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4th of July weekend

Support will be off this Friday!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 by MeliBee | Discussion: Everything Else

Stardock gets a long weekend, woohoo!  Check out my forum post here:

https://forums.stardock.com/358010

Windows 7 Pre-orders at 50% Off

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

41rbUgSN3oL._SL500_AA280_

Windows 7 is scheduled for general release on October 22nd.  Pricing for Windows 7 has also been revealed for full and  upgrade versions.  They have also started an upgrade program for people wanting to buy a new PC now, and will enable them to receive Windows 7 for free or at a significant discount.

Anyone who buys a PC from a participating OEM or retailer with Windows Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate on it will all receive an upgrade to the corresponding version of Windows 7 at little or no cost to customers. The Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program will be available until January 31st, 2010 – and is global! For more information on taking advantage of the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program, visit www.windows.com/upgradeoffer.

The retails upgrade prices for Windows 7 are:

  • Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
  • Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
  • Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

Full versions are:

  • Windows 7 Home Premium (Full): $199.99
  • Windows 7 Professional (Full): $299.99
  • Windows 7 Ultimate (Full): $319.99

The best part is a special limited-time offer in which you can preorder Windows 7 for 50% off the upgrade pricing.  That means you can grab Windows 7 for as low as $49!  This will only go on for a couple of weeks, so you need to grab these before July 11th.

Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade - $49.99 from Amazon

Windows 7 Professional Upgrade - $99.99 from Amazon

 

Sources: Windows 7 Team Blog

Purchasing Gifts from the Impulse Store

Monday, June 15, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

I'm sure most of you have read about WinCustomize subscriptions, or maybe seen some really cool master skins, or any number of great products from our online store.  I wanted to remind everyone that all these things make great gifts, and it's perfect for someone who lives far away from you or a last minute gift that needs to be delivered almost instantly.

We have made it easy to purchase anything such as a WinCustomize subscription, or Object Desktop suite, PC games, and send it as a gift to someone.  During the checkout process at the Impulse Store, you will have an option to purchase as a gift.

 

Checkout page

On the next page you will be able to enter the recipient information.  Just make sure you have the correct e-mail address for the person you are purchasing for.

 impulse_checkout

Recipient information

After that you will just need to enter your payment information, review your order, and the person you purchased for will receive an e-mail with their registration information and instructions.  The person who receives the gift will not see any of your payment information, just the name of the purchaser.

impulse_checkout02

So take a browse through the store and find that perfect gift!

This Week in Skinning - June 12th

Skin Roundup for 6-12-09

Friday, June 12, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: OS Customization

After a nice long weekend last week, TWiS is back and with it’s brand new icon courtesy of MindlessPuppet from our TWiS icon contest. 

Now for this weeks picks!



Weather goody R & L by Richard Mohler

I like how this gadget fits into the side of your desktop, and looks like it came with Windows.

Leviathan by CarGuy1

The color of this looks amazing on my desktop, and the animation is smooth as usual.
Pure handwork by tongzhenming

This ‘08 GUIC entry is just an amazing set of icons.  Very unique and detailed.

Internet by Libardo

I was looking for some new icons for ObjectDock, and this one just happened to catch my eye this week.

The Knight and the Lady by vlad

I always enjoy the wallpapers from vlad.  They just have such a beautiful and creative design.
Laguna by essorant

This new Master skin by essorant is awesome.  It’s a minimal skin with great use of colors.

Impulse Weekend Buys - June 12th

Friday, June 12, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

Many good things are associated with a Friday, and one of those is weekend sales on Impulse!  This weeks Impulse Weekend Buys are pretty sweet, so it’s once again a good time to get your PC game collection stacked up.

If you are not a current Impulse user, no problem, just grab your free Impulse download from www.impulsedriven.com.

This weeks Impulse Buys are:

If you are on Twitter, you can follow @impulsedriven for the latest news about sales, updates, and releases!

I Love DesktopX: May 2009

Friday, June 5, 2009 by sViz | Discussion: OS Customization

Another month has passed and so I bring you another edition of "I Love DesktopX." Community Spotlight is coming up next month, and this time I thought I'd include a few questions from you guys. Our interviewee is none other than Master Vad_M! So, you've got all month to come up with some good questions for him on DesktopX and the world of widget-making, and get them to me.

On to the picks!

Outstanding General Info

Stargate Clock by Doubird

I deliberated a while in this category, as there were quite a few skins that caught my eye this month. One of the reasons I wanted to do this article series was to give more exposure to not just the best of the best of DX, but the up and coming DX enthusiasts as well.

Therefore, I’d like to give it up for Doubird. This author submitted four creative general information widgets last month and out of those, I like Stargate Clock the best.

Having a look at his gallery, you can see that creativity is evident in all his skins as no two widgets are alike.

An all around great effort by the author.


Most Original / Creative

Worms Hopping Sheep by 3Mo0

DX needn’t be all about productivity or displaying information on your desktop. Nay, I say! Sometimes you’ll just whip up something for your own amusement. This is one of those objects.

I like it for the sheer LOL factor. It’s a sheep that runs across your screen width (with a minor modification to the script) and hops over your mouse, should it be in the sheep’s way. I had this running in the background for a long while. It’s fun to play around with if you’re bored or just need a laugh.


Most Innovative / Resourceful

Chronos (W) by Vad_M

Another beautiful widget by Vad_M. The description says it all: moon phases, day/night indicator, CPU usage, RAM, drive meters, system information, and an analog clock all in one cool package. If you don’t need the analog clock, you can double-click to move the hands out of the way.

Plus, it’s a widget, which means you can study his scripts to learn how to do all kinds of cool stuff! Which I find similar to studying Einstein’s work to learn basic algebra.

I kid, I kid. Download it. Enjoy it. And if you’re so inclined, have a gander at the script. Ya might learn sumthin’.


DX Theme of the Month

Naked DX by RedneckDude

We’ve all seen them streaking WinCustomize, them nekkid skins. With the advent of Naked WB by vStyler, it seems May was the month to go au naturel.

In keeping with the ‘stripped down’, yet tasteful look, Jim has created a DX theme to match the WB. From the screenshot, you might think, “Where’s the rest of it?” But it’s all there: meters, shortcuts, media, weather, clock, and calendar, all in one central object.

It’s compact and the graphics are really streamlined. This, like much of the Naked suite, has a really airy and lightweight look, which can give your desktop a much more spacious feel.

With this version, it’s best to use a medium to darker wallpaper, but Jim’s also created the Noir version which is darker and works on lighter walls.

It’s another winner from RedneckDude.

 

Happiness Runs in a Circular Motion

“How can I make an object move in a circular motion?” A similar question was posed on the forums once before. I scratched my head and said it had something to do with a complicated algorithm.

Fast forward to 2008: I’m working on an information starfield theme/widget, which I called the ‘Infomatrix.’ I need to know how to clone an object several times and arrange the clones in a circumference around the first.

Google to the rescue, and I found the pertinent piece of code.

Fast forward to 2009: I’m working on theme called ‘Microbe: Red’. I figure it’d be cool to have one free molecule moving in a circular motion. I scratch my head and figure it has something to do with a complicated algorithm.

Light bulb goes off. I take the original code I found on google and modify it with a timer and some other adjustments. A couple hours of hammering out the details later, and happiness runs in a circular motion!

To do this, you’ll need two objects; one acts as the center point, and the other moves in a circle.

Create 2 objects:

“circ_center”
“circ_mover”


This script goes in “circ_center”:


Dim MovingObject,deg,dir,r,t

MovingObject = "circ_mover" '--Name of circulating object
dir = 1 '--Direction: 1 = clockwise, 2 = counter-clockwise
r = 100 '--Radius
t = 50 '--Degrees in a full rotation, i.e., how many points along the circumference: more = slow, less = fast
 
'Called when the script is executed
Sub Object_OnScriptEnter
 object.SetTimer 1, 10
End Sub

Sub Object_OnTimer1
 Circulate
End Sub

Sub Circulate
 a = (3.1415296 * deg / t)
 x = object.left + Int(object.width/2)
 y = object.top + Int(object.height/2)
 xa = round(x + r*cos(a))
 ya = round(y + r* sin(a)) 
 nx = xa - Int(DesktopX.Object(MovingObject).width/2)
 ny = ya - Int(DesktopX.Object(MovingObject).height/2)
 DesktopX.Object(MovingObject).move nx,ny
 If dir = 1 Then
  deg = deg + 1
  If deg > (t*2) Then deg = 0
 Else
  deg = deg - 1
  If deg < 0-(t*2) Then deg = 0
 End If
End Sub


Now this is mostly experimental, but as far as I know it works. The only stuff in the code that needs adjusting are the four variables listed at the top. That’s it.

 

 

Goings-On in the Community

Well, I had a look round to see what all goes on and looky here --  LINK

Two new themes in the works by RedneckDude: Tracer and Excalibur. They are part of two community suite projects lead by AVMAN, and comprised of several outstanding artists.

I have to say, Tracer DX is looking AWE-some! I had a chance to play around with it, and my oh my! You will want to get it as soon as it's available.


And here’s something interesting -- LINK

Prometheus Dark by Automan. It looks to be chock-full of useful functions, from weather radar, to media player. Can’t wait to see the finished product.


OCCAM is still in the works -- LINK

Keep up the good work, Po. The suspense is killing me on this one! But who am I to talk? It’s been 5 months since I started my current WIP.

 

So what goes on with you fellow DXers? Working on your first DX skin? Need help getting started, moving forward, or just finishing up some last function that won’t cooperate? Share with us and see what the community has to say.

And don't forget those questions for Vad_M next month. PM or EMAIL them to me, or post in the replies here. Until next time, happy DXing!

WindowBlinds 7 - Beta 1

Thursday, June 4, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

We at Stardock are excited to announce the availability of WindowBlinds 7 – Beta 1 today!  WindowBlinds is an application that allows Windows users to change the visual styles (skins) of Windows Vista, XP, and now, Windows 7. 

This is the first release of WindowBlinds for Windows 7, and as of right now there are no “new” features added.  The main point of this release is to get WindowBlinds working on Windows 7, and then add the “pretty stuff” later in development.  I cannot stress this enough….this is an early beta and there are certain items that will not be skinned correctly at this time.

More info about the beta:

  • Windows 7 support
  • Compact start menus will not work
  • No semi-transparent backgrounds (for now)

Windows XP and Vista users will not notice any huge changes, this release is primarily about Windows 7.  This release requires Windows 7 Build 7100 RC.  Right now, the beta is available for Object Desktop subscribers via Impulse.  You can still get the beta by becoming a subscriber.  Visit www.objectdesktop.com for more information.

Just to give you an idea of what Windows 7 specific skins might look like, danilloOc is working on a Win7 skin that he has shared with us.

Working_stuff__by_danillooc

CursorFX Plus 2.02

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

Today, Stardock has released an update to its popular cursor changing and creation application, CursorFX Plus.  CursorFX allows users to create and use custom cursors on both Windows Vista and Windows XP.  It takes advantage of the visual effects features in Windows to enable things like alpha blended cursors, image effects, and more.

This update includes:

  • Fix for HUGE cursors in the preview
  • Fixes suspend/hibernate issues
  • Misc Win7 Tweaks

This update does not officially support Windows 7 at this time, but it should be work without much issue.  Current users of CursorFX Plus can download the update via Stardock’s Impulse.  CursorFX is available for $19.95, and discounts are available for Object Desktop subscribers.

For more information, please visit www.cursorfx.com.

6-3-2009 3-58-30 PM

World of Warcraft Desktop Update!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

Stardock has released an update to the official World of Warcraft Desktop. The suite, created by Stardock Design with both original artwork and in-game interface graphics from Blizzard's popular massively multiplayer game.  The World of Warcraft Desktop uses the MyColors theme manager to apply the WoW suite, without the installation of any other applications.

The WoW MyColors suite includes an updated visual style, with support for both Windows XP and Vista.  Icons are included for the XP version, and some slick WoW wallpapers are also included. 

 

The World of Warcraft Desktop is free, and can be downloaded here !

ObjectDock 2.0 - First Sneak Peek

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing

One of the most asked about applications is ObjectDock.  Specifically, people have been wanting to know about ObjectDock 2.0.  Some have speculated that we have simply given up on ObjectDock, and that is simply not so.  It is in development, but since it is early there is no time estimate about release, nor about upgrading.

First off, what is ObjectDock?

Objectdock is a smoothly-animated, customizable 'shelf' on which you can place shortcuts, docklets, system tray icons, and view running applications. The program is available in two versions: Plus and Standard. The Plus version offers multiple docks, tabbed docks, and a unique feature called flyout menus. The free version, while still demonstrating the capabilities of the 'zoomer' docks, limits you to only one dock. You can customize ObjectDock to be anything from a taskbar replacement to a fancy docklet-filled information center.

 

ObjectDock is certainly one of the most popular desktop applications around, and a lot of work is going into the new version.  Maybe in another week or so, a video might be in order. 

Let me make note, this is an early screenshot and is still subject to changes in the final version.

With that being said…..

od2_tabconfig




web-wc01