[fisherKing]

AFTER the wow factor (the bubble effect, etc),
who cares?

i want weather visible all the time.
stickies that are usable, resizable.

i can look up an address in the address book (or use an "invisible" app like tapdex).

can look up ups tracking in safari, open calculator, etc.
why do i need a widget to tell me what the mail icon in the dock can tell me?

it's cute, but i want my WORK to matter. speed, stability, simplicity.

just my 2 cents, but dashboard is a lightweight.

[TETENAL]

But what about the Hula-Girl?

[fisherKing]

hula girl...that IS a good point (but i'd like her on the desktop ALL the time (a la "Amnesty") but UNDER app windows...

[Apfhex]

I love it... at a glance I can see the weather, current date/month, use the calculator, and see a sticky note without opening any applications, instantly. THAT'S the real greatness of it for me.

[goMac]

Originally Posted by fisherKing

AFTER the wow factor (the bubble effect, etc),
who cares?

i want weather visible all the time.
stickies that are usable, resizable.

i can look up an address in the address book (or use an "invisible" app like tapdex).

can look up ups tracking in safari, open calculator, etc.
why do i need a widget to tell me what the mail icon in the dock can tell me?

it's cute, but i want my WORK to matter. speed, stability, simplicity.

just my 2 cents, but dashboard is a lightweight.

You're saying you want speed and simplicity but you don't like dashboard?

I think some widgets were just included almost as a demo. One of them is the address book widget. I agree with you, its pointless.

However, it's far easier just to hit F12 and enter your package tracking number than it is to switch to Safari, go to the website of the shipping company, and enter your number, while being bombarded by the rest of their web page. Fast and simple.

I think widgets are moreover intended to fetch web content. Right now I have three weather widgets, one for Portland where I got to school, one for Seattle where I am now, and one for Santa Clara were my girlfriend lives. With one keystroke I can see how all three are doing on weather (and I sound halfway intelligent when I ask my girlfriend about the thunderstorms she is having). I have the iComic widget getting me the latest Dilbert. I have the translation widget so I don't have to pull open and wade through Babel Fish to translate something. I have the stocks widget open, so I don't have to find some website to get me quotes, and I can have the stocks all side by side. I use the world clock widget usually when I'm working with someone from another time zone, so I know when they are probably sleeping or something. I have the calculator widget open to do simply math without hassle. I have the calendar widget open just to see what weekday a day falls on. And I have a currency converter so that I can do some shopping on some foreign web sites. My desktop would have no room for these all to be out at one time.

I can access these all with F12. What gets more stable, speedy, and simple than that?

[Geobunny]

Where, pray tell, might I find said shipping/tracking widget? I'm after a UPS one but the only search results I'm coming up with are Uninterruptible Power Supplies!

[Hi I'm Ben]

i love Weather, TV Guide, and Yahoo Traffic
Of course if you don't watch a lot of TV, live in a city where traffic matters and never go outside because you're affraid of people. I guess none of those would be cool for you. Trying to get TV listings is always a pain in the ass. And Quick and easy weather is nice.

[mchladek]

Originally Posted by Geobunny

Where, pray tell, might I find said shipping/tracking widget? I'm after a UPS one but the only search results I'm coming up with are Uninterruptible Power Supplies!

Here's one, and I thought there was another one floating around but I can't find it now

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...getracker.html

[fisherKing]

i'm not hating dashboard, i see it's value.
just seems a little gimmicky.

maybe in time, when there are more widgets to choose from, i'll like it better.

anyway, it's there to use (or ignore)

& hula girl is kinda nice...

[eatinwokout]

Unfortunately I don't have Tiger so I wasn't able to try this application out.

http://www.mesadynamics.com/amnesty.htm

From the description it's touting that you can have your widgets live directly on your desktop without having to use the Dashboard. Again, my appology if it's not what you're looking for. Some of the widgets are lightweight as far as what I've seen so far. Hopefully I can jump on the Tiger bandwagon soon. The only way I see widgets as living up to your standards is if you developed one yourself (which I hear is not too hard to do).

[saddino]

Originally Posted by fisherKing

hula girl...that IS a good point (but i'd like her on the desktop ALL the time (a la "Amnesty") but UNDER app windows...

Using Amnesty .55b you can place her in your desktop layer ignoring clicks -- so you can just have her always there and not in your way.

[fisherKing]

weather and a backround-less hula girl (just slightly tucked behind an icon on the desktop...nice.

amnesty...rocks!

[analogika]

The point of Dashboard is having instant access to a number of (more or less) useful little tools.

It's ALL about what widgets are provided. There are already tons available.

I wouldn't mind, for example, a BPM-->millisecond delay calculator for Dashboard, for example.

Or a wireless LAN discovery widget.

Simply going "so what" because the *demo* widgets that Apple includes are mostly, well, demos, is kind of missing the point (not that your other gripes aren't valid, mind - I don't need stuff cluttering up my desktop, but I fully respect that others might).

-s.

[Lee33]

I totally agree with, analogika. None of us everything provided in any OS but it's nice to have a lot of choices.

[eddiecatflap]

i think it's a bit gimmicky and pointless , we already have a far better calculator in the dock for example

the translation , measurement and weather ones are pretty clever tho'

just wish they would stay on the desktop

[fisherKing]

Originally Posted by eddiecatflap

i think it's a bit gimmicky and pointless , we already have a far better calculator in the dock for example

the translation , measurement and weather ones are pretty clever tho'

just wish they would stay on the desktop

definitely try
amnesty

got my weather & hula girl on the desk, and under apps & folders...

[mattsgotredhair]

Originally Posted by analogika

I wouldn't mind, for example, a BPM-->millisecond delay calculator for Dashboard, for example.

Isn't it just 60000/BPM for the milliseconds? At least for quarter notes. But I figure thats why you said that now, I hadn't even thought about finding out times for half notes, eigths, dotted quarters, triplet halfs. Oh well, it would be nice, but I guess since the delay plugins I use automatically adjust all that, I'm not too worried.

I'd like to see a .wav->.aiff or any other format converter. I think that would be sweet.

[LightWaver-67]

Originally Posted by mattsgotredhair

Isn't it just 60000/BPM for the milliseconds? At least for quarter notes. But I figure thats why you said that now, I hadn't even thought about finding out times for half notes, eigths, dotted quarters, triplet halfs. Oh well, it would be nice, but I guess since the delay plugins I use automatically adjust all that, I'm not too worried.

I'd like to see a .wav->.aiff or any other format converter. I think that would be sweet.

Not really relevant, but that's why I love using Logic Pro. When you open most time-based plug-ins... it automatically defaults to a multiple of the tempo of the song (or where you are currently located in a multi-tempo song).

I'm sure OTHER pro recording apps do the same, but I no-longer need to do the math to get time-accurate effects in my music. Saves a wee-bit of time.

[pete]

I miss watson. That was the most useful application I've ever had and I came to rely on it on a daily basis. So sad it's over.

Dashboard is clumsy and often ugly too, though I think people will start creating more elegant solutions soon. I hope.

watson watson watson.