Kotaku has a preview of Stardock’s Impulse Phase IV.

Impulse is a new digital distribution platform in which PC users can purchase, download, install, and update any type of PC program – games, utilities, applications, etc. Launched about a year ago, Impulse has increased its user base at an exponential rate as it has gotten the support of major PC software and game publishers such as THQ, Ubisoft, 2K Games, Activision, Corel, Paradox, and many others.

The new version of Impulse comes with an update client that allows users to associate their purchases with a single account – a user who gets a new PC can then install Impulse, logon, and then download and install all their Impulse purchases easily.  It also includes a new store designed to handle the vastly increased library of games, applications, and utilities that have been being added over the past few months and to prepare for this Fall when back catalogs from major publishers are being added.

Stardock will be demoing the new version of Impulse at PAX with it becoming generally available in September.

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Ever since Fences was released as a community preview, people have raved over it.  Anyone in need of help organizing their desktop icons immediately found out how useful Fences is for cleaning up the clutter, and for making a more productive desktop environment. 

Since the beginning we have stated that there will be a free and Pro version of Fences, but we really haven’t said much about Pro.  Until now that is!  Of course we’re not going to let all the features out of the bag, but I wanted to start off by talking about a couple that people have been recently asking about.

Skinning

In the free version of Fences, you have some basic customization options, which really consists of the ability to change the color of your Fences.  Fences Pro will introduce the ability to skin your Fences.  Creating themes for Fences will be skinning friendly, and the ability to upload themes to WinCustomize.com is part of the plan.

Here is one example of a themed Fence.

There will be more customization options available as well, but more on that another time.

 

Auto-Fences

This is a really cool feature.  With the free version of Fences you have the ability to manually organize your desktop icons into a variety of ways using Fences.  With the Pro version, you will be able to assign rules to create new Fences.

Examples:

• Set a rule so that icons of a specific type go into a designated Fence.  Need all Word or Excel files to go to a specific Fence?  That’s what it can do for you!
  
• Another possible rule is to set any new icons added to the desktop to be assigned to a Fence.  Stop the clutter even before it starts!

This is something you can show off in a screenshot, but when the time comes we will have some videos showing how cool this is, and how it will help keep your desktop organized.

More info about Fences Pro will be coming soon, but for the time being be sure to download a free copy of Fences from the link below.

https://www.stardock.com/products/fences/

We are excited to announce the release of DeskScapes 3 – Beta 1 to current Object Desktop subscribers.  DeskScapes is an application where users can apply animated backgrounds, also called .dreams, to their desktop.  DeskScapes 3 introduces a variety of new features, the most obvious being the completely new user interface.  If you are trying out the WindowBlinds 7 beta, you will certainly recognize and be familiar with it.  It’s much cleaner, and easier to navigate.

New User Interface

Another new feature is Effects.  These effects can be applied to a .dream to change and enhance the look.  This particular feature is only available to Windows Vista and Windows 7 users. 

Effects

The last feature I will talk about today is live previews.  Now you will be able to view the .dream in action in the preview windows without having to apply it! 

Object Desktop subscribers can download the DeskScapes 3 Beta via Impulse .  We also have a forum thread open to allow users to report any issues.  For more information about becoming an Object Desktop subscriber, please visit www.objectdesktop.com .

The weekend gets closer and closer, and it’s that time of the week where you can grab some delicious deals from Impulse to satisfy your gaming needs!  You can get more information about Impulse, and your free download at www.impulsedriven.com.

Now for this weeks deals!

	Pre-order	$39.99
	$14.95	$19.95
	$14.99	$19.99
	$9.99	$19.99
	$5.99	$9.99
	Pre-order	$29.99

Stardock Design launched the MyColors Gloss Packs today.  In total, five Gloss Packs were released each containing 3 MyColors themes in a pack.  MyColors is an “all-in-one” solution for customizing your desktop, as no extra software is required to use these themes.  Each MyColors theme includes a custom visual style which changes your Windows taskbars, start button, and more.  They also including matching icon sets and wallpaper to complete the desktop experience.

Earlier this week, subscribers to Object Desktop got one of the Gloss theme packs for free, and now they are available for everyone else to try!  Don’t forget Object Desktop subscribers get a discount on MyColors themes too!

Gloss Pack 1 - Gloss Burgundy, Grey or Mint

Gloss Pack 2 - Gloss Amber, Black or Green

Gloss Pack 3 - Gloss Copper, Purple or Teal

Gloss Pack 4 - Gloss Denim, Pink or Red

Gloss Pack 5 - Gloss Blue, Brown or Lavender

I wanted to get a general feel from the skinners about Windows 7.  I know some of you already have updated some WindowBlinds themes to get them ready for Windows 7, and I wanted to see who else is doing similar work.

1. Do you plan on updating previous WB skins to work with Windows 7?
   
2. Are you creating new WB skins just for Win7?
   
3. Do you plan on making skins compatible with XP, Vista, and Windows 7, or just one of them?

Thanks in advance to any skinners who answer. 

 

 

With the launch of Windows 7 growing ever so close, Microsoft is now promoting the Windows Launch events which will take place in cities across the United States.  These launch events are targeted at IT Professionals and Developers, and the best part is you get a free copy of Windows 7 for attending.  Did I mention these events are free as well?

I attended a similar event for the Windows Vista launch a couple of years ago in Orlando.  It was actually an interesting event, I learned quite a few things, and I got to talk and network with tons of IT professionals from all around the state.  If you have the time to attend one of these, I highly recommend it.

You can find the cites and dates available at the following link.

http://www.microsoft.com/business/thenewefficiency/

I’m certainly glad it’s Friday, aren’t you?  Today we end the Summer ‘09 wallpaper contest, and it has been a great success.  We will definitely have another before the year is over.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Troll Thumping cxp by BONEHEADdb This is an update, but it’s still a fantastic CursorFX theme.
	INFINITY Ultimate DX by RedneckDude This is a DX theme based on the popular WindowBlinds skin.
	Arise Logon by boss0190 The image alone is worth using this logon for Windows XP.  Great work.
	Defense Dock Backgrounds by Sc4rfy A very cool set of dock backgrounds for ObjectDock.
	Exos by TomRichter I enjoy darker style WindowBlinds skins, and TomRichter pulls off another beauty.
	Solid State by 2of3 This is another darker theme, with a great monochromatic look and style.  Great job.

As many of you have read before, I am a big fan and user of Netbooks.  Customizing them with new themes, icons, etc. really isn’t any different than any other type of PC, you just have smaller screen real estate to work with.  I have been using WindowBlinds 6 for a while with my Acer Netbook, and it runs great.  However, there was one small issue and that was the WindowBlinds configuration window wouldn’t always fit on the screen making it a bit difficult to navigate.  Several of you expressed the same issue.

No worries though, as the new UI for WindowBlinds 7 fits perfectly on a Netbook screen when maximized.

Here is a screenshot of mine.

As you can see it fills the screen completely and allows for easy navigation around the entire interface.  Windows 7 themes never looked so good on such a small screen.  I will be writing more articles about Netbooks very soon, so keep a look out.  Get more info about WindowBlinds at www.windowblinds.net, and be sure to stop the WindowBlinds theme gallery on WinCustomize and check out some of the many themes you can use on your desktop.

 

Another weeks speeds by and before you know it, it’s time for the next Impulse Weekend Sale!  Grab some games to add to your current collections, and know that you can always download them from Impulse and not worry about losing the box.

Check out this weekends sale!

	Corel software on sale
	$27.99	$39.99
	50% Off
	$4.95	$9.95
	$9.95	$19.95
	$9.95	$19.95

You can get more information about Impulse, and your free download at www.impulsedriven.com.