Download Free Windows 7 Galapagos Theme

Microsoft offers Windows 7 users a wide variety of nature themes to personalize their desktop, but the latest introduced by the Redmond company is also one of the best.
Nature lovers are bound to find unique imagery from the Galapagos Islands extremely interesting, and the new Galapagos theme pack that’s now live on the Windows Personalization Gallery enables them to have a set of beautiful images as their wallpaper Windows 7.

The Galapagos by Ryan Good theme can be downloaded free of charge, as all the other themes on the Personalization Gallery.

“Make a natural selection and bring the unique species of the Galapagos Islands to your Windows 7 desktop with this free theme featuring photographs by Ryan Good,” the download’s description reads.

Microsoft even provides a link to Ryan Good’s website, and users should definitely make sure to check it out, since there are additional examples of photography shared with the world.

Good is obviously extremely talented, and if that’s not immediately evident from the wallpapers packed in the Windows 7 Galapagos theme, it will be once users get to the website,

If the Galapagos Islands sound familiar to Windows 7 customers it’s because the archipelago is one of the most famous in the world.

Contributing to its notoriety is the incredible fauna present here, especially a range of species that are unique to this particular location, so called endemic species.

Charles Darwin studies the fauna of the Galapagos Islands during the voyage of the Beagle, and the findings here helped spark the theory of evolution based on the process of natural evolution that users must be familiar with already.

The Galapagos theme offers a glimpse at some of the species inhabiting the islands from reptiles to sharks, crabs and even birds. 

The Windows 7 Galapagos theme is available for download here.

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See Through Windows

See Through Windows does exactly what its name suggests: allows you to render an application window transparent and view the items behind it without shifting focus to them. From this point of view it is similar to the thumbnail preview in Windows 7 which lets you view the content of a minimized window without activating it.

Windows 7 users are accustomed to this sort of preview, but those lingering on XP and Vista do not enjoy this benefit. See Through Windows comes to patch things up by offering the chance to check out what’s going on behind the active window.

The freebie is open-source (code is up for grabs on CodePlex) and requires .NET Framework 2.0 to install and function on your computer. It is not portable, but getting it on the system is an easy task that does not require too much time to complete.

At the end of the installation process See Through Windows automatically places its shortcut in the startup folder of Windows, so that it launches as soon as the operating system is ready. This way you do not have to manually start it and you can benefit from its services at all times.

The only application window at your disposal is the configuration panel, which does not sport complicated settings. This is the place where you get to define the key combination that triggers the opacity level that fits your needs for the active window.

You can choose between Shift, Alt, Control and Windows keys as modifiers and combine them with other keys on the keyboard (letters and F keys). These act as a global shortcut that toggles the transparency of the active window on and off, so you’d better make sure there is no overlapping with other shortcuts; single keys are also supported.

You have 16 levels to set the translucency of the active task screen. On the downside, there is no scale to guide by. So both transparency and opacity can go as high as 100%; unless you go for a prank, we recommend the see through level be set at a reasonable degree.

Another reason for fair transparency is that this would allow you to work in the active window as well as monitor what’s behind it.

Additional options present in the program allow you to handle the active window by minimizing and maximizing it using keyboard shortcuts Win+Up/Down arrows. Moreover, for the systems fit with multiple monitors, you can use Win+Left/Right arrows to move the application screens to a different monitor. This is pretty useless in Windows 7 if you have Snap feature enabled (to disable it head to “Ease of Access Center” and tap into “Make mouse easier to use” section). Nonetheless, those still working on XP and Vista will definitely appreciate them.

During our testing we noticed that the application affects each window individually, thus allowing you to turn on the transparency for more than one window. These will remain translucent as long as you do not hit the assigned hotkey to make them opaque again, or as long as See Through Windows is running.

See Through Windows is quite the program if you wish to check on the progress shown in a window behind the active one without minimizing anything. Windows 7 users can also appeal to thumbnail preview, but this may not work properly with all software and there are cases when real-time information is not offered to the user.

On the other hand, using this freebie lets you view the progress of a task with absolutely no problem. The same key combination is used to make the active screen transparent and peek behind it as well as for dropping the opacity.

Another advantage See Through Windows brings to the table is that it allows you to continue working in the active window if it is transparent. As long as the translucency level allows, you can see to your work undisturbed and just take a gander now and then at what is happening in the background.

System resources claimed by the app are not excessive. During our tests it required about 5MB of RAM and the CPU level kept at a constant 0% at all times.

The Good

You get to use the same key combination for activating the transparency on a window as well as for turning it off.

It offers its services at all times because it places a shortcut in the Startup folder so it can start with Windows.

Translucency level is adjustable and can be imposed on multiple windows at once. The app allows you to continue working in the transparent active window so you can see what happens in the background.

The Bad

The application does not emit any alerts if the shortcut you assign is already in use by a different program.

The shortcuts for minimizing and maximizing the windows work on Windows 7 only if Snap feature is disabled.

It would be nice if the program would have some extra functions available, such as activating transparency when dragging the window or those of a window manager.

The Truth
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See Through Windows is a simple program with a simple job. It has its flaws (having it fully functional in Windows 7 requires crippling the operating system of a feature many users appreciate), but it is also at an early stage of development.

Overall it can turn out to be a helpful companion if you’re constantly working with multiple windows and need to check the progress they display without switching from the current task.

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IE9 Is Superior to Firefox and Chrome in Protecting User Privacy

Internet Explorer 9 is the best browser available today for those users that value their privacy and understand the need to protect it.
When it comes down to user privacy protection, IE9 is superior to all rivals including the latest iteration of Firefox, and especially Chrome.

This simply because IE9 puts users in control over who can track their online activity. It does this through supporting the Do Not Track User Preference, as a DOM property and an HTTP header, as well as offering the Tracking Protection feature.

Firefox 4.0, as well as other browsers, with the exception of Chrome, also play nice with the Do Not Track header, but it’s my opinion that this is far from sufficient to truly protect user privacy.

Do Not Track is more of an ideal solution for an ideal scenario in which advertisers and third-parties that track the users’ online activities would care about their privacy. Fact is that they couldn’t care any less.

Illustrative of this is Google expressing its position on the matter of legislation designed to enforce user privacy. The Mountain View-based search giant is opposing California Senate Bill 761, designed to make sure that companies enable consumers with a method of opting-out from the collection, usage or storage of their personal data.

In fact, the team at Google building Chrome is governed by the decisions of those responsible for the advertising business, since Chrome remains the only major browser not to support the Do Not Track header.

As far as I’m concerned, Do Not Track is certainly better than nothing, but it’s not good enough. Why? Because it all but takes the user out of the equation. All that consumers get to do is signal that they don’t want their online behavior tracked, their data harvested and stored.

The actual decision of whether to track them or not, despite their personal presence, lies with companies such as Google, which doesn’t think that legislation forcing it to protect user privacy is a good idea to begin with.

Do Not Track is like leaving the front door to your house wide open while displaying a Do No Steal sign, and trust passers-by to respect your wish.

Users need more than wishful thinking, they need locks to protect their homes and mechanisms to protect their data at browser-level. Tracking Protection is such a mechanism.

Browsers should provide customers with actual control over who gets to track their data instead of leaving them at the mercy of advertisers and other third-parties tracking them.

IE9 Tracking Protection is an opt-in mechanism that works with Tracking Protection Lists (TPLs) provided by major online privacy watchdog organizations. It’s turned off by default, users needing to enable it, find a TPL and add it to the browser.

TPLs limit calls to sites in the lists, or permit call, since specific web destinations can be whitelisted, and not just blacklisted. In the cases in which they limit the information that IE9 exchanges with a website, TPLs also block tracking and data collection, protecting privacy.

Do Not Track is yet to be widely adopted, is yet to find consensus among the advertising industry, and is not supported by legislation to enforce user privacy.

IE9 Tracking Protection is a real world solution to an imperfect online ecosystem where companies profit from harvesting, storing and interpreting user data, offering very little in return, sometimes, not even the option to not be tracked.

Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) Platform Preview 1 (PP1) is available for download here.

Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW for Windows 7 and Windows 7 SP1 is available for download here.

Firefox 4.1 for Windows is available for download here.
Google Chrome for Windows is available for download here.

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Download Google Chrome 12.0.742.30 Dev and Chrome 11.0.696.65 Beta and Stable

Chrome 12.0 Beta and Chrome 13.0 Dev are not quite ready yet, but Google is certainly getting closer to pushing the two releases to early adopters.

In the meantime, the Mountain View-based search giant provided both end users and testers with no less than three new updates for them to play with.

Chrome 12.0.742.30 is now available for download through the Dev Channel, just a day after the previous Dev update, Build 12.0.742.21.

While Chrome 12.0.742.21 Dev was designed to deal with a number of issues around user interface, performance, and stability, the latest Dev release only introduces an update of the Flash plug-in.

The version of the Adobe technology that’s built into Chrome 12.0.742.30 was kicked up a notch to 10.2.

In parallel with Chrome 12.0.742.30 Dev, Google also released updates for the Beta and Stable Channels.

Just as the latest Dev Build, Chrome 11.0.696.65 Beta and Stable are available for download to users running Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Karen Grunberg, from the Google Chrome team, revealed that both Chrome 11.0.696.65 Beta and Stable are focused on resolving a number of bugs, while at the same time also being tasked with updating Flash.

“The following bugs were fixed:

•After deleting bookmarks on the Bookmark managers, the bookmark bar doesn't display properly with existing bookmarks.

•About Google Chrome window shows unknown channel for 11.0.696.57.

•Chrome/Mac seems to clobber focus when uploading attachments to Gmail with the flash-based uploader.

•Also included is an updated version of Flash Player 10.2,” Grunberg stated.

Judging by the small increments from each new Chrome 11.0 and 12.0 Beta and Dev release, their successors are not that far behind. However, at this point in time Google has not revealed a specific availability deadline for Chrome 12.0 Beta and Chrome 13.0 Dev.

But the Mountain View-based search giant is indeed simply refining the upcoming Builds of Chrome, and getting them ready for release.

Google Chrome for Windows is available for download here.

Google Chrome for Linux is available for download here.

Google Chrome for Mac is available for download here. 

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Xbox 720 Talk Would Unnecessarily Shift Focus Away from Xbox 360 and Kinect

Why would Microsoft shoot itself in the foot by shifting the focus on Xbox vNext when Xbox 360 and Kinect are selling at tremendous rates, as Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft put it when the company announced third-quarter results last month?

Recent speculation reveals that not only has Xbox 720 in a very early development form been made available to game developers, but that additional news of the console will be presented at E3 in June 2011, according to Develop.

Although it appears that Microsoft will not in fact unveil Xbox 720 to the world next month, fact is that talk about the next-generation Xbox would only serve to unnecessarily shift consumer focus away from Xbox 360 and Kinect.

This is not something that the software giant can afford, especially since the excellent financial results of the Entertainment & Devices Division contributed to compensate the drop in revenue for Windows.

“Entertainment & Devices Division grew 60% year-over-year, fueled by Kinect for Xbox 360, the fastest-selling consumer electronics device in history, continued strong Xbox 360 console sales and growth of Xbox Live,” the software giant noted a little over a week ago.

In the third fiscal quarter of 2011 Microsoft managed to ship no less than 2.3 million Kinect NUI (natural user interface) sensors.

This means that Kinect has now passed the 10 million sold units milestone, since the peripheral was initially introduced last year.

With Xbox 360 console sales increasing by 79%, the overall revenue of the Entertainment & Devices Division also went up to $1.935 billion, compared to just $1.21 billion the year before.

With the $2 billion mark in sight for the Entertainment & Devices Division, it would be a risky move for Microsoft to introduce Xbox 720 details at this point in time, since the move is bound to impact current Xbox 360 sales.

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