As you might know, taking screenshots is a big part of my daily work.  Whether it’s taking screen captures of applications, games, skins, etc.,  having the ability to easily take these screenshots is a must.  The old “print screen” button works just fine for taking screenshots every once and a while, but if you want to take it to the next level then you need to grab a copy of SnagIt 9 from TechSmith.  Even if you are a previous user of SnagIt, the upgrade is a must-have, and new users will be hooked on all the features it has.

Let me start off by showing what is new in version 9.

• New User Interface.  The interface and workflow has undergone a complete makeover.  It’s a huge difference than previous versions, but it takes not time at all to become familiar with this one.
  
• Auto-storing.  When you take a screen capture, SnagIt automatically saves it until you decide on what to actually do with it.  Perfect for when you need to take several screenshots, and you don’t have to worry about saving each one until you are done.
  
• Combine images.  This is one of my favorite new features.  The SnagIt Editor just became even more powerful, so now I can do editing right in SnagIt that I once had to use an external image editor for.  You can now take multiple captures, and combine them by simple drag and drop
  
• Search and Organize.  SnagIt 9 has a great integrated visual search and tagging/flag features to make organizing and finding your screen captures as simple as can be.

There are just a ton of options and configurations for SnagIt regarding captures and outputs, but they are easy to understand and configure.  There are a bunch of capture profiles included.  Some of these include taking screen captures of regions, full screen, scrolling windows, webpages, and more.  SnagIt also allows you to create your own personal capture profiles to easily tailor the capture to your specific needs.

You can also select a profile from the system tray, along with quick access to other common functions.  Once you are ready to take your screen capture, you can do it via a configurable hotkey setup, through the system tray, or through the main interface.  The hotkey option is definitely the best way to go.

After you capture is done, you can either take more or use the SnagIt Editor to do a variety of things with the images.  The SnagIt Editor is a very powerful tool, and TechSmith really poured some extra effort into making it a full fledged image editor.  I have actually found myself turning to the SnagIt Editor instead of higher-end graphics applications when needing to edit an image.  The Editor has a ribbon-like interface, with tabs which give you quick access to the many editing features that are available.

A brief overview of the functions of the tabs:

• The Draw tab allows you to get access to the clipboard, drawing tools such as adding text, callouts, shapes, arrows, etc. 
• The Image tab gives you tools like crop, resize, rotate, etc.  It also has an ‘image style’ section where you can apply a variety of edge effects, shadows, and other image styles.  This section also gives you the options to add blur, color effects, filters, and much more.
• The Hotspots tab lets you add hotlinks, tooltips, and flash popups to your images.
• The Tags tab lets you add keywords to your images, set flags for the images, and gives you a detailed description of the captured image.
• The View tab gives you control over zooming, windows arrangement, and help/training sections.
• The Send tab is where you can take your finished image, and send it to a huge variety of outputs like e-mail, FTP, applications like Word, and even upload directly to Flickr.

I just wanted to focus on a couple of my favorite features which I use regularly.  When I take a screenshot of say an application or website, I often need to make ‘notes’ about a specific part of the captured image.  I used to have to break out Photoshop and add some arrows and text boxes, but no more.  I can do this in seconds with SnagIt.  All I have to do is select a Callout image, add my text, and then add an arrow.  It can’t get much easier than that!

Once I have my image ready, now I can tag with some keywords, so if I need to find it later, I can find it via the search pane either through keywords, websites, date, and more.

When everything is done, I just now need to figure out where to send it to.  You can of course just save it as an image file, but there’s so much more you can do with it if needed.  If you need to send it to an application like Word, Excel, or Powerpoint, you can do that with a simple click.  E-mail and FTP uploads are just as easy, and you can visit the SnagIt Accessory page for more outputs that can be downloaded.  My favorite option is the ability to upload the images directly to my Flickr account.  Uploading through SnagIt saves a bunch of time on my part, and it’s a welcomed feature.

I could really go on and on about all the features, but the bottom line is SnagIt is worth every cent.  If you need to take screen captures of any type, then there is no substitute, SnagIt is the way to go. 

You can find more information, and a free trial download at http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp.

We have been putting out updates to Impulse quite often, so I thought now would be a good time to do a quick walkthrough of the user interface in Impulse.  Impulse is Stardock’s next-gen digital distribution platform.  You can get the free download and more information at www.impulsedriven.com.

It's hard to believe 2008 is starting to come to an end.  The yearly snapshot of Object Desktop is starting to come together. This year, however, we're doing to do some things differently.  First, we're going to release a lot of updates/new features with the snapshot instead of releasing putting things out bit by bit in the months leading up to it.  This way, the release is more of an event.

Object Desktop Today

Let's first start off with Object Desktop as it is today:

Object Desktop is a suite of desktop enhancement utilities that allows users to transform their Windows experience. It comes in two forms: Object Desktop and Object Desktop Ultimate.  The Ultimate Edition is designed for power users while the standard

edition is designed for everyone else.

The key parts of Object Desktop are:

• WindowBlinds - which can change the Windows GUI.
• IconPackager - which can change the icons of Windows all at once
• DeskScapes - which can provided animated wallpaper
• SoundPackager - which lets users package and share sets of sound schemes
• DesktopX - which lets users create and use widgets and desktops
• MyColors - which lets users apply professionally created themes that completely change the Windows experience. And Object Desktop users get 4 free ones per year.

Object Desktop Ultimate adds:

• TweakVista - a utility for getting the most out of Windows Vista
• WindowFX - a utlity that lets Windows XP users add special effects to their PC
• SkinStudio - an application that lets usres create skins
• IconDeveloper - an icon creation utility
• ObjectBar - let users create and use their own replacement UI elements to Windows
• IconX - Lets users enhance the Windows XP desktop icons
• LogonStudio - lets users create and use their own Windows XP or Windows Vista logons
• Keyboard LaunchPad - lets users assign hot keys to common actions
• RightClick - lets users replace the desktop right-click menu with one of their own creation

So that's where we are today. Anything not listed above is something that is already probably set to legacy already.

Object Desktop Tomorrow

Now, someone who purchases Object Desktop right now gets everything we do for an entire year which includes Object Desktop 2009.  Below are the things we're working on for Object Desktop 2009. All of this is subject to change but this gives you an idea of what we're hoping to accomplish/do within the next year when Object Desktop 2009 is released.

Things that are going to go away...

Some programs are going to be phased out (existing users will still be able to download the latest version):

- IconX is going to go away. Sorry. I like this program too but making it work on Vista would be virtually impossible.

Things that are going to go into maintenance mode (no longer updated):

- ObjectBar. This is one of my favorites but we need to rewrite this to keep it up to date and at that point, we would release a new program based on today's requirements.

So there's the bad news.

Things that are going to get attention for Object Desktop 2009

+ DesktopX.

+ RightClick.

+ Keyboard LaunchPad.

+ SoundPackager.

Things that are going to get a lot of attention but may not be available on the release of Object Desktop 2009 but should be released within a year depending on Windows 7's release date.

+ DesktopX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ WindowFX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ WindowBlinds (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ SkinStudio (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ DeskScapes 3 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

Also, anything that doesn't work on Windows Vista 64-bit by the time Object Desktop 2009 ships gets pulled (other than WindowFX). 64-bit is the future.

NEW THINGS we hope to have available either on the release of Object Desktop 2009 or shortly after:

+ Theme Manager 3.0. Major update, everything everyone was hoping for.

+ BootSkin Vista.

+ StyleVista 1.0. (Ultimate Only)

NEW THINGS that are in development

+ Fences (Ultimate only)

NEW FOCUSES IN DEVELOPMENT

We are looking at Windows 7 closely and one of the things we are going to be looking to do going forward is developing more software that improves system performance and usability as well as improving productivity.  Keep a close eye out on Impulse.  It's not just a download manager, it's a platform. Expect to eventually see a lot of "cloud" features in Object Desktop that help make Windows faster and easier to use.

To learn more about Object Desktop, visit www.objectdesktop.com.

Stay tuned!

For anyone who uses a computer at least on a daily or weekly basis, or someone who uses their PC for things like keeping photos, doing financial work, etc., a backup solution is very important.  I’m sure everyone knows someone, or at least heard the stories of people who have lost very important data that was unrecoverable, and that’s why finding a good solution is key.  I was happy to see that Genie-Soft has some applications available on Impulse, so I wanted to give the Home version of Genie Backup Manager a run through. 

The first thing I noticed is it has an “Easy” and “Normal” mode.  Easy mode has a very basic interface that even the most computer illiterate could use, but for most users, the Normal mode should suffice. 

One of the great things about an application like Genie Backup Manager is that you can either backup your entire system, or just pick and choose the elements to backup.  Getting started is easy as you just click the Backup button and you are guided through the steps to create your backup.  In the left hand menu you can see the steps and jump to a certain section if needed. 

Flexibility is key, and Genie Backup Manager gives you several options on how you actually want to get your data backed up.

• Local/LAN
• Removable Media
• Remote using FTP
• CD/DVD
• Online backup

I think the bases are covered when it comes to location choices, and where you backup will really depend on your system, your needs, and really what is easiest for you to manage.  By no means think you are limited to one backup, I personally do a full backup and then a separate backup of items such as mail, photos, etc.  I will typically do a full system backup using an external USB hard drive, and for my smaller backup jobs I will use a DVD, and also the online backup service.  More on that in a minute.

Moving on to the next step, you can now select the data to be backed up.  What really stood out to me is how Genie Backup Manager not only lets you select the specific item to backup, but has selections of “common” items like Contacts, My Photos, Fonts, etc.  You can even backup the registry from here.

Now here is the feature that seals the deal for me…..plugins!  There are tons of free plugins available that make backing up specific applications that much easier.  I was browsing through and found one that will backup the themes and settings of WindowBlinds 6.  No more lost skins!

After you select your data, you can now give the final options such as enabling password and encryption protection on the backup job, and enable the SwiftRestore feature which creates an .exe that can be viewed and restored on a system regardless if Genie Backup is installed or not.  That is a very useful feature.  There is also a scheduling manager that lets users select the times and frequency of scheduled backups.  Genie Backup Manager Home also has a disaster recovery feature to help you in the event of a system failure.  It guides you through the process of creating a boot disk which you can use to restore your system if you ever find yourself in that situation.

Now to my favorite feature of all…..online backup.  Backing up to online services has always been a bit tricky, and finding a good service always seemed difficult, but not anymore.  Genie-Soft has their own online backup service which can give home users up to 5GB of storage space.  There are other plans available, but this is perfect for home users.  There is a free 1 month trial available for Backup Manager users to try it out, but I’m sure it’s something many people will want to upgrade to and use.  I ran several online backup jobs and every one of them was very, very fast.  Even through the restore process it acted as if it was just an external HD connected to my system.  Kudos to Genie-Soft for making this so easy to use.

There are many features that I could go into, but after using using Genie Backup Manager 8.0 for a while now, I definitely can and will recommend it to anyone looking for a complete backup solution for their PC.  The ease of use and reliability make this a winner.  Next I will take a tour of the Pro version, and see how that can benefit users who need more than what the Home solution offers.  Genie Backup Manager 8.0 is compatible with Windows XP and Vista, and is available in the Impulse Store for $49.98.

Yesterday was the last day of my trip to Stardock HQ.  It was a very productive day with a few meetings, and I’m happy to say that Zoomba and myself have nailed down the final plans for the GUI Champs ‘08, and a more “official” announcement will be posted in just a few days.  While I missed my family, I was a bit sad to leave because I was having a great time and it was just awesome to get to know people better than I have in the last couple of years.  I also have a lot of a cool stuff to talk about, so watch the front page of WinCustomize today for a big “teaser”.

I flew back to Florida late last night, which happened to be a very rough flight back, and now I’m just catching up on the last few days.  Here are a few more pics from my trip.

Brad (Frogboy) and myself.

Hanging with Zoomba.

Stardock HQ.

Well Day 2 was my first full day at Stardock, and let me first start off by saying the weather is just fantastic.  I think it was around 60 degrees when I left the hotel this morning, and it felt really good.  I got my own little cubicle to work out of, which is weird to me to be in an office with other people, but I enjoyed having people around.

Here’s me at my space catching up on some WinCustomize moderation.

Just about right next to me we have Zoomba peeking over to say hello.

The rest of the day was meetings, and more meetings.  But I can’t wait to tell you what’s going on!

Lets start off with fdlafkdfj fadf adlfafdkfa d afkdjf adkfaldkfja ldkf adl akfjalkd fa d d dkfjdlfka dlkfa dlkfaj dlka dflkadfl kadf adlkfadlkfa dlka dfdflkadjl ldkjaf ldk fadlkfa dlkafdfadfkjd dflaadfkdfj lafk . Yeah, unbelievable right?

The most exciting thing is aldfkadjlf akd;fkd fa dflkad;lfakdj; faldkfj ;aldkfj; aldkf aldkfj;ldkfaj; ldkf a;dlkfjdlkfldkfja lkf a;ldfkdlfkd;l fka dflakdfjla dkfal;dkfaj; dlfak d;lfakd;lfakd flasd fsldfklkdf dlskfjldskfj dlfkjdslkf which is probably the greatest application ever!

There was some other stuff like dlfakdlfk dlfakdjf aldkfa dlkfjd lfkadfjlakd flakdfjlakd, but I won’t bore you with anymore details. 

So tonight is my last night in Michigan, but there is still a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow.  GUI Champs ‘08 is just about a month away, and hopefully we will have the formal announcement soon, but there is not reason to wait, get those skins started!

I have a vision for Object Desktop. I have always had an idealized vision for it.  What stops it from becoming a reality is that my vision involves a lot of work that is not economically feasible.

Part of the problem is that what I think is super cool isn't necessarily what other people think are super cool. 

Let me outline things in Object Desktop that bug me today:

1. I want to see Theme Manager massively updated. I'm not talking about MyColors. I don't want to see MyColors replace Theme Manager. I want people to be able to take a snapshot of their desktop and I want to see MyColors themes that don't use licensed IP include a .suite file option.
2. I want a consistent user experience between all the programs.
3. I want to see TweakVista get a LOT more features so that I can do a lot more surgery on my computer.
4. I want to see more productive features integrated into Object Desktop that extend the OS.
5. I'd like to see DriveScan re-introduced,
6. I'd like to features that extend the windows shell to be more useful but without having to get rid of explorer,
7. I'd like to see Object Package (from the OS/2 version) brought back so that I could press a button, get a big giant .package file and take it to a new machine and press unpackage where it reinstalls all my stuff.
8. I'd like to see features that speed up my system. Why isn't anyone doing anything that can speed up perceived performance of Windows anymore? If I have 2 gigs of RAM, why can't Object Desktop have some feature that better manages the swap file or something like make sure all shell related stuff stays in memory or whatever?
9. I'd like to see a feature that better handles my Windows start up. It's crap right now. I'm not talking about something that lets me kill off stuff that loads up, I mean something that lets me get to my desktop quicker and has an explicit loader for all the other crap that can load later in a low priority state?
10. For that matter, why doesn't Object Desktop have features that make Windows use the priority settings for processes better?
11. I want to see DesktopX re-imagined completely so that I can build fantastic shells and user experiences using .NET, WPF, etc.
12. I want to see cloud computing features integrated into the Windows shell.  If I have multiple computers, on a high speed connection, why should I give a crap where a folder physically resides? Let it invisibly sync everything together. I don't even want to know it's doing it (other than at a technical level). Just make sure I have my stuff wherever.

So why don't we do this? This is where the vision and reality collide.  A lot of the coolest features rarely get used and sell terribly.  Keyboard LaunchPad, for instance, is insanely useful but it's not very popular.  Same with RightClick.

A lot of cool features are hard to market and get people to understand or not be afraid of. 

And a lot of cool feature are simply very difficult to develop and there just aren't a lot of developers capable of making this kind of stuff well at any price.

But the above are some of the things I'd love to see make their way into Object Desktop.

When you purchase an application or game from one of Stardock’s various websites, you should get an e-mail with registration information and some links.  Not everyone might know what to do from there, so I wanted to give you a quick tour on how to get your registrations into Impulse so you can download and manage your products.

Impulse is Stardock’s state of the art digital distribution platform.  You can find more info about it here.

First you need to download Impulse.

- Impulse Client - Web Installer

- Impulse Client - Full

Once installed, make sure you are using the same e-mail address as you used to make your purchase. You can edit your account information by click the Orb button and editing your Stardock.net account.

Impulse should associate items in your account and have them ready for download, but for whatever reason you need to enter registration manually, here is what you need to do.

Click the Edit Registrations button.

That will bring up the Registrations window.

Here you can view, and manage any current registrations  you have.  Just click an individual registration and right-clicking will bring up a menu where you can update the registrations.  If you have a new registration to enter, just click the button as shown in the screenshot above.  A new window will popup and this is where you can enter your registration info.

Just enter your serial number, e-mail address, and the type of product you purchased.  After that just click Add Registration and you should be all set.  Now just navigate to the appropriate tab (My Games, My Desktop, etc), and your product should be there for download.

I have used Paint Shop Pro since about version 8, and I have upgraded to almost every other version update since then.  I was always recommended PSP from many members of the skinning community, and even today I know many popular skinners who use this.  Paint Shop Pro has come a long way since I first started using it, and even though it has moved more towards use with photography, I found it’s still a great graphics tool that is perfect for making skins and themes.  Best of all, it’s a great alternative to other higher-end imaging software which costs much, much more. 

The first thing I notice when opening Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is it’s sporty a sleek new graphite theme, which can be disabled if you rather have the previous style.  The graphite theme works well and gives a darker look to the whole application, which at least to me, makes working on graphics easier on the eyes.  If you are new to Paint Shop Pro, or just need some help in some areas, there is a Learning Center docked to the left side which guides you through the process of several techniques like making photo collages, adding effects, adjusting images, etc.  Of course you can configure the interface to your liking, but I found the default quite suitable for my needs.  There is also an image browsing window where you can easier organize, find, and edit images stored on your computer.

All the tools you would ever need to either create graphics for skinning, or for adjusting photographs, are right here.  I was happy to see one of my favorite tools, the picture tubes, are still there.  There is such a wide variety of settings and tools available that I could write all day about, but take my word for it, it has what you need.  On the photography side, there are several “one-step” fixes for various common corrections in photos.  There is also a new Express Lab which can batch edit several files or folders at once with actions like crop, resize, etc.

Some other new features are the HDR Photo Merge which combines two or more images and corrects the contrast automatically.  Also new is the addition of layer styles and watermark support, both of which should be welcomed to both beginner and seasoned professionals.  The Black & White conversion tool has also been enhanced along with the Makeover tools which are essential for fixing any impurities in images.

While I was once concerned that Paint Shop Pro would only be useful to photographers, I have now realize that it’s only added to the graphics experience.  Whether you are a photographer, graphic designer, or skinner, Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 has all the features necessary to bring your creativity to life. 

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is now available from the Impulse Store for just $79.99. 

With Dell taking the Windows experience to the next level with the introduction of the Dell Dock, I've seen a lot of online buzz about it.  Most agree that the Dell Dock is really good but intermixed are a lot of Mac fans who use terms like "Mac rip off" or how it's a copy of the Mac dock.

Mac zealots have a long and glorious history of retroactively claiming pre-existing concepts as being invented by Apple.  For example, the modern "widget" (end user created applets that use Javascript) was not invented by Apple.  They also didn't first appear in Konfabulator either. They appeared in Stardock DesktopX years earlier. Apple zealots usually counter by arguing that things like desktop accessories from 1981 "invented" the concept (as if the average user was going to whip out small assembly language programs).

I think most rational people agree that the modern widget is a mini application that can be created by end users that are tied together with a high level scripting language (i.e. Yahoo Widgets, Dashboard, Sidebar Gadgets, DesktopX).  And DesktopX borrowed the concept from IBM's worksplace shell which in turn was inspired by prior art as well.

But the controversy over widgets is nothing compared to the claim that Apple somehow invented the concept of docks.  Even allowing for the history of NeXT with its side dock, the dock concept is ancient.

 Stardock, for example, has been doing "docks" since 1994.  Object Desktop for OS/2 included things like Tab LaunchPad and Control Center. You don't see Stardock fans complaining that every sidebar is a "rip off" of Control Center. And Control Center certainly didn't invent the concept of a side-based bar or dock either.

You would be hard pressed to find many companies that have been continuously producing a dock and a sidebar as long as Stardock has -- 14 consecutive years of development. I think it's fair to say that we weren't "inspired" by an Apple OS that wouldn't exist for 7 more years from the time we started doing this sort of thing.

Tab LaunchPad on OS/2 circa 1994

Stardock makes no claims of having invented the dock.  We called our first dock Tab LaunchPad because IBM itself had created a dock for OS/2 2.0:

IBM OS/2 LaunchPad circa 1992

But let's say you're a true die-hard Steve Jobs zealot and want to argue that NeXT "invented" the dock. You'd still be wrong as docks were part of Acorn computers from the early 80s.  The point, of course, isn't who invented the dock, the argument of course is whether companies like Stardock (who wrote the Dell Dock) were somehow ripping off or stealing or what have you from the MacOS dock and I think you can see why this is such an obnoxious and offensive argument - we've been making docks since before Apple had figured out how to do preemptive multitasking.

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words.  Here is a picture of what the Macintosh looked like in 1996 (System 7.5) along with a picture of Stardock Object Desktop in 1996:

vs.
Mac 1996 vs. Stardock Object Desktop 1996: Which desktop do you think more closely resembles today's modern desktop? Note that Object Desktop was written during the Windows 3.1 era.

Stardock doesn't run around claiming that it invented the modern desktop experience. We don't imply or assert that everyone else is "ripping us off". Some ideas are just obvious.

The Dell Dock represents the continuing evolution of the desktop experience. Like all improvements to the user experience, inspiration can be found everywhere. But when advocates of a company or an operating system try to lay exclusive claim to all such improvements, they diminish the hard work, innovation, and inventiveness by thousands of other people from around the world who often have worked in obscurity with little glory. It is bad enough that these innovators don't get credit they deserve, it's even worse when they are so often smeared as copying those who came after.

Other Pictures:

Dell Dock

Stardock ObjectDock

Stardock ObjectDock Plus (4 different docks)

Stardock Impulse Dock