New Sidebars for All

Posted by Kevin Tom, Product Manager

Happy Holidays! Santa has delivered Google Desktop 4.5 in 27 more languages -- and the Japanese version is also coming out of beta. Now everyone can take advantage of new features, including:

Transparent Sidebar - The new Sidebar fits seamlessly with your desktop environment. Gadgets look right at home in the Sidebar and content-heavy gadgets are easier to tell apart with new frames and icons. And you can still have the Sidebar "Always on top," "not on top," or in "Auto-hide" mode.

Compatibility with the latest software - This new version is compatible with Microsoft Vista, Office 2007 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0.

The Google Desktop documentation and SDK have also been updated. It's easier than ever for first-time and experienced developers to create gadgets. We can't wait to see more of them!

Holiday Gadgets

Posted by James Yum, Support Engineer

We've released some very fun and festive gadgets just in time for the holidays! Try these out:

	Christmas Tree by EK Chung and James Yum [USA] A tree that you can decorate. Choose lights, bows, stockings, and ornaments for your tree to add distinctive holiday cheer.
	Countdown to New Year by Teodor Filimon [Romania] A winter calendar that shows how much time is left until January 1. This gadget's main purpose is to count down these final days of the year, so be sure to have it running New Year's Eve!
	GX'mas Tree by Lahiru Lakmal Priyadarshana [Sri Lanka] A nice "Xmas" tree right on your desktop, with lights that reflect your CPU usage. Choose your favorite holiday song to play in the background.
	Christmas Frame by Bijoy Thangaraj [India] A dynamic Christmas frame that plays a carol when you click on the tree!
	Virtual Christmas Tree by Catalin Avram [Romania] A beautiful tree that you can decorate just like a real one. (Hint: Click the Ornaments box at the bottom of the tree, choose a decoration, and then click everywhere you want the decoration to appear.) You can also listen to carols, watch the snow fall, or shop for a holiday gift.

Many thanks to the talented developers of these fine gadgets. We encourage all of you to create and share yours for holidays you celebrate. To get started, visit our Developer Site and be sure to grab the Google Desktop SDK.

Happy Holidays from the Google Desktop Team!

Developer doc updated (more to come!)

Posted by Kathy Walrath, Technical Writer

Take a look at our updated developer documentation � pages aimed at anyone who uses the Google Desktop SDK. Of course, the new doc describes the API changes in our latest release, but we've made other changes, too. The top-level and gadget doc has been reorganized, looks more like other Google API doc, and has some new navigational aids such as simplified side links and hierarchical links at the top.

We're still working on the doc. One of our short-term plans is to post code examples, so you won't have to download the SDK to see some source code. Another is to post a tutorial that leads you through writing your first gadget.

If you miss the old doc � maybe we removed a mostly obsolete or confusing page that you still find useful � you can download an archived version. See Using the Gadget API for details.

What else should we do? Please post your suggestions to the Developer Forum.

More and more gadgets

Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager

We hope you're liking the new Google Desktop Sidebar that we introduced last week, but we hope you like it even more with these great new gadgets:

• NPR Now Playing - Are you a fan of NPR? Well, they've created a new gadget for you. You can keep the NPR Now Playing gadget in your Sidebar or on your desktop for easy access to NPR programming. You'll never be far from your favorite programs and you can start listening with just a push of the button.
  

• Moon Phase - We have gadgets to tell you about the weather, but what about the phases of the moon? This latest gadget tells you where we are, lunar-phase-wise, on your desktop. Simply place this virtual moon anywhere you want and hover your mouse over it to get more details.

• Wikipedia Search - For all those inquisitive minds out there, here's another great gadget. Whenever there's a topic you want to explore or just something you don't know about, theWikipedia search gadget lets you quickly search Wikipedia. It also shows results and suggestions while you type, and saves your recent searches for easy access.

And if you want to customize your Sidebar, there are several ways to do it. From the Sidebar options menu, you can turn off the "Always on Top" feature to allow it to go to the background (easily bring it to the front by pressing shift twice). Or select the "Auto-hide" feature from the same menu to hide the Sidebar off the screen when your mouse isn't near it. And just drag the edge of the Sidebar to adjust the width.

To find out more about what you can do with your Sidebar, check out our features page or visit the Google Gadgets page to find other new gadgets.

And by the way, have a happy Thanksgiving.

Check out the new Sidebar

Posted by Kevin Tom, Product Manager

The Google Desktop Sidebar has always been great at delivering content personalized to individual users, ever since it was introduced way back in the second version of Google Desktop. But we kept thinking: what's a better way to deliver this content? In later versions of Google Desktop we let gadgets float on the desktop. But the Sidebar was starting to get a bit jealous and we couldn't restrain it any longer, so now there's Google Desktop 4.5, featuring a Sidebar with a new look.

The new Sidebar is transparent, so it fits seamlessly with your desktop environment. Gadgets that fought for attention now look right at home, and content-heavy gadgets get new frames and icons that make it easier to tell them apart. All of this leads to a better place to find your email, news, feeds, stock prices, weather and other essential information. And this version is compatible with all of the latest software including Microsoft Vista, Office 2007 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0. So what are you waiting for? Try the new Sidebar in Google Desktop now.

Getting the most out of Google Desktop

Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager

When we were designing Google Desktop, we knew that people would use it in different ways. It's been interesting to see just what you're doing with it. Legal Andrew points out that one way to improve your experience is to simply have the right set of gadgets in your Sidebar, so that, for example, the email gadget keeps you from having to switch constantly between Outlook and your other programs. At Lifehacker, Adam Pash points out that you can tweak Google Desktop to get it to do more of what you want. And Ionut Alex. Chitu came up with a list of 10 Great Uses For Google Desktop, including control panel replacement, browser cache, and file recovery.

If you haven't already, make sure to check out our features page to see the full list of what Google Desktop has to offer. Or if you have other ideas, share them with us.

Helpful resources

Posted by Bryan Woodward, User Support Coordinator

With new versions of Google Desktop frequently being released, we've really been adding to the feature set. To help you navigate this maze of features and improve your experience with Desktop, here are two help resources you may want to check out.

U2U Groups

U2U (User to User) groups are official Google Groups that enable users to post feature requests, suggestions, bugs or problem reports, and general questions about Google products and services. What's unique about a U2U group is that not only do experienced users weigh in on your feedback, but an official Google presence, our very own Google Desktop Guide, regularly participates in the discussion. Expert feedback combined with the ability to search over all group posts provides a powerful resource. In addition to the Google Desktop Help and Enterprise U2U groups, groups are also available for other products like Toolbar, Picasa, Maps, Calendar, and more.

Help Center

We maintain a Google Desktop Help Center in 12 languages to help you use Google Desktop. You can browse the content or search the Knowledge Base to find an answer to your inquiry. If you're unable to find your answer on the Help Center or the U2U group, or you would like to leave us feedback or suggestions privately, you can, through the Help Center.

And if you have questions about other Google products and services, bookmark the general Google Help portal: http://www.google.com/support

Google Gadget Awards

Posted by Samantha Crow, Product Marketing Manager

The Google Desktop Gadget Contest ended a few weeks ago, but if you're a college or university student in the U.S., we've got a new challenge for you. How do you feel about writing a gadget that (could) get you a date, is really smart or pretty, or that your friends just can't get enough of? We just launched the Google Gadget Awards, which challenges U.S. college students to create clever Google Gadgets. And we've got a great panel of judges, including Commander Taco, Founder of Slashdot; Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine; and John Hennessy, President of Stanford University. We've seen some great entries in the past and are excited to see what you can come up with now.

If you're not a university student in the U.S., you can still create Google Gadgets. Although they won't be entered in the Awards, if they're clever enough you just might find them on desktops around the world.

Results of the Google Desktop Gadget Contest!

Posted by Stephen Drennan, User Support Coordinator

We received a number of creative submissions for the Google Desktop Gadget Contest. In fact, because there were so many great gadgets to choose from, we�ve decided to recognize a few additional standouts.

Honorable Mention:

10x10 News by Turhan Aydin - Keep an eye on snapshots of world events from tenbyten.org.

Carrier by Petar Petrov - Try and sink your opponent's fleet! Since this gadget uses our Google Talk API, you can play against friends as well.

Gate2Home Virtual Keyboard by Ilan Bar-Magen - This keyboard emulator allows you to easily type in characters from multiple languages. As a universal gadget, it works with both the Google homepage and Google Desktop. To add this to your desktop, simply select "Add gadgets..." from the options menu, then search for [ virtual keyboard ].

Hot or Not by Ron Huang - You can easily submit your ratings for photos of users from hotornot.com, or simply view a slideshow. This gadget also allows you to set your preferences for both age and gender.

Weather forecasts of Japan by IT Design BitWiz - This handy gadget displays weather forecasts (complete with pictures) for various areas of Japan.

Memory Smiley by Bijoy Thangaraj & Nirmal Jose - See your memory usage represented by a Smiley. As your memory usage fluctuates, your Smiley reacts accordingly.

RSS to Speech by Alexey Polkovnikov - Add your favorite feeds, then hear your feeds read aloud by your computer's default text-to-speech voice.

Shortcut Gadget by Teodor Mihai Filimon - Frequently used programs are always a click away with this gadget. You can even assign your own icons to each shortcut.

And without further ado, the Google Desktop Gadget Contest winners are...

3rd place � Day/Night World Clock by Beatrix Gottanka � We couldn't have designed a better world clock. Not only does this clock show you the local time, but there's also a map that indicates where it's night or day at any given hour. And if you want options, this gadget has them.

2nd place � Multiplayer Reversi Game by Turhan Aydin � Immerse yourself in the fun game Reversi with this visually rich gadget. Not only can you play against the computer, but this gadget takes advantage of our Google Talk API so you can also play with your friends.

1st place � diGGGadget by Marius and Yannick Stucki � Stay on top of the latest stories from digg.com. Click on a few buttons and you'll know why we think it's so great. It also takes advantage of our advanced APIs to enable sharing news with friends plus personalization based on your interests.

These gadgets are wonderful examples of what can be done with the Google Desktop SDK. We truly enjoyed reviewing all of the contest submissions, and look forward to seeing more of your creations in the future!

Google Calendar Gadget Reloaded

Posted by Bryan Woodward, User Support Coordinator

It's time to update your official Google Calendar gadget. Due to popular demand, it now supports multiple calendars from your Google Calendar service. It will also color-code your scheduled events using the same colors you've set in your main Calendar preferences. And this update also fixes the mysterious "Invalid parameter value..." bug some people have experienced.

Finally, if you haven't already, download Google Desktop 4 in order to try out new gadgets like this one. You won't want to miss out on all the new and improved gadgets we're cooking up.

Personalizing desktops everywhere

Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager

Starting today, Google Desktop 4 is coming out of beta in 26 languages (including Romanian!); a Japanese version is now available in beta too. It's easier than ever to search and personalize your computer no matter what language you speak. In version 4, we've aimed to improve Desktop's performance and have added a few features you've asked for:

• Easier to add international gadgets - Use the new Add/Remove gadgets interface to easily find gadgets in other languages; choose the language you want in the top right corner
• Configurable Taskbar "gadgets" button - Just click the arrow to the right of the Google Desktop "gadgets" button, and hover over "Taskbar Button" to change the display - with text, or without, or remove it altogether
• Change the Sidebar font size - Cick the "Options" button located at the top of the Sidebar, and hover over "Font Size" to change the setting

The Google Desktop Gadget Designer is now available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Simplified Chinese and Japanese, and can be downloaded as part of the Google Desktop SDK. This should make it easier for developers everywhere to create great Google Gadgets. There are also new Developer Guides in each of these languages to help you better understand how to use our APIs.

We also want to thank all of you who sent something in to the Google Desktop Gadget Contest. We're reviewing all of the submissions now, and will announce the winners here on September 5th. Even though the contest is over, you can still submit your gadget to share it with millions of other Google Desktop users around the world. If approved, you'll also receive a Google hat, Google pen, and Google Desktop Developer T-shirt while supplies last.

Go boldly!

Posted by Larry Gadea, Software Engineer

Calling all developers and Star Trek fans: Google will demo Desktop, among other products, at the 40th annual Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas from Thursday to Sunday. We'll have Google Desktop engineers on hand to show you how to write gadgets both using the gadget designer -- or not. And we'll be unveiling a brand new gadget especially created for this mind-melding event.

So be sure to come by our booth next to the Star Trek merchandise store for the live demos. And of course, we'll be giving away tons of free Google schwag, too. So be bold - be brave - come on down! (And if you can't appear live, just travel here.)

More gadgets, more choices

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Software Engineer

We're pleased to let you know that the Google Gadget gallery now holds more than 400 gadgets! Which means you have even more choices on what you want to add to your desktop.

We're quite excited about some of our latest additions. To find the newest gadgets, just pick "New" from the "Add gadgets" dialog or check them out online.

Sharing Gadgets

Posted by Catalin Patulea, Software Engineer

Some gadgets are simply better when you share them, and if you're thinking of creating such a gadget, you're in luck. By means of the Communication API, Google Desktop allows a gadget to exchange data with another instance of the same gadget on a friend's computer. Through Google Talk, you can send and receive short strings (up to 2 kilobytes) of anything you want -- text snippets, chess moves, whatever.

You start by setting a handler for incoming data. Then you can list the user's Google Talk friends and even determine if that friend is idle or busy. By knowing this, you can then send data to this friend and be certain that it will be received by your gadget. On top of that, you can ask Google Talk to open a conversation window with that same pal for those times when you just have to gossip.

There's already TicTacToe, a sample in the SDK that uses the Communication API. We've just added a new sample, TalkTester, which shows you how easy it is to use this seemingly limitless API.

Hybrid scripting

Posted by Larry Gadea, Software Engineer

So you're writing a gadget for the contest and you've come on something simply impossible to do using the existing Script API. Say, for example, you need a more advanced message box that has "Yes", "No," and "Cancel" buttons, while our API only gives you a message box with just an "OK" button. Instead of redesigning your application to avoid this, you can write a hybrid script gadget to add the desired functionality. A hybrid script gadget has an <object> tag in its gmanifest file that specifies a COM component which implements features we never imagined you'd want to do.

I've written up a simple example (HybridYesNoCancel) for those of you wondering how to do this. Included with the sample is a readme file which describes, step-by-step, exactly how to do it. You can get everything in the Google Desktop SDK.

And now that the deadline has been extended, it's not too late to create something new and exciting for the contest!

More time and tips for creating gadgets

Posted by E.K. Chung, User Experience Designer

Due to user feedback, we've decided to extend the deadline for the Google Desktop Gadget Contest by two weeks. You now have until Monday, August 14, to submit your gadget. Winners will be announced on September 5. For more details, check out the contest homepage.

And for those of you thinking about the look and feel of your gadget, here are some general tips:

1. Buttons, checkboxes, and tabs should look clickable. Mouseover, mousedown, and disabled states are needed to inform users that the button is active or inactive, and also to confirm interactions.

	normal state	mouseover	mousedown
Checkbox (To-do checkbox)
Button (Remove button)
Tab (Playlist tab)

2. Create selected and unselected states for your tabs. The usual UI design that defines a selected tab are 1) removal of any lines that separate the tab and its content area (a la the Windows tab UI), and 2) matching the color of the selected tab to its content area.

My Music tab is selected Playlist tab is selected


Live tab is selected Matches tab is selected



3. Use a gentle, light color for backgrounds. When selecting backgrounds, avoid intensely bright colors that can cause eyestrain. (These kinds of colors should be used very sparingly in general.)



The left image shows good color usage, while the one on the right is harder to read.



4. Take advantage of a "details" or "expanded" view. If the gadget is info-centric and primarily text-driven, try to offer "details" or "expanded" views, like news and web clips. These views allow you to display a lot of information in an efficient way.

5. Group similar items together. When there are many buttons or links, try to group relevant buttons and links together. This not only makes it easier for people to find the functions they're looking for, but it also helps them remember where things are.

6. Follow conventions. If a button is commonly used in a UI--like the close, remove, and OK buttons in Windows or Google Desktop--try to follow the conventions associated with those buttons and place them accordingly.

For example, a close button is always on the upper right corner.

Details view Options window

Personalize your gadget

Posted by Omar Khan, Software Engineer

Now that the Google Desktop Gadget Contest is running, I have a tip for how to personalize your gadget: make it react to what the user's doing. For example, I buy books on Amazon a lot, and I realized that I was doing a very similar query over and over -- looking up reviews for the books I found interesting. I realized that I could create a Google Desktop Gadget that watched for when I was visiting Amazon, and then performed a query on the title of the book I was looking at. Voila, the gadget then displays those Google search results in the Sidebar.

The source code for this gadget (named I'm Feeling Lucky) can be found in the samples section of the Google Desktop SDK.

Here are some other ideas for personalizing that might inspire you:

• When someone is reading blogs, show the top posts from Technorati or Digg or another popular aggregator.


• Silly pictures! When someone is reading an email message, find a picture online, or on their computer, to associate with the sender -- and whenever the gadget sees that person's name, show the picture. Add some utility by making the picture respond to clicks.

You get the idea! Make the experience more personal. And have fun doing it!

Google Gadgets galore!

Posted by Kamal Singh, Software QA Engineer

Gadget lovers alert: we've added 200+ more of your favorite Google Gadgets for Google Desktop. In the past, some of these useful bits were trapped in a browser; now you can set them free anywhere on your desktop or in your Sidebar. To find the new ones, just choose "Add gadgets" from the Sidebar or check them out online. And if you want to make your own cool gadgets for the Google homepage, here's the developer guide.

Let's get it started

Posted by Satish Sampath, Software Engineer

We're post-beta! Google Desktop 4 is available in English. Plus there are now beta versions of Google Desktop in 27 languages (up from 16). So now just about everyone will be able to use the latest and greatest Google Gadgets.

And if you're a developer, more power to you. Check out the Google Desktop Gadget Designer, a new developer tool for creating, maintaining and debugging gadgets faster than before. You can now easily manage your projects and files, visually design your gadget UI (no need to handcode the xml), edit your script code and preview changes instantly (no more restarts), view debug messages with the built-in debug console, automatically generate the gadget package and manifest and much more in an integrated development environment. The designer is available for download as part of the latest Google Desktop SDK.

But wait, there's more! We're announcing a Google Desktop Gadget Contest for developers, with $8,000 in cash prizes. The contest is only open for the next month, so put on your coding hat and start churning out those cool gadgets you've always wanted. Good luck and have fun!

Soccer fever

Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager

Every 4 years, football (a.k.a "soccer" in the U.S.) fans from around the world focus their attention on one event. Swept up by the frenzy, some of the Google Desktop team have harnessed their passion to create a Soccer Scores gadget. Track your favorite teams with it, get live World Cup scores right on your desktop, and customize it by selecting a team color from the options menu. Add the gadget to your desktop and let us know how you like it.

Say hello to Google Gadgets

Posted by John Abd-El-Malek, Software Engineer

Today we released the latest version of Google Desktop in 7 languages (the rest are coming soon). The biggest news is that we're introducing Google Gadgets - visually appealing mini-applications like clocks, weather globes, media players, etc., that support rich markup language (XML, Flash) and enable a wide array of visual effects and animation. We've also made it really easy for developers to create their own gadgets - almost as easily as you�d create a web page. One of my favorites is the weather globe.


You can also add some of your Google Homepage modules to your Sidebar or use a new gadget to check out what's popular on Google Videos. To add any of these great new gadgets, just click on the + button on the top of the Sidebar and you'll see all the available gadgets. You can add them with just one click.

What else is new? Well, do you like setting up all your applications when you get a new computer? I don�t either. Last week my hard drive died, but setting up my computer was a lot easier because my Sidebar remembered all its original settings as soon as I installed it. Your stock symbols, weather locations, To Do items, etc. can now be synchronized across multiple machines � or even just one machine, if it happens to quit, like mine did.

There are lots of other improvements under the Desktop hood as well; you can check them out in more detail on our features page. We hope you enjoy using the new Google Desktop as much as we do.

Beta believe it

Posted by Greg Coladonato, Product Manager

If you've been hesitant to use Google Desktop 3 in your native language because of its "Beta" status, your wait is over. This evening we're launching non-Beta versions of Desktop in (you might want to make yourself comfortable) French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Russian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian.

We'd like to thank all the users who've given us feedback on the Beta version of Google Desktop; your ideas and comments have helped tremendously as we've worked to improve this product.

Going international

Posted by Roy Ju, Software Engineer

Have you been waiting to use Google Desktop 3 in something other than English? Your wait is over, at least in these 15 languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, and Norwegian.

Among other new features, Floating Sidebar panels enable you to drag your favorite panels wherever you like on your desktop. And although Google Talk is not yet available in these languages, you�ll still be able to easily email News, Web Clips, and more to a friend right from the Sidebar. If you have multiple computers, you can visit the preferences page to enable Search Across Computers, an advanced feature designed for seamless searches of your documents and web history from any of your computers. But wait! There�s more: the Quick Search Box, available to English-language users for just a short time, is also included. It�s a conveniently located place to search the web as well as your local computer.

The enterprise version launches today too, and comes with Group Policy templates and documentation for centrally administering these features on both the consumer and enterprise versions.

Whichever one you use, may your searches be swift across the globe.

Take 'ctrl' of your Desktop

Posted by Kan Liu, Product Manager

In the new version of Google Desktop 3 (which is coming out of beta today), we�ve fixed a few things from the beta, and we�re also introducing a new element that makes it more convenient to find what you're looking for by enabling you to search the web as well as your local computer, or email, as you type. We call it the Quick Search Box.



It appears in the middle of your screen when you press the Ctrl button twice. When you don't need it, the Quick Search Box automatically hides or sits on your desktop, whichever you prefer. Try it out and send us your suggestions and comments.

Google Desktop 3 for Enterprise

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Software Engineer

We've recently released a new Enterprise version of Google Desktop 3 giving adminstrators full control over what features to restrict and how documents are retained. To learn more visit the blog entry from our friends on the Enterprise team.

It's Raining Plug-ins

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Software Engineer

Yesterday we released 10 new Google Desktop plug-ins. Kudos to all the
developers.

• Magnifier by Catalin Patulea - Magnifies the active area of your screen


• WorldTimes by Neil Selkirk - Displays the current homepage details from WhatsTimeWorth.com and World Times for 457 different locations


• CurrencyQuotes by Joe Force - Displays currency quotes with directional indicators


• AuctionWatch by Ty Kroll - Tracks multiple eBay auctions


• SessionControl by Joel Costa - Control your Windows Session tasks


• MM-Memo by Tennetiss - Shows your MM/Memo social bookmarks


• VerseOfTheDay by Adam Faulkner - Displays a daily Bible verse


• IntegrateIE by Bas Rokers - Integrates Google Desktop into IE 7


• 3DTicTacToe by Catalin-Alexandru Avram - What is says


• NBA Scoreboard by Google - Shows live scores and stats for NBA games
  

New version, new plug-ins, new samples

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Software Engineer

With the release of Google Desktop 3 Beta, our plug-in collection grew a little larger:

• MSN Messenger Sidebar Plug-in by Otron - Get quick access to your Messenger contacts.


• eBay Watcher by Google - Never miss an eBay auction.


• Tic Tac Toe by Google - Play a game of Tic Tac Toe against the computer or a friend.


• GoogleVideo Indexer by Google - Index and search Google Video .GVI files


• ResearchAccelerator by Michael S. Scherotter - Integrate Google Desktop results into Mind Manager.


• Tarchiver by Jonathan Speiser - Index the file names contained within TAR files.


• IPS Website Counter by Michel Blanc - Monitor the traffic of multiple websites.

Additionally the SDK contains new and updated sample code to assist plug-in developers in using the latest APIs:

• GoogleVideo indexing sample


• Query API sample


• ImFeelingLucky Event API sample


• TicTacToe Communication API sample

Desktop Reloaded

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Software Engineer

Today we're very pleased to announce the launch of Google Desktop 3 Beta. The new version comes loaded with features that make finding and sharing information even easier and more fun than before.

As a Sidebar user, you can now customize and view personalized information anywhere on the the desktop by clicking and dragging your favorite panels wherever you like. Furthermore, you can now easily share information from your Sidebar panels with your contacts by sending it to them through email, chat or directly to their Sidebar. As an added bonus you and your contacts can also play online games through the Sidebar.

We also provided the means to access your data no matter where it resides. The Search Across Computers feature makes it seamless to search the content of your documents and web history from any of your computers.

For developers we have packed the Google Desktop SDK with new APIs and tools to enable the development of applications that leverage the product's new indexing, display and communication capabilities. These include a Query API, a Communication API, improved Script API support, plug-in logging support, and new code samples.

Other new features include the addition of a Search Lock, an advanced search form, spelling suggestions, zip file indexing, and an improved preferences page.

As always we would love to hear your comments, suggestions, opinions, and testimonials.

New Plug-ins on the Block

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Software Engineer

Our developers have been coming up with some innovative ideas to use the Sidebar to simplify familiar tasks. Below are some new plug-ins we found very useful:

• Task Tracker by Matthew Cowgur - Track time spent for tasks that you are working on.


• NetStat by Catalin Patulea - Monitor your computer's network connections in real time.


• QuickLaunch by Benjamin Schirmer - Get quick and easy access to your files and folders (updated version).


• IeCalendar by Peter Sitterly - Stay up-to-date with information stored in your online IeCalendar account.


• PrintButler by Jon Speiser - Display installed printers and easily change the default printer.


• gdShutdown by Yannick Stucki - Easily control your computer sign-off options.

The developers of these plug-ins are welcoming any feedback or improvement suggestions. Good places to discuss the plug-in are the Google Desktop Developer group or the individual plug-in groups.

I'd rather throw an exception

• Why throw exceptions? (as opposed to using error codes)
• When to throw an exception.
• When not to throw an exception.
  

Any condition that prevents a method/function from completing its designed objective should result in an exception being thrown. These conditions can arise from invalid input data (a precondition error) or a failure to generate valid output data (return values, class invariants, etc).

For a more complete explanation read:

When and How to Use Exceptions

C/C++ Users Journal August, 2004

A clear, objective, and measurable answer to the question: "When, for what, and how should you use exceptions?"

By Herb Sutter

Read Herb Sutter's Article on CUJ for more information

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Dog Food Doctorine

Peter Coffee raises a good question:

At what point does a software/hardware project go from tons of bugs to good to go?

As for me I have to ask Who makes these decisions? and What say do we software developers have in this matter?


Top-tier toolmakers may not be their own best testers.

By Peter Coffee

Like many others who'd long awaited Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005, I felt more than a little let down when that development suite shipped without the full-spectrum
collaboration tools that we'd been told to expect among its most distinctive improvements. Microsoft now assures us that the Team Foundation Server (TFS) is forthcoming:
Sources tell eWEEK's Darryl Taft to expect it in the first quarter of this year.

I get a queasy feeling, though, from a combination of comments by Visual Studio Team System Lead Program Manager Jeff Beehler, who told us all on his blog last week that (i) "we've been fixing tons of bugs" and (ii) "we're only fixing the most critical of issues to help prevent regressions."

Does that give anyone else a sense of "uh-oh"? There's plenty of room for debate about the precise behavior of bug discovery rates as the number of remaining defects in code shrinks down, but I don't know of any model that estimates a sharp and sudden cutoff between "tons of bugs" and "good to go."

Even assuming that the quality of the code will meet our hopes--and even, perhaps, exceed our expectations--I was struck by another assumption implied in comments about the
imminent Team Foundation Server release. Darryl's story mentions a blog post by Microsoft developer division VP "Soma" Somasegar, citing the degree to which the team that's building
the company's life cycle tools is using those tools itself--"eating its own dog food," as the common saying goes.

Read the rest of Peter's column.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1914426,00.asp

Plug-in of the Week: Airfare Tracker

Posted by Mihai Ionescu, Software Engineer

Planning a vacation or getaway anytime soon? The Sidebar Airfare Tracker panel can help you keep an eye on the best airfare deals for your favorite destinations. The panel automatically checks for the lowest fares and enables you to watch multiple itineraries and specify your preferred airlines. Check it out!

2006 electronic trading predictions

Larry Tabb, founder and CEO of the TABB Group, predicts the following seven trends for 2006

1. Exchange and market infrastructure redesign because of Reg NMS, Instinet's acquisition by NASDAQ, NYSE-Archipelago merger and MiFID
2. Move toward low-touch services as both buy and sell continue algorithmic/automated execution infrastructure to lower cost
3. Increased data velocity will force lagging firms to rebuild their market instrastructure
4. Research unbundling. He cites London's PS05/9 and the Fidelity/Lehman deal as examples
   
5. Derivatives play a larger role in hedge fund, investment managers and B/D's look to redefine risk
6. Push to develop consolidated delivery and processing platforms to better serve clients
7. Consolidation will continue to drive the industry

shamed by simplicity

I'm shamed by the simplicity of the idea put forth by the million dollar homepage. Guess I'll have to make million the hard way.