Gadgets for GMail

The gadgets below are built for GMail, handy little tools that can be installed in the sidebar of mail.google.com. This is a relatively new feature of GMail, and while theoretically any iGoogle gadget will work, in practice there are many reasons why most don't. These gadgets have been specifically made so that they will work.

Installation instructions can be found after the list, or on the individual gadget pages.

Fare Tracker thumbnail Air Fare Buzz Tracker

Monitor the lowest airfares recently found between cities of your choice. Powered by Kayak.com's Fare Buzz.

Amazon Product Search gadget thumbnail Amazon Product Search

Find bargains on Amazon.com from within GMail. Supports drag-and-drop of text from your e-mails (in most browsers).

URL: http://gad.getpla.net/search/amazon.xml

PolyClock gadget thumbnail PolyClock

My first gadget designed specifically for GMail. Put a compact world clock in your sidebar.

URL: http://gad.getpla.net/poly/clock.xml

Mini Feed Reader gadget thumbnail Mini Feed Reader

Monitor any standard news or blog feed from within Google's popular webmail client.

URL: http://gad.getpla.net/feed/reader.xml

StickyNote gadget thumbnail StickyNote

Write notes to yourself in your GMail sidebar, as reminders or an alternate clipboard.

URL: http://gad.getpla.net/sticky/note.xml

Google Search gadget thumbnail Google Search

Search the web from within GMail. Supports drag-and-drop of text from your e-mails (in most browsers).

URL: http://gad.getpla.net/search/google.xml

Daylight Map gadget thumbnail DaylightMap

An interactive map showing which areas of the Earth are currently in daylight, and which are in darkness. Handy for seeing the state of our global village at a glance.

URL: http://www.daylightmap.com/daylight_mapplet.xml

Clouds gadget thumbnail Clouds

An interactive satellite view of global cloud cover, updated every hour. Zoom in to see your own weather from above!

URL: http://www.daylightmap.com/clouds/cloud_gadget.xml

Moon Phase gadget thumbnail Moon Phase

The current phase of the moon, updated hourly, in your GMail sidebar.

URL: http://gad.getpla.net/moon/phase.xml

It's 5:00 Somewhere! gadget thumbnail It's 5:00 Somewhere!

Had enough of the work day? This fun little gadget will tell you where in the world it's already quitting time – and time for a bit of refreshment, perhaps!

URL: http://gad.getpla.net/5oclock/somewhere.xml

Current Time Zones gadget thumbnail Current Time Zones beta

A map of worldwide time zones, corrected for Daylight Savings (Summer) Time for the current date.

URL: http://www.daylightmap.com/time/zone_gadget.xml

Installation

The bad news is that there's currently no easy mechanism for adding a gadget directly to GMail, as there is in iGoogle. It's a manual process. Here are the required steps:

  1. In GMail, click the Settings link (at the upper-right), and go to the Labs tab.
  2. In Labs, turn on the Add any gadget by URL feature (currently towards the bottom), and save your changes.
  3. Back in Settings, go to the Gadgets tab.
  4. Copy & paste the appropriate URL from the list above into the box you'll find there.

* Mac OS X 10.4.3 Tiger (or higher) is required. If you're using Safari, click the download link above. When the widget download is complete, Show Dashboard, click the Plus sign to display the Widget Bar and click the widget's icon in the Widget Bar to open it. If you're using a browser other than Safari, click the download link. When the widget download is complete, unarchive it and place it in /Library/Widgets/ in your home folder. Show Dashboard, click the Plus sign to display the Widget Bar and click the widget's icon in the Widget Bar to open it.