Where in the world is Los Altos? (Using Google Elements)

If you've read my tweets and other feeds you'll probably know I am pretty enchanted by a small town in Silicon Valley called Los Altos.

A lot of people (outside the Valley) have no idea where that is, so I thought I'd use Google Elements - the great GOOG's new product which was unveiled last week - to mark the spot on Google maps. The interesting thing is that Google Elements allows you to simply cut and paste code of Google products onto your site. So in this case, I used Elements to cut and paste Google maps onto my site, and below is a working, functional version of Google maps that you can use to get directions, scroll in, change view etc. It was a simple cut and paste that took about 2 seconds.

You can do the same with a bunch of other Google products, such as news feeds and search functions. I am not sure whether mainstream publishers will make use of this, or just casual bloggers like me, but its pretty neat.

The other product which Google unveiled to much applause last week is Google Wave - something we'll be hearing a lot of in the near future.

In the meantime, if you"re ever up in San Fran, come catch a frozen yoghurt in Los Altos...