Have you been to Impulsedriven.com in awhile? Well if you have, you'll notice that we've done some redecorating to not only the website but the store itself.

We've made the website much more informational with the homepage now adding a featured title section highlighting a major software or game, a latest news section showing off recent releases, and a recent articles section authored by people from the Impulse community. You'll also find the navigation to be a lot more friendly with the left hand-side search bar and menu.

When you're ready to search through our library of games and software, you'll notice a whole new look to the Impulse store. First, check out the featured tab that lists all the latest and popular additions with our new "lightening bolt" popularity ranking. Sorting through all your favorite games is now as easy as simply clicking on the Category name you want to sort by i.e. product name, popularity, release date, or price. If you choose to see a bigger list, you can click on the +/- button to expand your list and see all that there is to offer. 

Need some help? We've also added a support tab where you can easily find answers to some of our most frequently asked questions, or if you don't see what you're looking for, you can contact support directly through our email system.

If you haven't checked out Impulse yet, visit www.impulsedriven.com to get your exclusive free download of Stardock's new digital distribution platform.

This month in dreams is back, and with some really good ones as well.  Don’t forget the GUI Champs ‘08 starts this month, and .dreams are one of the categories.  You can get more info at www.guichamps.com.

Now for this months video!

To use .dreams (animated wallpaper) you need to have Windows Vista and Stardock's DeskScapes installed.  If you are an Object Desktop subscriber, you have beta access to DeskScapes 2.0 which will run on virtually any version of Vista.

The .dreams featured in this months video can be found at the links below.

• Black Hole by CarGuy1
• Cloud Surfing by CarGuy1
• Sea of Burning Dreams by Chris Bary
• dark_energy by muckyman
• Julian LHC by flyersfan
• Red Vines by TheMasterBaron

This week, I concentrated on simplicity and decided not to have too many things on my desktop. I found this is a good thing, as I have to look up each of the icons I chose for Object Dock+.

I used the WindowBlind October by NighTrain. I thought it was fitting. This blind is a warm pumpkin color with stylish window frames. It really does say October!

I decided to use Element by skinhit for my IconPackage. There are quite a few orange hued icon sets, but the backlighting of this set really looks sharp against the startmenu.

The wall is Orange Blossom by AzDude I edited it in my PaintShopPro 7 program to reverse the pattern and flip it. I didn't like the way the graphic was hidden by the start menu and placing it to the upper right made all the difference.

CursorFX theme is  Silex by the AVMaN. I have used this theme in the past , in my reviews,but I felt it was the right cursor for this grouping.

Now, for the docks.

I recently had to redownload all of my docks and icons, and I made the tragic mistake of not saving each link I downloaded from for the reviews. Now I am paying for that , and am having to hunt down each icon all over again to capture the link. It's unfortunate that the icons don't all have titles which would make it easy for me to find them. But I will do my best to list all of them today. If I missed someone's icon, please post the link in comments for those who might like to download it.

The first dock ,is TransBrass by Cavan1 I used the tray file from this dock and because it's a side dock it changed the whole look of the dock. If you prefer you can alter the look to show properly within properties by clicking "stretch background proportionally. I like the way it resembles a display you might see in a store so I left it as is.

I really don't care for the Wincustomize icon that is standard with the program, so I changed it to WinCustomize Chameleon by Bandit4edu.

I hope someone soon makes a calendar docklet to replace the current one. It's boring and the blue color isn't all that flattering for most groupings.

The Power docklet is 2d battery meter docklet 2006 by Havell. You would think something this clean and pretty would be standard on the objectdock package but the one that comes with it is rather plain and the colors are harsh. I really like  the three dimensional look of this one.

I used the pccube icon from the WhiteFire2 Dock Icons by basj to make a flyout menu for my computer items.  I didnt' show it because I  have two flyouts this week and the Stardock flyout is really prettier.

Speaking of the Stardock flyout menu,.. This dock I chose to be a single dock. I wanted my Stardock programs available at a single click , on the desktop. A flyout menu was the best way to obtain that goal. I chose a dock from my menu called sglass tile. I can't find the link to this one, so if anyone knows , please tell me so I can post it.

The icons are  Cosmos by PixelPirate (thanks so much to Winstar4 for helping find these!!!) These icons are bright, clean and professional and I am really enjoying using them.

The Stardock Logo icon is part of a Liquidox set, Which is a premium suite and can be found here Liquidox Theme

The tabbed dock at the top , is alegnA by Messiah1 I had set it to accept color in configuration , and that brought the hues closer to the orange I've used here.

A new month, and the first TWiS is quite a good one.  I have a feeling October is going to be a really great month.  We have the GUI Champs ‘08 starting, we have a Halloween coming up which is a great time for skinning, and hopefully cooler weather. 

Now for this weeks picks!

	SciFi Sky by gropull This is a really cool image that is used as a bootskin.
	ChalkboardMp3 W by Doubird This media player widget has a simple, but really cool design.  This appears to be Doubird’s first submission, so I can’t wait to see more.
	Julian LHC by flyersfan This .dream immediately caught my eye, and putting on my desktop was a pleasure.  Great job.
	Wraith IP by SKoriginals This came in late last week, but definitely deserved to be mentioned this week.  No description is necessary, it’s just that good.
	Skin it ALL by PoSmedley Sometimes, you just have to go with the message.  Skin it all!
	Gridlok by MikeB314 We had a couple of WindowBlinds Master skins this week, and one of my favorites is Gridlok.  It’s just a really great skin, be sure to check this one out.

See you next week!

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.

As I have said many times, Halloween is one of the best “holidays” for skinning.  There are so many skins in the gallery it’s hard to keep up, but if you don’t want to go searching for all these skins, and want a great desktop theme that is ready to go, then come check out the Rest in Peace MyColors theme.

To find more information about MyColors, you can read through a walkthrough or view a screencast with more information.

Visual Style and Wallpaper

This visual style fits the theme of the design perfectly.  A jack-o-lantern start button, a very cool animated start menu, and other details that make this skin an awesome addition.  The wallpaper is a perfect match with a “spooky” Halloween scene that is definitely a “treat”.

The wallpaper is a perfect match with a “spooky” Halloween scene that is definitely a “treat”.

Icons

The icon pack included with this theme is one of the best I have seen.  The attention to detail is remarkable, and the pack is filled with pumpkins, spider webs, and other creepy goodies. 

Gadgets

The Rest in Peace MyColors Themes also includes several desktop gadgets, which are like mini-applications that can give you a variety of information.  The R.I.P. theme includes a clock, calendar, and weather gadget so you can see the latest forecast for your given location.

The Rest In Peace MyColors theme is available for both Windows XP and Vista.  You can find more information here, and don’t forget that Object Desktop subscribers get a discount.

This week I thought I'd say good bye to summer, with one last fling.

So, before we start seeing oranges browns and skeletons, I thought I'd bring some summer color to the screen.

To begin with I chose a perfectly summery windowblind skin, in the form of Watermelon by Imzadi. This is a cutsie skin, without being sappy sweet. Refreshing, like a real watermelon. I enjoyed the way the programs menu and other submenus have a gradient shaded theme, starting with lightest up by accessories , and darkest at the end of the list.  The combination of reds and greens I thought were going to be too christmasy, but I was pleased to see they worked well together and didn't remind me of christmas at all.

I paired the blind with the wall Ocast by eamejia . The relic in the corner, and the summer wheat reminded me of the view out my window(yes complete with relic) in the mid summer here. I really love this wall and have used it several times in the past.

To compliment the blind, I chose Win3D Summer XP by JamesT. I know I had to travel a little in the way back machine , but it was worth it. This set's watermelon pink and green shaded icons play nicely with the watermelon/ summer theme of my grouping here. and it's a very extensive set I might add. The only thing I had to adjust was the firefox icon, which is the same one as last week, but recolored in icondeveloper to match the Iconpackage.

I moved my fences around a bit and reduced their size to show the desktop off to it's best advantage .

For the CursorFX theme, I used Buzz by PuterDudeJim. A bumble buzzing around my screen just seemed appropriate. I was surprised to see the cursor is actually a bee with the stinger as the pointer, as the screenshot suggested it was just a striped arrow. I like the bee better .

I decided not to go too elaborate this week for my DesktopX objects. So I just used a simple weather widget which does a lot more if fully opened. Combined II by Richard Mohler, is light, simple and contains a weather widget,calendar ,music player, color picker and mouse tracker all in one. It can be minimized to show weather only, or fully opened to totally enjoy all the features.

I decided to have a little fun with this one, and used Sun Clock by Jaramia. The clock fit nicely over the palest spot of the wall, where the sun was just barely shining through.

I added Mystic Stalk by tippytonail just because no true field is without one or two stalks of last season's crop here and there.

Lastly I found an older widget that really worked for me. It's probably going to be on my desktop often, so look for it and remember this link DesktopX Helper v2 by Randahl. I think it is prettier and less in your face than the dx helper that comes standard.

Well, That's it for this week's look. I guess it's time to put away the pretty greens and pinks and get ready for the fall lineup. Hope you all are ready, I know I'm not. I love summer but I will do my best to provide the look of the season!

Have a good one,

Wulf

All MyColors free themes and all Stardock freeware now have a registration built into them. Here is how it works now:

Go to Impulse, and then to the store. Click on Desktop then choose to 'sort by price'.

You will see Diamond come up as a free download.

Click the free button and then on the next page select 'Add to Impulse'.

Impulse will ask you for your email if you do not have one, or it should prompt you for the one you are logged in with. Either way hit Register or enter your current email and hit register. Impulse will then download Diamond for you while creating your Diamond registry. You will find the free download under MyDesktop. Upon successful completion an email containing download and registration information will be sent to you via the address you have entered.

This is the current answer to the "Free Stuff" questions we have been getting. You will be seeing all manor of free items migrating their way from the normal Impulse windows into the store portion of Impulse. All free MyColor suites will also go to this method of registration as well. If you have any questions please let me know!

Seabass

Yeah, it’s Friday!  We had some really big news this week in the world of skinning.  First up, we have more GUI Champs ‘08 news with Wacom being added as a sponsor.  We also had the release of WindowBlinds 6.3 and SkinStudio 6.3, which is perfect timing for the GUI Champs.  Now for this weeks picks!

	Hitman by sAARGe I’m a fan of the Hitman series, and this smoothly animated cursor is perfect for any fan.
	DXCanvas by Littleboy This is an awesome plugin for DesktopX, which opens up a bunch of scripting possibilities.
	I…Foney by PuterDudeJim This is just a cool DX theme, not much else to say.
	dark_energy by muckyman This .dream for DeskScapes has found a nice home on my desktop.  If you have Vista, be sure to get this.
	Stranded 3 by Richard Mohler The colors of this wallpaper just really caught my eye this morning.  Great work.
	3D Metal by theAVMAN This is an update to this very popular WindowBlinds skin, and it’s once again worth a feature.

See you next week!

One of the new features of Object Desktop 2009 is the rewrite of Theme Manager.

Here are some screenshots: