With all the buzz that our First Lady, Michelle Obama, has created with her fashion choices, it was inevitable that an iGoogle gadget would be devoted to her. She has already been dubbed a style icon and even graces the cover of this month’s Vogue magazine.
The “First Lady Michelle Obama Fashion Watch” gadget allows users in iGoogle to keep up with Michelle Obama. The gadget has dated entries where you can see what the First Lady wore on her daily outings.
I love that this gadget allows you to scroll through the pictures, without having to refresh your page each time. It is a definite time saver. I also love that you can adjust the size of the picture in the settings. You can save real estate on your page when you are not actively looking at the gadget.
Will you be adding this gadget to your iGoogle page?
Because I enjoy learning little pieces of information here and there, I have always been a fan of “how to” sites. (Always makes for good cocktail talk.) It seems that nearly 4 million users on iGoogle feel the same way I do.
The “How to of the Day” gadget from wikiHow.com is a simple RSS feed of the website’s content. In the home view, you can see up to 9 of the most recent “how to’s.” The canvas view is just an expanded RSS reader. In both the home view and canvas view, clicking on the titles will take you to wikiHow.com to see a more in depth entry post.
This gadget is a simple reminder to get your daily dose of “how to.” And if you like the snippet in the gadget, you can always visit the website.
A while back I reviewed this gadget which had a spider that followed around your mouse. The issue with it was that it was restrained to the inside of the Gadget window. Luckily enough someone had the same vision as I did. While lady bugs may not be as cool as spiders, I am still satisfied by seeing little critters crawling around.
As described earlier the Lady Bugs gadget creates little bugs that crawl around the screen. Of course it is restricted to inside the iGoogle page. You don’t have to worry about those little critters escaping and walking around your background. The coolest part about the lady bugs is that they run away from your mouse. So you will undoubtedly be spending much of your iGoogle time chasing them all into a corner.
There are a few things that need to be noted about the Lady Bugs. First of all when you add the gadget you have to give the gadget permission, because it’s power extends beyond the self contained gadget area. Than in the place of the actual gadget is basically a big ad. I wouldn’t suggest clicking on any of those links. Then I would suggest going to the settings and adding more bugs. I was able to have 20 without much of a slowdown. Excuse me while I go try tosmush the ladybugs.
I personally love to study Artificial Intelligence. I hope to be among the scientists that finally create a true Artificially Intelligent being. Until then I can have fun with what progress we have made. Such is true with Karl the Live Robot.
Karl the Live Robot is truly one of those gadgets that stand out among the rest. Karl is not Intelligent by any means. Instead he simulates a conversation. But he is darn good at it. You may not believe me until you try it, but I swear there is someone on the other end communicating with me. Karl appears as human as me and you. Well, OK, sometimes he does show his hand. For one thing it thinks I am Paco. Also with some long conversations you will notice that Karl occasionally falls back on just rephrasing your statement. Regardless he keeps me company… Which is sad…
As for gadget implementation there are no ads or wasted space. One thing I did notice is that under the settings there is an option for him to remember you and access your friends groups. I believe this may be left over from a possible translation from a facebook version. That is unless there is some sort of Friends Group on iGoogle that I am not yet aware of. If so I apologize Karl.
By the way don’t ask it for a riddle. The riddle he gives is to long to fit in the Gadget box.
Every once in a while I like to change things up on my iGoogle page with a silly gadget that doesn’t have much purpose. My most recent find is the ultra customizable Spider.
The Spider gadget is fairly simple. It is just a spider that crawlers around withing the restraints of the gadget. Yes I know, it would be a hundred times cooler if it left the gadget. However even withing the little window it remains entertaining. For the most part, the spider goes in the direction of your mouse. Then it wraps around the gadget when it hits the border. It is kinda entertaining to watch this little spider continue on with its business while you do your business.
What really separates this gadget from other mindless gadgets is its customizability. You can modify just about everything in this gadget. The color of the spider’s head, belly, and legs can all be changed. This is done in the settings with a hex color code. There are plenty of sites that will help you get those codes with a quick search by Google. Also you can edit the size and speed of the spider. If that wasn’t enough you can change the background. This can be done with a simple hex color code or even better you can put in a picture via URL. It should be noted that I found it difficult to find a picture that was the right size. You basically have to find either a very large “small” photo in Google search, or a small “medium” photo. But there is one thing that just made me giddy to find out. This gadget takes full use of maximizing. There are so many gadgets out there that ignore this feature of iGoogle. However, Spider gives you a much bigger spider window and a better interface for changing things. So I hope that you give this itsy bitsy spider a try because I sure have been having fun.
Horoscopes are interesting to say the least. I know that they are written so that anyone can apply them to their day. However, I swear that sometimes they are written just for me. I don’t know if it is a good or a bad thing that I follow horoscopes, but regardless the Personalized Horoscope Widget makes a nice addition to my iGoogle page.
There are several choices for horoscope gadgets, but I found the Personalized Horoscope Widget to be the nicest. This gadget passes on all levels for a gadget. One of the most important in my opinion is the aesthetics. I kinda like my iGoogle page to look snazzy. Luckily not only does the Personalized Horoscope Widget have a a pleasing design it also allows for added customization. There may only be 2 measly skins to choose from, but with 3 shades of color for each you can match it to the rest of your page fairly easily. Also for added customization you can input your name to be displayed at the top of the gadget. The finished product is a finely tuned gadget.
Also the Personalized Horoscope Widget nearly masters the problem of space limitation. There is in fact some ads at the bottom of the gadget are barely noticeable. I will admit that there is some white space wasted at the very bottom of the gadget, but for some reason it doesn’t bother me like some gadgets do. This is definitely a valuable gadget.
I hate optical illusions, but not in a bad way. They always trip me out. Ever since my high school math teacher showed some of them to me, I have been fascinated by optical illusions. One day I may see a vase in the picture and the next day I see two faces. Now I have the Famous Optical Illusions Gadget to trip me out on a daily basis.
The Famous Optical Illusions provides you with the standard random picture each time you refresh your iGoogle page. These pictures are varied and high quality. I have yet to see a repeat optical illusion. Each one I have seen has been effective in regards to its “illusion”. Unfortunately for a simple picture gadget, Famous Optical Illusions has its fair share of flaws.
The gadget is about as miserable as it gets in regards to the amount of space it takes up. There is a huge link underneath the picture. The link does take you to more optical illusions, which I suppose is useful. However, this link is repeated because by clicking on the picture you are sent to the same location. I could justify that link though. To waste even more space a secondary link is featured which sends you to “lawyer jokes”. Who doesn’t want some lawyer jokes? Well I know I don’t. Nor do I want space wasted on my iGoogle page wasted for such a meaningless link.
Famous Optical Illusions is an ideal example of a iGoogle gadget that serves its purpose, however is too greedy with its space. I understand why a developer would want to add some advertisement to their iGoogle gadget, however, they need to not pass that fine line of using up too much space.
