Ever had the feeling that certain phone operating systems are more likely to crash your apps than others? It's not just you. Crittercism has posted its latest breakdown of crash reports from about 20,000 apps, and it's clear that certain operating systems aren't as friendly as others. On Android, Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) is most likely to wreck your day; KitKat (4.4) is close behind, while Lollipop's early reputation for glitches apparently doesn't affect apps. With Apple devices, however, the tables turn. While iOS' app crash rate is lower overall, iOS 8 is a bit more problematic than its predecessor. That's not surprising given that Apple hasn't had as much time to tackle issues in 8, but you may feel better if you're still holding on to 7.

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Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.

Sorry, but Google Glass isn't Anywhere Close to Dead
Cade Metz, Wired

Reports claim Google Glass is on its last leg after the folks in Mountain View shuttered the Explorer program last month. Not so fast. The wearable still has a truckload of uses, and making it an enterprise device could be the right move.

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MassRoots' social network for cannabis users contravened Apple's policy of banning apps that promote drug use, and had to go. Two weeks after that decision was made, an army of hemp-wearing advocates have managed to convince the iPhone maker to change its mind. The contentious issue, you see, was that it's now legal to enjoy jazz cigarettes for medicinal purposes in 23 states, making Apple one of those boring squares that just needed to stop being such a narc.

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It takes a special patent to pique our interest these days, but Google has just been issued actual intellectual property for a device that would help others evade your stank. The "odor removing device" (below) is designed to "emit a fragrance in response to detected parameters," but that's not the half of it. It would also detect your body temperature, heartrate and other factors to determine if you're extra rank from working out. Not only will it then dispense perfume to cover it, it'll even track the location of your friends and find you a route home to avoid them.

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Visa's move to protect your credit card numbers was apparently pretty popular. How do we know that? Well, it's coming to a bunch of places that aren't adorned with the Apple logo -- that's how. The company has announced that "other leading device manufacturers and technology companies" will adopt Visa Token Service this year. What's more, the company says it plans to use its secure payment system (one that doesn't any of your actual credit card info, but randomized data) on Visa Checkout transactions online as well. Even better? The outfit says that it expects some of the biggest online retailers to adopt VTS too. Oh, and banks and credit unions in the Latin America, the Pacific region of Asia and the United States are also supposed to come on board with the tech in 2015. If that means less worrying after the next inevitable data breach, hey alright!

[Base image credit: OrphanJones/Flickr]

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Uber is going to have an even tougher time making it big in China now that the country's two largest taxi-hailing services, Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache, are joining forces. According to state-run publication Xinhua, the two companies have marged into a single powerful entity that's worth around $6 billion, though they will continue operating as separate brands. These two used to be bitter rivals, but they must have decided it's bad form to continue fighting when Uber, what has deep pockets (the San Francisco company is valued at $40 billion), wants a bigger presence in the country. Combined, the two apps are used by 95 percent of all taxi-hailing customers China, or around 150 million people in all. While it's true that Uber recently got a $600 million investment from Chinese search engine Baidu, Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache are backed by Alibaba and Tencent, which are both powerful companies in the region, as well.

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Quite a few smartphone fans will tell you that a Samsung phone's Achilles' heel is its software -- you'll find a ton of (frequently unwanted) apps and features that do little besides chew up space and slow things down. You may get to wave goodbye to that cruft when the Galaxy S6 shows up, however. A SamMobile source claims that Samsung is yanking a lot of its usual pre-installed bloatware, making the GS6 "amazingly fast" compared to a weighed-down phone like the Galaxy Note 4. The titles wouldn't go away forever, but you'd have to download in-house apps if you did want them. Instead, the focus would be on a host of included Microsoft apps: Office, OneDrive, OneNote and Skype would give you some solid productivity out of the box. It's not clear if the Microsoft deal has any connection to a recent truce with Samsung over patent royalties, although it wouldn't be surprising.

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Get caught up on today's news in the latest edition of the Daily Roundup. Learn about Annie Easley, an African-American woman who helped make early spaceflight possible, go hands-on with us as we take Mattel's View-Master for a spin and find out how the UK plans to test autonomous vehicles. All that and more can be found past the break.

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Fans of GIFs and judging things, it's your time to shine. Public voting is open for The 2015 .GIFYs, the first and only award dedicated to the majestic moving GIF. Vote for your favorite GIFs across 11 categories, including "film and TV," "music," "weird," "sports," "animals" and "cats." Yes, cats get their own category because they're not animals but the fluffy embodiment of our deepest desires (to sleep all day and be waited on hand and foot).

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