iGoogle: Beta Invites and More, Google copies Twitter!!!

I couldn't resist it.... Hey, it worked once, maybe it will work again...

OK, so I don't really have iGoogle beta invites, but now that I have you hooked, let me share some of my opinions on the topic of the new iGoogle thing.

For those of you who don't know already, Google tonight is rebranding the Google Personalized Homepage to iGoogle. Along with this change, they will be integrating the personalization of their products (whatever that means).

They will also release wizards so that you can make your own iGoogle Gadgets. The wizards aren't up yet, but you can add the gadgets here [completely plagiarised from Google Blogoscoped ]:

1. A Photo gadget (share a series of photos with others)
2. GoogleGram gadget (allowing you to display a new greeting message to someone for every day for 7 days)
3. Daily Me gadget (which will show what you’re currently doing, as well as quotes, what’s on your mind etc.)
4. Personalized Countdown gadget
5. A Personalized List (you can e.g. publish your own top ten list with this, Google says)
6. YouTube video favorites gadget (pictured above, this gadget will let you create a YouTube channel to share)
7. A “Free Form” gadget (an “all-purpose gadget that lets you meld text and image in any way,” Google says

I checked out the gadgets, and they are pretty useless. Maybe they will be better when iGoogle actually comes out... But what is interesting to me is not the gadgets, but the fact that nobody is noticing that Google is releasing its own form of Twitter!!!!!

Doesn't everyone get it? Look at the Daily Me gadget (I can't actually get it to work right). Here is a pic of what it is supposed to look like:

Doesn't this look like a mini version of Twitter? 'Current status'. Google is making a stand in the social networking arena.

Let's brainstorm on some of the things that Daily Me could do. How would people become 'followers', in the Twitter sense, of you? Simply by adding your gadget to their homepage! Looking at Currently reading, perhaps that is a function of the Google Toolbar, cooperating with Google Web History, that would allow viewers of your Daily Me gadget to see what site you are on.

I am really excited about this, and you should be too. Maybe I'm rethinking my stance on the Narcissystem... Nah!

Google Search History rebranded as Google Web History, now with more features; or, Google pretends to buy StumbleUpon

OK, I am a little late, but I have been playing with the new Google Web History. To start off, here are a few screenshots:

Web History contains history of searches and clicks from major Google Services including Web, Images, News, Froogle (I thought it was Google Product Search!!!!), Sponsored Links, Video, and Maps.

Google uses this history to find out what kind of websites you like. Using this, Google has created something sort of like StumbleUpon, except it doesn't let you tell them if you like the page or not (thumbs up/thumbs down). You click this button on your Google Toolbar and it will bring you to a random page that it thinks you will like. For me, it has been fairly accurate. This is sort of an extension of the technology used in the Recommended Items module for your homepage.

The Web History service is merged completely with not only Trends, and recommendations, but also your Google Bookmarks (this is rather old news, but in case you didn't know).

Some people find this scary (Big Brother style). Do I? What? Are you crazy? This is awesome. Everyone is always trying to find a way to be afraid of Google, or some other big, established thing. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS! Google protects your privacy. Nobody at Google actually watches your searches and web activity! The closest that people get to your search and web history is by writing algorithms that play with it. The only entity besides you that touches your history is a computer program. Ergo, nothing to worry about. At all. This is not 1984. This is 2007.

Another really great personalization feature that Google has made, on another note, is the ability to add an entire tab to your Google Personalized Homepage that contains always updated recommended pages, searches, gadgets, videos, news items, groups, etc. The searches are really great, because they are made with the Google AJAX Search API, so you can run the searches from right inside the gadget. To add this tab, just hit Add a tab, and then name it Recommendations. Make sure you have I'm Feeling Lucky checked. When you hit OK, you will have your brand new, constantly updated, personalized, recommended tab!

Google Web History is awesome. Check it out.