Widgets are all the rage now enabling users to drag and drop their favourite applications and functions onto their desktop for easy access. However, until now, the widget phenomenon hadn't caught up with video players (except arguably Joost) but new open source player Chameleo enables users to watch and create visually-rich video applications with interactive widgets.

Chameleo is based on GStreamer and supports just about every codec out there so there are virtually no playback problems. What makes it interesting however is that it offers a variety of widgets which enable you to perform a variety of tasks from taking instant screenshots to blogging about what you are watching. Even more exciting, you can create your own widgets because it takes it's plug-in architecture from Eclipse to make it easy to extend with a minimum of programming experience. One warming however - it is extremely resource hogging so make sure you've got plenty of RAM! You can see Chameleo in action below and follow the latest developments here.