Google Rolls out
Gadgets Canvas for iGoogle
Google is
giving a new look to its interactive homepage user interface called
iGoogle. It has started to roll out an updated version of iGoogle to
users. The key feature of the revamped iGoogle is canvas view gadgets.
It’ll allow users to expand a gadget to access more content. The current
set of gadgets cover areas such as news, games, fun, entertainment, media,
and communications. Plus, it has made some other changes to the iGoogle
interface, like replacing the tabs with left navigation.
Explaining the features, Google says now users, for example, can read
news, play games, and watch videos in full-page view, without leaving
their homepage. A few examples of gadgets in the new canvas view mode
include:
News
- The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post
offer users the option to view full-page text and videos that load
quickly.
Games
& Fun - The Sudoku gadget lets users play full-page sudoku puzzles.
The Go Comics gadget will allow them to select which comics they want to see and
read them in a full-screen view.
Entertainment/media - The TV Guide gadget provides full-screen TV
listings that can be localized by zip code, celebrity news, and photos. If
the user likes to watch movies more than TV, Flixster's movies gadget
gives the user access to trailers, ratings, theater information, and more.
For music lovers, the iLike gadget gives users access to news, concerts,
and even free MP3s from their favorite musicians. Users can also watch
videos from YouTube and Current News in full screen view.
Communication/tools - With the Gmail gadget users can now perform
simple actions on Gmail without leaving their iGoogle page, like send or
reply to emails. The weather gadget allows users to dive into detailed
hourly weather forecast. The Google Finance canvas view gadget provides
full-screen finance charts and news of the stocks in their portfolio.
For a
full list of highlighted canvas view gadgets, you can visit: http://www.google.com/ig/v2landing
Google
will continue to add more features to iGoogle and gadgets to make them
more useful and interactive. For developers and content owners, it says,
canvas view gadgets allow more possibilities for building rich, compelling
gadgets. In addition, developers will now have an opportunity to earn
revenue from their gadgets on iGoogle by placing ads in the canvas view
mode of their gadgets.
Photo
courtesy: Google
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