iGoogle

July 20, 2009 / in Information Technology / by Jason Terry

What web site do you have set for your homepage?  Mine was recently set to pull up www.ping.fm so that I would be reminded to update my social media status every morning.  It was a good start page.  There is something SO MUCH BETTER.

I was talking to my good friend, Matt Simpson, about iGoogle today.  Basically, iGoogle is a widget aggregator.  What I mean by that, is that you can set up tabs in a web page that contain all sorts of useful tools.  I highly recommend you browse to www.igoogle.com and set up your personalized page.  All you need is a Gmail account and you have access to this tool.  If you don’t have a Gmail account, catch up with the rest of the world and get one here.

So, here is a list of the pages I set up in 15 minutes and the tools that are on each of them.  By doing this, I have more of the tools and information that I use every day… right at my fingertips when I launch my web browser (be sure to set your iGoogle page up as your home page once you get it set up)  All of these tools and services are completely free and there are HUNDREDS of widgets available.  You can drag and drop where you want each widget to appear on your page.  I hope you take the time to look into this time saving tool!

HOME
– ping.fm tool
– calculator
– Gmail inbox
– Date and time (international options available)
– Google Maps search
– US Zip Code lookup
– Google tip of the day
– Weather based on zip code
– Woot! Watcher (a widget that shows the current item selling on woot.com)

TOOLS
– WHOIS Lookup tool powered by Network Solutions
– Wikipedia lookup
– Dictionary.com definition tool
– My IP tool
– Document to PDF (a free and easy way to convert most documents to PDF and have them emailed to you)

NEWS
– Social Media technology news widget
– Gizmodo news
– Googe News – top stories
– CNN.com news
– USA Today news
– NPR news