The Truth: Widgets Are Worthless Toy Utilities.

Macs are the most personal of computers; a machine with character and charm, dependable, stable, and more than a worthy tool.

Some of those Mac tools, specifically Dashboard Widgets, are pure toys, worthless pseudo sub utility eye candy.

With the exception of games, most of the utilities and applications on our Macs serve a specific purpose aimed at doing something worthy.

Even Apple’s iLife is a package of value applications for which nearly everyone will find one or two to be wholly beneficial.

We use word processors, graphics applications, browsers and email, and a host of utilities that help us get organized.

For Mac OS X Tiger, Apple included the Dashboard and Widgets, worthless though most of them are.

Like the Trouble With Tribbles in Star Trek Classic, Widgets seem to be born pregnant and breed beyond digital capability.

The truth must be faced. For the most part, Dashboard Widgets are worthless toys, sub utilities of dubious value, pure eye candy.

Take a look at Apple’s Top 50 Widgets. It’s an M & M bag of candy coated sugary goodness that’s devoid of food value.

#1 on the list is iStat nano which offers detailed information on your Mac’s CPU, memory, hard drive, IP addresses, even CPU temperatures.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics. Is that information worth looking at, let alone taking up space on your Mac’s valuable screen real estate?

Don’t get me started about others in the Top 10. A virtual talking friend called Rot Rox? Puhleeeeze!!

There’s a Widget that helps you keep track of how long you have to wait until Christmas. Boy, that’s an NBC Must See Widget, huh?

There’s a Basketball game, and a Squishy Blue Bubble, to complement Chi Pet. See what I mean? Worthless pseudo toys.

Fortunately, all those Widgets are freeware. Who would dare pay for such applications of low socio economic standing?

THe search for value in a Widget is endless. Not because there are so many, but because there are so few.

NatGeo gets you photos from National Geographic magazine. That’s a big whoop unless you’re collecting photos illegally.

Games are everywhere in the Top 50 Widget List-o-Rama, which says something about how productive some Mac users can really be.

There’s a Wikipedia Widget, but why? Why bother? Wikipedia’s already available with a single click in your browser’s bookmarks.

Hey, who doesn’t need the extra value and productivity from the Whoopee Cushion Widget, now at version 2.0? How could it improve over version 1.0?

How many times can you actually use a digital Whoopee Cushion Widget before it gets stale? Literally and figuratively.

Searching for value in a Widget is a challenge, even with the Top 50 List. Way down at #33 is the WeatherBug Local Weather, with detailed weather and statistical data for most places on planet earth.

Supergirl came in higher on the list. I’m ashamed to admit I downloaded Supergirl. But I didn’t inhale.

Radar In Motion barely made the Top 50, and I use that one to make myself feel bad when looking at radar and weather in sunny Honolulu.

The truth is as I’ve presented it to you. Widgets are worthless. They’re pure toys totally devoid of intrinsic value, eye candy for those easily suceptible to cunning phrases such as ”these are not the droids you’re looking for.”

For crying out loud-- there’s a Tarot Reading Widget. It’s worse than digital poker, or Widget Solitaire. Your Mac cannot tell your future. Give it up!!

Where’s the value in those thousands of Dashboard Widgets? Click over to the Business category on the Apple site and you’re in for a treat.

Stickies!! Sure, there’s Stickies in OS X, but why not a sticky Widget, too.

As if my geeky friends are not translucent enough from 18 hours a day in a dark room in front of a digital flat panel display of the only world they truly know, there’s a Sundial Widget for tracking time.

The Business section gave me more opportunities to try Widgets that could actually do something I could use. In the end, my search for value failed.

There’s a Gold Price Widget which looks cool alongside the iPad Widget.

It’s just a note pad that looks like an iPod but with a screen the size of which we really want in an iPod but can’t get.

Some Widgets appeared to be able to do little more than just sit in the Dashboard and draw ooohs and aaahs from unknowing and unsuspecting pre-switchers.

A To-Do List Widget? That’s clever. There is one single, solitary, Dashboard Widget that caught my eye, and is sure to be popular among some Mac users.

It’s How To Make Money Online. I’ll get back to you on the value quotient. I’m a state worker so I have the time to learn.

The truth can be a terrible burden, but people need to know.

Dashboard Widgets are worthless curiosities with high calories and low nutritional value, toy utilities for the weak minded, popular with recent switchers from Windows PCs, who, it seems, are attracted to glitter and bright colors, and Apple delivered.

Check out the daily list of our 9 Word mini-Reviews at NoodleMac, and Kate's daily in-depth Mac software reviews at PixoBebo.

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.

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.