One of the things that I really love with Google is it’s support for recognizing calculations and conversions in the search box. We’ve already demonstrated how many different ways you can use the Google calculator, but I was disappointed to find out that no one had made a Vista Sidebar Gadget for it yet.
When Ashley and I were hunting down the best Vista Sidebar Gadgets we didn’t see a great conversion utility. There were some that had drop-down menus that contained the units, but I like the style of Google’s calculator where I can just type in the units. That way I don’t have to sort through a menu that contains dozens of different units, and it’s just all around faster.
That’s when I came across the Instacalc site that was launched almost a year ago. The site itself provides live calculations as they are typed into the fields, and as seen in the screenshot above you can set variables to be used in later calculations. In addition to serving as a calculator it can also do conversions for units and binary/hex/oct number bases.
The best part, however, is that they have also created a Vista Sidebar Gadget. I’ve been using this gadget all weekend, and it has quickly become the one that I use the most. Just look at all the different things you can do with it:
This is a must-have gadget for anyone running Vista … especially since you don’t have to sit there typing in all the zeros for things like a “billion.” As you can see in one of the screenshots above it recognizes words for things like that.
Instacalc Homepage
Instacalc Beta (new interface)
Instacalc Vista Sidebar Gadget
Hi Ryan, I wanted to say thanks for the awesome review! I’m glad you found the site and gadget useful, it was a lot of fun to make. I have a few ideas in the works about how to make sharing even easier, and I’ve love to get any feedback or suggestions you or your readers may have.
Thanks again,
-Kalid
One of the only things that I would personally like to see is mult-line support in the gadget. The site is great, and this is now one of my most used gadgets.
Thanks Ryan — I’m thinking about having a multi-line options for the next release of the Vista Gadget. Appreciate the feedback!
I use just a couple sidebar gadgets. I am wondering now, just how many ways does one need to start a program. (Start menu, Desktop icon, quick launch, systray icon, and now Sidebar.) Is this program running ALL THE TIME really one that you need? If “yes,” then run one in the background and Alt-Tab to it when you need it. Or place it in Quicklaunch and Windows-X (where X represents the digit 1-9 for the first nine quick launch programs).
Just some critical thoughts about over-use of the Sidebar, Systray, and Quicklaunch.
This gadget isn’t designed for running applications though. It is a calculator and converter, but I do agree that you need to analyze the things that you run so that your system doesn’t get bogged down.
Like to see a calculator and a currence and temperature converter for Windows Vista developed side bar developed.
That would make the homepage much more functional.