Just wanted to announce that I made a couple of quick updates to the site.  The first is that we’re now up to Wordpress 2.2 and things went pretty smoothly.  The other change is right on the sidebar. 

BuildAGadget is now on MyBlogLog, so if you’re interested or if you’re already a member, join our community!  Other than that, I’ll be posting up a few more updates and tidbits concerning the 1.2 update for the Ultimate Explorer gadget.

We just launched the newest update to our popular Ultimate Explorer gadget!  Here’s a breakdown of what’s what:

1. Default Browser:  Fixed.  Regular links still work as they did, but any web searches will now work in whatever default browser you have.
2. Update Notifier:  We added an update notifier feature that checks our server once a day to see if there is a new update to the gadget.  If there is, it will display a green button in the lower left hand corner of the gadget.  If you click the button, it will display a flyout with relevant information and links.  This can be disabled in the Settings->Advanced->Updates tab.  Regular update notification in the same tab still works.
3. Drop Down Awkwardness:  Fixed, it’s all pretty now!
4. The Reset Button:  Has been renamed to “Restore Default Settings.”
5. The Search Engine Menu: Can now be closed by clicking anywhere in the gadget.
6. The Current Search Term:  Can be erased with a double-click.  Single click will still allow editing.
7. Default Skin: Will now display the right way in the settings panel.

Download @ Live.com Gallery

Download From BuildAGadget.com

Since the gadget is doing fairly well right now, we though it would be a good idea to begin getting a 1.1 version ready for everyone.  Some of the details are still in the air, but here’s a list of what we’re planning:

1. Possible Fix For Default Browser.  the current bug is actually a bug with the sidebar, so we’re going to attempt to hack around this.
2. Auto-Update Feature.  Cause we need it, though we’re still working out the details, this should be fairly simple and non-intrusive, but still visible.
3. Interface Tweaks For Awkward Drop-Downs.  Going to play around a little with this to see what we can do.
4. Reset Settings -> Restore Default Settings.  Just to make it clearer.
5. Search Engine Toggle Flyout Closable On Gadget Click.  It’s a small tweak, but should help out if you change your mind about switching the current engine.
6. Double-Click Search Term Erase.  This is so we can make it easier for people to add in a different term.  Single click will still allow a user to edit the current term.

So there you have it, a rough overview of what we have planned for the next major update.  We’re not setting a release date just yet, but we’ll post it up here when we do.

Gadget Name:  Multi Meter (Dual Core) v.1.24

Description:  This gadget shows your current processor and RAM load on the machine and can be used to shortcut to the Task Manager in Vista.

Review:  It’s tiny, but it works really well.  It’s a real time display of the system resources, which is definitely useful to anyone using Vista, especially the people without $3,000.00 worth of hardware to run it (Which is most of us).  So, we can monitor out system, get to the task manager with a double-click, anything else?  Sure thing.  This gadget comes with a massive amount of customizable themes for the small version.  You can change the background as well as the bar colors of the meter.  The one downside to this is that when the gadget is undocked, the theme goes away, but otherwise, it’s very impressive for such a little thing.

Appearance: 4 / 5

Functionality: 5 / 5

Usefulness: 5 / 5

Overall:  4.6 / 5

Download @ Windows Live Gallery