Internet giant Google has announced the launch of a new sandbox which developers will be able to use in order to start making social networking gadgets.The new environment is available on the search engine provider's personalised homepage iGoogle.
According to a company statement, the sandbox is intended to help developers build richer gadgets for iGoogle "which will offer users more powerful and interactive features".
Additionally, Google has launched an updated developer website which, it says, guides people through the process of building and distributing gadgets to iGoogle's "growing audience".
Commenting on the development, Google states: "Developers are an important part of Google's innovation ecosystem and we're always striving to provide tools to help them innovate in new directions that will ultimately make the web richer for all users.
"By building more powerful and interactive gadgets for iGoogle, developers will have an opportunity to share their gadgets with the tens of millions of iGoogle users."
Among the new features to be seen on iGoogle are left navigation, a maximised option for gadgets, and social features for gadgets which use OpenSocial application programming interfaces.
These social features include a friends list and activities displayed through a special updates gadget.
Meanwhile, in a ZDNet blog, Garett Rogers says that the new sandbox environment is a "mashup" of the best of Facebook and iGoogle, adding the development "should be interesting".
