Ionut Alex writes about Google’s newest release of their mobile search product. I tried it out, and it seems like a good improvement. Google’s added some formatting to the page, so it is more than just text on a blank screen, and they’re trying the same thing Yahoo OneSearch is trying, putting multiple search verticals on the same page, guessing based on your query what you might find helpful.
For example, I searched for R

Niall Kennedy did earlier this month an exhaustive analysis of Google Gadgets, coming out with a lot of graphs, facts and figures that would make your head spin. If you’re a geek for infoporn, you’ll love his post on it.
A taste: The average Gadget is 181 pixels
20 or so Gadgets require you to be using Firefox
Google’s 48 Gadgets account for 44% of all Gadget page views More stats at this post, too.
Alex Iskold did a look at

I am so sick of the news on this blog being, on average, a week old. Its my fault. I let these tabs build and build and build, and I don’t have time to write because I’m too busy amassing tabs, and when I finally do write something, it’s a week old. Dammit! I am so not doing this anymore. I hate missing news, but it is beyond stupid to have late and irellevant news because you don’t want to miss anything.
And because

Google has announced that it is turning on Personalized Search for everyone, meaning that as long as you are signed in with a Google account, you will get personalized Google results. This might annoy some users, but Google has recognized that personalization is the next evolution in search, and forcing its users to come along is the only way to take things to the next level.
If you want a “pure” search experience, search Google in a seperate browser that isn’t signed in (like if you love Firefox, search in IE), or search via a widget/gadget that doesn’t sign in to a Google account (like the Windows Vista Sidebar Google Search Gadget I use).
Google is also giving recommendations via its Search History

Google handed out awards for the best Google Gadgets by college students. The winners list is a useful place to find maybe some new Gadgets for your personalized homepage, including a dictionary map, which shows relationships between words as an interactive graphic dictionary and thesaurus (MapMyWord Dictionary, Best overall universal gadget), a map that displays news headlines from around the world, a Gadget Maker that lets you turn any webpage into a Gadget, and a word-hunting game

Steve Bryant went and basically redesigned the Yahoo homepage as if it were created by Google filled with Google services, and instead of being a jab at either company, it looks great. Some people in his comments are even saying Google should hire him (which is hilarious, since it’s Yahoo’s design with text and some image editing), and he made me realize two things:

#1: I wish Google had a page like this

Happy stuff for me: The Bruce Clay Inc. blog has added comments, after much prodding from me (and maybe other people, but who cares?). The Bruce Clay blog has been one of my favorites the last few months, with really good articles (mostly written by Lisa Barone) plus a fun “Friday recap” every week

Ionut Alex has figured out something that has got to be convenient for certain heavy Google Personalized Homepage users: If you want to create a second personalized page, you can take advantage of the Dell or Gateway-branded personalized start pages. This way, you get a second personalized page, one that isn’t linked to your regular one in any way, and isn’t exposed in any obvious way to other people using your computer. Now you have the perfect place to put your Britney Spears Hoo-Ha Watch gadget.

There’s a useful li’l weight tracker you can add to your Google personalized homepage, created by Brian W. Fitzpatrick, a Google software engineer. Brian calls the Gadget the Google 15, after the weight geeks usually gain after starting their Google jobs and being introduced to all the free food.
Brian has written out a FAQ, which explains how the tracker uses a moving average, making it a more accurate and realistic look at how your weight is changing over the last two weeks, as well as giving some good tips on losing weight realistically