The idea behind the widget is that it also would say how many bitcoins the owner has received - and the only way to do that, short of implementing bitcoinqt in Javascript (silly idea), is to use a blockchain explorer like blockchain.info.

Otherwise it really isn't a widget. My widget at bitcointipper.appspot.com is nice and clean, and the only things it uses is a website to generate QR codes, and blockchain.info to find the current balance. Other than that, it doesn't rely on anything else (i.e. me)