If you want to get a taste for what can be done with widgets, you gotta check out LabPixies. They have an array of absolutely gorgeous ones (they call them gadgets) that run on Windows Live, Google, Pageflakes and Netvibes. These also can be integrated into any web site.
More importantly, LabPixies is making money. Major marketers, including Amazon, Apple, Travelocity and Yahoo have teamed with the company to build sponsored widgets. Most of these are designed to drive e-commerce transactions.
The widget space is heating up. We're just beginning to scratch the surface of what widgets and personalized start pages can do. Most of all, they will drive the adoption of RSS without the user needing to know what the heck a feed is. Where's My Yahoo in all of this? Everyone's got a web-based platform play except them.
