Upgrading to iOS 7 gave iPhone users a fresh coat of paint on Apple's stale user interface, but it also gave the new, much more unwelcome "white screen of death" glitch.

Now the company is said to be in the process of fixing this random soft reboot problem, four months after the mobile operating system launched worldwide.

"We have a fix in an upcoming software update for a bug that can occasionally cause a home screen crash," Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told Mashable.

This is the same reset glitch that sometimes goes by the name "black screen of death." In these cases, the phone reboot color is simply matching the black or newer space gray iPhone 5S bezel color.

It's the same obnoxious bug through and through.

iOS 7.1 around the corner

This erratic iPhone behavior is likely to be rolled into iOS 7.1, though Apple didn't go as far as to confirm this timing.

That may be because the iOS 7.1 release date for the public consumption is currently unknown. Right now, the fourth beta is in the hands (or handsets) of developers for testing purposes.

The beta hints that the long-awaited iOS in the Car feature will jumpstart at the same time this first major iOS 7 update rolls out.

Other minor bug fixes and improvements are possible for iOS 7.1, with a more robust feature list being predicted for iOS 8.

• Read: Apple said to have 'locked down' iPhone 6 screen size at 4.8 inches

It seems like Facebook is trying to be a good samaritan ... to advertisers.

The social media giant announced it will begin testing a mobile ad network with a small group of advertisers and app developers.

Similar experiments have been done in the past without any solid results, but this time Facebook will have a guiding hand in the matter by "working directly with a small number of advertisers and publishers, rather than an outside ad-serving platform."

The app companies in question have not been mentioned.

So what?

While the thought of "more ads" is enough to punch your computer screen or throw your phone at the wall, it seems like none of this will directly affect your Facebook news feed.

For now, it looks like the advertisers and the third party apps will simply be benefitting from Facebook's "rich targeting," with the social media site reaping the revenue.

But it may only be a matter of time until all the outside testing begins to trickle into Facebook's own mobile app to rake in more dough.

The company has already been quite ambitious with its marketing endeavors like calling a truce with Google to sell ad space, and implementing sponsored Instagram photos. And don't forget the video ads.

Don't say we didn't warn you.

• Check out our list of best tablets to cheer you up!

Samsung and Apple are about to go back to court, and Apple is already coming out ahead in pre-trial proceedings.

Judge Lucy Koh, who's been dealing with these two companies' bickering for years, has granted Apple two victories against Samsung as the March trial approaches.

One has to do with an autocorrect patent held by Apple; Judge Koh determined that Samsung's Android smartphones like the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Note, which use a system that guesses which words users are typing and displays its guesses in real time, do infringe on it.

Samsung will now need to prove that Apple's patent is invalid in order to win in March.

Autocorrect this

The other blow relates to a Samsung patent for syncing media between devices, which Judge Koh ruled to be invalid.

She reportedly agreed with Apple's arguments that the Samsung-owned patent added too little to systems that existed before it to be considered valid.

That means Samsung will have only four claims left to fight over when the March trial arrives.

Alternatively, Apple and Samsung might find a solution when they duke it out privately in February, though considering how pointless their settlement talks have been in the past it's more likely this case will go to trial in March.

One of a kind

It's also come to light recently that Apple has been insisting that any settlement it reaches with Samsung has to include an anti-cloning provision.

What this means is that Samsung would be prevented from "copying" Apple products in the future.

Considering this years-long battle is at least partially based on Samsung's assertion that it doesn't copy Apple products, we're guessing that hasn't gone over well with the Korean company.

• Check out TechRadar's review of the latest and greatest Apple phone, the iPhone 5S.

Mobile network Three is no longer permitted to use the term 3.9G to describe its 'Superfast' DC-HSDPA data speeds, following a complaint from rival network EE.

EE had taken umbrage with the use of 3.9G in Three's advertising and marketing materials as it gave the impression that the speeds were 'very close' to those offered on a 4G LTE network and took its discontent to the Advertising Standards Agency.

Three claimed its use of 3.9G was to inform potential customers that its speeds were one step down from 4G and even demonstrated instances where DC-HSPDA exceeded speeds offered through 4G

However, the ASA were having none, upheld EE's claim that Three's claim was misleading and swung a vicious ban hammer in Three's direction, prohibiting the use of 3.9G from now on.

Close but no cigar

The ASA said" "Three provided information on the differences between 3G DC-HSDPA and 4G LTE technology. [It] said it showed that DC-HSDPA was extremely close to 4G LTE in performance, and in some cases outperformed it. [It] said the 1, 2, 3 and 4 mobile phone generation technologies were not based on technical standards, but merely described the evolutionary nature of the user experience."

"[It] said that although they had not intended the term '3.9G' as a technical one, [it] believed it was not misleading because [its] DC-HSDPA network was very close in terms of capability to 4G LTE."

Presumably stood behind the ASA poking its tongue out at Three, an EE spokesperson said: "We're pleased the ASA agrees that this ad was misleading."

Three began its 4G roll out in December, but is prepared to bide its time before giving the next generation mobile broadband tech the hard sell.

• Fighting Talk: Charting the superfast superfail

BlackBerry has maintained its position with the US government as the go-to choice for secure smartphones, thanks to a new deal with the Defence Department that sent shares skyrocketing.

The Defence Information Systems Agency (DISA) will be adding a whopping 80,000 BlackBerry phones to a new management network at the end of January, which will handle unclassified documents and employ a military app store. In contrast, only 1,800 Google Android and Apple iOS devices will be used.

BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion, has traditionally been the company of choice for government contracts, largely due to its improved security such as email encryption, and a suite of enterprise and productivity features. Even US President Barack Obama is known for his use of a BlackBerry.

In recent years, however, Google and Apple have gained ground, threatening the very survival of BlackBerry, which has failed to attract customers in the booming consumer market. Shares at the company fell by a staggering 37 per cent last year, making it vital that it secures more lucrative government and enterprise deals.

The big business recovery

BlackBerry's established position with big businesses has given it a lifeline that it desperately needs to hang on to. It has attempted to expand beyond its comfort zone with the keyboardless Z10 and Z30, but its new CEO John Chen has promised to return the company to its roots by bringing more devices with physical keyboards to the market.

Bloomberg cited a report by Citron Research released earlier this month, which highlighted BlackBerry as a good investment with "a healthy balance sheet" and "ample liquidity." It said that shares should be worth $15 (£9, AU$17), just over one and a half times the current value, so there is clearly still room for growth.

The new government deal has given BlackBerry a major boost, with stock prices rising by as much as 12 per cent. Shares at BlackBerry were up by $0.85 (£0.51, AU$0.96) to $9.93 (£6, AU$11.20), an increase of 9.36 per cent, at the time of writing.