Monthly Archive:: July 2012

Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, the usual means through which Apple itself spreads rumours, have reported that a 7" iPad will be launched coming October. It's pretty obvious why Apple would leak this information now - to hinder the launch of the Nexus 7. According to Gruber, it would sport a 7.85" 1024x768 display - quite a step down from the 1280x800 7" display on the Nexus. Still, this is about the operating system, not specifications, so it doesn't matter all that much. I wonder what Jobs would think of this 7" tablet. Oh wait.

While our beloved readers from the United States celebrate their independence (have a good one, guys and girls), the European Parliament has just voted against ACTA with an absolutely overwhelming majority: 478 against ACTA, 39 in favour (and 165 abstentions). I'm raising a coffee to this one, kids.

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 In addition, you'll be unable to install Chrome on any Mac still running 10.5 (which is an OS X version also no longer being updated by Apple).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.