Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Widget Watch
Yahoo! Widgets 4 released
We give Apple's Dashboard widgets a lot of time in the spotlight (hah!) here at TUAW, but that doesn't mean we aren't paying attention to Yahoo!'s Widgets community. Today, the company released a major v4.0 update that apparently was a long time coming, and they dropped 'Engine' for a name change to simply Yahoo! Widgets 4 (nice move). A meaty blog post on their official blog explains all the major new features in detail, and our own sister blog Download Squad got the scoop last night in their own lengthy post with more screenshots and a review. To summarize the new features, we're looking at: a 40% reduction in memory usage, automatic updates for widgets, a new widget browser, much improved UI and options, as well as some big new features for widget developers like SQLite support.
If you haven't looked at Yahoo! Widgets Engine lately, this jam-packed new release just might have enough to warrant another go-around. What have you got to lose? After all, it's free.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Daniel said 5:29PM on 3-22-2007
My first reaction to YWE was why? I've got dashboard. But then I learned that I could put widgets on my desktop (like in Vista), so I've kept it. It's great.
Sorry for saying I like something about Vista on TUAW. It wont' happen again. (There's really nothing else to like...)
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JT said 11:45AM on 3-22-2007
the mere fact the widgets remain on the desktop (weather, ebay...) makes it very useful to me. and don't come with your "but there's a (commercial) software to make dashboard widgets appear on the desktop"... F12 just blows
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Jeff said 11:58AM on 3-22-2007
Why use F12 when you can set a hot corner?
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Johnny Thrash said 11:58AM on 3-22-2007
Yahoo is still around? Wow... who'd've guessed it.
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andy said 11:59AM on 3-22-2007
you can get dashboard widgets on your desktop with a very easy one line code into terminal and drag and drop between, google widget on desktop and yourll find it, i know nothing about terminal and ive got it.
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JeffDM said 12:09PM on 3-22-2007
I'll probably give it another shot, I used it when it was called Konfabulator. I don't use Dashboard very much, I probably should just turn them off because there are better uses of memory. I don't think a tiny applet is worth the memory that it takes, it adds up very quickly.
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Jeremy said 12:45PM on 3-22-2007
Yeah, the entire reason for the Yahoo Widgets thing is so you can put them on your desktop. (Developer mode for Dashboard is only half a solution.) I don't get it -- all Apple has to do is make Dashboard do that, and Yahoo Widgets is dead. Why do they insist on the "Dashboard" metaphor?
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Jayson said 1:16PM on 3-22-2007
F12 blows? Huh? What blows is a bunch of widgets on my desktop eating up CPU and memory...
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Brian Reading said 2:16PM on 3-22-2007
Now if only they would put out another beta of Yahoo Messenger for Mac. It's coming on a year since they released Beta 1, and Mac support is starting to look hopeless again.
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Thomas said 3:16PM on 3-22-2007
I use Yahoo Widget Engine under 10.3.9 since I don't have Dashboard and I love it. I just wish I could get Dashboard widgets to work in it. :)
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Lars said 2:55PM on 3-22-2007
Jayson, you don't really think that Dashboard doesn't eat cpu and memory (even when it not even showing?) Because it does. Open up Activity Monitor and see for yourself.
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Mark said 3:13PM on 3-22-2007
I see a bunch of posts about desktopping widgets, but none about another key function of Yahoo! Widgets: having widgets while using XP. Any time I switch to my XP partition I'm greeted by a slew of widgets similar in function to my Dashboard ones, helping ease the loss of functionality hopping between OS' brings. Thanks to some dedicated folks there's many that mimic the look and feel of Apple's default widgets so it feels all the more similar.
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Mark said 3:15PM on 3-22-2007
Lars:
They really mostly eat memory when not displayed, and the cpu jumps a bit when visible and active. Your point still remains valid, of course.
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Sam said 10:10PM on 3-22-2007
It's true that Apple copied Yahoo!Widgets (formerly "Konfabulator") in most major respects when creating Dashboard, and that its utility is thus reduced to Mac users. But IMHO, with Dashboard as with others, only use the built-in Apple technology if you're really too lazy to install something better.
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samfish said 7:35PM on 3-23-2007
Dashboard sucks. Widgets are really pointless if you can't keep them on the desktop.
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finitodecordoba said 7:52PM on 3-25-2007
Dashboard's developer mode confuses me. Everyone says activating it puts my Dashboard widgets on my desktop. Then why don't they stay there? Once I open my apps to use them, the widget(s) are on top of all the windows!!!
And yes, Dashboard does eat up memory and CPU whether displayed or not. As long as any number of widgets are left open.
And lastly, Dashboard came under a lot of controversy when it debuted. People said it copied Konfabulator but Apple claimed it was a revamped return of Desk Accessories. I don't really care, 'cause I disabled it anyway. I got a bunch of Menu Extras and use Geek Tool to see the kind of stuff I used widgets for on my desktop and menubar.
But I'll at least read the release notes...
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