Quick! Tell me the difference between a widget and a gadget! Who makes which one and how are they different? BUZZZZZ! Time’s up! I can’t explain it very well either. Here is what I do know about these twins that were separated at birth. Some work only on the web, some only work on Windows desktops while others only work on Macs! Here is a brief run-down.
Yahoo Widgets continues to improve their collection of widgets than can run on the desktop for windows or dashboard for Mac.
Google Gadgets offers an ever growing library of gadgets for their iGoogle homepage.
Microsoft Gadgets (Once again, why can’t Microsoft have one version of anything? Microsoft has three kinds while Apple only has one kind of widget)
- Web gadgets – run on a web site, such as Live.com or Spaces.Live.com
- Sidebar gadgets – run on the desktop or be docked onto, run on the Windows Sidebar.
- SideShow gadgets – run on auxiliary external displays, such as on the outside of a laptop or even on an LCD panel in a keyboard, and potentially mobile phones and other devices.
Mac Dashboard widgets obviously offers an impressive array of widgets for the Mac OS dashboard.
If you can’t make up your mind which ones to use, then here’s an interesting idea. The free AmnestyWidgets Generator will let you actually convert millions of web widgets, games or videos into gadgets that can run on your Vista sidebar or desktop as well as your Mac Dashboard! Here is the Vista version and here is the Mac OS version.
Final Thoughts:
It is mind-numbing how many new widgets and gadgets there are every day. The best part is that just about all of them are free and easy to install. There is a wide variety of these tools that can actually provide useful productive information or just be fun. The choice is your’s which ones to use.