Opensocial API is an open set of APIs which can be used to access various social network applications. Currently, social network apps which support OpenSocial API are listed here.
Google Gadget:
Official specification of Gadget server/container is here(http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs/spec.html). It includes abundant information about how gadget container handles gadget requests from clients. The basic idea is gadget container processes gadget .xml definition file and generates corresponding HTML+CSS+Javascript and then transferres the result to end users. Variety of functionalities gadget deveoper can utilize depends on gadget container. Different gadget containers may provide different set of features. However, some APIs are mandatory and must be supported by all compliant implementations. Javascript gadget specification is here(http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs/reference/). Gadget XML reference is here(http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs/reference.html). This site contains many useful hints about how to develop and test Google Gadgets.
There are two set of Gadget APIs:Legacy API and gadgets.* api(used by Open Social spec).
Gadget Host:
If you don't have a web server to host the gadget XML file, Google Gadgets Editor is a tool provided by Google which can be used to edit and host gadgets. You can test your gadgets in GGE withoug logging in Google. But you cannot save your gadgets without logging in. You can add Google Gadget Editor gadget to your iGoogle homepage by accessing this site. It seems that only legacy gadget APIs are supported in preview mode by GGE. GGE just provides very simple functionalities. You can use it just as a hosting service which stores your gadget spec files. If you want more functionalities like version control, you can use Google Code Hosting(http://code.google.com/hosting/) or other full-fledged hosting services. This site contains detailed information about how to use Google hosting services.
Legacy Gadget Container:
Besides spec files, gadget container is necessary to run your gadgets. To test legacy Google Gadgets, you can GGE or iGoogle content directory. Here contains instructions about how to publish your gadgets to iGoogle content directory. You can update your submitted gadgets using this site. NOTE: iGoogle content directory only applies to legacy gadgets.
Open Social Gadget container:
To test new google gadgets(using gadgets.* API), you should use a certain container listed here. Note: two services from Google are in the list. However, to use them, you must sign up for sandbox access besides regular logging in. To sign up sandbox access of iGoogle, visit this site(http://www.google.com/ig/sandbox). To sign up sandbox access of Orkut, visit this site. These two services are still in beta phase and thus provide limited functionalities.
Resources:
iGoogle Dev: http://code.google.com/apis/igoogle/docs/igoogledevguide.html
Orkut Dev: http://code.google.com/apis/orkut/docs/orkutdevguide.html
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