Google Providing "Gadgets" To The Masses
Once just a search engine, Google has become so much more over the years. From providing video services, to e-books, to even an e-mail service, Google has become a part of our everyday lives. Google's latest web contribution to the internet is in the form of "gadgets", pieces of HTML and Java code that can be inserted into web pages, that provides easy access to many of Google's services, such as Google Maps. These "Universal Gadgets" are a great idea, an idea that rivals such as Yahoo and Microsoft are sure to also explore.
"Yahoo, through its acquisition of the Silicon Valley start-up Konfabulator last year, boasts more than 3,244 Widgets, or mini programs, that range from Web search tools to games, news feeds and video-watching utilities.
But users must install and run an 11-megabyte program on a PC for such programs to work on Windows-based computers (http://widgets.yahoo.com/). Similarly, Apple Computer and Microsoft offer hundreds of such programs to Web users."
