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New Google Homepage Features

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the so-many-submissions-about-this dept.

SecularG writes "It seems that Google has added new features to it's Personalized Home. To edit the content of your personalized homepage you click 'Add Content' in the top right, and a list of options slide out from the left. You can add your own bookmarks, select from more news feeds, and add your own RSS news feeds." Of course since Slashdot is already available from their default list of technology sites, why would you need the ability to include an RSS feed?

4 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. A dud? by rueger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, I played with it for five minutes and couldn't see much use. It wouldn't let me fine tune the news feed to suit my needs, or at least not in an obvious way, and didn't display the accompanying pictures from news stories.

    For whatever reason it won't display the weather for my location (Hamilton ON). I don't particularly like the way it displays my g-mail info, and would like to change the arrangement and width of the blocks.

    All in all this one actually looks like a beta - dull, uninspired, and not fully realized.

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    Three Squirrels
  2. Re:Countdown until Google.com looks like by anaesthetica · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I agree with your distaste for web portals. Still, portals remain quite popular, and I think Google is trying to tap into that area. Yahoo! still remains quite popular because it has portal features.

    On the other hand, I don't think that Google as a whole will turn into Yahoo!. The main Google page will likely always stay simple, whereas the personalized homepage is just for people who want portal stuff. The one advantage that a Google RSS/portal has is the same that Gmail has: everywhere you go, regardless of what computer you're on, it's the same interface and setup. You don't need to configure an RSS reader on each computer you use: just go to Google.com/ig. Same with Gmail.

    Also, the dhtml sliding options pane on the left is nifty, but I can't help but think that it's going overboard a little bit.

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    The Rise and Fall of Online Community
  3. highly editorialized? by supernova87a · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm not complaining about Google's choices of feeds on the personalized homepage, because I actually like what they've offered -- but I can see how someone else might be offended at their editorial judgment. For example, (at least in the previous version, maybe also this one) the news choices were NYT, BBC, and other (generally) reputable sources. Now they also have Washington Post and others.

    But I can see how someone might see this as liberal bias. "Where's my Washington Times, or Fox News feed??" And then some people will complain the other way -- "How come I can't get my Democracy Now feed on the home page??"

    Maybe I just take the position that I like their choices and to those who complain about not having their own right-wing news feeds available, I say, go and create your own Google, losers. On the other hand, is it dangerous for one company to filter the available options so dramatically? You don't have to use their homepage, but when one provider is so dominant, you can't avoid issues like that...

    ps. I believe the page now lets you input your own choice of xml feeds...

  4. Ask Yahoo! by mlk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I love it. Ask Yahoo on Google.

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    Wow, I should not post when knackered.