[Web4lib] Google Desktop 4 Beta

[Drew, Bill]

I have been playing with Google Desktop and the Google Gadgets for a
couple of hours now. I am at the reference desk and it is very quiet.
Google Gadgets remind me of the Yahoo! Widgets but are much easier to
install and uninstall. One I particularly like is gdShredder. It is also
released under the GPL license. Here is text from the "About" page:

"Securely shred files/folders, the recycle bin, and free disk space so
that the data can never be recovered.

Drag files or folders to the shredder to permanently delete them, or
click on the green arrow to browse for a file to add to the shredder
queue. Use the gdShredder menu (right-click the shredder) to permanently
delete the recycle bin or wipe the free space on a disk drive."

I am trying other Gadgets as well including a clock and calendar,
battery levle monitor, destop netstat, wireless signal meter, and
various weather related gadgets.  I like the google Gadgets muc more so
than the Yahoo! Widgets.

This is extracted from a news release from Google:
Google Desktop 4 Beta
Also announced today, Google Desktop 4 beta - available in English,
French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, and Brazilian Portuguese -
offers another way for users to improve their search experience, by
personalizing their desktops with the introduction of Google Gadgets.
These gadgets are mini-applications that reside on users' desktops and
deliver a variety of personalized information such as games, media
players, weather and news. Google Desktop can also recommend new
gadgets and can automatically create a personalized homepage for users
based on the subjects they frequently search and access.

Google currently has hundreds of gadgets users can add to their
desktops and with the new Google Desktop Gadgets API, developers can
easily create and share their own gadgets with other users.

Google Desktop 4 also enables users to:
* Access their Google Gadget content and settings from other
computers and protect it from computer crashes by saving it online.
* Add favorite gadgets from their personalized Google homepage right
onto their desktops.
* Easily access other Google services from their desktop. For
example, users can view upcoming birthdays with the orkut.com gadget,
see what's popular on Google Video, or access their Google Calendar
directly on the desktop.
* Manually re-index their computers or remove deleted files from
search results.

Additionally, Google Desktop 4 now offers an option for network
administrators to disable Search Across Computers on both the consumer
and enterprise versions of the product at the network level by simply
blocking access to a specific URL.

Google Desktop 4 will be available in additional languages and include
more localized features for users around the world as the product
evolves. Additional information on the newest version of Google Desktop
is available at http://desktop.google.com.


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--
Posted by Bill Drew to Baby Boomer Librarian
<http://babyboomerlibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/05/google-desktop-4-beta.h
tml>  at 5/10/2006 07:43:33 PM