This week, browser maker Opera—yes, it's still around—announced a new beta version of its flagship product, the eponymously named Opera Web browser. Opera 9 beta 2 will include a new feature called widgets, which frankly aren't all that new if you're familiar with technologies such as Desktop X, Konfabulator, Apple Dashboard, or the Sidebar feature in Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista release. Essentially a set of HTML-like gadgets that run in a unique run-time environment, these widgets provide functionality such as a clock and other related utilities. Earth-shattering? Not really. But in a bid to differentiate itself from market leaders such as Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla Firefox, it makes some sense