19 updates have dominated headlines, and our physical health and safety has taken the spotlight over our technology’s health and safety. While news of vaccines and outbreak hotspots will continue to be the most important “news of the day” – it is important to be aware of security breaches that threaten the safety of our data and privacy.

Protecting Industrial Internet Applications

Bayshore Network Case Study

Today’s utilities, factories and other infrastructure are exposed to high risk. The software that controls many of these entities is not protected. In the last 20 years, the way industrial environments operate has completely changed. Many industrial systems were designed with permissive set-ups that assume only the “right people” in the “right place” would ever give instructions. Past systems were not built with exposure to the internet in mind, and as a result they relied on this “air gap” to limit access to only authorized personnel within the organization. The rate of innovation within technology and wireless systems has outpaced the rate of development in security features. Control centers have gotten better - high tech displays and more capability, but this has led to an exposure to untrusted environments… and in many cases this threat has not been addressed.

Application security can often be viewed by development teams as a time-consuming barrier to finishing a project. In a world where "time equals money", the rush to ship functional applications can overshadow the need to ensure those applications are secure. It is true --- features are what sell software and fixing bugs retains customers and loyalty. Both actions can be directly linked to revenue and profitability. So, what effect does an investment in application security have on a company's bottom line?

The coronavirus crisis is changing human behavior. From the persistent need for social distancing to the potentially permanent adoption of work-from-home mandates, the “new normal” is uncharted territory.

But the growing priority of public health also has knock-on effects in other fields, such as credit and debit payments. While the United Stated has historically lagged behind other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia when it comes to the adoption of contactless card transactions, the demand for physical distance now trumps the functional familiarity of swipe-and-signature or chip-and-PIN interactions.

Facilitating “no contact normalcy”, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) includes guidance for both commercial deployments and software applications to help solve potential payment security gaps. Here’s what you need to know.

Localization is often a key ingredient when building Xamarin Forms applications with a global audience. There are different ways to approach app localization, but most of these leverage the built-in tools provided by the .NET Framework. These include RESX files to configure localized strings and an auto-generated resource class which provides strongly-typed access to the string translation at runtime. This mechanism has been available since .NET 1.1, and is used for localization of WinForm, WPF, ASP.NET, and Xamarin applications.

Google IO Recap: Firebase, Jetpack, Kotlin, and R8

Top 3 Cyber Attack Vectors During the Pandemic

Protecting Utilities and Infrastructure with PreEmptive's .NET Solution, Dotfuscator

Mobile Application Protection Increases Profits

No Contact Normal: Solving the Payment Security Gap

Protecting Localized Xamarin Forms Applications

Latest Blog Posts

Top 3 Cyber Attack Vectors During the Pandemic

Protecting Utilities and Infrastructure with PreEmptive's .NET Solution, Dotfuscator

Mobile Application Protection Increases Profits

No Contact Normal: Solving the Payment Security Gap

Protecting JavaScript Code: The Making of JSDefender

Twitter