There's a reason the gadgets that come with Vista are not very useful.
They're simply designed to acclimate you to the sidebar gadget functionality
while 3rd party partners write commercial gadgets.
Think about what the side bar is for. Many people who like gadgets like
WeatherBug etc. that attach themselves to the notification area of the
taskbar have run out of room for installing more spyware "gadgets". The
SideBar opens up a whole new world of installable "free" utilities. It is,
relative to the notification area, a huge expanse of marketing real estate
on your PC. Just remember that free utilities are seldom free. And the
cooler they look, the more costly they are in terms of personal information
collected and used for profit by the creator of the gadget.
Dale