A couple of new Live Search gadgets designed for the Vista Sidebar add out of the browser search and traffic results to Microsoft’s latest operating system.
The Live Search team blogged about their two new gadgets for Vista. Their first new toy, a Live Search Gadget, connects through a web service to fetch results for queries.
There is also a little customization available for the gadget. Users can have up to two additional custom searches by creating macros, or selecting existing ones from the Live Gallery.
The Live Search Traffic Gadget puts real-time traffic data for 23 cities in the Vista Sidebar. Users can also follow shortcuts to driving directions, local search, or a full-screen traffic view from the gadget.
Microsoft may have another gadget ready soon for the Vista Sidebar. LiveSide noted in its discussion of the new Live Search gadgets that an official Messenger gadget is rumored to be in development.
We don’t see any reason why Microsoft’s Windows Live crew shouldn’t build out more gadgets for the Vista Sidebar. In the Live Search gadget example, Nathan Buggia showed how he had a Craigslist macro in place as a custom search option.
With Live Expo up and running, a gadget for it should be something the people who build them for Vista would want to develop and deploy quickly. Why should Microsoft just give traffic away to Craigslist when it might be able to keep some of it within Expo?
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