While I still use Apple’s own Maps app from time to time, mostly because it’s built in to iOS, I tend to prefer Google Maps more. It just feels more complete, though that’s just my own opinion; I haven’t done any scientific analysis or comparison.

That said, the Google Maps app is pretty darn great, and there’s a couple of hidden features you can access with just a swipe (and maybe a tap or two). Here they are.

Yahoo released a brand new video app for iOS today that aims to bring a TV-like experience to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. The new app – called Yahoo! Screens  – allows users to browse through TV clips and episodes by swiping left-to-right as well as up-and-down.

Users can customize the experience to their liking and use Screen to discover new content and shows. To kick things off, Yahoo partnered with Viacom to pump out clips from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live, as well as other series and movies. The free app is available in the App Store now.

Here are the full release notes:

Sir Jony Ive and famed designer Marc Newson have teamed up with Bono to a mega-auction of fancy master-pieces of design that will be sold to benefit (RED). Among the list of items up for grabs is a custom pair of Apple EarPods made of solid rose gold.

Jony and Marc actually did all the curation of the collection themselves over the past year, as well as collaborating on two custom made items – a  Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera, and an  aluminum desk produced by Neal Feay Studios. A total of 40 items will be auctioned off, including pieces from space travel, lighting, contemporary art and rare automobiles.

Here’s what Jony had to say about his contribution:

One of my favorite things ever is Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast based on H.G. Wells’ Martian-invasion novel, The War of the Worlds. If you’ve never heard it and have a free hour, here’s a link. Just come back when you’re done.

Codename Cygnus is an interactive radio drama from developer Reactive Studios. And if you liked the storytelling, acting, and music in Welles’ production, it’s for you. If you thought it was cheesy and overly dramatic, you should try Cygnus anyway. Here’s why.

If you are one of those people who have an iPhone or iPod for your telephony and music needs while out the house but still stubbornly keep a Windows desktop comp at home, perhaps for historical reasons or work purposes, you will most likely be missing out on a pile of great and super-convenient auto-syncing / streaming compatibilities of all your files, pics, videos, and so on that are the joy of Mac fans who use all Apple products.

Now, Korean tech company ConversDigital launches a new updated version of mconnect player free, which allows users to access media services and digital content anywhere, with any device, and “make connected digital media ubiquitous.”

Are you a big user of the iOS Kindle app? If you intend on updating to iOS 7 first thing when it drops next week, you might want to update your Kindle app sooner rather than later. A new critical update has been released that Amazon says will prevent iOS 7 from messing your Kindle library up.

Microsoft has today launched Xbox Music on Android and iOS almost a year after the music streaming service made its debut alongside Windows 8. The apps allow subscribers to stream tens of millions of songs straight to their mobile devices, and create playlists that sync across your smartphone, tablet, PC, and Xbox 360.

Microsoft has also updated its Xbox Music web app to offer free, ad-supported streaming for all.

Go figure. Just a week and a half before Apple is set to launch iOS 7 out into the world, someone has finally succeeded in hacking iOS 6.1.4. Oh, the irony!

If you’ve been running the iOS 7 beta, or have seen it up close, then you’ll be familiar with the ugly icon problem, in which some icons have janky edges thanks to a change of the corner radius in iOS 7. You can see the changes in this animated GIF from Czech site Letem Světem Applem (or something), which shows the design change as applied to the icons in the iTunes Store.

Microsoft has a weird business model, and a fragile one.

Their model is: Get people to need Microsoft software, then sell that software at high prices.

Contrast this with Apple’s model, which is: Get people want your consumer electronics so bad they’ll pay a lot for it, then sell the hardware, software, services and content at high prices.

And finally, Google’s model: Get people use the Internet more by making it awesome and free, and make money when people use the Internet.

All three companies make operating systems for phones, tablets and desktop computers.

But which models will succeed in the future and which will fail?

I think it’s clear that Google’s model is most likely to succeed and Microsoft’s most likely to fail. And Apple will do just fine.

Here’s what’s happening.