The DALEK

The DALEK is a small widget designed for Yahoo! Widget Engine that installs a desktop companion with a Dalek. It represents an extraterrestrial life form (a race of mutants) in the "Doctor Who" SciFi TV series. Daleks are inspired from Nazis in real life, portrayed as cruel cyborg aliens whose central interest is to conquer the universe and exterminate any race deemed as inferior.

The Yahoo! Widget Engine project is no longer in development, but the software framework can still be downloaded and installed from Softpedia. Installing a gadget is a speedy task that needs only confirmation after double-clicking the file.

A new panel is created and displayed in the framework's dock while the Dalek model is placed on the desktop. The mutant rotates its base, head and eyes independently, moves around on the desktop on its own, follows the mouse pointer within proximity, and speaks the "Exterminate!" catchphrase from the show on double-click. As far as customization properties are concerned, it's possible to change the Dalek's speed by tweaking the frame rate (higher means smoother animation and better speed).

Yahoo! Widget Engine also comes packed with a set of options shared among all installed widgets. The frame can remain normal or stay below or on top all other open windows, prevent mouse dragging and disregard any pointer events, as well as made more or less transparent.