Konfabulator becomes Yahoo! Widgets
I’ve already been playing with an internal build for a while, but Toni has announced Yahoo! Widgets 3.0. This isn’t just a build that rebranded Konfabulator, this is a major release. Read Toni’s post very carefully.
Yahoo login: you can now build widgets that use Yahoo login and tap into a user’s photo albums, calendar, notepad, etc
Some of you may be scratching your head, wondering what this means so I’ll explain. If you install a widget that uses information stored at Yahoo!, a login widget will pop up asking you to log into Yahoo!. This is secure, you’re giving the username and password to Yahoo! Widgets (not to the individual widget), which then uses those to log you into Yahoo!. From now on, all widgets can access your Yahoo! data as you.
So what data is available? Lots of it. First, you’ve always had access to your flickr photos (now you know why there was a push to get everyone using Yahoo! IDs). But there’s a lot of new data exposed as well, especially in my neck of the woods. The addressbook, calendar and notepad teams are exposing data feeds to your data. There’s a new Day Planner widget that displays upcoming tasks and events from your Yahoo! Calendar. There’s a new Contacts widget that lets you search your addressbook. There’s also a new Notepad widget that lets you view, edit and create notes in your Yahoo! Notepad (you can also use this widget to update your Yahoo! 360 Blast message or to post a message to your Yahoo! 360 blog).
Even more impressive than the update to Yahoo! Widgets is probably the new data services being exposed. As Toni mentions, the new calendar, addressbook and notepad APIs aren’t openly supported on the Yahoo! Developer Network, but I’m sure that won’t stop you all from cracking open the widget JavaScript and figuring out how to communicate with the services.
More links:
December 12th, 2005 at 10:39 pm
Hi Ryan,
I’m so glad they came up with the widget that can access our Yahoo! calendar! I was intent on making one myself since the only one available in Konfabulator could access Outlook. Great deal. BTW, did you see the press release for Yahoo! 7?
Melinda
December 12th, 2005 at 11:45 pm
The widgets are pretty nice. I use my Yahoo! Calendar to store all of my meeting at work, so having the Today/Tomorrow view is really handy.
If by Yahoo! 7 you mean the deal between Yahoo! and Seven Network, then yes…I did see it. It sounds like it really only concerns Yahoo! Australia and New Zealand, though…so I’m not sure what I’ll actually see come of that being in the US. I’ll have to tell my aunt in NZ to keep an eye out.
December 14th, 2005 at 1:15 pm
Ah …….. Yahoo Widget……… The ever lasting dream has come true….finally…
Amen