Users love it when products and services from one company are nicely integrated with one another. It helps to keep users from bouncing around services. Companies love it because it's a way to lock users in, while gaining their trust. Nevertheless, Google has me hooked on yet another product from their labs: iGoogle. While I may be late to joining the RSS dashboard game, here's a look at a few of iGoogle's new features that users will enjoy.
If you're using the Gmail widget in iGoogle, you can now maximize the widget box and get a full view of your Gmail account. Users can star messages, compose new eamils, and more. The only downside to this widget is that there is no access to your labels.
Google Reader integration works a little differently from the Gmail integration. For feeds that you subscribe to in Google Reader, but also display in iGoogle as a separate widget, you can maximize the widget box for Google Reader style viewing. In this view you can also check your other feeds in Google Reader. This view seems to be only available for RSS subscriptions in both Google Reader and iGoogle.
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You can now talk to your friends in iGoogle with the Gchat sidebar widget. Just be careful when refreshing the page because you may lose your ongoing conversations. Also, Firefox and Safari users will not have this feature at the moment. The chat widget will only display in Internet Explorer.
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To preview the new iGoogle simply head to the iGoogle homepage and paste the following in the address bar:
javascript:_dlsetp('v2=1');
To revert back to the previous iGoogle simply paste the following:
javascript:_dlsetp('v2=0');
This is is by far one of the best integrations I've seen from Google and it looks as if it'll only get better as time goes on. I'd love to see the same integration style applied to other Google services such as Google Analytics and Picasa Photo Albums. For now, these new features and integrations have pulled me in as a new fan of iGoogle.
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There was an old joke in the late 90s that went "Won't life be great when Bill Gates runs the world?" It's clear Google has supplanted Microsoft in how much of our online world they rule. I'm tempted to switch to igoogle as my browser home page. I like the email integration, the tab feature, and the ability to add widgets. Agree that this thing will only get better in time.
Posted by: Joe | July 19, 2008 10:05 AM
Playing with the FriendFeed gadget on iGoogle - not bad.
Posted by: Hutch Carpenter
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July 19, 2008 10:10 AM
There are so amny gadgets and widgets from Google, but the big majority are junk. Gmail is really good.
Posted by: LiviuX | July 19, 2008 11:41 AM
Wow, there I am! Screenshot me! Yay!
Posted by: J. Phil
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July 19, 2008 11:51 AM
Google is a sore and presistent evil in the earth and should be avoided at ALL cost!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com/
Posted by: steveballmer | July 19, 2008 12:35 PM
Honestly, these are services we would have had to pay for a few years ago. It's amazing that Google can continue to develop their suite of apps at this pace.
I use iGoogle. It's a great little service that keeps getting better. It's one of the best customizable homepages out there.
Posted by: Buddy Scalera | July 19, 2008 3:22 PM
Thanks for sharing, looks like I'm missing something.
Posted by: ITrush | July 20, 2008 8:06 AM
It would've happen better if you didn't have to re-subscribe to feeds within iG (as widgets) that are already in Reader, then I might actually use iG. :\
Posted by: metaeuphoria | July 21, 2008 12:20 PM