Make your iGoogle Page More Productive

Want your home page to be all that it can be? If you use iGoogle (formerly Google Personalized Homepage), there are lots of ways to turn it into a productivity powerhouse.

For starters, try creating a new tab called "productivity." Google will automatically serve up such useful gadgets as Driving Directions, Google Docs, Google Notebook, and Wikipedia. From there, consider adding the following:

• The Microsoft Outlook gadget, which, true to its name, adds your Outlook calendar, contact list, and inbox, all inside one handy gadget.
• Days Since, which tells you how many days have elapsed since a particular event. I find myself using this to keep tabs on invoices I've sent out and even personal stuff (like rebate forms I've submitted). You may also want to pair this with Days Until, which tallies the days leading up to an event.
• Web Stickies Mod, which lets you paste up to 10 virtual sticky notes on your iGoogle page. Crazy-handy.
• WebEx Seminar Series, a listing of free business seminars offered by WebEx. Good stuff here, like "sales technologies that really work" and "effective e-learning."