Thing Two - Exploring Google

Though initially I found iGoogle to be quite buggy – particularly when adding new gadgets – I have started to see some of the potential benefits, particularly in relation to my work.

Some of the gadgets I have found most useful are:

• Twitter – though the EFL Twitter is still very much a work-in-progress, having quick and easy access to it with none of the distractions of Twitter in its full version (“Ooh, what an interesting trending topic! I’ll just see what people are saying about it...”) will surely come in useful.
• BBC News and Google Maps – Here I’ve found the ability to minimise gadgets rather beneficial. These are sites which I tend to visit as and when needed – having them available in this condensed format, without cluttering up my desktop or using extra tabs, is a great time saver.
• Blog Feeds – I would say I found this gadget to be most useful of all. I subscribe to quite a few different feeds, covering a wide range of personal and professional interests, so this has greatly helped to streamline the blog reading process. By having access to a blogs which are directly relevant to the job in hand, I save the need to open my RSS reader, find the folder housing a relevant feed, locate the feed itself, etc.

In this way, iGoogle has enabled me to view various sites and applications in a more cohesive manner – whereas previously I would view them all (and therefore use them all) almost entirely separately, now that they are all on one screen I’m considering the ways in which I can link their usage. I’m not sure I’m entirely convinced though – perhaps if I can figure out how to customise the different screen options on the side (to save me keeping separate work and home accounts, and needing to log-in/out to switch between the two) or if someone can recommend some more gadgets, I will be converted!