Official Google Reader Blog: Square is the new round.

Google Reader is one of the Web 2.0 tools that I still use regularly since summer, and they recently updated its look.  They made it cleaner and more simplistic.  This is only a few weeks after Google added themes to GMail.  It makes me wonder why they don’t allow the themes to transfer over to all of their services, or at least the most predominant ones.  The best sign of this new refresh of the Reader is something is being done, and they are continuing to support the online tool.

With the recent announcement of the closure of Lively and the past demise of Google Video, relying too heavily on any online tool is questionable, especially in the recent downturn in the market.  These updates to online services means that hours are being devoted in-house to certain services and we can expect to enjoy these tools into the future.  It’s when this services are left to wallow for a while when we should start to worry.  I continue to prefer Google for GMail, Reader, and casual use of Docs.  I seldom use much else from the Google arsenal of tools, outside of search.