1/16/2009

iGoogle gets a built-in theme creator

Filed under: — Aviran Mordo

A new tool, which should be available to all iGoogle users in the next few hours, lets you upload photos from your desktop into an editor that lets you crop them down to fit inside iGoogle’s header space. There’s also a color picker to change each individual color of your iGoogle page.

All in all it looks quite similar to Blogger’s theme editor. The added benefit in this case is that you’re able to publish and share your theme when you’re done, and it will go out into Google’s public directory for others to use on their own iGoogle pages.

YouTube launches TV-friendly site for consoles

Filed under: — Aviran Mordo

Don’t have an Apple TV or a TiVo box, and have been lusting after watching YouTube videos from your couch? If you’ve got a Nintendo Wii or a Sony PlayStation 3 video game console, the Google property has just released an overhauled version of its living room-friendly console interface that puts it about on par with those two offerings.

By visiting Youtube.com/TV in your Opera or PS3 browser, you get a new layout that lets you browse and search through videos. Additionally, videos can be set to go full-screen by default, including large, remote control-friendly buttons that don’t make you squint. There’s also an option to autoplay the next video in a playlist or from search results after the current one is over.

One thing to note is that the special TV version of the site cannot be accessed in your PC’s browser without using a special browser add-on like User Agent Switcher, which can trick YouTube into thinking that you’re visiting the site from your console. If you’ve got a Mac Mini hooked up to your TV, this might be your best bet.

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