Gmail has just introduced support for Gadgets which you can enable by going in Settings>Labs. This development implies two things, one that Google is now planning to do with Gmail what it couldn’t with iGoogle and the other thing being Google’s permissiveness to accept outsider gadgets into its one of the most used and loved web service. Either way, its great for users like us. You can now do whole lot of things by adding gadgets and make Gmail more

Google has put a cap of five gadgets at the time so you need to be picky about what gadget really solves your purpose. There is not much information out there on web on how to add these gadgets. Let me kick start on how to add these gadgets.

You can add gadgets once you enable the Gadget Labs feature which you can find at Settings>Labs. After enabling it, you will have a new tab called “Gadgets” in the “Settings” besides ‘Labs.” You just have to put in the URL of the gadget and if it’s valid then this gadget will start appearing on the sidebar of Gmail.

The interesting part starts now because finding the URL of gadgets is not very easy for the majority of users. So here I put in the link of certain Gadgets which will help you to transcend your Gmail quite a few inches above in the Productivity or just Fun Index.

Gadget URL’s for Gmail:

Twitter Gadget: It could not have started with any other but Twitter, You can have Twitter feeds and post tweets right from your Gmail with this gadget.

Gadget URL:  http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/106092714974714025177/TwitterGadget.xml

Digg Gadget: This Digg gadget does let you browse the popular stories across the topics.

Gadget URL: http://digg.com/goog/ig.xml

FriendFeed Gadget: Some gadgets will take you to their homepage like this when you add them, but be assured that happens usually the first time when you install.

Gadget URL:  http://friendfeed.com/embed/googlegadget/spec

Top News Gadget: This News gadget collects stories from CNN, NY Time, Fox News, Reuters etc.

Gadget URL: http://www.labpixies.com/campaigns/news/news.xml

Online TV: You can also watch online TV on your Gmail with this gadget. Must check out the E Music channel on this one.

Gadget URL: http://www.labpixies.com/campaigns/tv/tv.xml

Tech Blogs Gadget: This gadget collects feeds from top tech blogs like TechCrunch, Engadter, Gizmodo and also Slashdot.

Gadget URL: http://www.labpixies.com/campaigns/top_blogs/tech_blogs.xml

TO-DO list gadget: It would be wise to keep a to-do list gadget on Gmail as well so that you atleast have an idea about what you have to do before you will procrastinate.

Gadget URL: http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/117966707807588406411/todo.xml

Delicious Gadget: You can also keep your delicious bookmarks in your Gmail with this gadget.

Gadget URL: http://www.labpixies.com/campaigns/delicious/delicious.xml

Last.fm Radio Gadget: This gadget will let you listen to live music from Last.fm. My best gadget so far.

Gadget URL: http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/105048095583033371706/player.xml

Basically guys, most gadgets will have the extension of .xml so you can find hundreds of other gadgets as well from different sources. The gadgets I mentioned are all supported on Gmail and I have tested each of them. I didn’t included the ones which were causing trouble. I hope that would be enough to get you starting and if you need to know more then just ping me.

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