The Verge reviewed Android 4.1, Jelly Bean. "Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is one of the best products Google has ever produced. It's fast, fluid, and beautifully designed. It also does a better job of unifying all of Google's disparate services than anything else the company has ever offered. Everything from the Chrome browser, Google+, Maps, Gmail, and most of all Google Search - in the form of Google Now - is tightly integrated into a user experience that outshines even the company's web properties."

"Google Chrome on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) will stop receiving any updates following Chrome 21. This includes new features, security fixes and stability updates. If you already have Chrome installed, you can still use Chrome, but it will no longer be auto-updated. In addition, you'll be unable to install Chrome on any Mac still running 10.5 (which is an OS X version also no longer being updated by Apple). While we understand this is an inconvenience, we are making this change to ensure we can continue to deliver a safe, secure, and stable Chrome for the most Mac users possible." I'm okay with this - Snow Leopard was released in August 2009, so it's been three years since the last machines with Leopard shipped. On top of that, Apple's prices for new releases are so low, there's really no excuse not to have upgraded by this point (unless Apple decided to obsolete your hardware, in which case, well, that's what you get when you buy Apple or Android or Windows Phone).

Michael Lotz added code to generate QR-code for the KDL (Kernel Debug Land) ouput (which pops up when the kernel crashes). No more blurry photos with debug output, but a QR code which decodes to the clear-text KDL debug output. Here's one of the relevant commits, an example showing a QR code, and text from decoded sample QR code.

"Whenever there is a conversation about the future of computing, is discussion inevitably turns to the notion of a 'File'. After all, most tablets and phones don't show the user anything that resembles a file, only Apps that contain their own content, tucked away inside their own opaque storage structure. This is wrong. Files are abstraction layers around content that are necessary for interoperability. Without the notion of a File or other similar shared content abstraction, the ability to use different applications with the same information grinds to a halt, which hampers innovation and user experience." Aside from the fact that a file manager for Android is just a click away, and aside from the fact that Android's share menu addresses many of these concerns, his point still stands: files are not an outdated, archaic concept. One of my biggest gripes with iOS is just how user-hostile the operating system it when it comes to getting stuff - whatever stuff - to and from the device.

And so, Flash on mobile is now completely dead. "There will be no certified implementations of Flash Player for Android 4.1. Beginning August 15th we will use the configuration settings in the Google Play Store to limit continued access to Flash Player updates to only those devices that have Flash Player already installed. Devices that do not have Flash Player already installed are increasingly likely to be incompatible with Flash Player and will no longer be able to install it from the Google Play Store after August 15th."

RIM just announced some pretty disastrous financial results, but in the press release, there's something very telling, and quite worrisome for those of us rooting for the Canadian company: BlackBerry 10 has been delayed until the first quarter of 2013. I don't want to call it at this point, but it ain't looking good.