How is this for a weekend project, make a theme for your PC using the Zune software and share it with Zune Nation? As it turns out, making your own themes in Windows 7 is simple. Instead of reinventing the wheel I want to share with you a few links on how create your own Zune artist theme. If you have not seen them already, check out the first ten Zune artist themes. In two parts, this walkthrough shows you how to make Zune-inspired Windows 7 themes. The first part is capturing screenshots from the Zune software. The second is turning those pictures into a Windows 7 theme.

If you know how the ‘PrintScreen’ key works, are a master of the Zune software, and know your way around Windows 7 themes, you are all set. Share your Zune Artist theme(s) or screenshot set below in the comments. I intend to post themes and picture sets we receive via comments. If the sentence about using ‘PrintScreen’ did not make sense, read on to see how to make your own theme, then share your creations below.

 

The Process:

Part 1. Taking pictures of the now playing screen of the Zune software. This walkthrough will show you how to capture a screenshot in the Zune software.

• Tip: Getting multiple text-free pictures of the same artist, with complementary colors, takes some patience. Be prepared.

 

Part 2. Creating a Windows 7 theme with pictures you have taken. After you have your Zune artist pictures watch the above video, shared by Brandon LeBlanc, who runs Microsoft’s official Windows Blog.  Thanks Brandon!

• Tip: From the screenshot process above, remember Step 5. With that in mind, instead of selecting one picture, select all the backgrounds you want to include in your theme and then right click selecting ‘Set as desktop background.’ Following the video above, it makes working with multiple background themes easier.
• One More Tip: I know this sounds odd, but when saving your theme for sharing, be sure the ninth character in your .themepack title is not a space. If it is Windows will save but not open the theme. Adding extra spaces or adjusting your spelling is my best recommendation on avoiding this issue (not the best solution, but it works).

 

Learning More:

If you use Photoshop or Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can tweak your screenshots to get a set of color matched pictures a little faster. In Photoshop adjust the hue/saturation of your screenshot. In Windows Live Photo Gallery select ‘Fix,’ then from the toolbar select ‘Adjust Color,’ and drag the ‘Tint’ and ‘Color temperature’ sliders to adjust the colors in your picture. NOTE: I did not use this trick in making these themes.

 

Windows Weekly podcast host, Paul Thurrott has a great post detailing how to personalize your PC’s desktop in Windows 7. It is worth a read. Included in the post are details on how to find some hidden themes on your PC.

 

 

 

Windows Phone MVP, Steven Hughes shared, via twitter, a detailed post on the technical underpinnings of a .themepack file Did you know that you can add your own logo? Check out the MSDN article on making theme files for Windows. Thanks Steven!

 

 

 

Conclusion:

Following these two parts you should be all set in creating your own Zune artist themes. Catching up on the extra tips gives a bit more “background” knowledge on themes. Get ready for ten more themes coming next week.

Now that you understand the process, I want to see what Zune artists themes or screen shots you create. Feel free to share them below with a download link to your Skydrive (if you are a Zune user you probably have a Skydrive) or your Live Photo Gallery (the same goes for Windows Live Photos) along with your Zune Tag. Already, Zune Nation member Christo27 shared a set of screenshots for Switchfoot that I turned into a Windows 7 theme. From your contributions I want to put together another post similar to ZuneNation’s headphone showcase. Download fan-made Zune artist themes below:

*AMENDED

The five randomly chosen winners are:

Now, this is where it gets personal. I would like to know a little more about you guys.
Things like:

• Are you a visual artist (draw, paint, etc)?
• Do you prefer comic books or actual books?
• You married/have a girlfriend/sister? I got a lot of female-oriented things, and you're all dudes. I'm not keeping everything.
  
• Do you have any school-aged kids in your life?
  
• If so, boys or girls?
  
• Are you into the horror genre?
• What tv shows (basic/premium channels) are you into?
  
• Manga?
  
• Anime?
  
• How do you feel about Aliens?
  
• Power Rangers?
  
• What soon-to-be-released movies are you excited about?
  
• Anything else I need to know about your Comic-Con related likes?
  
• Are walks on the beach your kinda thing..? Kidding!
  

Zune has finally released their MSN Money application for Zune HD. This application is designed to help you keep up with stocks and currency. You’ll remember that this particular application was designed internally by Microsoft employees Mark Flores and Bryan Alger. They were interviewed on the Zune Insider podcast #71.

So go try out the app and let us know what you think!

Here’s a few things to note about the app:

• It’s pretty quick to start up, unlike most other apps
• The menus are: markets, currencies, articles and watchlist
  • markets: overall market conditions
  • currencies: how dollars match against each other
  • articles: stories from money.msn.com
  • watchlist: track your favorite stocks
• Put your finger on any stat to get more detailed information
• Turn your Zune HD horizontal to get a close up of the charts
• Turn your Zune HD vertical, while looking at chart to go back to stats page
• Slide your finger across the chart to see 1 year, 5 year, 3 month-style overviews
• If you want to read an article in more depth, you’re taken to the browser to continue reading

Anyone else find stuff about the app worth noting?

11:30pm update: Seems there’s another app in our midst. Going back to the Marketplace I discovered a game in the games area called Animalgrams, which seems to be a word game about creating words out of words. I’ll probably give that a whirl too, but it’s kind of scary that I’m more engaged in this money application.

It’s probably because I used to love just messing around with Microsoft Money when I was using that program back in the day. =)

July 30th Update: Neville has provided some video coverage of the two apps. Check them out below:

Animalgrams

MSN Money

Thanks to a suggestion from a good friend, Mike Sison I would like to recommend a great place that, because of the vision of a DJ named Josh Billings, offers house music fans a place to gather on Tuesday nights for good spirits, good music and good dancing. If you were wondering where I was when I made tweets such as this (tweet #1) (tweet #2) (tweet #3), I was settling into the vibe of FOCUS, the resident house music night at Tapas Restaurant.

FOCUS has been able to host some the great names on the house music scene, from Mark Farina to Colette and Heather. The vibe of these events are always great and the people, you can tell, are genuinely there to hear the music and vibe along with everyone else. I sometimes wonder if the bouncers even see any real action during Tuesday nights.

It probably helps mellow things when you do drink specials and offer $1 tacos out on the patio, huh? Yeah, I would think so too. But the purpose of this post isn't to just sing the praises of FOCUS, but to draw your attention to something that they do that's totally cool. They record most of the live DJ performances and make them available on their website. So if you're unable to attend a certain night, or if you want to go back and relive some of the musical magic that happened on a particular night, they have a great archive; all free and all ready for you to download and listen to.

FOCUS is located at Tapas Restaurant in Newport Beach, CA (so if you're in the area feel free to stop in and check out the music; if I see you there I'll get you a taco, yeah?) If you want more information on FOCUS, click here for their main website. If you want to download some of the DJ mixes, click here for their "Live at Focus" archives.

Through themes, Windows 7 lets you quickly change the look of your PC. Inspired by the beautiful now playing screen of the Zune Software, I made twenty great looking themes featuring artists from my collection. I am adding five more themes to the first Zune Artist Themepack. Below are Gorillaz, Seal, M.I.A., Willie Nelson, and Snow Patrol.

Pro Tip - Changing your Windows 7 theme: From the Start Menu, search for the word ‘theme,’ select ‘Change the theme,’ finally, choose the theme you want to use. It is that easy to change your Windows 7 theme.

To Save: Click on the image to download the corresponding theme for your Windows 7 PC from our SkyDrive. Save the file where you want to. Open the downloaded .themepack from where you saved it. If you downloaded all five at once, open the .zip file and then open each .themepack individually. Windows does the rest by placing a copy of the downloaded theme with the other themes already on your PC. Tomorrow I will show you how to make your own Zune Themes.

Please note all included wallpapers are 1680x1050.

If you have not, check out the other three Zune Artist ThemePacks:

Zune Artist ThemePack #1

Zune Artist ThemePack #3

Zune Artist ThemePack #4

Besides Wednesday Night Baseball, what are you going to be watching at 9pm 10:25pm tonight? How about checking out a concert on Spin.com, the online component of Spin Magazine, as part of their 25th anniversary?

It turns out my DJ friend Ultragrrrl will be performing as part of Spin’s 25th anniversary. If you are free like alomst now, check her out. If you are in the New York area, follow her on Twitter and be ready to travel. Last night she gave away a ticket to see the Flaming Lips. If you cannot make to tonight's online show try to visit spin.com sometime this week at 9pm as they have concerts going on through Friday. Upcoming concerts include The National and Spiritualized.

Finally, If you do not know who the Black Keys are you can check out their songs tonight or listen to them via Bing Entertainment. Their most recent album, Brothers, is pretty good. Give it a free listen.

Update 8:52pm ET: To watch the live show, you will need to connect your Facebook account with Spin25's Facebook app and will be required to like ZYNC, an American Express credit card. Once you have the video feed going, you can unlike ZYNC and remove the Spin25 app (I did).

Update 2: The video feed is telling me the concert starts at 10:25pm =/

Update 3 9:44pm ET: Looks like The Black Keys aren't due on stage until midnight,

Update 4 10:03pm: Tune in now to catch The Whigs.

Final Update 5 12:07am:

The Black Keys are on and ...wow (in a good way). Finally, it was a pleasure to catch Ultragrrrl's DJ session tonight. Sarah, thanks for playing, keeping me updated while playing, and later identifying the song Oh Mandy by Spinto Band. It is a great song you helped me discover.

One of the great features of Windows 7 is the ability to give your PC some character fast. Through the use of themes you can give your computer a virtual makeover whenever you please. Having some fun with the now playing screen of the Zune Software, I put together twenty Zune artist themes. Inspired by our recent giveaway bonanza, including free mp3’s, Comic-Con swag, Zune Messenger bags, and (coming soon to the Los Angles area) Zune and Xbox gear, these are the first five. Artists in this release include Common, Michael Jackson, Norah Jones, David Guetta, and My Morning Jacket. Enjoy!

Pro Tip - Changing your Windows 7 theme: From the Start Menu, search for the word ‘theme,’ select ‘Change the theme,’ finally, choose the theme you want to use. It is that easy to change your Windows 7 theme.

To Save: Click on the image to download the corresponding theme for your Windows 7 PC from our SkyDrive. Save the file where you want to. Open the downloaded .themepack from where you saved it. If you downloaded all five at once, open the .zip file and then open each .themepack individually. Windows does the rest by placing a copy of the downloaded theme with the other themes already on your PC. Stay (Zune) tuned for more Zune Artist ThemePacks.

Please note all included wallpapers are 1680x1050.

If you have not, check out the other three Zune Artist ThemePacks:

Zune Artist ThemePack #2

Zune Artist ThemePack #3

Zune Artist ThemePack #4

The Inside the Circle staff gathers for a family photo!

Every year, I try to think of something elegant to say. Something that is all profound and reads like it took me 2 months to compose... but this year, we're in the terrible twos so let's throw that elegance mess out of the window! It was two years ago today, that our first post launched, signaling that yet another Zune website was trying to make headway into the mish-mash of Zune-related areas of the internet.

What most likely set us apart from other places, right away, was that we weren't just going to report news about Zune. Had we done that, you'd see about 1/3 of the posts you see now. I told all of the writers to write about what they wanted as long as it fit within the realm of Zune and Music. The concept was that we all gather inside of a bar and sit around a table, have drinks and shoot the shizz. It's why we've enjoyed our open ended posts and conversations that continue onto Twitter and Facebook.

Inside the Circle has also managed to work with some great organizations. Recently, we've formed a partnership with the Hear Noho Music Festival. This is probably one of the updates in the past year that I'm the most proud of. I firmly believe in what they are doing and, as such, have allowed Inside the Circle to be another vessel where they can promote their monthly shows. I'm looking forward to doing bigger and better things with them in the future.

We've even grown in staff from four writers to five. It's great to see that not only has Inside the Circle become a place where people can gather, share ideas, discover music and chat, but it's become a place that some would want to become a part of beyond just readership. I'm proud that there are people who are willing to carve some time out of their schedules to contribute to Inside the Circle. I'm definitely always interested to hear from others who want to contribute in meaningful and insightful ways and I invite you to contact me if you wish to discuss contributing.

My writers have heard numerous times how much I appreciate all that they have done and will continue to do. This thing would be absolutely nowhere if it wasn't for them and their tireless work keeping the place updated, fresh and fun to read. Considering that they do this of their own free will and on their own time/dime, I'm that much more appreciative of how much they have brought to the table.

I also have to take a minute to thank Zune. The staff there have been absolutely fantastic in showing their support of Inside the Circle and the endeavors that we have tried. They continue to be a great resource of support and advice. We're very proud of what they've been able to do with Zune as both a device in Zune HD and as a service. We're looking forward to what they have in store for the next year.

For you, dear readers, you get the biggest thanks of all. Having a tons of posts up would mean nothing if you all didn't visit everyday, read and share. A ton of posts with no one reading is called a diary and that's not what this blog is. We (and I speak for the entire crew here) are grateful, humbled and honored that you find us a place on the net worthy of visiting.

Now, knowing me, I'm going to want to make this next 12 months the most exciting yet for Inside the Circle. In year's past, I've jotted down what things that I had planned, but this year I don't think I'll do that. Now be sure that there are ideas brewing in my head, but I know better now than to announce them if they haven't been fully fleshed or even won't make it past the on-paper phase. But believe me, if even ONE of the ideas that I have comes to fruition, it will be another large step for Inside the Circle and the community that we support.

I invite you all to continue supporting us and letting us know you're there. In return, we'll continue to provide quality original content that you can enjoy and add-on to. I put in one of my past commentaries that community is what drives this blog and it's community that will continue to drive this blog. That's a statement I believed in then and continue to believe in now.

Cheers! And here's to another successful year!



P.S. On a very personal note as much as I say that I appreciate my staff, I always felt that it wouldn't mean much without something tangible. So this year, I'm working with Edward Webb (XBOX MVP) on a special XBOX 360 faceplate for each of the staff members. Now I know that the new XBOX 360 S doesn't work with faceplates, but I figured this was a fitting way to show how much I appreciate everything these writers have done.

Thanks again, guys! You rock hardcore!

Guest introduction by Tiffany Wing

From sophisticated private events to over-the-top extravaganzas.

SIXX Carter | NoHoPAC | 8:00PM | site | twitter






Kristy Hanson | Cella Gallery | 8:30PM | site | twitter








Ken Christianson | NoHo PAC | 9:00PM | site

I will use my fears,
cut down as timber to fuel
the fire in my soul






Dave Sorrendino | Cella Gallery | 9:30PM | site | twitter







Presents
The Acoustic Corner


Pamela Rose | Art Institute | 8:45PM | site | twitter

Get Pamela and fall crazy in love! This pop sensation is a gifted and talented singer. She has a distinctive powerful voice full of a quirky folk vibe. Don't miss "Crazy Love", her first official single.







Beth Jean | Art Institute | 9:45PM | site | twitter

You will be surprised by this firecracker. She gives it all up for you. :) You might recognize her music from some off the soundtrack of some popular shows like the Hills or the City. Her music makes you sing a la la la la! She has a beautiful voice.






OPEN CALL FOR BANDS!!!
HEAR NoHo is looking for new artists!!
Please submit via www.sonicbids.com
@sonicbids





Pitfire is offering a special Side Salad, Choice of Pizza or Pasta, and Crazy Chocolate Cake for only $12.99! Add a glass of house wine for only $5
www.pitfirepizza.com



Big Wangs is offering 15% off food
with the Hear NoHo wrist band.
www.bigwangs.com