Dashboard widgets rock!

By Elisabeth Robson
June 23, 2005 | Comments: 4

Related link: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/

I installed Tiger (10.4) on my iMac G5 about a month ago and I haven't looked back. I have found only one bug so far - when I plug in my headphones to the sound out jack in the back and then pull them back out, I can't get the sound to go back onto the speakers unless I reboot.

Anyway, the reason I'm posting is because one of the things I love about Tiger is dashboard widgets! Many of them are completely useless, but tons of fun. But there are a few that I've quickly found to be indispensible:

Dashflix: a Netflix widget that shows me what's on my queue and what movies I have out. Very quick and handy way to get Netflix updates without going to the site.

US Weather: a weather map that I keep on "current weather". When I click on it, it zooms in and gets big. Very cool.

AccuWeather: a forecast widget with lovely graphics showing the highs/lows and sunny/rain for 5 days.

Wikipedia: A little window into the best encyclopedia online. I look up everything I want to more about on Wikipedia already, so this widget just makes it even more handy.

Dictionary/Thesaurus: A must for writers :-)

RabbitRadio: NPR all the time.

Movie Finder: Easy way to check on movies playing in my local area.

Last but not least: the Daily Tao, a widget with a verse from the Tao Te Ching each day to help get my mind in the right place.

What's on YOUR dashboard??

What's on YOUR dashboard??

4 Comments

beth_freeman said:

Agreed - They're Grrrrrrrrrrreat!
Hey, thanks for the pointer to pearlyrics - love it.

June 23, 2005 6:55 PM

brianimator2 said:

Agreed - They're Grrrrrrrrrrreat!
It wasn't until the other day that this feature came into focus for me. To train / force myself to use Dashboard, (and save room on my menu bar) I removed the clock / calendar / battery indicator from their default locations, and began using their Dashboard counterparts. As I became comfortable with my new routine, I began to seek out and add more widgets as they caught my eye. I'll admit, at first the whole concept seemed more fluff than function, but alas, I've changed my tune - literally. One of the first truly useful widgets I found was 'pearLyrics', an app that displays lyrics from the current song playing in iTunes.

My current list of active widgets is as follows:

iTunes controller (Apple)
YellowBook (Apple)
Dictionary / Thesaurus (Apple)
Local weather (Apple)
Calendar (Apple)
Clock (Apple)
Calculator (Apple)
Converter (Apple)
Address Book (Apple)
Stickies (Apple)
TV Tracker
Word of the Day
pearLyrics
Rabbit Radio
Air America Radio
Foxtrot
This Day in History
Voice Notes

June 23, 2005 6:39 PM

wka said:

Not yet useful
Here's a hint how to get widgets to be viewable all the time, not just when Dashboard is invoked (though they remain on top of every other window).

June 23, 2005 5:10 PM

merlyn said:

Not yet useful
I don't know if there was some sort of agreement with Konfabulator, or just a fear of getting sued, but...

... I really think the Dashboard would be 1000% better if the widgets could be made to stay alive in a normal environment, either on top of or behind my other windows. Why should I have to to a "special" place to see all my widgets? That doesn't make any sense to me at all!

Konfabulator has widgets that will stay alive (on top or below) your normal windows. Yeay!

June 23, 2005 4:48 PM