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Things had been quiet for a while on the Google Phone rumors front, but it looks like talk about the device has surfaced again. Only, this time, the concept is looking much less like a rumor and more like an inevitability.

Reports have been surfacing which indicate that Google has been showing off a prototype mobile phone to different carriers. According to an article published Thursday in the Wall Street Journal, Google is showing the the prototype around while continuing to hone and improve the product to offer a browsing and internet experience superior to what is currently available.

Additionally, the Google phone will reportedly offer free service. Instead of

As a few days have passed since the first iPhone software update became available, users have begun reporting additional features, fixes, and enhancements resulting from new firmware. Although Apple's official indication regarding the update noted only security and bug fixes to the iPhone's Safari browser and it's underlying webkit, initial reports showed evidence of more expansive improvements.

Users have been reporting a generally improved iPhone experience. Things seem snappier, annoying bugs have been removed, and a few lacking features already added.

Here is a list of some of the new improvements that have surfaced since our initial report about the iPhone 1.01 update:

Apple executives are probably waking up this morning feeling a bit 'foot in mouth'. During the wee hours of the morning here in the US, a picture surfaced on Gizmodo UK of an AT&T store iPhone display that had to be rebooted. Well, of course we all could have guessed that the displays were running off PCs which might occasionally need a restart. What most wouldn't have guessed is that the PCs behind the iPhone displays were running Microsoft Windows XP.

The first update for the iPhone is now available via iTunes. Users who have recently docked their iPhones have received notification that an iPhone software update, version 1.01 of the iPhone firmware, is available for download and installation. The update is around 7 MB and installs in approximately 5 minutes.

According to Apple, the update includes security and bug fixes. Specifically, the update patches security holes in the iPhone version of Safari and the iPhone webkit which previously allowed malicious attackers entry points from which to exploit the iPhone.

Though speculation was that Apple would rush out the first update to the iPhone in order to patch these holes, including nothing else in the update, it appears as though this is untrue - even despite Apple's failure to mention otherwise.

Users are already starting to notice other changes to their iPhones via

You know that YouTube video that you can't stop showing to your friends over, and over, and over again? Tired of downloading it every time? Wouldn't it be great if you could just save that YouTube video permanently on your iPhone? What about when you're away a WiFi hotspot and you want to show off that video in full quality, not the degraded EDGE version? Well, now you can.

These are just a couple of scenarios when being able to convert and save YouTube videos for the iPhone comes in handy. Zamzar.com, a free online file conversion service, recently introduced an option to convert videos directly for the iPhone, including YouTube videos.

Converting a YouTube video for the iPhone using the service is painfully easy