Google Gadgets aren’t as exciting as they sound – there are, in other words, no brightly colored grappling hooks or belt-mounted free food dispensers. Yet Google Gadgets can be handy, and they’ve now been tailored to work on Macs.
Mac users who have no previous experience with Google Gadgets may want some background information, so the company’s own Mike Pinkerton explains, “This feature brings hundreds of existing Google Gadgets to Dashboard. You can add fun gadgets (such as bowling, virtual flower pot, or YouTube), useful gadgets (weather maps, driving directions, and news), and others that offer daily wisdom for the ages (Confucius, horoscopes, and even a joke of the day!).”
Also, “These gadgets look and behave just like any other Dashboard widget, so you don’t have to learn anything new.”
That last comment was aimed at users, but it might also, in a sense, apply to designers – along with the Google Gadgets for the Mac announcement came the ability to make a single gadget function on both Macs and PCs. Maybe (although probably not) this will alleviate some of the tension between the two communities.
In any case, it’s a good try on Google’s part. Now if the company would just release some Google Gadgets of the type that Batman might use, we’d be all set.
