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Two popular zombie games have made their way to the Apple App Store this week. Activision released the popular Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, and developers Digital Chocolate have made their Facebook hit Zombie Lane available on the iPhone and iPad. The newest Call of Duty app is $6.99, and offers 50 levels of zombie killing madness. You can play solo or on teams of four via Call of Duty’s new interface which features Voice Chat for the first time ever. There is also a new unlockable arcade-style top-down shooter mode called "Dead Ops Arcade" with Game Center leaderboard support.

Zombie Lane is free in the iTunes App Store, but it's one of those annoying Facebook type games that forces you to pay for upgrades. You're tasked with rebuilding your neighborhood by smashing and shooting the undead, rebuilding fences and growing crops. There are plenty of missions to complete, achievements to gain and extra things to do if you're willing to pay real money for the honor of doing so. If you're not willing to shell out the cash, you will find yourself standing around a lot unable to perform any tasks.

iPhone users who have experienced shorter than expected battery life using iOS 5 continue waiting for Apple to track down the cause of the power drain. The recent iOS 5.0.1 update made some changes to improve battery life, fixing the problem for some iPhone owners. Apple explained that more work was underway to figure out other causes of battery drain that are still affecting others.

Developers had hoped that iOS 5.1 would contain more fixes and battery life on the iPhone 4S would improve for those experiencing the problem. Unfortunately, it seems this is not the case, and the iOS 5.1 beta firmware has not solved the ongoing battery issues. Many iPhone 4S users have not had any problem with their battery life, which makes the problem even more elusive.

25-year-old Trevor Eckhart discovered a "rootkit" hidden in various Android handsets that logs information like text messages, location and encrypted web searches. The company behind the software, Carrier IQ, claims their technology is an innocent diagnostics tool that doesn't record keystrokes or illegally track users. However, Eckhart's YouTube video below seems to suggest otherwise. On Thursday, Apple joined several other carriers and manufacturers in coming clean about using the software. Here is their statement in full (via All Things D):

“We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.”

Samsung has transformed their Facebook page into an iPhone 4S smear campaign. One image compares the iPhone 4S to two tin cans on a string and other outdated cell phone technology. The "cutting edge" (Samsung Galaxy S II) vs. "old school" (iPhone 4S) ad campaign also pokes fun at the iPhone's screen size, battery problems and Apple not releasing a new iPhone in 2011. Here are some examples of Samsung's recent wall posts making fun of the iPhone 4S.

Take your pick: Carrying a magnifying glass or click to zoom?

Sick of squinting? It's okay, Samsung has a phone for that.

Celebrate your freedom of choice.

Sketchy battery? It's okay, Samsung has a phone for that.

If it looks the same and feels the same - it's probably the same.

If you're one of the many iPhone users who has created home screen shortcuts for individual Settings on your device, you might want to skip the iOS 5.1 update. The first beta of iOS 5.1 has been seeded to developers, and the loophole that allowed this shortcut trick is now closed.

This is unfortunate for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S users (and some 3GS owners) who are waiting patiently for an untethered jailbreak solution for their devices. Shortcuts to individual settings on the iPhone home screen saves time and effort scrolling through several menus to change one item, such as turning on Airplane Mode or switching off Location Settings.