Gadgets
What is a Gadget?
Gadgets are a new category of mini-application designed to provide information, useful lookup, or enhance an application or service on your Windows PC or the Web. So gadgets are miniature objects made by other users like you that offer cool and dynamic content that can be placed on any page on the web. You can add gadgets you like to your personalized homepage or to your desktop. Examples might include a weather gadget running on your desktop or on your homepage, an RSS Gadget that pulls in your favorite feeds, or an extension of a business application providing just-in-time status on the pulse of your business. Webgadgets might come in handy when you're at work (to-do list, currency converter, calendar), at school (calculator, wikipedia, translation tool), or just passing time (news, blogs, games). What makes gadgets different from widgets is that they do not require any additional downloads in order to use. They are "stand alone".
SMS.ac is a global community marketplace that leverages the power of a social network to distribute your content and applications to nearly 50 million users worldwide. As the world's largest network of mobile operators, SMS.ac has relationships with more than 400 different carriers in 180 countries to enable Mobile Billing.
Mobile Pods are dynamic mobile homepage add-ons that enable SMS.ac users to subscribe to content, games and applications. Content of these applications is accessible on mobile phones, as well as through the web. Pods content is distributed globally to a growing mobile community that already exceeds 50 million self-registered members.
Additionally, Pods are a significant revenue-generating opportunity to capitalize on your creativity. Through its relationship with mobile operators, SMS.ac can already monetize 1.5 billion of the world's 2 billion mobile phone users.
Microsoft Gadgets are mini-applications that live on your Live.com homepage or Windows Sidebar and deliver games, live webcams, traffic maps, and other interactive, up-to-the-minute that you didn’t even know existed!
Live.com is a personalized Search homepage that brings your online world and Live Search together in one place. Live.com lets you easily bring all of your favorite parts of the web together in one place. Choose and seamlessly access news, weather, photos, contacts, your mail inbox, and other content from across the web all from your home page.
Windows Sidebar is a pane on the side of the Windows Vista desktop that organizes gadgets and makes them easy to access. Customize Windows Sidebar to suit how you want to interact with it. Move gadgets off the Windows Sidebar and place them anywhere on your desktop. Windows Sidebar gadgets require Windows Sidebar for Vista operating system.
Google Gadgets are mini-applications that work with the Google personalized homepage, Google Desktop, or any page on the web. They can range from simple HTML to complex applications, and can be a calendar, a weather globe, a media player, or anything else you can dream up.
There are two types of Google Gadgets, universal gadgets and desktop gadgets.
Universal Gadget works with the Google homepage, Google Desktop, or your own webpage. It works on webpages where you own the HTML source code, and on multiple Google properties (Personalized Homepage, Google Desktop, Google Page Creator, Blogger). Very easy to create - no downloads necessary, no libraries to learn, and no webserver required. Universal gadgets are written in HTML and/or JavaScript.
Desktop Gadget runs on the user's desktop, does not require a web browser to be open. It supports advanced functionality (offline access, client libraries, multi-user support through Google Talk, and free-form shapes). Desktop Gadgets are written in JavaScript, C, C++, C#, and/or VB.Net.
Apple's Mac OS X dashboard is home to widgets: mini-applications that let you perform common tasks and provide you with fast access to information. With a single click, Dashboard appears, complete with widgets that bring you a world of information — real-time weather, stock tickers, flight information and more — instantly. Dashboard disappears just as easily, so you can get back to what you were doing.
Apple's OS includes a suite of widgets to get you started, and you can add more anytime. With so many widgets at your disposal, the Widget Bar comes in handy. Click the plus sign and Dashboard launches a Widget Bar displaying every available widget. Drag widgets from the Bar to the Dashboard and watch as they appear with a cool ripple effect. Once you have your widgets where you want them, just close the Widget Bar with a single click.
