This is a relatively minor nit, but there is supposedly a version 1.1 of this widget, which I've attempted to download several times, and all I see is version 1.0.

Is this an oversight in the help text or an indicator of a more serious issue I've got updating my widgets?

When minimized to the widget dock it does not change to any kind of useful image, just a couple gears. Any fix for this?

Pretty good, accurate, but when I resume from standby, it always says the error that the area code's not supported or not entered correctly. And yes, the Internet connection is working, so it shouldn't complain. Tell me how or make a fix please, because I just conquered all my startup errors, and now this one came up.

I was messing with the placement options on this widget and now it is stuck on top, all the time. I can't right click it to change it back to just be on the desktop. I can't move it either. How do I un-do what I did?

Hey Brad, I love the Mac widget sooo much that I keep it, event though the information is sporadic. I understand that prices require input, and GasBuddy/AtlantaGasPrices has a much larger base. The cheapest prices within 15 miles are frequently in my own zip code, but they never appear on GasWatch. But I can't stop looking at your beautiful widget...

Is there a way to modify the time and have the prices update more often? I thought I saw that it updates once a day and around here the gas changes price 3 or 4 times daily.

Can't get it to work on a new computer. Works on the other one. What's up? 94595

How do i find the cheapest gas price in my zip code?

Style _* * * * *_
Ease of use _* * * *_
Accuracy of information _ _
Sorry - great widget but if the data is off, it makes it pointless. I tried 3 zip codes. All were off by more than 30cents from yesterday's prices. On the "things to do eventually" list I would like to be able to input a list of gas stations then have it only post the cheapest price from that list. That way I can have a specific brand, grade, location, etc. If it could do those two things this would have a permenent home on my desktop.

Information is always wrong. Nice looking app, but your source need to be changed.

Nice widget but price is like 3 or 4 days old could you maybe have it get its prices from www.gasbuddy.com instead of msn thanks

Hello Adrian,
I am writing because I keep receiving an error on your Gas Watch 1.0 Widget. The error is wrong ZIP or MSN does not have info but if I go direct to MSN: Autos the info is there.
Thanks,
Rubén

Nice widget. Can you add a selection between Gas and Diesel?

thatbradguy,

Yeah, in the next version I'll make the widget check often if there is no connection. Untill then, if you hold down the Shift button when you click on the big green arrow, it will force a check right away.

I appologize for the wait, I'm working on the next version which will be much better.

nice widget. one request... konfabulator starts up before my machine finds its internet connection, so the widget can't get data, so it thinks i put in a bad zip code. any chance the widget could be made to hold up on checking for prices until it detects an internet connection, or have a spot on the widget clickable to force an update? thanks.

not very accurate in my area...

Dan, a new version will be out soon that is proxy aware.

Is there anyway to make this PROXY aware? Behind our corp firewall I can not get this to work.

Rack,
Haxx cURL is the Konfabulator program that some widgets use to access the internet. In this case, this is used to go around MSN's denying Mac users. It is perfectly safe and a normal function of Konfabulator widgets. You can read more about cURL here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CURL

As a note, all widgets are virus scanned and checked for malicious code before being added to the gallery here. So, for the most part, you can trust the widgets in this gallery.

Does this Widget have a virus in it? Every time I try to start it, my Norton Internet Security tells me that "Haxx Curl" ... is attempting to access the Internet.

It shows me that a program ( curl.EXE ) is trying to access the Internet when I start this Widget.

Is this a virus, or what?

Someone should check it out. If I get a chance, I will and I will repost my findings (if any).

If someone else knows, go ahead and post here.

I have been denying it access to the Internet.

As for me, until I investigate this, I don't trust this Widget yet.

I really like this app, but there is one problem for me here in Calhoun, Ga. It is more often than not reporting the cheapest gas at the Kroger Fuel Center, the only thing wrong with that is....the Krogers in Calhoun had NO fuel center! Bummer

I really like this app, but there is one problem for me here in Calhoun, Ga. It is more often than not reporting the cheapest gas at the Kroger Fuel Center, the only thing wrong with that is....the Krogers in Calhoun had NO fuel center! Bummer

I wish it had a selection for KINDS of gas- I need to know the diesel prices too.

I like the simple design but it would be nice if you could get the feeds from gas buddy on MSN. Gas buddy has more gas stations and it is more up to date.

Gas prices has risen well above $3.00 and Gas Buddy still reports prices in the $2.60 range.

I have dl this widget but it only asks for my zip code then freezes up.....can anyone help?

hey there-- i use the widget but find consistently that the info is not up to date for the lowest price. if you could find a more up to date updater wonderful. bike more walk more carpool more,bio diesel more, mass trnsit more and save gas !

I love the map-it feature!!! I just put downloaded it and it works great. I have 2 copies, one looking close to my house and another looking around where I work.

Cheers

I love the map-it feature!!! I just put downloaded it and it works great. I have 2 copies, one looking close to my house and another looking around where I work.

Cheers

Great widget! Very useful now with gas being upwards of $3.00 per gallon!

I'm back to add a second rating and comment. Sadly I've dropped it down to only 1 star! The data from MSN is BS. Sorry! Trash in equals trash out! Please make a new version which gets valid data from www.gasbuddy.com!! ASAP!-> gas is now $3.00+ and climbing!

AMEN!

USE "GAS BUDDY"!!!

Give it a try!-So far it looks great to me! I clicked on the "Map It" area of the widget and was quickly zipped to MSN's auto site which listed the gas prices of 11 stations in my city of 28,000 listed from lowest to hightest. ...WITH A MAP to the cheapest one!

I haven't verified the price, but plan to ASAP! MSN Auto's states they analyzes prices from over 90,000 gas stations across the nation. Their link is: http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=LeftNav&brand=statefarm

An improvement might be to allow other data sites than MSN for gas pricing, and mutliple zip code searches. Can't wait to see the next version! Thanks!

Perhaps you could update the widget to work off of GasBuddy.com instead of autos.msn.com , seems to me its a lot more up-to-date than msn

OK, this thing officially sucks! It has never updated since I had it and it still has gas at $2.28 in my area. (Good luck finding gas for under $2.68 around here!)

It's 40 cents off!!!

If it updated, it would be awesome. Since it doesn't have accurate numbers - it's worthless!

I agree with many of the other posts, the mac widget allows a radius and that would make this much better as zips around here are rather small. Maybe 10, 15,20,25 mile radius

OK, Norton Internet Anti-Virus was messing me up...

I got rid of it, to make it work.

However, it is showing the price in my area (11703) is $2.28 - FAT CHANCE IN New York!!! Best price I have seen is about $2.59 - this is not even close to being accurate!

This has never worked for me. I have tried everything. What is wrong? It starts up and asks for my zip code, but it never shows any true data and it remains frozen on my desktop and is not able to be moved. What can I do???

This has never worked for me. I have tried everything. What is wrong? It starts up and asks for my zip code, but it never shows any true data and it remains frozen on my desktop and is not able to be moved. What can I do???

This has never worked for me. I have tried everything. What is wrong? It starts up and asks for my zip code, but it never shows any true data and it remains frozen on my desktop and is not able to be moved. What can I do???

This has never worked for me. I have tried everything. What is wrong? It starts up and asks for my zip code, but it never shows any true data and it remains frozen on my desktop and is not able to be moved. What can I do???

Like the widget, hate the data. As others have said needs to link to gasbuddy.com local sites. I guess they would need to add an RSS feed or something to make it work but I would like to set options like radius from Zip Code, how long ago prices were updated etc.

What I really hate is that my car needs premium. At least I get 24mpg.

Cheers-

This Widget will not run if you install TivoS2 and update the curl files included in the default Konfabulator set up. I attempted using the TivoS2 widget and after setting everything up this widget stopped working. I had to remove and reinstall K to get it to work again.

I would also suggest, to have some reporting system which when a Gas Station with prices un updated or untruth, to just block them out!

The idea is very good, but the problem is not the idea but the abuse of some gas station owners which in my area (zip: 10314) i,e. I get $2.40 as the low price and when you get to the station, it is in fact even higher then most others in teh area which today they are asking $2.55 !
I think it should be improved with consumers adding their updated prices to any given area code and to show 2 prices A) of published price by teh Gas Station to that area code and B) prices published by the way of feed back of Consumers (if there is any to some Zip Codes).
Unfortunatelly some Gas Station Owners can go teh extra mile and pose as consumers and cheat on teh prices again!

Wow, this is very awesome. Good work.

Cool Widget...Any chance you can link to www.gaspricewatch.com?

The MSN data seems to not include Arco - AM/PM which in my region as the best gas prices...Almost a full $.20 below local competitors.

Regardless...I give it 4 stars...The tool is cool...The source information is spotty.

Great Widget, works for my ZIP! And it is acurate (I know the data is pulled from MSN autos). Thanks for your contribution..! For all those with complaints, make your own widget!

Great widget. Good features and functionality all around. Just wondering--is there a way to check other grades/types of fuel? My car takes 92 octane and it seems the only option right now is the cheapest grade (85/86/87).

I think this gas price site has better data: http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/

It's updated constantly by consumers, and showed THE cheapest gas in my hood, unlike MSN(most $).

"Why is GasPriceWatch.com Different?
We are database driven. (Huh? What does that mean?) All of the 128,000+ stations in GPW are part of huge inventory of gas stations that our spotters have submitted over the years. If you find a station that is not in GasPriceWatch.com, you can submit it with the street address, city, zip code and other information. We then take this information, verify it using various tools, assign a latitude and longitude to the station and approve it for posting on the main GPW website so you can start posting prices."

Doesn't work at all. autos.msn.com finds my zipcode just fine in Safari but none work at all in the widget. I even tried the one in the devoloper's screen shot.

you guys are harsh. the gas price issue is not his fault if it is inaccurate or doesnt show for you. anyway thanks for making this widget it works nice for where i am.

Boy you guys are tough on Adrian. The data all comes from
http://autos.msn.com/.

If you go to that website you have the same problems with 5 digit zip codes instead of 3, wacky map locations, and potentially old prices--it's all msn's fault not Adrian.

I think the widget is great. And if you want to know if you should get gas at your place of work or at home just copy the widget file and rename it, then open a second one with the 2nd zip code.

Also: you should note that if you are driving all over the county to get lower gas for every 10 miles you drive our of your way (20 miles going and coming) that's another $1.5 worth of gas you wasted at 30 MPG. Hopefully you saved at least 8 cents when you filled up your 16 gallon tank

it worked fine for my zip code and was accurate as well. i would like to see an "official" release that supports multiple zip codes for my daily commute.

I think this is a great idea, however MSN data in my area is spotty at best, if you decided to use info from www.gaspricewatch.com, along with some distance modifiers I think it would work better in many areas. MSN has only one station for my zipcode, and only accepts 5digit zipcodes instead of 3.

I think this is a kewl widget, however - i typed in my zip and yea.... there is no gas station where this thing says its at.... Thanks for waisting my time, no help.
Also... where i live there is a fine border with zip codes, dont like that. It should be set up with county. I think that would be better. Like I put in my address and then show me closest from there instead of zip code.. Check into this

Bryan, cleentrax, james and sweetpottpi:
I'm sorry, that is not a limitation of the widget. Thats a problem with the data source. I cant imagine the insurmountable task of gathering data from every gas station around the country.

And Bryan: the map button didnt work for you because there was nothing to map if it couldnt find your zip code.

Bobznc: I have no idea what that could be, I have not had any other reports of that. If you would like, please email me at adrian {at} virexmachina {dot} com

This widget does not find any of the 7 zip codes I typed in, nor does the map buttom work.

Well, it's a cool widget. Unfortunately it's off by 18 cents. The station listed is about the most expensive in my neighborhood. Where does the data come from?

I got an error while opening
<i>
No .kon file found in /Users/myname/Documents/Widgets/GasWatch.widget bundle</I>

2 stars, for 1 reason. It's a great idea, but it did not find my zip code. Wonderful idea though, and it looks great!

Nice idea, unfortunately I can't get it to find any of my zip codes even though they show up if I go to autos.msn.com in my browser. Given other peoples' recent comments, did MSN change the source page and break the widget? Or am I having connection issues? Oh well...

Instead of using the Google Gas engine, could you tap into the website: http://www.gasbuddy.com/? This seems to be more up-to-date and could allow the user more ranges to choose from.

Oops, I am NOT the author of this widget, it just stuck from the last time I posted an update about my widget. Sorry!!!

I recoded the widget to take up to 10 zip codes, and gives you the cheapest gas within that area. Quick hack, took about 30 minutes to code, so it's a bit inefficient. Adrian, email me at ken DOT straka AT cox DOT net if you'd like the updated widget.

Also, It would be great if the widget displayed the brand of the gas station instead of just the address, I think that would be more useful for a quick glance, ala "Oh, the Shell on Maple Ave.", instead of "where the hell is 2365 Maple Ave.?" I know there's a mapit buton, but for the lazy....

Anyway, great widget.

great little widget
also love your ebay widget

i wish that on this gas widget, you can choose which type of gas you want, ie regular, premium, super, desiel, etc.

also wish you can select which gas station name you want, or a couple of them. I (personaly) do not like to go to the ghetto run down gas stations in brooklyn ny (which are usually the cheapest).

Nice Widget. One thing that would be nice though would be to enable the choice of Gas Station, like Shell, Chevron, etc.

Thanks

Nice Widget. One thing that would be nice though would be to enable the choice of Gas Station, like Shell, Chevron, etc.

Thanks

Hey, thanks for making the fixes, it appears to be working. The only I observed using the 1.0 version other than the known problems is that it did not appear to update the prices as they changed. Only after quitting the widget and restarting it did it appear to update to the current prices. I'll see if version 1.1 does the same thing.

Nice widget

Awesome idea! You should add the functionality of multiple zip codes and different grades of gas at the cheapest station or make it an option in the settings to only display the certain grade. Otherwise this is an excellent widget!!

Great idea, but it doesn't update on its own for me, i have to change zips or close it and restart it. Overall very practical widget

It worked fine for a few days. For the past week or so zip codes from anywhere are rejected.

Works great but poor choice to get gas prices from. Wish it would work with a different site.

Worked great for me... very practical. Graphics need help!! Widgets are all about eye-candy. Try translucent panels like the Weather widget, and fun icons.

It worked when I installed it and now it dont find any zip codes that I put in ... it found it the first time and even mapped it out for my city .. now it doesnt do jack

It worked when I installed it and now it dont find any zip codes that I put in ... it found it the first time and even mapped it out for my city .. now it doesnt do jack

Great concept, but the widget tells me that there is no data for my zip code, but if I go directly to auto.msn.com there is a list for my zip. Appears to happen for most Detroit zip codes.

How do you start the dang thing?

Great widget, and I know the missing 0.png was just an oops (and is easily corrected with a 1-minute photoshop), so you get 4 stars.

In order to address areas larger than one zipcode, why not allow the entry of multiple zipcodes, which can each be searched and then show the cheapest among them? Then there's no impossible city-to-zipcodes conversion process.

Great job Adrian. I have only one suggestion...in NYC, our zip codes cover relatively small geographic regions. If we could type in a city name instead, which could cover multiple zip codes, that would be awesome. Then again, I see that MSN only references by zip code, so maybe that's not possible...

Great widget, how about a feature that lets the user select which grade of gas they want to search the price for?

MSN Autos simply doesn't have information for every zip code.

Great concept if it worked, why aren't all zip codes supported? Is this the problem of the widget developer or the msn/auto website? It just seems like a very half ass introduction to me.

I'm having the same problem, the middle digit does not display. if that worked then i mean...it'd be great because gas prices are getting pretty high but I cant tell if it really is low or not... :(

0 problem, which I understand will be updated. Is it feasible to have the Windows version link to google maps? Multiple zips would be great.

I am having similar problems as other, red circle with a line through it any time a zero is to be displayed. Also the Map-it button does not work. I am on OSX 10.3.8 and konf 1.8.2

It would be awesome if the arrow went green/down if gas prices were coming down, or up/red if they were expected to go up. I don't know where you could get this data, however. Anybody else like the idea? It's spiffy how you can click on the address and get the type of gas station/intersection. Too bad there isn't more room so it was always visible. Great job, though.

Thanks everyone, sorry for the glaringly obvious oversights. I've uploaded the fixed verion for approval... should be up after the next update.

I'll work on another one with a broad range. Make it work like the other bar widgets out there (What To Do?, AuctionHawk, etc) maybe?

How about an option to choose between premium/regular/diesel or the ability to list all three like the road signs?

Same zero problem. Needs wider search. Very very cool though.

Missing 0.png, as others have stated. Needs to be friendlier when a load from the website fails. I fixed the mapit function by replacing it with this:

function mapIt(){
var url = "";
if (system.platform == "windows"){
url = "http://autos.msn.com/everyday/" + mapurl;
}else{
url = "http://maps.google.com/maps?q=" + escape(dAddress + " " +
preferences.zipcode.value);
}
log(url);
openURL(url);
}

I'm rating this one based upon it's full potential, which from what I can see, is not that far in the future. It has all of it's basic needs and most of the them are already there.

I love this widget, as one user said, it's practical; and it does something usefull.

I did have some problems with the images, one of the numbers was having an error - maybe forgot to include it when compiling the widget? Since then, no problems.

The graphics are pleasing, no jaggies or odd shapes. However, I think it could be improved by a simpler design; maybe even an even simpler design option for us minimalist nuts.

Keep up the good work!

Doesn't work for my zip code. :-(

Love it...
Ability to search multiple zips or a range would be nice..
Have the missing 0 digit (0.png) image problem..
Can't wait for update...

i'm not rating it cuz i live in Canada and does not cover my area. also, is there a way not to use msn?

GREAT CONCEPT: However, to be really useable, it needs to be able to search a range, say up to five zip codes (or display multiple zips) I live at the end of my zipcode area. As such, my house is within a short range of multiple zips. Also, map it does'nt work (as others have said) and I get slash outs periodically.

I have the missing image problem as well, which essentially make it unusable. It always appears the the middle image is missing. The Map It button works great for me. (would be 3 * is the image problem gets fixed.)

A brilliant concept for Konfabulator. Local, relevant and helpful. MapIt is not working for me either, robbing this fine app of a 4-star rating. I'm running OSX 10.3.8 and K v1.8.2. Would love to see the mapping feature corrected soon.

Map It doesn't work for me either. Using Mac, with OS X 10.3.8, Konfabulator version 1.8.2. Everything else works nicely. Great idea, would be better with the mapping.

"Map It" button doesn't work for me either.

R: Missing images? I dont understand why that is happening. I've had mac people test it for me. I'll look into it though.

R and CdtDelta: The map button doesnt work? I had some problems with that with K 1.8.2 on windows. But it worked just fine for me and my testers, again, I'll look into it.

Gahmahn: Sorry, but thats MSNs problem, not the widget's. Dont rate it lower because of their lack of coverage.

Some images don't seem to be loading on my Mac; the price won't display, but I do get a couple of slash circles. Also, the map button doesn't seem to do anything.

This is a great widget, however I can't get the map it button to work. I've tried clicking on it in different areas, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Is it supposed to open a browser window or something?

I don't know whether to applaud or cry...

SoCal gas... *shudders* Thanks man, this is pretty spiffy.