Google has added a Sidebar section to its Google
Desktop plug-ins page. Currently five Sidebar additions are offered; this is only the second day of
Sidebar's public life, the developer information has
been published, and Sidebar users probably have a lot to look forward to. TIP: As you pile
modules into Sidebar it can get pretty crowded. Remember that you can minimize modules by clicking the arrow on any
module's title bar and selecting Minimize. Also remember that the Sidebar as a whole is resizable by width, and
widening it gives more room by flattening the modules. It's essential to use Auto-hide (under the Sidebar menu arrow)
when widened.
There is no transparent installation procedure for the Sidebar
plug-ins as there is, for example, when installing Firefox extensions. You download the thing to the desktop or a
folder, open the EXE or MSI file, walk through an installation wizard, and the module gets added while Sidebar
continues to run.
The five plug-ins now available are:
Todo: a handy list-oriented scratch pad.
No calendar functions, but I'm finding it more convenient than logging into Yahoo! Calendar for simple tasks like "Call
the vet."
System Monitor: displays CPU use,
memory use (broken out into virtual memory and physical memory when you extend the plug-in), disk access, and network
access. Minimal options; you can disable everything except the CPU meter.
gdTunes: an iTunes controller. You
must have iTunes open. Basic playback controls allow starting, stopping, next song, previous song, repeat on/off, and
shuffle on/off. The options panel allows you to implement the iTunes star-rating system, handily. I don't normally use
iTunes as my desktop music player, but I am today; this thing is handy and fun to use.
TimeWarp: this is a funky, distorted clock. It's fairly useless and unreadable
in a narrow Sidebar display.
Adsense Status: Supposedly
displays clickthroughs and earnings for Google AdSense publishers, but I can't get it to work. It shows Connection
Error after multiple Reload Now attempts, though I can log in to my AdSense account easily enough on a Web page.
Google Sidebar Plug-Ins
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. Hey Nathan, thanks. Thanks also for your write-up of the AdSense changes; I'll certainly link to you in the SEM blog when I take a closer look at AdSense tonight. Here's the link for nyone who's interested:
http://google.blognewschannel.com/index.php/archives/2005/08/23/new-adsense-feature/
3. Google's Monday morning Adsense update broke Adsense Status. Adsense Status 1.0.1 has been released to fix the problem: http://www.airbearsoftware.com/adsensestatus
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Aaron Feuer
4. I love the new sidebar! There's a site which is developing more plugins -- http://www.desktop-plugins.com
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Chris Crompton
5. I have Win 98SE and am trying to install the Google sidebar. I have downloaded it, using both IE and Firefox and it downloads but when I go to install it, I get this - Application Error The procedure GlobalMemoryStatusEx could not be located in the DLL.Kernel.32.dll
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Bill Condie
6. Hi,
I have Windows 98 and when I try to download google desktop I get the following Application Error The procedure GlobalMemoryStatusEx could not be located in the DLL.Kernel.32.dll
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Frank Mertes
7. I think it can only be installed on Windows 2000 or XP or a Mac.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by TJ Thompson
8. You're right, thanks. But I was sure I saw an earlier version for 98 somewhere (sigh)
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Bill Condie
10. I have Windows 98 and when I try to download google desktop I get the following Application Error The procedure GlobalMemoryStatusEx could not be located in the DLL.Kernel.32.dll, help please..
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by nilson
11. Here's the place to get the sidebar for ebay once it is developed.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Chris Crompton
12. Question about the google toolbar:
I have Outlook and Gmail running as my primary email accounts. However, only new Outlook emails appear in the email box on the side bar. I would prefer to have my Gmail messages shown instead. How do I switch?
Thanks.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by John Miskey
13. Correction:
The above question is regarding google desktop side bar, not tool bar. My mistake.
Re/ side bar:
I have Outlook and Gmail running as my primary email accounts. However,
only new Outlook emails appear in the email box on the side bar. I
would prefer to have my Gmail messages shown instead. How do I switch?
Thanks.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by John Miskey
1. Hey Brad. Word is the AdSense plugin worked just fine, until Google updated its AdSense website and broke the damn thing. The problems of shipping multiple products on the same day, I guess.
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Nathan Weinberg