Google Goes Wii

Somebody’s been making interesting use of their 20% time at the Googleplex. For those of you perhaps a bit less familiar with the inner workings and customs of Google employment, I’ll explain a bit. One of the things the Google-folk are supposed to do is use 20% of their time developing a pet project kind of thing — whatever they can dream up.

As you might imagine, there have been some pretty interesting 20% time ideas floated around the Googleplex - some of which have even made it the general public. I don’t have any confirmation yet, but I strongly suspect the new Google Reader for Wii is the result of somebody’s 20%.

Regardless of the circumstances surrounding it’s genesis, the Google Reader is definitely worth checking out. They even make use of the Wii Remote buttons/controls. From their site:
Tips and tricks

Google Reader can take advantage of the buttons on your Wiimote, letting you navigate easily from the comfort of your couch:

* up/down: scroll up/down
* right/left: next/previous item
* 1 button: show subscriptions
* 2 button: show links

When showing subscriptions:

* up/down: previous/next subscription
* right: select current subscription
* left: close
* -/+: collapse/expand folder

Pretty slick, eh?