Conquer Watch is another notifier that uses the RSS feed, this time in the form of a Google Desktop Gadget. Its most useful feature is that it sorts games by least time remaining so you can instantly see which games need to be played first at the top of the list. It has been submitted to and tested by Google (and by lackattack), and is available from the "Add Gadgets" button on the Google Desktop sidebar.
Please give it a try and feel free to respond to this post with any bugs, suggestions, complaints, etc.
To Install:
- 1. Download and install the latest version of Google Desktop (minimum version 5.5) from http://desktop.google.com
2. From the Google Desktop Sidebar, click "Add Gadgets," use the search tool to search for "Conquer Watch," then click "Add." You can also check out more screenshots and download it here.
Screen shots:
Collapsed in the sidebar:
List of Features:
- Tracks time remaining for turns that are READY, and then sorts them by least time remaining from top to bottom (see limitations below)
Instantly see which games have the least time remaining
Displays desktop alerts based on user's preference for various game-status-change events
Options to hide WAITING and ELIMINATED games
Configurable 'missed-turn warning' to display a desktop alert every hour after time remaining falls below a user-specified limit (default 12 hours)
Displays a desktop alert every minute when time remaining is less than 1 hour
Optional sound alerts
Requirements:
- Google Desktop 5.5 (tested on Windows XP SP2)
Limitations:
Since time remaining is not included in RSS feeds, Conquer Watch keeps track of time remaining for each turn that is READY by recording the time that a game status changes. This means that if you turn off your computer, logout, or do not have a reliable internet connection (i.e. dial-up), ConquerWatch may forget how much time is remaining for any turns that are READY. For this reason, Conquer Watch works best for users that keep their computers on all of the time, and have an 'always on' internet connection (but worst case, it will at least show you all games that are READY at the top of the list).
