APPLE CONFIRMS iOS 5 BUGS CAUSING BATTERY ISSUES

Apple on Wednesday said it had found a few problems that are leading some iPhone customers to experience less-than-expected battery life with iPhones running its latest software. “A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices,” Apple said in a statement to AllThingsD. “We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.” Apple declined to comment beyond the statement.

GOOGLE AND SPRINT RESPOND TO GOOGLE VOICE INTEGRATION ISSUES

You may recall from yesterday that early adopters were having a variety of issues after activating (or attempting to activate) Sprint's new Google Voice integration feature. Well, a full day has passed, and we've had several calls with GV lead Vincent Paquet as well as Brian Smith, Sprint's director of product development. Both executives have said that their respective companies have been hard at work on resolutions to each of the issues we outlined Thursday night, and some customers we spoke to yesterday are now back online.

Google is not commenting on a voicemail security bug, that inadvertently granted management-level access to people that one user called from the Google Voice web app, vulnerability, but has confirmed that it's not a threat today. The second issue was that some GV customers who were up and running with Sprint integration suddenly found themselves unable to use the service. This issue has been pegged to the removal of an accounting code -- GGLVOICE -- that some Sprint reps have accidentally removed. The carrier is working to prevent this from occurring in the future, and those already affected should soon be able to call in for support. Next up, some international calls were being processed through Sprint, rather than through GV, even after users activated their integration. This has been tied to the accidental removal of the same accounting code, and Google has offered to reimburse affected individuals.

Finally, many users, notably those on personal accounts with corporate discount, have been unable to activate GV integration. Sprint has promised a mid-May resolution, and we'll certainly keep you updated. Users with these issues are still being instructed to share their concerns on the Google Voice Forum, which as of now is finally getting the attention it needs. You can also post a comment below, as both companies have been monitoring here, too. Things are looking much better today than they were yesterday, but our position remains unchanged: Unless you've already activated Sprint/Google Voice integration, please stand by until both companies have had a chance to work out these (very significant) kinks.

SPRINT/GOOGLE VOICE INTEGRATION HAS MAJOR PROBLEMS, LITTLE SUPPORT

There have been a ton of complaints about the new Sprint/Google Voice integration. Some users of Google Voice are finding their accounts are suddenly deactivated due to a problem on Sprint's end. Others can't activate Google Voice at all.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Some users are having problems reverting back to their old number and having the service deactivated by Sprint. For international calls, one the major advantages of using Google Voice due to the low cost per minute, users are finding their calls are not routed through Google, but Sprint at the much higher per minute rate.

Google and Sprint clearly have their work cut out for them, but to Sprint's credit, customer service representatives that we spoke to did their best to research the situation and provide any assistance that they could. Unfortunately, the result is always the same -- reps at every level redirect callers to the Google Voice Forum, rather than an email or telephone support line.

It appears that Sprint does in fact know how to get in touch with Google, at least at the executive level. We received a joint response, sent from representatives of both companies. Surprisingly, their official position is that customers with Sprint-related Google Voice questions should contact Sprint directly. From our experience, Sprint representatives will then refer customers to Google, so that suggestion couldn't be less helpful. Unfortunately, there's no word on when we can expect these bugs to be resolved. In the meantime, it goes without saying that you should avoid activating Google Voice on your Sprint phone, unless the mobile gods have blessed you with multiple devices -- or you really don't care about being able to use your phone to actually make calls.

RUMOR: iOS 4.3 TO LAUNCH IN DECEMBER

The dust has not even settled on iOS 4.2 and rumors are already floating around the web as to what the next installment will bring to the table.

By the looks of things Apple is looking at a fairly quick turn around with the iOS 4.3 update due as early as mid-December (could even be December 13).

We are not sure if there will be any new features as such, but with AirPrint only working on select printers and other issues such as the reported iPod bug, plus 3G and 3GS users not getting the text tones found on the iPhone 4, iOS 4.3 could just be a simple bug fix exercise to address all these issues. [Geek]

MACBOOK AIR BUGS ADDRESSED IN OS X 10.6.5

Earlier this month, BGR reported Apple was working on fixes for a string of troublesome MacBook Air bugs. The issues were widespread, and they involved a variety of problems with display flickering, fading and discoloration when affected notebooks woke from sleep. Internal documents revealed by BGR suggested that the problems would be addressed by an upcoming software update and as expected, OS X 10.6.5 appears to have resolved the bugs described in those documents. Apple also issued a new support document on the matter. While Apple’s description of the issues does not appear to encompass all of the problems reported earlier this month, we have confirmed with several affected users that these bugs no longer occur on their devices. [BGR]

GOOGLE TO PAY CASH REWARDS FOR BUGS

Google has decided to start offering more cash rewards for all the bug hunters out there.

Although a reward program has been in place for the Chromium open source project since January, Google has now decided to expand the scheme to include its other web properties. Those properties include:

*.google.com
*.youtube.com
*.blogger.com
*.orkut.com
If you’re wondering what bugs are worthy of a reward Google is keeping things very open by stating:

Any serious bug which directly affects the confidentiality or integrity of user data may be in scope.

You won’t earn cash for any of the following, though:

attacks against Google’s corporate infrastructure
social engineering and physical attacks
denial of service bugs
non-web application vulnerabilities, including vulnerabilities in client applications
SEO blackhat techniques
vulnerabilities in Google-branded websites hosted by third parties
bugs in technologies recently acquired by Google
As to how much you can earn, the rewards are substantial if you report regularly or hit a goldmine of bugs Google will payout multiple times for. The guidelines are as follows:

The base reward for qualifying bugs is $500. If the rewards panel finds a particular bug to be severe or unusually clever, rewards of up to $3,133.7 may be issued. The panel may also decide a single report actually constitutes multiple bugs requiring reward, or that multiple reports constitute only a single reward.

Anyone deciding to give their reward to charity will see the amount matched by Google. [Geek]