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Google Gadgets go cross-platform

Google Gadgets are now available on both PC and Mac platforms.

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
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Elinor Mills

Google is adding support for Google Gadgets in its Google Desktop for the Mac software. Google Gadgets, as you probably know, are mini applications with dynamic content that offer quick access for things like newsfeeds and to-do lists.

Mac users can now run Google Gadgets side by side with Apple Widgets in Dashboard and have the same gadgets on their Mac, iGoogle page, and Google Desktop Sidebar.

Some cross-platform Gadgets include: YouTube, which lets you search and watch YouTube videos from Dashboard; Virtual Flower Pot, where you water it and watch flowers bloom; and Weather Globe, which displays weather conditions inside a 3D glass sphere.

"For users, this means they can install hundreds of Google Gadgets with just one click and run them in Dashboard. They can also use Gadgets to enhance their personal Web sites by copying and pasting the HTML into the page's source code," Google says.

And now developers can create one set of gadgets that will work on both PC and Mac platforms.

Update 11:15 a.m.: Although the launch was scheduled for Wednesday, Google has delayed it until Thursday, for some reason.

Google Desktop for the Mac now includes support for Google Gadgets. Google