Mountain View (CA) - Google has improved customization on its personalized homepage tool, allowing an entire slate of new gadgets to be added to the mix.

Google Desktop 5.5 Beta is now available, bringing with it the ability to integrate desktop gadgets into users' iGoogle webpages.

This means things like personal notes, RSS feeds, calendars, world clocks, and more can be added to the personalized homepage.  The new version of Google Desktop also improves its Quick Search Box, which allows users to search for local files on their computer.

Additionally, it enhances integration with Microsoft Outlook, with more advanced search results that show the date, subject, sender name, and message snippet from all e-mail search results.

The new Google Desktop can be downloaded from desktop.google.com.