Tech Roundup: Sept 30, 2012

Apple has finally admitted to its flawed mapping solution! In a letter to all customers, CEO Tim cook apologized for causing 'frustration' and falling short on its 'commitment' to deliver best-in-class products and has vowed to work 'non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard'. In the meanwhile, Cook has gone to the extent of suggesting its rivals such as Bing, MapQuest, Waze, Google or Nokia Maps. Good move!

Apple CEO apologizes for iOS 6 Maps gaffe

Apple Maps app may have been a disaster, but new details show that Apple ditched Google Maps due to the lack of turn-by-turn navigation feature. While Google Maps for Android had this feature for quite some time, it chose to keep it a platform exclusive. Apple, which agreed to this initially later realized the importance of turn-by-turn navigation and decided to do away with Google Maps (despite another year left on the contract) by building its own app from scratch. Interestingly no more is the iOS 6 Maps called "the most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever" on the Apple website. Instead, it's now about "a beautiful vector-based interface that scales and zooms with ease"… Check it out here.

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Samsung has finally begun rolling out Jelly Bean to its Galaxy S III smartphone. Other devices to taste the latest Android operating system include the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S Advance, Galaxy S II LTE, Galaxy Chat, Galaxy Ace 2, Galaxy Beam, Galaxy Ace Plus, Galaxy Mini 2, and Galaxy S Duos; and the tablets: the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Galaxy Note 10.1.

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A new security flaw, identified on Samsung Android phones (initially on the Galaxy S III), can do a factory reset just by triggering a piece of HTML code from the browser. The HTML code basically contains the USSD code to reset the device (*2767*3855#) which when clicked pops up the phone's dialer and runs it automatically. Samsung has issued an over-the-air patch for Galaxy S III, though the fate of other phones remain unclear. However, it seems that the Android dialer is the culprit here as even HTC and Motorola phones were proved susceptible to the exploit. According to Dylan Reeve, it was corrected in Android earlier this year and that many of the devices may not be running the fix. He has also put up a website to check if your phone is vulnerable. Will every single Android phone manufacturer release an update? We will have to wait and watch.

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Barely a month after a zero-day vulnerability was discovered in Java, a new Java exploit threatens to put 1 billions Macs and PCs at risk. While the details of the bug are scarce, it is present in Java versions 5, 6 and 7 and is likely to be fixed in a forthcoming update. The danger is comparatively lesser in this case as there is no evidence that hackers have taken advantage of the flaw. Oracle had issued an immediate patch for the last month's security exploit but the update itself was found to contain a bug that allowed cyber criminals to indulge in email phishing campaigns.

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Are you tired of using iCloud or Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync to sync your contacts on your iOS device? If so, there is another alternative. Google has begun supporting the open CardDAV standard on Apple devices running iOS 5 and above. All you need to do is follow the steps mentioned here and lo, the contacts will appear instantly.

In other news:

• No roaming charges in India from next year, says telecom ministry.
• India's low-cost Android based Aakash 2 tablet to go on sale next month.
• Social network MySpace previews a design overhaul; coming 'very soon'.
• Apple iPhone 5's A6 processor confirmed to be manufactured by Samsung.
• Iran blocks access to Google and Gmail in response to anti-Islamic video posted on YouTube.
• Nokia unveils budget smartphones Asha 308 and Asha 309.
• Google revokes access to Indian developers to publish paid apps on Google Play.
• Google Play hits 25 billions downloads since launch; announces discounts for apps, books, movies and music.
• Samsung Galaxy Note II now available in India for Rs. 39,990.
• Facebook begins purging fake user profile and illegitimate likes from the social network; brand pages see substantial 'like' drops.
• Nokia Lumia 920/820 available for pre-order in Europe; coming early November.
• Angry Birds maker Rovio announces Bad Piggies; available on iTunes App Store and Google Play.
• Google Street View adds underwater images of coral reefs in Great Barrier Reef, Hanauma Bay, Molokini Crater in Hawaii and Apo Island in the Philippines.
• Sony Tablet S and smartphones Xperia Sola, Go and U get Android 4.0 ICS update.
• Google Takeout now allows downloading original YouTube videos.
• Facebook Messenger iOS app redesigned with Favorites and new chat UI.
• Google Docs to remove support for Microsoft Office 97-2003 formats from next month.
• NASA's Curiosity rover finds evidence of ancient stream bed on Mars.
• Google releases Field Trip, a new location aware Android app that informs users of places of interest.
• RIM, Mozilla and HP preview their coming mobile operating systems BlackBerry 10, Firefox OS and Open webOS respectively.
• Barnes & Noble launches new tablets Nook HD and Nook HD+ to take on Amazon Kindle Fires; to be available later this year.

Tech Roundup is a weekly recurring feature on the latest trends in Technology.