McAfee AntiSpyware quickly detects then safely eliminates malicious applications (key loggers, remote-control programs, browser hijackers, etc.) hiding on your system before they can rob your identity, snatch passwords or monitor browsing activity when you surf or shop. Erasing online roadblocks, it also foils adware programs that trigger annoying advertisements.

Ever wanted to have an animated icon on your desktop? DesktopX has a built in UI for doing this.  First, you have to be in the development environment.  Next, create an object. In the "states" page there is an animation tab for each state:

The way animation works in DesktopX is through bit strips.  A bit strip is a single PNG or BMP file that has multiple frames of animation in it. Each "frame" is the same size. 

Example of 3 frames of animation.  So let's make one of these for fun.  If you lack any artistic ability, like me, you'll need to find a ready source of existing animations to use. On Google I just searched for "Animated GIF files" since those are pretty abundant. This lead me to this page: http://www.gifs.net/animate/page32.htm. I also found this page. http://www.millan.net/anims/giffar.html

So I found an animated GIF. But DesktopX can't use GIF files for its animations. It uses BMPs or PNGs.  So we need something to convert that animated GIF file into something we can read.  Luckily, there's a program called Bitstrip created by a developer in the skinning community called Redlar.

His page can be found here: http://www.virtualplastic.net/redllar/bitstrip.html

Using that program I turned the animated GIF into a .BMP with 11 frames of animation. So now I go and set the default appearance to be that .BMP file it generated. Then I go to the States tab and tell it that it has 11 frames of animation and check the "loop" checkbox so that it'll repeat. I also change the interval to be 150ms between frames (to slow it down a bit). I also give it a shadow (in the shadow/glow tab) so that it looks a little nicer.  I also go to the "Relation" page and change the Z-order so that it's on the desktop (like an icon) rather than like a window.

And voila, I have an animated guy on my desktop:

Now, before you get any ideas, it's one thing to take an animated GIF file and use it for your own personal use. It's another thing to take it and start uploading it to WinCustomize or other sites.  Unless it's public domain, freely distributable, or you have permission, you shouldn't re-distribute software or artwork that isn't yours.  Secondly, even if you do, DO NOT upload it as a widget. If it isn't an application of some kind, you should export it as an object pack so that people can add it to their desktop.

You can get DesktopX at www.desktopx.net. DesktopX also comes with Stardock's Object Desktop suite of desktop enhancement utilities.

 

If you haven't checked the about site and subscription info pages, make sure you do so:

   Subscription Info

   About Site

Here are some common questions:

Q: How much can I download from WinCustomize.com?

A: If you don't have an account, you can download up to 5 megabytes before having to create an account. After you have an account, you can download up to 50 megabytes (sometimes 100 megabytes depending on the time of year) before you need to contributes something to the community.  Customers of Stardock who haven't purchased anything in over a year and don't have a WinCustomize subscriptions can download up to HALF a GIGABYTE of content.  Active customers or current WinCustomize subscribers can download an unlimited amount.

Q: I can't afford to buy stuff, how can I contribute?

A: There are many ways to contribute to the WinCustomize community. You can make skins, themes, icons, wallpapers and upload them and gain the access of Apprentice (or higher access) which provides unlimited downloads, a personal page, and other benefits.  Or you can help out in the forums with new users and help spread the word of skinning throughout the world.

Q: Why should I have to pay you guys to download the hard work of artists?

A: You're not paying us for their skins, themes, etc.  You are contributing to the fund to pay the monthly BANDWIDTH that this site uses.  This site gets around 4 MILLION unique visitors each month. Advertisements only pay around 15% of the site's costs.  The rest has to come from somewhere and since bandwidth is a major expense, it makes sense to ask those who are using a lot of it to help pay for it.

Q: What exactly is a WinCustomize subscription?

A: These premium subscriptions are for ONE years. After the first year, users can renew for TWO years at a time at the same cost as the initial subscription. A subscription provides unlimited downloads, no advertisements, personal web pages, a personal photo album with reserved storage for your images, a personal blog site, the WinCustomize skin browser, some premium suites, and more. You can get a subscription in the STORE.

 

One of the hot topics at this year's Game Developer Conference was the soaring costs of game development.  In a couple of months, the next-generation consoles will be introduced and along with their increased capabilities comes increased expectations on what the top games will deliver.

Many developers lament that because costs are growing so high, publishers are becoming much more risk adverse which in turn stifles creativity.  But that isn't the full issue.  Is it really an issue about being economically competitive or just plain competitive? That is, are developers lamenting the costs because they can't be profitable without huge budgets? Or are developers lamenting that they won't be able to work on the "Game of the Year" unless its budget is in the post $10 million range?

If the issue is about profitability -- making cool games that still pay the bills, perhaps what is needed are more distribution channels.

This article on JoeUser.com goes into more detail.

Many game developers think the sky is falling when it comes to the direction of the game industry.  They talk about how the new mega games having budgets of $10 million and how that is making publishers risk adverse which in turn stifles creativity and takes the romance ouf of game development.

But is that really the case? Or is it more of a matter of game developers liking the "old days" where a small team could make "Game of the year" on a shoe-string budget.  So is it really about economics or is it about glory?  It is incredibly unlikely that I will ever make a game that becomes a house-hold name.  But my games do make a profit and I get to make really fun games.

I recently saw some of the final Galactic Civilizations retail sales, roughly 140,000 sold worldwide (nearly all at full price). That was an indie game done on a shoe-string budget. Were the DOS games of the glory days typically selling those numbers? No.

You can still make good, innovative games without spending $10 million. But they won't be the "biggest games of the year".  Or in other words, it's not profitability you sacrifice by not spending big bucks, it's glory.

On the other hand, I do think we need more distribution channels for games.

Movies get to have multiple lives -- first they're at the theater. Then they go on DVD. then they end up on cable TV. Then on regular TV.

Games just go from retail into oblivion. On TotalGaming.net one of the things we're struggling with getting publishers to let us put some of their games that aren't at retail available for purchase. I've been trying to get Atari to let us put Total Annihilation on www.TotalGaming.net for months but it's taking forever.

If games could have a second life beyond retail, I think the risk could be descreased substantially. And combine those classic "big name games" that aren't at retail with a fresh stream of new indie games and you create new venues for game developers to get their stuff out, take more chances, and be decrease their risks.

At this year's Game Developer's Conference developers are lamenting that the game industry has been warped beyond recognition:

Wal-Mart drives development decisions now. When publishers minimise risk by kow-towing to the retailers, you have a serious problem. When every game has to either be a blockbuster or a student film, we got a real problem. For my end of the game business all of our efforts are going into reaching a mainstream audience who may well even not be interested in what we do! My first game cost me 273,000 dollars. My next one is BLAH millions. How many of you work on games that make money? 4 out of 5 games lose money, according to one pundit who may be lying, admittedly. Can we do any worse if we just trusted the creative folks entirely instead of the publishers?

The game industry model is increasingly becoming like the movie industry model where most ventures cost millions and most lose money. The problem is that, unlike the movie industry where an indie film can be made at 1/1000th the cost of a big budget title, even indie games have to have reasonably good production values to be competitive.  There is no "Blair Witch Project" scenario in the game industry -- i.e. a game that costs say $100,000 to make but makes $100 million. 

As a result, the model where 4 out of 5 games losing money is death to indie game developers leaving us with only mega publishers churning out "More of the same IV".

DesktopX 3 will be released in two days (this Tuesday). In the meantime, here are two more journal entries of doing things with DesktopX 3.

Journal day 7 shows how you can make a really cool skinned media player in 3 minutes without writing a single line of code.

Journal day 8 shows how to combine the wonders of Flash and DesktopX together in a matter of minutes to create flash games and other flash based media that can then be turned into fully "skinnable" programs to distribute.

Day 7: Making media players..

Day 8: Flash games & DesktopX

 

 

Macromedia Flash is very popular on the Web.  It's used for creating advertisements, multimedia presentations, and even games.  It's designed to live on the web.  But wouldn't it be cool to marry Flash's multimedia abilities with the customization powers seen in widgets?  The answer is, you can with DesktopX.  With DesktopX you can take a flash object and embed it into a DesktopX object and the two will work seamlessly.

For my quick example I'm gong to take a Tetris.swf file and combine it with a DesktopX object. Bear in mind, if you're going to use .swf files you need to make sure you have permission (or see if it's freely distributable) before you start distributing it around.  So first you find your .swf (flash) file. 

Now, you'll want to create two objects. The first one is your background, the second one is the one that will contain the .swf file. For the background, I've created a quickie Tetrisy like background. Remember, I suck when it comes to art. So I'm sure you can do better.

Oh the shame of my background. But let's not worry too much about how ugly my background. Pretend it was rendered and looks fantastic.

Now comes the really interesting part:  Embedding files into a DesktopX object. On the summary page there is a "custom files" button.  Press that button and add in your files:

So now I have the flash file in there. The next step is to make that object actually use them. So I go back to the general tab and press the "New" script button.

Once I'm in the script editor, I go to the script menu and select the Microsoft Web Browser ActiveX control. Then I add one line:

This line tells my Microsoft Web Browser control to navigate to the object directory (where DesktopX keeps embedded files) and open the tetris.swf file

At this point, I have an itty bitty Tetris game appearing.  You manipulate ActiveX controls in DesktopX with the CTRL key (we'll be making this user definable in the future). So holding down the CTRL key I move and resize my object on top of my ugly background.  Then I select them both and group them.

And voila:

Like I said, it's kind of ugly but you get the idea.  Obviously the ultimate combination is if you know how to make Flash files as now you have an interesting way to embed them.  Or if you don't want to embed them but rather use them to drive people to your site, you can have the browser object link to your web server that has the .swf file and then add controls onto your DesktopX widget that drives people to your website.  This provides a whole new avenue for distributing Flash content.  Of course, you could create the game with DesktopX using scripting.  DesktopX doesn't currently support vector drawing natively but any sort of bitmap based game (Tetris, Pac-Man, etc.) could be done with DesktopX. 

But the goal of DesktopX isn't to try to force developers into using a proprietary system but rather let them exploit their existing skills much more effectively.

You can get DesktopX at www.desktopx.net.

Yesterday's court ruling in which companies can force on-line journalists to reveal sources could have a dramatic impact on the world of on-line news.

Consider the ramifications, the ruling states that a company (such as Apple or Microsoft or whomever) can demand that a website that has broken a story about something that was confidential (or under NDA) has to reveal its sources to that company.

This is something that print journalists don't have to worry about. Two years ago, when someone leaked that the wife of a white house critic was working for the CIA, the Washington Post journalist was not required to present who his source was. In other words, even when it potentially affected national security, journalists weren't forced to reveal sources.

However, on-line news sources, such as Neowin, could face having to reveal its sources to any corporate entity that deems the information on the site to be confidential.

This ruling, if it stands, could give immense weight to corporations who want to control what information is provided from news sites.

Microsoft announced yesterday that they are planning to kill access to the MSN Service via MSN for Mac OS X software from May 31st onwards.

In a statement to customers and press, Microsoft is advising customers to "access MSN services and features with their preferred browser and by setting up a My MSN page as a portal to their favorite online destinations." Customers will still be able to use the MSN Messenger service but will be unable to use MSN Explorer for Mac OS X. It's not clear what prompted this action but it's widely thought that the MSN Service isn't that popular on the Mac platform.

For months users have been protesting against MSN for their lack of support for MSN software on Mac OS X. This latest move will likely be a knock to MSN software and support for the Mac and may lead to further announcements.

(hat tip to Neowin.net).