Hot topics

widgets
Matt Burns
June 22nd, 2009

LG Electronics to stuff ARM processors into HDTVs

HDTVs are increasingly becoming Internet appliances as much as they are televisions. The latest trend from all the major manufacturers are to include widgets and local network access which is pushing the limits of the custom CPUs. This is why LG has shifted focus away from making the central CPU itself, and outsourced the work to ARM.

LG has reportable chosen the ARM11 MPCore Processor to do the… → Read More

March 31st, 2009

Video: Yahoo!'s Connected TV clutters your HDTV with widgets, but we're OK with that

First announced at CES, Yahoo!’s widget engine, Connected TV, is now shipping with the Samsung 7000 series LED HDTV, which starts at $2500. The 7000 series Samsung LED HDTVs can either be wired into your home network or connected through a wireless router that costs an extra $80 from Samsung.

The widgets essentially let you surf the Web while you’re catching up on some boob tube. There are… → Read More

October 7th, 2008

Exclusive: First look at IPEVO's Wi-Fi Skype handset and other goodies

IPEVO has lots of experience at making hardware for Skype and they’ve been there from the start. Over the years they’ve slowly branched out into other venues to satisfy the masses with POV web cams (review above), VoIP handsets and products specific to the Mac (Not yet announced, but available in Apple stores, pictured below), which have also been well received and readily available. Beginning… → Read More

Matt Burns
September 18th, 2008

Released Sony Bravia SDK means widgets are coming

Who hasn’t sat in front of their HDTV thinking about wonderful little apps that could float on top of live TV all widget-like: weather, RSS feeds, webcams, sports scores, anything. Now Sony has released the SDK for its Japanese Bravia TVs with the hope that developers will create such apps. Samsung high-end LCDs have had a similar functionality but Sony is taking it to another level… → Read More

Nicholas Deleon
August 29th, 2008

Caught in the act: Panasonic's Vieracast, NeoPDP ‘slim’ HDTV

My friends! IFA is beginning to take off, and I finally had a few minutes to grab some photos of some that Panasonic hotness I mentioned yesterday. Behold, Vieracast. Like I said, it’s sorta like Dashboard for Mac OS X. The screen is filled with a bunch of non-moving widgets that show the weather, stocks, etc. It’s not really a huge deal, but it’s something that many TV… → Read More

Teresa von Fuchs, Contributor
July 18th, 2008

Zumobi launches widget service for BlackBerry

Microsoft spin-off Zumobi announced that its widget platform is now available for BlackBerrys. Zumobi is ad-supported and promises to enhance smartphone users experience “by providing easy access to small ‘bites’ of customized Web content” using widgets or what it calls “tiles.” Zumobi says it already has a “robust library” of tile topics for Windows Mobile users, and now… → Read More

February 26th, 2008

Sony opens up Mylo 2 developer community, widgets galore

Sony is lifting the floodgates on the developer community site so start making all those widgets and share with others or learn how to make some. On top of the community generated widgets, Sony will release additional widgets on a regular basis for the Mylo 2. Mylo 2 → Read More

John Biggs
February 18th, 2008

Samsung F480 hands-on

http://www.crunchgear.com/video/player.swf?movie=p480.flv Took us a while to get this footage up but here’s a look at the home screen on the F480, which looks quite cool. As usual, this phone will probably never hit our shores in its present configuration. → Read More

Nicholas Deleon
January 8th, 2008

Tuning Lamp is part lamp, part PC, part no-idea

[photopress:lamp_pc.jpg,full,center] Look at this gadget, called Tuning Lamp by its designer, and you’d half-think it’s a prop from a sci-fi movie. Too bad it’s just a render at this point. Like Chumby, it displays all sorts of widgets, from weather to news—Drudge Report, no doubt—to music. There’s a wireless, fold-out keyboard for controlling all that on-screen… → Read More

Nicholas Deleon
November 15th, 2007

Again, Chumby really is the bees knees

From this Flickr set With every Chumby piece I read, the desire to whip out my credit card increases in kind. Bits bought a Chumby—it’s not a review unit, in other words—and gave it the thumbs up. Chumby, if you’re not aware, is a sort of Internet-connected alarm clock with a 3.5-inch touchscreen that’s used to display widgets, like the weather, news, photos, etc. → Read More

Vince Veneziani, Contributor
October 18th, 2007

General public can now purchase Chumby

Surely you remember Chumby, the adorable little widget monster who has been in development for well over a year. If you’ve been waiting to get one into your living room, you can now do so thanks to the new Chumby store that has opened to the public. For $179.95, you can get a Chumby in pearl white, basic black or latte tan coloring. Heck, you even get a free set of Chumby charms for your… → Read More

Doug Aamoth, Contributor
October 6th, 2007

Run your Google Desktop gadgets on your iGoogle page

With Google’s new Desktop 5.5 Beta, you’re now able to run the gadgets once relegated to your computer’s sidebar right on your web browser’s personalized iGoogle start page. Before you get too excited (or even a little excited), it should be pointed out that Google Desktop must be installed and running on your computer for this to work within your web browser. So you… → Read More

Vince Veneziani, Contributor
August 12th, 2007

Apple Releases My iTunes

Looking to take your iTunes experience one step further? Check out My iTunes, an official set of iTunes widgets from Apple that are aimed at getting you socially involved with your (legally purchased) music. They’re self-updating widgets and you can post your favorite artists, etc. on your website via a Flash widget. TechCrunch has the whole lowdown, head over there to check out the full… → Read More

July 30th, 2007

iPhone Firmware Unleashes Widgets And FM Tuner

Tyler from iPhoneology has uncovered a few interesting things whilst perusing through his iPhone’s firmware. He’s under the impression that an FM tuner is a strong candidate to be unleashed for the future as well as a few widgets like a world clock and translator. Want some salt with that? Keep reading to see what all the commotion is about. → Read More

John Biggs
May 3rd, 2007

3D Widget Dashboards Could Make Leopard Even Easier to Use When Browsing Widgets

I’m usually pretty excited to hear Apple news but this interests me to the level of 0.0. It seems Apple is working on a cube-like spinning system that will presumably allow you to add multiple pages of widgets to your Dashboard instead of just one panel. If you use widgets, more power to you. However, if you’re like me and hit the Dashboard for a little quick calculator action every… → Read More

John Biggs
May 1st, 2007

Ebay Widgets: Share Your Auctions With More than Just Nigerian Scammers and the Elderly

http://www.podtech.net/player/podtech-player.swf?bc=59ffa73f-fa0a-4441-a71d-28e7d425017f Well here’s a bit of news from eBay I can get behind. I’ve all but given up on eBay at this point — I’ve just stopped selling stuff there because of numerous scam experiences — but this is something I could use. It’s a new flash widget that lets you show any number of… → Read More

Matt Hickey, Contributor
March 1st, 2007

Mobio Expands from Movies to Everything Else

, a service that used XML mashup-theory to bring about an easy, handheld way to find movie times and related tasks. Mobio, in the intervening time, has been busy, and now offers a full-on army of “widget”-style mini-programs for your Java-enabled phone. Take, for example, the Gadgethilia widget. The tool mashes up RSS feeds crom CNet and Slick Seals, Google Maps, Yellow Pages, and… → Read More

Vince Veneziani, Contributor
February 27th, 2007

Video Of Vista Gadgets Running On Windows Mobile

Watch out iPhone! It looks like you’re not the only device in town running widgets. In this video, we see Windows Vista gadgets running on a Windows Mobile based phone thanks to Windows Mobile Developer Mel Sampat. Pretty sweet, though I don’t really see this becoming available to anyone other than Mel anytime soon. Also, who cares? Most of the things widgets do are available for… → Read More

Greg Kumparak, Contributor
January 31st, 2007

Blog + Widget = Blidget

, a marketplace for Web widgets, now lets you quickly and easily build a widget for your blog. Called Blidgets, they combine the power of RSS feeds with the “easy page integration of widgets.” The Blidget Maker auto-discovers RSS feeds, images and descriptions for the blog and then lets you customize the look and feel. Once created, a one-click integration feature easily installs it… → Read More

Vince Veneziani, Contributor
January 30th, 2007

Geek Proposes Via Dashboard Widget

Some would call this a story of love between two geeks. Apparently, some dork who goes by the username “Bjorn” on Flickr proposed to his girl by coding out a custom Dashboard widget. Shaped like a ring box, the widget has an image of a diamond engagement ring and the message “Jennifer Christensen Will You marry me?” He told her to hit F12 and the rest is history. Awwww. Who… → Read More

Josh Goldman, Contributor
January 29th, 2007

CallWave Mobile Widget: My New Best Friend

I dislike listening to my voice-mail almost as much as I dislike answering my cell phone in the first place. CallWave Mobile allows me to monitor my messages via e-mail, and now thanks to a Widget for Mac OS X Dashboard, I don’t even have to check my e-mail to see who’s called. CallWave Mobile is a free “visual voice-mail” service letting you see, sort, listen and respond… → Read More

John Biggs
January 29th, 2007

GizmoCall: Make Calls From the Browser, My Friend

Gizmo, a VOIP service, is now available through your browser using a tiny Flash plugin. It requires a quick install and some configuration, but after that you can make video and voice calls to Gizmo users and some POTS phones. Looks like you need a login to taste the magic, so head over to to get it and then give it a go. Gizmo, now making browser based phone calls [GigaOm] → Read More