The folks over at PCGamesN.com had a chat with Stardock’s Brad Wardell about the direction of Stardock and more info on the Strategic Investment Fund you may have heard about. “In recent weeks, Stardock has made a number of moves that point to a very different direction for the Michigan-based publisher-developer. In addition to announcing a new edition of their Galactic Civilization franchise, they have also helped fund and launch Civilization IV developer Soren Johnson’s new studio...

Since we’re spending this month celebrating 15 years of skinning WindowBlinds , I wanted to find out what was the most popular download on WinCustomize.com.  From the best I can tell and confirm, Vista Plus Version 3 comes in with over 900,000 downloads since it was released in 2006. Vista Plus Version 3 by adni18 It’s a little funny a Vista skin has been one of the most downloaded, but as some of you might remember the glassy look was really popular and many skinners created a...

WindowBlinds is the original Windows user-interface theming application to enable users to customize their PCs with themes called skins. 15 years later and WindowBlinds and the awesome WinCustomize.com skinning community are still going strong! Today we’re releasing a WindowBlinds v8.02 update which includes the Modern skin and an assortment of performance enhancements and fixes. And if that wasn’t exciting enough, for limited time WindowBlinds is on sale now for 15% off. So down...

WindowBlinds is 15 years old today!  It’s almost crazy to think it’s been around that long, but many of our WinCustomize members have been there from the start and continue to use WindowBlinds to make their desktop shine.  To help celebrate 15 years and over 19 million downloads on Download.com alone, we wanted to have a little contest where you can win a year of Object Desktop.  Object Desktop not only includes WindowBlinds, but many other customization and desktop...

If you happen to have a Windows Phone 8 device and are getting an Xbox One console this week, be sure to download the new Xbox One SmartGlass app.  This will allow you to connect and control many aspects of your Xbox One through your Windows Phone device. Features: Navigate your Xbox One console using your device’s keyboard and touch Control your media and set top box with the SmartGlass remote control Browse the web on your TV using your mobile device Enhan...

Lets have a bit of fun.  I always get a laugh off some of these animated gifs I come across all the time.  Post your best and funniest animated gifs for all to see! Since it's game console launch week, I'll start it off.  

We have a new Master WindowBlinds skin from LightStar up on WinCustomize this week, and no laws were broken while making this skin.  Criminal takes the darker path with a cool design compatible with both Windows 7 and Windows 8. Criminal by LightStar  

It seems “big” phones and devices are now in as we have a bunch of devices arriving that some are calling “phablets”.  The latest is the Lumia 1520 which is a 6-inch Windows Phone device with a 1080p display and 20mp camera. I have a Lumia 920 and it was quite the size upgrade from the iPhone.  I haven’t held a device of this size yet, but I’m curious if it’s too big or if it hits the right size spot.  Engadget has a great review up with more detail on the 1520 . A...

Lifehacker put an article up over the weekend with the top 10 ways to customize your desktop.  Of course many Stardock apps were mentioned including WindowBlinds, ObjectDock, Fences, WindowFX and more. "Tired of the boring grey window borders and traditional buttons in the corner? You can spice up your windows with  WindowBlinds " Read more on Lifehacker. Top 10 Ways to Customize Your Desktop  

I’ve used Flipboard for quite a while on iOS, so I was excited to see the Windows 8 arrive today on the Windows Store.  Flipboard is a great way to view news from several sources including RSS,  user-created magazines, and featured content.  It’s makes great use of gestures to easily browse through content. It also includes a Live Tile, supports split screen views, and plenty of swiping actions. It’s free, so give it a try! Flipboard for Windows 8 ...

HoldtheLine.com talks to Derek Paxton about Stardock and the games industry.  It’s a great interview which covers a good range of what’s going on in the game industry, and the writer has a fantastic summary at the end. “ Gilleous (Edward): Thank you for answering a few of our questions. First off, congratulations on your 20th Anniversary, Stardock has come a long way. What do you believe were some of the most valuable lessons the company has learnt about the gaming industry? ...

I recently celebrated my 7th year anniversary working for Stardock and began thinking about what games and announcements have been released in that time! This year, Stardock celebrated its 20 th year and part of that celebration was the announcement of Galactic Civilizations III! In our community, we have lots of long-time users and we also have a steady flow of new users, especially since we released our first mobile game. Check out some of the games and announcement...

Stardock's Brad Wardell talks to Polygon about the next-gen in a new piece up on Polygon today. “On the eve of the launch of the PlayStation 4, and a week out from the launch of the Xbox One, Polygon spoke with developers and publishers who are skeptical about how the new consoles will perform. There was a common thread in their thoughts: that next-gen might not actually be about the consoles.” Read here.... http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/14/5102892/where-next-ge...

There’s lots – I mean LOTS – of WindowBlinds skins on WinCustomize that can fit just about any style you are looking for.  I want to point out and feature some popular skins as of late to help users find one they might like. These are a few WindowBlinds skin that you should have in your skin collection.  Remember, you can find the full WindowBlinds gallery here .  Windows Glass by madcat21   ElectroSexual by Vampothika &nb...

The beta for Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes v1.5 is live! Download it through the Steam client to help us test the next update for our fantasy empire builder. To get the v1.5 beta, do the following: Launch Steam Open your Library Right-click Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, select Properties In the Betas tab, select the v1.5 Beta option from the first drop-down menu Once your download is finished, launch the game We’ve done a lot of work with d...