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Google Gets More Social With New Gadgets

Posted on: Thursday, 13 August 2009, 10:57 CDT

Google launched a series of new social gadgets for iGoogle on Wednesday that will allow its users to connect with each other.

“Social gadgets let you share, collaborate and play games with your friends on top of all the things you can already do on your homepage,” Marissa Mayer, Google’s Vice President of Search Products & User Experience and Rose Yao, iGoogle Product Manager, wrote on Google’s blog on Wednesday.

“The 19 social gadgets we're debuting today offer many new ways to make your homepage more useful and fun.”

The initial release includes gadgets such as ToDo, Social Photos, Chess and Scrabble. It also carries a feature called Updates that keeps friends updated with activity by publishing users’ most recently shares photo albums and status updates.

Other applications include NPR, which allows users to browse recent headlines, and Flixster lets users review recent movies or read about what their friends are watching.

“We introduced these new social features recently to Australia users and are gradually rolling them out to users in the U.S. over the next week,” said Mayer and Yao. “Don't fret if you don't see your iGoogle page updated yet — just check back soon.”

"The Google homepage has always been a place that connects people to information, and we're excited to now also be a place that connects people to each other."

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On the Net:

• Social Gadgets For iGoogle

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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