One company's response to the jury verdict in Apple vs. Samsung was still missing: Google's. The company has now responded to The Verge, and there's almost a certain bitterness in their language. Not, as you would expect, directed at Apple; no, the bitterness is directed at Samsung. The message Google is sending to other Android OEMs? Stick to stock Android, and you'll have no problems.Most of the software and design patents at play in the Apple vs. Samsung case related to Samsung's own TouchWiz, which, in my view, adds little to nothing to Android - in fact, it only makes it worse. Take bounce-back scrolling, for instance; this ground-breaking, highly innovative technology developed by Apple's top minds is not part of stock Android, which opts for a blue overscroll glow instead. Apple also invested significant resources into developing the perfect phone icon, and, after millions and millions of dollars of research, decided that Nokia and every other phone manufacturer ever was right: green is the best. TouchWiz goes with green, stock Android has blue.
Google has picked up on this, and basically states that had Samsung used stock Android, they wouldn't be in trouble.
This is not entirely true, of course. One of the devices to be found infringing on the bounce-back patent, for instance, was the Nexus S 4G; even though Android doesn't have bounce-back at this time, I've been told the Nexus S 4G used bounce-back in its application drawer (confirmation). This effect is now gone from Android. The Nexus S also infringed the pinch-to-zoom patent.
Still, using stock will greatly reduce the attack vector, so we may see more Android OEMs opt to go with stock instead of custom skins and launchers, and that's a good thing. I could even see Google use this to their advantage; they could aid in protecting Android OEM's from Apple's courtroom attacks... If they opt for stock Android. Otherwise, you're on your own.
In other words, this jury verdict - if it stands, and that's surely an 'if' - may lead to more stock Android devices, meaning it'll have had at least one positive effect on the industry.
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Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
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"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight.""And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.