icons

Windows lets you customize its look in lots of ways, and one of the coolest is the ability to change almost any icon to suit your style or to create themes. While there's no shortage of icons available online, why not make your own? It's much easier than you might think, especially with the help of Axialis IconWorkshop. True to its name, it handles just about every aspect of the job, from creating, extracting, and converting icons to managing whole libraries of them. The full-featured IconWorkshop is free to use for 30 days. The latest release has tons … Read more

Fences is an app that allows you to organize your desktop icons into categories to un-clutter your workspace. The latest version, Fences 2.0, adds new features to help you get and stay organized even faster.

The interface of the newer version is much like before. The fences look the same - they're clean and blend well, and you can adjust the transparency and color to suit your needs. You'll also still be able to easily sort your files and program icons into multiple fences on your desktop. One of our favorite features, Auto-Organizer, also lets you choose … Read more

Apple released an update for the Apple TV shortly after iOS 6 was made available for iOS devices. You should have already been alerted to update your black box to Apple TV software version 5.1. If not, you can manually update by going into Settings > General > Update Software. The update should take less than 20 minutes, depending on the speed of your Internet connection.

Here are four new features the update brings to your Apple TV, each with a link to a guide covering how to use them.

Rearranging icons Finally! Up until now, Apple TV owners … Read more

One annoyance of the Apple TV has always been the inability to move the icons around to fit your use habits. Whatever order Apple placed the icons in is what you were stuck using. As of Apple TV OS version 5.1, users can now rearrange the icons into an order better suited for them.

Well, there's one exception. You can't move any of the icons on the top row, only the bottom three rows. For whatever reason, Apple would rather you not hide the Movies or TV Shows icons (among others) down in the bottom row.

To … Read more

Apple's efforts to trademark an icon for its iOS music player in the U.S. have been denied due to design from a company that no longer exists.

As part of a decision handed down by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board last week, the group found Apple's icon a bit too similar to one issued to iLike in 2008, upholding an initial finding from a trademark examiner.

iLike, of course, no longer exists. The company was gobbled up by MySpace in late 2009 and was eventually absorbed into the company's own music product.

"In comparing … Read more

The new look of Apple's clock app on the iPad that came alongside iOS 6 yesterday is ruffling some feathers abroad.

In a report in Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger (by way of Macrumors), the Swiss Federal Railway service, or SBB, has taken offense to the app's design, to which it says it owns the trademark.

The 1944 design by then-SBB employee Hans Hilfiker (which you can see here) is used in station clocks throughout the railway system, which is well-known for its timeliness. It's also licensed to Mondaine, a Swiss watch manufacturer. 

An SBB spokesman … Read more

It's easier than you might guess to customize your PC's icons with IconPackager. As the name suggests, IconPackager packages icons together so you can replace them all at once instead of the usual way, one by one. It's shareware that you can try for free for 30 days. The trial version only comes with a few icon packages, but more are available to registered users.

IconPackager's unique interface combines some of the look of the Appearance and Personalization tool in Windows with browser-like touches such as tabs. IconPackager sorts its main features by function into tabs … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In an effort to rebut allegations that it copied the design of Apple's iOS home screen, icons, and other visual features, Samsung brought out one of the people in charge of designing the software in its phones.

Jeeyuen Wang, Samsung's senior designer, testified this afternoon with the help of an interpreter, and flat out told the court that the company did not copy Apple's designs.

Samsung brought out Wang to counter copycat claims made by Apple earlier in the trial that put the Samsung's iconography and features side by side. That offense … Read more

Monday's top tech headlines are landing safely on your Earthly screens:

The Apple v. Samsung courtroom drama continues this week. The rundown: Apple says Samsung copied the iPhone and iPad. Samsung says it's just being competitive, and has also counter sued for patent infringement. Monday, Apple made the argument that Samsung's icons look the same as Apple's icons. What do you think?

The first week of Apple testimony revealed interesting tidbits, such as how executives liked the idea of a 7-inch iPad. We also learned that the iPhone was first called Project Purple and that it … Read more