Windows Vista gadgets: Revisited

When Windows Vista was released a year ago, we looked at the world of the Sidebar gadget. In the past 12 months there has been an explosion of gadgets, which have the power to turn your desktop into a productivity powerhouse.

Last year we touted BBC Radio, Wikipedia, ITN News and the Egg Timer as the best gadgets on the net. However, a host of third party developers with some great ideas really raised the bar for our gadgets throughout 2007.

Here’s what’s hot on our sidebars in 2008:

National Rail : The commuters in the office have no excuses for being late for work with this gadget. It tells you the status of UK trains, at whichever station is closest to you, and more importantly, which ones are late or cancelled. Many a cold wait at Bath Spa station has been avoided.

SayIt : Haven’t you always wanted an electronic voice to echo your sentiments? “Make me a tea.” “You are bald.” “Manchester United are -.” Fortunately bad language isn’t tolerated by SayIt, the voice synthesis gadget.

Facebook Photo : Yes, Facebook has taken over the world, and the less said about it the better. If you’re a compulsive photo tagger you need this gadget. Not only does it display your – and your friend’s – photos on your desktop, you can drag pictures to it to upload automatically.

Application Launcher : Productivity geeks and neat freaks will love the application launcher. This gadget enables you to add any application so you can launch it in seconds, and keep your desktop free of clutter.

RSS Feed reader: Yes, one of the original gadgets (aside from the clock) remains on the sidebar 12 months on. I’m using it to keep track of Plymouth Argyle news, but it’s customisable to any RSS feed you like.

That wraps up our Sidebar favourites, but tell us about yours. Which are the best, and which aren’t worthy of a place on the taskbar, let alone the coveted Sidebar?