Yahoo Widgets 4: Memory Hog Be Gone

Yahoo has announced the availability of Yahoo Widgets 4, or as we affectionately call it: Konfabulator. Konfabulator was around back in 2002, long before Dashboard or Vista Gadgets. In fact, many argue that both of these widget platforms are direct copies of Konfabulator’s sleek design and implementation. The new version offers a glut of new features.

For Yahoo Widgets 4, the team has made extensive optimizations under the hood to decrease RAM usage and increase overall speed, a welcome feature of any application update. The app includes a new major feature, the widget dock. Much like the tray and sidebar in Dashboard and Vista, this easily hideable dock sits to the side of your screen and offers instant access to your widgets. In addition, Yahoo has made it even easier to find new widgets and update existing ones with one click widget browsing and automatic widget updating. And of course, the best feature of Yahoo Widgets still holds true in the new revision: it’s 100% free. Even after it’s acquisition by Yahoo, Konfabulator is still a solid Mac app. The design is sleek and stunning, as one expects from any native OS X app.

The new platform integrates well into the operating system, and yet sadly, the once simple Konfabulator widget interface has become increasingly complex with numerous buttons of the same size and shape aligning many widgets, and some may find the uncluttered widget layout of Dashboard is still preferable. Whatever your opinion, for the price, Yahoo Widgets 4 is still a best-of-breed app that deserves a fair look from any Mac user.