Watson

Watson is an extendable application for Mac OS X that gives an "Aqua" user interface to a number of Internet-based services such as stock quotes, telephone lookup, and movie schedules. Watson functions much like Apple's Sherlock in that it bypasses the Web Browser for specific functionality. But instead of being a search engine, Watson connects to a handful of other useful services available on the Internet. Intended to complement the Web browser, Watson constructs a facade over certain services, collecting them in a single Mac OS X application. Watson speeds up navigation, since HTML does not need to be rendered on-screen and no superfluous graphics are transmitted over the Internet. Tools integrate with other Mac OS X applications such as TextEdit, Preview, and the Web browser. Most noticeable in Watson is the Aqua interface that one cannot find on a Web page. A user of the Yahoo! tool, for instance, browses categories using a "columns" view rather than a series of separate Web pages. Watson works on any version of Mac OS X, and a full-time Internet connection is recommended. A single-user license costs $29 and can be purchased via Kagi.