A few months ago, Google changed something with how users authenticate to Gmail using tokens. This change caused almost every dashboard widget which used the token method of authentication to fail. There are two parts to this widget:
Fixing the former was easy, but the latter has proven to be difficult. The few widgets that have the second feature implemented, and still work, use a very insecure method of authenticating the user. These widgets place the user's email address and password in a URL which is then sent to the browser to be launched. The problem with this approach is that the browser stores this URL in it's history; completely exposing the user's login credentials. Simply put: I refuse to put my users at risk and implement this naive approach to authentication. I also don't have the time to devote to fixing it. That's why I've decided to put this widget to rest.
I'd like to thank all of the users who have emailed me over the last several months about the widget's recent problems. I never thought that my tiny Saturday coding project (back in 2005) would find it's way into your every-day wokflow. I will continue to check back at the token situation in the future in hopes of reviving Gmail Inbox. I have posted the source code on Github for those interested in playing with it; it is available below.
Many thanks,
Brett
My name is Brett, and intraspirit.net is my domain. I'm sure you can figure out my email address from there. I also hang out on Google Talk; under the same name.