Konfabulator uses?
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The Dashboard weather widget is useful to me. It gives a 5-day forcast, plus I can have both the Liverpool and London weather open. So I can gloat to my parents about how good the London microclimate can be :-)
Jonathan Newman blog.nonny.com [^]
Why not visit the beeb's 5 day weather forecast once a day instead? My gripe is about this strange need to have the weather displayed on your desktop 24/7. What on earth for? regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
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Konfab and co. is a good technology waiting for a useful application of it. Weather, news, CPU temp and your blood-pressure are not good applicatons of the technology. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
I'm rather looking forward to the Microsoft one. I can't wait to build some 'Gadgets' to replace some of my call-centre 'wallboard' apps. It'll be great to finally have these available from the desktop without having to launch other applications. Michael CP Blog [^] Development Blog [^]
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Hi all. I've been playing a little with Konfabulator[^] and was wondering if other CP'ers used it or have built widgets for it? It looks cool and all, and there are certainly a lot of widgets built for it... but it looks like most would be more for fun. Am I misunderstanding the product? I like the weather widget, and the picture frame - and I found a ping widget which I find useful for monitoring whether or not a couple of servers are responsive. Have you found a particularly useful widget that helps in your work environment? I guess I'm just trying to see if this thing is more for fun and less for real work.
I have used it for some time. Of course, I have the weather module (enjoy at a glance to see what the real world is like, also can tell if it is night or day :) ). My favorite is the "stickies" widget. At this moment I have five stickes (three on one monitor and two on the other) that are my reminders. I have them set to different colors for category and priority. VERY handy! Worth the RAM and CPU! Rocky <>< My Blog[^]
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Why not visit the beeb's 5 day weather forecast once a day instead? My gripe is about this strange need to have the weather displayed on your desktop 24/7. What on earth for? regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
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I installed it and was immediately put off by the fact that it spawns a separate process for each widget. Processes are expensive in the Win32 world, and I didn't need Konfabulator sitting there chewing up valuable system resources for a few widgets that don't do much for me anyway. Seriously, aside from the Gmail widget and the weather widget, I don't see many useful ones in the Konfabulator gallery. Besides, I use the Gmail Notifier extension for Firefox...and I'm more likely to respond to a little toaster window that pops up when I start up Firefox than a tiny widget that just displays a number anyway. What I want to know is why everybody finds those system resource monitor widgets so cool. Maybe it's just me, but I really don't need to see what my memory and processor usage is at all times. :~ If someone developed a CruiseControl widget, that would be cool. I think you're going to find that the new Windows Sidebar in Longhorn is going to be more useful, and the fact that the Gadgets developed for it can be pulled off and float around the desktop is going to make something like Konfabulator obsolete.
Picture a huge catholic cathedral. In it there's many people, including a gregorian monk choir. You know, those who sing beautifully. Then they start singing, in latin, as they always do: "Ad hominem..." -Jörgen Sigvardsson
i dont do this via Konfabulator, but the idea is the same. having a CPU usage graph on the second monitor allows me to: a) check if there is some reason why visual studio has stopped responding to my typing. everytime the antivirus updates over the network it hammers my machine into the ground for about 1 minute. while this is happening there is no real point in trying to do anything, so i just sit back, try to relax, and wait for the CPU meter to tell me when i can start trying to type again. b) i can leave visual studio in the background while doing some general reading in firefox, and when the CPU usage returns to sane levels i know that the compilation has stopped, and it is time to go and see if it worked. zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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Seriously now, how is the weather widget helpful? What help to your daily life does having the weather displayed 24/7 on your desktop bring? If you are planning a sailing weekend then you check the weather report once a few days before and are done with it. I just really don't see why every widget app comes with a weather widget. It looks pretty but... regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
Paul Watson wrote: Seriously now, how is the weather widget helpful? What help to your daily life does having the weather displayed 24/7 on your desktop bring? Actually, there are a number of people who use them at work with a viable reason. I was reading a quote about hurricanes, they are getting better at predicting their path, but not the severity. This is what we see in the southwest with thunderstorms, partially. I've got an hour to drive home, others have down to 30 minutes. Of course they have to drive over a mountain pass for half of that 30 minutes. Severity can change suddenly and issue weather warnings. There are a number of people who use them for that. Of course they could just as easily ONLY monitor the weather warnings and not have a weather app.... but it wouldn't look as cool. ;) We're actually not supposed to have them at all. We're supposed to wait patiently until a weather warning sparks the General to evac all the federal workers, and all the military batten down the hatches... and then wait for his secretary to remind him he forgot about the contractors. Usually waiting long enough for the state to close the mountain-pass because of severe weather and all the contractors have to drive around the mountain for 90 minutes. :) but a few people don't like that idea, so keep a weather app at their desk to monitor changes in weather and then get our secretaries to call his secretaries to try to get us released at the same time as everyone else. :-D _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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My thoughts exactly. Maybe they are holed up inside and can't see what the weather is like. :suss: In which case, why would they want to know? :~ Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar
Google talk: binarybandit
After all is said and done, much is said and little is done.
Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: My thoughts exactly. Maybe they are holed up inside and can't see what the weather is like. Steel V2 hangers from the late 1940's, excellent view of the next V2 hanger from my window. :laugh: _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: My thoughts exactly. Maybe they are holed up inside and can't see what the weather is like. Steel V2 hangers from the late 1940's, excellent view of the next V2 hanger from my window. :laugh: _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Then read the second part of my original post. ;P Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar
Google talk: binarybandit
After all is said and done, much is said and little is done.
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My thoughts exactly. Maybe they are holed up inside and can't see what the weather is like. :suss: In which case, why would they want to know? :~ Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar
Google talk: binarybandit
After all is said and done, much is said and little is done.
Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: In which case, why would they want to know? okay... I'll bite.... As comfortable as a steel V2 hanger converted into cattle err.. contractor use, it's lousy living quarters. I'd rather not be stuck at work after they closed the roads. As rare as that is, it does happen. The other is flash-flooding which cannot be predicted until the thunder cell rises, which means hours max, not days warning. The weather for the day says something like "Localized Severe thunderstorms with possibility of localized flooding" and then within an hour of the thunderstorm you get a weather warning telling everyone to stay off the roads, at least absolutely avoid bridges. Now about 10 years ago, I did work in a place that was completely unaffected by weather. Nice partially underground, about 13 feet of concrete between you and the rest of the world. Absolutely no idea what the weather is like outside until you throw open the door. But I still would rather not be trapped there overnight because of flashfloods. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: In which case, why would they want to know? okay... I'll bite.... As comfortable as a steel V2 hanger converted into cattle err.. contractor use, it's lousy living quarters. I'd rather not be stuck at work after they closed the roads. As rare as that is, it does happen. The other is flash-flooding which cannot be predicted until the thunder cell rises, which means hours max, not days warning. The weather for the day says something like "Localized Severe thunderstorms with possibility of localized flooding" and then within an hour of the thunderstorm you get a weather warning telling everyone to stay off the roads, at least absolutely avoid bridges. Now about 10 years ago, I did work in a place that was completely unaffected by weather. Nice partially underground, about 13 feet of concrete between you and the rest of the world. Absolutely no idea what the weather is like outside until you throw open the door. But I still would rather not be trapped there overnight because of flashfloods. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
:omg: Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar
Google talk: binarybandit
After all is said and done, much is said and little is done.
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:omg: Cheers, Vikram.
http://www.geocities.com/vpunathambekar
Google talk: binarybandit
After all is said and done, much is said and little is done.
hehehe You know what the common engineering term for building with a steel frame wrapped with steel skin is right?? A lightning rod. ;P Definately not the place to stay during a thunderstorm. :-D _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) -- modified at 10:06 Wednesday 21st September, 2005
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Nnamdi Onyeyiri wrote: My guess is its laziness - its much quicker/easier to turn on the computer and the information is there, than having to load up a browser and go get it. And convenience... Leave it there until a weather alert brings your attention to it. Continue to work until the darn thing starts flashing, sending out audible alarms or otherwise identifying itself as a warning. I think it would be more time consuming to have to open up and check a website every 30 minutes during a thunderstorm day. I actually don't have one running, two other guys in my section do, I don't think a 3rd is necessary -- that would be too much. Still handy thing to have. (or you could say I am lazy by relying on their weather warnings while I work hehehe) Plus I don't worry too much, at least once a year the road closes behind me as I escape work just in the nick of time. Twice in the last 12 years I have talked the state police into letting me go through. The choice is letting me go through the valley or sending me over the high mountain pass. And I grew up in northern NM where they close the roads for far heavier weather than the south. I have driven in far worse weather than we have in the south. The real danger is all the locals who forget what ice is since they only see it a half dozen times a year.... _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Ah excuses, excuses, excuses. We all know of your weather fetish. And I hope to god that your Southern friends don't rely on "Hey, it is sunny!" weather widgets to warn of tornados and hurricanes. I did once see a Hurricane Warning widget though. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
Paul Watson wrote: And I hope to god that your Southern friends don't rely on "Hey, it is sunny!" weather widgets to warn of tornados and hurricanes. I actually considered writing my own 24/7 weather joke program. Takes the weather and turns it into one of those weather rocks... If the rock is wet, it is raining, if the rock is white, it is snowing, if the rock is swinging back and forth (it's suspended from a string) it is windy. :-D It was mostly to harass the 24/7 weather crowd, some of whom have the radar maps up 24/7 which is waaaaay overkill. I have to ask though.... Is the weather elsewhere really that predictible? We get predictions of general conditions. Such as "20% chance of thunderstorms on Sunday" And even 12 hours in advance it doesn't get better than that. It's not until the storm clouds actually coalesce and can be tracked on radar that they can tell which county to warn, what roads to close for flooding, etc. That gives you less than two hours to get the warnings out. If you are caught finding the latest bug in your code and distracted, you could easily find yourself sleeping at work because all the roads are closed. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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i dont do this via Konfabulator, but the idea is the same. having a CPU usage graph on the second monitor allows me to: a) check if there is some reason why visual studio has stopped responding to my typing. everytime the antivirus updates over the network it hammers my machine into the ground for about 1 minute. while this is happening there is no real point in trying to do anything, so i just sit back, try to relax, and wait for the CPU meter to tell me when i can start trying to type again. b) i can leave visual studio in the background while doing some general reading in firefox, and when the CPU usage returns to sane levels i know that the compilation has stopped, and it is time to go and see if it worked. zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
You don't need the whole konfabulator system for that though. There are 50 alternatives which are much lighter on resources and which sit in your system tray. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and WebTwoZero. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!
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The Dashboard weather widget is useful to me. It gives a 5-day forcast, plus I can have both the Liverpool and London weather open. So I can gloat to my parents about how good the London microclimate can be :-)
Jonathan Newman blog.nonny.com [^]
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Nnamdi Onyeyiri wrote: its much quicker/easier to turn on the computer and the information is there, than having to load up a browser and go get it. I couldn't agree more! That's why I wrote this[^]. :) /ravi My new year's resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Music | Articles | Freeware | Trips ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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I have used it for some time. Of course, I have the weather module (enjoy at a glance to see what the real world is like, also can tell if it is night or day :) ). My favorite is the "stickies" widget. At this moment I have five stickes (three on one monitor and two on the other) that are my reminders. I have them set to different colors for category and priority. VERY handy! Worth the RAM and CPU! Rocky <>< My Blog[^]
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I'm rather looking forward to the Microsoft one. I can't wait to build some 'Gadgets' to replace some of my call-centre 'wallboard' apps. It'll be great to finally have these available from the desktop without having to launch other applications. Michael CP Blog [^] Development Blog [^]
If you are interested in building .NET Gadgets, you might want to look at this calculator[^] and analog clock. I am still trying to understand if .NET will integrate well into the whole Gadget idea. check out VG.net: www.vgdotnet.com An animated vector graphics system integrated in VS.net
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Ravi Bhavnani wrote: Here's[^] an non-Konfabulator alternate written by your's truly. Free, of course. I will second Ravi’s app. It works well fairly un-obtrusive. I don’t run it all of the time only when I suspect especially foul weather. Now MP3Pal on the other hand needs a couple of features to make it a fully useful app. :) ------------------------------- DEBUGGING : Removing the needles from the haystack.
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I'm rather looking forward to the Microsoft one. I can't wait to build some 'Gadgets' to replace some of my call-centre 'wallboard' apps. It'll be great to finally have these available from the desktop without having to launch other applications. Michael CP Blog [^] Development Blog [^]
Michael P Butler wrote: I can't wait to build some 'Gadgets' to replace some of my call-centre 'wallboard' apps. Got any links or resources? Id be interested in this as well. ------------------------------- DEBUGGING : Removing the needles from the haystack.