The IR Widget is hardware.  At the moment, I don't know of a source for assembled Widgets, which is why I recommended IRToy. The IRWidget was originally developed by Kevin Timmerman, and Tommy Tyler produced very well made hardware.  I have one of those.  But Tommy has stopped selling any of his products.

Some folks have preferred the Widget approach for IR capturing, and a IRToy can be loaded with alternate firmware so that it acts as a Widget.  I suspect either approach is fine.