June 2, 2010

Google introduces custom homepage wallpapers

So Google took a look at Bing's flashy homepage with it's HD photo backgrounds and said, "We can do that , and better too."



Google announced in it's official blog Wednesday that U.S. visitors to Google will be able to customize the Google homepage's background by dragging images from their own computer or Picasa album to Google. If you are outside of the U.S., you will have to wait a few more days to try this out for yourself.

"Today, we're introducing a new feature that brings a whole new level of personalization to Google by letting you add a favorite photo or image to the background of the Google homepage," said Marissa Mayer, Google VP of search and user experience, in a blog post. "You can choose a photo from your computer, your own Picasa Web Album or a public gallery hosted by Picasa which includes a selection of beautiful photos."
Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience, Google

Google has always gone for the minimalistic approach. Recently, Google has removed all links not related to searching until you moved the mouse, which then everything else fades in.

This new picture dragging, Google hompage bakcground changing thing (or whatever Google decides to call it) isn't earth shattering. For those that have visited Microsoft's Bing search engine, they are welcomed by a fresh picture daily. But Google raises it up a notch by allowing users to choose the picture.

So did Google copy the idea from Microsoft's Bing? No. They improved it.

D.Wu

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