If you are a iGoogle user the new feature update will be interesting to you. iGoogle today got some new features like integration of Google Reader, Gmail, Google Finance, Youtube Videos, and others. The new feature also brings NewYork Times, Washington Times to your iGoogle start page.
The update to iGoogle extends the gadgets to full screen canvas pages, not all the gadgets are available as full screen pages but many useful gadgets are available, in future we may expect more gadgets this way.
News – New gadgets from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post give me full-page views of what’s new in the world. Nice.
Games – The Sudoku gadget lets me play thousands of full-page Sudoku puzzles without squinting at 6-point type. The GoComics gadget gives me my fix of Garfield and Doonesbury and lets me choose from all of their other comics. I’ve also spent many coffee breaks browsing through videos from YouTube and CurrentTV.
Entertainment – I’ve configured the TV Guide gadget to my zip code and just used it today to figure out when the newest episode of The Office is playing. Flixster’s movies gadget lets me access trailers, ratings, and theater information for any movie. I also use the iLike gadget to browse news, concerts, and free MP3s from my favorite musicians.
Google stuff – The new Gmail gadget lets me read my full email and perform simple actions like send or reply to emails without leaving iGoogle. Last but not least, a gadget that I authored and use every day is for Google Finance, which provides full-screen finance charts and news of the stocks in my portfolio.
Top navigation bar with tabs is now moved to left sidebar which features all your gadgets. From there you can select the gadget you want view as a full screen canvas view. The most useful feature for many of us is now you can access Google reader and Gmail inside the iGoogle.
The full list of supported gadgets is here. Google blog announcement, Google reader blog announcement.
One thing i found annoying with Google Reader gadget is that when it is in maximized mode, it doesn’t remember your choice of view – Expanded or List, each time i select a new feed from list, it shows it in expanded view by default.
Looks like I missed some good posts on here! This one looks like I might have to SERIOUSLY start using iGoogle as my browser’s homepage if it has the GMAIL integration like this! Thanks for the heads up. (#):)