Who would have thunk it? We’re well into the zombie craze, even though some among us think we should be well beyond it, and another post-apocalyptic title goes all “smash hit” on us overnight. This time it’s the currently Xbox LIVE exclusive State of Decay that’s earned a spot in the limelight.

Xbox Wire, the official news site for Xbox goodness, has announced that State of Decay has officially become the fastest selling original Xbox LIVE Arcade game ever. Since its release on June 5th, it has over 550,000 downloads.

Xbox Wire asked someone from Undead Labs, the studio behind State of Decay about the success and whether or not it was a surprise. Here’s their genuine response:

We didn’t know what to expect. “State of Decay” breaks a lot of rules. Permadeath, switching characters, having to manage the “feelings” of your fellow survivors, offline progression — these are all things developers traditionally avoid, but we felt were essential to creating a true survival experience. We’re thrilled and humbled that gamers are embracing the game. Record breaking sales are great, but the thing we’re proudest of is that people who bought the game are having a great time playing it. That’s why we do what we do, and what keeps us going back in to do it again.

State of Decay is available on the Xbox LIVE Arcade right now for 1,600 moon dollars (that would be $20 in real money). There’s also a free demo for you to sample. The game will eventually hit the PC platform by way of Steam, though that release date has not been announced.

We’ll have a “We Play” of this title soon. Stay tuned!

Yes, developers have ample opportunity to play with iOS 7, but what about the rest of the impatient masses? Well, you could snag the beta anyway and risk glitching (or worse — bricking) your iPhone, or you can play it safe and test drive it right in your Web browser.

9to5Mac stumbled upon an online browser-based iOS 7 demo created by consumer electronics site Recombu. The site loaded up the software on its own server, so there’s no risk to your own handset. Of course, it’s not exactly an authentic experience, but at least it gives you a closer look at the interface and core apps. 

There’s also a little bonus for Firefox and Chrome users — you can actually use the camera app to snap photos via your webcam. Neat, huh? Apparently others thought so too. Looks like the website is getting hammered by traffic, so if you can’t get in right now, save the URL and try again a little later or at an odd hour.

Apple has yet to seed an iPad version of iOS 7 to developers, yet a YouTube user has posted what they allege to be a version optimized for the company’s slate. It’s unclear how or even if the version is legit, but paired with the simulator images we saw on Monday, along with the version out now for the iPhone, it certainly looks legit. And, on first impressions, iOS 7 looks like an even better experience on the iPad’s bigger display.

The video, which is in Russian, demonstrates the animations and features included in Apple’s upcoming update; things such as Control Center, new Notification Center and the redesigned icons. Perhaps worth noting: Apple’s fancy new Yahoo-inspired Weather app is included, meaning users don’t have to dig through the App Store just to find out the local forecast.

If this is indeed legit, perhaps Apple is preparing to release iOS 7 for iPad to developers soon. If and when the company does so, we’ll definitely get out hands on it and see what we find.

Turns out, May was a great month for Nintendo’s little portable system. Nintendo released a press release last night with news that the Nintendo 3DS was the best-selling gaming platform in the month of May.

Over the last year, the console and software maker has gone on a tear producing and releasing some absolutely astonishing Nintendo 3DS titles. We’ve seen games like Fire Emblem: Awakening, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and more. In fact, according to the same press release, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon took the #2 and #3 spots in software sales.

What’s crazy is that the year is really only getting started in terms of fresh software for this handheld. We’re still waiting on Pokémon X and Y, Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies and a lot more.

Now’s probably as good a time as any to grab a Nintendo 3DS. The catalogue is enormous, and the future looks exceptionally bright for Nintendo’s handheld.

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Code found buried in the iOS 7 beta suggests Apple is testing deep LinkedIn integration, with a single sign-on functionality similar to the current Twitter and Facebook implementations. According to Hamza Sood, who highlighted some hidden features in the upcoming OS, the LinkedIn code isn’t yet complete so it’s not active within iOS 7, but its presence could certainly mean the feature will come in a later update.

However, 9to5Mac notes that just because there are hints of LinkedIn integration doesn’t mean we’ll see it in the final build. Apple tested Facebook integration all the way back in iOS 4, but nothing appeared until iOS 6—that same situation could happen here. If LinkedIn does get added, the service will join up with Facebook and Twitter, and the most recent additions, Vimeo and Flickr.

Apple has already announced LinkedIn will be implemented into OS X Mavericks, so seeing the same thing on mobile wouldn’t be unusual. If we do see something, users will likely be able to easily share Web links and other content via share-sheets through iOS applications.

AT&T on Tuesday started offering support for FaceTime video calls over cellular for iPhone 5 owners with an unlimited data plan. The update comes a month after the carrier announced it would support pre-loaded video chat apps on its network by mid-June; though, for now, it only applies to FaceTime users.

Previously, FaceTime only worked over a Wi-Fi network or for subscribers on AT&T’s Mobile Share and tiered data plans. AT&T agreed to make the changes following unrest from customers who didn’t want to leave their grandfathered unlimited data plans. Those customers largely argued that AT&T was telling them what to do with data they were paying for and felt the move was unfair. AT&T responded noting that it wanted to make sure its network could handle the influx of data usage from all of its customers trying to make FaceTime calls.

While AT&T originally promised that all pre-loaded video chat apps would work on its network by June, the carrier now says it’s working to do so by the end of this year.

Dead Space 3 came up a bit short of EA’s expectations, both critically and financially, and rumors of the cancellation of the series have been flying around ever since. However, EA’s Patrick Söderlund is out to officially put the notion to rest as the series “remains a brand that is close to Electronic Arts’ heart.”

Despite the love EA feels for the series, Söderlund confirmed in an interview with Eurogamer that developer Visceral Games is not currently working on a new game.

“Is that team working on a Dead Space game today? No they’re not. They’re working on something else very exciting”

Söderlund had nothing but the best things to say about Visceral Games and believes that giving the series a much needed break for the sake of letting Visceral’s creative juices flow is the right course of action.

“You have to think of it from that perspective. Is it better to put them on the fourth version of a game they’ve done three previous versions of before? Or is it better to put them on something new that they want to build, that they have passion for?

How you get to a great game, the first thing you need is a great development team that have a passion for building what they’re building. That’s a simple parameter. Everything else follows.”

I’ll agree with Mr. Söderlund. Dead Space was one of the key games from 2008 during a time when EA experimented with new IPs and seemingly put extra effort into addressing some of the criticisms aimed at it. Visceral Games is also right up there with BioWare, DICE and Criterion to operate under its wing.

Many of the fundamental changes added to Dead Space 3 might have rubbed fans of this excellent series, myself included, the wrong way, but the timing is right to give it a bit of a rest. Series rarely keep their level of influence past their third game these days, and I would really like to see what else Visceral has up its sleeves.

Don’t leave us waiting too long, EA.

Do you have a hankering to own an 32GB Nexus 7? Then step right up as TechnoBuffalo is giving one away!

TechnoBuffalo has teamed up with the fine folks at NVIDIA for a series of giveaways called Tegra Tuesday. Every Tuesday we’ll be starting a new giveaway that will run for one week where you have a chance to win a device powered by a Tegra chip. This week we’re back with a 32GB Nexus 7!

Remember, just as you can with all Tegra-powered devices, you can hit up TegraZone for all sorts of entertainment that is optimized for your device.

This giveaway is open to anyone in the world!  So long as you have an address we can mail a package to, you’re good to go!  To enter, all you need to do is leave one (1) comment per day on this post through 11:59 PM PST on Tuesday, June 25, 2013.  More than one comment per day will result in disqualification.  The comment can be about anything.  We do ask, however, that you login with either Facebook or Twitter so we have a way of communicating with you should you win.

To recap:

1. Contest runs through 11:59 PM PST on Tuesday, June 25, 2013.
2. Limit of one (1) comment/entry per day.
3. Only comments on this post count towards entering the contest.
4. The winner will be chosen at random from the comments by entering the final number of comments into Random.org and choosing them randomly.

Remember, the contest closes at 11:59 PM PST on Tuesday, June 25, 2013.

Good luck, and here’s hoping you win!

If you don’t win this week, don’t fret!  This is the latest of several Tegra Tuesday giveaways.  Check the TechnoBuffalo Giveaways page each week to see what that week’s prize will be.

It’s only been five short months since Vine launched under Twitter’s wing, and already the platform is one of the more widely used social networks on the market. We’ve even seen the service recognized by the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, highlighting its incredible popularity. And these early months were only the beginning.

According to a short celebratory post on Tuesday, Vine says some exciting “new parts” will be introduced to the platform in the coming weeks. No specifics were shared, so it’s unclear how things will evolve, but details are expected to be unveiled soon. It’s possible this is a stab at Facebook, which may add Vine-like features to Instagram on Thursday. Some really great examples of how to use the platform are shared in Vine’s blog post; it’s incredible to see how much emotion can be shared in a six second clip.

Do you guys use Vine? The community is obviously very active, and there is some great content on the platform. Plenty of services have tried to nail down sharing video, but none have quite taken off like Vine. So what new features will we see? Filters? Longer clips? We’re excited to see what’s next.

The game isn’t even close to hitting both virtual and physical store shelves, and we’re already talking about its DLC.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was one of our favorite games at this year’s E3, and it’s currently set to release for the PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 3 in 2014. When it does release, the PC gamers who buy it will enjoy all of its post-release content for free.

The news comes from Rock, Paper, Shotgun in an interview with CD Projekt RED’s Marcin Iwinski. When asked about future content for the upcoming title, here’s what Iwinski said:

“It’s too early to talk specifics, but definitely all the DLCs and updates will be free…Of course, we’ll see what the platform holders will allow – what we can do for free [on next-gen consoles]. I mean, there are different business models on consoles. From our standpoint, we’ll definitely do everything we can to deliver the same experience across all platforms.”

On PC? DLC will be free for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, no bones about it. On the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? Iwinski suggests that, as much as CDP wants to deliver the same content for free, it’s up to the console makers.

On a related and darkly hilarious note, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will likely be unbelievably famous in its home nation of Poland. They’re nuts for the whole Witcher lore, obviously. The Xbox One will not work in Poland upon release, yet Microsoft touts this as one of the console’s bigger games. Crazy.

Read our eyes-on preview from last week to understand exactly why we’re so pumped for this third iteration in The Witcher franchise.

An official Twitter account used by Verizon in the past to announce new DROID handsets, as well as the occasional scavenger hunt, tweeted today for the first time since November 2011, sparking rumors that a new DROID smartphone is about to be announced. The cryptic message doesn’t offer any actual information, instead asking that we await “further instructions.”

Reactivation protocols initiated ::: Systems nearing operational status ::: Stand by for further instructions…

— DroidLanding (@DroidLanding) June 18, 2013

Verizon hasn’t launched a new DROID phone since the DROID DNA in 2012, so it’s possible a new smartphone is on the way, though Verizon may simply be announcing a new contest. We know that Verizon is going to offer the HTC One soon, though we don’t think that will launch under the “DROID” moniker. Perhaps it’s Motorola’s highly rumored X Phone?

Either way we’ll keep on eye on the @DroidLanding Twitter account for you and report back as the story develops.

Update: The @DroidLanding Twitter account has already posted a second update, referencing augmented reality and hinting at a possible scavenger hunt. The new tweet suggests that if Verizon is preparing a new DROID smartphone the launch will likely be accompanied by a contest and a chance to win the handset.

Augmented Reality imaging matrix is online ::: Scavenge mode detected…

— DroidLanding (@DroidLanding) June 18, 2013

Update: A third tweet linked to a short video featuring “50-ft mechanized wARriors under the command of civilians.”

AT&T is offering Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet for just $199–that’s $200 off the full price with a two-year contract–when you buy a Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Active or Galaxy Note II smartphone from the carrier. The deal starts Friday, June 21 in stores and online.

Take note, however: the Galaxy Note 8.0 with Wi-Fi retails for $399. So if you’re buying AT&T’s LTE model with a $10 monthly fee for data, you’re actually spending $200 out front plus $240 over the two-year contract, for a total cost of $440.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 is a solid choice for anyone looking to purchase a mid-sized tablet with note-taking capabilities. It offers an 8-inch display with a 1280 x 800-pixel resolution, a 4,600mAh battery, 2GB of RAM, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, a 1.6GHz quad-core processor and Samsung’s S Pen for jotting down notes or creating sketches. It also features the South Korean’s company’s TouchWiz interface with a gamut of software add-ons.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, fresh out of the firm’s annual shareholder’s meeting, met with two Samsung Electronics executives during a trip to South Korea this week. Attendees at the meeting included vice chairman Lee Jae-yong and mobile unit chief Shin Jong-kyun, and Zuckerberg reportedly asked whether Samsung was interested in manufacturing a “Facebook-friendly” smartphone. However, Samsung is apparently uninterested in helping Facebook expand into the mobile hardware market, an anonymous source told The Korea Herald.

“Samsung doesn’t want to help nurture a second Google, which is now becoming a formidable rival for Samsung in the handset business,” an industry watcher told the newspaper, adding that the company does not see any financial or symbolic advantage to partnering with Zuckerberg. Considering the HTC First’s poor performance, Samsung is probably making the right decision.

Zuckerberg also spoke with South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye prior to his meeting at Samsung. He reportedly told the president that Facebook can help the country’s smaller and mid-sized companies grow, suggesting that if Samsung declines to make a Facebook phone the social network may partner with another South Korean company instead. According to The Korea Herald, Zuckerberg did not meet with LG during his trip.

HTC has been bleeding executives recently and, now, two of them have formed a new company with the goal of creating new smartphones in Europe. According to CNET, HTC’s former head of sales of U.K. and Ireland Michael Coombes and former U.K. marketing lead James Atkins created a new company called “Kazam.” Coombes will sit as the CEO of Kazam and Atkins will serve as the new company’s chief marketing officer, CNET explained.

The two men hope to focus on quality design and top-notch support for smartphones after Kazam sells devices to customers, and believe that the “experience [shouldn't'] just stop once you’ve bought the phone.” Kazam will need to find a way to compete not only with HTC, but with Samsung, LG, Nokia and a half dozen other companies that create handsets for the European market. The team didn’t confirm what operating system will be used on its Kazam’s handsets, though Android is the obvious go-to choice.

Kazam hasn’t announced any carrier markets, and it may not need to. It could sell the devices unlocked, which is common in Europe where customers are used to paying full price for a handset instead of locking themselves in to a two-year contract, as is common in the United States. Kazam did not say when its first phone will hit the market, so it sounds like the company is still in its infancy.

E3 has become the main battleground for EA and Ubisoft to go head-to-head over which company deserves to be second place behind Activision, thanks to Call of Duty and Skylanders. It’s a tight race every year with both companies sitting on wonderful franchises.

Direct comparisons on size and profit are a little unfair because of course EA wins hands down in those categories. However, there is little question who 2012 belonged to. Ubisoft ran circles around its rival at E3, stealing the show with a tidal wave of brilliant looking games and fun surprises.

Can anyone remember the excitement in the developers faces during Rayman Legends demonstration and not break into a toothy smile? Meanwhile, EA had Medal of Honor: Warfighter…

The momentum carried throughout the year. Ubisoft pulled in great review scores, handfuls of rewards, and a record year for profits and revenue. EA, on the other hand, was blitzed with bad press, released a handful of stinkers, and ended up having to totally restructure itself during a tumultuous year.

This left both companies in a huge predicament at E3 2013. Ubisoft had enormous expectations to live up to, and the responsibility fell on EA’s lap to turn around its fortunes. Who emerged victorious in the end?

We’ll start off with Ubisoft, who released its line-up days before the show, so we knew what to expect. We got more Splinter Cell: Blacklist, more Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, more Rayman Legends, more South Park: The Stick of Truth, more Trials, and more Watch_Dogs. All are fine games I’ll eventually be playing, but simply being solid at the year’s biggest event is not enough.

Its new announcements came from Rocksmith 2014, a digital guitar instructor which will use the power of the Kinect.

The Crew was yet another racing game at E3, which I totally forgot about until writing this editorial. Needless to say, after Forza Motorsport 5, Drive Club, Need for Speed Rivals, and Gran Tursimo 6, it didn’t have what it takes to stand out.

The big reveal of the night was Tom Clancy’s The Division, the latest in Ubisoft’s espionage action series. The brilliant recreations of New York and the Manhattan Bridge looked gorgeous, but the main draw of this game is being an open-world third-person shooter RPG. The genre is taking off in a big way on consoles, so Ubisoft needs to get in on that and fast.

It was a solid showing, and I would love to give Ubisoft the benefit of the doubt and say I’m excited for its line-up, especially Rayman Legends. However, compared to last year, when most of these games already turned up, it was lacking.

Compared to EA as well, Ubisoft was also lacking. EA came back in full force and dominated for a solid straight hour.

It started with an unexpected bang with Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, ended with a bang announcing Mirror’s Edge 2, and just when we were getting tired of watching LeBron James talk to an IGNITE engine rendition of himself, it showed off a very impressive multiplayer trailer for Battlefield 4, which made even haters like me gasp in excitement.

EA impressed not just by announcing bold new games, but it also impressed by getting me excited for games I never thought I’d be excited for. I never thought I’d want to play Plants vs Zombies in Frostbite 3, but it was one of my favorite games of the show. I never thought I’d consider picking up a Battlefield game for mutliplayer, but here it is on my wishlist.

To make it even better, EA spent very little time on “tech talk.” Every game showed off ran on one of two graphical engines, Frostbite 3 and IGNITE, so very little time was needed in introducing both.

Most importantly, EA had one genre covered that Ubisoft still has yet to grasp its hands around. EA has an RPG. Not just any RPG, but EA still has the gears cranking at BioWare to put out some amazing software, and Dragon Age: Inquisition looks downright phenomenal.

Patience is key when it comes to Dragon Age because EA doesn’t want to take the popular blame for rushing BioWare like it did with Dragon Age II. It shows a willingness to listen to concerns to give the team enough time to make a project work.

Ubisoft’s show lacked pacing, lacked a megaton hammer, and it let an annoying speaker do all the talking rather than the games themselves. It had a solid showing, but it lacked an extra kick to make it special. Beyond Good and Evil 2 or a new Prince of Persia might have been that game.

EA showed off four games I just have to play, and it did so with perfect pacing, editing and direction that would have made Martin Scorsese himself proud. The show was fantastic from beginning to end, and not since 2008 have I been this excited about an EA line-up.

At E3 2013, victory for second place goes to EA.

Facebook is holding a press event this Thursday, June 20, during which it promises to reveal a “big idea.” What’s in store? Pundits seem to suggest that the social network is going to tweak Instagram to better compete with Twitter’s Vine service. That means adding video.

Is this good or bad?

I’ve been thinking about it for the past twenty four hours or so and my general thought is that it’s exactly where I don’t want the social network heading. A secondary app? Sure, maybe, though I think Vine does it well enough right now and I’m not sure I need another mobile social network to fumble with at all times of the day.

Instagram’s charm lies in its simplicity. Load it up. Look at pictures. Like or comment a photo. Move on. See a nice sunset? Share it. Accept feedback. Move on. Instagram is piecemeal looks at beauty, cats, or someone’s lunch. It’s quick, dirty and I can move on with my day in a few moments. Video could ruin that, potentially, especially with Facebook’s obsession to drive revenue out of mobile clients. Want to see how such an announcement could ruin Instagram?

Let’s think about it.

I’ve already argued that Facebook’s news feed is a pile of trash. It seems that the company is going to do the same to Instagram but in the guise of an added feature. Load up Facebook and count the number of advertisements in your mobile news feed. I see four “suggested pages” in a six hour span of my timeline. None of them interest me. Now imagine if you just wanted to look at photos, as Instagram users do, but instead you’re cruising through video advertisements for Ford or Pizza Hut or General Mills. One way to save Instagram, however, could be to add a separate stream for video feeds, perhaps in the form of a tab that users could tap to access a dedicated area for the 5-10 second clips.

I understand Facebook needs to recoup the investment in made when it acquired Instagram for $1 billion, but at what cost? As we saw with MySpace, too much trash on a page can turn a user off. Social networks, whether we like it or not, are becoming ad networks.

Hopefully Facebook proves me wrong.

Apple’s dark horse this year could wind up being the company’s supposed low-cost iPhone, which many believe will hit later this fall in emerging markets. When/if it does, the device will reportedly sport a more rounded, plastic back, multiple colors, and a 4-inch screen. But, of course, nothing is official yet—a case leak on Tuesday, however, is adding more support to all the budget iPhone rumors we’ve been hearing.

Designed by case maker MGM Corporation, the accessory shows a more rounded back that’s slightly thicker than the iPhone 5’s design. It’s difficult to verify the case’s authenticity, and even Macotakara, which posted a video of the case, remains skeptical. You can clearly see if doesn’t quite fit the iPhone 5, though, suggesting it’s for an Apple device yet to hit the market. It certainly lines up with the many rumors over the past several months, but the design may simply be a guess made by the case maker.

We know an iPhone 5S will hit around September/October, at least that’s what history tells us, but the jury is still out on a cheaper model. Apple still lags behind its competitors in emerging markets, data shows, and it seems the iPhone maker doesn’t want to concede too much more to the competition. A budget device certainly seems plausible, but only time will tell if Apple will truly make a play with a low-cost iPhone.

Microsoft announced a new initiative on Monday to sell the Surface RT tablet to schools around the world in bulk for under half its full retail value. The offer went into effect on Monday and lasts through August 31. The deal is good for institutions that are home to kindergarten classes all the way up to universities. Only the 32GB model is available, but the price will surprise you.

Microsoft is offering three different prices based on whether schools want to order a specialized cover for the tablet. The standalone Surface RT costs $199 (the full retail value is $499), the Surface RT with a Touch Keyboard Cover costs $249 (the full retail value  is$599), and the Surface RT with Type Keyboard Cover costs $289 (the full retail value is $629). The discount extends to all schools in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States.

Microsoft’s announcement represents the company’s need to clear out its slow-moving stock before it rolls out the next generation of Surface tablets. With rumors flying that a 7-inch Surface could be released this month it certainly makes sense that the company would want to clear its stale inventory ahead of a new product launch.

Many were patiently awaiting a price drop to be announced for the Wii U at E3 this year. Believers point to slouching sales and stiff competition from superior hardware as just two reasons this was bound to happen.

Not so, says Nintendo Marketing Executive Scott Moffitt in an interview with GamesBeat. He claims that Nintendo fans are finally seeing more value in the console after a strong showing of exclusive content at E3 this year, and the userbase should be more energized than ever.

“With great hardware coming, that will drive the install base. The perception of our price has changed, but what’s also changed is that people now see what great content is coming. They’ll see the value in those games. They’ll be able to enjoy a Wii U in their household for a lot less than a competing console.”

I wouldn’t exactly put it as a “lot” less given its $350 for the 32GB Deluxe Set is only a mere $50 cheaper than the PlayStation 4. Those willing to take a hit on storage space can purchase an 8GB model for $300. We will have to wait and see if Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. will be enough to convince gamers that the Wii U will be worth the asking price.

But kudos to Nintendo for not caving in so quickly in the face of the schoolyard bullies. It shows a lot of confidence in this line-up of exclusive content., which left us very impressed at the end of E3. Nintendo is geared and ready to turn this thing around during what is bound to be a solid holiday season and 2014.

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Buried beneath some of the more flagship features included in iOS 7 are some neat tricks Apple failed to mention at WWDC. And even deeper below the surface, in the reach of only the savviest developers, the Cupertino company seems to be testing a series of hidden gestures, multitasking and folder options. Also discovered: folders inside of folders, and the ability to hide stock apps.

According to Hamza Sood, who did some unspecified tweaking to the current iOS 7 beta, Apple seems to be quietly testing out features that would greatly improve the overall experience. One of the more notable additions seems to be a focus on better one-handed use; the company already revealed edge-swipe gestures at WWDC, and it appears Apple is also considering corner-swipe gestures as well.

Meanwhile, as demonstrated in the video below, the hidden settings allows a user to turn on/off the ability to hide stock apps, and even allows nested folders. There are other options, too, such as the ability to pinch to close folders, and many deeper tweaks that likely exist for the purpose of internal testing.

It’s unclear if Apple will introduce any of these secret settings when a final version of iOS 7 hits later this fall, but at least we know the company is/was testing some much requested features internally.

Yahoo is pondering to bid as much as $50 million for Qwiki, the maker of an iPhone app under the same name that allows users to create mini videos that include their videos and photos, AllThingsD said Tuesday. Yahoo has been on the lookout for acquisitions and recently acquired Summly, Tumblr and has its eyes on Hulu.

Yahoo clearly has a focus on improving its mobile apps, especially as other big tech names such as Google and Facebook continue to snatch up mobile startups. Facebook acquired Instagram last year for $1 billion in cash and stock. AllThingsD said the discussions with Qwiki are in advanced stages, which means an announcement could potentially happen any day now.

Qwiki could offer several options for Yahoo. First, it could serve as a type of social network, but more important we see it as a way that could potentially enable Yahoo to create its own platform for users to send in first-hand news stories, especially since Qwiki’s focus has been on allowing users to tell stories. It could also provide Yahoo another way to deliver mobile ads and generate new revenue streams.

Yahoo is also reportedly interested in acquiring inbox organizer Xobni (inbox spelled backwards) for between $30 and $40 million, according to AllThingsD.

HTC confirmed the rumored Desire 200 handset today on its official website. It’s an entry-level smartphone that will sit in the smartphone family below the Desire 600.

The Desire 200 features a similar, if stouter, design to the Taiwanese smartphone maker’s HTC One. We see the same front-facing speaker grills up top and at the bottom, and it also offers Beats Audio. However, the 3.5-inch device appears to feature a thicker bezel around the edges and a simple, curved back panel. The new smartphone also features a faux-aluminum plastic, imitating the One’s aluminum body.

Beneath its 3.5-inch HVGA display, the HTC Desire 200 sports a Snapdragon S1 single-core processor clocked at 1GHz, the minimum speed required to make use of Android’s top features. It also offers 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage with a microSD card slot to expand memory up to 32GB, and a 1,230 mAH Li-on battery. There’s no front-facing camera, and a 5-megapixel lens sits on the back. The Desire 200 will likely run older versions of Android and Sense software.

HTC has not revealed how much the Desire 200 will cost or when it will be available for purchase, though we imagine this handset is bound for emerging markets.

When it comes to 4G/LTE, Verizon’s network is largely acknowledged as the best. But now, PCMag‘s latest test results have come along to challenge that notion. According to the website, AT&T actually had the fastest LTE network of all four of the major carriers.

In its latest study, the website used the exact same model of Samsung smartphone and equipped drivers to hit the road and test the networks for the four major U.S. carriers in 30 different cities. Then it used a new tool from Sensorly to measure speed, “like the all-important ‘time to first byte’ which tells you how long it takes for a Web page to start to appear.”

AT&T’s LTE network boasted average speeds of 16.65 Mbps (down) and 7.43 Mbps (up). That simply outclassed Verizon’s 11.93 Mpbs (down) and 6.25 Mbps (up). T-Mobile did quite well, even edging out Verizon, at 12.07 Mbps (down) and 7.09 Mbps (up). But it was only usable in six of the available markets in the study sample. In other areas, PCMag went with Tmo’s other hi-speed network, HSPA+, which pulled in 7.91 Mbps (down) and 1.42 Mbps (up).

Compared to these results, Sprint’s 4G LTE network was practically wheezing. It clocked in at a measly 5.55 Mbps (down) and 2.41 Mbps (up).

As far as top download speeds are concerned, AT&T again topped the charts, with 66.11 Mbps max. T-Mobile came in second, at 62.03 Mbps, and Verizon and Sprint pulled in 59.83 Mbps and 32.32 Mbps, respectively.

Ultimately, the findings are that Verizon is still the choice for reliability (although none of the contenders really had the chops to deliver solid or stable enough to vie with home broadband). And T-Mobile was quite the surprise, but the downside there is coverage. And even though Sprint could use a boost in the speed department, the carrier is pushing hard to broaden its reach. The Now Network is pushing hard to expand LTE coverage, with 22 new cities and 13 more on the way.

When it comes to 4G/LTE, it looks like things are moving along, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Do these results surprise you, or does it line up with your own experience? Be sure to let us know in the comments.  

HTC accidentally confirmed the rumored HTC One Mini by its speculative name on one of the Taiwanese smartphone maker’s own websites earlier today. Aside from revealing that the long-rumored handset is in development, the leak contains few details except that the device will feature a 720p HD display, The Next Web reports.

Following a series of leaked photos, the HTC One Mini was cited by name in a user agent profile on one of HTC’s Taiwanese web domains. The HD display is confirmed in one line of text that lists the smartphone’s resolution as 1280 x 720 pixels.

Based on recently leaked photos of the HTC One Mini, we expect the device to feature a 4.3-inch screen that’s just 0.4 inches smaller than its big brother, as well as the same Boom Sound stereo front-facing speaker grills with Beats Audio. However, the One Mini is unlikely to feature the One’s IR blaster or the same quad-core processor. The device will reportedly run the latest Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS. It’s unclear if it will feature HTC’s Sense 5 UI or an earlier version.