If you’d like to see a favicon next to each Google Reader subscription, you can now add this feature: go to the settings page and check “Show favicons for subscriptions”. Another way to enable the feature is to click on the arrow next to “Subcriptions” and select “use favicons”.

The feature is disabled by default. “We realize that not everyone wants their subscription list to turn into a multi-colored extravaganza, so we’ve made it into a setting that you can access from your subscriptions menu,” explains Mihai Parparita.

Google uses a special service for obtaining the favicons instead of loading the images directly. For example, Search Engine Land’s favicon is generated like this:

http://s2.googleusercontent.com/s2/favicons?domain=searchengineland.com