14 DAY TRIAL // Google rolled out a new contest in Japan that offers the chance of winning three attractive prizes to all the interested competitors. The first place receives a brand new MacBook while the second place is awarded with a Google Earth Pro license and a Space Navigator device that enhance the mapping tool experience. Haochi from Googlified wrote that the contest is held from July 4 to October and allows any Japanese, no matter his age, to compete for the big prizes. Although it's not quite clear what the competition requires you to do (I'm not a Japanese fan), it is entitled an iGoogle Gadget Contest so it involves the tiny tools placed on the Personalized Homepage.
It is probably somehow similar with older contents launched by the Mountain View company that invited users to design their own tools and let other participants vote the best creation. As usual, the most rated gadget receives the big prize and the users' gratitude for allowing them to improve their own Personalized Homepage.
This interesting product powered by the search giant was a long time kept in the spotlights. It all started just after the release of the service when Google described it as the perfect tool to access the company's solutions using a single mouse click. Then, it evolved a lot and was improved with gadgets, tiny tools that allow the users to personalize the website and add all kinds of utilities such as news readers, clip viewers, calendars, search tools and even instant messengers.
As you might have heard, the Google Talk Gadget is even more powerful than the stand-alone application Google Talk, allowing the users to communicate with their friends straight from the Personalized Homepage. So, if you're an iGoogle fan, you should expect some new goodies in the close future because the parent company is continuously working on the product.