Google’s Top Innovations Of 2006

GSpy lists what they think are Google top creations of the last year, including the Custom Search Engine, Spreadsheets, Checkout, and the new layout for Book Search. I definitely agree with that last point; the UI for Books is amazing, very similar to that of the Adobe Reader browser plugin, but without the need to install anything or the dreadful performance of Adobe’s plugin.
Many of the things on the list are not “innovations” at all, but things Google did that others had done before. I like Gmail Chat, which puts IM in the email interface, and is something Microsoft and Yahoo should consider. In all likelihood, Google Calendar is probably the best product Google developed and released by itself this year, with some innovative features. Google Finance’s charts are an innovation, too.

Original post by Nathan Weinberg and software by Elliott Back