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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/gcal_gmail.jpg” height=”150″ width=”179″ /Gmail has added support for sidebar gadgets to its experimental Labs section, allowing users to add an agenda view of Google Calendar, a short list of recent Google Docs files, and any web-based gadgets using a href=”http://incubator.apache.org/shindig/#tab-home”Apache’s Shindig standard/a to the left-hand sidebar. As the developers themselves note, adding outside gadgets isn’t exactly user-friendly, but then again, adding too many gadgets could lead to some page-loading slowdown. You can enable the GCal, Docs, and external gadget support in the beaker-icon Labs menu of Gmail. While you’re in there, here’s a few ways to make Gmail gadgets more convenient./p pullistrongMove Labels and Chat to the right-hand side:/strong Enable the “Right-side labels” and “Right-side chat” features in the Labs section to move those sometimes lengthy boxes over and make room for your new gadgets./lilistrongManually re-order your left sidebar:/strong Turn on “Navbar drag and drop” in Labs, and you can drag any of your widgets up and down in your left-hand sidebar. Combined with the right-side options above, you can place your gadgets pretty much anywhere you’d like. You’ll likely want to turn off this feature when you’re done, though, both for JavaScript speed and to prevent accidental re-ordering./lilistrongTurn off secure (https) access, if needed:/strong The developers say that some external widgets might not work so hot if you’re accessing Gmail through a secure connection, the kind that puts httpstrongs/strong: in your address bar. That might be a deal-breaker for some, but Google’s own widgets seemed to work fine in our own test./lilistrongFind and share your Shindig gadgets:/strong Enable “Add any gadget by URL” in Labs, and your Settings section gets a new “Gadgets” header with a simple URL entry box. Google has only shared one that definitely worksmdash;a version of their YouTube scroller, available by pasting in codehttp://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube_videos.xml/codemdash;but says you can add more by “pasting in the URL of (a gadget’s) XML spec file.” Any of our readers savvy with extensible markup language are welcome to post their own gadget findings in the comments./li/ul/p div class=”related”a href=”http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-calendar-and-docs-gadgets.html”New in Labs: Calendar and Docs gadgets/a [Official Gmail Blog]/div br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/gcal_gmail.jpg” height=”150″ width=”179″ /Gmail has added support for sidebar gadgets to its experimental Labs section, allowing users to add an agenda view of Google Calendar, a short list of recent Google Docs files, and any web-based gadgets using a href=”http://incubator.apache.org/shindig/#tab-home”Apache’s Shindig standard/a to the left-hand sidebar. As the developers themselves note, adding outside gadgets isn’t exactly user-friendly, but then again, adding too many gadgets could lead to some page-loading slowdown. You can enable the GCal, Docs, and external gadget support in the beaker-icon Labs menu of Gmail. While you’re in there, here’s a few ways to make Gmail gadgets more convenient./p pullistrongMove Labels and Chat to the right-hand side:/strong Enable the “Right-side labels” and “Right-side chat” features in the Labs section to move those sometimes lengthy boxes over and make room for your new gadgets./lilistrongManually re-order your left sidebar:/strong Turn on “Navbar drag and drop” in Labs, and you can drag any of your widgets up and down in your left-hand sidebar. Combined with the right-side options above, you can place your gadgets pretty much anywhere you’d like. You’ll likely want to turn off this feature when you’re done, though, both for JavaScript speed and to prevent accidental re-ordering./lilistrongTurn off secure (https) access, if needed:/strong The developers say that some external widgets might not work so hot if you’re accessing Gmail through a secure connection, the kind that puts httpstrongs/strong: in your address bar. That might be a deal-breaker for some, but Google’s own widgets seemed to work fine in our own test./lilistrongFind and share your Shindig gadgets:/strong Enable “Add any gadget by URL” in Labs, and your Settings section gets a new “Gadgets” header with a simple URL entry box. Google has only shared one that definitely worksmdash;a version of their YouTube scroller, available by pasting in codehttp://www.google.com/ig/modules/youtube_videos.xml/codemdash;but says you can add more by “pasting in the URL of (a gadget’s) XML spec file.” Any of our readers savvy with extensible markup language are welcome to post their own gadget findings in the comments./li/ul/p div class=”related”a href=”http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-in-labs-calendar-and-docs-gadgets.html”New in Labs: Calendar and Docs gadgets/a [Official Gmail Blog]/div br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sysmetrix_splash.jpg” align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ width=”494″ height=”200″ style=”display:block;float:none;” /Windows only: SysMetrix gives you a desktop widget you can skin, configure, and tweak to show you the time, your system info, email updates, and other information in a seemingly endless number of configurations. The system monitor comes with a variety of built-in themes, ranging from analog clocks with built-in mini-gauges to screen-length toolbar strips, that you can add your own sliders, histograms, read-outs, and other tools to. The tool supports POP-based email checking, grabs weather from the (U.S.) National Weather Service, and can work with the a href=”http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311″Motherboard Monitor/a tool if you’re looking for temperatures, fan speeds, and the like. SysMetrix is a free download for Windows systems only. Read on for a look at what you can tweak on a SysMetrix clock./p pAfter a href=”http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/”installing SysMetrix/a and loading it up, you’ll see an auto-updating graph in your system tray, along with a clock widget on your desktop. First off, don’t be concernedmdash;it’s a lot more than just a Vista Sidebar clock widget, and you can move it, stick it to a screen side, make it transparent, or have it auto-hide, any way you want, really. Right-click on the clock or the tray icon and choose “SysMetrix Configuration.”/p pThe Theme Browser shows you the built-in themes that come with the tool, but they’re really just starting templates. You can grab more themes at a href=”http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=28″WinCustomize/a, a href=”http://www.deviantart.com/browse.php?section=sysmetrix”Deviant Art/a, and a href=”http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/themes.html”other customization sites/a. Pick a basic stylemdash;analog clock, strip, or box widgetmdash;and let’s keep moving./p pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sysmetrix_themes.jpg” class=”center” width=”456″ height=”218″ style=”display:block;float:none;” //p pAs noted, you don’t have to give up space to your SysMetrix if you don’t want to. In the Preferences menu’s Positioning section, you’ve got the option to have the app remember where you put your widget, reserve screen space (meaning windows can’t cover it), set up pseudo-transparency by having the widget copy its background, and enable real transparency on Windows XP/2000./p pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sysmetrix_positioning.jpg” class=”center” width=”638″ height=”434″ style=”display:block;float:none;” //p pSysMetrix’s configuration gives you a serious number of ways to tweak your gauge’s appearance. It’s worth noting, though, that adding a new gauge or element to a theme starts from scratch. You specify the number of pixels off the center a gauge, graph, or number display starts at, how it moves, what graphic it uses, and so on. The best bet for those without time to Photoshop their own tools is to choose or download a theme with built-in gauges and indicators, then simply change what they monitorsmdash;turning a CPU checker, for instance, into an email monitor, moving from left to right as you get more and more mail./p pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sysmetrix_gauges.jpg” class=”center” width=”449″ height=”309″ style=”display:block;float:none;” //p pThose are the basics of SysMetrix. Have a better theme that offers some crazy customizations? Want to share a screenshot of your own SysMetrix setup? Share it all in the comments. emThanks, a href=”http://lifehacker.com/5068294/beautifully-minimalist-conky-setup#c8521504″LazurusSnass/a!/em/p div class=”related”a href=”http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/”SysMetrix/a [Xymantix Online]/div br style=”clear: both;”/
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pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sysmetrix_splash.jpg” align=”left” hspace=”4″ vspace=”2″ width=”494″ height=”200″ style=”display:block;float:none;” /Windows only: SysMetrix gives you a desktop widget you can skin, configure, and tweak to show you the time, your system info, email updates, and other information in a seemingly endless number of configurations. The system monitor comes with a variety of built-in themes, ranging from analog clocks with built-in mini-gauges to screen-length toolbar strips, that you can add your own sliders, histograms, read-outs, and other tools to. The tool supports POP-based email checking, grabs weather from the (U.S.) National Weather Service, and can work with the a href=”http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311″Motherboard Monitor/a tool if you’re looking for temperatures, fan speeds, and the like. SysMetrix is a free download for Windows systems only. Read on for a look at what you can tweak on a SysMetrix clock./p pAfter a href=”http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/”installing SysMetrix/a and loading it up, you’ll see an auto-updating graph in your system tray, along with a clock widget on your desktop. First off, don’t be concernedmdash;it’s a lot more than just a Vista Sidebar clock widget, and you can move it, stick it to a screen side, make it transparent, or have it auto-hide, any way you want, really. Right-click on the clock or the tray icon and choose “SysMetrix Configuration.”/p pThe Theme Browser shows you the built-in themes that come with the tool, but they’re really just starting templates. You can grab more themes at a href=”http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.asp?library=28″WinCustomize/a, a href=”http://www.deviantart.com/browse.php?section=sysmetrix”Deviant Art/a, and a href=”http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/themes.html”other customization sites/a. Pick a basic stylemdash;analog clock, strip, or box widgetmdash;and let’s keep moving./p pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sysmetrix_themes.jpg” class=”center” width=”456″ height=”218″ style=”display:block;float:none;” //p pAs noted, you don’t have to give up space to your SysMetrix if you don’t want to. In the Preferences menu’s Positioning section, you’ve got the option to have the app remember where you put your widget, reserve screen space (meaning windows can’t cover it), set up pseudo-transparency by having the widget copy its background, and enable real transparency on Windows XP/2000./p pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sysmetrix_positioning.jpg” class=”center” width=”638″ height=”434″ style=”display:block;float:none;” //p pSysMetrix’s configuration gives you a serious number of ways to tweak your gauge’s appearance. It’s worth noting, though, that adding a new gauge or element to a theme starts from scratch. You specify the number of pixels off the center a gauge, graph, or number display starts at, how it moves, what graphic it uses, and so on. The best bet for those without time to Photoshop their own tools is to choose or download a theme with built-in gauges and indicators, then simply change what they monitorsmdash;turning a CPU checker, for instance, into an email monitor, moving from left to right as you get more and more mail./p pimg src=”http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/lifehacker/2008/10/sysmetrix_gauges.jpg” class=”center” width=”449″ height=”309″ style=”display:block;float:none;” //p pThose are the basics of SysMetrix. Have a better theme that offers some crazy customizations? Want to share a screenshot of your own SysMetrix setup? Share it all in the comments. emThanks, a href=”http://lifehacker.com/5068294/beautifully-minimalist-conky-setup#c8521504″LazurusSnass/a!/em/p div class=”related”a href=”http://www.xymantix.com/sysmetrix/”SysMetrix/a [Xymantix Online]/div br style=”clear: both;”/
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Slide and RockYou, the two largest developers of Facebook apps, have long had a serious rivalry over the most frivolous Web software. But the two may be pulling apart. Slide, Max Levchin’s SuperPoke machine, signaled yesterday that it’s betting on online entertainment, partnering with Hollywood to bring mainstream content to its FunSpace apps. RockYou, meanwhile, seems to be turning into a gamemaker. “We want to be like the Electronic Arts of social networks, and build games for social networks,” RockYou CEO Lance Tokuda, shown here, said today at the Startonomics conference in San Francisco, referring to the dominant maker of videogames.

Build, or perhaps buy. In July, RockYou acquired Speed Racing, one of the top games on Facebook. But RockYou, in diverting its attention from its rivalry with Slide, will face well-funded competitors in startups Zynga and SGN. By the time all this becomes a serious business, isn’t it just as likely Electronic Arts will be the Electronic Arts of social games?

Windows/Mac/Linux: Free application Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor is a cross-platform Wi-Fi tool that displays available networks on a very cool radar map. More specifically, the app searches for Wi-Fi networks, displays strength, detects rogue access points, and helps you tweak your network for the best signal. The downside: Xirrus Wi-Fi monitor is only available in widget/gadget/desklet form. That means that in order to use it, on XP and OS X you have to install the Yahoo Widget framework, on Linux you have to install the Desklet framework, and on Vista you’ll need to re-enable the sidebar gadgets. That’s all somewhat of a bummer considering the whole widget craze generally went out the door circa-2006. However, Xirrus remains a worthwhile application with an unquestionably fun execution. Then again, if eye candy isn’t all that important, give previously mentioned NetStumbler (Windows) or iStumble (Mac) a try.

So here I was, all excited about Android. Not because the G1’s physical design is specially attractive. In fact, it’s a gray design with no soul. Not because of the user interface, which at first glance reminded me of a mash-up between the Nintendo DS and a ’90s Windows desktop manager. No, I was excited because this is the first post-iPhone smartphone that could be a serious challenger to Apple’s mounting dominance. Then I looked closely at this image and realized the G1 will not pose a threat to Apple at all.

The problem in this promotional mock-up image is obvious: The analog clock says it’s 9:10 but the digital clock says it’s 2:47.

I know. It seems like a dumb problem. But it is an obvious one. This is one of their main promotional images—which incidentally shows a T-Mobile G1 with a screen that seems to be broken, something which is bad enough on its own—and they failed to get it right. The problem with the clocks would have never escaped Apple’s ferocious attention to detail, but it is not the image itself that’s so troubling. It is what it symbolizes, what is missing at Android’s most fundamental level: Attention to detail.

If you compare these images or look at the walkthrough video, you will see what I’m talking about: Each of them seem taken from a completely different device.

Typefaces boldly change from place to place, giving a sense of randomness to the whole interface. The same thing happens with color schemes—going from color over white, to color over black, to browns combined with greens and blues, to green over white—and the way the graphic elements are treated—with solid colors or with gradients. Even the shape of the widgets and sizes look arbitrary. Finally, the icons themselves—which get different treatment from flat to fake 3D—add to the overall confusion.

Perhaps the explanation for this apparent lack of overall coherence is Android’s Design by Committee nature, something that seems to plague many of Google’s applications and most open-source projects. Hence the question: How many Google engineers does it take to tell the time?

Besides adding confusion, the UI problems make the whole experience ugly. A gray phone with an ugly interface with no attention to detail is not going to win over the consumers’ eyes and hearts—no matter how cool Android Market or how open Android platform could be.

Whether we like it or not, the cellphone is now such a personal part of our lives that the emotional connection between a piece of plastic and the owner plays a huge part in the purchase decision process. Enough to make people camp out for days in front of a store to get a product. The proof is that the iPhone still lacks several things that consumers want—in theory—but they can live without them because of how polished Apple’s cellphone is, because the attention to all those details, from packaging to user interface.

Would normal consumers buy into the lack of details and the apparently incoherent mess of Android’s user interface? Or would they pass and continue to be dazzled by devices like the iPhone, which provide with most of the features they need in a tight, very attractive package? At the end, the fact is that this attention to detail is precisely what separates the awesome from the hhhhmmm-hookai products. I hope that the community of talented developers and designers makes some kick ass skins for this phone. But for me right now, Android is an absolute no-no.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

With all this talk of interactive TV from the likes of Sony, Yahoo! and Intel these days, it’s starting to seem like the early 90s all over again — only this time it looks like things are actually panning out. Now Verizon seems to be upping its interactive game as well, with it boasting about a whole host of improvements that FiOS TV customers can look forward to this fall. The new features were apparently demoed during an “informal party” held by Verizon Communications CIO Shaygan Kheradpir, and include various applications that are tied to live programming, some Facebook and YouTube integration, and the ability to control the DVR from your cellphone, to name a few things. FiOS customers can apparently expect some improvements to the program guide as well, including the ability to browse by what’s popular in their area, or by what was most popular in the same time slot last week. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any pictures made their way out of the party, but Yahoo! and company have certainly raised the bar pretty high with their own widgets, and we can only hope that Verizon at least meets it.

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Sony became the latest to jump on the app trend bandwagon, but not with a product you’d automatically equate with downloading itty bitty widgets. The company has released an App development kit for its line of Bravia television sets. It expects people to create things like small multiplayer online games, weather and news data aggregators and anything else you can program onto 1.3MB of memory.

To inspire developers, Sony’s holding a competition for the best application. For your troubles, you could win either a Bravia 40-inch LCD TV, a Vaio TypeC laptop, or a Blue-Ray player, a Cybershot DSC-T77 or one of their new Walkman music players. Just get your app in before January 8th, 2009. [ Sony Insider]