Konfabulator 1.5 is Now Out

and available from www.konfabulator.com. Konfabulator is a fantastic system of interactive active Jave object, or Widgets, that will show the current weather, sports scores, and the like.

• New features and fixes include:
  
  • AirPort Extreme is now supported.
    
  • Added default preferences for window level and window opacity to Widget Preferences.
    
  • Added logic to make Widgets handle screen changes gracefully.
    
  • Image resizing is much improved.
    
  • Added desktop and floating to possible main window levels. Widgets at these levels ignore mouse events and are stuck to the desktop (under the Finder icons) or float above all windows respectively.
    
  • Implemented Widget Preferences submenu in gear menu.
    
• Added more shortcuts for managing widgets:
  
  • Holding down Control and Option while selecting a Widget name in the gear menu will Force Quit the Widget.
    
  • Holding down Shift while selecting a Widget name in the gear menu will display an alert showing where the Widget was loaded from.
    
  • Holding down Option while choosing About Konfabulator from the gear menu will bring all non-desktop Widgets to the front.
    
  • Holding down Control and Shift while a Widget is starting makes it forget any remembered screen position that it had.
    
• Added Recent Widgets... menu item.
  
• Modified parser so JavaScript can be commented out in the XML to protect entities like '<' and '>'. This works just as it does in HTML.
  
• Objects are no longer constrained by the size of the Widget window.
  
• Added sliders for preferences and forms.
  
• Added new preference of type selector which allows a file chooser to be specified.
  
• Implemented improved XML error reporting.
  
• Added editable TextArea objects.
  
• Added Close Widget and Reload buttons to debug window.
  
• Added drag and drop support.
  
• Added five new Widgets:
  • CPU Portal - Monitors your CPU usage.
  • iChat Bezel - Fades a bezel in when a buddy changes status.
  • Waste Basket - keeps track of your trash usage, and lets you use it as a replacement trash can.
  • Werewolf Monitor - Tracks the phases of the moon.
  • Where Is It? - Lets you search multiple search sites with text input on the Widget.
• Updated The Weather to support forecasts.
• Updated Stock Ticker to support Indices and more than 10 symbols
• Updated iTunes Remote to sport the new look of iTunes and added a slider
• Added Drag and Drop support to Picture Frame
• Added Monday as first day option to Calendar

[Lee Fairbanks]