Couple of bits of Google product news this weekend. Firstly, at last some tangible evidence of an online presentations app from Google, one of the missing pieces so far in the much-anticipated Google Office suite. The ‘Google Operating System’ blog dug into some file notes from Google that reveal the code-name of the tool is Presently (a play on Writely, the name of the online word processor bought by Google). This will be an online version of Powerpoint, but no other product details are known at this point.
In other news Google is ramping up its personalization efforts. Now when you’re signed in to Google, you’ll “have access to a personalized Google – one that combines personalized search results and a personalized homepage.” Google’s best-known blogger, Matt Cutts, mentions this in his latest post – as well as linking to external analysis on the personalization theme.
I actually came across it myself the other day, via Google Accounts. At the time I wasn’t sure whether this message in the Google Accounts Help was new or not:
“What does it mean for Google to be more personalized with Google Accounts?
When you’re signed in to Google Accounts, you’ll now get more relevant, useful search results, recommendations and other personalized features. For example, if you use Google Bookmarks or Google Search History, you’ll get more targeted web search results and recommendations for videos or gadgets.”
Although there’s nothing spectacularly new in all this, it looks like Google is beginning to integrate its various personalization efforts more. Remember when we did a poll asking which “Search 2.0” approaches stand the best chance to beat Google? Well Personalized Search ended up getting the most votes! So looks like Google is covering the search 2.0 attack with a full court press.
Originally published on ReadWriteWeb (archived copy)