Renovations in Services Google: Answers&Questions, Google Maps, iGoogle, Google Desktop

[i][b]Google[/b] has been pretty busy in the past few days. There have been changes or tweaks to three of [b]Googles[/b] product offerings, as well as the unexpected resurgence of one product that many thought would never return. Weve broken the news down for you below.[/i] 1. [b]Google Answers is back[/b]-in Russia. I guess [b]Google[/b] figures Russia to be an inquisitive bunch, since its re-launched its defunct (read: dead) Answers service there. According to a post from [b]Google Russias blog[/b], its the first country to get the service, despite the fact that the previous version was fairly similar. In the newly revised [b]Russian Google Answers[/b], users can spend points to ask questions. Other users can then answer those questions for a chance to earn points. The service keeps track of who is answering the most effectively, which differs vastly from [b]Googles [/b]original inception that charged users $2.50 a pop to even ask a question. [via ZDNet]2. [b]Google Maps [/b]gets multi-stop routing. This new feature in [b]Google Maps [/b]lets users set intermediary stop points along a route. Doing so changes the turn-by-turn directions on the left side of the map. People are going to love this if theyre trying to plan a multi-stop trip, a service that was once relegated to travel agents or a visit to the local AAA office. Elinor Mills over at the [u]News.com blog [/u]has a great write-up on the new feature here.3. A lot of people are using [b]iGoogle[/b]. This past week [b]Google[/b] unveiled usage statistics for every gadget in use on its personalized homepage service [b]iGoogle[/b]. The service aggregates this data a couple times a week, and refreshes it for all to see in [u]Googles gadget directory[/u]. Anyone can now see how many users have added it to their [b]iGoogle[/b] page, along with how many page views its gotten. Whats the most popular gadget so far? [b]Google[/b] doesnt have a straight top 10 list, but the Wikipedia search-and-go widget has well over a million active users.4. [b]Linux[/b] users get their own version of [u]Google Desktop Search[/u]. [b]Linux[/b] users who have long felt left out of [u]Googles[/u] free, system-wide search tool are in luck. The company released the [b]Linux[/b] version this past Wednesday. Unfortunately, its not the full-featured app with widgets such as PC users are currently enjoying. Instead, its a slightly stripped-down file search, akin to the [u]Mac version[/u] released a few months ago.