Writing Gadgets with Google Mashup Editor

Posted by Brian Shih, Google Gadgets Team

Do you use the Google Mashup Editor? Did you know you can use GME to create a mashup and then distribute it as a gadget on iGoogle, Google Desktop, and more? Jason Cooper, from the GME team, has a great article on how to use the Mashup Editor to create and publish Google Gadgets.

If you're already using GME, this is a great way to share your mashup with millions of iGoogle users by releasing your mashup as a gadget. Check out some of the existing mashups in the gallery!

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Go Go Open Source Gadgets!

Posted by John Hjelmstad, Google Gadgets Team

In case you missed the announcement over at the OpenSocial blog, we're happy to announce the first commit to the Apache Shindig repository today. This is the first step to fully open sourcing the stack that powers Google Gadgets and iGoogle today. The Google Gadgets team (and many others!) have been working to release several components that will eventually allow any site to host and serve gadgets.

This first commit contains both the Gadget Container JavaScript and Gadget Server. Though we still have much to add, the Gadget Container JavaScript already supports some basic gadget functionality, user pref editing, a layout manager, and the ability to choose where your gadgets are rendered - gmodules.com or your very own gadget server!

If this sounds interesting, take a look at the code, and drop by the group - we're excited to hear from you.

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Gadgets spec and new API preview

Posted by Brian Shih, Google Gadgets Team

We've been working on the open source implementation of the gadgets stack and we'd like to share a preview of the gadgets specification and new gadgets.* JavaScript APIs. Consider this an early look at where gadgets are headed, but don't let this change the way you build apps for iGoogle today. The standard spec and open source stack will allow gadgets to grow and let us add exciting new features for gadget developers, such as the new ability for containers to support gadgets with different views like "profile" or "canvas".

The existing documentation for building gadgets on iGoogle is available in the developer's guide.

As always, if you have any questions about the spec or API preview, drop by the group.

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Go Go Gadgets in Asia

Posted by Min Li Chan, Google Developer Programs - APAC

It's cold and cloudy in Hong Kong and Taiwan this week, as our trusty weather gadgets indicate. At the Googleplex, where a quintessentially Californian winter is holding up, we had the distinct honor of hosting our Taiwan and Hong Kong gadget developer contest winners -- Hu Chih-Pao flew in from Taipei to tour our campus in December (see photos from his visit on his blog), while Alex Ng and Liu Chun-Yu visited us from Hong Kong two weeks ago.

Of the 190 submissions for the gadget contest in Taiwan, Chih-Pao produced a whopping 43 entries, including a real-time Taiwan Train Timetable gadget and a gadget for the Taiwanese traditional worship of the Buddha of Mercy:



Alex and Chun-Yu's innovative use of gadget technology caught our eye, with their real-time local Hong Kong TV program guide with keyword-activated YouTube views, as well as their Feng Shui gadget:



Japan's gadget awards last year also showcased great gadgets from a pool of 178 submissions, including:

The Earthquake information gadget:



The QR code generator gadget from our Grand Prix winner, kilo:




(QR codes are widely used in Japan to store and display information, particularly URLs, which can be scanned and launched from a browser-enabled camera phone equipped with QR reader software).

We hosted our illustrious Japanese gadget contest winners last year at our office in Tokyo -- check out our interviews with them here.

We're thrilled to experience the creative, inspired, and locally relevant ways that developers are using gadgets and Google APIs here in Asia. As a quick sampler, take a look at the submitted contest gadgets for Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong on iGoogle in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

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New possibilities with Gadgets!

Posted by Nir Bar-Lev, Product Management

Visualizations have always been a great way to display data and get insights. The sales graph always needs to go up, right? I’ve yet to see a boardroom with a table of data instead of interesting graphs. And of-course it’s not just about businesses and boardrooms, we all like to visualize our information.

The problem is that many times it is hard to integrate the visual components with the data and application. It’s long and frustrating. Is this familiar?

Well, today we've launched the Google Visualization API, which has a gadget extension that lets gadget developers develop amazing visual gadgets over an open API to structured data sources, the first of which being Google Spreadsheets. We’ve also added a discussion group just for this type of Visual Gadgets and the API extensions.

We look forward to seeing great things from you using this new API.

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