How To Track The Latest Widgets By Using A Widget.

Everyone uses the Dashboard Widgets on Mac OS X, right? OK, mostly. How do you know when there are new Widgets ready to download?

Inquiring minds of Widget collectors everywhere want to know. Actually, it’s very easy, and you don’t even have to click over the Apple’s web site and sort through the latest. There’s a Widget that does that for you.

Sometimes I regret that we have a Mac360 category called Widget Watch because that implies that we’re watching the latest Widgets for you. Yes, I have a few favorite Widgets, but the fast majority of Widgets I look at are perfect-- for someone else.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone tell you about all the latest Widgets highlighted on Apple’s Dashboard web site pages without having to sort through them yourself? That’s what I thought. So, I prayed about it for a long time.

Prayers work for some things, not so much for others. The bright red Jaguar XK-E I prayed for to accompany a utility that tracked Widgets didn’t materialize, at least, not yet. But, in its place is Apple Dashboard Widgets, the little Widget that could.

Guess what? It works. The Widget displays the latest 20 recent submissions to Apple for inclusion on their Dashboard Widgets page.

Just bring up Dashboard, and scroll through the latest Widgets to come out of the closet, so to speak.

There’s a description of each Widget, and a link. Find a Widget that looks interesting, then click. Safari opens a browser window which takes you right to the Dashboard Widget web page, ready for viewing and eventual download and perhaps a little extra Widget Bliss.

We know how much fun that can be.

While the Widget seems to work just fine, and it lets you scroll through the latest 20 Widgets instead of scouring Apple’s web site, making it a handy Widget, it’s also a Widget without a name.

Actually, it’s a Widget with names, as in plural, more than one. MacUpdate’s link calls it Apple Latest Widgets, which is perfectly acceptable to me, but maybe not to Apple’s lawyers who don’t like someone else selling something using the Apple name.

If they changed the name to Latest Widgets it would still be the same great utility, same great visual delight, but with 33-percent less copyright and/or trademark infringement (I get those two mixed up, though both seem to require lawyers).

The Widget itself, when it’s working in the Dashboard, is just called Dashboard Widgets. Either way, it works for me, though knowing there’s drama somewhere around the lawyer community can be exciting. To watch. From afar.

Still, necessity is the mother of invention, and this is a handy utility that would make any mother proud (except for the when lawyers get into the act and confiscate first born sons).

Look how much time and effort Apple Latest Widgets saves. One wrist flick opens Dashboard, then scroll and read. On the other hand, you’d have to browse to the Apple web site, click on Downloads, click on All Downloads, click on Widgets, then click on Just Added, then click on each one to get a description of each.

Whew. That’s almost as bad as changing diapers 27 times a day.

Do that same routine of checking Apple’s web site 27 times a day for new Dashboard Widget and you can see why invention has a mother. Of course, if you’re checking New Widget Status 27 times a day, then your mother has probably already disowned you.

What’s my favorite new Dashboard Widget (besides the Widget that tells me about the new Widgets)? What else could it possibly be except the University of North Carolina’s Insect Museum Blog Widget.

I am not making that up. Honestly. Cross my heart and swear and hope not to have to buy Pampers and Huggies by the truckload one day (and I’m serious about that).

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Off Topic #58 - Do politicians use personal computers? Of course. We’ve heard Barack Obama prefers a Mac, while Hillary Clinton uses a Dell, though, apparently neither of the candidates can bowl. Does Obama’s potential vice president use a Mac? Even Clinton acknowledges Apple’s brand power but says she can’t afford a Mac. Maybe she’d win if she used a Mac.

Off Topic #23 - Mac OS X Leopard is now at version 10.5.2 which we’re proclaiming the best yet, though we expect version 10.5.3 soon. If you haven’t upgraded yet, don’t forget that Leopard is on sale at the Mac360 Store, and so are the latest Leopard books. If you plan to order Leopard or a Leopard tips book from Amazon, please consider using the Mac360 Store to place your order (it’s really Amazon). Click Here to look at the latest Leopard books.