top
ˆ
•
top
ˆ
|
|
102
Google New Sidebar &
Widgets
36th Week 2005 / SAN FRANCISCO -- Reinforcing its intent to
expand beyond the Internet searching that made it a
household name, Google Inc. on August 20, announced plans to
launch software that pulls news stories, photographs,
weather updates, stock quotes and other features onto a
user's computer without opening a Web browser
(Click
to Download Google
Sidebar).
•
•
The
new application, Sidebar, highlights Google's efforts to
become a ubiquitous gateway for online information. It also
puts Google more squarely into competition with Microsoft
Corp., which is trying to integrate similar features into
the next version of its Windows operating system, and with
Yahoo Inc., the Internet's most popular
portal.
•
•
Sidebar is "not an operating system, it's not a browser,"
said Greg Sterling, an analyst with Kelsey Group. "But it
has elements of both in a certain
way."
•
•
Sidebar comes bundled with an updated version of Google
Desktop, a search tool that finds information on PC hard
drives. It sits on the side of the computer screen and
frequently queries the Web to update folders displaying news
stories and other information. A search box also lets users
find files stored on their computers, e-mail they've
received and Web pages they've
visited.
•
•
"We want them to sit back and let the Web come to them,"
said Nikhil Bhatla, product manager for Google
Desktop.
•
•
Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is the latest Internet
company trying to shorten the connection between consumers
and the content that interests them. OS X, the latest
version of Apple Computer Inc.'s operating system, includes
a program called Dashboard composed of little files, known
as "widgets," that automatically update with information.
•
•
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo recently acquired Pixoria, a
start-up whose Konfabulator platform allows developers to
create similar widgets.
•
•
Yahoo, Apple and Google each encourage developers to create
new widgets for consumers to
install.
•
•
Bhatla, the Google executive, touted Sidebar's ability to
learn from a user's Web surfing habits. The program will add
visited sites to its toolbar and receive automatic updates
of postings or photos, so the user doesn't have to visit the
site for fresh content. In displaying news stories, the
program over time will favor categories that the user reads
most often.
•
•
Google's Sidebar also may contribute to the company's
growing feud with Microsoft. The software lets users bypass
parts of Microsoft's Windows operating system, which
analysts said was sure to aggravate executives at the
Redmond, Wash.-based company.
•
•
For example, a computer user who types "word" into Sidebar's
Quick Find tool may find an icon for the Microsoft Word
application among the results. The program can be launched
directly from the toolbar. Sidebar also displays frequently
used files and applications, which means that computer users
don't need to search through Windows folders to find that
spreadsheet on which they were working. It also finds Web
information without having to open Microsoft's Internet
Explorer browser.
•
•
The worry for Microsoft is that the fewer Windows features
its customers use, the less important they will believe the
operating system to be.
•
•
"Being able to get under the covers of any Microsoft
application is not going to be seen as favorable by the
Microsoft camp," said Allen Weiner, an analyst with Gartner
Inc.
•
•
Sidebar does not include advertisements, but analysts said
they could imagine modules that cycle through display ads
based on the pages a user has visited.
///
_________
ByLines:
Editors Note
More
Articles
• Converging
News 362005 / TeleCom Buy Outs, Spinoffs, and Asset Seizure
Boom
Respectfully
Submitted
Josie
Cory
Publisher/Editor
TVI Magazine
•
• TVI
Magazine, tviNews.net, YES90, Your Easy Searh, Associated
Press, Reuters, BBC, LA Times, NY Times, VRA's D-Diaries,
Industry Press Releases, They Said It and SmartSearch were
used in compiling and ascertaining this Yes90 news
report.
•
• ©1956-2005.
Copyright. All rights reserved by: TVI Publications,
VRA TelePlay Pictures, xingtv and Big Six Media
Entertainments. Tel/Fax: 323 462.1099.
We Preserve The
Moment
Return
ˆ
To Top
|
|
We Preserve The Moment
Yes90 tviNews
•
102
• /
Television International
Magazine's Person Of The Week POW
•
362005 - /
NEWS Convergence -36th
Week of 2005 /
Feature
Story
•
102GoogleSidebar&Widgets.htm
Smart90, s90tv,
lookradio, tvimagazine, dv90, vratv, xingtv,
Ddiaries, nbs100, Look Radio, s90, Josie Cory,
Television
With No Borders
|
|
|
|
Legal
Notices Copyright
Information
How
Do We Do Business?
Tel
323 462-1099
SEND
E-MAIL
Return
ˆ
To
Top
|
|
|
