Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 09:13
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Google hasn’t just thrown a few extra gadgets on the barbie, but has also updated its iGoogle platform.
The biggest new feature of iGoogle is a “canvas view” of all these aforementioned gadgets, something that will let you “expand a gadget to access more content so you can read news, play games and watch videos in full screen, all on your personalised iGoogle page.”
Examples of how this will work are given, with the news.com.au gadget’s expansion in “canvas view” set to show you “additional news headlines, the latest video news, and most popular stories”, something that is similar for the two new sports gadgets.
Of more interest to some will be the Sudoku gadget which uses canvas view to let users play “full-page Sudoku puzzles… without squinting at a 6 point font”.
Gmail emails can now be sent or replied to direct from the iGoogle page, and other features like a petrol price tracker, which in canvas view “makes it easier than ever to check out the locations of the most price-friendly pump near you”.
Tabs have also been replaced with “left-side navigation, so you can jump from one canvas view to another with just one click.”
Rohit Dhawan, Head of Products for Google Australia, noted that: “iGoogle has been one of our fastest growing products in the last two years, and it continues to increase in popularity. Hundreds of thousands of Australians are accessing quality content from around the web directly from their iGoogle page.
“For local developers and content owners, this updated version of iGoogle with canvas view allows more possibilities for building rich, compelling gadgets.
"We're also thrilled to be working with innovative local partners like News Digital Media, helping to distribute their quality news and sport content to an even wider audience via the popular iGoogle platform.”
Comments from Careforkids.com.au and some interesting Google-provided iGoogle stats
are on page 3, please read on!
