dinsdag, maart 20, 2007
Google Sidebar
One of the things you get when you install Google Desktop, is the Google Sidebar. (Being Google, it is for free of course.) It sits at the side of your screen and you can populate it with all kinds of free plugins or 'gadgets'. For a list of available gadgets, click here. If you would like to have sport results or your stocks displayed on your desktop sidebar, I'm sure you'll find gadgets for that. I'm not really interested in either, so my gadgets include :- Google calendar : shows the appointments in my 3 Google Calendars
- Clock (it ticks too)
- Weather in Leuven
- Desktop search
- E-mail messages (FireFox)
- Virtual flowers : this is cool because I always either overwater or underwater my plants. These virtual flowers don't die on me!
The concept isn't new. In fact Microsoft tried to have us add little applets to our desktop with something called Active Desktop (remember?). It were ActiveX components at that time, but the concept was the same. It failed miserably. But maybe it was too early. At that time there were no web services and web2.0 things around. So maybe now 'gadgets' will really take off.
In the new Windows Vista platform, there is also a Sidebar with Windows Gadgets available. Same concept but I'm sure uncompatible technologies :-) .
These gadgets are easy to program, and offer hugh potential for learning. I'm dreaming of gadgets that will recommend new learning activities for you based on your interests, development targets and your friend's recommendations. Who will make a learning gadget and let me know?
