Google has upgraded the optional Accessible Search feature available from Google Labs. Now, individual results pop up in bright, blue boxes with large text you can choose to make larger. You can navigate results with the keyboard, with alert sounds, and a screenreader will read back the highlighted entry. Just visit the Experimental Search page, scroll down to Accessible View and click the Join this Experiment button. Anyone else find it quicker to scan and less cluttered than the regular search results page? [via]
Windows only: Google Labs has just launched Lively, the latest in a long line of attempts to make 3D avatars an appealing part of social networking. Embedding a Lively ‘room’ in your own site allows people to chat and interact using their own avatar. Of course, concentrating on the visual aspects of social networking isn’t necessarily going to make them a more useful productivity tool, but if you find current systems lacking in design panache, Lively might be worth a spin. Lively is freeware for Windows XP and Vista only, requires a Google account. We found sign-in to be troublesome to say the least; if you’ve had a positive experience with Lively, share it in the comments. [Lively via Official Google Blog]
