In the last few weeks I have been discussing the latest range of Google tools with my friends and family. To my amazement, the majority were unaware of them and did not understand the benefits. With this in mind I will try and cover off some of the tools in my future posts.
Part one iGoogle
There are so many tools out there these days to make your life a lot easier. So far the handiest one for me has been iGoogle. Google’s homepage personalisation site has been around for sometime now and is becoming popular with those who use the Google search engine.
In essence Google is allowing you to create your own Google homepage “iGoogle” , and allow users to view exactly what they want too – personalised for their eyes only. You can search from hundreds of little gadgets and widgets and add them to your own personalised page. All you need is a Google account and a few minutes to set it up.
So what is the point?
Well if you take a look at my page for instance, I have added my gmail in one corner and a feed from my blog in the other. So for instance my blog is at http://www.ablag.com/ and if you go to iGoolge and add “a gadget” feature you can add my feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/ablag) (alternatively subscribe to email updates from my site). So as soon as I update something on my blog, you will see it on your iGoogle homepage.
Click image to enlarge
The beauty of it is, it is not just me. There are thousands of feeds, gadgets and widgets out there that you can add onto your homepage. From the latest BBC News to the weather in graphical form or your facebook profile with updates from your inbox.
As the site is personalised to your account, once you have logged out, you can go to another machine anywhere in the world and log in and view the same info.
It is brilliant for reducing surfing time and those who are information junkies like me - You go to one page and see everything. Instead of logging in and out your mail, writing your own paper based reminders and going through websites for the latest weather. Google have even gone to the extent of creating an off-line version and a web history feature. The web history feature I immediately turned off as it seemed a bit spooky that I could logon anywhere in the world and view my last search history. Okay not spooky but I do have some data retention and privacy issues with it.
One thing I must recommend is the bookmarks feature. Bookmark something at work and when you get home, you can access it – just by logging back into iGoogle. Those who use a great deal of RSS feeds will also benefit too – whether they be sound based or graphical.
Give it a go and if you have any problems, give me a shout.
2 comments:
iGoogle is a tool I find particularly useful for Google Mail users. As I use pop3 in particular for my mail, I am worried about the security issues associated with using such a widget. And from what I read by other users about pop3 related widgets, I am not the only one. There is a website: http://www.labpixies.com/ that allows users to place widgets within various website groups and pages and I have created my own 'portal'. Here is the link: http://portal.mahbir.com.
Yes, there are some pop3 security issues when used within igoogle. The only thing i can recommend is, you forward your pop3 to a rss reader and then set this up on your home page. I know for definite that you can forward gmail, to google reader and it displays your email more securely on your homepage. Let me know if you need any help.
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