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Google Businesses The Internet

A Peek at Personalized Google 260

Posted by timothy from the must-resist-comment-about-evil dept.
Seoulstriker writes "Sci-tech Today is describing how Google will be offering customized homepages as seen here. Is this one step closer to Google becoming a web portal like Yahoo? Although it is not currently in Beta, it is only available through the Google Labs site. It definitely doesn't look like Yahoo yet, but I don't want my search site to be any more cluttered than it is now."
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A Peek at Personalized Google More

A Peek at Personalized Google

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  • Google (Score:5, Funny)

    by XanC ( 644172 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:29PM (#12608439)
    They just seem to be everybody's best friend. Google can do no wrong!

    I just hope they don't execute Order 66...

    • Google-Sucks (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "They just seem to be everybody's best friend. Google can do no wrong!"

      I'm still waiting for my blowjob.

    • Re:Google (Score:5, Funny)

      by PsychicX ( 866028 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:51PM (#12609309)
      I'm so confused:
      Google [google.com]
      Yahoo [yahoo.com]
      • even search.yahoo.com is still slower due to URL redirections in each link of the search result page
        • Actually google uses redirects too, you just don't see them.

          Every search result link contains this 'onmousedown="return rwt(this,4)'. (The 4 is which search result this is). When you click on the link, the Javascript function re-writes the URL to point to '/url?sa=U&start=[$search_index]&url=[$url]&ei=[a bunch of garbage]'.

          I am assuming the value for 'ei' relates to me having google save my search history, but I have not been able to confirm it.

          So yes, google uses the URL redirect too, they j
    • and let the meme begin.....
    • It is strange that it doesn't work if you are not in the locale of US. You can't get your gmail (the language must be English-US, not even English-UK), your weather and surely not your news.

      The first thing that jumps into my mind when I hear personalization is Localization. Google must work first on making it truly localized.
    • It is ugly and cluttered....but more then that, its mostly useless. Take for example the stock quotes. On my.yahoo.com, it shows me my stocks...if i click one of the ticker symbols it shows me detailed data about the stocks from finance.yahoo.com . If i click on in google it does a web search for the ticker symbol ??? And shows an undetailed chart of the stock which is completely useless. If i then click that chart it takes me to finance.yahoo.com for the stock anyways. I think this is an example of w
    • I just hope they don't execute Order 66...

      Which begs the question: "what were the other 65 orders?"

  • You know it's a dupe when... (Score:5, Funny)

    by The Hobo ( 783784 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:29PM (#12608441)
    One of the links on the story shows up darker than the rest. (For those who don't get it, firefox shows visited slashdot links as darker)

  • Cluttered search engine? How about crap editors? (Score:5, Funny)

    by furiousgeorge ( 30912 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:29PM (#12608443)
    Would you want it cluttered enough so it could spot the dupe story? I could see that being useful to the lazy editors.

  • So.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by xiphoris ( 839465 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:30PM (#12608451) Homepage
    It definitely doesn't look like Yahoo yet, but I don't want my search site to be any more cluttered than it is now.


    So don't use the personalized webpage, then? Or personalize it so it's simple?

    • Re:So.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Omnieiunium ( 872399 ) <canadiancanuck AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:36PM (#12608509) Journal
      I agree. I happen to like the extra features. If I didn't I would simply switch it off. I don't get why people are complaining

    • So....Grease 'em up. (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "Or personalize it so it's simple?"

      Greasemonkey, anyone?

    • Re:So.... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Threni ( 635302 )
      > So don't use the personalized webpage, then? Or personalize it so it's simple?

      Or create two bookmarks, one customized and one plain google.

    • Re:So.... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Aeros ( 668253 )
      Exactly..why are people so afraid of change? If you dont like the personalized page dont use it. Some people just gotta bitch about anything and everything
    • Actually, I don't really care if the front page gets cluttered, since I do practically all my searching using Opera's address bar.

      Now one feature that DOES annoy me is Google's click-tracking. If I search something using google, check the top three results and figure out that my search terms are wrong.

      So I use some other terms and notice that the three results are the same that I got from the last query after clicking them, because the urls are not he same in google because they track clicks.

      I've made a
      • Now one feature that DOES annoy me is Google's click-tracking. If I search something using google, check the top three results and figure out that my search terms are wrong.

        So I use some other terms and notice that the three results are the same that I got from the last query after clicking them, because the urls are not he same in google because they track clicks.

        From what I can see, it's only the sponsored links that are tracked (by mediafarm?). If they are sponsored links, then surely you want to trac
        • Sometimes Google tracks normal search results. The urls are of the form "http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=your_url _here&e=some_number".

  • Clutter... (Score:4, Informative)

    by oneiron ( 716313 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:30PM (#12608453)
    It definitely doesn't look like Yahoo yet, but I don't want my search site to be any more cluttered than it is now.

    Fortunately, you can edit all of the clutter out of the interface, if you want to.

  • Greasemonkey oportunity (Score:4, Informative)

    by Jesse_132 ( 830242 ) <anotherjesse@gLIONmail.com minus cat> on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:31PM (#12608466) Homepage
    I know several people are already working on adding stuff to this using Greasemonkey!
    • Have your persistant searches there
    • Delicious popular
    • Integrate TadaList
    It is using tables and shouldn't be to hard to monkey up.
    • This is off-topic but I tried Greasemonkey recently. While I really liked it at first, Greasemonkey has one huge flaw under Windows XP. When it is enabled, Firefox uses up 100% of my CPU time. It really hurt my computer's stability (yeah I know, runnings XP doesn't help either). Have other people run into this problem or is it just me?

  • Depends. Define "web portal" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Weaselmancer ( 533834 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:31PM (#12608467)

    If by web portal you mean your first stop on the way to doing something useful, then it already is.

  • serparate from the homepage (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Spydr ( 90990 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:31PM (#12608475) Homepage
    as long as it's a separate page from the google.com homepage, i'm cool with it.

    it's when they stop offering the lightweight search page by default is when it starts to suck.

  • Dupe! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sammykrupa ( 828537 ) <sam@theplaceforitall.com> on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:32PM (#12608478) Homepage Journal
    Dupe anyone [slashdot.org]???!?!

    • Re:Dupe! (Score:3, Funny)

      by metlin ( 258108 )
      > Dupe anyone ???!?!

      Oh yeah, the Slashdot Editors dupe us on all days and twice on Sundays.

    • Re:Dupe! (Score:3, Funny)

      by ucblockhead ( 63650 )
      You must be new here. The rule is that each editor submits his own version of the story.

      They found that this was a lot easier than actually reading their own site.

  • Fixing dupes... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by The Hobo ( 783784 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:32PM (#12608481)
    Perhaps we should all be trying to submit stories that have already appeared on the front page in an effort to force the editors to scrutinize harder, and maybe, just maybe, it'll stick....

  • How long until... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    We get personalized Slashdot dupes?

  • Slashdot... (Score:3, Funny)

    by dj245 ( 732906 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:38PM (#12608534) Homepage
    News by Timothy. Stuff that matters... to timothy

  • So far, so good (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ShatteredDream ( 636520 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:40PM (#12608551) Homepage
    I tried it out and actually like it for the most part. The thing that's particularly nice IMO is that all of the personalized content appears below the search feature so that the top looks more or less like the old Google. The interface seems to be the standard Google through and through and it does a pretty good job of showing you only the stuff you want when you take the time to customize it.

    The only thing that they really need to do is add a feature to let you add custom news feeds based on RSS you specify or by creating Google News searches. Good News already lets you add your own categories based on search criteria so My Google needs that too.
  • Are others getting the Slashdot option? Or is Google spying on me?

  • It's all about choice! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bifurcati ( 699683 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:45PM (#12608583) Homepage
    Google's doing the right thing - some people (I presume!) actually like having everything together on the one page. And in many ways, it could be nice - if with a simple, uncluttered interface I can see the day's weather and some of the top news stories from my slected news site when I load up my browser to my default page, then that's good. It's only when the page starts being cluttered by dating services and offers for stuff that doesn't apply to non-U.S.ians that it gets annoyed.

    And, of course, if I decide I don't like it, I can simply revert back to the simple interface. As long as I can do that, I'm happy.

    Anyway, who has time to think about Google when there's Star Wars [illuminatingscience.org] to think about?!

  • Advertisements (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Bifurcati ( 699683 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @08:48PM (#12608595) Homepage
    An interesting question will be whether Google will ever put ads on its main page. Clearly that would be a sought-after position, but also goes against the beauty of Google's AdWords system, where I actually find Ads relevant.

    But perhaps if I select certain personalised info for my home page, they would have enough information to justify attempting to target ads to me? I actually think it pretty unlikely - it would be an unpopular move, and Google really does no evil. But it must be tempting!

    • Re:Advertisements (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jotux ( 660112 )
      why would they ever need to put ads on their main page? How many people go to google.com just to see the google logo? 99.999999% of people that go to the google site probably go with the intent of searching(which will display ads), or to use another service with similar ads.
  • Wow, that's pretty spiffy. I just hope they do something about how cluttered it looks and how uneven the boxes are. Coming soon: Google Bongos! Practice this beloved African instrument from the comfort of your own computer. Fully customizable, the colour of the bongos changes automatically with your mood and interests!

  • Can it be true? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by SpartanVII ( 838669 )
    Although it is not currently in Beta

    This seems to be their one and only service that isn't beta. But I don't mind their screwy usage of that term, it all is polished enough for me.

  • I just hope I can personalize it any way I want, so I can get it to look like this [google.com].
  • The integration of their other services is what makes this a not-so-hidden gem. I like being able to have my Gmail, Google News and regular Google Search all viewable on the one page. The weather, Slashdot and other news options are an enormous bonus -- as yet, this is replacing my RSS aggregator as all my feeds are on the site.

    I like the fact that Google have not lost sight of their original focus: search. Many of the other web portals, like Yahoo or MSN, have all the graphics heavy customisation on the page and then throw their search box in as an afterthought (although this is becoming less obvious).

    Google has just a couple of additions to make in order to produce another winning solution: integrated RSS feeds (as someone has already suggested), international weather information (or international versions of the customised page) and the option to put customised search buttons (like the useful Search Linux and Search Uncle Sam) under the search box. That I would like to see.

  • As noted in the original story: (Score:5, Informative)

    by steeef ( 98372 ) <steeef@@@gmail...com> on Sunday May 22, 2005 @09:03PM (#12608704)
    From the FAQ:

    6. Why did you mess up the clean, crisp Google homepage?

    We didn't. If you want to keep using the original Google homepage, you can. In fact, we expect that many users will. The personalized homepage is for those users who want to see more of the information that matters to them in the same place. You can always switch back and forth between your personalized homepage and the original Google homepage by clicking "Classic Home" or "Personalized Home." ...

    If you don't like it, don't use it. Google isn't going to make this their default page.
    • If you don't like it, don't use it. Google isn't going to make this their default page.

      ...yet.

      Never trust a corporation to keep their promises more than a couple of years at most. Management changes, stockholders make demands, etc.

      • Re:As noted in the original story: (Score:4, Interesting)

        by rm999 ( 775449 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:06PM (#12609071)
        I fail to see how making that the default page helps them at all (and therefore why they would ever do it). It only uses more bandwidth and computing power, and offers them *no* revenue. They will never make money off the front page becuase if they ever start to put ads on their default front page people will flock away.

  • Wow (Score:3, Funny)

    by pHatidic ( 163975 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @09:10PM (#12608751)
    I certainly hope the word of the day is harder than 'aficionado' in the future. I think word of the day should come in four difficulty settings:

    1. Unwashed Masses
    2. Smarter than average
    3. I'm a fucking genius
    4. I read /.
  • The one thing I've always wanted Google to be is... more like Yahoo!

    It was never about 'the search' anyhow, was it?

  • Google should help Slashdot with a technology (Score:3, Funny)

    by melted ( 227442 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @09:31PM (#12608879) Homepage
    Google should help Slashdot with a technology that would help filter out ridiculous dupes like this one.

  • search.yahoo.com (Score:2, Informative)

    by generalleoff ( 760847 )
    I dont much mind if google is trying to be another yahoo as long as they follow yahoos lead and create search.google.com. search.yahoo.com is a none bloated search only version of yahoo for those that never saw it.

  • Good Idea (Score:2, Insightful)

    by deadmantyping ( 827232 )

    I definitely like the Google personalized homepage, but I can see how many people wouldn't, and I certainly wouldn't want it to become too cluttered like MSN or Yahoo. I like being able to read Slashdot and Google news headlines and preview my gmail. They definitely are on the right track with this one. However, I think that they should keep the default homepage clean and simple as it is now and offer the personalized page only to those that truly want it. I think that one good feature about google products

  • The comment on evil (Score:4, Funny)

    by cspring007 ( 705809 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:10PM (#12609089) Homepage Journal
    Ok, google is either perfect or really really evil.
    Not the big blundering stupid kind of evil that microsoft is, but the creepy really really bad kind of evil.
    Like the kind of evil in that story 'event horizon' where everyone rips their eyes out.

    ...or they are just really really good at internet programming

  • gmail (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Therlin ( 126989 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:37PM (#12609239)
    I would like to be able to personalize my google start page but I do not want anyone in my job to somehow have access to my gmail account at work.

  • About Clutter (Score:2, Insightful)

    by TyrelHaveman ( 159881 )
    "I don't want my search site to be any more cluttered than it is now." Well, I guess that's why it's completely customizable. You can put what you want where you want it, including putting nothing there... though I find the Slashdot module quite nice (that's how I found this story). With Slashdot, Google News, Gmail, and Google Search on one page, I've got 90% of the stuff I ever use right in front of me as soon as I start my browser. Couldn't be better.
    It gets a thumbs-up from me, for sure.

  • Certainly given the building blocks currently on offer, I don't really see a need for it.

    I have the Gmail Reminder to prompt me to new mail and give me a single click into it. What's the point in having just a few of your emails on a search engine homepage anyway? I don't ever even go to the Google homepage to perform a search as I do it directly from my address bar.

    I can sign up for BBC news alerts or read them in RSS format via an aggregator if I want to. In this day and age of information gathering,

  • Not quite up to Yahoo! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by theRG ( 770574 )

    I love My Yahoo! I also love my Gmail. I think this customized Google page is a great start but it's simply not there yet. Yes, the interface is nice simple Google, but I think in this day and age with RSS and broadband, it's a little too simple, boring and frankly not enough features for me. I do like how easy it is to customize though.

    It really does feel to me like it's a start, and not ready for primetime. This is what a portal was 5 years ago.

    I really do have high hopes for this though. It's Google.

  • try it before you don't like it (Score:4, Insightful)

    by yagu ( 721525 ) <{yayagu} {at} {gmail.com}> on Monday May 23, 2005 @12:33AM (#12609729) Journal

    I set up my personalized Google home page. I like it a lot. I don't know if I'll keep it because generally I like the uncluttered look of the standard Google Home page. But, take a look, your mileage may vary!

    Some of the nice features:

    • from "Search, and I'm Feeling Lucky" up it's basically the same old Google page you were used to! No sweat!
    • at the top are convenient links to logout (pretty standard fair) and go to your search history (a nice feature if you've never yet tried that!)
    • modules which are handy (e.g., stock quotes, your google mail account) and
    • modules which are customizable (e.g., add your favorite stock symbol, collapse, uncollapse your google e-mail previews), and
    • very much like the dynamic miracle of drag and drop Google Maps, you can reaarange the order and placement of the modules simply by dragging and dropping the title bars of each module. I still don't know exactly how they're doing that, but compared to the clunky "customizable" personalize sites elsewhere, Google's is a joy to work with.
    • opt in or out of the various modules

    Since this isn't even really Beta yet, I'm guessing (am almost sure) there'll be lots of improvements to this -- and probably most of the improvements address many of the "complaints" posted thus far. (I've found Google to be amazing in their willingness to listen to and respond to and take action on feedback from the consumer community.)

    So, before you go ranting about the corruption of what was simple and is now crass, take a look... you may find it useful.

  • It seems that they have made a pretty obvious mistake here.

    If you sign into your account and choose slashdot, and leave the default of 3 stories, it will only show 1. Editing your choice by changing it from 3 to another number and back again will display the correct number of stories.

    The same problem exists for google news.
  • ...a master and a dupe.
  • Sorry that stinks...

    But then again I think the Google logo is overdoing it.

    I just hope when they roll it out they keep the "classic" page available for those of us who don't want personalisation.

    And rest assured one day all the personal information that Google are collecting (search histories, emails) WILL be put to nefarious ends. The only question is how long will it take for the "bad guys" (tm) to take control.

  • Redundant? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by zaguar ( 881743 )
    Just curious, does anyone actually use the google homepage? Cause really, I only google using the google bar in firefox, and I use gmail with www.gmail.google.com/gmail. So really, I actually never do go to the homepage any more.

    I'm sure for the 90% of the population that use I.E., including the 0.001% of /. readers that use I.E., it is a useful addition, but really, for the kinda guy that will take advantage of this feature, they just won't use it

    • Frequently, especially if I am trying to weight my search by using the domain suffix of that country.

      Looking for something specifically english? www.google.co.uk is your friend.

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