Apr 27 2009
Widgetopia
One of Mac OS 10.4 Tiger’s most visible improvements is the introduction of the Dashboard and its Widgets. These simple bundles of JavaScript aren’t really applications, but they can replace them. In this week’s look at widgets, we’ll highlight some must-haves and some handy utilities for managing them.
Sure Apple’s default widgets are nice, and very Aqua-licious, but we want more. Here are some nice, free 3rd party widgets:
Keep track of your unread feeds from the best web-based RSS reader.
3 word film reviews. Straight, to the point and on your Dashboard.
Glance at your Dashboard for stats on your CPU load, memory and network usage.
Find wireless networks. Based on macstumbler.
Post bookmarks to your delicious account. That’s it.
National Weather Service Doppler maps. Anywhere in the US? You bet.
Track RSS feeds (like ours) with this little widget.
Post directly to your Blogger blog, right from your Dashboard. Think less before you post.
Watch webcams on the Dash. Its configurable too.
Widget Utilities
Use this free application to get a warning before Safari automatically installs widgets. If you’ve upgraded to 10.4.1, you may not need this.
Sounds like a job title, but it’s really a preference pane. Use it to enable/disable widgets.
Widget Sites
Widget Alternatives
Using Panther? Use Amnesty to load Dashboard Widgets. You’ll need 10.3.9 and not all widgets will work, but it’s much better than nothing.
Panther and Windows users will be interested in the new version of Konfabulator (not free but worth the cost).
Running Linux too? Both GNOME and KDE have Dashboard knock-offs, SuperKaramba for KDE and gDesklets for GNOME.
Ahh, that was fun. I expect your Dashboards are so full they’re virtually worthless. That’s the spirit!
Downloads provided by MacUpdate
I could have sworn I had posted this already. No matter…