Microsoft announced that the Spring update for the Xbox 360 will begin next month.  One of the biggest changes will be the addition of Live Messenger on Xbox Live.  This will allow Xbox 360 users to chat with their PC friends, and even see if those contacts have Xbox Live Gamertags. To make it easier to chat with your friends, Microsoft is also set to release a keyboard controller attachment in case you grow tired of using the on-screen keyboard.  Other improvements include upd...

A few days ago a U.S. District Court judge ordered the internet "phone company" Vonage to stop accepting new customers while it "infringes" on patents held by Verizon.  A federal appeals granted Vonage a temporary reprieve from the injunction while arguements were made about the the patent violation allegations. "The judge's order follows a federal jury finding on March 8 that Vonagehad infringed three Verizon patents. The New Jersey-based Internetphone provider was ordered to pay $58...

Yahoo! announced that in celebration of their 10th anniversary of Yahoo! Mail, that they will offer unlimited storage starting in May of this year.  When Yahoo! Mail launched they offered an amazing amount of storage......4mb to be exact.  Think about that for a minute.  How many times do you send or recieve an attachment that size?  Pretty often for me. "We’re psyched to be breaking new ground in the digital storage frontierby giving our users the freedom to never worry ...

Microsoft announced news from its initial sales figures that over 20 million licenses for Windows Vista were sold in the first month of general availability.  This is more than double than what Windows XP did in its release.  These numbers include sales to PC manufacturers, retail stores, and upgrades. "We are encouraged to see such a positive consumer response to WindowsVista right out of the gate," said Bill Veghte, corporate vicepresident of the Windows Business Group at Microso...

Microsoft is beginning a trial program in which it will offer large businesses "rewards" if their employees use the Live search service.  These "rewards" will include customer service or training credits that will be based on how much employees use the Live service.  The move is aimed at moving users from rival search engines such as Google, and a deal was just made to make the Live search the default on computers made by Lenovo. Read more at the article below.

This week Microsoft announced that it's PC version of "Live" will be released on May 8th.  Like Xbox Live, gamers on their PC's will be able to earn achievements, tally a "gamerscore", and be able to connect with friends through text and voice messages.  If you already have an Xbox Live account don't worry, Microsoft says you will get a Games for Windows Live account at no additional cost.  For the rest of you the service will be the same price as Xbox Live, a Silver account wil...

The 4th of July is not typically a big skinning holiday, but there are a few skins out there that you decorate your desktop with.  I took a quick browse through the galleries and here are some that I found.

We have made it to Episode 11.  This episode is a short one, just under 10 minutes, and features myself going solo this week.  No problems though, as this episode re-caps some news on WinCustomize, a member spotlight, and a small bit about the GUI Champs with a community questions at the end. Episode 11 - The Ramblings of ID Download MP3 Subscribe to this podcast: News Reader: iTunes: Show notes: SiteChecker ...

RomanDA is well known here on WinCustomize for the remarkable gadgets he has created with DesktopX.  One of my favorite desktop gadgets was SiteChecker which shows you status of a given website.  Very useful for anyone who manages a website, and just as useful to see if your favorite site is working correctly.  I was very happy to hear that RomanDA has created his first Sidebar Gadget for Vista, and it was a re-make of SiteChecker.  Not only did we get a Vista Sidebar g...

Friday is finally here, and the second best thing about that is that it's time for This Week in Skinning.  TWiS is some of the featured picks from the various galleries here on WinCustomize.  Sometimes you might have missed a submission to the gallery, so here you can get a nice recap of what you might not have seen.

Everyone has a different taste when it comes to their desktop.  Some like extravagant setups and some like a very minimal look.  For me personally, I like desktops and skins with a nature based theme.  Maybe it's because I spent most of my time indoors, but who knows.  I have taken notice of a member here at WinCustomize who does some outstanding photography, and uploads some of it in the form of logons for Vista. That would be OutdoorPictures. John also has a great...

Even though it's technically summer, it's still hot out there, so this theme for MyColors should fit right into the warmer season.  It has a beautiful theme, wallpaper, icons, and weather gadget.  Read through the full tour to see some more detailed screenshots.

Summer is always a fun time, and like all the season I like to customize my desktop with that seasonal "feel".  I found a bunch while looking through the galleries today, so here are just some that I found.

HTML clipboard This time I wanted to take a look at what was "hot" in the Logons category here on WinCustomize.  These are logons for LogonStudio XP.  I found some really great ones that I will probably start using again.  It just shows you some of the terrific skins you can find just by browsing the galleries from years past. Today, lets go back to around late 2005 and see what we find. ...

Every once and a while I like to do this, as it gives a fun look at what people are doing throughout the day.  So stop what you are doing, take a quick screenshot of your desktop showing what you are doing.  Keep it clean people!