Personalized Homepage Themes

Google is now offering several new background themes for its personalized homepage. For the longest time, the look and feel of the page was the only thing you couldn't personalize; now you can choose from a half-dozen themes. The themes are "active," in that they change over the course of the day, depending on the time of day. Check 'em out!

Plus Box in Search Results

Here's something new you might find in selected Google searches. Look for a big "+" icon next to your results. Click the "plus box," as Google calls it, and the results expand to show related information. It's more results from the same search page.

New Version of Google Desktop

Google just released a beta Google Desktop 5. This new version features visual and operational improvements to the Sidebar and Gadgets, as well as an in-browser search results preview. Check it out here.

Multi-Step Directions in Google Maps

Google Maps has finally added a long-awaited, quite valuable feature, also recently added to Yahoo! Maps: Multiple-step directions. This means you can plan a multi-stop trip (point A to point B to point C), instead of merely going from point A to point C with no stops in-between. Just create directions from your starting point to your first stop, then click the Add a Destination link and enter your second stop, Keep clicking the Add a Destination link to create more complex trips and directions.

Google Maps Adds Live Traffic Data

Here's something real cool. Google Maps, in both the desktop and mobile versions, now offers live traffic data for over 30 cities. Just call up a map and then click the Traffic button; major roads now appear as green (smooth), yellow (busy), or red (congested). You can even overly the traffic data on the satellite and hybrid views. And on interstate highways, you get the green/yellow/red separately for lanes in both directions! I find this especially useful when I'm on the go, and can check Google Maps via Google Mobile on my cell phone.

Who Links to Your Website?

If you're interested in which other websites link to your site, you could use Google's link: operator, but it's a bit cumbersome. A better method is to use Google's Webmaster Tools, which has a new Links tab. This new tool lets you see how many sites link to every page on your site, and who those links are. It's a great tool, and it's completely free!

The New Blogger is Now Live

FYI, the new version of Blogger is now out of beta testing and officially live for everyone to use. Check it out!

Google Answers Bites the Dust

One of my favorite little "hidden secrets" in the Google empire has been shuttered. Google announced today that they're shutting down Google Answers, the service where a team of pros answered user questions for a fee. Google calls it a failed experiment, but my guess is that the company simply prefers easy automation over more complex human input. Farewell!

New Google Page Creator Features

One of the least-known of Google's offerings is Google Page Creator. This is a web page creation tool and hosting community. You use Google Page Creator to create your web pages (no HTML required) and then host those pages, for free, on Google's site. Now Google Page Creator features an image editor for all the pictures you want to post, as well as the ability to create up to three different sites, each with its own *.googlepages.com URL. In addition, all pages you create with Google Page Creator are now automatically converted for mobile use, so they'll be viewable from any mobile phone. It's a great alternative to GeoCities, AngelFire, and similar web hosting sites -- and, as with all things Google, it's completely free!

New Version of Google Desktop and Sidebar

Google has just released version 4.5 of Google Desktop. The big change in this version is an improved Sidebar, which is now transparent -- just like the sidebar in Yahoo! Widgets and Windows Vista. It looks much better on the desktop.