Apple

Rumor has it that a new operating system may be on its way for iDevices. The tech media circuit is dubbing the upgrade iOS 7 — not iOS 6.2 — which means the changes to Apple's mobile platform might be major.

And thank goodness for that. The infrastructure of iOS has, for the most part, gone unchanged since the platform was launched over five years ago.

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is just two and a half weeks away, and we're expecting some big announcements from the keynote. But before Tim Cook takes the stage to announce what's next in iOS and OS X, here's what we think we know about the latest iOS update for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch still under wraps.

• Jony Ive is leading the charge — In October 2012, Apple announced that Scott Forstall, the senior VP of iOS software, was out and the company's legendary design head Jony Ive, the man behind the industrial design of the iMac, iPod, and MacBook Air, was in as the lead of human interface across the entire company. The shake-up at the top was intended to increase collaboration between teams, which would put Jony at the forefront of the iOS 7 change.
• "Black, white, and flat all over" — Sources have told 9to5Mac that iOS 7 will take on a flatter design like the concept image above, which would do away with the linen-textured backgrounds. Black and white elements may also be incorporated into the new user interface.

Read the rest of the iOS 7 rumors after the break.

We've always known that Steve Jobs was a visionary and have heard of his legendary business acumen, but we have never really seen him in action.

However, we caught a glimpse of his negotiation skills in email correspondence between Jobs and media mogul Rupert Murdoch's son, which was released by the US government in relation to its price-fixing lawsuit against Apple. In the emails, we see Jobs successfully convincing James Murdoch to get HarperCollins, a News Corp. subsidiary, to sign a deal to sell its ebooks in iTunes. Quartz has the email exchange in most of its entirety, but let's take a look and dissect one of the emails Jobs wrote.

Read on to see the email.

Congratulations on being born, or working hard, or whatever it was you did to deserve an iTunes gift card, reader! Now's the time to catch up on the first two seasons of Game of Thrones. Before you start typing out the lengthy letters and digits of the redeem code, there's an easier way to transfer the credit to your iTunes account: a quick flash of the gift card to your Mac's on-board camera does the trick.

First step: sign into your iTunes account. From there, click Redeem on the right side of the homepage under Quick Links. On the Redeem Code screen, select Use Camera. Peel or scratch off the code on the back of the gift card, then hold the card up to the camera. The code must be on a newer gift card within a black rectangular outline. Your camera (sorry, PC users, this only works on a Mac computer) will automatically read and process the code, turning the numbers seen on the screen from white to green with the wording "Your Apple ID has been credited with . . . "

There you go! The monetary credit is instantly uploaded to your Apple account, and you can go about your business seeing what treachery House Lannister is up to now.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 finally has a price tag and a release date. The white tablet, which was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress earlier this year, will be available at big-box retailers nationwide for $400 on April 11.

The Galaxy Note 8 joins the crowded handheld multimedia tablet space, alongside the iPad Mini, Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD, Nook HD, and others. We've already seen how the top four seven- to eight-inch tablets stack up against each other, but what about the newest device on the block? How does Samsung's newest Note compare to the bestselling iPad Mini?

At $400, Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 is a bit more expensive than Apple's handheld tablet ($329 for 16GB) — but not by much. So we compared the new Galaxy Note to the iPad Mini in four other major categories: size, display, memory, and camera.

See how Samsung's new Note fared after the break.

Whether it's to hide a Reddit addiction from your superior (it's OK, we've all been there) or quickly access a folder, shortcuts to clear all windows and show only the desktop can dramatically increase productivity — and save you from potentially hairy situations.

Check out these shortcuts to wipe away windows and clear the way for desktop access on Mac OS X, MacBooks/MacBook Pros, and Windows 8.

Show Desktop App

• Show Desktop is a free app for Mac users that will hide all applications and show the desktop when clicked. It can run in the menu bar or dock.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) Hotkeys

• Mission Control — In System Preferences by "Show Desktop," choose between a variety of F keys or mouse click + command shortcuts. Click on the "Hot Corners" button on the bottom left of Mission Control to enable show desktop. When you drag your mouse to the designated hot corner, the windows will clear, and you'll see your desktop. Moving the mouse back to that corner will make the windows reappear.

Mac OS X 10.7 and Earlier Hotkeys

• Exposé — If you can't find Mission Control in System Preferences, then look for Exposé. You will be able to set the key or trigger of your choice to show the desktop.

Learn how to get unwanted windows out of the way when you're using your Mac laptop or Windows 8 device after the break

It's the ultimate digital dilemma: you're happily browsing the web, listening to tunes, and composing a little email when all of a sudden your computer freezes up. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to fix a frozen computer and identify the problem.

As a good rule of thumb, always, always, always save frequently and back up your work. If the machine is sluggish — not frozen — then there are several quick fixes to speed it up. But if your Mac or PC starts to slow down and its hard drive revs up then stops altogether, follow our antifreeze recipe before forcing the computer to shut down (which should be a last resort, as you'll probably lose precious data!).

Here's what to do if your computer freezes . . .

. . . During Start Up

• If your Mac is delayed for a second or shows a question mark when booting up, try going to System Preferences > Startup Disk > and select a disk, if there isn't one already selected.
• Disconnect everything that's plugged into your computer. If your computer later starts up with no hubs, extension cords, USB, or Thunderbolt devices plugged in, one of those external devices was likely the culprit. If it is because of these plugged-in devices, then try installing the latest drivers for the device, or read its manual for troubleshooting steps.
• If the Apple logo does not appear after powering on the computer, then force shut the device down and, when it starting up again, hold down the option key until disk icons appear. Select one of the disks (for now, it doesn't matter). After the desktop is fully loaded, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk > and select a disk.

What to do when things get bad randomly or while running an application after the break.