Themes on the Google Homepage

I saw a new feature on my Google Homepage this morning. They have added themes to the settings. Along with the themes, you can add your location so that the theme can change throughout the day. Right now I’m using the “Beach” theme. I think that this feature doesn’t have much use for productivity other than being a very fuzzy timekeeping device. However, it strikes me as a “cool” feature for Google to have. I’m use to their fairly plain and utilitarian pages. This is a good change for them. You can of course choose not to apply any theme.

Google Spreadsheets First Look

Last night, I got an invitation to try Google Spreadsheets.  Overall, I'm impressed.  The look and feel is very similar to Excel.  One thing that I sent in a suggestion on was the lack of tooltips.  When I'm in Excel and I'm not familiar with the formula I'm using, Excel will give me some hints on how to use the formula.  Google Spreadsheets does not.  I hope that Google adds this feature later on.

When somebody I know gets their invite for the application, I look forward to trying out the shared spreadsheet functionality.