YakShaving

What’s the deal? Everyone’s all hype about widgets lately.

While showering, I took a second to dream about what the ultimate killer widget would be if designed for yours truly.

First of all, none of this web app widget stuff. I already have enough tabs open in my firefox, thank you. I’d much rather prefer that a client Dashboard widget.

Now, on to the widget itself. So generally, I like the way they are thinking over at Wundrbar. Here are the elements I think it should have:

• A command line interface: There can be no doubt, that command lines are awesome. No, I am no vi fiend like some of my friends from undergrad, but I do appreciate the quickness of adding stuff to a google calendar through Quicksilver (although it is a little buggy and I always have to check it to make sure after being burned for missing an appointment)
• Creates entries into a robust Personal Information Manager: Ok, so I haven’t settled on one really, but that’s because I still haven’t found anything that compares to Microsoft OneNote for the Mac. I guess Journler, which is what I use right now, will have to do.
• Cross checks calendar and contacts. I should be able to type in my shorthand (which I’d gladly help train the widget for) and reference nicknames and contacts. Lunch with Bob, Wednesday @ Bake For Me. (Since I didn’t specify what time, it should figure out that I meant Noon, since my calendar is free then during “lunchtime”. Figure out how far Bake For Me is from my destination and allow for travel time… So make the appointment for 12:10pm and send Bob a note!
• Know my habits. If I have an appointment at 3pm-4pm at school on Thursday, and I want to fly out from O’hare immediately following, it should have the smarts to know that I’m going to take the subway from Clark and Lake– and build in the buffer time. It has all the information there, why not do the extra time calculation?

There are more requests, but I won’t bore you with them now. Maybe soon, I’ll whip something up if time permits.