Google Buys Israeli Widget Factory

We all know Google staff get to spend 10 percent of their time working on their own projects, and we know Google to be a search, mobile and ads sales business with a plethora of hobbies, but now it looks like the giant firm wants to bring in even more engineers, making a deal to buy Israeli Web gadgets provider LabPixies.

Israeli financial news website TheMarker said Google paid $25 million for LabPixies, a developer of virtual gadgets ranging from calendars, news feeds and to-do lists to entertainment and games
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The company was one of the first to begin development of personalized Web gadgets (aka: Widgets) for iGoogle, Android and iPhones. It also creates solutions for Facebook, My Yahoo, MySpace and more.

It could be good news for users, the company promised, “We started LabPixies to create a truly personalized online experience and develop fun widgets that people find useful every day. Working at Google will help us scale to more users as well as giving our team greater opportunities.”

The team will be based in Tel Aviv and will lead the company’s iGoogle efforts across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.