iGoogle goes au naturel

We are excited to release a new set of iGoogle themes today. Drawing on the arrival of summer and the spectacular beauty of the world around us, our new iGoogle themes focus on nature. To create these themes, we worked with organizations and photographers who capture the world's best nature photography, including National Geographic Society, BBC and Ansel Adams Gallery.

At its core, iGoogle is about personal expression. Themes are one of many ways we invite you to personalize your homepage with things that inspire you — artists, fashion designers, musicians, video games or simply the stunning beauty of the world around us.

Here's a quick preview of some of the highlights in our new nature collection:

• National Geographic's "Ocean Blue" takes you from shark territory in the Caribbean to ice floes on the polar caps
• The National Audubon Society's "Birds of Prey" features winged predators depicted in the classic Audobon hand-drawn illustration style
• Art Wolfe's "Travels to the Edge" includes views deep into the forests of North America and aerial shots of river deltas and rice paddies
• Rodney Lough's "Deserts" presents striking images of the most desolate — and stunning — corners of our planet

So, check out the new nature themes. We hope you enjoy exploring the world's wonders from the comfort of your iGoogle page. Then get outside this summer and celebrate the real thing.

Posted by Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, and Nate Johnson, Product Marketing Manager

Citizentube: Watching video change our world

As you might have noticed, there's a lot of fascinating stuff that happens on YouTube every day. For example, did you know that a nine-year-old recently used YouTube to successfully campaign to save his local kickball lot? Have you seen the video of a Guatemalan lawyer who predicted his own assassination on YouTube moments before it happened? Or did you know that YouTube and Google have launched a new technology platform for political debates, which allows you to submit and vote on the most important issues you want to discuss with political candidates?

These are the sorts of things you can stay on top of with Citizentube, a special YouTube blog devoted to chronicling the way that people are using video to change the world. If you've followed news and politics on YouTube, you might have noticed that we started Citizentube as a video channel on the site a few years back, but we soon realized that keeping track of all the phenomenal uses of YouTube by posting our own videos just wasn't fast enough — so now we're blogging, too. We generally focus on two types of posts: the compelling political and social uses of YouTube that we see the community bubble up every day, and our own programming initiatives and partnerships in the political, news, and nonprofit arenas.

Our team creates opportunities for you to engage with content that goes beyond the humorous or even the educational — content that changes the way you interact with your communities, institutions, and leaders. The first initiative we launched in this space was the You Choose '08 platform and the CNN/YouTube Debates in 2007. Since then we've expanded our programming to the fields of government, activism, and news & information. On the blog, we'll post an occasional series that gives a bigger picture perspective of what's happening in the worlds of news reporting, government, and social change on YouTube.

So be sure to check out www.citizentube.com and subscribe to our RSS feed (we're on Twitter, too: @citizentube). With more than 20 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, our blog helps provide you with a filter that you can use to see the way that video is changing our world.

Posted by Steve Grove, YouTube News and Politics

Voting for iGoogle photo themes now open

A few weeks ago we launched the Google Photography Prize, a global student competition for students to create themes for iGoogle. Our goal was to find talented student photographers and give them unprecedented online and offline exposure. It may seem a little brave to unleash student art on our homepage, but we've been hugely impressed the number and quality of entries we received.

From among the thousands of entries from around the world, we've just announced the shortlist of 36 finalists. Now they're up for your vote - the most popular six you choose will make it to the finals. The 6 finalists will be exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London and have the chance to win the first prize of £5,000 ($7,500), plus an invitation to spend the day with the internationally renowned photographer Martin Parr.

On the voting page you can also add your favourite as a theme to your iGoogle homepage. Millions of people have already chosen to adorn their iGoogle page with images, with everything from seascapes to original art. Now you can have some fantastic photography from some of the best up-and-coming photographic talent out there right on your homepage.

So take a look, enjoy the photographs, and please vote — the deadline is June 17th. And if you are in London this month, come see the exhibit of the winners at the Saatchi Gallery, starting the 24th and running for a week.

Posted by Posted by Louise Rigby, Consumer Marketing Team

Snack time with the new iGoogle for Android and iPhone

(cross-posted with the Google Mobile Blog)

We like iGoogle because it lets us "snack" on interesting information all day long. We can read a little bit of news here and there, glance at finance portfolios, take a look at the weather forecast, and then do a Google search. It doesn't require a big commitment of time and energy — it's simply there for us whenever we need it. This kind of availability is even more important on a phone, where it can take a long time to surf. That's why iGoogle is so convenient on mobile devices. When you're waiting in line, you can check iGoogle on your phone for a quick "info snack" — even in areas with mediocre network coverage.

But speed isn't everything. Many of you have told us that you wanted to use more of your iGoogle gadgets on your phone. You wanted to see your tabs, too. We read your blog comments and forum posts and put your requests at the top of our to-do list.

Today, we're excited to roll out an improved beta version of iGoogle for the iPhone and Android-powered devices. This new version is faster and easier to use. It supports tabs as well as more of your favorite gadgets, including those built by third-party developers. Note that not all gadgets — like those with Flash — will work in mobile browsers.

One of our favorite new features is the in-line display of articles for feed-based gadgets. That means you can read article summaries without leaving the page. You can also rearrange gadget order or keep your favorite gadgets open for your next visit. None of these changes will mess up the layout of gadgets on your desktop computer, so feel free to play around and tune your mobile experience. 



The new version of iGoogle for mobile is available in 38 languages. To try it out, go to igoogle.com in your mobile browser and tap "Try the new Mobile iGoogle". Bookmark the page or make it your home page so you can return to it quickly. Finally, please fill out our survey by clicking on the "Tell us what you think" link at the top of the new home page. We'll continue to use your feedback to make iGoogle even better.

Update on 6/12 @ 8:50 AM: Video added. Check it out!

Posted by Dan Zivkovic and Zhen Wang, Software Engineers, Google mobile team

Get creative with the Google Chrome icon

Two years ago, we invited people around the world to participate in a video project imagining how Gmail messages travel around the world. The response was overwhelming, with 971 video submissions in total — many of which were really, absurdly cool.

Today, we are announcing a new global project. Your task? Film yourself building the Google Chrome icon in a creative way, with whatever materials, as big, small, or crazy as you want. We will feature the best submissions.

A handful of Googlers and a couple of our friends created some sample videos for inspiration. Check them out:



Learn more and submit your video by July 22. For more information on this project, visit the Google Chrome blog. We can't wait to see the clever ways that you build the Google Chrome icon.

Posted by Jason Toff, Google Chrome team