I miss the widget too. I had it on my low-end (rooted) Optimus T (died by drowning), and I was disappointed that something like it wasn't included on my HTC MyTouch Slide.
Fortunately, I still have my Titanium Backup files, though I haven't rooted the new phone (there's no need yet, it's got memory out the wazoo). One of the files in /mnt/sdcard/TitaniumBackup is:
com.google.android.apps.genie.geniewidget-(string of hex).apk.gz
When I extract the .gz file, I end up with... well, shoot, I didn't have any luck extracting it (at least not with Astro), it just twirled for several minutes until I gave up. It doesn't make sense to GZip a .apk file anyway, right? (It's already a compressed archive, IIRC.)
So, would it make sense to rename it to a .apk file and install it? I'd like to hear from the folks on the board before I try it with this shiny, new phone (which I haven't rooted and backed up yet). On the other hand, if I get curious and do it anyway, I'll let you know what happens.