Windows 7 Shamrocks Theme Pack
Microsoft uses the Windows Personalization Gallery to not only let customers running the latest iteration of the Windows client customize their desktops with unique imagery, but also enable companies to do brand advertising on the users’ computers. However, the Redmond company is also feeding national pride with a range of themes featuring local content from countries around the world.
The latest addition to the collection of Windows 7 themes is the Shamrocks themepack, offered just in time for the Saint Patrick’s Day celebration on March 17th.
The Shamrocks theme brings to desktops a few wallpapers that are bound to resonate with Irish nationals more than with other users of Windows 7. As the theme’s label implies, the content features a lot of green and the shamrock, both symbols of Ireland. Saint Patrick’s Day, also referred to as St. Paddy’s Day or even Paddy’s Day, is an annual celebration of Saint Patrick, without a doubt the most prominent patron saint of the island.
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Windows 7 Life Theme
Windows 7 users that have been keeping an eye on Softpedia already know that Microsoft has been releasing a steady flow of personalization content. The latest Windows 7 theme made available by the Redmond company is titled Life, and comes courtesy of the Discovery channel and BBC.
The theme pack in question is available for download, as many others, free of charge via the Windows Personalization Gallery, the company’s central hub for offering themes designed to allow customers to customize their Windows 7 desktops.
“Bizarre, beautiful nature from Discovery Channel,” the short description of the Life theme, which will leave users with a feeling that the images should have been accompanied by more information, reads. Of course, the same is not the case with many themes on the Windows Personalization Gallery, but this specific example feels like it needs the added touch of the Bing wallpaper hotspots.
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Windows 7 RTM ‘Year of the Tiger’ Theme Pack
What better way to celebrate the year of the tiger, than with a theme pack from Microsoft? Users running the Redmond company’s latest iteration of the Windows client can now download a new theme via the Windows Personalization Gallery. A Windows 7 ‘Year of the Tiger’ theme pack is available from the software giant free of charge, and can be integrated seamlessly into the operating system.
The six new background images feature tigers, no big surprise in this regard, obviously, given the leitmotif chosen for the theme.
The year of the tiger draws its origins from the Chinese zodiac involving a total of 12 animals. It is a Chinese tradition to associate years with animal archetypes, in cycles of 12. The tiger is third in row in the enumeration which is repeated once every dozen of years. In addition to the tiger, the Chinese zodiac also contains the following animal symbols: rat, ox, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Read more
Windows 7 Winter Sports Theme
As the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver get kicked off today, users of the Windows 7 operating system can download a free theme pack from Microsoft to help mark the event. The Winter Sports theme for Windows 7 is available as a free download via the Windows Personalization Gallery and is designed to integrate exclusively with the latest iteration of the Windows client. As users will notice immediately, the content is provided by Samsung, which is a mobile-phone partner of the US Olympic team.
Samsung is the latest company to take advantage of a pilot program run by Microsoft Advertising and designed to let customers take advantage of the Windows Personalization Gallery and Windows 7 for brand advertising. Windows 7 users are also able to download themes featuring content from CocaCola, Pepsi, Ducati, Ferrari, Infinity, Porsche, etc. One thing that users need to be aware of the Samsung Winter Sports theme is the fact that the wallpapers contained are tailored to wide-screens. Read more
Windows 7 RTM Lacy Hearts Theme
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, Microsoft is helping Windows 7 customers celebrate love right on their desktops. In this regard, the Redmond company has made available for download a new desktop theme designed to integrate seamlessly into the desktop of their Windows 7-power computers. The Lacy Hearts is, as the software giant has put it, “A dreamy theme for Valentine’s.” The theme pack is available as a free download via the Windows Personalization gallery website, along with the vast majority of themes that Microsoft has made available for the successor of Windows Vista.
Themes are personalization items unique to Windows 7, and not available for previous releases of Windows operating systems. Essentially, the packs feature multiple wallpapers, which can be scheduled to swap one another at specific intervals, but also color and sound schemes for the platform. This is the case of Lacy Hearts. Read more
Free Windows 7 Porsche Theme
For all those that have jumped at the chance to download the Ferrari theme for the latest iteration of the Windows client, Microsoft has released new materials to customize the OS, and the company is promising that additional goodies are in store for end users. For the time being, users of Windows 7 will be able to personalize their copy of the operating system with a Porsche theme. Christian Kirchesch, international site manager, Windows International Online, has made the Windows 7 Porsche theme available for download through Windows Live SkyDrive at no charge.
In addition, Kirchesch has promised that the Redmond company will introduce additional content to enable end users to personalize their copy of Windows 7. The new Windows 7 themes will be published on the personalization webpage for the operating system. Read more
Hulu Adds ABC Content
Hulu is taking another step in becoming the online hub for TV content with the announced availability of content from Disney’s ABC on the online video site. Initially announced a few months ago, the first episodes from one of ABC’s shows are now live on the site. The first snippet is made up of several episodes of the network’s popular primetime drama Grey’s Anatomy with other shows coming soon.
“Today marks the official start of a new relationship: the launch of ABC content on Hulu. Things kick off with five episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, the primetime drama set at Seattle Grace Hospital, where surgical interns try to navigate the challenges of romance and friendship as they scrub in for complicated medical cases,” Rebecca Harper wrote on the Hulu blog. “We have more ABC titles on the way, too,” she added.
The growing popularity of Hulu prompted Disney, which owns ABC, to join the site in April this year with each of the three big networks now owning a reported 27 percent of it. Since the announcement though things remained quiet and only today has ABC content become available. The network plans to add even more content in the coming two weeks, following the Grey’s Anatomy episodes with shows like Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Scrubs, and I Survived a Japanese Game Show. Read more
Google Books Gets a Major Update
Google Books has made the headlines mostly with the controversy surrounding the project rather than with the product itself. But this hasn’t stopped the search giant from improving it and it has just announced a major update adding some very useful features.
“Today I’m excited to announce that we’re rolling out changes to Google Books that give readers and book lovers everywhere new ways to interact with the words and images contained within the books we’ve brought online. We’ve also made it easier for users to share previews of their favorite books on their blogs or websites,” wrote Brandon Badger, product manager for Google Books.
The most important new feature is a much simpler way of embedding the books on other websites. The Mountain View-based company now provides a small code snippet that should make sharing a book just as easy as sharing a YouTube video. Read more
Windows 7 RC1 Wallpapers
Microsoft has recently released windows 7 RC version which you can download from this link, however there is no change the user interface of windows 7 but some of the new features added in to stream your library over the internet with windows media player.
Another new thing which comes with Windows 7 RC is the new set of some amazing wallpapers, but you don’t need to download windows 7 RC to download all the wallpapers. Read more
Free Office SharePoint Designer 2007
Microsoft has made Office SharePoint Designer 2007 available as a free download as of April 2, 2009. The Redmond company explained that customer feedback catalyzed the move, rather than alternative reasons such as the global economic crisis. By making SharePoint Designer 2007 a free download, the software giant is attempting to mirror the perspective that customers had of the tool, with the vast majority regarding the solution as a natural extension of SharePoint, rather than a standalone product.
“Today we are excited to share with you some news about SharePoint Designer 2007. Starting now (April 2, 2009), SharePoint Designer 2007 will be available as a free download! We want more of you customizing SharePoint and feel that this [is] a good way to put the tool in the hands of more people,” revealed a member of the SharePoint Designer Team. Read more
