14 DAY TRIAL // If you were looking for a quick hocus-pocus, there's your gadget type of information, I'm sad to disappoint you; this article is not about that. It's more about breaking down what gadgets are from a technical point of view, that of developers and that of users.
In case you're not all that much into code and you just like to use the gadgets created by others I'm not going to bore you with all the technical details and a walkthrough, so here's the short definition: they are basically externally hosted XML files that can be hosted on any public server and after that added to any third party webpage. In case you are code savvy you'll probably be watching the video I've embedded below and understand it all better than I would probably be able to describe it.
The videos added to the YouTube channel are a part of what Google is trying to go for: more user created content on the Internet, especially applications that might later be adopted and perhaps even bought by the Mountain View based company and used as features for its products already on the market. So far there have been 70 videos added to the channel, so you'll have plenty to choose from. Some other splendid tools and resources, like the Google Gadget Editor and the Developer Guide, are already available, but the engineers thought that some video push from behind was in order to get the job done.
As always, there's been a request on the Official Google Developer Blog (it has a surprisingly small number of readers, only 394) for feedback so feel free to direct your inquiries and thoughts on the matter to Daniel Lee and Daniel Holevoet.