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Four widgets for learning
While the app store ecosystem for the iPhone, and now iPad, are filled with a host of useful apps to help students convert, translate and calculate figures and words, there may be times where an iPhone or iPad app just don't fit into your workflow. Back when Mac OS X Tiger was launched, which happened to be back when we all had to walk through 10 miles of snow to get to school, came the advent of Dashboard. In addition to the bundled widgets provided by Apple, one can access a robust library of widgets provided by third parties. Here are four useful Dashboard widgets for learning.
Widgets: "iPhone apps, I am your father."
Don't get me wrong, I love the iPhone and its App Store juggernaut, it's just sometimes it seems that people have forgotten all about the iPhone app's father: the Dashboard widget. First introduced in Mac OS X Tiger in 2005, widgets changed the way people quickly accessed simple information on their Mac. And though Apple did not create the concept of a widget, it did present them in the best way. With the press of a button I had access to my portfolio, my Yahoo! news, my local weather, calculators for everything, translators, you name it. Widgets were small, simple, and beautiful. They performed one function and did it exceedingly well. Widget ports created half of the first apps ported to the iPhone (think the Weather app, Calculator app, Clock app, and Stocks app). So in honor of the widget being partially responsible for the origins of iPhone apps, I'd like to present you with my four favorite ones. I hope you'll list your favorite widgets in the comments section too.
Widget Watch: iPhone 3G Day
It was bound to happen, and Matthew Raskin was the first (to my knowledge) to do it. That's right, Matthew whipped up a widget that counts down to iPhone 3G day: July 11th.That's about all this widget does, but I'm sure lots of people are aching to know exactly how long they have to wait until they can get their hands on a new iPhone.
Widget Watch: Freshbooks time tracker
We know that several of our readers do the type of work that requires them to track their own billable hours. For those of you using Freshbooks, here's a handy Dashboard widget.The Time Tracker Widget includes a timer (of course) plus menus to choose the project you're working on as well as the particular task (meeting, research, etc.). Finally, add any pertinent notes in the Notes field.When you're finished working, click "Submit Hours" to upload your hours to your Freshbooks account. Easy! Note that you must have API access enabled in your Freshbook settings.
Widget Watch: Apple Store status widget
In February we covered Pingdom's release of a website badge and monitoring service that tracked the status of the Apple Store. A lot of our readers were resourceful enough to make their own widgets from the banner, but Pingdom has polished up and released a widget for everyone who looks forward to the excited anticipation of downtime hysteria. The widget, and Pingdom's service in general, have the potential to be a blessing to Apple's servers. By pinging once and distributing the results to the masses, it could prevent thousands of simultaneous connections from refresh-happy Apple fans. Not that the servers haven't always handled the traffic with a fair amount of aplomb; it's just that much more breathing room. Software releases (Safari 3.1 and a Security Update) marked this Tuesday, but without the bated-breath downtime we'd begun to expect. A little element of scheduling surprise, such as the 802.11n Airport Express release on Monday, makes this widget significantly more useful. So, grab the widget from Pingdom and enjoy future frenzies!
Widget Watch: Woot!
This Lifehacker comment thread made me go researching on what I might use for Webclips, but save for the front page of my favorite blog (TUAW, duh), I couldn't think of anything I'd really want to keep on my Dashboard 24/7. I did like the idea of putting Woot.com (and Shirt.woot, which I've been looking at a lot lately) on there, but as a few of the commenters say, webclipping (can I verb that?) the entire page makes things a little too big.Fortunately, David Elliot piped up about the Woot.com widget, which easily and quickly lets you monitor the Woot sites from your dashboard, with a minimum of space taken up. And now I've got two instances of it running on my Dashboard, one for regular Woot and one for the Shirt version. I especially like that it includes Growl notification, too -- if I happen to be working around midnight and a really good deal pops up, I won't miss it.Of course, you may not want to have something popping up on your Dashboard all the time tempting you to spend money. But if you're already following the Woot empire (and to tell the truth, I almost never buy anything-- I just like looking), the widget is an easy and simple way to stay up to date.
Widget Watch: Showcase your TiVo's content on your Mac
Unfortunately, an HD TiVo was too expensive for me in 2007, and none of my friends or relatives ponied up the cash to get me one as a gift this holiday season, so I'm forced to settle with the extremely inferior Comcast HD DVR box. But for you TiVo owners, here's an awesome plugin to easily and stylishly connect your TiVo with your Mac. Showcase is a dashboard widget that, given your TiVo's IP and MAK, will not only show you what your TiVo is up to, but also let you download and decode shows directly from there on to your Mac.TiVoToGo was shipped almost exactly a year ago for Mac, but Showcase seemingly does almost everything TTG does, and is available in simple widget form for the low, low price of free. A few users say it's a little slow (not surprising, given that it's doing all of this stuff from a widget interface, not a full application), but if, unlike me, you did have people who loved you enough to get you a TiVo HD this year, it's definitely worth a download.Thanks, Dave!
WidgetWatch: DoBeDo ready for Leopard
I don't know what it is-- in all my computing life, I have never once found a ToDo app that's kept me ToDo-ing. I'll decide to get organized, find a system and learn it, and a few weeks later, I'll have about 15 things to do that I never remembered to put on my ToDo list.But maybe DoBeDo can finally break that pattern. It's not actually an app-- it's just a freeware widget, but according to our commenters, it's the best ToDo app/widget/whatever out there. And it's got an amazing amount of functionality for a widget-- it'll sync right up with iCal, and do everything you'd ever want to do with your tasks with just a keystroke. And as of a few days go, it is now updated for Leopard and ready for 10.5 users to "ToDo" as well.Unfortunately, as nice as it is, I doubt it'll break my anti-productivity cycle. But until Apple creates an iWillpower that I can buy and install on my Mac, this will have ToDo.Thanks, BJ!
Widget Watch: DockDoctor lets you choose your Dock's dimensions
First we tweaked the app indicators, and then we tweaked the color, and now we've finally come all the way back in our Time Machine (oh yes, pun very intended) to two weeks ago. Innermind Media, the folks behind WidgetWizard, are probably a little angry at Leopard, considering all that Web Clip functionality, and so they've released a free widget called DockDoctor that will subtract a dimension from your Dock with the click of a button (and bring it back with another click, which is probably just as valuable).I know it's not for everybody. I know some of you love the new Dock, or at least have gotten so used to it that it doesn't bother you. But this is OS X we're talking about, and so you should have the right to make your Dock look the way you want it to.
Widget Watch: Warp Speed Calculator
The Warp Speed Calculator widget isn't useful at all, unless you happen to be a captain of a Starfleet vessel, but I'm OK with that. As you might expect this simple widget calculates how fast, in km/s, a particular Warp Factor is (from Star Trek: The Next Generation). I can also calculate how long it'll take you to travel distances based on your Warp Factor.Who doesn't need to know this stuff from time to time?
Widget Watch: MLB Schedule
I am not TUAW's resident baseball fan, but since it is peanuts and crackerjack season I thought it only appropriate to feature the MLB Schedule widget. This widget gives you an at a glance look at your favorite team's schedule with a 5 day period. If the game has already played it shows you the score, otherwise you get the start time, the opponent, the location, and who is pitching.MLB Schedule is a free download (and remember if you like to follow more than one ball club you can run multiple versions of the widget).
Widget Watch: kuler
kuler is a neat online application from Adobe that allows you to create, and share, color schemes online. This is a boon for someone like me, who has trouble dressing himself let alone figuring out what color combos will look good on a website.Recenlty Adobe added the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds of popular schemes. While that's cool, it isn't really all that interesting until, that is, Adobe created a widget that lets you see combos on Dashboard. Now, the perfect color scheme for that Apple blog you've been thinking about starting is just a keystroke away!
Flapper - the animated, life-or-death weather widget
Is Apple's default weather widget not offering enough excitement? Are you looking for a little more cutesy, life-or death-drama with your ambiguous weather reports? Then check out Flappie, the widget that needs you to both feed and play with it (while also allowing it to sleep) from time to time in order for it to continue displaying generic (read: no actual temperature readings) weather reports. But be careful - if you don't care for Flappie on a daily basis, it could most certainly die. On the other hand, the longer you can keep your little Flappie alive, the better a chance it has "to evolve." Into what exactly is the answer Timothy Breslin, the widget's author, is apparently keeping to himself.
Widget Watch: Another Macworld 2007 countdown widget
Some people weren't impressed with the last Macworld widget I mentioned, so I thought I would point out MacWorld Expo 2007 Countdown, which we covered last year when it was just Macworld Countdown. Not too much to say about this widget, other than it counts down the remaining days, hours, and minutes until Macworld 2007 is upon us.
Widget Watch: MWSF 2007 Countdown Widget
Who is excited about Macworld? I know I am, and just to fuel the excitement Jesper has created the MWSF 2007 Countdown Widget (I took the above screenshot a few hours ago).TUAW will be giving Macworld the full court press with a number of our bloggers, including yours truly, pounding the show floor looking for the cool stuff that the other sites have missed. It is going to be great, and it is only a week away!
Widget Watch: Simpsons Movie Countdown
This one's for you Simpsons fans. The Simpsons Movie is coming to a theater near you on July 27, 2007. What better way to pass the time between now and then, than to stare at this Simpsons Movie Countdown widget! Unfortunately, it doesn't countdown minutes, hours and seconds - only days. Handy, nonetheless. 227 days to go!
Widget Watch: Delivery Status
I am on my Mac for about 80% of my waking day, and I drift to sleep thinking of cool things I could do with my Mac. That means that I purchase many things online. It is convenient and usually cheaper, but you do have to wait for the package to show up. Enter Delivery Status, a very cool widget from Mike Piontek.This widget goes beyond tracking UPS and FedEx shipments, though it'll do that as well. Not only does this Widget track packages via UPS, FedEx, DHL, and the US Post Office, it also tracks your order status from Amazon and the Apple Store.Not too shabby for a free widget.
Widget Watch: Fidelity Market Monitor
If you are like me and have a burning desire to check on your stock portfolio compulsively throughout the day, there are many options in the world of Dashboard widgets, Apple's own included stock widget amongst them. But I just downloaded the Fidelity Market Monitor - a natural since I have accounts with Fidelity - and I'm really digging it. The widget lets you personalize your watchlists, track your stocks and stay current on the latest symbol-specific and overall market news and conditions. It loads fast and is very easy to customize. It's easy on the eyes, too. Did I mention it's free? Well it is. Bulls and bears alike should be pleased. Update: Alternate link download link.Thanks, Hadley!
Widget Watch: Whoopee Cushion Widget
The Whoopee Cushion Widget serves no useful purpose, but it made me smile. Clicking on the Whoopee Cushion, once it is safely ensconced on your Dashboard, does exactly what one would expect it to. Do I have to spell it out for you people? OK, here's a hint, the widget's tagline is, 'Click on the Whoopee Cushion. It's a gas!'Immature? Sure. Fun? You bet!Whoopee Cushion Widget is freeware, but if you like it toss Jacob some dinero.
Widget Watch: Morse Code Translator
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