# 8 iGoogle

WOW! I had a ball learning about what iGoogle can do for me! There are so many gadgets to add to the page. Of course I probably joined countless other first time iGooglers and added way too many gadgets on my page like joke of the day, optical illusion of the day, virtual pets and even a page full of ants. After I calmed down, I made some more sensible inclusions.

On my Home Page I have saved my web links, the weather, latest news results, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Book Search, Facebook, Dictionary, You Tube, Daily Recipes, Open Source Software Search, Word of the Day, Movie Trailers, Singapore Lifestyle Wiki, Currency Converter, a ToDo List and a Sticky note.

And saved the iGoogle Home page to my home PC, my school compaq laptop, my little Asus netbook and my MacBookPro. Every time I open up one of these computers, I can have instant access to the same page. I take two computers to school as I set up my laptop for my home base workstation and then I need to take the little Asus around the school to access trouble shooting webpages or update software and hardware assests.

Then I thought of my iPhone. Yes there is an iGoogle icon that I could add to my screen. iGoogle is just a touch away to connect with my iPhone.

I can't believe how easy it will be to add some reminders to my ToDo List or Sticky notes and I can access it anywhere anytime 24/7. (Catchy but true). When my husband opens up the MacBookPro at home he can see my reminders too. (Like take the meat out of the freezer!)

My Google Docs gadget also displays all my online Docs and even shows the SybaSigns Participants Tracking Doc.

Planning on flying out to Singapore at the end of the year, prompted me to add the Singapore Lifestyle Wiki and the Currency Converter set to AUD and SGD. Just searching the Singapore Wiki for 'FOOD' opened up a plethora of eating venues and cuisine experiences.

I deleted, then reconsidered and added the 'Word of the Day' gadget as I found that the new word not only came with an audio for pronunciation and dictionary meaning, but I could click on the word and enter the gadget's whole dictionary. This gave me the opportunity to change a word and listen to the pronunciation audio. Not only that, I found that I could access a Medical dictionary, Legal Dictionary, Financial Dictionary, Idioms, Acronyms, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia Dictionary AND get it all translated into another language with an audio pronunciation feature.

And of course I played around with the Themes and loaded a Singapore City Scene for my iGoogle page.

Thanks for adding the 'working with and in Google' videos to view and reflect upon. What a fantastic and stimulating work environment! Makes me want to think about how to add a bit of bizarre and stimulating workstations to encourage innovation. Our youngest son works in IT and LOVES working in a team in the same room. He says that the inspiration that buzzes around the room is catchy. Everyone adds something to their work area and shares so many ideas as they work on software and hardware.

Mmmmm so back to the Google drawing board (or sketchup) - post an iGoogle Sticky Note reminder to self: "Revamp work station to inspiration level". Made me turn around and look at my personalised copy of The Economist framed on my study wall:

Start thinking outside the fishbowl Altmann!