Jan 20

DeskScapes 2.0 Preview Now Available

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on March 13, 2008 by CyberNet.

Stardock has started to deliver the DeskScapes 2.0 Preview yesterday to anyone that wants to give it a whirl. Previously DeskScapes was a way for Vista Ultimate users to extend the functionality of Dreamscene, but now it works on any version of Vista without needing Dreamscene. It’s a great way to have an animated desktop background on your Vista machine, oh, and did I say that it’s free?

DeskScapes 2.0 Preview is shipping with three different Dreams (that’s what the backgrounds are called) to test different aspects of the application. As we’ve shown you in video demonstrations there are a ton of amazing Dreams available to really make your desktop shine. The dynamic ones are especially nice, but you’ll have to fork out a few bucks to get some of my favorites.

Using the application is virtually dummy-proof. Once setup you can run DeskScapes, and you’ll see a window similar to this one:

stardock deskscapes

If you just want to checkout the Dreams that it comes with click the Choose an Animated Desktop to get started right away. Once you’ve tinkered with those I recommend going to WinCustomize and downloading some of the others that have been created. Almost all of the Dreams are free, and I’m sure you’ll have a good time trying them out.

DeskScapes 2.0 is expected to be released at the end of March with Object Desktop 2008.

Download the DeskScapes 2.0 Preview
Get Additional Dreams for DeskScapes

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Jan 12

DreamScene Cracked…Runs on Vista Business and Home Premium

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on May 10, 2007 by CyberNet.

DreamscenePeople who can afford to fork out the money for Vista Ultimate will receive what Microsoft calls the “Ultimate Extras.” These are additional features that can be downloaded through the Windows Updates to provide things like drive encryption, Texas Hold’em poker, and DreamScene.

People think that the DreamScene is cool because it lets you add movies as your desktop background. The movies continuously loop, and if they are well done they will look like one continuous movie. Right now there are several videos available for DreamScene that have been created by Microsoft:

Up til now only Vista Ultimate users had the pleasure of using DreamScene, but as expected the hackers got their hands on it and figured out a way to make it work on any version of Windows Vista. The hacked version requires that you use patched DreamScene files, and you also have to run a batch script to modify some other stuff on your PC.

Just because it is possible for you to run DreamScene on Vista I don’t really think it is worth it. I have a copy of Vista Ultimate and have had the pleasure of trying out DreamScene, but I really don’t think it lives up to the hype. When using DreamScene I can notice enough of a performance hit that makes me not want to use it.

There are some things that DreamScene does to help with performance and save battery life though. When you maximize a window it stops the animation on your desktop, but I typically have multiple windows open (and never just one maximized window) which causes the desktop animation to continuously play. DreamScene will also not play when your computer is running on batteries, which is a nice touch because it doesn’t unnecessarily drain your battery power.

It admittedly looks awesome, and is one of those things that you would probably show your friends just because you can. However, it isn’t worth using patched versions of files on your PC which could potentially put the security of your system at risk. Ultimately (no pun intended) though, the decision is yours.

Source: My Digital Life [via GHacks]

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Dec 03

CyberNotes: Play Videos on your Desktop in XP and Vista (like Dreamscene)

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on April 05, 2007 by CyberNet.

CyberNotes
Tutorial Thursday

VLC Media Player has got to be one of the best video players available, and it doesn’t cost you a single penny. Why is it so great? Well, it is a combination of the extremely simple interface and the large number of codecs that are included to support almost any type of video. There is, however, one feature that many of you may have forgotten about…

Buried within the settings is an option that allows you set any video as a desktop wallpaper. This setting is similar to what Microsoft is offering as an “Extra” called Dreamscene in the Windows Vista Ultimate edition. Once you have enabled the option you’ll be able to set a video to play as your desktop background, have it repeat so that it continuously loops, and then you can minimize the VLC player to your System Tray so that it is out-of-sight.

  1. Go to Settings -> Preferences -> Video -> Output Modules -> DirectX and in the bottom-right corner check the box labeled Advanced Options. Now you should see an option on the screen called Enable wallpaper mode, check that box.
    VLC

  2. If you want to be able to minimize the VLC Media Player to the System Tray you’ll have to enable that option in the Preferences as well. While in the Preferences go to Interface -> Main Interfaces -> wxWidgets. Uncheck the Taskbar option and then check the Systray icon option in order to show the program only in the System Tray while playing a video.
    VLC
  3. Now if you want to have the video continuously loop on your desktop just press Ctrl+P and choose whether you want to loop all videos in your playlist or just a single video:
    VLC
  4. Just start playing a video and go to the Video -> Wallpaper option and you should see the video being played as your desktop background.
    VLC

VLC Media Player has had this feature for a long time and it works in more than just Windows Vista Ultimate edition, unlike the DreamScene add-on. The only problem that I have had with it so far is trying to get some videos to play full-size. That can be a little tricky because the full-screen mode in the video player does not seem to stretch the video to fit your desktop.

There are quite a few things that Vista offers that can be done using other applications, and this is a prime example of that. Of course, this is probably just one of those features that you would use to show a friend and say “look at how cool it is” and then you would never use it because it lacked any practical purpose. A little bragging here and there can be fun though. 🙂

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Sep 17

Vista Ultimate Extras Finally Coming Soon (Hopefully)

Posted in: Today's Chili

This article was written on July 02, 2007 by CyberNet.

WindowsvistaultimateFor Windows Vista Ultimate users, the “extras” that were promised have been a bit disappointing thus far. While four different extras have been released (Windows Hold’ Em, 16 Language Packs, Secure Online Kay Backup, and Windows Bitlocker Drive Preparation Tool), one of the most anticipated, DreamScene, has not yet been released in its final form.

And to make matters worse, the Ultimate Extras team has been so quiet over the last several months. It’s been a while since they’ve given us any idea that they were still even working on Ultimate Extras (Since March), so the latest update today is long over-due.

Okay, so we know they’re alive. That’s great. But, they don’t give any indication of what’s coming other than to say that Windows DreamScene and the remaining 20 Language Packs will finally be delivered by the end of the Summer. They do mention that over the next couple of years they intend to deliver more extras which they are “confident will delight our passionate Windows Vista Ultimate Users.”

It would have been nice if they were able to give us even a hint at what they had in store for over the next couple of years, just to spark some interest, but they don’t. Maybe they don’t even know what’s in-store for the next two years? Hopefully they get better at communicating with their community as to what they have going on. Great communication can make all the difference in the world!

If you purchased Ultimate, was it worth it? Are there any extras that you’d like to see?

Source: Windows Vista Blog

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