April 13, 2007
Thanks to Kris Abel for the heads-up on these releases.
TD Waterhouse have released their Canada Marketwatch Gadget. This can retrieve and display major North American market indices and stocks, allowing you to focus on the stocks you’re interested in and use it to quickly access TD’s WebBroker service.
Workopolis’ Job Gadget offers continuous results from any job or resume searches you may have applied for. So, rather than having to visit and log into the Workopolis website, their gadget does it for you and displays the results in your sidebar. You can customize the gadget to focus on specific criteria (region, job title etc), and tell it whether you are looking to hire or be hired.
The Weather Network’s WeatherEye Gadget offers a huge and colourful (constantly updated) weather forcaset, including a four-day forecast, temperature, wind, humidity, etc. It can be customized to focus on results from any of over 5,000 cities in North America.
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April 12, 2007
You’ve got to love the Wordpress blogging platform. Whether installed on your own server, or hosted with theirs, it just kicks butt over everything else on the market.
I’ve been running it on numerous personal sites for about a year now, and I’ve also used it as the basis of several client sites too - and the simplicity of it all still makes me smile whenever I use it!
So could it be made even simpler? Well, apparently so…
This gadget by two Danish guys is great for bloggers using Wordpress, giving links to go straight to the dashboard, write a new entry, add a new link, moderate comments etc. My only complaint is that (like so many other gadgets) it’s not the standard width of 130 pixels!
Lazy? Probably. Bookmarks instead? If you like. Making me blog more? You betcha! Grab it now…
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April 10, 2007
I think I’ve covered this topic quite well in my Gadget Information section, but for those of you who’ve missed it (or ignored it) here’s a very brief overview of Vista Sidebar Gadget technology.
- Sidebar gadgets are little HTML applications. They use a combination of JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and supporting media (primarily images) packaged in a Zip or CAB file (renamed a .gadget extension) with a minimum of an XML manifest (gadget.xml) and a docked HTML file. Using the CAB let’s you provide publisher information and digitally sign your file.
- Besides standard DHTML, you can use specialized elements/objects to provide effects like glow, shadow, opacity, rotation, and soft edges. Just remember: g:background, g:image, and g:text. These allow for a richer graphical user experience than you get in the browser or, by extension, Live gadgets.
- In addition to standard JavaScript, there’s a Sidebar gadget API that provides deeper interaction with Windows such as reading files and folders, getting information about hardware, and displaying networking and Windows information. It’s not limited to what you can do in the browser, and you can use ActiveX to loosen security constraints further if necessary.
- The gadgets have three basic states: docked, undocked, and flyout. Docked is size-restricted; the others can be as large as the desktop. Docked is the only required state, but it’s good to develop all three. Flyout mode should be thought of as a “more information” view on what the gadget provides and can drive other resources as needed.
- Sidebar gadgets support the Multilingual User Interface (MUI), including language selection fallback, so you can build globalized and localized gadgets.
It’s all as simple as that really! I’m personally working on getting Flash running from a Gadget, and also solving the lack of Iframe support - so watch this space!
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April 10, 2007
Stanford’s Folding@Home project makes use of a distributed computing model to simulate problems that are thousands to millions of times more complex than previously tackled.
What this basically means is that people from all around the world download and run software that links their home computers together, making one of the largest virtual supercomputers in the world - and every computer added takes the project closer to it’s goals.
I’ve long been a supporter of Folding@Home, and have dedicated my idle processor cycles (the time when I’m not actually using the PC) to the project for a number of years - so imagine my delight when I discovered that I could do it with a funky Sidebar Gadget too!
Kunal Kundaje released a version for single processor PCs in January, but has now followed it up with a dual processor (or dual core) version, for those of us fortunate enough to enjoy double bubble!
You can download both versions from Kunal’s Stuff page.
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April 8, 2007
Following the successful release of his Code Converter widget onto the Yahoo and Google platforms, Todd Anglin has ported the code into a Vista Gadget - and very nice it looks too!
Code Converter parses either C# or VB (both in .NET flavours) and converts it to the other. It does this by making use of the NRefactory library by open source developers ic#code.
As it happens, I develop in both languages - so this is personally a welcome release. I’ve given the Gadget a test with various snippets that I had to hand, and it does an admirable job. I did find a couple of minor visual issues with it however…
Firstly, if I physically drag the Gadget from the Gallery to the Sidebar then the GUI ends up offset - meaning that I can only just get to the launch button. This doesn’t happen if I right-click the Gadget and select ‘Add’.
Secondly (and possibly only because I’m a picky designer), the Gadget’s width is less than every other Gadget that I have installed. Unless a user has hacked about with their Sidebar, the default width should be 130 pixels - which this isn’t!
Regardless of the above, this is an excellent and useful Gadget - and worth a download if you either code in both the .NET languages, or are in the process of moving from one to the other. Well done Todd!
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April 7, 2007
The great God that is Google rolled out a beta version 5 of its Desktop product, including updates to the desktop search, sidebar and Google Gadgets - and I think I’m probably not the first to note just how similar it suddenly looks to the Vista Sidebar!
In addition to a more polished appearence, other features in v5 include a “Preview” feature in desktop search (enabling users to quickly glance at documents without opening them fully) and improved security with warnings popping up about links in documents, emails and messaging logs that may lead to a malicious Web site.
But the big change in the new beta is the sidebar (holds mini-applications that perform tasks like stream news feeds or display the weather - just like Vista). Google has redesigned many of its gadgets so they are easier on the eyes and fit the look and feel established by Microsoft with the Vista release.
The “Add Gadgets” interface is activated by clicking the “+” button at the top of the sidebar. This displays gadgets by categories, and allows users to search locally for available gadgets, rather than connecting to the Google website to do so.
Now in my humble opinion this all sounds remarkably familiar, right? So, the question is, “did Microsoft rip off Apple, and did google do the same?”
Personally, I think everybody’s take on it (Microsoft, Apple, Google, Stardock etc etc) is different enough that comparisons shouldn’t even be made! Plus, it all really started with OS/2 and the sidebar that it offered - and Google (not to mention Vista) wasn’t even a twinkle back then!
If you’re interested, then you can download the beta from FileForum.
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April 6, 2007
While security features in Vista make it harder for malware coders to develop worms that target operating system vulnerabilities, Symantec is betting that malware coders will turn their attention to other things, like Gadgets. In a recent report, Symantec commented that “worms that target core operating system vulnerabilities were largely responsible for the majority of high-profile outbreaks in the early part of this century.”
The guys from Symantec seem to think that worms will continue to thrive, with just their method of propagation changing. Symantec also warns that it “does not believe that Windows Vista security improvements will stifle other classes of malicious code”. So where will the main threats come from then?
First, Symantec says that we’ll see more threats to the Web Application Layer, where 78% of new security vulnerabilities reside today.
“Windows Vista provides no enhanced security in this space, as the majority of vulnerabilities today are seen within PHP, Python, Perl, ASP, and other languages. In addition, new Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX provide an entirely new layer on which tomorrow’s threats will propagate,” states the report.
Most interestingly, however, the Symantec believes that malware coders will use Windows sidebar and gadgets propagate of a new class of malware.
They say that “while gadgets do not automatically execute, Symantec researchers anticipate that they will be quickly adopted by malicious code writers as a novel way to convince users to download and execute arbitrary code.”
“Although these gadgets are bound by the same restrictions as other applications, the fact that they are automatically authorized to communicate via the Web makes them an effective means to introduce arbitrary content, and also to extract sensitive, confidential information from the host.”
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April 6, 2007
Microsoft Hong Kong recently announced a slew of Hong Kong-specific Gadgets for Vista, which provide a fascinating insight into typical Hong Kong Internet tastes.
The range of Microsoft HK’s release also reflects Hong Kong Netizens’ current surfing habits. Traditional Chinese-language site discuss.com.hk currently clocks in at number four on Alexa.com’s Hong Kong-specific list of most-surfed Web sites, and their Gadget rides high on Microsoft’s lineup, along with 28car.com - another site aimed at Hong Kong’s Internet-savvy gearheads.
Also on the slate: an SMS-wrangler from Hong Kong telecom operator CSL, a podcast Gadget from local daily South China Morning Post, a Gadget for fotop.net (Hong Kong’s answer to Flickr), an online music browser from EOLAsia.com, and a phone-directory from PCCW Ltd (Hong Kong’s incumbent telecom company and broadband service provider).
”People want gadgets on their new Windows Vista Sidebar because they are convenient and fun”, said Adam Anger, senior director, Business & Marketing Organization, Microsoft Hong Kong, at the launch event. “Hong Kong people will be able to access the latest information and cool stuff from their local favorite sites at their fingertips […] users can track news and other information on their gadgets without opening a browser”.
While the range of Gadgets announced by Microsoft HK is broad, none of them are the first Microsoft Gadget in Asia. In late January, Microsoft and discount airline AirAsia teamed up to promote the AirAsia Vista Gadget.
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