App for the Milk is a cross-platform Adobe Air-based desktop client version of the extremely popular online task management application Remember the Milk. One of the unique aspects of Remember the Milk is that it lends itself well to various user interface interpretations. There are already a number of different UIs for RTM, including the classic web interface, the embedded Gmail interface, the Gmail gadget interface, and the iPhone interface. Each has common elements, but differs in the details.

In other words, each new interface is a new take, and not just a copy of the web interface. This holds true for App for the Milk as well. Instead of a full-screen approach, App for the Milk takes a decidedly pared-down task list approach. Most (but not all) of what the web version can do is still available, though sometimes hidden in unlabeled buttons in the app's toolbar. In fact, there are more than a few aspects of App for the Milk's interface that seem a little rough around the edges. On the upside, it looks like App for the Milk, while not officially designated a beta version, is in active development, and the developer admits that some functionality like smart lists is still to come.

If you like having a list of your outstanding tasks handy, App for the Milk will probably be a welcome addition to your desktop. If you prefer to have the full suite of functionality, including offline availability, Remember the Milk's web interface is still your best bet.

Widgets are cool, especially when they do something useful - and even cooler when they look quasi-military.

Xirrus Wifi Monitor is available as a Yahoo Widget (for Mac, too) and a Vista Sidebar Gadget. It sits at the side of your screen scanning at your specified interval and updating its tiny radar screen with new hits. In our testing, it did a very good job at plotting the physical location of nearby APs. To our dismay the widget doesn't actually animate sweeps - too bad, because that would be pretty sweet.

Don't think it's just eye-candy. Wifi Monitor also provides you a ton of statistcal data about your access point's capabilities, your wireless connection, even a glossary of wireless terms. The details screen also allows you to disable your wireless adapter and to connect/disconnect (forwards you to your OS's wireless connection manager).

Well worth the download - if not for functionality, at least for its good looks!

It's hard to escape online ads, and now Google has rolled out another ad format in order to take control of another piece of the ad pie and make it more dynamic and interesting. Ads in Google's Gadgets.

The AdWords Gadget program has been built to quite simply turn widgets into ads. These websites within websites can draw in dynamic content including data feeds, maps, images, audio, Flash, HTML and JavaScript content to serve an audience in over 100 countries with no hosting charges attached. The ads can then be embedded and users of your brand can share them amongst friends. Built on the iGoogle platform, companies like AOL and IBM are already using them to drive traffic.

With widgets and gadgets being so easy to embed into social networks and websites, there is surely no stopping Google from deploying these into such high profile locations as MySpace and Facebook.

Check out some samples of the Google Gadgets.

Looks like Google is in the process of developing some sort of on-screen keyboard gadget for iGoogle for entering search queries.

In its current incarnation, the iGoogle keyboard gadget is built by a Google Developer in Google's Bangalore India office with language options including:

• Hindi
• Tamil
• Kannada
• Malayalam
• Telugu
• Gujarati
• Sanskrit
• Bengali
• Punjabi
• Nepali
• Marathi
• Oriya
• Assamese

What could these keyboards be used for besides entering search terms? Some form of an early mobile phone application prototype? There are currently no English versions of the gadget, so if anyone has any other ideas on what it could be used for, please drop us a line.

[via Steve Rubel]

Google has launched an interesting new program that sees developers who design and develop sustainable Google Gadgets, sizable funding grants.

The Google Gadget Ventures funding program is open for businesses and individuals who apply to a $5000 grant, not a loan, for further developments on their creation. So what's the catch? To be considered into the program, your gadget must have more than 250,000 pageviews per week. Together with those stats, you must also write a one page proposal on the improvements that you would add to your Gadget.

If you pass those tests, Google has another $100,000 in seed investments for companies that start a Gadget, or rely on the Gadget for their business.

So what are you waiting for? Here are some links to help you get started:

• Google Gadget
• Google Mashup Editor
• Google Web Toolkit
• Google Data API
• AJAX Feed API
• Google Gears

And if DLS readers need some extra pageviews, submit your gadget to the tips line!

Google has been tooling around with the Talk Gadget lately, and has added in the ability to have multi user chats through a Group Chat feature.

The process of chatting is simple. Select a user that you want to chat with, then click on the Group Chat button, this will allow you to connect to another user. Keep in mind, this option is only available in the Google Talk Gadget. So if the user is currently using the standalone player for Mac or Windows, or is offline, a message will get sent to them and open up in a Talk Gadget when clicked.

Google seems to be forgetting about the standalone player with the last few updates. Could they be focusing on the integrated online Google Talk Gadget for a reason? I realize offline applications are shifting towards online, but IM is something we sure could use as a standalone. Google has recently added in the support for Flickr slideshows, and emoticons in the Gadget.

Google has updated the Google Talk Gadget with a few new features today including a Pop out feature, a button for websites, Firefox sidebar integration, and video and image displays. These significant enhancements add a lot to the way the web is heading with widgets, gadgets and keeping applications online and off the desktop. Keep in mind that these new features are only available for the Google Talk Gadget, and not the standalone desktop version.

The Google Talk gadget Pop out feature is similar to the Talk in Gmail feature. Click on the Pop out link, and a small new window will spawn where chats will take place.

Another feature is targeted at website owners and bloggers is integrating Google Talk into their own web locations. This is done by adding a line of code which produces a button on a website. When clicked, this button will produce a conversation in a pop up window.

But perhaps the coolest new feature is the ability to open up Google Talk right in the Firefox sidebar in a simple two step procedure! Oh ya, this is pretty wild, and saves a lot of time when chatting back and forth while working in browser windows, which of course is what Web 2.0 is all about.

1. Right click on this link "Google Talk Sidebar", and save it into your Bookmarks Toolbar.
2. Then open the Bookmarks menu bar from Firefox and select "Properties". In the menu, check the box that says "Load this bookmark in the sidebar".
3. When you open the bookmark, you will instantly load the Google Talk gadget in your sidebar.

Last but not least, we have some YouTube and Picasa Web integrations. Users can now send and watch YouTube and Picasa Web Album slideshows, as well as Flickr slideshows in Google Talk by simply pasting the links into your chat windows. Bye bye desktop applications.

Do you use your Google personalized homepage as much as you could? There are plenty of great gadgets that have been developed, including gadgets for weather, to do lists, gas prices, Pacman, and even Live TV.

A new gadget that has entered the field -- created by CamMap -- allows users to watch live TV right on a Google personalized homepage. The CamMap live TV gadget allows users to select from a comprehensive number of channels including News, Entertainment, Kids, Movies, Educational, Sports, Music, and Financial. With such channels as CNN, BBC, MSNBC, Cartoon Network, Animal Planet, Earth Channel, ESPN, MTV, Bloomberg and CNBC. With no downloads required, this is a Time-Waster must for adding to your Google homepage.

[via jjprojects]

Google has unleashed a new Google Talk Gadget for use on your Google personalized homepage. The Talk client -- still only available for PC users -- can be semi-enjoyed by Mac users with this new Gadget implementation that resembles what PC users have been enjoying for quite a while, although it adds a few slick features.

The new Google Talk Gadget shares the functionality of the standalone application where users can see contacts online and chat with them, but has the added bonus of not requiring a download, being accessible from anywhere you have a browser and a connection. It's also embeddable into a blog or website with a single line of code.

The best new features of the Talk Gadget enables users to see previews of photos and videos in conversation windows when URL's from YouTube or Picasa Web Albums are pasted into chat windows.

Check out a video presentation of the Google Talk Gadget in action after the jump.

Google has been flogging its developers with wet noodles ramping up development to make your desktop more functional with the release of Google Desktop 5. The team at Google have been busy working on ways to pipe more information through Google gadgets and sidebar elements on desktops.

The biggest noticeable changes are in the gadgets and sidebar elements. They now provide more visually appealing content that is easier to read. Google Desktop shows previews of search results in browsers instead of making users wait for another application to open. On a security note, Google Desktop will also give warnings when users are accessing links from documents, IM's, emails or browsing the web, notifying when sites might be trying to steal your personal information, or trying to install malicious software. Looks wise, the new sidebar samples the color of your desktop wallpaper and blends in so that it's not distractingly sitting out in the open which makes it easier to distinguish between gadgets for faster perusal of information.

Check out the Google Desktop site for downloads and more information on improved content.

Multi-Meter Dual-Core displays a dual-core system's usage stats much like the CPU Meter that ships with Vista. There aren't yet many friendly apps that cater to that dual-core behemoth you just purchased, but this is one Vista sidebar gadget to join the team.

Multi-Meter Dual-Core has a plethora of different background themes to customize the gadget any way you like. You can blend it with the your Windows Vista background or choose some other shiny motif to suit your whim. It displays real-time info on both your cores, as well as your current memory utilization too. It is fun to watch this gadget go crazy when you load Photoshop or some other CPU intensive app.

So, I want to know today is: what technology did you buy yesterday? Did you buy any software for your loved ones, or for yourself? What do you consider the hot items this season? Is Zune at the top of your list, or anywhere else? What about cell phones, PC's, printers, software? What does this holiday season look like for you and those you are buying for? I am thinking about buying a new PC, but only because the prices are good. I just wondered what your technology forecast was the holiday season. Feel free to give it to me, which software and tech products will do well, survive, not be around next year? Thoughts?

Google announced today that their specially designed gadgets can be added to any webpage. Google Gadgets were locked into Google Personalized Home and Google Desktop, but now with the breakout of the gadgets, websites are sure to get some nice dynamic and rich content additions.

Currently developed Google Gadgets include Google maps, date & time, jokes, games, news reports, flight status, webcams, and sports scores. Gadgets can also be developed from scratch with the Google Gadget API. I look forward to seeing some intuitive additions of Google Gadgets onto websites.

Making the gadget rounds today is a new mobile device from Sony and Skype called MyLo. MyLo, which stands for "My Life Online," is a "personal communicator" with a 2.4-inch screen, a slide-out keyboard, and built-in Wi-Fi. It lets you use any wireless hotspot to make phone calls via the power of SkypeOut, receive calls with SkypeIn, IM with Skype, Yahoo! Messenger or Google Talk, surf the web, listen to music, stream "selected music files" from other MyLos, and watch videos. The MyLo web site has more information, but beware of its Flash interface and really obnoxious video "hosts." More discussion on MyLo can be found just about everywhere else:

• Engadget
• GigaOM
• TechCrunch and MobileCrunch
• jkOnTheRun
• PSP Fanboy
• Gizmodo
• More on TechMeme

You need Google Desktop version 4, but gdShutdown does what it says: shuts down your machine using a gadget. Better yet, you can shut down your machine using Calendar, if you're so inclined. Found this on digg (of course), and a number of folks didn't see the point. First, this isn't a security issue, since Desktop is necessary, and you must be logged in. In fact, it's maybe less of a security issue than other ways of remotely manipulating your machine? This way you can hop on a remote machine and dial in some Calendar info, thus remotely shutting down your machine. Now if you're in a lab environment, leave your Gmail open, and happen to have told everyone about this, well I hope you didn't have anything important unsaved on that computer at home...