Study: Google+ population explodes to 10 million

Google+ appears to be in the midst of a population explosion.
A statistical analysis by Paul Allen, founder of Ancestry.com and chief executive of Facebook app maker FamilyLink.com, concludes that the Google+ population reached 7.3 million on Sunday, July 10, and likely will reach 10 million today.
And if Google keeps the Google+ invitation button active, as it has since Sunday, Allen expects Google+ to reach 20 million users by this weekend, he said in a Google+ post late Monday night.
"The user base is growing so quickly that it is challenging for me to keep up," Allen said.
A population of 10 million or 20 million is huge in absolute terms, especially given that the service is two weeks old today. But it pales to Facebook's 750 million, half of whom log in daily. Allen's statistics, though estimates, do provide evidence that there's demand for another sizable social network--and that Google isn't necessarily forever doomed to fail in trying to launch it.
Facebook and Google have been fierce competitors. Facebook more than any other company showed that new competitors could outdo Google in important online markets. Now, though, Google has shown that Facebook, too, can't take its incumbent power for granted.

The public trial of Google+ began with a limited set from the tech in-crowd.

(Credit: Lutz Beyer/Cybay New Media)

Google+ began with a small group of the tech in-crowd, but has been steadily expanding. The invitation button that let people add their friends had been a rarity, but the current explosion is doubtless fueled by the relatively easy availability of new invitations. In addition, it Google appears not to be throttling the sign-up rate, or is at least throttling it less, for those who receive invitations.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20078672-264/study-google-population-explodes-to-10-million/#ixzz1Rx5FXwIY

All about iCloud!

The new service is Apple’s answer to cloud computing and an extension, and replacement, of its online offerings. After the failure of MobileMe, which was introduced back in 2009, Apple is attempting succeed with its new replacement: iCloud".

What About MobileMe? Your MobileME account will no longer be available starting from June 30, 2012:


Effective June 6, 2011, if you had an active MobileMe account, your service has been automatically extended through June 30, 2012, at no additional charge. After this, the MobileME service willl no longer be available.



What will happen to the content I have on MobileMe?
Apple has announced a new service called iCloud which will be available this fall and free for iOS 5 and OS X Lion users. When you sign up for iCloud, you’ll be able to keep your me.com or mac.com email address and move your MobileMe mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks to the new service.


So yes, iCloud is the replacement to MobileMe, actually it is much more than what MobileMe ever was. Here’s what you need to know.



Features
iCloud includes features that were previously available in MobileMe, as well as others we’re just finding out about now. They include:

Online Apps: many of iCloud’s features have roots in MobileMe, such as online Contacts and Mail Apps, which have been written from scratch, since according to Jobs, they the company has "learned a lot" since it built MobileMe.


Heavily Enhanced Syncing: back in the MobileMe days, syncing was merely limited to e-mail and contacts. With iCloud, important files, such as documents and pictures, can be synced across different devices. In addition, iWork users will be able to edit documents over this service and see the changes in real time, even between a Mac and an iPad, for example. That’s unheard of on other Office suites. The same happens with photos, which can be streamed to any device on the fly. Similarly to what happened before, information that’s added or modified on one device will be immediately pushed down to the remaining devices.


Backup: iCloud will allow data such as settings, books, pictures, video and even Apps to be backed up and show up across all your devices. That will eliminate the need for huge set ups during system reinstalls, for example.


iTunes in the Cloud (Your Music Locker): this service allows any newly purchased content, such as songs, Apps or iBooks, to be automatically synced over the air to up to 10 devices. For already purchased content, users will have the option to download each song, App or book individually.

Availability
iCloud and all its features will be available this fall, although there’s no release date set as of yet. Developers can try out iCloud starting from today.


Probably the most surprising fact about this service is it’s price, or lack of it:  iCloud is completely free. There’s a 5GB limit, although purchased items and Photo Stream won’t add to it.


Whether this service will succeed will solely depend on how much traction it manages to get. Apple’s tract record on online services is pretty bleak, but the lack of price tag could help build up the excitement. Only time will tell.

Apple 'iPad HD' rumored for fall release

The Apple rumor mill ramped up to full speed this week with reports that Apple has a new iPad model set for release this fall. According to Joshua Topolsky at This Is My Next, Apple’s newest tablet will be called the “iPad HD,” with the device expected to boast a screen with double the resolution (2048×1536) of the iPad 2 — a rumor we’ve heard before, but it hasn’t been particularly believable until now.

Sources say that the device will be for the high-end “pro” market (meaning its price points will well exceed that of the iPad2), possibly for professional producers of video and photo content — though that doesn’t mean anybody with a big enough bank roll can’t enjoy the shiny new tablet. Apple is said to have an iPad-friendly version of either Final Cut Pro or Aperture to go along with the iPad HD. And the device “is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line,” writes Topolsky, similar to the MacBook-MacBook Pro relationship.

News of a new, high-end iPad is corroborated by FBR Capital analyst Craig Berger, who says that Apple likely has an “iPad 2 Plus” in store for the holiday season. That device, says Berger, will have a pixel density of 250-300 ppi, which adds more weight to the double-resolution screen. Berger stipulates, however, that “we await more confirming data points from other supply chain contacts before fully believing a new iPad device is coming in 2011.”

Topolsky’s report follows a big story from the Wall Street Journal that asserts Apple indeed has a thinner and lighter iPhone 5 in the works. While many have speculated that the next iPhone would look essentially the same as the iPhone 4, Topolsky says that we will in fact see an entirely redesigned next-gen iPhone. The reason for the iPhone 4 look-a-like rumors is because Apple has been testing the iPhone 5 components in old iPhone 4 cases.

The reason Apple is ditching the iPhone 4 design so quickly is because high-level Apple executives are tired of it, and “are ready to move on to an entirely new product,” writes Topolsky.

Whether or not all of this will play out in September remains to be seen. But Apple’s plans appear to be coming into sharper focus, even if a few of the details remain blurry.