My Favorite Macbook Widgets

Ahhhhh. My Macbook. A piece of… what should I say… art that I use everyday, almost no exceptions.

I got my current Macbook in the beginning of my 10th grade (so almost 2 years ago) because my school required everyone in our school to buy it. When they sent letters telling everyone to buy it, I was shocked, to say the least.

A computer… for everyone?!?

I mean, we already had a computer lab and carts of Windows labtops around the school that were plenty for everyone. Did we really need them?

That’s a question to be answered in another blog post….

After using Windows desktops for my whole life, I was confused when I got this Macbook. I went through every Application that it came with, and was pleased to find that it was so… simple?

And that world – SIMPLE – is the word that summarizes Mac and its success. Just looking at the Macbook – white, plain, clean, yet fresh and with an aura of something religious – mysterious yet comfortable.

The most popular mp3 player in the world – the iPOD - is so simple. It’s just a rectangle with a screen and a circle underneath the screen. Fashionable, slim, and uncomplicated.

One of the greatest things about Macbooks is the fact that its really personalized. You don’t have to change the way you use computers. You can make the Macbook change so that it suits you. One example is the Dashboard.

And with this Dashboard, you can download third-party applications all over the Internet that can make your life easier, which is what machines and technology were essentially originally made for.

Here’s a screenshot of a Dashboard

As you can see, there’s a lotta stuff. A good place to look for popular or cool Widgets is in Apple’s Top 50 Widgets. And here are my favorite 5 widgets:

5. PEMDAS

It’s a multifunctional scientific calculator, with all the functions shown as above. Although it doesn’t graph functions for you, like a regular TI or Casio, it has most of the basic functions that a calculator needs. Besides, it’s more colorful.

However, it’s not as fast as using a regular calculator, which is understood, because on a labtop, keys are harder to press quickly.

Pros: easy to download, easy to use, radians and degrees are easily switchable
Cons: takes a while to write each equation

4. QwikConvert

Although there a default version of a Unit Converter already exists, this third-party unit converter, developed by Ben Robinson, trumps Apple’s unit converter (no offense, Apple).

Basically, you just type a number and a unit, and it’ll show you all of the possible conversions, as shown above.

Pros: easy to use, very fast
Cons: conversion limited to only metric system and American conversion system

3. Bubble Bazinga

This is a game most comparable to Puzzle Bobble (right), the classic arcade game, so that’s what I’m gonna be comparing it to. If you want to play the old version, click here. The difference is that in Bubble Bazinga, if your bubble hits 2 or more of its color and the group is destroyed, that isn’t counted against you. So in essence, if you continuously hit other bubbles of the same color, the screen will never get smaller. Also, unlike Puzzle Bobble, the screen size stays the same and more bubbles are added, whereas in Puzzle Bobble, the screen “goes down.” Finally, you use a mouse to play Bubble Bazinga, while you use the keyboard to play Puzzle Bobble.

Play both games and get a feel.

Pros: don’t need Internet, no annoying music from Puzzle Bobble, mouse gameplay makes it easier for most people, more strategy required than Puzzle Bobble, no time limit, you can leave computer and come back any time and resume
Cons: mouse gameplay makes it at times too easy, slower than Puzzle Bobble, addictive, luck based, takes a pretty large part of RAM

2. TV Forecast

This widget’s really good for people who like to watch American TV shows, especially people like me, who can’t watch on TV, but needs to download them off the Internet (via Bittorrent, which I explain how to use here).

It gives you a list of shows and tells you when it’s going to come out. Very useful.

Pros: tells you episode name, what time it’s airing, and when the next new episode is coming out.
Cons: doesn’t adjust for time difference (because I live in Korea, it would be better if I knew what time the next Heroes episode came out in Korean time), doesn’t tell you the season number and episode number (which are essential for Bittorrent)

1. iStat Pro

iStat Pro keeps a tab on everything on your computer: memory, hard disk space, temperature of your computer, how fast your fans in your computer are turning, which processes are taking up the most CPUs, etc.

It’s very customizable. The i button on the left lets you add or delete any section of iStat Pro and it also lets you change the Display setting.

Pros: organized, customizable, informative
Cons: can’t change the order of the sections, takes a while to update, takes a bit of RAM

To check out some of the coolest new Widgets, visit Apple’s Top 50 Widgets. Remember, widgets are supposed to make life easier and cool, so you should download anything that catches your eye and try it out!

Next part of the series: My Favorite Firefox Add-ons

Photo Citations:
Macbook by tech_in
iPod by wiki.videolan
Dashboard (logo) by danuff
Dashboard Screenshot by macinstruct
PEMDAS by Apple
Qwikconvert by dashboardwidgets
Bubble Bazinga by softpedia
Puzzle Bobble by islandlabs
TV Forecast by bigbucketblog
iStat Pro by iusethis

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