Tek #13 is still gathering dust on my drive, ModZine is dead and Shell-Shocked is, erm, doing okay actually. But two Canadians, one Belgian and some dude who thinks Québec is not part of Canada, figured the world of ‘customisation’ would need a new ezine.

They might be right, you know.

Enter Esthetika, the first ezine on skin related matters in French.

“Esthetika a pour vocation d'être le magazine en ligne des personnaliseurs francophones : ici, pas de galeries d'art ou d'astuces déjà présentes sur des dizaines d'autres sites ; ce que nous vous proposons, c'est un regard neuf et critique sur le monde de la personnalisation.”

Or in other words, no lame galleries like gazillion other sites out there, but a critical look at the world of ‘personalisation’. And while they're at it, they'll attempt to get the French sites to stop competing and work with each other some more.

Contents of their first issue (or rather, issue #0):

• Grain de folie… — A stroke of madness, as ext calls it. His view on what Esthetika strives for.

• Entrevue: BruB — As a first act of incest, staff member ext interviews staff member brubbles. All for the good of explaining the situation though. Then again, I don't think we, nor anyone else, ever tackled BruB, so this is a first.

• Les Indispensables #0 — This will be a series of articles focussing on essential/unique customisation software.

• Concours — Info on the quarterly contests Esthetika is going to hold (and you can win a date with BruB).

• Des questions? — Maarch reckons he's been around long enough to have picked up bits and peices of knowledge. So in this section, you can ask him all you customisation related questions.

• Perso à la mode — Brub introduces the fashion column and in the process disses the fluorescent wave of the late 80s.

• Communauté Francophone — And there will be a section highlighting French ‘community’ sites as well

As you can see, this is more a blueprint for future issues than an issue itself, hence the #0. The overall structure of the magazine will consist of a number of fixed sections/columns, which will be reappearing every issue. Come to think of it, that might be a good idea to use in Tek as well, seeing that we drift a lot.

The ezine is supposed to be published on a bi-monthly schedule (like Tek), but this is not sacred and can possibly vary wildly (like Tek as well).

Can't read French? Then use google or babelfish to translate the site. Or just learn the language. I think it's going to be well worth it.

Wait a sec, only now do I realise what their logo stands for. Doh! I'm getting dense. || craeonics | comments (12)

Been a while since I've heard of this one. Whereas XP introduced the logon screen and tools like LogonStudio allowed you to create your own logon themes without having to hexedit system files, the options remained quite limited. FrontMotion Login, however, grants you more freedom of expression, because it replaces your logon screen by a custom Flash-based one.

And as anyone who has ever done any Flash work knows, that means the sky is the limit (to a certain degree, ofcourse).

The latest version got released a couple of days ago:

“1.1.0.27 : 20-09-2004

• Better Domain enumeration (Faster for laptops that are part of a domain, but disconnected)

• Themes are now installed under C:\Program Files\FrontMotion Login\Themes. It can be changed during installation.

• Default theme updated to include Tablet PC support and portrait mode.

• New theme: BubbleOS

• Tablet PC Support. Backend will set FMTabletPC = 1 if present.

• GDI+ redistributable included for Windows 2000.

• Flash Player 7 included

• Now displays international characters correctly

• Added the following FSCommands: FMOpenSignaturePad, FMCloseSignaturePad, FMBtnClearSignaturePad

• Fixed crashes caused by incomplete Flash themes.

• Portrait Support: Additional state names FMP* added. e.g. FMPIdle, FMPLogon, FMPSecurity, etc.

• New variable: FMPortraitMode, themes should set it to 1 if the Theme supports portrait resolutions.

• Fixed fmlogin.adm

• Fixed msgina.dll failsafe chaining”

The fact that it uses Flash might also be the threshold holding back skinners from creating themes. Creating themes for this beasty requires you to call specific functions at specific points in your movie. Yes, that means ActionScript. And seeing that the average skinner these days already finds point 'n click a challenge, this might be a bridge too far.

Bloody shame, for this is a great idea. || craeonics | comments (11)

Once upon a time, there was a group of devs who called themselves 545studios. They made skinnable apps, but more importantly, they had strong opinions and did not shun to express those. Consequently, they weren't too popular in certain circles, where fanboyism was prefered and criticism was taboo.

The resulting flames were quite amusing.

Some time ago though, they simply faded from existence. I don't know what happened or why it happened, nor where they went, but their site is gone.

And now, as noted by Blizzle, one of their more silent yet productive members, em, has returned with his new site versoworks. And his apps are back as well:

• “Argus: is a Web/Desk Cam application. It allows the recording of video or capture of frames from a web cam, the capture of screenshots or the active application and can then publish these via either FTP or HTTP protocols. To add to all this, the program itself is fully skinnable in a resizable window.

• ClearerType: is a freeware utility that allows you to fine tune the ClearType setting in Windows XP.

• Inedita: is a freeware text editor designed to replace Notepad. It has most of the features found in Notepad and a functional tabbed interface which allows the opening of multiple documents in a single window. To add to this, the program itself is fully skinnable in a resizable window.

• Swoop: is a search engine bot. Given a search query it will poll the selected search engine(s) and return the results as provided by the individual engines.

• Messenger:Mate: is new feature enhancing software for MSN Messenger that integrates seamlessly to add useful features that enhance your daily experience using the best instant messaging software available today.”

Inedita deserves some special attention. At one point in time, resizable skinnable text editors were something like the Holy Grail of Skindom. It used to be shareware, but it has now become freeware (yay).

I miss those flames. || craeonics | comments (10)

• [da][scn] – DevArt's hiring

• [wc][blg] – Aero Skinning, Modelers, and unorthodox skinning

• [wc][tut|dx] – A newbie's guide to DesktopX scripting, part 1

• [bz][moz|rls] – Firefox 1.0 Preview Release

• [bz][moz|rls] – Thunderbird 0.8

Interesting. Looks like DevArt's looking for people. Now I could easily fill the requirements for the function of programmer, but I'm afraid the plusses leave some things to be desired. And I don't live in Los Angeles either. || craeonics | comments (7)

BSplayer is a skinnable (duh) media player that can handle both audio and video, but specialises in the latter.

“BSplayer version 1.02 Build 812 is released. Here are the changes:

• fixed problem with full screen skins in old format, movie time wasn't displayed

• fixed problems with some skins in old format ('unsupported skin format' message)

• when subtitles was turned off, last line was still visible, fixed

• fixed some problems with external audio files, when video was w/o audio stream

• custom aspect ratio settings were lost after restart, fixed

• fixed problem with playlist 'randomize' function

• fixed problem with LIGOS MPEG2 decoders

• fixed bug with VMR9 renderless mode, problems with full screen mode on secondary monitor

• some other bug fixes”

There's also a shareware pro version, €19 (about $23 for the isolationists among us), which has a number of advanced features.

The changelog of this version is the same, with one additional alteration:

• “fixed problems with tuner configuration and channels changing also sound should work now”

Apparently the name stands for Boris Software Player, after the author, but, for reasons which may or may not be obvious to some, my eyes always read this as Babya Software Player (or worse).

It's probably a fine app and I'm not doing it much justice this way. Mea culpa. Repent, repent. || craeonics | comments

Once again, better late than never. Version 2.21 of desktop enhancer DesktopX has been released. Prime updates are related to memory usage and widget creation.

“Version 2.21 is mostly an update for those who like to create widgets and themes but has some memory saving features as well:

• Smart-Bitmap Loading to support animated multi-state objects/widgets

• Widgets now have their own name space

• Holding down the Ctrl Key will always move/select an object in DesktopX regardless of how it's grouped

• Sub-Child activation fixed (clicking on a parent object will activate its children and those children will activate their children and so forth)

• DX labels not responding correctly to resolution changing

• Includes new Weather widget that has features for changing color on the fly and other goodies.

• Bundled objects and widgets updated to better show off what DesktopX can do.”

Still shareware, $19.95. || craeonics | comments

Oldie, but goodie. Equalizer is a skinnable calculator with a twist. Instead of punching buttons to enter the numbers, you just enter the mathemathical equation you want calculated and there's your answer.

Takes some getting used to, perhaps, but it's much more user-friendly and convenient than a regular calculator.

“New On Version 1.73

• Improved: Instead of staying on screen, Equalizer snaps to the edges of the screen. There is also an option to turn it off. If you have more than one screen, you can now place equalizer on any screen.

• Fixed default skin to work on all resolutions. Some time later: changed default skin.

• Fixed an error some people had with directories.

• Fixed yet another minibug with the very small \ large numbers.

• Grapher greatly improved:

  • Added Tools: Move, Trace, Zoom In\Out, Reset. No Free Zooming yet.

  • Almost finished resizing, interface, etc.

  • Faster and Better drawings (at least on my wicked computer).

  The grapher is still not officially released: the only way to load it is to press Alt+G”

Good thing red posted about this, else I might have missed out on this one completely. || craeonics | comments (12)

Xfire, ‘the instant messenger for gamers’ is holding a skin contest. More importantly though, looks like we've stumbled on a brand spanking new (or not) skinnable messenger.

I sure as hell hadn't heard of it before.

“Attention Artists, Coders and Xfire fans!

This one goes out to you. Xfire is hosting our first ever Skinning Contest! Whether you are a professional or an amateur skin creator, we’ve got the ideal contest for you. With big prizes and several different categories, you have a great chance to win. The categories are:

• Xfire Themed:

  The best skin incorporating an Xfire theme (logos, colors, etc.) will be chosen. This is the most general category – any design will be considered, as long as it features Xfire themes. This skin would be intended for distribution as a default, or alternative to the default, skin with the Xfire client.

• Game Themed:

  The best skin focused on a specific game will be chosen. This skin should use the logo, colors, theme of a game or game series. In order to distribute the skin, Xfire will need to secure rights to relevant logos, trademarks, etc. We have already secured permission for Call of Duty and America’s Army skins. Skins based on other games are welcome, but we will need to work with the artist and the game publisher in order to obtain the appropriate distribution rights, otherwise winners may not be distributed.

• Brand Themed:

  The best skin incorporating the logo, theme, and colors of a favorite consumer brand will be chosen. As with the Game Themed skins, we have already secured permission to create and distribute a Mountain Dew and SpikeTV themed skin. Skins based on other consumer brands are welcome, but we will need to work with the artist and the brand owner in order to obtain the appropriate distribution rights, otherwise winners may not be distributed.

Prizes!

Now, this wouldn't be a proper Xfire contest without some giant prizes. So, we've decide to line up some sweet cash deals for those skinners who show off the best skills.

In each category, the prizes will be as follows:

• First Place: $700

• Second Place: $200

• Third Place: $100

Now, you can enter multiple categories, with multiple entries, as long as you have multiple skins. That means a total of $3000 is up for grabs to Xfire users and skinners.

However, we've also added ANOTHER prize to each category. For those of you who are great artists but haven't had a chance to create an Xfire skin yet, we've created a special $300 prize for artwork-only submissions. If you've got a great concept for a cool Xfire skin, but don't want to learn all the coding, submit your artwork and go for this prize!”

Note how this leaves totally fantasy themes out.

And also note what froggy said about it:

“WinCustomize plans on adding a section for Xfire here in the coming weeks”

Curious ain't it. Samurize will not get a section at WinCustomize because ‘it isn't big enough’ and out of nowhere comes this and *blammo!* instant section. || craeonics | comments (5)

Microsoft's first ever skinnable app (since version six or seven I believe), Windows Media Player, has seen its tenth birthday a couple of days ago.

Prime innovations appear to be online music shopping and compatibility with the various portable devices that are popping up like wildfire.

“Windows Media Player 10 gives you more music and more choices, and for the first time makes it possible to sync high-quality music, video, and photos to the latest portable devices.

What's new

• New Streamlined Design

  A whole new look giving you quicker and easier access to your favorite digital media.

• Choice of Online Stores

  A world of music at your fingertips. With Windows Media Player 10, you are just a click away from the world's largest collection of digital music.

• Choice of Devices

  Sync your music collection to over 70 different portable music devices.

• Smart Jukebox Features

  Remove the hassle of organizing even the largest digital media collections.”

For some reason Microsoft thinks I should get version nine when I try to download this, probably because there is no Dutch version of the latest one yet. Now I wasn't too interested in installing this. Just wanted to see how big the download was.

Uncle Bill won't even let me do that! || craeonics | comments (3)