iGoogle how about you?

 So if you have not heard of Google then there is a good chance you have either just returned from a long trip to Mars or you are my Gran.  Actually I think even my Gran has heard of Google.  So if you haven’t heard of Google, welcome home, I hope you enjoyed your trip.  But it used to be that when we said Google we knew what we meant, these days are we talking about a search engine, office application, email, maps, who knows?  Most of the techies have a good grasp on what is available from Google but what about the rest of us?  Well one of the things the rest of us can miss out on is one of Google's most basic, but brilliant offerings and they call it iGoogle.  No it’s not a Google sponsored personal music player but simply a better home page.  If the page that shows first when you open your browser is similar to this one then read on.  iGoogle allows you to setup a page with some simple add-ons, that range from news headlines through to games. Once you have clicked on the iGoogle link at the top right of the screen, you can set up an account and start adding your favourite widgets.  So it is easy, but is it worth it?  perhaps the best way to describe the benefit might be to explain how I use iGoogle.

Google is all about searching so naturally the search box appears at the top of any page you set up, but it’s what follows on from there that makes this an invaluable tool to me.  Toodledo is the next widget on my page.  This is the place I hold all my GTD actions or to-do lists.  I can add tasks, review existing ones and perhaps most satisfyingly check off that they are complete, all from my home page without ever going to the website.  If you not into Toodledo there are also widgets for Remember The Milk and a number of other to-do list but Toodledo is my favourite.  Google Reader is the next on my list of widgets.  A place where I can subscribe to all those blogs I read.  However I very rarely go into Google Reader itself because the majority of my blog reading happens here at the iGoogle page using this widget.  The widget sorts the news for me on the most recent articles and they are simply marked as read and disappear once I have read them.  BeTwittered is next and it is my Twitter client.  Once again I very rarely actually go to the Twitter website, I simply follow my favourite people here and even use it to post to Twitter as well.   Having never been one for buying papers, and also not particular enjoying TV the BBC News is one of my few resources that I have for current affairs.  I could look at this site through my Google Reader, but allowing it to have it’s own space on the page means I spot more news stories that I have an interest in.  Yet another Google product Google Calendar displays my calendar for the day and week ahead.  Finally the increasing popular Evernote shows my recent notes that I have posted to Evernote.  All this is at my figure tips the moment I start my browser.  The techies don’t have the monopoly on time saving tips, iGoogle allows the rest of us to do it as well.  Hey Gran let me show you iGoogle.