Dashboard Widgets

Tip:
Tiger (Mac OS 10.4+) Dashboard has “Widgets,” mini-applications that let you check the time, watch the weather, track flights, view stock prices and find a local restaurant.

Click on the Dashboard on the dock and the Dashboard shows up, complete with widgets that bring you a world of information — real-time weather, stock tickers, flight information and more — instantly. Click the Dashboard icon on the dock again and it disappears just as easily, so you can get back to what you were doing.

When you first open the Dashboard you see a suite of widgets to get you started, and you can add more anytime. To add more widgets:

  • Click the plus sign and Dashboard launches a Widget Bar displaying every available widget.
  • Drag widgets from the Bar to the Dashboard and watch as they appear with a cool ripple effect.
  • Once you have your widgets where you want them, just close the Widget Bar with a single click.

Sandra Martinez showed me the Translator widget at the CUE confrerence. I never knew it was there and love it. Type in the words you want to translate and the Translator translates words and phrases instantly between English, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Russian with just a click. Wow!

Check out the different widgets: iTunes remote, stocks, weather, dictionary, phone book, stickies, tile game, calculator, translator, calendar, and flight tracker. To learn more, go to Apple’s Dashboard site.

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