MacWidgets.net Countdown

[pryu]

Hey guys,

After a long period in hibernation (we were originally MacWidgets.net), our site is finally up. We just opened for business! Currently we have two widgets for sale, and a bunch for free.



We're getting quite hammered right now, so please let me know here if you have problems registering, logging in, just accessing pages, downloading widgets, or of course, purchasing. Thanks!

 

[Androit]

Hey guys,

I've been working for the past couple of months along with a team of artists and programmers on a website dedicated to widgets, called MacWidgets.net. We'll be launching with news, editorials, an archive, and our very own designed widgets during the week after Tiger's release.

For now, I've started a teaser countdown at the site, where you guys can check out previews of our upcoming widgets. Hope you guys like what you see!

MacWidgets.net Countdown

Yesterday's preview: CPU Puck

Wow, they look nice. Tons more polished than most of the widgets I've seen out in the wild. Are these for free or for purchase?

 

[pryu]

Wow, they look nice. Tons more polished than most of the widgets I've seen out in the wild. Are these for free or for purchase?

Those two will be free, as will the vast majority of our widgets. We're going to try selling one though.

 

[supergod]

Isn't there some kind of policy on these forums about advertising for your website? This is pretty blatant...

 

[pryu]

Isn't there some kind of policy on these forums about advertising for your website? This is pretty blatant...

Well, I noticed threads like replacement graphics for the calculator widget, and I think we'll be offering a lot more than that for free, so I figured why not. And in terms of rules, I don't think this violates any of them.

 

[Harry K.]

Accepting ideas?

I'd like to see two widgets if possible:

One- Rhyming Dictionary or Bad Spellers Dictionary
Two- Bible Verse Look-up.

Those would be awesome and really helpful.

 

[powerbook911]

Well, I don't mind that you advertised, for I think this is great to have lots of widgets out there. I'll be tuning into your site, when it goes live! Thanks.

 

[pryu]

Wow, they look nice. Tons more polished than most of the widgets I've seen out in the wild. Are these for free or for purchase?

The current one up right now, Echo, will be the only one we will be selling. However, it is a very nice and polished widget, and also cheaper than its competing shareware products. So hopefully this'll do all right. (The coders and artist definitely deserve some compensation for their hard work.)

 

[HisBoiElroy]

The New York Times widget looks great...can't wait to try it.

 

[supergod]

Looks like a nicely done widget. The look is very cool, but I really wish it had more curves/cirlces, to go with the current look of Apples widgets (not that I love Apples look, mind you, but the rounded theme destinguishes widgets from apps). What measures are you taking to make sure this widget doesn't get pirated?

 

[pryu]

Looks like a nicely done widget. The look is very cool, but I really wish it had more curves/cirlces, to go with the current look of Apples widgets (not that I love Apples look, mind you, but the rounded theme destinguishes widgets from apps). What measures are you taking to make sure this widget doesn't get pirated?

While we do have a serial number registration scheme in place, our philosophy is that pirates will pirate it eventually no matter we do, but the majority of interested buyers will hopefully purchase it if it's a good product.

About the look, we decided to go with a more squarish form to maximize space efficiency really. But this is probably the sharpest widget we have. You'll be seeing that most of ours have softer curves.

 

[spaceballl]

Wow what a great idea for a site!

 

[BWhaler]

Brilliant.

I would definitely pay for Echo as long as it is reasonably priced. And this willingness goes up x100 if you give away lots of high quality free widgets.

I like supporting people like that.

One comment on Echo. The new and cancel seem reversed. I would put the cancel on the left. (Like Tivo, iPod, et al, seem to work.

 

[Applespider]

The three previews so far have looked wonderful. Very professional and I admire that you're planning on giving most away.

Will you have a 'donate' link so that those of us who like and use the 'free' ones can contribute something?

 

[wrc fan]

Isn't there some kind of policy on these forums about advertising for your website? This is pretty blatant...

I think the mods are usually against a persons first post being about a topic like this, although since no mod has shut it down yet, they might be thinking this one is ok. Either that or nobody has reported it yet.

 

[johngordon]

regarding the advertising - i'd say let common sense prevail.

tiger is out tomorrow, which includes the dashboard and a small selection of widgets.

but i'd guess i'm not the only one thinking "this dashboard/widget thing looks great, but i'd be interested in knowing where i can get some more".

as such, at least while its all new, i think this is fine really - advertising a genuinely useful product, that a lot of people will be interested in, at presumably very little cost is, in this case, wholly worthwhile i think.

anyway guys - they look great - if you can produce widgets looking as good as those (and indeed the look of the site) then i think you'll get a lot of interest.

Iain

 

[pryu]

I think the mods are usually against a persons first post being about a topic like this, although since no mod has shut it down yet, they might be thinking this one is ok. Either that or nobody has reported it yet.

I actually had another years old account, phillryu, but it wouldn't let me post... I have no idea why. I mean, I never posted in that before, just lurked, but no idea why it wouldn't let me post topics. I had to create this new one so I could.

Anyway, we might have a donation link, or future widgets that are donationware, but with Echo, users will have to pay to unlock its full features.

 

[FelixDerKater]

All three of those widgets look quite good.

 

[nagromme]

I thought this was going to be a Dashboard widget for people to use to count down the days until they receive Tiger.

I think it's a good idea

 

[nesbitt_a]

Apple-store status widget

This would be great, giving the status of any orders on your dashboard.

 

[userannon]

Great looking widgets. Nice to see developers starting already. I am awaiting the open of MacWidgets.net.

 

[hasselhoff]

You guys need to create a nice-looking widget that checks movie times, maybe even purchases them through Fandango...

 

[BWhaler]

Here's another widget I would pay for:

Direction mapping from either yahoo or google maps. Let me store my home, office, and other addresses so I don't have to type them in. (I don't like google and yahoo to have that info stored on their servers...it's a privacy thing.)

And of course, one would need to be able to print this in a nicely formatted manner.

 

[BWhaler]

More ideas for widgets I would pay for:

1. iCal day at a glance. The ability to see my calendar, and it would need to be time zone savy. (The Konfabulator widgets which do this all screw up the time zones...important for int'l execs)

2. World Clock. I know you can put up multiple Apple clocks for different locations, but there are two problems with the Apple solution. One, there is no date which is important for people who work across the international date line. Secondly, the Apple clocks have a huge bezel and frame so having 3-4 clocks to track different time zones takes up a ton of screen real estate.

I hope these suggestions are helpful. I really like what I see, and I think there are a lot of people like me who will pay a fair price for high quality widgets.

 

[Abstract]

I just bookmarked your site. Nice work.