Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8358 posts, RR: 47 Posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 985 times:
Good evening all,
long after deciding I don't want icons cluttering up my Windows desktop, I've found something else to do that with - Konfabulator, now known as the "Yahoo! Widget Engine". This neat little software (for Windows and Mac OS X) allows you to choose from a plethora of useful, funny, nonsensical, geekish and/or entertaining little widgets for your desktop. I've been using a calendar and a weather forecast widget for a few months now, and decided to get a few more today: a simple reminder, a WiFi signal display, a CPU and a RAM usage display and a radio stream.
So, if you already use it - what widgets do you have?
If you don't know it yet, give it a try. You might just fall in love with it!
Cheers,
aloges
__
What's On Your Desktop? Share Pic by ETStar 2006-01-27 23:51:13
Posting A Pic Of You Desktop by Jetjack74 2006-01-27 23:57:02
Seems like the "related topics" feature has improved!
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20861 posts, RR: 55 Reply 1, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 964 times:
OS X since 10.4 Tiger has integrated Dashboard for this purpose, which is rather similar to Konfabulator. Apple - Mac OS X - Dashboard
I currently use the following widgets:
• One "FlipClock" set to NY time, another set to SF time.
• "SunlitEarth" for an overview of current day/night/sunlight
• "Sol" for local sunset/sunrise times
• "iCal Events" showing the next pending calendar events
• The standard "Weather" widget
• Monthly calendar
• "*nix manual" for command-line reference
• "SysStat" for current system status
• "MAMP control" for Apache / MySQL control
• Standard stock market widget
• Standard currency widget
• "Pcalc" calculator
• Standard "Dictionary" widget
Airdolomiti From Italy, joined May 2003, 680 posts, RR: 10 Reply 2, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 20 hours ago) and read 959 times:
I think I first read about Konfabulator/Yahoo!Widget Engine on this forum a few months ago... I decided to give it a try and now I'm hooked!
On my laptop I currently have:
-Yahoo weather forecast
-Laptop battery status indicator
-RSS news feed from CNN and BBC World
-Google search
-big digital clock
-audio volume control
-calendar
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8358 posts, RR: 47 Reply 4, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 935 times:
Quoting Airdolomiti (Reply 2): I think I first read about Konfabulator/Yahoo!Widget Engine on this forum
Speaking of how I foundout about it - I think it was after the umpteenth time of lamenting the lack of a thermometer anywhere near me. Then I remembered a reading by a Russian/German comedian, Vladimir Kaminer, where he referred to the "Harry Potter generation" pulling all kinds of computerised stunts to simplify life - even if the stunts ended up being more complicated than old-fashioned solutions, such as not going online to check the weather but looking out the window. Well, the weather I was able assess - but not the °C, so I looked around for software that could be helpful at that. And I found Konfabulator.
Quoting PipoA380 (Reply 3): I personally don't have any spyware
Pardon?
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8358 posts, RR: 47 Reply 6, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 909 times:
Quoting PipoA380 (Reply 5): Oh well, do I really need to explain this?
Well, all my firewall alerts me of is the widget engine connecting to yahoo weather. Ad-aware and Spybot don't seem to have a problem with it either... the "offered" installation of additional yahoo software was easy to avoid, and lastly I've looked around a bit (using google) and haven't found anything bad about the widget engine containing spyware. So please, what did I miss?
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Gdodds From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 7, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 906 times:
I downloaded these a few days back, and have been quite handy telling me time (even though the taskbar already does that), Date and Weather etc.
My Widgets: Weather, Clock, Calendar. Might add more but i'll need to find the folder first
Its a little HTML and Javascript based program that displays helpful information within a very limited scope.
For example, you may have a dictionary widget which looks up the word entered at dictionary.com, parses the result and shows you it, without you having to open up a web browser, visit dictionary.com etc.
Yeah, Ive written a fair few for both Dashboard and Konfab over the past two years.
RichardPrice From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 14, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 874 times:
Quoting PipoA380 (Reply 11): It doesn't contain spyware. To me, it IS spyware. But that's personal, I just avoid this kind of things, it got me too much trouble.
Your browser sends out the following to each and every website you download stuff from:
1. your operating system version and patch level
2. what browser you are using
3. if you have .net installed
4. the page address that contained the link you just clicked
5. a timestamp
So I guess it would fit your definition of spyware.
PipoA380 From Switzerland, joined May 2005, 1591 posts, RR: 52 Reply 15, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 864 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 12): it would have to transmit individual information about you or your system into the net.
Don't be naive. They don't offer you this service cause you have beautiful eyes or whatever! That's called push&pull marketing action. They take some info on you, and then they can target advertisement better.
Quoting RichardPrice (Reply 14): Your browser sends out the following to each and every website you download stuff from:
I'm sorry I don't really get the link between the two?
It's not about AIRBUS. it's not about BOEING. It's all about the beauty of FLYING.
Aloges From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8358 posts, RR: 47 Reply 16, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 860 times:
Quoting PipoA380 (Reply 15): That's called push&pull marketing action. They take some info on you, and then they can target advertisement better.
As for push & pull: You can easily deny installation of all yahoo software. The rest isn't true either, I have not received a single spam e-mail due to installing Konfabulator/YWE - and I even have an e-mail account at yahoo.
Sometimes, freeware may just be freeware.
Quoting PipoA380 (Reply 15): I'm sorry I don't really get the link between the two?
I think he was referring to YWE not necessraily transmitting more than the average browser, after you've registered.
Walk together, talk together all ye peoples of the earth. Then, and only then, shall ye have peace.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20861 posts, RR: 55 Reply 17, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 857 times:
Quoting PipoA380 (Reply 15): Don't be naive. They don't offer you this service cause you have beautiful eyes or whatever! That's called push&pull marketing action. They take some info on you, and then they can target advertisement better.
Even under Windows you would see such unauthorized communication with your firewall. And five minutes after someone noticing it would be all over the net. I can't vouch for Konfabulator, but I'd say it is rather unlikely that it was spyware.
Dashboard is an integral component of MacOS X, so there would be no point in spying either.
A certain level of paranoia is quite sensible, but a bit of evidence would be nice before starting to make accusations.
RichardPrice From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 18, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 850 times:
Quoting PipoA380 (Reply 15): I'm sorry I don't really get the link between the two?
You download and install SPECIFICALLY the Yahoo! Desktop Widget engine, and then you install the widgets. These widgets then go and get information from wherever they are programmed to get it from, its exactly the same as if you had opened up your browser and gone to that website - hell, Konfab uses the IE rendering engine for it!
The link is - how is a widget doing it for you any different to you doing it manually? It isnt.
Widgets and the widget engine are no more spyware than anything else you run.
PipoA380 From Switzerland, joined May 2005, 1591 posts, RR: 52 Reply 19, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 844 times:
Quoting Aloges (Reply 16): You can easily deny installation of all yahoo software
I've denied a lot of installations that got through on my computer... that's what I meant
Quoting Klaus (Reply 17):
A certain level of paranoia is quite sensible, but a bit of evidence would be nice before starting to make accusations.
I'm not paranoiac, but spyware has caused so big problems I take nothing that looks or smells like it. I'm not making any accusation, just saying this goes in the kinda thing I personally wouldn't install.
Quoting RichardPrice (Reply 18): its exactly the same as if you had opened up your browser and gone to that website
I don't know, somehow I just don't trust this kinda things. I'd rather do it myself than have it done wrong
Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying what you guys do is wrong, just saying that you gotta be careful with these things, it can be great, and a second later, it can be a total mess....
It's not about AIRBUS. it's not about BOEING. It's all about the beauty of FLYING.
RichardPrice From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 24, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 822 times:
Quoting Mhodgson (Reply 23): What effect to these widgets have on RAM etc? Noticeable?
Depends on the widget, the skill of the programmer who made it, and the task the widget is doing.
I personally turned off Dashboard because it was too memory hungry and I found i didnt use it.
25 Skidmarks: Hmmmmmm, so they explode on impact and have devastating effects on coyotes and piigs? Andy
26 Andz: I hate icons cluttering my desktop too, I just use the quick launch toolbar:
27 PipoA380: How else could I visit a.net with no computer?
28 Brendan03: Hmm... This sounds like a cool little contraption... Too bad I only have 224mb of ram to spare... Got dual monitor operations happening here and the s
29 Centrair: I use Dashboard a whole lot. No RAM problems at all. The first time your run it (after turning on), it is slow but then it updates regularly. F12 and
30 Klaus: I agree, the Dock is an excellent tool once you know what it can do. Plus, under Tiger you can find many things faster by using the integrated Spotlig
31 AirEuropeUK733: Lame, Skidz, really lame !! But what's even worse is that I didn't have to read it twice to know what you were talking about!! AE733
32 Skidmarks: Lame? 10 o'clock Sunday morning and you want acerbic wit? No chance!!!!! Andy
33 AirEuropeUK733: More to the point, what were you doing on a.net on a Sunday??? Were you supposed to be working??!! AE733
34 Skidmarks: Oh do be brief! I only work 9-5 weekdays (and then only in between posting on A.net ) Andy
35 AirEuropeUK733: Repeat after me... 'My Name Is Skidz and I Really Ought to Stop Posting on A.net and Get a Life'... AE733
36 Brendan03: Can someone post a screenshot of these Widgets running on a Windows? I'm tempted to give it a try, Got a heapa unused desktop space on the spare Monit
37 Skidmarks: At the risk of getting banned - bugger orf! Andy
39 AirEuropeUK733: You can talk Mr C - it wasn't me who was in the top 10 last week AE733
40 Aloges: Sure, here you go: #1 is just the desktop, #2 is after hitting F8 so the widgets appear in front of all running applications. There's nothing better
41 Andz: I learned about file and directory structures many moons ago on a Unix course, since then I am pretty finicky about them, even in Outlook, it amazes
42 Racko: I have yet to find a widget software that can make widgets behave exactly like a desktop background, i.e. I can put icons over it, it stays when i you
44 Aloges: One widget I'd like to recommend is this one: http://widgets.yahoo.com/gallery/view.php?widget=38449 I'm finishing a short presentation I'm giving tom
Sponsor Message: 
From Germany, joined Jan 2006, 8358 posts, 
From Italy, joined May 2003, 680 posts, 
From Switzerland, joined May 2005, 1591 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From UK - England, joined Dec 2004, 7121 posts, 
From Netherlands, joined Jan 2006, 216 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
