While living and working in Taichung Taiwan, Jon, facinated by the wonderful world of widgets found himself unpacking and rebuilding Konfabulator (Yahoo) widgets.
Around 2006 at the height of their popularity on the platform. Jon started a podcast called The Flip Side, a fun play on words as the dashboard widgets of the day flipped over to reveal preferences and settings on each widgets back.
The initial design of the podcast artwork and website logo was designed by Lev Cantoral, a fan of the show and depicts the widget in motion, mid flip with the iconic "i" symbol on the bottom right corner the indicator that you would traditionally press to flip the widget to its back.
The show ran from 2006 to 2010 during that time the show interviewed several key figures in the industry like Andrew Hedges and reviewed common widgets that would often hit the front page of Apples dashboard widget repository or third party sites like dashboardwidgets.com.
Ultimately the traveling and living abroad, and relocating back state side took its toll on the show. Not being able to maintain the schedule to keep the show going and Apples decision to remove the Dashboard from its macOS in the traditional Dashboard Widget sense the show was shut down in 2011 after it suffered mightily from the affects of pod-fading.
Do you remember Dashboard
Widgets
circa 2005-2010
After several years, the podcast ends
We had a good run. Eventually Dashboard Widgets stopped becoming a thing. Through the years Apple released Dashcode, a robust feature ecosystem for downloading widgets but all good things come to an end. Jon developed this site to be interactive. Posts are draggable, just like Dashboard Widgets, check it out. PHP, HTML, CSS CMS Wordpress.
Evidence of Dashboard Widgets on iPhone: I just verified that this unused Dashboard-ish "Widget" Icon is indeed inside the iPhone, using iFuntastic's file browser. That's actually the image. Look for yourself by searching this path:/System/Library/CoresServices/SpringBoard.app/widget.png.
Developers can create Web 2.0 applications that look and behave just like the applications built into iPhone, and provide seamless integration with iPhone applications and services including making a phone call, sending an email, and displaying a location in Google Maps. Third-party applications created using web standards can extend iPhone's capabilities without compromising its reliability or security.
Our theme song has changed! Featuring the Gift It Widget: A wish list, gift tracker and birthday reminder all in one! With Gift-it! not only will you never miss a birthday — you can also keep track of stuff you want to buy for yourself, friends and family.
With Dashcode you will have your widget running in minutes, even if you've never written a line of code. You will start your project by selecting one of the bundled templates, creating a valuable widget that is ready to run - and ready to be customized.
Happy New Year, on this special release of The Flip Side. We are highlighting the Chi Pet widget by Novis Designs that mimics the behavior of the beloved Chia Pet.
Apple releases Dashcode an innovative way to make Dashboard Widgets bundled with XCode.
The Flip Side 11.27.2006
The Solar Viewer widget allows you to see today's images of the Sun on your computer desktop. These near realtime images come from NASA/ESA's SOHO missions, NASA TRACE satellite, and the Big Bear Observatory.
Delivery Status Widget www.apple.com—deliverystatus.html. Can’t wait for your online order? No need to check the site constantly, just load up this widget and enter your order number. The status will update automatically for you, and even count down the days!
Google 2 in 1 Widget - http://www.lexink.com/Site/Widgets. Find what you are looking for on the web with this handy widget in your Dashboard. Keep it on your desktop to stay on top of the latest news.
Multi Bit Torrent Site Search Widget for OSX torrentfreak.com—multi-bittorrent-site-search-widget-for-osx. The widget allows you to search for torrents on 17 BitTorrent search engines, directly from Dashboard.
If you’re using OS X 10.4, here’s something you may not have realized about Dashboard: It supports drag-and-drop. Many widgets will accept dropped objects; for those who like using drag-and-drop, this is welcome news.
A special podcast release and interview with Andrew Hedges who debutes Widget.System a framework that allows you to perform system functions within macOS Dashboard Widgets.
Taco WIdget's Reveal : Madlibs. Their new widget is called MadLibs. Yes, that little game where you fill in the words in passages. MadLibs has some pretty cool features like the ability to save your passages once you're done with them.
Completely out of the blue, Birthstone Tracker was shown on a screen of widgets during an Apple Keynote event.
Calorie Tracker Featured on Apple.com
Apple features Jon's most complex widget Calorie Tracker the widget that allows you to lookup caloric information for foods you eat day to day.
Widget Show: Wordpress Theme
Jon learns Wordpress and moves the podcast from the old site to the new look and feel using PodPress. Jon interviews everyone from Andrew Hedges to the team at Taco Widgets. Developed with CSS, HTML, PHP, and Javascript via Wordpress.
Jon learns how to develop macOS desktop widgets in his 1 bedroom apartment in South Korea as an ESL Teacher with his very first macOS iBook computer.
Widget Show: Launched
Jon debuts and starts The Flip Side a podcast for Dashboard Widget Enthusiests and Developers. Podcast is more of a side feature of overall website at this point. Dashboard bar look / feel with widget icons is rebuilt in HTML! Developed with CSS, HTML, PHP, and Javascript via Wordpress.
What lessons have I learned
while running my own podcast?
"Running a podcast is a commitment and a labor of love. You find a topic your passionate about and you spread the word, but its a lot of work. Writing questions, interviewing guests, and making sure your adding value back into the community. It was the best few years I've ever spent. "
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