Ultimate tool for geek – Part II
For about 2 weeks and thanks to vowe, I tested Kapsules, a desktop widget engine for Microsoft Windows. A widget is like a miniature application which rests on your desktop. Kapsules is great but quite limited concerning the number of widgets.
The leader in this field is Konfabulator. This tool is coming from the MacOS world and the first Windows (XP, 2000) version was released last week. You can download the version 1.8 here, this standard version integrates some standard widgets. The stability is ok (no crash in 5 days of intensive usage), the memory foorprint is more or less ok – about 10 MB per widget. I installed it, tested it and….switched definitely to Konfabulator.
Konfabulator is doing about the same things as Kapsules. The main difference, as already mentionned, is the number of widgets. Kapsules is quite an “old” (first release in February 2003 ;-) program on the MacOS, and now, a lot of widgets are compatible for both platforms (MacOS and Windows).
Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your AirPort signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather. What sets it apart from other scripting applications is that it takes full advantage of Apple’s Quartz rendering. This allows Widgets to blend fluidly into your desktop without the constraints of traditional window borders. Toss in some sliding and fading, and these little guys are right at home.
I am using four widgets: The Weather (standard package), What to do (standard package), Battery (standard package) and a mini Calendar. How does this look like?
A tool for geek, I told you :-)
PS: to be able to have two instances of a widget runnning at the same time (as for me with the weather in Male, Maldives and Mulhouse, France), just make a copy of the corresponding file (.widget) with another name!