A rumor out of Nintendo World Report says that Nintendo may be releasing a redesign of the Wii that’s smaller than the already smaller console. The rumor comes from an internal release schedule from an undisclosed major retailer. Here’s what the schedule reportedly said:

Introducing the Wii Mini! Coming Dec 7 2012!
WII MINI CONSOLE
Compact Nintendo Wii Console
Comes with Sensor Bar, Nunchuk and Wii Remote Plus with Jacket.

It’s hard to believe that Nintendo would release a Wii redesign this year, but a redesign is not out of the question just yet. Nintendo has a history of releasing redesigned hardware even after ushering in the next generation of consoles. A smaller Wii also wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo has redesigned the Wii hardware either. The company took out backwards compatibility with GameCube titles and accessories last year to reduce the price.

It should also be noted that Nintendo has a history of reducing the size of its handhelds. During the Game Boy days, we saw the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Micro come out of the company. The Micro launched after the DS was already out, however, and was largely seen as unnecessary. I fear a smaller Wii would be received in much the same way, but it might be worth a shot. A cheaper, smaller Wii may just be what Nintendo needs this Christmas to move more units of the six-year-old console.

- Easily save, share and discover links — they’re called bitmarks, like bookmarks.
- Instantly search your saved bitmarks.
- Curate groups of bitmarks into bundles and collaborate on bundles with friends.
- Make any bitmark or bundle private or public.
- See what friends are sharing across multiple social networks, all in one place.
- Save and share links from anywhere with our new bitmarklet, Chrome extension and iPhone app.

Sounds like great news, and an appropriate allocation of some of the $20 million Bitly received in its latest round of funding. Still, some users are quite displeased. And displeased people take to Twitter:

It would appear that some bitly users aren’t so keen on the new ‘bitmarking’ feature. Bitly CEO Peter Stern told TechCrunch that the bad reaction was expected – “It’s the response from the vocal minority who are quick to complain about any change. We put a great deal of thought and effort into making the change as minimal as we could, but we recognize that people don’t like change.”

Bitly points out that most of the ‘new’ features always existed, but were just more difficult to see on the site. People tend to loathe any sort of abrupt change regarding the internet. I about moved to Singapore when Facebook somehow made me switch to a timeline.

Aside from the look and feel of the service, the “redesign” focused on three areas, as described by the Google Blog: “Navigation you can make your own,” “Conversations you’ll really care about,” and “A new home for hanging out.” Each attribute sports new features, of which Google details in their post.

In regards to navigation, Google+ allows:

• You can drag apps up or down to create the order you want
• You can hover over certain apps to reveal a set of quick actions
• You can show or hide apps by moving them in and out of “More”

There’s also a video of the new navigation scheme at work:

• Full bleed photos and videos that’ll make you really proud to post
• A stream of conversation “cards” that make it easier to scan and join discussions
• An activity drawer that highlights the community around your content

While this is indeed considered an update to G+ communication, Google also shares their motivation behind the update:

Simply put, we’re hoping to make sharing more awesome by making it more evocative. You know that feeling you get when a piece of art takes your breath away, or when a friend stops by with unexpected gifts? We want sharing to feel like that, every single time.

The feather in G+’s cap–the hangout feature–was also refined in order to improve user satisfaction:

• An always-updated list of invitations from the people in your circles
• Quick access to every public and On Air hangout, for those times when you want to meet someone new, or watch a live broadcast
• A rotating billboard of popular hangouts, pro tips and other items you don’t want to miss

As you can see, the alterations were not just cosmetic changes designed to make G+ “prettier.” Crucial features were refined in an attempt to make them more attractive to potential G+ members. With that in mind, does a revamped Google+ make you want to migrate any more, or any less? Let us know what you think.

Jason James, vice president of interactive marketing for DC Entertainment, said this of the new design, “The new sites are a true representation of DC Entertainment, and the depth and scope of our characters and brands across all media”, he continues, “Our goal is to be the one-stop destination for all fans looking for the latest news on comics, TV, games and movies, and a place where fans can engage with us and each other about all things DC Entertainment. Fans should visit DCComics.com daily – we have a lot of surprises in store for them over the next week and beyond.”

Along with new visual updates, the site touts more in-depth character experiences. So if you want to see where Batman and Krypto (Superman’s dog) have gotten together in the past, you can find those issues easier.

DC Comic’s announcement also mentioned that the site will now feature more exclusive content, and sparing no expense, their first example was this Lee Bermejo ‘Before Watchmen’ image which is a site exclusive.

The New York Post sees things differently. It wants the world to know that their city won the Super Bowl tonight. How did they do that? They covered their entire front page in New York Giants.

It’s not my place to judge any Web site on how they design their front page, but this just seems a little excessive. At least they have pride in their team. That’s the most important thing.

The video player itself is larger in the redesign. The page is designed to load more quickly, as well. For instance, older comments do not load until the user scrolls down to that area. Keyboard shortcuts have also been added.

The redesign is open to a wide private group first, then will roll out to the general public.

Open Your Eyes to the New Vimeo from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo.

What do you think of Gmail’s new look? Let us know in the comments.

Some new/updated features you’ll notice in Gmail are:

New Conversation View
The conversation view has been completely redesigned. You’ll now see see profile pictures for your contacts in your email conversations.

Elastic Density
With the new Gmail you can now control the spacing between elements on your screen. This can be modified anytime via the display density menu, located under settings.

All New Search
Gmail’s search has been improved with a dropdown menu which allows you to specify exactly what you want to search (e.g. emails to a certain sender, or a certain word in the subject or body). Email filters can also be created from the same menu, from any search.

HD Themes
The themeing system has been completely rebuilt, now each theme utilizes high resolution imagery. All of the current themes have been updated, and your current theme will be carried when switched.

Navigation
The left-side navigation has also received a facelift, as the new layout keeps your most used labels in view at all times. If you find yourself stuff being hidden by the collapsing menu, you can resize this by simply clicking on the dividing line and dragging it down. Gmail will remember your new menu settings.

For those of you who hadn’t made the change yet, Google has made it for you. The next time you login to your Gmail account you’re greeted with a box welcoming you to Gmail’s new look accompanied by the following video:

Not a fan of the new look? Well you can, “temporarily postpone the switch to the new look in the new settings menu“. But what’s the point in that? As Gmail’s new look will more than likely be made permanent in the near future… better just get used to it now.

Google’s Gmail blog has been taking an in-depth look at Gmails new look. Today they posted about activating the changes everyone:

“The dedication of our testing team helped us catch bugs early so we could fix them in preparation for launch. Once we felt that the new look was good enough to be used by others, we turned it on for all Googlers.”

Sure Google is happy with the changes, but a lot of Twitter users don’t agree:

Though there are some out there who actually like Gmail’s new look, myself included:

It’s unclear at the moment how long users will be able to revert back to the old Gmail look, but why not just embrace the new look? It will be the default look very shortly, you might as well get used to it.

Why do you think some people don’t like Gmail’s new look? Thoughts about the new look in general? Let us know in the comments.

The new Google bar is supposed to help you navigate quicker through Google services, as well as giving you the capability to share stuff to Google+, while saving prceious browser space.

From the Google Blog: “Instead of the horizontal black bar at the top of the page, you’ll now find links to your services in a new drop-down Google menu nested under the Google logo. We’ll show you a list of links and you can access additional services by hovering over the “More” link at the bottom of the list. Click on what you want, and you’re off.”

The dropdown menu does require a few clicks to get to some of the popular services, but is manageable with the present icons. Also, the new dropdown menu does seem to have more uniformity, especially when you consider Google’s iPad app and Chrome’s tab page.

Some users aren’t a fan of the new bar:

While others welcome the redesigned bar:

What do you think of the new Google bar? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

That is, one that seems to say, “we know what’s best for our users, even better than they do,” or, perhaps, Google simply adopted a “deal with it.” Whatever the case, Google hasn’t had much in the way of reaction to the negativity surrounding the unpopular Google Reader alterations, which only supports the “deal with it” attitude, whether it’s an accurate portrayal of Google’s position or not. One person who has been following the Google Reader story closely is Kevin Fox, who was the lead designer on Google Reader 2.0.

In a post at Fury.com, it’s apparent Fox is also disappointed with the updated Reader, and he also supports the belief these redesigns are simply a push for design uniformity among the various Google products:

I believe this has happened because Google Reader was held to a mandate of refreshing Google products under a common style guide, but from what I’ve been told it had no full-time user experience resource to apply that guide in a way that made sense for the nuances and needs of that particular product.

If the rumors Fury discusses are true, this means Google implemented its Reader redesign without the input of Google Reader users, including the ones who are already employed by the company. If that is indeed the case, it’s no wonder the alterations are being met with disapproval. Imagine if Facebook implemented a redesign developed by a non-Facebook using designer. Since the reaction to any Facebook change is always negative, if a non-Facebook user implemented such a sweeping redesign, the negativity would be increased to nuclear fallout levels.

But yet, apparently Google did the same thing when it redesigned Google Reader, or, well, made it match the overall look and feel the company is striving for. In light of this, Fox has once again offered his services to Google and is willing to fix what wasn’t broken before the redesign took over:

And so I put my resources where my mouth is. As the former lead designer for Google Reader, I offer my services to Google, rejoining for a three month contract in order to restore and enhance the utility of Google Reader, while keeping it in line with Google’s new visual standards requirements. I will put my current projects on hold to ensure that Google Reader keeps its place as the premier news reader, and raises the bar of what a social newsreader can be.

If Google allowed Fox to work his Reader magic, it sounds like Google would get the best of both worlds: Google Reader’s look and feel would match the overall theme Google is apparently committed to, and it would bring back the usability that made the utility so popular to begin with.

The question is, is Google willing to admit its error and allow Fox under the hood or will the company be bound by its own hubris and let the potential of Google Reader erode away?

What do you think of the redesign? Tell us what you think in the comments.

People are creatures of habit, enjoy repetition with few welcoming change. With that philosophy in mind, some “Negative Nancy’s” are sharing their feelings, in 140 characters or less… most notably being Kevin Rose, co-founder of Digg.

Rose isn’t standing alone as Chris Sacca, famed venture investor, was a little more comical critical of the new look.

The criticism isn’t just limited to people with Internet fame, as thousands of everyday TC readers are jumping on the “we hate the new look / logo” bandwagon.

Too be fair, there are those who actually like the TC redesign, and welcome the modifications to the blog.

We’re sure that TC knew what they were getting themselves into, as they have a blog post titled “Redesigning TechCrunch: We Picked This Logo Just to Piss You Off“. Well congrats, as this seems to be the exact sentiment being shared on Twitter.

In the post Feldman talks in depth about the controversial logo:

“I love it, though that’s no accident: we went through many, many options with Code & Theory before finding one we liked. It’s bold, simple, and versatile. It works in any context — from a tiny monochrome icon to a mosaic on a poster. It fits the TechCrunch brand perfectly. And no, we didn’t build it in Minecraft. We used AOL Paint, which comes free on the AOL CD and has this sweet UltraLogoMatic2000 feature.”

Personally, the logo is the only part of the re-do I don’t like. Actually, for the most part it just feels like an everyday WordPress site, nothing more, nothing less.

Do you like TechCrunch’s new logo? Tell us your thoughts in the comments