Mini programs, gadgets or widgets, are simple time saving apps that provide you with easy and quick access to the information or tool that you frequently use. With Vista they are called gadgets, and they are organised and displayed from the sidebar.

With the gadgets below you will be able to access the information, perform tasks, and interact with your favourite social media platform. You will find gadgets for Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Flickr, Wordpress…and much more. You can now have all the info you need at your fingertips.

Digg News

Digg News Vista Gadget is a gadget that will show the lastest Digg news headlines, you can filter the headlines by categories and topics via the settings menu. Simply, click on the headline title to visit the Digg article, and click on the Diggs button to log in to your Digg account.

Download Digg News Vista Gadget

My del.icio.us

With My del.icio.us you can browse your personal bookmarks, view the latest popular links on Delicious or view the latest entries from your network. Easily switch from user to user or simply click the my del.cio.us button to return to your data.

Download My del.icio.us Vista Gadget

Twitter Explorer

The Twitter Explorer keeps you up to date with your Twitter account. With its easy to use interface, which can be resized and comes with various themes, you can post a Tweet and reply and retweet messages quickly and easily. You can also view recent activity, mentions, and trends, Cool gadget.

Download Twitter Explorer Vista Gadget

Chirpr – Gadget for Twitter

This gadget is similiar in functionality as the Twitter Explorer (above). Its features include: Automatic and manual refresh, audio notification of new messages, create new and reply to existing messages and keyboard shortcuts to submit (Ctrl+Enter) or cancel (Esc) a new tweet.

Download Chirpr – Vista Gadget for Twitter

Flickr Photo Search

Flickr Photo Search is a gadget that will allow you to search the Flickr website from your desktop or Vista Sidebar.

Download Flickr Photo Search Vista Gadget

Facebook Explorer

The Facebook Explorer lets you track incoming messages and friend activities, as well as allows you to change your status message form the sidebar.

Download Facebook Explorer Vista Gadget

Slashdot Feed

Get the last RSS feeds from Slashdot.org. The feeds are displayed 4 at a time. Clicking on a feed link opens a flyout with the text of the feed. Double clicking on the feed link will open the link on the Slashdot site. The feed list is automatically refreshed every 60 seconds, but a NOW link allows the user to refresh the feed list immediately.

Download Slashdot Feed Vista Gadget

Wikipedia Search

This Vista Gadget will allow you to perform Wikipedia searches directly from your desktop.

Download Wikipedia Search Vista Gadget

Skype Gadget

This gadget displays chats and your contacts’ online status from Skype. Skype couldn’t be easier to use, simply click on your friends icon to start chatting.

Download Skype Vista Gadget

YouTube Gadget

This YouTube gadget displays a selection of random videos, the selection updates every 30 seconds, and by clicking on the video-image you will start the YouTube player on the left side of the gadget. You can filter categories via the settings form or you can also select a custom search to show only the videos you like.

Download YouTube Vista Gadget

YouTube Video Downloader

A simple sidebar gadget to download YouTube videos. Simply enter the URL and download the video in flv format. Use the VLC Media Player or FLV Player to view the video.

Download YouTube Video Downloader Vista Gadget

FeedBurner Readers

This RSS tracker gadget, will keep you up to date with the number of readers at any feed available on FeedBurner.com (must allow Awareness API access). You just need to give the feed name, and it will check every 20 minutes.

Download FeedBurner Readers Vista Gadget

Sage RSS

This ticker news RSS feed gadget downloads your RSS feeds allowing you to easily scroll all the headlines. The Gadget has a compact design that allows you to view 30 items from your subscribed feeds.

Download Sage RSS Vista Gadget

Atom/RSS News Reader

A gadget that lets you get a sneak preview of your favorite feeds around the web. You can have the latest news, the latest posts from your favorite blogs, the latest posts from your favorite forums, the latest e-mails, etc, all in one gadget.

Download Atom/RSS News Reader Vista Gadget

RSS To Speech

This is an excellent gadget, it downloads your RSS feeds from any web site and reads them aloud. How cool is that.

Download RSS To Speech Vista Gadget

Blogger Buddy

Blogger Buddy is a gadget for your sidebar that allows you to log in, view, and post updates to your blog on Blogger.com.

Download Blogger Buddy Vista Gadget

WordPress Gadget

For any Wordpress user this gadget is indipensible. This gadget will allow you to get straight to creating a new post, with just a couple of clicks, you can also add a new blogroll link or moderate comments using this useful sidebar gadget.

Download WordPress Vista Gadget

WordPress Stats

WordPress Stats gadget displays all the visitors statistics for your WordPress blog as delivered by the WordPress Stats plugin. The gadget allows you to display the information for both today and yesterday – just as visible on the WordPress Stats page in the admin panel of your blog.

Download WordPress Stats Vista Gadget

Windows Live Writer Gadget

With this gadget you can open a new blog entry, open a previous blog entry or even open the options right from your sidebar (or have it floating and open Writer from anywhere). Not only this, but you can drag and drop onto the gadget too. The gadget supports images, urls, and image urls for drag and drop, and each one will open a new blog entry in Writer with the relevant details already in.

Download Windows Live Writer Vista Gadget

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboy and speckyboy@twitter).

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