StrokeIt v0.9.6 has been released



It's been quite a few years since the last update of this program. And up until this most recent release, users of the application lamented when XP's successor operating system(s) would not play nice with the mouse gesture program. Some people found varying degrees of success in making it work but if anything, their efforts were a testament to how useful and necessary the program had become to them.

Certainly, other programs have been released with similar functionality but haven't really performed as consistently and seamlessly as StrokeIt had been able to deliver.

With this release, users of Vista and Windows 7 can rejoice! StrokeIt is now compatible on all Windows systems from Win95 through Windows 7.

Also new to this release is updated out-of-the-box mouse gesture support for Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari web Browser; a portable installation option additionally makes its debut.

Once installed, StrokeIt offers pre-configured mouse gesture support for an array of commonly used apps and Operating System function. It's pretty much ready to go; in addition, you can add, delete and configure settings to your heart's content.

StrokeIt is free for personal use.

Download

From personal experience, once I got to know and use StrokeIt, this program has since become an indispensable part of my operating system environment.

For those of you who enjoy a little variety in your OS customization palette, our freeware dock selection just got a little more flavorful.

Introducing the Winstep Suite's Nexus Dock



Known on these forums as JcRabbit, Jorge of Winstep fame has just released his first public beta of Nexus Dock (or NXDock,) the soon-to-be-released freeware dock aiming to compete for your affections against the likes of those other established docks in the customization scene.

For years the Winstep suite, within which Nexus Dock co-exists among its other shell enhancement brother & sister apps, has offered to Windows OS users enhanced customization and usability capabilities in an animated and visually pleasing manner and with the system stability you would expect from commercially developed software.

Now, NXDock's freeware release can offer new users a glimpse of what they can expect from it's parent Winstep application suite.

Among the long list of features, Nexus Dock brings to the table native icon reflection capabilities which seems to be the bar set with dock launchers these days. Existing backgrounds may be imported from other dock formats and extensive help and user documentation compliment this release. And a personal favorite, the ability to customizing dock item icons by drag-&-drop of ICO, PNG or TIF files on top of the dock item you wish to personalize.

View a video of the dock showcasing some of it's features and customization options.

To Download this beta, which in my experience has been very stable, go here.
Nexus is fully compatible with Win9x, ME, NT4, 2000, XP 32/64 bit, 2003 Server, Vista 32/64 bit and Windows 7 32/64 bit.

To post comments or impressions of your new desktop dock, visit JcRabbit's announcement thread.

Additionally, as mentioned in Jorge's announcement tread:



Please note, that the beta will expire down the road; the final release, I've been assured by Jorge, will not include an expiration timer.

All you dock users out there, certainly post a comment and let us know your impressions of this new free contender on the scene!

Not much explanation needed here. (But if you really must)

Apple has released what their website introduces as "the world's fastest and most innovative web browser for Mac and PC."



Image courtesy of Apple.com

With such a gauntlet thrown, you know you want to download and try it out.


And don't hesitate to share with us your impressions. I for one, wouldn't mind hearing about which poster's systems are capable of running it fine with all the bells & whistles, and which crawl with 20+ tabs.. Netbook owners care to weigh in?

You can also visit the original topic thread here.

more info about safari and Apple's World Wide Developer Conference courtesy of Gizmodo's live coverage.

**This is just going to be a short news post until I have more time to flesh out a proper announcement as the program matures.**

StandaloneStack 2 has recently been released by ChristianS (of chris'n'Soft).


*Based on Matonga's Stacks Library, released in our Developers' Hangout's forum.*

ChristianS's stand-alone stack implementation allows you to organize and launch your files in a 'stacks' visual manner using shortcuts you create, without the need of running a dock.

As ChristianS's website puts it:


Directions:





I haven't had much time to take StandaloneStack2 for a real test-spin but the program certainly is quite handy in it's functionality, and with each incremental update to this release comes better usability and more features for you to play with.



For the current version, update info, and to post a comment, visit this thread.


On a final note, a few tips off the top of my head:

• You'll find a cleaner experiencing running StandaloneStacks2 by sticking to the more standard configurations. (As you can see from the screenshot depicting the taskbar positioned on the top of the screen, the stack's orientation with respect to it's shortcut launcher is a bit off when compared to using the grid view on the bottom of the screen.)
• The grid stack view allows for both up and down presentation, however currently, the stack view will only display in the UP direction configuration.

Author's website for StandaloneStack2

This announcement may be a few days over-due, but for those that enjoy customizing their desktop environment with stable and well supported applications (and don't mind paying for eyecandy & productivity enhancements,) this release should come as welcome news.

As described on Winstep's homepage, the following are just some of the applications which come with the Xtreme suite, some may be purchased independently as well:

NeXuS:



NeXuS is the dock system, You can have as many docks as you want, and each can have multiple sub-docks! When not in use, docks can hide behind your screen edges, taking virtually no screen space.

WorkShelf:



WorkShelf is a tabbed dock, better suited to complex organizational duties like organizing documents, URLs, movies, work projects, etc... If a dock is the top of your desk, then Workshelf is all the drawers below it.

NextSTART:

NextSTART is the menu system - and takes care of all your task management needs as well.

Menus are great for accessing infrequently used files and system related commands that aren't easily reachable in the file system or that have no readily user-recognizable graphic representation. You can create as many menus as you want, and, with NextSTART hotspots, you can invoke each of these menus by a super fast screen edge/corner bump with the mouse pointer.

The task management part of NextSTART allows you to efficiently organize and manipulate running tasks and windows. Using nothing but drag & drop, you can re-organize the items in your taskbar so that all your related documents are together (thus easier to find) and where you expect them to be, instead of where Windows decided to put them.

Modules:

Modules, widgets, gadgets, docklets, desklets, are all different words to describe the same thing: mini-applications that usually live on your desktop and provide a staggering amount of information regarding your system, the weather, etc...

*note, product description credit goes to the Winstep website.


To see the suite in action, take a look at the following youtube videos:

Winstep Xtreme with Win7 inspired "Superbar" on XP/Vista

Winstep Xtreme 8.9 loaded desktop


Visit Winstep's homepage for more screen-shots and for pricing.
Please note: Winstep applications are compatible with Win 95, 98, SE, ME, NT4, 2000, XP 32/64 bit, 2003 Server, Vista 32/64 bit and Win7 (pre-release) 32/64 bit.

And for those of you who've used Winstep, share with us your experiences and impressions.

One final note: For those who enjoy teasers, something exciting is planned and just around the corner from the author of Winstep. One thing I can hint at right now is the notion that the end user of software almost always benefit from healthy competition by developers who release comparable products. One would hope that the same holds true for applications released to the community gratis

We have some good news and some less-than-fortunate news.



First the good news: BOBAH13 has updated XWindows Dock.

However, in that same breath, the announcement:


BOBAH13, On behalf of all of us here at Aqua-soft, thank you, for all the hard work and emulation/customization joy you've given us with your dock. We wish you the best with your work/life/play; you've gained the admiration of many around the world. From Seattle, Washington USA, a sincere thank you!

Now, without further adieu: XWindowsDock has been updated from v5.6 to v5.6+. (So far, it would seem this release does not come with an incremented version number.)

Click HERE to go to the download thread & release announcement.


Some observations on what I've found and like so far:

• The "Access Violation" Error upon startup has seemingly been fixed (Tested on Windows XP SP2)
• UPDATE: Error message still appears on my XP SP3 machines, however, you have a new "Error Dialog" which gives you options to "continue," "cancel," "send error report" etc.
• UPDATE: Gallery view mode no longer crashes and is very usable! This is a big improvement. (If only we could assign PNG's to Gallery Items, we'd have a Gallery Launcher )
• Layer order of 'Children' windows seems to have been fixed. (Now you will not have the parent window on top of it's child window.)
• Skins for v5.6 seem to work on this updated version.

That's about all I can find so far. Until BOBAH13 provides an official change log, feel free to share with us your impressions and identified changes.

When the organization of support and release threads have been sorted out, I'll update this announcement with the appropriate links.

Please stay tuned.

..maybe never left, I donno

It would appear however, as if M. Yamaguchi has released new versions of his Y'z Apps.

• Yz Toolbar v2.1 (Nov.30.2008)
• Yz Shadow v2.1 (Dec.19.2008)

Read more about it here
The English page should be here but seems to be inaccessible at the moment.

Update: Working English Translated page, thanks dreadnaut.

Update: YzShadow v2.2 Released.

New Yz Updates!
How nostalgic



Thanks kaiyoze, for bringing this to our attention here.

Our well known community developer, Matonga, who has contributed countless customization apps on these forums has released another utility, FocusinXP, to assist in your aqua-emulation ambitions (and then some.)



Over the past few weeks FocusinXP has been receiving incremental updates, notwithstanding Matonga's many other active projects, and with the recent release of version 2009-01-25, the program has matured to include theme management and greater compatibility across applications.

So what does FocusinXP do?


First, it resides in your systray as shown above

Not yet convinced to try it out?

In addition to adding a glow effect to your active buttons and controls, FocusingXP draws the familiar OSX style halo around currently selected text boxes.

The program comes with a default theme that matches the skin "Leopard XP Visual Style" by nobodyuse, you can try the combo out by downloading the the VS in addition to downloading FocusinXP below.


above illustrates FocusinXP 'default' theme running on XP SP3, using LeopardXP Visual Style.

Additionally, a theme for this windowblinds skin can be found here. Might work with other square-ish button themes as well.


above illustrates FocusinXP 'squared' theme running on XP SP3, using Freearea WindowBlinds.

You can find the download link on the first post of Matonga's release thread. There is no installer, simply extract to a folder of your choice, ie: C:program files

It goes without saying that for best results, pair your selected focusinXP theme with it's intended Windows Visual Style/WindowBlinds skin.


Oh, and for those of you who've been around long enough and remember, an honorable mention to another great app of similar function, VAnimator, released by Vjay some time ago.

It's been just a short, four months since BOBAH13 appeared here, releasing his work-in-progress. Since then, we've seen innumerous improvements, a name change, and countless more requests, culminating in what we see here, one of the most customizable, visually pleasing launchers for windows, XWindowsDock.




And with the creation of it's new subforum, it's long over due that we'd showcase the efforts of BOBAH13, and great community of supporters who've contributed to this project thus far.

Today BOBAH13 has released his much anticipated update; XWindows Dock has now reached Version 5.4.





Excerpt of some of the notable features of this Dock:


UPDATE: Version 5.6 of XWindowsDock has been released

Version 5.6 Specific thread are as follows:

Download XWD from here

Find Skins and Support files here here

XWD v5.6 Compatible Docklets here

Also, in case you might not have noticed, you can now choose between a number of different Stack Animations thanks to a plug-in like system in XWD and the contributions from the community of some really unique animations. Find them here

Say thanks here

At the request of the XWD sub-forum moderator, Panta (and others contributors,) please read carefully where it's appropriate to post comments in some of the above threads.

For a good resource on other general and specific answers, past versions, assistance, visit the dock's sub-forum section.

Report Bugs here

Need help? Participate here

Additionally, Matonga has released a skin editor to assist in making your own customized skins (v5.4 compatible)

And atreiu has released for v5.4, a profile manager here

I'm sure some additional new threads will appear specific to v5.4. So check back to find links for skins, language files and docklets.

The news that Steve Jobs is stepping down until late June stunned the tech community today, and it's sure to send shivers down the spines of already wary investors.Just a little over a week ago, Jobs tried to tamp down the dire rumors about his health, revealing that he is undergoing treatment for a "hormone imbalance" but is "not on my deathbed."

Wednesday, however, he wrote in an e-mail to employees that "during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought." Apple COO Tim Cook will take the reins during Jobs' absence.

In his e-mail, Jobs called the speculation on his health "a distraction," and spun his decision to step down as a way to "allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products." He added that he will "remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out."

Still, industry observers—not to mention Apple investors—are fearing the worst, and indeed, TheStreet.com reports that trading in Apple shares was halted late in the day to prevent a panic sell-off.

Of course, I don't have any inside information on Jobs' health, and I've tried as much as I can to refrain from idle speculation about his condition.

That said, today's news is certainly alarming, and one can't help but wish Jobs the best on a human level, while wondering about the future of Apple—who will ultimately lead it in a post-Jobs era, and whether it'll maintain its consistently high level of production and creativity.

Sure, there are plenty of big brains at Apple, but Jobs—while not known as Mr. Sensitivity in Cupertino—is a giant, a legendary out-of-the-box thinker with amazing taste (as Bill Gates wryly noted back in summer 2007), laser-like focus, and an iron will. It's hard to imagine Apple without him.
In any case, let's hope for the best.



[Thanks, Yahoo!]