WinCustomize Summer '09 Wallpaper Contest
Monday, July 20, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing
We haven’t a skinning contest in a while, and since this summer is literally heating up, I thought a wallpaper competition would fit right in and be fun. The premise is simple, create a Summer wallpaper with your interpretation of the summer. It could be vacations, tropical islands, scenery, the sun, etc., it just needs to have that “summer” feel to it. How you create it is up to you. 3D, vector, drawing……show us what you got!
Remember, this is about quality, not quantity. WinCustomize moderation will still be in effect, however, wallpaper submitted to personal pages will still be judged. We want to see your brightest ideas for a summer inspired wallpaper and help others put their desktop on vacation!
WinCustomize Summer ‘09 Wallpaper Contest
- Starts today and ends at noon on Friday, August 7, 2009.
- Wallpapers for this contest must be submitted to WinCustomize first before being uploaded anywhere else. New creations only! All entries must have #summer09 in the title. Example: My Summer Wallpaper - #summer09
- Previews must be at least 1024x768. Minimum wallpaper size is also 1024, and multiple resolutions are encouraged.
- Entries will be judged by the WinCustomize staff, and winners will be announced soon after contest ends depending on how many entries come in. Judging will be based on overall creativity, design, and interpretation of summer theme.
- Employees of Stardock are not permitted to enter. We reserve the right to reject any entry.
Prizes
1st Place – Object Desktop Ultimate subscription (1 year), WinCustomize Subscription (1 year)
2nd Place – WindowBlinds 6 with free upgrade to 7 (when available)
3rd Place – 1 year subscription to WinCustomize.com
Don't Miss Out on This Weekend's Impulse Sale!
Sunday, July 19, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing
This weekend sale on Impulse is still going, and you still have a chance to pickup some great games at a great price! You really don’t want to miss out on the Red Faction Guerrilla Special Pre-order, which also includes Red Faction 1 & 2 for free!
Check out this weeks deals.
$9.95 $19.95$49.99 $70.00$4.99 $9.99$9.95 $14.95$9.99 $19.99$39.99
Also don’t forget the Meridian4 anniversary sale is winding down fast. We have 50% off all Meridian4 games, plus a huge bundle pack of over 30 games! Head over to www.impulsedriven.com for more specials!
TechRadar's 50 Customization Tips for Vista
Friday, July 17, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing
TechRadar UK has published an article detailing 50 customization tips for Windows Vista. They cover all aspects of the Vista user interface, and of course they included several Object Desktop components and the best place to get skins for Vista…..WinCustomize.com!
In particular, they mention DeskScapes which is used to enable animated wallpapers on all versions of Vista, and WindowBlinds, which changes the look of Windows by applying different themes, or skins as we call them.
Head over to TechRadar and check out the full article.
Impulse Tips - Tricks 1-4
Monday, July 13, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing
I have written some guides for Impulse which detail some “tips and tricks” for Impulse users in order for them to get the most out of their experience. I wanted to list them in one article so people can find and use them easily.
Impulse Weekend Sale - July 1st
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing
The holiday weekend is approaching, and we are starting our weekend Impulse sale early, and making it even bigger than usual! I believe this is the biggest sale we have had so far, and we have a huge list of both games and applications on sale through the weekend.
See all the details about this sale, and grab your free download of the Impulse client at www.impulsedriven.com.
 | Sins of a Solar Empire Bundle | $29.99 | |
 | Kings Bounty The Legend | $19.99 | |
 | Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare | $34.99 | |
 | Flock! | $7.50 | |
 | Street Fighter IV Pre-order | $35.99 | |
 | Red Faction Guerilla Pre-order | $39.99 | |
 | Epic Titles on Sale! | 25% off | |
 | Majesty Gold Edition | $4.99 |
More games and applications are on sale this weekend. Click the link below for the entire list.
Stardock Forum Maintenance - July 1st
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing
On Wednesday, July 1st we will be performing database maintenance on all Stardock forums. During this time, there will be periods of outages on all Stardock related forums including WinCustomize, Demigod, Elemental, etc. The maintenance will commence throughout the day.
We apologize for any inconvenience, but this maintenance is aimed at improving forum performance. Thank you for your patience!
Windows 7 Pre-orders at 50% Off
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing
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.
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.
So take a browse through the store and find that perfect gift!
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:
- Sword of the Stars Ultimate for $7.99 / 7.99 Euro ($22 off)
- Democracy 2 for $11.49 (50% off)
- Kudos 2 for $9.95 ($5 off)
- Kudos: Rock Legend for $4.95 ($5 off)
- Kudos for $4.95 ($5 off)
If you are on Twitter, you can follow @impulsedriven for the latest news about sales, updates, and releases!
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.
