Maria’s Guides

A handful of Dashboard Widgets I think are extremely useful.

The trouble with Dashboard widgets is that there are so many of them. Literally dozens of them are released each week. And while some of them have very specific purposes that appeal to an extremely small group of users, others have far more utility. Those are the ones I like to look at.

I downloaded three good ones today. You might want to give one or all of them a try.

App Update

This great little widget checks to see what applications are installed on your Mac, then compares the installed version numbers with the versions available on up to three update sites: Apple, MacUpdate, and Version Tracker. It displays a list of your out-dated software. You can then just click the name of an application to get the latest version or updater.

App Update is by Georg Kaindl.

Amazon Search Dashboard Widget

Although there are lots of search widgets out there, most of them display search results in a Web browser window. What good is that? You could just as easily open your Web browser and done the search there.

But the Amazon Search Dashboard Widget performs its search and displays results within the widget itself. If you want more information about a found item, you can click its link in the widget to see its listing on Amazon.com.

One thing I noticed when using this widget for the first time — after viewing the Amazon.com page, there were 3 pop-up ad windows open in my browser. This is extremely usual — I never see pop-up ad windows. I don’t know why this happened, but I was unable to duplicate it, so it could just be some weird coincidence. I would be interested in learning from others who try this widget whether they experience the same thing. I hope there’s no pop-up ad code in the widget itself. Please use the Comment link here if you have more info about this.

Amazon Search Dashboard Widget is by Mike Cannell.

Easy Envelopes

Looking for a quick and easy way to print envelopes from your Mac desktop? A way that doesn’t require you to launch an application and play around with templates? Then EasyEnvelope is for you.

This little Widget makes it easy to print envelopes based on people in your Address Book. Type a search phrase in the box above address area, then choose the person you want from the menu that appears. The name and address are automatically inserted. You can modify your own return address and set other options on the back of the widget.

Easy Envelopes is by Ambrosia Software, Inc., makers of other excellent Mac OS software, including Snapz Pro (which I use for my Visual QuickStart Guides.