The gadgets require Google Desktop of one version or another but the desktop app is free, easy to install and from reviews it is not a performance drain. I like the sidebar version. It has been out for awhile and enhancements have made it a cleaner meaner application.
However, as I was browsing the Google gadget directory, I fell asleep. As might be expected there are many variations of clocks, calendars, calculators and weather forecasters, like the world of computers and the internet does not have enough of these already. And who doesn’t need another YouTube viewer? They do clutter up the search for something useful or fun.
The reason for the level of redundancy might be that the majority of the gadgets are not designed by Google but by freelance developers. Google is bringing development talent to it’s site by making it easy for freelancers and students to contribute with simple Software Submission tools an SDK and Developer Forum and providing recognition through website credits and bios. You can get to the gadgets by developer in the Hall of Fame where there are links for each developer providing their articles, gadgets, blog posts, websites and more. I am sure this is of great value to Google in many ways. From the Google Desktop Gadgets homepage there are some filters for gadget hunting but just basics like, Popularity, Date and Name. There are also categorizations like Finance, Communication and Sports etc. As a way to evaluate which gadget might be a hit, it did create some fatigue wading through the commonplace. My suggestion would be to add a filter for “most appreciated” based on rating.
There is a rating system that is based on feedback for each gadget. It is the normal 1 to 5 stars but to get to it you have to look at each gadget that interests you. There are a lot of duds out there. Some of the higher rated gadgets are the retro games like Pong and HangMan. This might be because the developer was not reaching for the stars in terms of complexity and hit his mark. Some of the lower rated gadgets are some of the most daring, like the attempts at Radio and TV gadgets because they take a bit savvier user in many cases to set up and run. However there are some exceptions to that rule, for example NASA TV and Soma FM Radio.
One of the most fun things I found was the Answer Ball which is a takeoff of the retro Magic 8 Ball which is still for sale in toy stores even though the answers are always cheesy and the same.
There are a few gadgets that can be localized, Boston, as with the Day Night World Clock and Weather Globe, both of which draw a crowd because they look nice but are not very functional.
Probably the most functional and highly rated are the gadgets tied to advertisement like the Ebay Seller Watch and Auction watch.
In the technical gadget category one that really stands out is the Desktop Netstat, which monitors and reports on your computer's network connections in real-time. . There are suggestions but high praise as well.
The truth is I found some fun stuff that I have added to my desktop including a calendar no less. The overall experience on a scale of 1 to 10 rates about a 5. Good effort but needs more work. Still I found it worth my effort.
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