We reported a few months ago about how Google was adding a new social spin to iGoogle by offering a Facebook-style update module. It appears that Google has already put the new system through its paces, and has begun the rollout process that will continue over the next month or so.

I'm guessing that a fair amount of you detest the social networks like MySpace and Facebook. Do they really have a purpose? I don't think that really matters to be honest. There is obviously value in letting one user stalk connect with another, and it has warped into an online phenomenon.

Google has just added a pretty nifty feature to iGoogle that will allow users to share their gadgets with others so that they can edit and make changes to them.  Think of it as collaboration for gadgets, like what you can do in Google Docs.

It was just two weeks ago that we brought to your attention the Custom Skins gadget for iGoogle personalized homepages. This gadget allows users to create their own skins and submit them to a directory where everybody has access to them. The directory for these custom skins is a great addition, and some of you commented on how nice this was.

Over the weekend we decided to do something to keep us busy, and what we came up with was an iGoogle Gadget and iPhone Web App for checking your local gas prices (U.S. only). A full introduction to iGas is available, but here's a quick overview for those that want to dive right in:

One thing that I really love about my personalized iGoogle homepage are the skins that Google has available. Google periodically adds new themes to their selection, but there's only about ten of them that you can use right now.

Google gets both praise and criticism for having such a plain and simple search page. While I like the simple page with nothing other than a white background and a search box, others are looking for something more.  If you prefer to use Google as your primary search engine but you want to personalize the page, checkout Groovle.

If you use iGoogle as your personalized homepage, here's a great little tip for you. Now you can change how many columns you'd like for each tab! I'm not sure when this feature was implemented, but it's something that Google Blogoscoped just wrote about, and something I didn't know was possible previously.

One of the things that I like most about using Google as my primary search engine is that their page loads quick, and it’s simple. There’s no “extras” to slow down the loading time which means I’m able to perform my search faster.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty excited for the release of the movie “Bourne Ultimatum.” It’s top on my list of “must-see” movies for this Summer, and if you’re as excited as I am, you’ll probably be interested in “The Ultimate Search for Bourne with Google.” Universal Studios and Google have teamed up to promote the movie and prizes are involved!