Google adds zing to Aussie iGoogle

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 08:13

Opinion and Analysis

In a week of duelling announcements from Microsoft and Google, what with MS Bing and Google Wave, Google has gone into overdrive with a series of announcements to blow Microsoft out of the water and off the headlines!

Aside from getting on with business, Google’s raft of recent announcements are no doubt in some way designed to put a dent (a bing?) into Microsoft’s plans for global search domination.

Google has just announced its potentially game-changing “Wave Communications Platform”, opened its new Australian Googleplex and now is announcing major updates to its Australian version of iGoogle, filled to the brim with new features and gadgets.

Google explains gadgets as being “mini applications - picture a website within a website - that you can arrange on your iGoogle page or other websites.”

Google has also done a deal with Rupert Murdoch’s “news.com.au” portal, something which might cause some to wonder if Google is yet again drifting from its mantra of “do no evil”, given the tough business reputation of the world’s most well known media baron.

iGoogle is the “personalised” version of Google’s home page that anyone can create, allowing users to customise the information they see, and avoid being tempted by sites like Yahoo.

Murdoch’s Australian “News Digital Media” organisation (which is behind news.com.au) has provide four new Google gadgets which can be listed on the iGoogle page – but thankfully, these aren’t the only gadgets on offer.

These are a “news.com.au” gadget which “collates news headlines from news.com.au, including breaking news, blogs and video content”.

There’s an “Australian Business gadget” which is designed to keep “Australians up to date with the latest business news and market information”.

Third on the list is the “LeagueCentral gadget” which “offers the latest NRL news, analysis and results from The Daily Telegraph’s team of rugby league experts”.

Finally, there’s the “SuperFooty gadget” which “offers the latest footy and SuperCoach news as it happens”, but is listed as “coming soon”.

Despite Google being the search engine to beat all search engines, Google has nevertheless also done a deal with “Australian child care search engine CareforKids.com.au”, which Google says has “created a gadget that makes it easy to search for child care vacancies and find information on child care providers near you, including fees, testimonials and maps.”

CareforKids.com.au says that its recent survey shows “nearly one in five parents take more than a year to find appropriate child care, so this gadget should help make the search a lot easier and provide vital additional information to parents all over Australia.”

So, what other gadgets are now available for iGooglers, and how else has iGoogle specifically been updated? Please read on to page 2…