Next iPhone To Have a Larger Screen, Thinner Profile [RUMOR]

 by Stan Schroeder

The next generation iPhone might be thinner than iPhone 4, according to leaked case designs unearthed by 9to5Mac. Furthermore, case mold schematics leaked yesterday point to an iPhone with a larger screen as well as a bigger home button.

These rumors fall in line with many earlier rumors, which claim the next iPhone will be thinner, but they also contradict other reportswhich claim that iPhone 5 (if that’s its name) will be quite similar to the iPhone 4.

The “thin iPhone” rumors point to a curved back design for the device, which seems somewhat unlikely, given that Apple has switched from such a design to a rectangular, flat back in iPhone 4.

What do you think? Are you ready to believe the mounting evidence in favor of a thinner iPhone, or do you think the next iPhone won’t be a radical departure from iPhone 4? Share your opinions in the comments.

[via 9to5Mac]

Google+ Gets a Feature Update Center

In response to user feedback, Google has launched a new section of the Google+ center dedicated to Google+ feature updates.

The “What’s new in Google+” section is essentially a list of release notes for the Google+ Project. The updates are smaller than Google’s traditional blog posts, but longer than most of its Help Center pages. It’s a centralized location for finding out what new features Google has added to its social network.

Most of the “posts” include YouTube video explanations about the feature updates (recorded by Googlers), along with a link to the Google+ post where the feature was announced. The search giant is clearly trying to eat its own dog food when it comes to Google+.

While we appreciate the centralized location for getting updates about Google+ features, we believe the company would be better served setting up a blog for the Google+ project and updating that on a regular basis. At least that way we could subscribe to the updates in our Google Readers (which still counts as the big G eating its own dog food).

Check out the video explanation of the “What’s new in Google+” section from Google+ Community ManagerNatalie Villalobos below:

$8 Million iPad 2 Features Diamonds, Dinosaur Bone

by Brenna Ehrlich

Looking for the perfect dalliance to indulge in whilst lounging in your opulent villa? Might we suggest a rousing game of Angry Birds — played on your solid gold iPad 2, encrusted with diamonds and boasting shards of real, live (well, dead) T-Rex bone?

This beauty can be purchased via the website of Stuart Hughes, proprietor of “exclusive elite gadgets,” for a mere $8 million.

I think I’ll just hold my horses until the iPad 3 comes out. I hear that one contains bits of brontosaurus, and that’s my favorite dinosaur.

Google+ One Month Later: What’s Next?

 by Ben Parr

It’s been exactly one month since Google+ made its debut. The social network was designed to be more than just Google’s response to Facebook; it’s “an extension of Google itself,” as Google SVP Vic Gundotra told us before launch. After the failure of Google Wave and Google Buzz, Google+ is the search giant’s last best chance to grab a piece of the social-networking pie.

So one month in, how’s it doing?

Pretty well, by most accounts. Google+ has become the fastest-growing social network in history. Thanks to a fair number of positive reviews, it has acquired more than 20 million users — a phenomenal accomplishment by any standard.

At the same time, there are signs that Google+ is losing steam, and that it could have an early adopter problem.

Rapid Growth

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When Google+ first launched, Mashable readers had a largely positive reaction to it. Nearly 50% of respondents in our poll said they loved it, even before they played with it.

The love affair didn’t stop there, though. There was high demand for Google+ invites during the social network’s first week of existence. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, far from shunning the rival service, quickly became Google+’s most popular user. Many of our readers even said they planned to defect from Facebook in favor of Google+.

Google+ continued to gain steam andhit 10 million users sometime around July 12. Celebrities and public figures such as William Shatner, Paris Hilton and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have embraced the service, although tech celebs like Leo Laporte and Robert Scoble remain the social network’s dominant figures.

Google+ had 20 million unique visitors on June 22, according to comScore.

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Growing Pains

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Google+’s ascension to the upper echelons of social networking hasn’t been entirely smooth. Its first major issue: poor handling of Google+ profiles for businesses and brands.

When the service first launched, many companies (including Mashable) rushed to create profiles. But it soon emerged that Google didn’t intend businesses to use the platform, and it asked companies to hold off on creating profiles.

Google suspended some business profiles and left others open. This inconsistent approach resulted in afirestorm of criticism from some quarters. The search giant has since accelerated the launch of Google+ business profiles, though this clearly should have been a priority from the start.

The search giant has also received some flak for a wave of suspensions last weekend surrounding the company’s “common name” policy. It suspended profiles with uncommon names in an attempt to fight spam and fake profiles. In doing so, it suspended several legitimate accounts and pseudonyms. Google has since said it is evaluating its suspension practices.

The social network’s biggest problem isn’t this kind of controversy, however; it’s finding ways to sustain growth.Traffic has dipped in the past week. Anecdotal evidence also suggests the big rush to join Google+ has passed. It’s filled with early adopters, but still lacks the mainstream audience that keeps a social network relevant.

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What’s Next?

When we first reviewed Google+, we had a positive but cautious assessment of the social network. A month later, that assessment remains unchanged.

Google+ is a solid product, but that’s to be expected from this company. The real challenge is attracting the mainstream users beyond early adopters. Getting to 20 million users might sound impressive, but it’s still a drop in the bucket compared to Facebook’s 750 million users.

That said, Google+ hasn’t even launched publicly. The tech titan hasn’t spent any time marketing Google+ to its mainstream users. Once it opens the doors, millions of people will see notifications in their Google navigation bar and be reminded that people are talking to them on Google+. And all it takes for Mom and Dad to learn about Google+ is one little link on the Google.com homepage they already visit.

Google+ is a long-term play and cannot be measured in short-term gains or losses. It’s going to be many more months until we know what place, if any, Google+ has in the social media universe.

Windows Phone 7 OS “Mango” Ready for Release

 by Ben Parr

The newest version of the Windows Phone OS, codename “Mango,” has reached the release to manufacturing stage (RTM). By this fall, Microsoft’s mobile OS will available on handsets worldwide.

The RTM stage marks the end of Microsoft’s development of the mobile OS. Now Mango is in the hands of handset manufacturers and mobile operators, who will now have the chance to optimize the OS for their devices.

“Here on the Windows Phone team, we now turn to preparing for the update process,” Microsoft Windows Phone chief Terry Myerson said in a blog post. “The Mango update for current Windows Phone handsets will be ready this fall, and of course will come pre-installed on new Windows Phones.”

The technology giant unveiled Mango in May with a focus on improving communication, app multitasking, and Internet browsing. Mango includes new features like Threads (a fusion of text, IM and Facebook Chat), a web-based marketplace for apps and a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9 with advanced HTML5 support.

Despite the new release and a major partnership with Nokia Microsoft still faces an uphill battle in its quest to reclaim market share in mobile. Apple and Google’s mobile operating systems, iOS and Android, are still the dominant forces in the market, though some predict that WP7 will gain traction in the next few years.

New Study: Cellphones Don’t Cause Cancer

 by Charlie White

In the battle of the cellphone cancer studies, now we can chalk one up for the scientists who say there is no relationship between cellphones and cancer in children.

A 1,000-participant study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute researched the effects of cellphones on children and adolescents, comparing cellphone usage of a group diagnosed with brain tumors against a control group of cellphone-using individuals who were in good health.

The result? “The absence of an exposure-response relationship either in terms of the amount of mobile phone use or by localization of the brain tumor argues against a causal association,” concludes the study abstract.

This is the latest in a long line of extensive research aimed at finding the truth about whether cellphones cause cancer or not. The three most recent studies:

• The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced the results of its cellphones/cancer study in May of this year, calling cellphones “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
• A study published in February found that cellphone use caused increased activity in certain parts of the brain, but couldn’t determine if those effects were causing any harm, or even if they were beneficial.
• Last year, a less-credible study that was partially funded by the wireless industry found no evidence of increased risk of brain tumors associated with mobile phones. But the scientists behind that study acknowledged that the results weren’t definitive.

What’s a cellphone user to do? If you’re still worried about an unknown/unseen mechanism at work here, just join the teens of the world and text a lot more than you talk on your cellphone.

Twitter To Add Parental Controls

by Charlie White

Twitter has added a way to flag links within tweets as “possibly sensitive.” The company announced late Thursday that there is a new field in the Twitter streaming API that will show up whenever a tweet contains a link, giving Twitter users the option to be warned before they click links that might be too sensitive for the workplace, or for tender ears and eyes.

The new feature is not functional yet, but Twitter was informing developers that it was just added and is now in the testing phase. According to Twitter representative Taylor Singletary, “In the future, we’ll have a family of additional API methods & fields for handling end-user ‘media settings’ and possibly sensitive content.”

According to Gizmodo, Twitter reps say the company doesn’t intend to censor material. But according toTwitter’s media policy document, the company will “remove media that might be considered sensitive such as nudity, violence, or medical procedures.”

In the announcement, Singletary encouraged those who were curious about how this capability would ultimately be used to read that media policy document.

To us, this seems like a feature that’s long overdue, giving users the ability to control the kind of content they or their children are exposed to, letting them use Twitter without fear of being unpleasantly surprised when they click on an inappropriate link.

New Google Service Improves Web Page Load Speed

Google has just released a new tool that will help webmasters speed up their page load time.

Google’s new Page Speed Service takes many of the optimizations outlined in the company’s Page Speed Online API and applies it to sites automatically.

It’s a turnkey online service that automatically takes care of the optimizations by rewriting pages and delivering them to users using Google’s servers.

The tool works by having users point the CNAME for their URL at Google’s own servers. From there, Google can do the optimizations and rewrite pages as needed.

On the Google Code blog, Google says that it has seen speed improvements from 25% to 60% on some sites. Google has a gallery and a comparison test that users can try themselves.

Right now, the tool is only available to a limited set of webmasters, but you can request access by filling outthis form. Google says that pricing will be competitive.

It’s rare that Google rolls out plans for a pay service, but this is a case where we think it makes sense. Would you be interested in using Google’s services to automatically optimize your website page load?