Samsung has already patched the dirty USSD code that threatened Galaxy S II and Galaxy S III

As far as sheer volume of interest goes, Samsung outdid Apple this week, with more stories flying around about the Galaxy S III than about the iPhone 5.

Top of the list was security. According to most of the top tech sites, Galaxy S III owners might have had a bit of a scare this week. That is, if Samsung hadn't already dealt with the problem before anyone even knew it existed.

Apparently, says Mashable, a vulnerability was discovered in Samsung's Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) that "potentially allowed attackers to remotely wipe the contents of Galaxy S II and III devices," essentially restoring them to factory settings.

This video, of Technical University Berlin researcher Ravi Borgaonkar at a security conference in Argentina, shows how it's done.

Thankfully, Samsung's already come out with a patch, and the company issued a statement to Engadget urging users to update:

“We would like to assure our customers that the recent security issue concerning the GALAXY S III has already been resolved through a software update. We recommend all GALAXY S III customers to download the latest software update, which can be done quickly and easily via the Over-The-Air (OTA) service.”

So, now that your smartphone is safe and sound, how about encrusting it with crystals? If you're nodding your head in agreement, and if you have upwards of £2099 (about $3370 U.S.) to spare, maybe consider upgrading to the Samsung Galaxy S III Swarovski Edition?

This crystal-encrusted "Swarovski Edition" Galaxy S III may cost you upward of $3370, but at least the case is free

The device, available from Amosu Couture, is set with 500 Swarovski crystals around the bezel, plus an extra 16 around the home button. Sort of pricey and all, but you do get a free calf leather case.

Now for the really juicy stuff. Hot on the heels of all the rumors surrounding an iPad Mini launch, Samsung's brewing its own big news about something small.

This leaked German invite to a rumored Samsung Galaxy S III Mini launch reads: "So big can be small. And so small can be big."

According to TechCrunch, which cited "a recently released press invitation," Samsung may be unveiling a smaller scale version of the Galaxy S III (the Mini) at a store in Frankfurt, Germany. The invite, written in German and loosely translated as "So big can be small. And so small can be big," is so far the only proof of such an event.

But it's already got Samsung fans more than a little excited, if you'll excuse the pun.

Now even the process of charging your phone can be entertaining. A new app from the Toyota car company called “Plug-in Championship” makes a game of plugging in your phone. This is the first app of its kind.

The goal of the game is to plug in your phone’s charger when the power meter on the screen is at its highest. The better your timing, the better your score. You score every time you plug in the connector to your phone. Once the phone is plugged and you’ve gotten your score, the app gives you a fast-paced video to add to the fun.

The Plug-in Championship game isn’t complex or challenging. It's just another way to pass some time and compare scores with your buddies.

Toyota developed “Plug-in Championship” as part of its promotional campaign for the Prius PHV hybrid car. The app is available for iOS and Android.

PLUG-IN Championship http://plugin.toyota-digital.com/

iTunes App Store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/plug-in-championship/id551957032?mt=8&uo=4

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.toyota_digital.plugin

A report in Fortune magazine says it’s likely that Apple will show the world its iPad Mini in a launch event on October 17th. An Apple investor claims to have heard about Apple’s plans from multiple sources and predicts that invitations to the event will go out on October 10th, we’ll have a first look at the iPad Mini on October 17th , and we could see it on the market as soon as November 2nd.

Leaked photos of the little tablet have been circulating for quite a while showing a 7.85-inch device with a rear-facing camera. The casing looks to be aluminum-backed with a front display that is similar to the current iPad’s. It will probably have a black or white bezel surrounding the screen and a home button at the bottom. There is no doubt that tablet will be set up with the new Lightning connector.

Thankfully, the iPad Mini is rumored to be priced in the range of other major tablets like Nook, Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire. Apple offering a tablet for around $200 will probably make everyone except Barnes and Noble, Google and Amazon very happy.

Since neither the development of a smaller version of the iPad nor any dates for the launch of the alleged device have ever been acknowledged by Apple, all this information could be completely wrong. Since we’re hearing it everywhere, we’ll just let Apple be the one to prove us right.

Rumors swell about an iPad Mini launch as a mockup video suggesting its design details emerges

As this week opened, the major news at all the top tech sites was, well, mini.

Amid all the buzz is Apple's much-anticipated, diminutive successor to the iPad.

The iPad Mini, of course, isn't even available yet, but techies and Apple fanatics alike nearly blew a gasket this morning when rumors of an upcoming iPad Mini event began to swirl.

Now, don't get hasty. The rumors aren't even about a supposed date for said event, but rather about a date for the first invitations to get sent out. Citing a major Apple investor as a source, Fortune reported that the press should expect invitations for October 10.

That date led 9to5 mac to speculate that an iPad Mini launch could be expected for mid-October, followed by shipping in November. Since that would be an apt time for Apple to capitalize on the Christmas shopping frenzy, we tend to lean toward that projection holding true.

But if tablet and Apple junkies got excited about mere rumors about event invitations, just imagine how they must have felt when a leaked mock-up of the new tablet showed up on Japanese Apple blog Macotakara.

The video, which shows a non-functioning iPad Mini dummy, seems to confirm all "previous design rumors," says BGR. That includes the conjecture about a 7.85" display, thinner bezel, and a thickness comparable to an iPod – most of which had already been hinted at by the discovery of third party cases for the iPad Mini.

Among the conjecture is that the iPad Mini will be about as thick as an iPod

The new tablet also appears to have speakers at the bottom rather than at the rear, which is in line with yet more rumors.

But that's not the last bit of tantalizing gossip to emerge this week. Macotakara also reported that production for the iPad Mini has, in fact, begun in Brazil. though, they say, they "don't have information if it has been produced in [a] Chinese factory, yet."

Nor do we at Pure Mobile expect this to be last we hear about the next big – or is it little – thing to happen to the iPad.

Pocket-Lint obtained exclusive pictures of the HTC One X's next incarnation

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Or at least, that seems to be what HTC was thinking when designing their latest version of the HTC One X.

The new device, called the HTC One X+, isn't official yet. But pictures obtained exclusively by Pocket-Lint at least confirm its existence.

As you may have guessed from our opening statement, the new shots of the HTC One X+ look extremely familiar, and the new device is likely to be more of a tweak or an update than a total reinvention.

The Pocket-Lint pictures reveal mostly superficial changes to the exterior design. Pocket-Lint called the new phone “virtually identical” to its predecessor, with the exception of its black color accented by red details, and the new “b” logo for Beats Audio. Screen size, shape, and everything else appear to be the same.

That said, a lot more than just pictures of the HTC One X+ have emerged. As MobileSyrup notes, aside from the iPhone 5, it has been “perhaps the most-leaked phone of the last six months.”

And if you put together the rumors and conjecture from all the different sources, you begin to get a pretty good idea of what the next generation HTC phone is going to be.

It's expected to run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, feature a 1.7GHz quad-core processor, and have 1GB of RAM, with 64GB of internal storage.

Again, it's not a huge overhaul. And some, like TechCrunch, are asking whether “pushing out mildly-updated versions of existing hardware could put HTC back on its original, lousy track.”

Still, it may just be that HTC have hit upon something good with the One family and have decided to hedge their betson the HTC One X+.

But I guess we're all just going to have to wait a little longer to find out if the odds are in their favor.

California has become the first state to pass a bill making it illegal for employers to ask for workers' email or social media passwords. This means companies in California cannot require employees to turn over passwords for online accounts or penalize them if they refuse to comply. The bill also protects students at colleges and universities who refuse to hand over access to their social media accounts.

State Senator Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat, authored the bill. She said, “When you do in fact open up your social media accounts, all kinds of personal information may be there. But information that, by law, no employer can, in fact, get your religion, sexual orientation, other kinds of personal, private information are out of bounds by both state law and federal law," she said at the time. "So, it's not just simply about getting information. There are confidential, protected information that employers will be getting, and that's wrong."

Facebook lashed out about the requirements by reminding schools, governments, and businesses that giving away passwords was expressly forbidden by their security rules.

Companies that don't ask for passwords have taken other steps like asking applicants to friend human resource managers or to log in to a company computer during an interview. Some companies have required employees to sign non-disparagement agreements that ban workers from talking negatively about their employer on social media.

With Facebook’s heavy lobbying, maybe more states will see how much these practices violate individual rights to privacy.

The terms "Scratchgate" and "Scuffgate" have surfaced as early adopters of the iPhone 5 complain of unsightly marks on the aluminum back

Okay, so it's not exactly a national scandal on the scale of Watergate, but there's a kerfuffle all across the web over the reputed inadequacy of the new iPhone 5's aluminum back.

The fact that the aluminum is prone to scratching has users and tech sites shouting Scratchgate and Scuffgate, and even led to cries of "oh, the humanity!" Proud new owners of the iPhone 5 have already been complaining of unsightly scratches and scuffs on the black-coated aluminum of their new prized possession.

And, as 9to5 Mac reported, one such user actually garnered a response from Apple's Senior VP of Marketing, Phil Schiller, who told him: “Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color. That is normal.”

Fair enough. The aluminum backing of the iPhone 5 may be prone to wear, but it is actually less fragile than the glass backing of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. And even in a Gizmodo video where one user is determined to “scratch the hell” out of the new device within store, the iPhone 5 holds up pretty well, though it's never rubbed against sharp metal objects like keys or rings.

Still, all of this brings us to an important, if awkward, discussion:

It's fun to have the latest smartphone. You love Apple ever so much, and you and your new iPhone are planning to make a life together – at least until the next model comes out, that is.

But the fact is, just because you trust your smartphone, there's no reason not to use protection. It's for your iPhone's good as much as your own. So glove the love.

Yes, we're talking about cases and covers. In the case of the iPhone 4 and 4S, a rugged case is best (we've all seen those tragic shots of shattered glass.) But for the iPhone 5, a simple skin just to protect the black finish may be enough to do the trick.

The result of unprotected smartphone love: the cracked glass panel of an iPhone 4

Meanwhile, the moral of this story extends beyond Apple's products, to any smartphone you want to keep in good shape. To paraphrase Beyoncé, if you liked it then you should have put a skin on it.

ZTE and Mozilla are the latest duo to announce that they’ll be launching a new smartphone with a brand new operating system. ZTE is China’s largest manufacturer of mobile phones. Mozilla, the Firefox browser company, is the co-developer of the OS. The team plans to launch their new phone in December.

In February, He Shiyou, executive vice president of ZTE, announced that the Shenzhen company was developing their own OS. ZTE is the world’s fourth-largest maker of mobile phones. They’ve begun a big push with entry-level smartphones and want to be very careful about staying out of the nasty patent fray that Apple, Samsung and others have been embroiled in.

ZTE apparently hasn’t learned anything about launching a new OS from the struggles that Microsoft has been put through. The company’s plan is “a very unrealistic strategy,” Pierre Ferragu, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in London, told Bloomberg News. “Operating systems follow winner-take-all rules. How can an operating system limited to a small, low-end manufacturer gain traction ever?”

What do you think? Would you consider purchasing a smartphone offered by this pair?

While Apple unleashed the iPhone 5 last week, they’re being a little stingier with the Lightening connector – they aren’t in stores yet, and online orders won’t ship until October. This is causing all kinds of conniptions among even Apple’s most loyal fans.

It was inevitable that Apple had to re-engineer its 10-year old 30 pin adapter. The Lightning’s eight-pin, all-digital connector is smaller, more durable and a necessity for the evolution of all Apple devices. But, the impact of the connector change on the whole system is just getting through to many Apple owners.

Not only will you need the adapter to connect your iPhone 5 to all the old accessories and their 30 pin plug-ins, more substantial systems like your BMW’s electronic interface and the workout equipment at your gym will be useless without the Lightning adapter. Anywhere that there are iPhone-compatible systems will be affected.

BMW is one of the companies that is already on the problem. They’ve made it clear to car owners that they will still be able to listen to music, podcasts and other audio over the built-in stereo, so yes, the tunes will continue to flow. However, the automaker’s PlugIn feature – enabling video playback while stationary and the mirrored Apple interface – is officially out.

Have you thought about how Apple’s connector change is going to affect your Apple devices?

Consumers haven’t yet weighed in on whether the Nokia Lumia will be some serious competition for Android phones (let alone Apple’s iPhone), but now that a Red Bull app is in the works, it looks like the Nokia/Microsoft partnership might get a nice boost.

Red Bull just announced that it will release the World of Red Bull app exclusively in a Windows Phone 8 version for the Lumia and Nokia’s Series 40 debuting later this year. The Red Bull app lets you pull your favorite content, Red Bull athletes and stories into a customizable platform. The app, also known as “My Red Bull,” has a nice mapping feature for spontaneous meetups.

This is a big deal because developers aren’t yet clamoring to create apps for Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 OS. Since the Nokia phones that run on that OS haven’t caught on with consumers, developers are slow to do the app designing.

Microsoft is trying to help the stalemate by paying developers to give some attention to Windows Phone 8-version apps. But they’ve got a huge mountain to climb. Apple’s App Store inventory totals more than 700,000 apps and Google Play has crossed the 600,000 mark for Android devices. Microsoft is the laggard at 100,000. Still, that’s a pretty good start for a brand new system on a limited number of devices.

What do you think? Would a Red Bull app (and more like it to come) be enough incentive to consider switching to a Windows Phone 8 device?