Konfabulate

I've just about totally converted to using OSX for all my everyday computer things, so I haven't paid much attention to my Windows desktop in the last few days.

However, after using OSX and its Dashboard, I need something to spice up my XP desk for those gaming sessions. Konfabulator is where Apple got the idea for Dashboard, so I figured it would work just great for putting some of the tiny apps I've grown to like onto my desktop.


Take the widget at the left. It grabs the latest stories on the homepage of Digg for me, so I can see if it's worth loading up FireFox (or Camino if I'm under OSX) or not. That's not all it does, though. I can check on the status of stories I've submitted, or ones people on my friends list have dugg. And it isn't just this widget that has tons of options, nearly ever one available on Konfabulator's site is loaded with options and settings to make them work and look like you want them to. My personal favorite is the CPU meter. It seems like a trivial guage to have, but if you notice that all of a sudden your CPU use spikes to 100% and stays there, something is very wrong. It's helped me stop a few runaway programs from taking the system with them as they crashed into the ground

Other good widets like the ones at the right give me a nice idea of my wireless signal strength. One of my favorites is the trash bin that tells me how many items are in the can and how much of my disk they're taking up.

They're ultra cool and don't give your desktop that "jazzed up" feeling that things like objectdock do. It doesn't make you feel like you're wasting your CPU time; either, as they take up very little of your horsepower. I can look at my CPU use widget and tell that.