Entries from June 2007 ↓

Actually, it was unfortunate for the lady. Very fortunate for the man, though. Wish I could get a free iPhone with all the trimmings!

Actually, you don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? You will now!

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=66434CA6FE6500D6A04B9F946D779145?contentId=3641729&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Haven’t you always wanted more themes for your computer? I mean, sure the one with the little “start orb” is quite interesting, but admit it; it gets old, fast. I wasn’t exactly “sick” of it yet, but the colour scheme was getting me a bit down (well, there’s just too many dark colours!). Not to mention the maximized windows weren’t see-through (which I expected out of Aero, the new Vista theme/GUI).

Introducing: Vistaglazz! A program that will easily patch your uxtheme.dll and also install a “glass” .msstyle (theme file name) into your computer.

Now, I definitely remember trying to help a friend of mine patch his uxtheme.dll on his Windows XP computer. After all, he was quite excited after he installed the new Microsoft theme (the Zune one, *sigh*) and was keen to try out more. Alas, due either my poor instruction or his lack of experience, he was unable to patch it successfully.

If he had Windows Vista, I would certainly introduce him to VistaGlazz. But, he doesn’t; maybe you do! Well, after installing VistaGlazz and agreeing to the terms and conditions, you are literally a few clicks away from patching your uxtheme.dll successfully and installing the new .msstyle. Not to mention you can now use third-party themes (yes, those are free).

That’s the main screen. Quite self-explanatory; if you encounter any problems, just hover your cursor over a picture and a little tooltip will appear telling you what that option is.

That’s the option to select to change your msstyle to the clear one. Errr….actually, you might want/have to do the next step before this one.

Last but certainly not least (actually, this might be your first step) is patching the uxtheme.dll. It’s a vital file for your computer, so I wouldn’t have trusted myself to do it (actually, I’ve failed many many times). But, VistaGlazz does it with ease and also makes a backup in case you want to un-patch it.

VistaGlazz is a pretty minimalistic program. But, it was only used like once, and I’ve neglected it from then on. I still appreciate it though, and thought it would be nice to share with you Windows Vista users out there.

And with that, I will take my leave. Until next time, sayonara!

For more information in a more comprehensive article on VistaGlazz, visit my second take.
Download URL: http://www.download.com/VistaGlazz/3000-2341-10671199.html?part=dl-VistaGlazz&subj=dl&tag=button

Alright, I’m done! I’ve moved everything into my APH Networks account. And, oh…how long did that take? Maybe…half an hour? Nice. Now, I realize that there are a few formatting errors and mistakes. I assure you, these are unintentional and I will probably never be able to fix them due to my lack of knowledge in coding and HTML. Oh well, I’m a regular guy, just like you. What can I say (unless you’re actually a coder…)?

Have you been looking for a 3D desktop manager? Err…for the 90% of readers out there who have no clue what a desktop manager is, I’ll pose another question: do you have just too many of those darn windows? Well, you’re trying to listen to music through your media player. Then there is your instant messaging buddy asking you something. On top of that, you’re trying to beat the next level of Tetris online. Shhh, you’re trying to Photoshop something. Then, to top the whole thing off, “you’ve got mail!”.

Your taskbar (start bar) is filling up with programs; then grouping, then turning so small you can barely select them. “Well, I’ll just get a new, huge monitor. Or add a second one onto my current one.”

Hold on there, tyke. Why don’t you save your $300 and spend it somewhere else? I’m going to introduce to you: YodM3D, a 3D desktop manager for Windows XP/Vista. I’m not one of those people that enjoy multitasking, but I still happen to have a lot of windows on my taskbar, especially during peak chat-hours.

Enough with the small talk though, here’s how it looks. I recommend you don’t try this on your 10-year old beige IBM machine (seriously, I’ve tried it, and the two really don’t mix well). YodM3D virtually adds 3 more desktops to your current desktop, making a nice grand total of 4 desktops. 4 times the space.

So, you could have your media player open on one for quick switching, be blogging on the second, have Paint or Photoshop open on the third, and Windows Live Messenger on the fourth. Of course, this might take its toll on your computer; try not to go crazy.

The switching process. It’s very easy to activate; just press ctrl+shift. Unfortunately, this is also the hotkey for “save as” on many applications, but there’s a simple solution. Just change the hotkey selections in the options.

Speaking of options, here is the options screen. There are a myriad of options that I’ve just started playing around with, actually, such as the transparency settings and the background images and whatnot. It’s fun, but a lot of the taxing options require a restart of YodM3D (not a hard job, actually, but is quite annoying).

A normal desktop on YodM3D. Nothing too special about this (notice the change of wallpaper). If you’re a skeptic, just check the time!

And, lastly, the biggest surprise of all: the controlling of the switching process with your mouse. You can hit the two keyboard hotkeys (ctrl+shift default), and then use your mouse to drag to another desktop. In the options palette, you can change the background image of the switching process (currently the space background). I suggest something more High-Res, as it looks quite pixellated otherwise.

Now no recommendation would be complete without a link! So, here’s a link to download YodM3D:

http://chsalmon.club.fr/index.php?en/Download

If the site is down, as it was at the moment, I suggest either using Google to find an alternative site, or to use a Torrent program (I’m sure most of you should be very familiar with those).

YodM3D seems to be quite the convenient program! I enjoy using it quite immensely, but it has a few minor bugs to fix (see the options screenshot again, and now look at the options text). Still, I like it enough to recommend it to you faithful readers. I hope it works as decently for you as it did for me. Until next time I post (ranging from within one hour to one week), ciao. Have a good one!

Recently, a friend of mine brought this digital audio player (aka mp3 player) to my attention. I had heard of the Zen Stone prior to this incident, but hadn’t really paid it too much mind. And, after giving it some thought, I realized it deserved more. I believe that Creative could possibly be the most under-recognized and underrated companies in the world. It’s sad how Apple’s success with the iPod always outshines them, because their products are of really good quality. A couple of years ago, I was fortunate enough to receive a Zen Microphoto as a gift from my parents. It had many features that an iPod Nano did not; a customizeable wallpaper feature, a custom eq, a slew of different themes, a microphone, fm radio, and wma support (which was important to me as I used a lot of wma files; how I regret that, as I now received an iPod video from a family friend).

But, the Microphoto is another subject. Maybe I’ll touch on it another day; today, I’m talking about Creative’s Zen Stone. It’s in direct competition with the iPod Shuffle; the question is, will the iPod Shuffle outshine it?

Although I don’t actually have this product, I will seriously consider getting one for the future. It comes in two formats, actually; the screenless Zen Stone which has 1gb of storage and is available for $49.99CDN and the Zen Stone Plus, which has double the storage of the Zen Stone and a screen and can be yours for $69.99USD (CDN price approx: $74.60).

I’d go for the Zen Stone as a decent backup digital audio player during times when I don’t really need to bring my iPod (short driving trips, jogs, and lawn mowing come to mind). Alas, I would get a Zen Stone Plus, but I don’t really think I would cough up $74.60 for a backup player.

Source:http://images.creative.com/iss/images/products/headers/prod16424_hdr_1_6_1.jpg

The Zen Stone could very possibly compete aesthetically with the 2nd gen iPod Shuffle. The Zen stone might not be as small or slim; in fact, it’s a bit chunkier, smoother, and rounder (hence the name Zen Stone). But, it still looks quite decent for a digital audio player.

What extra features could it possibly have? Well, it does feature wma support. And USB drag and drop features. But for $49.99, what more can you expect?

It’s rated battery life is up to 10 hours, which really isn’t too much once you think about it (sadly). It’s also missing a clip, as you might see. Another downer, no?

So, this is a barebones digital audio player, much like an iPod Shuffle. But the iPod Shuffle, if I remember correctly, was and is still very successful. All I can hope for is the same success towards the Zen Stone.