Up, Close & Personal with 'iGoogle'

Think 'Google,' and what comes to mind is 'simplicity' not 'style'.

However, in a slight departure from this frame-of-mind, the search giant is set to offer a newer personalized home page and ecosystem under a new brand dubbed 'iGoogle'.
While Google's 'basic' personalized home page was introduced nearly two years ago, in recent times, the company has been adding several customization features to it.

These include: the ability to choose from an array of themes with custom colors for the personalized home page, and the ability to refer back to the user's personal Web search history.

Google is now working to bring all of this together, according to Google's Vice President in charge of Search and User Experience, Marissa Mayer.

Mayer said 'iGoogle' refers to what was formerly called the 'Google Personalized Home Page,' as also the ecosystem the company is building with thousands of gadgets or optional features on the Home Page.

As part of the newer enhancements, Google has added a geographic dimension to search results, based on an individual's selection of home location on Google Maps.

Meanwhile, Web history will be an optional feature, available only to those users who have signed up, and given permission to Google to track their Web surfing activity.

Starting midnight (California time) Monday, the new personalization features have already begun appearing on Google user pages.

Also part of the new initiative, Google is now offering personalized versions of its search services in 40 countries (up from 22), and 26 languages (up from 15).

Google's Lead Engineer in charge of Personalization, Sep Kamvar, said they want to personalize the traditional notion of search.

Kamvar said everyone is 'eclectic' in their own way, and hence, they cannot go about designing products for average persons.