Challenges Faced in the Development of Smart Grids

The environmental issues that have cropped up of late have largely been prompted by the depletion in natural resources. The planet has been affected by the continuous exploration in search of such natural resource reserves. ICT applications concentrate on increasing the efficiency at which the natural resources are managed.

The connection between the different energy grids that is renewable, nuclear and coal and the addition of communication and intelligence capabilities that leads to the creation of the smart grids is vital. Smart grids are empowered to conduct the detection, communication of problems and to locate any inefficiency that might take place in the energy generation system and the distribution network. Energy consumption in homes is thus accurately monitored. However there are numerous challenges that lie in the path of developing smart grids that can be used to empower smart transportation. E-mobility jobs revolve around the development of such smart grids that effectively implement vehicle to grid and grid to vehicle technology. The obstacles that may surface in the process include:

• The creation of solutions that are ICT based and can reduce energy consumption drastically and also increase the efficiency of business and technical processes
• Devising new solutions that are aimed towards designing and the implementation of reliability and usability in specific energy systems
• The creation and execution of systems meant for data monitoring, evaluation and transmission collection to initiate actions for the effective use of energy.
• Increasing the collaboration between the public sector, the industry and the various environmental organisations.
• The development of techniques and network infrastructure for considerably reducing power consumption.

The ICT or information communications technology industry plays a crucial role in the development of smart grids that are used for the development of electric vehicles. Research and development and manufacture of such vehicles is carried out by people engaged in smart transportation jobs that require technically aware and skilled candidates.

Exercising Our Remote Application Removal Feature

Every now and then, we remove applications from Android Market due to violations of our Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement or Content Policy. In cases where users may have installed a malicious application that poses a threat, we’ve also developed technologies and processes to remotely remove an installed application from devices. If an application is removed in this way, users will receive a notification on their phone.


Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes. These applications intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data — or system resources beyond permission.INTERNET. As the applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled the applications shortly after downloading them.

After the researcher voluntarily removed these applications from Android Market, we decided, per the Android Market Terms of Service, to exercise our remote application removal feature on the remaining installed copies to complete the cleanup.

The remote application removal feature is one of many security controls Android possesses to help protect users from malicious applications. In case of an emergency, a dangerous application could be removed from active circulation in a rapid and scalable manner to prevent further exposure to users. While we hope to not have to use it, we know that we have the capability to take swift action on behalf of users’ safety when needed.

This remote removal functionality — along with Android’s unique Application Sandbox and Permissions model, Over-The-Air update system, centralized Market, developer registrations, user-submitted ratings, and application flagging — provides a powerful security advantage to help protect Android users in our open environment.