BUG REPORTED IN iOS 5.0.1, BATTERY ISSUE ALSO NOT RESOLVED

A bug that affects the contact list on Apple's iPhone 4S has been discovered after applying the iOS 5.0.1 OTA update. According to users the contact list is fine, however when receiving a call or a text the name does not appear. This might be confined to those on the Verizon network and doing the following procedure has been shown to fix this issue.

1) Open the Phone and dial *228. This is a Verizon over-the-air programming number.
2) When the system answer press 1 for “Program or activate your phone”
3) Wait for the call to disconnect. You should get a prompt stating something like, “Settings updated.”
4) Open the Task Manager (double click the home button) and kill the Phone, Message, and Contacts Applications
5) Wait a few minutes (I waited 3 just to be extra safe)
6) Open the Message App to verify the fix.

Also, a number of users are reporting the 5.0.1 update has not fixed their battery drain issue and in some cases it has made it worse. The 5.0.1 update was specifically deployed to correct the battery issue, however for some users that does not seem to be the case.

iOS 5.0.1 WITH BATTERY FIX AVAILABLE NOW

Apple has released the first official update to iOS 5, which fixes the reported battery drain problems.

In addition to fixing bugs related to battery life, the update to iOS 5.0.1 also adds multitasking gestures for the first iPad, resolves some bugs with Documents in the Cloud, and improves Siri’s voice recognition for people with Australian accents.

Remember that with iOS 5 you can now install software updates over the air. So there is no longer any need to wait until you get home, grab a cable, and connect to iTunes on a PC in order to apply the update. Simply open your Settings app, choose General, and then Software Update to initiate the process. The delta update file is less than 40MB, and should only take a couple of minutes to install over WiFi.

TOSHIBA PROMISES FIX FOR THRIVE SLEEP ISSUE

Toshiba has announced they have developed a fix for the Thrive tablet's sleep addiction and will release it "early next week" via the Service Station app. The update will improve the device's "multimedia playback capabilities," although it didn't tell us how.

TOSHIBA ACKNOWLEDGES THRIVE TABLET SLEEP ISSUE

Has your Thrive been acting more like sleeping beauty, and less like the tablet you paid for? Before embarking on a mythical tale, whereupon you eventually find its more charming compatriot, know help from Toshiba is forthcoming: "We're aware of the issue and are working on a fix." No further details on when it'll land, or what exactly it'll fix.

APPLE RELEASES iOS 4.3.3, ADDRESSES LOCATION TRACKING "BUG"

Apple has released iOS version 4.3.3 for the iPhone 4 (GSM), iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and iPod touch (third and fourth generation), just as we reported. The only changes noted by Apple with this release pertain to the location tracking bug discovered recently. Apple states that this release “contains changes to the iOS crowd-sourced location database cache.” More specifically, the update “reduces the size of the cache,” “no longer backs the cache up to iTunes,” and “deletes the cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.” An update carrying similar changes — iOS 4.2.8 — is available for the Verizon Wireless iPhone 4 as well.

RUMOR: iOS 4.3.1 RELEASING IN A FEW WEEKS

According to BGR, Apple will be releasing iOS 4.3.1. This will be a minor update to the upgrade released a few weeks ago. The new update will include:

• Baseband updates for the 3GS and iPad (original)
• Fixed memory hang that results in memory corruption when reading large files from USIM filesystem
• Fixed problem with NTLM authentication in apps and on websites
• Fixed issue with the Springboard and 3rd party apps not recgonizing the gyroscope on the iPad 2
• Fixed iPad 2 jailbreak vulneratbility

APPLE RELEASES iTUNES 10.2.1

Apple on Tuesday released an updated version of its iTunes software. iTunes 10.2.1 includes the same change log as the previous version of the software, which could indicate that this build addresses a bug discovered in iTunes 10.2. The need to issue this bug fix so soon after iTunes 10.2 was released could also be the reason iOS 4.3 was not released today as we expected.

WINDOWS PHONE 7 DATA LEAKER REVEALED

We have previously reported on the mysterious data leaking app on the new Windows Phone 7 OS. Microsoft was able to identify the offending app, but kept mum on what the app actually was. We now know it is Yahoo Mail. According to a statement obtained by Microsoft guru Paul Thurrott, a fix is expected in the "coming weeks," but in the interim, you can mitigate the pain by going into settings and choosing less taxing options for "Download new content" and "Download email from" -- say, for example, "manually" and "the last 7 days," respectively.

Now you know and knowing is half the battle!

SECURITY BUG FOUND IN AMAZON'S LOGIN SYSTEM

Engadgetis reporting Amazon's login system has a bug in it. The Amazon.com login system will actually accept any phrase so long as it begins with your password, such as "password123" when the magic word is simply "password" by itself. That apparently makes it that much easier for a computer to guess your password via brute force methods.

The fix is relatively simple for the end user, change your password. It is suggested you use a combination letters, numbers and symbols.

ANDROID 2.3 SECURITY BUG DISCOVERED

Xuxian Jiang, a researcher at North Carolina State Unversity, has uncovered a security bug in the next version of Google's Android OS, Gingerbread. According to Jiang, the bug allows malicious websites to access a persons microSD card and upload the contents, including voicemails, photos and online banking information, to a remote server.

The flaw appears to be very similar to a known bug in previous version of Android that was thought to have been corrected in Gingerbread. Jiang says the fix for this bug in Gingerbread though is easily bypassed. Google is said to be working on a solution to the problem, but it is not known when a patch will appear.

WINDOWS PHONE 7 DATA HOG BUG FOUND; FIX IN THE WORKS

Last week we reported about a problem many people on Windows Phone 7 devices were having with data hogging. Even with everything turned off, the devices was still downloading massive amounts of data, causing some users to go over their data limits. Microsoft has now identified the issue and a fix is in the works.

We have determined that a third-party solution commonly accessed from Windows Phones is configured in a manner that potentially cause larger than expected data downloads. We are in contact with the third party to assist them in making the necessary fixes, and are also pursuing potential workarounds to address the configuration issue in case those are needed. At this point in our investigation, we believe this is responsible for most of the reported incidents.

We are investigating additional potential root causes for the remainder of the reports.

A small (low single-digit) percentage of Windows Phone customers have reported being affected.

We are continuing to investigate this issue and will update with additional information and guidance as it becomes available.

No word on when the fix will be released. Microsoft is also keeping mum on who the offending "third-party solution" is. Also, Microsoft has not commented on any remedies for those users who have exceeded their data caps and have incurred, and continue to incur, overage charges.

GOOGLE IGNORING ANDROID BUG THAT SENDS SMS MESSAGES TO WRONG PERSON

According to a report from ZDNet blog Hardware 2.0, Google’s Android platform is being plagued by a bug that Google is, for the most part, ignoring. The bug causes SMS messages to be delivered to the wrong recipient and occurrences appear to be random. Relegated to “Priority-Medium” on the Android developer forums, the bug was first reported to Google over six months ago in June, 2010, and yet it has still not been addressed. Perhaps the simplest description of the issue comes from the developer who first reported it:

1. Send SMS message to RecipientA.
2. Message appears to be successfully sent to RecipientA.
3. RecipientX receives message.
4. ‘View Message Details’ in RecipientA thread, shows ‘To’ field as being RecipientX’s MSISDN (phone number).

Numerous subsequent posts on the thread confirm the bug. In an on-site poll, Hardware 2.0 also asks readers if they have been affected by this SMS bug. At the time this post was written, 30% of poll-takers indicated that the bug has affected their Android phones at some point. [BGR]

17 YEAR OLD AUSTRALIAN CAUSE OF TWITTER PROBLEMS

A 17 year old Australian boy was the root cause of yesterday's twitter bug.  The Melbourne based high school student decided to test the onMouseOver Javascript security flaw that a Japanese man had reported to Twitter a month earlier.  The problems began when his followers decided to propagate the script.  This ultimately led to the worm that hit Twitter. [Gizmodo]