Post Tagged with: "iGoogle"

It\’s a sad day for iGooglers because Google is going to axe iGoogle in November 1, 2013. Google gave  iGooglers 16 months to move on and find a new start page. There are only few worthy iGoogle alternatives left in 2012 unlike 5 years ago.

I still remember between 2005 and 2007 — these AJAX start pages keep on popping up like wild mushrooms and I know there will come a point that the bubble will burst. The decline seemed gradual as more mobile devices replaced desktop.

Google wants to focus on Chrome and Android platform in giving personalized information or dashboard and I agree with Google that today\’s web and mobile apps gives you more personalized real-time information at your fingertips and you don\’t need to look at your start page most of the time, or it totally replaced the need for start pages or home pages. This is the reason I predominantly use Android — widgets.  However, for the majority who are still using desktop as their primary tool in getting things done, there is still room for iGoogle alternatives.

iGoogle Alternatives

The following are some  iGoogle Alternatives that is worth reviewing if you are coming from iGoogle.

Netvibes

From (re)mix everything to dashboard everything, Netvibes remains my number favorite in start page / personal dashboard website. In fact I have been using Netvibes since 2005 and it remains my top choice in this category.

There are many things that make Netvibes unique from all other start pages because it supports  premium features for dashboard intelligence. It gives you tools for collaboration, curation, sentiments analysis and analytics. I think they coined the term \”dashboard intelligence\”  to position their service along business intelligence. With real-time monitoring it can be used for brand monitoring, e-reputation management, product marketing, community portals and just about everything where you want to use dashboard.

Protopage

Protopage is a decent iGoogle alternative based in London, UK. It still has a beta feel to it even though it\’s about 7 years old now. You can say that it has survived the test of time and still thriving.

If you are looking for widgets and feed aggregation, Protopage got it all.

MyYahoo

MyYahoo is the only remaining portal/start page coming from a major media and internet company. Microsoft already closed Live (my.live.com) way back in March 2010. iGoogle will follow soon in November 2013. If you are using Yahoo services, it is still a great alternative to iGoogle but you are limited with Yahoo services  only.

Some of the lesser known alternatives are symbaloo.com, inbox.com, kiiosk.com, 24eyes.com, webwag.com and nowsy.com

The Start Pages Deadpool

Wonder what happened to other start pages? They are dead.

• Eskobo
• Goowy
• Live (my.live.com)
• Pageflakes
• Zoozio

Pageflakes is one of the promising competitor out there but due to several outages, lagging behind competition and stale product development, it was discontinued on January 2012.

I am sure more AJAX start pages will join the graveyard soon but iGoogle will join the party sooner.

Opinion

I think iGoogle should have been transformed into a new product or service. With the explosion of big data and the increase number of new media, there is still a need for a place or dashboard to aggregate these pieces and chunk of information. By filtering the noise and giving options customization it could serve as a personal dashboard.

Maybe Google has a bigger plan. Who knows?

What\’s your thought about this? Is start pages and personal dashboard dead?

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