I’m still enjoy Windows 7 so far, and I have been playing around with it ever since I got it installed.  I wanted to share some screenshots for those who are going to test the beta.  I’m also trying out the photo gallery feature in Live Writer.

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If you use a PC day in and day out, customizing your desktop environment is something you can do to bring a more “personal” touch to your desktop.  WindowBlinds allows users of Windows XP and Windows Vista the option to change the look and feel of their desktop by changing the visual style of Windows, also called skinning.  There are literally thousands and thousands of skins for WindowBlinds created by hobbyists, all the way up to professional graphic designers.  There are skins to match just about every taste and style, however, sometimes you might want your own style or just a few simple UI changes.  This is where SkinStudio comes in.

Windows XP (Un-skinned and skinned)

SkinStudio is an application developed by Stardock, which also develop WindowBlinds.  SkinStudio’s main function is to create and edit skins for use with WindowBlinds.  At first thought, creating skins for Windows could be a daunting task, but SkinStudio has been developed for making skins or modifying existing ones easy for the every day user.  You might like the look of a particular visual style or theme, but just want to change the start button for example.  You can easily do this with SkinStudio, and I wanted to share some resources to get your started.

Some things you will need:

• A copy of SkinStudio.  SkinStudio is a free download, and SkinStudio Pro is available for purchase for just $20.
  
  
• Graphics editor of choice.  There are many options here, some paid and some for free.  My favorite free editors are Paint.NET and the Gimp.  Other applications I recommend are Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and Paint Shop Pro.
  
  
• SkinStudio tutorial.  This tutorial was created with beginners in mind, and goes through the complete process of creating a skin from start to finish.  It’s also available as a .pdf download, so you can print and follow from there as well.
  
  
• WinCustomize Wiki.  The WC Wiki has a ton of resources, many of which are generated by the skinning community themselves.  It’s a great place to get other tutorials.

With the tools above, you can have your new or modified skin going in no time at all.  SkinStudio has different categories to help you find the section of skin you want to create. 

For more information, including screenshots and downloads, visit www.skinstudio.net.

Well I finally got Windows 7 installed on my laptop.  The only issue I had was getting the partitioning right, but that was my problem. 

Installation took about 10 minutes, and in about 20 minutes overall I was on the desktop ready to work.  Very impressive!

So far, Windows 7 seems very fast and haven’t run into any problems as of yet.  No problems with application compatibility yet, and I’m really liking some of the design changes.

Still have a lot to go through, but my initial quick impression is great!

Social Networks are popular as ever, and I’m proud to say we have made good use of the technology to keep our users, friends, fan, and everybody else updated with what’s going on with our games, applications, and services.  I have made posts in the past on some of our specific networks, but today I wanted to create a directory where you can help us by joining our networks.

Twitter:

@islanddog – My Twitter account where you can keep updated on just about everything going on with Stardock, and tech in general.

@mittense – One of Stardock’s game developers, definitely a good follow here.

@stardock – This is our official Stardock Twitter account.  Keep updated with the latest Stardock news.

@impulsedriven – This is our official Impulse account.  Just as above, keep up with the latest Impulse releases and related news.

@wincustomize – This is our account for WinCustomize.  Aside from news, we often post featured skins and articles.

Friendfeed:

PC Gamers room – This is a Friendfeed room that has news, articles, and anything else related to PC gaming.

Facebook:

Desktop Customization group – We have a group with hundreds of members who are interested in customizing the desktop.  Anybody can join.

Sins of a Solar Empire fan page – We have a fan page on Facebook for Sins that is approaching a thousand members!  It’s another great place to associate with other Sins fans.

Elemental: War of Magic fan page – Same as the Sins page, we have this setup for fans of the upcoming game, Elemental.

Stardock fan page – Come join our fan group for Stardock!

WinCustomize fan page – Support WinCustomize at our fan page on Facebook.

Demigod fan page – Stay up to date with other fans of Demigod.

The Consumer Electronics Show 2009 is set to begin, and some of Stardock’s staff will be on hand to bring you the latest updates from the show.  CES ‘09 will feature a keynote by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, which presumably he will give us more details on Windows 7, and maybe a peek at yet unannounced products. 

CES was scaled back in the past, but this year they are coming back with a bang.  The event is being held in Las Vegas, and many major electronics, gaming, etc. companies will be there to show off what’s coming up throughout the year.  The Impulse team will be bringing updates right from the show floor, and we have created a category dedicated to CES 2009 coverage.

Keep updated here.

http://www.impulsedriven.com/ces2009

or

http://www.impulsedriven.net/category/522/CES_2009

It’s that time of the year again where people will start giving their predictions for what will hold for the  tech industry in the new year.  With the economy being in the state that it is, mostly everything I have read so far is pretty pessimistic, but putting politics aside, I think 2009 has potential to be a big rebound as far as tech goes.

With that being said, I will start with the most obvious one.

1. Windows 7 arrives.  Microsoft hasn’t been too forthcoming about when the next version of Windows will arrive, and we have heard dates going all the way to 2011.  I think Windows 7 will arrive sometime this summer with a hype that we didn’t see with Vista.  I haven’t gotten my hands on Windows 7 yet, but I am hearing some really great things about it so far.  We are already getting a glimpse of how Windows 7 will operate, but what we haven’t heard much about is the gritty details such as pricing and versioning.  I have written about before the need for Win7 to have a more family-friendly licensing, and to drop the numerous SKU’s for just one or two.
    
   
2. Steve Jobs leave Apple.  Apple shocked the tech community recently when they announced this years Macworld will be its last, and that Steve Jobs will not give the final keynote.  Speculation and rumors are running abound about the reasons behind it, but that simple fact is that Jobs is on his way out.  How this will affect Apple going forward is yet to be seen, but Apple’s stocks will certainly take a hit once this is announced.  This certainly won’t mean the end for Apple, but will they continue on their current track with new leadership?  I say yes.
   
   
3. Online services takeover.  Well “takeover” is a bit of a stretch, but 2009 will be the year when more and more services like “the cloud” launch.  In 2008 we saw services like Google Documents become more usable, and saw others like Microsoft step their feet into the online office waters.  Apple dove right in with MobileMe, which despite its rough launch, it has shown what “cloud” services can do for the average consumer.  Just today I was reading more speculation that iWork will move towards online integration, but no confirmation as of yet.  And of course we can’t forget Microsoft’s announcement of their Azure platform which has some tremendous potential.
   
   
4. Next-gen consoles revealed.  The next-gen consoles like the Xbox 360 are not so “next-gen” anymore, and this year we will get a peek at the next, “next-gen” consoles.  We still won’t see the actual units ship until at least late 2010, but the hype machine won’t wait that long.  Aside from the usual graphic improvements, blu-ray will once again be a big feature, along with more integration with home entertainment features. 
   
   
5. Social networks “slow down”.  This year we seen social networks like Facebook, Friendfeed, and Twitter really take off.  The popularity of these services spawned a ton of startup services, but towards the end of the year we have also seen many of them fade into oblivion.  2009 will bring a new wave of updates such as a “pro” version of Twitter, and these services will remain extremely popular, but the overall excitement and expansion of these networks will start to slow down.

Well those are my 2009 predictions, and I think most are pretty solid.  Do you agree with these?  Leave your comments and let me know.

The holiday season is here again, and it’s time for the 2008 Holiday Gift Guide.  One of the great things about Impulse is the ability to purchase gifts for other people, and they will be able to download them without having to wait for a package to arrive through the mail.

Day 3 we are going to go right into desktop enhancements, most of which will be applications to help you customize and organize your desktop.

WindowBlinds 6

There is no better way to change the complete look and feel of Windows, than with WindowBlinds.  WindowBlinds 6 brings a ton of new features and performance enhancements that makes this perfect for anyone who wants to get away from Windows default look.  Whether it’s wild or mild, there are skins to fit just about every personality.

 

Link: WindowBlinds 6 ($19.95)

IconPackager 4

If you want to change the entire set of Windows icons, or each individually, IconPackager 4 will make any geek happy.  There are hundreds of icon packages available on sites like WinCustomize.com that are available to download and use with IconPackager.  Many icon packs are made to match a particular WindowBlinds skin, and many are just completely new designs that look great with any theme.

Link: IconPackager 4 ($19.95)

Object Desktop/Object Desktop Ultimate

Object Desktop is a suite of desktop enhancements, which include both WindowBlinds and IconPackager.  Both Object Desktop and Object Desktop Ultimate contain the same core applications, the Ultimate upgrade adds additional applications such as SoundPackager, TweakVista, IconDeveloper, and more.  Object Desktop 2009 was recently released, so now is a perfect time to get started.

Link: Object Desktop ($49.95)

Link: Object Desktop Ultimate ($69.95)

ObjectDock Plus

ObjectDock is the best when it comes to an application which can help you organize your desktop with an animated and fully functional dock.  ObjectDock Plus adds the ability to have multiple docks, tabbed docks,  system tray support, and more.  View a demo video here.

Link: ObjectDock Plus ($19.95)

If you ever worry about losing your data from a corrupted document, or from a power outage, KeepSafe is the ideal solution for real-time data backup.  KeepSafe has an easy to use interface and setup wizard, which will get your data protected in no time.  You can select which types of documents to backup, and there are a wide variety of options for maintaining those backups.

To see a more detailed review, check out one of my walkthroughs.

• Keep Your Data Safe with KeepSafe 2.0

KeepSafe is normally $30, but Stardock has a special holiday promotion going on where you can get KeepSafe for just $8.95. 

Use coupon code KEEPSAFE-2008 at checkout.

Link: KeepSafe

Several months have gone by already in the 2008 GUI Championships, and today we get the honor of announcing the final winners in this competition.  This years contest featured three categories….WindowBlinds (Visual Styles), Icon Packs, and .Dreams (Animated Wallpapers).  There were so many outstanding entries this year, but it’s time we focus on the final winners.

These participants will receive prizes from our valued prize sponsors such as AMD, TechSmith, Corel, Stardock, DeviantART, WinCustomize, and Wacom!

Link: GUI Champs ‘08 Final Winners

The holiday season is here again, and it’s time for the 2008 Holiday Gift Guide.  One of the great things about Impulse is the ability to purchase gifts for other people, and they will be able to download them without having to wait for a package to arrive through the mail.

In Day 2 we will look at some of the useful tools and utilities you can find on Impulse.  Whether it’s tools to keep your PC maintained, or to make it more productive, there are  plenty of applications available to help.

Tool and Utilities

Multiplicity Pro

If you have two or more computers on your desk, then you need Multiplicity.  Multiplicity allows you to control multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse. 

It’s the ultimate in productivity, and it’s one of the tools I just can’t work without.

• Link: Multiplicity Pro

KeepSafe

KeepSafe offers users the ability to seamlessly offer a real-time backup of your files.  Anybody who works with important files would really appreciate this.

• Link: KeepSafe

System Mechanic

Over time temp files and other things will start to clutter up your PC, and you need a good and safe way to keep  it running like new.  System Mechanic has a wide variety of tools to do just that, and even defragment your drives, manage memory, remove malware, and much more.

• Link: System Mechanic

AVG Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware

AVG is one of the best names out there when it comes to anti-virus, and this package also include anti-spyware  and anti-spam features also.  A firewall along with other tools gives you all the protection you should need.

• Link: AVG Anti-Virus

Genie Backup Manager Home 8

If you need a complete backup and recovery system, then look no further.  Genie Backup Manager Home 8 can  backup your data to a variety of media such as DVD’s, External Drives, online, and much more. 

• Link: Genie Backup Manager Home 8