Google Desktop 5.5 Verdict: Awesome

With the dramatically increasing content on the ineternet, there has to be some way to organize it and find relevant ways to find important information, whether simply searching though you computer or reading the latest headlines. Goodgle Desktop 5.5 Beta does this, and does so with style.

The sidebar has a completely new look and feel. It morphs to the color of your wallpaper and fades into the color so that it fits effortlessly onto your desktop. Google Desktop now lets you run Desktop gadgets on your iGoogle homepage. This means you can check you wireless signal, or play music right from iGoogle!

The process for adding Desktop gadgets to you iGoogle homepage is simple. Just surf over to the iGoogle Content Directory and find the gadgets you want to add! Click on the “Add in now” button to add it to your Google Desktop or iGoogle homepage.

Google Desktop has also improved other features and various bug fixes. The updated Google Gadgets new interactive mini-application can be anything from games, to search tools, to media plays, and you can also build your own. You can configure certain gadgets to back up your gadget content and settings on Google Desktop’s server to protect your information. Saving your information in this manner also allows you to access it from your other computers by logging into your Google Account with Google Desktop. For instance, you can now “synch” the To Do list on both your laptop and your desktop.

With Google Talk, you can now send interesting emails, news clips, maps, weather, and stock information from your Sidebar to your friend’s Sidebar, chat window, or email inbox using Google Talk. However, when I tried this out, it was not working for me. You can also search across computers through a secure login. You will now have the ability to search your Google Desktop index from other computers. This neat feature will allow you to search your home computer from your work computer.

There are many great updates to the new Google Desktop 5.5 beta. I love it. Try it out for yourself. You will probably find it to be a great program to use. If you have Windows Vista, it will remind you of the Sidedock, only with more functionality. Google Desktop 5.5 beta is free and available for downloaad here or with bundled with other useful applications in Google Pack.