The Independent has launched a Newzdog widget for news and sport delivered directly to your desktop.

Download the Newzdog widget here

The widget is a simple and easy to use desktop alert notification system enabling you to receive news and information that is only relevant to you. It enables users to log searches on their favourite topics so that when news on that topic is published by The Independent, they are instantly notified.

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To use the widget, an Independent reader instals the widget and searches for topics of interest, and saves those topics if they are interested in receiving further updates. Once installed, the user can minimise it so it sits in the system tray as a yellow star. When a story is published of relevance to the search, a small pop-up window will alert the user, and the star turns red. To read the story, the user simply clicks on the star and the story emerges in a Newzdog page – with all links and video fully functional.

Users can add as many alerts as they like, effectively designing their own news service, so if a user wants to know about diverse subjects such as Harry Potter, Manchester United and Barack Obama, they can set up news alerts for all three and be alerted the instant articles are published

Welcoming the new service, Jimmy Leach, editorial director for digital at the Independent said: “This is a great way for users to make sure they know what’s going on in their areas of interest. Users often have topics they want or need to be kept in the loop about quickly, so this will be an excellent way of them creating their own mini-news service”

Steve Morris of Newzdog added: "We see the Independent Newzdog widget as a way of getting your own personal online version of the Independent where you only receive news stories on subjects you are interested in and be alerted to these news stories as soon as they break."