Gaga for Google

First let me say that I hate eating the last of something without noticing it. The last M&M in the bag, the last cookie, the last olive, etc. If I get distracted while eating and then reach for another whatever only to discover that I ate the last one while I wasn't paying attention, I get really bummed. I just did that with my swiss cheese and low-fat Wheat Thins snack. I was eating them as I was browsing online--mindlessly popping them into my mouth. I guess I lost track of how many were left because I just turned to eat the last one and it was already gone! And I'm not about to eat a whole nother slice just to finish off the taste of it in my mouth. It's 3 points! Boo hoo.

Actually, my post today is about Google Reader and iGoogle. I have this friend Tiburon. She's pretty much my connection to everything hip on the internet. Yesterday she introduced me to two awesome new internet thingies (I am very precise in my use of internet technology terms):

1) Google Reader. It's a web-thingy that allows you to keep track of all the blogs you follow. You enter in the blog address and it adds it to a list. Then whenever someone posts, it updates your list. That way you don't have to click back and forth between your own blog and every blog on your list only to find out that no one has posted in days. It is awesome and very time-save-ey. (That is also a technical term you should learn if you are hip.) It only works with public blogs, though. If the blog is private, it won't tell you when it has been updated.

2) iGoogle. Once you have your google reader set up (and you should do that first), then you can set up the most fantastic thing on the internet since the internet: iGoogle. It's a web-page-thingy where you can customize it to show you everything on the ineternet you like to check, read, get informed about, etc., all at a glance. It's like a virtual desktop of everything you need access to online. For example, mine shows me the date and time, the local weather forcast, my gmail account, my Google Reader, my to-do list, today's mortgage interest rate, the Wikipedia search engine, what movies are playing at my local theater, baby sign language words, pictures of places to go before I die, and funny cat pictures (these last two are changed each time I open iGoogle). So at a glance, without leaving that one webpage, I can see all that stuff that I might have to click on 10 different web pages to see normally. It's awesome! You can customize the "gadgets" (what they call each section of the page) by choosing from hundreds of pre-made ones, or you can create your own gadgets. You can even choose a design theme for the header of your page. Here is what one looks like:



I know that is really too small to see much detail. So you can either google images of iGoogle to see some examples, or better yet, just go to iGoogle and get set up! It's super easy, and it will make your life so much easier. Plus, you can use it as a way to make yourself feel more superior to everyone else who isn't hip enough to use iGoogle. See? It's win-win!