what is persistence mode?
I also have another question (kind of off topic) but do all these widgets eat up the battery faster? Also, if I DL a lot of apps are they all running all the time, hence further eating up the battery?
The widgets can, yes. Depending on the length of time you have them check for updates (Weather updates, Twitter updates, etc).
Persistent mode just has Home++ keep everything in memory so it runs much smoother. I never realized it until today and the performance is night and day.