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.