Widgets are everywhere
So many new services across the Internet are offering widgets it requires a dutiful eye to keep up with them all. From online telephone directories like Anywho.com to health widgets for senior citizens, if you’re a widget junkie here is a cross-section of offerings from the GUI universe…
On the Music Front
Spotify, the latest craze in music streaming, now offers itself as widget that you can display on your website or blog. All you have to do is embed a simple piece of HTML code and soon all your readers can check out any and all of your playlists. If you’re into ‘scrobbling’, or Last.fm, you can highlight your latest exploits there with a widget that keeps tabs on your last 5 tracks.
The Silver Screen, Streamed
Despite its catastrophic troubles making Qwikster fly, Netflix boasts two unique widgets for the tech-savvy movie buff to play with. There’s the Spotlight widget, which allows you to embed “add-able” photos of a certain movie or show. Let’s say you adore the movie Air Bud 2. With the spotlight widget you could showcase a screenshot of the Golden Receiver on your Facebook page and allow your friends to add the movie to their Netflix queue just by clicking on it.
The other Netflix widget is called the Bubble widget, which allows you to garnish the Netflix links on your page with the pop-up synopsis information about a certain movie or show, just like on the site itself.
Don’t Forget About Social Media
Facebook has widgets for just about every facet of their site, from the Like button to profile badges and registration options. Similarly, Twitter has rolled out a series of widgets that let you showcase your latest Tweets and allow others to ‘follow’ you and/or Tweet your blog. Almost any social media tool worth its salt integrates itself across the web using widgets.
Smartphone Mania
The Android Ice Cream Sandwich widgets were so popular they were leaked before an official release, allowing users an early look at the augmented Gmail and Calendar updates, with the more robust notification bars.
Breaking News
Reuters, CBS, Fox, and almost any news site you can imagine offer widgets that give bloggers the ability to scroll breaking news stories on their blogs or websites. The news agency Reuters offers breaking news, top news pictures, and market information all in three separate widgets. An innovative 2010 widget from The Huffington Post allowed users to share fund-raising information related to political candidates.
The popularity of widgets isn’t going away. In fact, some iPhone users have figured out ways to ‘jailbreak’ their phone and import widgets onto their dashboard. In the near future, it will be hard to imagine any online service not having a widget counterpart.
