Exploring gadgets in Google Wave

Since (almost) everyone has a Google Wave account by now, it's time to show some cool stuff you can do with it.
Basically wave is an extensible information bus. One type of extension is called a Gadget and can be embedded in wave messages (called blips). Here, we show you how to add them, which ones are cool, and where to find the complete list.

Adding a gadget

An external gadget is some form of functionality for wave that someone has published on the net. When you add a new blip to a wave, you can see the green puzzle-piece icon in the wave toolbar. Click on it, and you are presented with a URL dialog.
Enter the gadget URL (Our example is Pinwand: http://michael-hielscher.de/PinwandWeb/PinwandGadget.xml ) and click Add.

Now the gadget will load into your blip and you can use it. In our case, a pinboard is loaded to which all participants of the wave can post notes.


Cool gadgets

Here is a list of some cool gadgets to explore (which actually work):
* Pinwand Gadget - http://michael-hielscher.de/PinwandWeb/PinwandGadget.xml
Our example. With this gadget you can add a real time pinboard to your wave. Everybody can add messages to the board or give comments. The person who created the board becomes the administrator who can setup the board.
* Mind Map - http://cactus-wave.appspot.com/net.brucecooper.mindmapgadget.MindMapGadget/net.brucecooper.mindmapgadget.client.MindMapGadget.gadget.xml
Allows collaborative editing of a shared MindMap, using the wave's state to store information. Supports Drag & Drop, Import & Export, Icons and voting.
* Checky - http://wave-gadgets.appspot.com/checky.xml
Basecamp-like checklists with drag-and-drop.

A fairly comprehensive list of available gadgets is maintained here.

Happy Waving!