Article by George Norman

On 04 Jun 2010

Here are two news items I thought I would bundle together. First of all, did you notice the new “Change background image” link featured on Google.com? You may not if you’re on iGoogle, or simply because it was just recently rolled out – Google rolled it out to the US first, then to the rest of the world. Click the link and you will be able to change Google.com plain white looks with an image from the public gallery, an image selected by a Google editor, or a picture from your own computer.

I’ve put together a bunch of pictures presenting the new functionality – you can see them at the bottom. But first, a word from Google’s Marissa Mayer.


“From iGoogle’s debut in 2005 to our more recent launch of stars in search in March, we’ve enjoyed making your search experience more relevant, useful and fun through personalization. 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. Whether you choose a photo of a loved one, a picture of your favorite vacation destination or even a design you created yourself, Google.com is now yours to customize,” commented Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience.

Now let’s move on to the second news item in this article. If you are a big Google and Gmail fan, you’ll be glad to know that Google made available some nice looking Gmail sweatshirts. They are available for purchase in the Google Store here. You can check out an image of the sweatshirt at the bottom.

Now a word from Product Marketing Manager, Arielle Reinstein: “When Gmail came out of beta, we embroidered the Gmail logo onto sweatshirts for the team. Any given day in the office, a couple of people are wearing them. When other people asked us where they too could get their very own Gmail sweatshirt, we didn't like replying with "Oh...they're not really available, it was just something we did for the team," so we made them available in the Google Store.”

The images I mentioned above

Go to Google.com and click the Change background image link from the bottom left hand corner



Browse through the Public Gallery and Editor’s Picks






Upload one of your own images



Return to the old, plain white interface



The Gmail sweatshirt now available in the Google Store





Tags: Google, Google Search, Gmail

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