Widget Watch: iStat Pro 4.5 released

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of widgets -- I like the concept just fine, I just don't really have much use for most of the functions. One big exception is iSlayer's iStat Pro. For the uninitiated, iStat Pro is a system-monitoring widget that shows you information about your CPU, RAM and Network activity, the temperature and fan speed of your Mac, what processes are running, how long your system has been up, information about your battery and how many times it has been "cycled" (meaning depleted/fully charged), the list goes on.

Today iSlayer released iStat Pro 4.5 which not only updated the UI and some of the standard features, but added some new features as well. From iSlayer's blog:

Updated network section with new details & controls for PPP/PPPoE connections
Improved PPC temperature and fan support
Improved Intel temperature support
Improved S.M.A.R.T. drive temperature monitoring
Fixed bugs with battery section and 10.5
Clicking on a disc icon will now open the drive in finder
New keyboard shortcuts ("g" - Update external IP, 1-8 - Change skin color)
Added button to launch Activity Monitor
Other various bug fixes
Various UI tweaks

I particularly like the addition of the Activity Monitor launcher and the ability to launch a drive in Finder by clicking on its name.

iSlayer Pro 4.5 is available for Intel and PPC Macs running Tiger or Leopard and is donationware.

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Source: http://islayer.com/blog/?p=246

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Hardware Software Freeware Widget Watch

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of widgets -- I like the concept just fine, I just don't really have much use for most of the...

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Widgets take up (virtual) system memory. When you have loads installed, it slows down daily operations. checkout detailled information in your activity monitor to see what i mean. Some widgets are coded horribly and become a system resource hogg.... ;(( That's why I don't like them much either. But i've installed istat now as one of my single fav's. Thanks for notifying!
Cheers, T.

January 05 2008 at 4:00 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

homan2

This is probably my favorite widget as well, though I get my most important system info from menumeters.

http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/

Does anyone know of a way in iStat to hide network interfaces (eg bluetooth)?

December 19 2007 at 5:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to homan2's comment

Christina Warren

Yeah, click on the Settings button (the "i") then click on Display and under the network preferences, uncheck Bluetooth.

December 19 2007 at 5:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Zach

iStat is probably the best and most useful wiki out there. It's great to be able to get a complete reading of what's going on in your computer in just one wiki. Apple should incorporate it into a OS upgrade.

December 18 2007 at 4:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jigme

you know when you mis-read something at first glance, often with hilariously confusing results?

i just briefly asked myself the question: "Why are TUAW watching midgets?"

December 18 2007 at 8:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sam

yay kernal panic!

December 18 2007 at 3:29 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

greg

Have you heard about CheckUp for Mac OS X? What's the difference between both products?

December 18 2007 at 2:26 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Big John

Oh! Does it still come with the "Locks up Dashboard upon activation for 15-30s" feature?

December 17 2007 at 10:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ted Fitzgerald

This has got to be the best widget I've ever seen. And why I haven't seen it before kind of blows my mind! Great find!

And you really should use your dashboard more. It's very very handy. I even use it to input my receipts into quicken! The widgets are useful, efficient, and use very little system resources for what they do.

December 17 2007 at 9:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Kenji F

Shame that it still doesn't support fan data for the 15" PBG4 Double-Layer SD. But I still love the little widget that could.

December 17 2007 at 9:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ggolinsky

I never understand why people don't use their widgets more. I have my rss feed widget for all my rss feeds, weather, translation, calculator, iStat nano, and more. It's a great way to do stuff really quickly.

December 17 2007 at 8:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply