So I was looking for something on the net and I stumbled across this site...
http://www.mioplanet.com/
It seems pretty neat the things they offer ranging from a simple pixel ruler to a source engine for web devs to create their own widgets for desktops...
If you are creative you can use some php and make them auto update via XML and RSS....
Check out the faq
http://www.mioplanet.com/rsc/faq_miofactory.htm