The Amazon Kindle Fire, launched at the end of September 2011, has just received a software update with version number 6.2.2 which seems to add the full-screen browsing capability to the fast Silk Browser — which has been already ported to other Android devices.

There’s also some bad news on the same note: the update breaks root. If you are using BurritoRoot to set your Kindle Fire free, you might want to reconsider updating to 6.2.2 as the refresh renders the rooting procedure useless for the moment.

Tip from pocketnow.

Fixed! [Root] BurritoRoot & BurritoRoot2 for 6.2.x (including 6.2.2)

Tell Congress: Don’t censor the Web

Fighting online piracy is important. The most effective way to shut down pirate websites is through targeted legislation that cuts off their funding. There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs.

Too much is at stake – please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA.

More about SOPA and PIPA

Post Amazon update 6.2.1

On the historic date of December 20th, 2011, Amazon pushed out software version 6.2.1 to its Kindle Fire. The update was fairly minor — its main additions had to do with improved scrolling and WiFi passwords — but it brought about one devastating change: it broke all previous methods of root.

How To Root

• Kindle Fire Utility can now root Kindle OS 6.2.1
• Kindle Fire Utility v0.9.2 (1/9/11)
• How To Easily Root The Amazon Kindle (AP)

How to prevent automatic updates

• DroidWall via ubergizmo.com
• App Quarantine via jayceooi.com

Pre Amazon update 6.2.1

http://www.pcworld.com/article/244303/how_to_root_your_kindle_fire.html

Quick and Dirty

[ROOT][ONE-CLICK][UPDATED 11-30-11] Get ADB running AND Root with SuperOneClick

[GUIDE] Install Full Android Market on Kindle Fire (Compilation Master Thread)

Notes on how I did it. In case I ever need to do it again ;-)

So I bought my Kindle Fire and its great :-) but the Amazon Appstore doesn’t work in the UK :-|

So I need to install the Android Market on it, and to do that I need to Root my Kindle fire :-)

Note: I’m mainly a Linux guy but all of the online guides and some of the programs needed are Windows, so I took the quick and dirty route and went with the flow (I used my Win7 laptop).

Downloads

On my Win7 Laptop I have:

gapps

—
Directory of F:\Users\sil\Downloads\gapps

24/11/2011  23:48    <DIR>          .
24/11/2011  23:48    <DIR>          ..
16/11/2011  21:43         3,369,731 com.amarket.apk
16/11/2011  01:05         3,730,612 com.gau.go.launcherex-1.apk
16/11/2011  17:08         2,194,950 com.google.android.apps.books-1.apk
16/11/2011  17:37         2,102,420 com.google.android.apps.googlevoice-1.apk
16/11/2011  17:23         6,222,739 com.google.android.apps.maps-1.apk
16/11/2011  17:23         8,054,357 com.google.android.apps.plus-1.apk
16/11/2011  17:23         1,713,515 com.google.android.apps.reader-1.apk
16/11/2011  22:01         2,198,827 com.google.android.gm-2.apk
16/11/2011  17:20         2,238,785 com.google.android.gsf-2.apk
16/11/2011  17:55           296,419 com.google.android.street-1.apk
16/11/2011  17:55         1,641,145 com.google.android.talk-1.apk
16/11/2011  22:13         2,234,891 com.google.android.youtube-2.apk
16/11/2011  01:35         6,364,805 com.netflix.mediaclient-1.apk
16/11/2011  22:01         1,627,326 com.pandora.android-2.apk
24/11/2011  23:48         2,129,720 ES File Explorer_1.6.0.8.apk
21/07/2011  02:54         2,238,785 GoogleServicesFramework.apk
24/11/2011  22:52            50,870 MarketOpener.apk
16/11/2011  01:21         3,479,375 mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser-1.apk
24/11/2011  22:50         3,369,731 Vending.apk
19 File(s)     55,259,003 bytes
2 Dir(s)  18,166,456,320 bytes free
—
gapps.rar
Vending.apk
SuperOneClickv2.2-ShortFuse.zip
—

Directory of F:\Users\sil\Downloads\SuperOneClickv2.2-ShortFuse

24/11/2011  21:42    <DIR>          .
24/11/2011  21:42    <DIR>          ..
24/11/2011  21:42    <DIR>          ADB
24/11/2011  21:42            17,920 AdbInterface.dll
24/11/2011  21:42    <DIR>          Dependencies
24/11/2011  21:42            12,800 DriverInstaller.dll
24/11/2011  21:42    <DIR>          Drivers
24/11/2011  21:42    <DIR>          Exploits
24/11/2011  21:42    <DIR>          Root
24/11/2011  21:42           390,656 SuperOneClick.exe
24/11/2011  21:42            23,552 UpdateCheck.dll
4 File(s)        444,928 bytes
7 Dir(s)  18,166,456,320 bytes free

—

installer_r15-windows.exe (Android SDK installer).
jdk-7u1-windows-x64.exe
Ninite 7Zip.exe

Copy gapps and ES File Explorer to your Kindle Fire

Connect a lead from the Kindle Fire to your PC and copy these packages across.

com.amarket.apk was in here as well originaly but IIRC it was moved at some point following the instructions in the guide.

Updates to the guides:

The catch 22 is that you need an application installed on the Kindle Fire so that you can install applications and run them :-)

• 1. I couldn’t obtain the “Root Explorer App” from the Amazon Appstore so I used “ES File Explorer” instead.
  2. I installed it on my android phone and then backed it up, using its own backup app feature, then copied it across from the phone to my PC.
  3. On the laptop at the command line, I used a command in ADB to install “ES File Explorer_1.6.0.8.apk ” on to the Kindle Fire.
  4. adb install <path_to_apk>
  5. Then I used a beta feature of ES File Explorer to mount the root partition (Which you need at one point to install Google Market to the right location).
• Where the guide refers to Vending.apk IIRC it should read com.amarket.apk

199.00 USD ( 127.21 GBP)

US Unlocked UPS :

53.48 USD ( 34.19 GBP)

Import Duty:

56.52 USD ( 36.13 GBP)

Grand Total:

309 USD ( 197.53 GBP)

Despatched 14.11.11 delivered 21.11.11

Well done everyone well done :-)

Review to come later but for the moment lets just say I think I got a bargain ;-)

The Bliss Lens takes things old-skool: organising applications into category folders reminicisnt of the old GNOME 2 menus.

This is for those who prefer the more traditional approach to application-menu structure. Each application category is a folder. Inside each folder lay the respective application icons.

Created by Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen, Maintainer of the Unity Application Lens.

______________________________

Step by Step Package Creation and Install.

1) Install some development tools:

sudo apt-get install bzr gnome-common checkinstall

2) Create a folder

/home/YOURNAME/projects/bliss

Run:

bzr branch lp:unity-lens-bliss

3) From /projects/bliss/unity-lens-bliss$

Run:

./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc && make

4) Create a package for it:

Run:

sudo checkinstall

**********************************************************************

This package will be built according to these values:

0 -  Maintainer: [ Silverwave silverwav@gmail.com ]
1 -  Summary: [ Bliss Lens Hack for Unity ]
2 -  Name:    [ bliss-unity-lens---menu-style ]
3 -  Version: [ 0.0.1 ]
4 -  Release: [ 1 ]
5 -  License: [ GPL ]
6 -  Group:   [ checkinstall ]
7 -  Architecture: [ amd64 ]
8 -  Source location: [ unity-lens-bliss ]
9 -  Alternate source location: [  ]
10 – Requires: [  ]
11 – Provides: [ unity-lens ]
12 – Conflicts: [  ]
13 – Replaces: [  ]

Enter a number to change any of them or press ENTER to continue:

Installing with make install…

**********************************************************************
Done. The new package has been installed and saved to

/home/YOURNAME/projects/bliss/unity-lens-bliss/bliss-unity-lens---menu-style_0.0.1-1_amd64.deb

You can remove it from your system anytime using:

dpkg -r bliss-unity-lens---menu-style

**********************************************************************

5) Log-out, log-in. Test.

From Unity Bliss: An Alternative Application Lens for Ubuntu.
______________________________

Optional: You can remove the old lens via the package manager.

Its called “unity-lens-applications” and after removal you will need to log-out, log-in, again.

______________________________

Note: The best way to use the Bliss lens is to hit SUPER + A.

Keyboard Shortcuts
SUPER + A – application lens
SUPER + F – files lens
SUPER + M – music lens

HackTheWeb. The Web. Displayed Your Way.
A Tool to let you Hack out all the stuff that annoys you.

• Images.
• Sidebars.
• Flashing text.
• Advertisements.
• Bad Page Layout.

Reduce the Noise. Increase the Signal.
User Empowerment (based on aardvark).
______________________________

I initially thought it was caused by pulseaudio but traced it down to Firefox and npviewer.bin usage.

If I kill npviewer.bin the sound works.

Will look for a bug to report it under.

—

[link]

There are also privacy concerns, see zeitgeist kills kittens as well.

But there is a simple solution:

1. Remove the old databases and use the “–replace” argument to generate new files.
2. Then change permissions so no one can read or write to them. :-)

________________________________________

# Delete previous logging.
rm ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
zeitgeist-daemon --replace

here.

# Render Zeitgeist illiterate - cannot read or write
chmod -rw ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite*

here.

Note: In place of the rm command I navigated to the folder and deleted everything manually.

Zeitgeist is a service which logs the user’s activities and events (files
opened, websites visited, conversations held with other people, etc.) and
makes the relevant information available to other applications.

These guys look like OK ppl so why are they doing something like this without express user consent?

If you know what Zeitgeist is and you turn it on to monitor what you do then Zeitgeist is great.

But if you don’t know what it is and what it does, and you haven’t been asked to opt-in… is that not a breach of your right to privacy?

________________________________________

The more I look into this the more concerned I become.

I think the least we need is a pop up explaining the implications of Zeitgeist and allowing you to configure it.

________________________________________

This looks like it will do the job:

# Delete previous logging.
rm ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite
zeitgeist-daemon --replace

here.

# Render Zeitgeist illiterate - cannot read or write
chmod -rw ~/.local/share/zeitgeist/activity.sqlite*

here.

zeitgeist-extension-fts 0.0.7-0ubuntu2 (amd64 binary) in ubuntu oneiric

Then cd to the dl folder and do this:

sudo dpkg -i zeitgeist-extension-fts_0.0.7-0ubuntu2_all.deb

See here.
________________________________________

Note: to stop the 100% CPU thing while you install this do:
zeitgeist-daemon -r
And Ctrl+C a few times to get back to the cli