Most internet service providers offer some form of tracking service to see how much data you’ve used in a month, but that’s usually browser-based. If you’d prefer to keep track of your usage via a desktop gadget and you’re running Windows, then the Unique Windows Gadgets site probably has a tool that will fit the bill. More »
Windows 7: Windows Explorer’s sidebar comes with a few entries in it that not everyone uses, such as Homegroup or Libraries. If you’d rather keep your sidebar clean (or populate it with more useful items), here’s how to hide the defaults. More »
Windows: Desktop Eye is a small sidebar gadget that puts security camera monitoring in an unobstrusive widget and saves you from running a bulky separate application that may not always be in focus where you can see it. More »
Firefox/Internet Explorer: If Gmail or Google Apps mail is attached to your workday like your right arm, MailBrowser could be a handy pop-out sidebar tool for making sense of the people who mail you and the files they send. More »
Windows only: Desktop sidebar LongBar hosts mini-applications as “tiles”, giving you application launchers, system stats, Facebook updates, sticky notes and more on the side of your screen. More »
Windows Vista only: Sidebar gadget Google Calendar Agenda adds quick access to your calendar right in your Windows Vista sidebar. More »
Windows Vista only: Sidebar gadget I Forgot The Milk adds quick access to your to-do list right in your Vista sidebar. More »
Windows 7/Vista only: Sidebar gadget gCalTasks tracks your time with a couldn’t-be-easier start/stop timer that saves your current task directly to Google Calendar. Installing the gadget is easy—just double-click on the downloaded file to add it to your sidebar, and use the wrench icon to add in your Google account details (works with Apps too). Once you’ve authenticated you can choose which calendar you want to send your time tracking data to. (It’s probably best to create a new one to keep from cluttering your regular schedule.) At this point you can start tracking your time by simply typing what you are working on and clicking Start; when you’re done, hit Stop to save your data up to Google. At the end of the day you can check the Agenda view in Google Calendar to see a nice list of everything you worked on throughout the day. The gadget has a few issues—most noticeably it’s too wide to fit in the sidebar so you really have to use it on the desktop, but the bigger problem is the lack of automatic sync, requiring you to remember to use the Stop button to save. The benefits of being able to easily track what you are working on and save to the accessible-everywhere Google Calendar outweigh the problems—and make this worth a look for anybody looking to keep better tabs on their time. gCalTasks is a free download for Windows 7 or Vista users. If you are looking for a hands-off, completely automated solution, take a look at previously mentioned Productivity Meter or Slife instead. Do you have a preferred solution for tracking your time? Share it in the comments.
gCalTasks [via Download Squad]YouTube is full of videos that don’t require singled-minded attention, but trying to keep a YouTube page visible in the background for passive watching isn’t easy. Digital Inspiration’s Amit Agarwal suggests two methods, though, that work great for browsing other sites or doing actual, you know, work, while keeping a video cornered and always on top. The first requires re-working a video link to its full-screen version and bookmarking it to load in Firefox’s sidebar—something we’ve covered before with other apps. The other method creates a mini-browser window that always stays on top using an AutoHotKey-coded app. Hit the link below for details on each idea, which should make burning through your favourite webisodes easier while still plucking away on your busy work. How to Watch YouTube Videos While Working on other Tasks [Digital Inspiration]
Windows only: If you’re a fan of the music service Pandora and sporting the Windows Vista Sidebar (or a ported Vista Sidebar on Windows XP) a Pandora sidebar gadget is now available to bring your stations to the desktop. When docked into the sidebar, it displays the current song and the thumbs up and down option. When undocked users see the entire Pandora interface and are able to edit stations. Pandora Sidebar Gadget is freeware, Windows only. Pandora Sidebar Gadget
