Google's New Personalized Homepage 411
jgaynor writes "Citing user requests to coalesce its disparate services, Google today released its new personalized homepage service. It allows you to arrange your Gmail, Google News, Google Maps driving directions, weather and a few select news services (including Slashdot) on a single page. Future plans include Universal RSS support. Clearly a shot at existing services like My Yahoo."
It was just about time (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It was just about time (Score:2, Interesting)
Seen this yet? (Score:2)
I just wish they'd finally use... (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, it's so much nicer than having the page reload when you click another tab. Why doesn't the FF start page use this?
One page to rule them all... (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, I guess Google just got a new lease on life, considering it's supposed to die in 5 years, according to Microsoft.
Re:One page to rule them all... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:One page to rule them all... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:One page to rule them all... (Score:5, Funny)
and in the whitespace bind them.
Re:One page to rule them all... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm very glad you can do better; some people would prefer to spend their time using the information rather than getting things set up to see it. That isn't meant to be mean.
There it is! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:There it is! (Score:5, Insightful)
Google is still "clean and white" if you leave the "/ig" off the end of the URL.
And yes, you can make it what you want.
Re:There it is! (Score:3, Interesting)
Google could go the full Yahoo! monty, and have an interface that looks like "an Australian's nightmare", but I'd be very surprised.
They seem to grasp the strategic non-value of such a turdberg.
Formatted (Score:5, Funny)
Every morning you greet me,
Small and white,
clean and bright,
Works in Gecko and IE.
Don't be complex
Just search and index,
Don't be evil forever,
Googleweiss, Googleweiss,
Bless my homepage forever.
Re:There it is! (Score:5, Informative)
6. Why did you mess up the clean, crisp Google homepage?
We didn't. If you want to keep using the original Google homepage, you can. In fact, we expect that many users will. The personalized homepage is for those users who want to see more of the information that matters to them in the same place. You can always switch back and forth between your personalized homepage and the original Google homepage by clicking "Classic Home" or "Personalized Home."
Re:There it is! (Score:5, Informative)
For the regular search, rather then using a redirect script, it seems to use onmousedown javascript (in this way the link you click is a "direct" link to the URL). The mousedown script causes your webbrowser to load a hidden image (which is really a tracking image, the kind used by spammers in their email to report back to them). If you examine the javascript it sends the link you clicked, your unique ID, the position on the page the link was ("1" for the first link and so on) and two type parameters (ct="res" and sa="T") encoded as the URL for the fake image.
Re:There it is! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:There it is! (Score:4, Insightful)
If Google didn't track anything, their search algorythms would probably be a lot less efficient because they wouldn't be able to tell which of the search results were the ones that users found relevent.
Re:There it is! (Score:5, Insightful)
As for google... if they want to put all the stuff I like on one page, more power to them. Just don't clutter it with flashing, blinking, epileptic-fit-inducing ads.
Re:There it is! (Score:5, Funny)
Are you kidding?? I can't wait until this page [seizurerobots.com] gets an RSS feed!
Useless trivia: that page is actually the #1 hit (on Google, of course) for "seizure"
One improvement to decrease clutter (Score:5, Interesting)
I quite like them, but after I've absorbed them I don't need to have them cluttering up the page for the rest of the day.
Re:One improvement to decrease clutter (Score:5, Informative)
Re:There it is! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:There it is! (Score:3, Informative)
I agree. On my Yahoo page I have stock graphs (not just the quotes that Google gives you), mortgage rates, and news feeds hand-chosen from the wide variety that yahoo has listed.
I might be able to fake up some of these with tailored google searches, but why should I have to?
Also, I can't order the stock quotes the way I want; they're ordered the way google wants. :-(
I do like the layout dragging. Very nice.
Hopefully google will add more stuff to make the homepage more flexible
greeeeeeeaaaat (Score:4, Funny)
Re:greeeeeeeaaaat (Score:2, Informative)
That's easy. Just create a Gmail account [gmail.com], and set your Yahoo mail to automatically forward everything [yahoo.com] there.
I like helping people.
Re:greeeeeeeaaaat (Score:3, Informative)
You WILL be able to (supposedly) (Score:5, Interesting)
Bottom line? Google's got balls. They repeatedly stressed that they dont track user statistics by services crossover or hits per person, but by user utility. The fact that they would allow and even per-emptively OFFER access to offsite mail shows that they're not just pulling our legs about that mantra . .
Re:greeeeeeeaaaat (Score:2)
Re:greeeeeeeaaaat (Score:3, Informative)
You got to think asynchrously. Read your mail with GMail, but use a mail program on your own machine to send mail. Then you can use any address you want, preferably one you can forward to Gmail.
This gives you the bottomless archive for your messages that you can assess anywhere in the world, plus the ability to compose mess
Re:greeeeeeeaaaat (Score:3, Insightful)
(Feel free to correct me by naming one in which it doesn't work.)
Re:greeeeeeeaaaat (Score:2)
And I never, ever come close to that amount... I don't know what I would do with it. Maybe I could upload 15 years worth of email and use Gmail's nice search feature.
Re:greeeeeeeaaaat (Score:2)
More commentary... (Score:5, Informative)
I submitted this story about 30 mins ago but it looks like someone beat me to it.
Re:More commentary... (Score:2)
Uses Gmail Accounts (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Uses Gmail Accounts (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Uses Gmail Accounts (Score:3, Funny)
Notice the differences though (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Notice the differences though (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Notice the differences though (Score:2)
Re:Notice the differences though (Score:3, Funny)
The "!" in Yahoo keeps me from considering it as a serious organization, nevermind the backwoods, redneck exclamation connotations it tends to evoke (not to mention the multiple cookies set).
I'm much more comfortable with a made-up word like "Google".
WTF (Score:3, Informative)
I still can't actually read messages, but I can see if I have something that requires immediate attention instead of waiting until I get home.
Anyone else note the GoogleDot effect? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Anyone else note the GoogleDot effect? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe it's a reciprocal agreement. If Slashdot uses a Google News Story several times a day, Google will link to Slashdot?
Re:Anyone else note the GoogleDot effect? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Anyone else note the GoogleDot effect? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Anyone else note the GoogleDot effect? (Score:2)
One of like nine options total is to see slashdot's news items.
But for some reason it's lagged, this story isn't showing up there yet. Oh wait, they must be afraid of an infinite loop infinite loop infinite loop...
Didn't you know? (Score:5, Funny)
How many other tech news sites can claim that?
Re:Anyone else note the GoogleDot effect? (Score:5, Interesting)
2. Because that is the first thing the programmers wanted in it.
3. Save slashdot a whole lot of (CTRL+R) page requests.
4. Because we are the first to know about this customized page, for sure.
Re:Anyone else note the GoogleDot effect? (Score:5, Interesting)
Somehow I think this explains it.
Just tried it. (Score:2)
It has slashdot (Score:3, Informative)
At least they didn't put this on the main front page. Stuff like this tends to be cluttered, and I dislike clutter.
Custom defaults (Score:2, Interesting)
However, I would personally like a standard default available so that I don't have a different looking homepage just after clearing internet cache/cookies etc.
Global Domination (Score:5, Funny)
Better everyday (Score:2)
Whoa, custom (Score:5, Interesting)
I love how you can customize it, it can even pull stories from slashdot (although it lags a bit, for instance this story hasn't shown up yet).
If you don't like how they're arranged, just click and drag the boxes around, really truely awesome use of DHTML.
My one gripe is with the gmail integration, when you open a message it looks a bit kludgy, and from there if you try and the inbox link at the top you get a "grrr! you have a popup blocker" message. Note that I'm using Firefox here, and from how FF friendly they are you think this wouldn't be an issue, oh well, it still rocks.
Re:Whoa, custom (Score:3, Informative)
Blame Slashdot. The RSS hasn't updated yet.
Strange... (Score:2, Interesting)
Remember Excite, Hotbot, Lycos, Infoseek, and Altavista all used to look like Yahoo.
Then Google started to kick ass and everyone moved away from that format to a minimalistic approach.
No google is trying to become Yahoo? I'm going dizzy just thinking about it...
Search for search; home page for news (Score:3, Interesting)
I use Google to search.
At this point, a "Personalized Google" home page wouldn't be a reaplcement for Google, and in fact they shouldn't take up half the front page with a search bar. It would be a replacement for My Yahoo. When I want to search, I'll search. When I want to know what's going on, I'll hit my personal page.
What
One thing left out. (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe they'll get around to that.
Gmail opened up?? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Gmail opened up?? (Score:2)
Pretty weak so far (Score:5, Insightful)
- No outside RSS feeds, so can't add anything beyond pre-selected sources
- No user-selected color coding, so semantically the boxes are barely distinguishable
- Small things, like inability to select a subset of Google news, not just top stories
All fixable, and it's obviously a beta, but it's surprisingly a really raw beta.
Re:Pretty weak so far (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Pretty weak so far (Score:2)
Initial thoughts (Score:2)
Ok, it is the initial version, but compared to other stuff from Google like Gmail, it doesn't seem very polished. Be nice if you could minimize each of the portlets also.
Re:Initial thoughts (Score:2)
but remember googlenews was non-customizable for a long time too.
I would imagine that this too will evolve in a good way.
When will Google stop? (Score:2)
I wish them well after all Google's moto is "Do no Evil!"
OMG!! (Score:5, Funny)
OT: Contraction translation (Score:2, Informative)
First sentence:
Remember, "It's 'its', not 'it's'."Or, just read Bob the Angry Flower's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots [angryflower.com] (his words, not mine!). I mean, sheeh, twice in the first sentence? You idiot. (My words, not his!)
DRAG AND DROP!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
it would be nice if someone could make a toolkit for php or whatever to make web interfaces that are as rich as regular app interfaces. Qt for the web!!
The Google service I'd like to see is... (Score:5, Funny)
coalesce it's disparate services -->
coalesce its disparate services
released it's new personalized homepage service -->
released its new personalized homepage service
The UK version is broken (Score:4, Informative)
If you go to http://www.google.co.uk/ig/customize [google.co.uk] then try to set and save your settings, you'll find that it's pretty broken...
It seems to send the page into a loop...in IE you will just receive continuous warnings that you are being redirected to an nonsecure page.
-- Pete.
Re:The UK version is broken (Score:2)
Re:The UK version is broken (Score:2)
Re:The UK version is broken (Score:2)
And replying to myself yet again, I can now say it's certainly broken, both the .co.uk site and the .com site. It worked the first time I went to the pages, but now it's all broken. If you have had it working, purge your cookies and see just how broken it is now.
Maybe we slashdotted google? ;)
-- Pete.
MyFrame (Score:2)
Saved searches from a long time ago resurface. (Score:2, Insightful)
Hopefully for the rest of you your googlepage doesn't fall into the wrong hands. If people were to find out what you had been searching for, how would they feel? How would you feel?
Heck, I felt a bit violated and it was only /me/ that saw them.
Re:Saved searches from a long time ago resurface. (Score:2)
grrrr (Score:4, Funny)
Its != it's
Thank you.
Just like Yahoo, except... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Just like Yahoo, except... (Score:2, Informative)
Redirection loop (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, I clicked on the link in the article, and was able to setup a page and customize it.
I then visited Google Canada's home page, and added /ig to it and tried to do the same, and ran into a redirection loop (seems google.ca tried to redirect to google.com, which tries to redirect to google.ca, ad infinitum...
Now neither /ig pages work at all. I had to clear all the cookies to get back to one page that works.
Hey Google guys! I know that some of you are reading this. Please fix it.
Tell them yourself? (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.google.com/support/fusionph/bin/reques
- shazow
more content, more features, less "flair" (Score:2)
Now all they need are TV listings, along with the ability to customize the listing, and customize the theaters I see, and I'm set.
Too bad... (Score:5, Funny)
IG? (Score:2)
I find it really neat... (Score:4, Interesting)
This is my new home page. No, I'm serious. (Score:5, Interesting)
I could use a link to Google Maps, My Google Groups and some sort of bookmark storage scheme, but this will do for now.
Oh yeah, it loads really, really quickly too.
Call me a Google fangirl, but this rocks.
why slashdot is so special to google (Score:5, Interesting)
GoogleScript (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd like to open my google-homepage and see if anyone has replied to my comments on slashdot/some random forum/etc; I'd also like to use a small chunk of my gmail storage to synchronize my bookmarks to, then display a bookmarks browser on my google-homepage. So why can't i hack these things together? Half the reason I'm not switching back to ie when it finally gets tabbed browsing (the feature that originally attracted me to firefox), is that i'd miss all my old plugins. if google could pull of some kind of system like i've just described, i'm sure a lot of their use base will be sticking with them for a while.
TV show module (Score:3, Insightful)
It would be MUCH better than the cluttered and space wasting TV Guide-style TV listing that Yahoo currently uses. The Yahoo one is also frustrating in that it's not smart about the time listing it shows. It can be 10 am and it will still show you the 8-11 pm prime time block. Even on weekends.
Pretty fast update (Score:3, Interesting)
Checked it out in T-Bird.
Go to FF. Hit Reload. Message gone.
Bloody fast.
R.
Takes A Long Time for /. Stories to Show Up (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:W00t!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
gLinux!
Please!?!?!?
Re:UGLY - CLUTTERED - DISAPPOINTING (Score:2)
Re:UGLY - CLUTTERED - DISAPPOINTING (Score:2)
Re:UGLY - CLUTTERED - DISAPPOINTING (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:just like ballmer said (Score:2)
Nor is Google's collapse imminent, trolltard.
Re:Doesn't work for google.co.uk (Score:3, Funny)