Google acquires entertainment company LabPixies

From CNET News.com: Google loves to build platforms on which programs run--Android, App Engine, iGoogle, and in the biggest picture, the Web itself. But platforms are of no use, and aren't much fun, without applications on top, so Google often also kick-starts development with applications of its own.

Now it appears Google is interested in boosting development in a variety of casual gaming and entertainment areas with the acquisition of LabPixies, announced late Monday. The company offers a collection of games and lightweight utilities that run on iGoogle, Google's customizable home page, and on the iPhone and Android phones.

Terms of the deal weren't announced.

iGoogle uses the OpenSocial foundation for applications. That's also used by Yahoo, Hi5, MySpace, and Orkut, meaning that OpenSocial gadgets will run on all those social-networking services. LabPixies also develops applications that run on Facebook's platform. Google launched iGoogle in 2005 and has been gradually improving it since then.

"One of the first developers to create gadgets for iGoogle was Labpixies. Over the years, we worked closely together on a variety of projects, including the launch of a number of global OpenSocial based gadgets," said iGoogle team member Don Loeb in the blog post. "Recently, we decided that we could do more if we were part of the same team, and as such, we're thrilled to announce the acquisition of LabPixies."

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