Facebook Alert 2.0: Read and check your Facebook messages.	(Universal) Freeware	339K
	PEMDAS 2.0: An advanced, easy-to-use scientific calculator with support for equations and variables.	(Universal) Freeware	162K
	Earth 1.0: The Earth with live updated satellite images.	(Universal) Freeware	1.6MB
	Sudoku 1.0: A logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle.	(Universal) Freeware	306K
	Mac Tips and Tricks 0.1a: Get Mac tips and tricks in to your Dashboard.	(Universal) Freeware	869K
	DashboardAquarium 0.1: Get a Dashboard aquarium.	(Universal) Freeware	3MB
	Airlock 1.1: Browse your Wi-Fi neighbourhood.	(Universal) Freeware	63KB
	MightyMonitor 4.0: Displays the battery status for the Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and Apple Wireless Keyboard.	(Universal) Freeware	412K
	Countdown Dashboard widget 1.3: A generic countdown widget with customizable event date.	(Universal) Freeware	179K
	Screenshot Plus 3.2 : Take screen captures quickly and easily.	(Universal) Freeware	152K
	Red Alarm Clock 3.7: A digital alarm clock that will raise the volume as it plays your favourite tracks from your iTunes library, to wake you in the morning.	(Universal) Freeware	200K
	Language Translator 1.3: Full text language translator.	(Universal) Freeware	226K
	Quote of The Day 1.0: Presents the quote of the day with the person who said it + his photo.	(Universal) Freeware	246K
	iTunes Timer 1.4: A sleep timer for iTunes audio books, music, podcasts, radio, tv shows and movies.	(Universal) Freeware	107K
	Hotmail + Messenger (2in1) 0.1: Check your Hotmail and use the MSN Messenger in one Widget.	(Universal) Freeware	37K
	Wikipedia 1.0: All the knowledge available in Wikipedia Widget.	(Universal) Freeware	431K
	BBC News Widget 3.3: This elegant widget will dress up your Dashboard with the latest news in any of 32 different languages, direct from the BBC.	(Universal) Freeware	268K
	Yahoo! Mail 0.1: Get Yahoo! Mail in to your dashboard.	(Universal) Freeware	204K
	Countdown 2.1: Down-count the seconds up to their birthday.	(Universal) Freeware	1MB

When a Dashboard widget is built, it usually consists of six files:

* The widget’s HTML file, which is the actual file that will be displayed in the Dashboard layer
* The widget’s CSS file, which is used for styling the widget (but is called on from the HTML file)
* The widget’s JavaScript file, although it may be implemented directly within the HTML file if the developer desires
* The widget’s Property List (called “Info.plist”), which is what Dashboard uses to load the widget’s properties (i.e.: name, version, HTML file, etc.)
* The background image of the widget, in PNG format
* The icon that is displayed in the menu bar

Rather than cluttering up your desktop like the Windows Vista and Windows 7 gadgets, these Mac OS X widgets can be toggled on and off via the F12 key (although this can be changed via System Preferences > Personal > Expose > Dashboard).

Additionally, they can be easily added to, with the default calculator, calendar and clock standing ready to be joined by stocks news, unit converters and even a dictionary tool.

As you access the Dashboard for the first time you will notice similarities with the iPhone’s iOS user interface. It should come as no surprise that the new OS X release for 2011 brings this type of interface more central to the Mac’s desktop interface.

Accessing the Dashboard

In addition to the F12 toggle mentioned above, you can activate the Dashboard via its icon on the Dock. This can also be right-clicked to display options to add More Apple Widgets…, which is where the real strength of the tool can be found (see below).

Accessing the Dashboard presents you with a selection of tools that can be quickly used and the discarded, acting in some ways as an extension of your physical desktop. Rather than scramble around your work area looking for a calculator, for instance, simply tap F12 or launch the Dashboard with you mouse, and a calculator app is displayed, ready for action.

Similarly, if you want to check the weather, a quick activation of the Dashboard widgets will reveal the information, and you can close it again by clicking a blank area of y our desktop.

In fact, pink has even become one of the most widely sought out laptop color options today, especially with women.

I mean come on, who doesn’t want to sport one of those cool pink notebooks that Reese Witherspoon blasted on the big screen in the popular movie Legally Blonde?

Ok, so I’m personally not a pink laptop fan myself, but I do know more than a fair share of people who’d love to get their hands on one. I must admit however, when I first saw one in public years ago I couldn’t help but notice it.

Expect to make a very bold fashion statement when you do get your hands on a pink mini laptops.

Laptop vs Netbook
Pink laptops or pink netbook? You should first understand the difference between them. Netbook are meant for general computing tasks such as email checking, web surfing, and document processing only. You can listen to music or watch standard definition video on a netbook, but don’t expect it to play high definition (1080p) videos or first shooter games which require lots of processing power and resources. You need a standard laptop for those purposes. So 2 things to keep in mind:

1. Netbooks are less powerful than laptops but has sufficient power for general computing tasks. They are smaller, highly portable, and cheaper than a laptop – laptops for sale.

2. Laptops have more processing power, capable of doing tasks like gaming and playing high-def videos which netbooks are not capable of doing. It’s bigger in size and more expensive than a netbook.

At what time Dashboard is activated, the user’s desktop is dimmed and widgets appear in the forefront. Like application windows, they can be moved around, rearranged, deleted, and recreated (so that more than one of the same Widget is open at the same instance, possibly with different settings). New widgets can be opened, via an icon bar on the bottom of the layer, by dragging a dashboard widgets icon out into the layer. After loading, the widget is ready for use.

Even though being a very standard and non-removable part of all subsequent OS versions, actual usage of Dashboard is widely thought to be low and development of new widgets has slowed substantially since the application was first introduced.

If you’d like one of your Dashboard widgets to be available all the time, instead of only when you have activated Dashboard via F12, then activate the Dashboard dvelopment mode. Open the Terminal and type defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES and press Return. Then logout and log back in again. Now debugging mode is activated. To get a widget off of the Dashboard and onto your desktop, just do the following:

1. Activate Dashboard by pressing F12 (or whatever key you’ve assigned to Dashboard).
2. Begin dragging the widget.
3. Press F12 again, before letting up on the mouse button.
4. Drop the widget wherever you want it.

You can do the same thing in reverse to drag the widget back onto the Dashboard. Also of interest: while a widget is frontmost, you can press Command-R to reload it. (This may be necessary if a apple widgets is buggy and gets messed up somehow.) There’s even a nifty Core Image-based twirl effect to accompany the reload.

Ready for the fun now? Press f12 to bring Dashboard up, then drag one of your Dashboard widgets around. While you’re still dragging it around (that’s critical: keep that mouse button down!) press f12 again.
Poof! Your Dashboard vanishes, but the widget’s still visible. Move it to where-ever you want on your screen and it’s there, running, fully functional, without the rest of Dashboard around!

You’ll notice that it lives above everything else on your screen (at least, I don’t know how to push it behind other app windows) so I think you’ll have the best results with small widgets that can be tucked into a corner or lined up neatly on an edge.

To move the widget back into the Dashboard world, reverse the trick: begin dragging the widget, then, while still keeping the mouse button down, press f12, then let go of the mouse button. The widget will be restored to its regular Dashboard layer.