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Konfabulator: Arlo Rose Makes Mac History . . . Again


Arlo Rose, co-creator of the legendary OS 9 appearance software Kaleidoscope, has partnered with programmer Perry Clarke to create what may go down as the greatest OS X shareware utility ever. Well, anyway, it has the coolest name ever: Konfabulator. If you downloaded this utility this week and thought, hmm, cool, a really beautiful analog clock, a weather widget, and a calendar, look closer. It is those things, and already worth a download, but Konfabulator is actually a JavaScript runtime environment that supports XML.

Huh? It lets you (or someone else, if you’re lazy) design little widgets that look however you want (good news for interface “skinning” fans) but also DO whatever you want. So, for example, you could create a beautiful app that sits on your desktop and pulls in PowerPage headlines with minimal work. (Developers out there, that was a big hint.) There are lots of shareware apps out there that do different things with data, and there are customizable homepages and such, but the ability to design your own graphical appliance that has whatever live data you want is truly revolutionary. Already, the number of examples available has jumped from 5 to 19 this week. Keep us posted with stuff you’ve created and we’ll feature the best work here on the PowerPage through the coming months. Now we just need a verb for doing that — go Konfabulate!

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.