YahooWidgetsEngine
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Yahoo! Widgets 4 released
We give Apple's Dashboard widgets a lot of time in the spotlight (hah!) here at TUAW, but that doesn't mean we aren't paying attention to Yahoo!'s Widgets community. Today, the company released a major v4.0 update that apparently was a long time coming, and they dropped 'Engine' for a name change to simply Yahoo! Widgets 4 (nice move). A meaty blog post on their official blog explains all the major new features in detail, and our own sister blog Download Squad got the scoop last night in their own lengthy post with more screenshots and a review. To summarize the new features, we're looking at: a 40% reduction in memory usage, automatic updates for widgets, a new widget browser, much improved UI and options, as well as some big new features for widget developers like SQLite support.If you haven't looked at Yahoo! Widgets Engine lately, this jam-packed new release just might have enough to warrant another go-around. What have you got to lose? After all, it's free.
Widget Watch: iCdocs
Today's widget is a Yahoo! Widgets Engine widget that interacts with ThinkFree's new suite of online office applications, iCdocs. ThinkFree will let you share, edit (even group edit) and publish text, spreadsheet and presentation documents within a browser. The iCdocs widget works as a super-simple way to upload files to your free iCdocs account. Just drop your file onto the appropriate icon. I tried it out on a rather large MS Word document, and it worked like a charm.iCdocs widget requires Yahoo! Widgets Engine.
Yahoo! Widgets Engine 3.1 available
Earlier this week, Yahoo! released version 3.1 of the Yahoo! Widgets Engine (formerly Konfabulator). As you may remember, Konfabulator (which was purchased by Yahoo! in December of last year) was the first application to bring "widgets" to our Macs. Changes in version 3.1 include: Added support for a new flat file format for Widgets which permits signing or Widget code to enhance security. Added preference to control whether or not the Widget Engine automatically starts up when your system starts. Implemented importNode() from the Level 2 DOM spec. There's more, of course, and you can get the full run-down here. Yahoo! Widgets Engine (gee, that's cumbersome to type over and over) requires Mac OS 10.3 and is free.
Widget Watch: Retrograde3
I know what you're going to say already. "The last thing we need is another clock widget!" While I'm inclined to agree, I will say this: Retrograde3 is one cool clock.It's a Yahoo! Widgets Engine widget that displays the time, date and phase of the moon. You can change the clock's color as well as the "reflection" on its face. One word of warning, however: It's BIG (bigger even than the image at right). Those of you with 12" displays have been warned.
Widget Watch: Frylock
Today's widget is only 90% useless. Frylock is a Konfabulator Yahoo! Widgets Engine widget that floats your favorite box of animated French fries around your desktop in that unique, Frylock fashion. You can even configure it to launch the application of your choice when double-clicked. See? It's mildly amusing and kind of useful. I'd like it even better if it included some audio clips, but beggars can't be choosers. Round out your collection of animation-based widgets with this Futurama collection as well as these from Family Guy.
