Heard through the grapevine that the new Objectdock (version 1.9) was the bomb? Alright – sure, it’s a definite improvement over the completely abysmal previous version (which was sluggish, a resource hog, and so on). But, I do hope Objectdock 2, whenever it is debuting, improves its speed even more (shouldn’t be too hard).

Alright, so maybe I’m being a bit hard on Objectdock. After all, there are pretty few programs out there that emulate – well – an object dock. The more “underground” ones would be RocketDock (not bad at all – very fast) and Y’z Dock (after a lawsuit from Apple, it has been deemed illegal – but like all illegal things, you can find it easily on Google).

What the heck is Objectdock, and why would you need it? Objectdock’s basically a program that emulates the object dock that the Mac is popular for. When you hover your mouse over it, it’s icons zoom to your liking (customizable), and when you click it, then it performs its function (either displays information or opens a shortcut, usually). As for why you need it (or why I need it) – that’s a question I’m still trying to find an answer for. Asides from eye-candy, it’s pretty much useless (all the shortcuts you’ll ever need are in your start menu, in my humble opinion).

And Objectdock clearly doesn’t do the job as well as Mac OS X’s native object dock does. I found it slowing my system when I tried enabling the thumbnails of minimized windows. But, asides from that, it isn’t too bad (I haven’t found myself using it much though – I’m just not used to it being there).

The weather widget is possibly the only thing I found useful and interesting. A single click brings out a series of five boxes that display the weather forecasts ranging from today to a few days later. Useful? You betcha. But, I’m still going to have to double check with the Weather Network site.

I’ve seen quite a few users say that the locations of Objectdock are much more customizable this time around. And that is true – but I haven’t found myself needing to change the default settings too often.

SO, is this version of Objectdock an improvement over the last one? It most certainly is. But is it worth putting on your computer? I can’t say with too much confidence that it is. In fact, I think I’m going to be getting rid of it. Maybe Objectdock 2 will be the one that impresses me.

Why exactly would you need four desktops?

More screen real-estate (some of us just can’t squeeze enough pixels per inch on our monitors), more space for that clutter of windows, more processes to take up that extra RAM – the list goes on.

I alternate between my four desktops mainly when I am writing a blurb about a piece of software and feel like I need to create some screenshots. Of course I wouldn’t show you my dirty screen with all those Instant Messenger windows open. No, I like to inadvertantly brag about my cleanliness through the screenshots I take. And this is where Yet anOther (yes, anOther) Desktop Manager comes in handy.

A picture I used in the other review – I’ll explain why later. But you get the idea, right?

Okay, so I wrote about YODM3D (it uses pretty intense 3D graphics) before. But, it’s been updated! Let’s brief you on the basically what YODM3D does, first of all: it virtually adds three more desktops – operative word being virtually – and you sacrifice RAM and processing power for more virtual space. Press the combination hotkeys, and the respective arrow, and you will be able to arrive at another desktop while watching a fancy cube spinning technique. It’s actually pretty cool – if your computer can handle it.

Version 1.4 doesn’t differ too much from it’s mother, version 1.3, except that it introduces the ability to move windows from one virtual desktop to another. Sounds too good to be true? It works like a charm – after you get the hang of it.

I would like to post a few new screenshots, but the new YODM3D is not nearly as Print-Screen-friendly as its predecessor. Nonetheless, I still got a screenshot of how dragging a window to a different virtual desktop looks; it didn’t turn out too well, but you’ll certainly get the idea.

Uh, isn’t there supposed to be an equalizer on Windows Media Player?

YODM3D is a flashy desktop manager that works – if you’ve got the hardware equipped for it. My laptop barely manages to run this program with most features enabled. Think twice about it – you might actually want a desktop manager that does not eat that much computing power.

Alas, if you want YODM3D for free, you’re definitely going to be disappointed. Otaku software purchased YODM3D and slapped a price tag on it (along with some new features, undoubtedly). Still, it really blows for the rest of us consumers who don’t have the change to spend on this stuff.

Now that I have your attention, I’d like to tell you about practically the only true legal way to get free music.

Wait a minute, how is this possible? If they’re not making money from selling the songs, then how will the green giant (I’m referring to the site’s colours, haha) be able to pay the artists and labels for the music?

Through advertising, of course! There are various ads placed around the site, and all you have to do is surf around while your song downloads through their download manager (more on this later in the article). The revenue made from the advertisements then go to the artists and recording labels – and that is basically how Spiral Frog works in a nutshell.

Of course, there is much more to it – you are required to renew your account every thirty days (around once a month). Renewing is an easy process – answer a few questions (a survey of around three short pages) and you’re practically done. Why the surveying? Well, due to the importance of the advertising, they have to choose and target the audiences carefully. The questions are straight-forward and are strictly opinion-based, so no worries. It’s not an IQ-test or anything.

The only cons I see; first, the songs don’t work with the IPOD. Now this is horrible news for around half the population; seeing as how the iPod is the most commercially-successful digital audio player, the majority of the users of digital audio players will not be able to listen to the Spiral Frog songs (which are in .wma format). Secondly, the jailing DRM – the song can only be downloaded once on a pc and put onto two digital audio players. And the DRM expires after sixty days, so the file won’t work if you don’t renew your account after sixty days. Horrible. But hey, you’re getting your money’s worth.

Bad news for the audiophiles; the files are encoded at 128kbps. Not the greatest quality – but comparable to iTunes songs (ignore iTunes plus for now)! In fact, Spiral Frog’s files are quite similar to iTunes – they are both heavily guarded by DRM and are encoded at 128kbps. Nothing for iTunes to be proud of; 99 cents per track as opposed to free – it’s yours to choose (it’s not a difficult decision, believe me…unless you have an iPod, haha).

Downloading the track itself is easy – Spiral Frog’s got a huge collection of popular mainstream music and has contracts with both EMI Music and Universal; two of the big four labels, not bad at all. Enjoy the rocky noises of Bon Jovi or the hardcore rap of Bone Thugs n Harmony! The only weird part is the download manager – which only ensures you don’t download more than one track at a time, as far as I can see (so you view more ads, which is kind of like paying for the music – seems fair). The downloaded song appears in the folder selected by Spiral Frog during the installation (default is the My Music folder). The only pain in the neck – Vista uses a folder called Music, as opposed to My Music – so due to my carelessness I took a while to find the songs.

Spiral Frog is a great concept – and even if it does not succeed (no matter how unlikely that sounds), I think that music companies can learn from the idea of free music. I just wish that the formats were iPod-compatible – and that the DRM wasn’t so darn strong. But I can’t complain; it’s a free service, and if I don’t like it, I should just buzz off (same goes for you, haha).

Ultra Hal Assistant is an artificially intelligent piece of software that will keep track of many events and dates for you; do you always forget when you get your hair cut? Or how about your loved one’s birthday? Hate how you can’t remember much, but can’t seem to fix it? Ultra Hal Assistant is definitely heaven-sent to help you.

I was skeptical about this artificial intelligence software – after all, I once had a nice purple monkey that talked to me, when I was a young man. Then it infected my computer and planted a lot of devious spyware in there. It’s name? Bonzibuddy.

Thank goodness for decent pieces of software like Ultra Hal Assistant! As a real artificially-intelligent “robot”, it can speak to you and actually hold conversations with you! Now, I know at odd hours, it might seem like no one is online on your favourite Instant Messaging client – and you might want to talk to your computer; well, let’s just say now you can with Ultra Hal Assistant.

Ultra Hal Assistant is brought to you by the lovely folks at Zabaware; to be honest, I have not heard of them before this, but they seem like a pretty genius company to have pioneered (and kind of popularized) this kind of software.

You don’t have to type to speak to Hal; with a mic, you can simply speak English and it will be able to reply! Isn’t it amazing? Almost as great as holding a conversation with a human (alright, a lot better than those conversations with that always-cranky guy down the street).

So why not give it a try? It can’t be spyware-loaded, if you’re as skeptical as I was once; after all, it is hosted by Cnet, which checks their software (or claims to do so). I can only advise you to be careful with your future software. Anyway, check it out at Zabaware’s website for a free 30-day-trial (what, did you expect this piece of software to be freeware? hah!)!

My first second take! An enthusiastic reader recently installed VistaGlazz on his computer and was ready to install new themes for Vista; unfortunately, he had no idea how to do it. But, I realized that a majority of users probably wouldn’t know how to install themes either. After all, I only learned how through major tweaking on XP (oh, all those countless nights).

Assuming you’ve already downloaded and installed VistaGlazz and patched your uxtheme.dll (that would be the computer with the green checkmark in VistaGlazz), you are now free to choose from any .msstyle designed for Vista. Wait, what the heck is a .msstyle? A .msstyle is a file designed for your computer that changes the look of the taskbar, the start menu, the windows themselves, the menus on the side, and many other aspects of Windows Vista. There are also .msstyle files for Windows XP, but they are incompatible with Windows Vista so we’ll leave those alone for now.

Now, where the devil would you download a .msstyle? Personally, I would suggest DeviantArt, as it has a huge collection of .msstyles for both Windows XP and Vista. However, take caution; many .msstyles that look like Vista could simply be a theme for XP. You will be able to tell the difference by the screenshot or the summary; usually, any screenshot with transparency will be Vista-compatible. Just to make sure it’s Vista compatible, read the creator’s summary; they will usually say “VISTA-ONLY” (or something like that).

After downloading, you realize it’s a “.rar” file. Now, what is a .rar file? A .rar file is simply a file format that compresses the size the original file (meaning it makes the original file smaller). You’re going to need a .rar program like UltimateZip, which I found to be sufficient till I got the full Winrar version. First, I tried highlighting all the contents and used the “extract” command to try to move the files to “C:WindowsResourcesThemes”. However, I think Vista’s built-in defense stopped it. Don’t fret, there’s a very simple workaround. Navigate to “C:WindowsResourcesThemes” by opening My Computer or any explorer window and paste “C:WindowsResourcesThemes” into the navigation bar. Then simply drag the contents from UltimateZip or Winrar into “C:WindowsResourcesThemes” and double click the “.msstyle” file that came with the contents. The .msstyle will be applied, and you’ll have a nice shiny new skin.

I hope you enjoy your new themes. If you’re computer-friendly enough, you might even be able to design your own!

If you’ve got any questions, feel free to reply with a comment on this post.  If you want to learn about more cool free software like VistaGlazz or interesting gizmos, visit my home page for more information.

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

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!

Want TV on your computer? Of course, but then you’d have to get a TV tuner card. Or, if you’re on a laptop, you’re going to have to get a TV tuner external USB adaptor. Then again, there’s always Slingbox. But don’t all of these require something that I’m not willing to give? Hmm….

Our solution: Joost (pronounced “juiced”)

Although it’s still in beta, I must say it’s quite impressive. It “streams” videos through its software right into your home. I can’t really explain it, but I think Wikipedia could help you.

Yes, Beyonce Live@Much. I’ve always considered taping some Live@Much shows, but I really haven’t gotten around to it. Some of them are actually pretty interesting, but none are actually things I’ve considered having to watch more than once. Now, I can, I guess.

It has a decent GUI. I like the semi-transparent vibe, it goes along with Vista quite nicely. It might be a bit choppy at first, but I think thats only because I was running a lot of programs (they were on another window in my cube; I’ll show you a software that does that later).

It doesn’t have much material yet, though.

Yes, they do have the 2007 NHL playoff games. Interesting you can also watch fullscreen, which brings me to my next complaint.

First off, I’m watching on a 1280×800 display; it has a 16:9 aspect ratio. Or, 16:10? I really have to get this figured out. Anyway, that explains why the two bars are there, because it was meant for a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor. That said, I think that many consumers nowadays have widescreen monitors; perhaps they would consider it an option in the future?

Secondly, you might not see it in the compressed screenshot, but it has grainy quality. I don’t think its resolution is too high; that might be due to my internet’s download speed, but I think this might be a problem Joost has already on its own.

Lastly, where are all the prime time shows? Live@Much isn’t exactly prime time, and NHL hockey isn’t something I’d prefer to watch over and over again. I’d really like it if they got more popular shows, but I realize that this is a negotiating problem, so I can’t really blame them.

Actually, its hard to blame them for anything. No matter how many cons it has, I think that free TV for your computer is decent. And I’d like to thank the developers of Joost and the concept designers for bringing such a wonderful creation to us.

Now, you might be wondering where to get such a delightful program! Unfortunately, Joost is an exclusive “invitation-only” program. Which means that, yes, you have to be invited. Nonetheless, you can try to ask around for an invitation; who knows, maybe someone you know might actually be gracious enough to send you one!