In an effort to improve our mail communication, we will over the coming 48 hours be moving all mail communication to Google Apps.
We will continue to monitor mails on our old servers until all DNS servers around the world have been updated, so no users should be affected.

However just in case, if you send a support ticket/email over the next 48 hours, and you do NOT receive an auto-reply informing that we have received your message, then please submit the ticket again using the online form.

We do btw. always recommend that you use that form, as it actually helps you search our Knowledge Base for instant answers, while you are typing in your questions.

That was all.
Have a great day all! 

Here are Smartlaunch, we're passionate about creating exceptional products and delivering world class support.  That's why we'd love to hear from you, our loyal customers. We'd like you to know that we're listening and we're always aiming to improve our products & services to give your business the best chance for success.

We appreciate your business and look forward to hearing from you!  

Thanks for using Smartlaunch and trusting Smartlaunch to manage your internet/gaming cafe all this time. TOMORROW, we are going to release Smartlaunch 4.5.63.

• Fix and improve the Smartlaunch PUF (Personal User Files)
• Optimize Remote Administrator Access
• Fix most of the reports and statistics on Smartlaunch Administrator
• Enhanced support for MySQL Database
• Fine tuning on Smartlaunch Windows Desktop Interface
• Optimize start up time for Smartlauch
• Added support for the soon-to-be-launch NEW SMARTLAUNCH 4.5 FLASH skin -- for the subscribed customers only
• And a lot of others bug-fixing and improvement, including our updated knowledge base articles

1. Backup your Database and Server.INF file. These 2 files are very important, we recommend you to backup your current database and Server.INFbefore you upgrade to Smartlaunch 4.5
2. Make sure you have your backup database and INF file and copy those 2 files to certain safe location on your drive
   
3. From your Smartlaunch Server, please choose "Updates" tab and click on "Check For Update" button to get the latest update of Smartlaunch 4.5

Hi guys, do you know that on 29 February 2012 we will have a Leap Day? Nice. And we want to celebrate it. So.. We decided to make a competition: Smartlaunch Leap Day Language Translation Competition.

What is the competition?
The background of this competition:

• We want to improve our service by improving and adding some additional languages in our software, Smartlaunch
• We want to engage with Smartlaunch Users, Customers, and Resellers to be participants in this competition because we believe that you know Smartlaunch very well, you use it every day and you know exactly how Smartlaunch is
• To celebrate the Leap Day

Top 10 Languages that will be included in the competition:

1. Greece
2. Sweden
3. Philipines
4. Saudi Arabia
5. Egypt
6. Kazakhstan
7. Indonesia
8. Denmark
9. Hindi
10. Russian

What is the benefit of this competition?

• Free Smartlaunch 4.5 subscription for 1 YEAR for max 50 licenses for the winner, with special privileges customer support!

When is the Schedule of this competition?

• Open Date: NOW
• Close Date: 1 day before the Leap Day (28 February 2012)
• Anouncement Date: on the Leap Day of course! (29 February 2012)

Who are eligible to enter this competition?

• Smartlaunch users, customers, resellers, or whoever/whatever are you, who interested in Smartlaunch and have a strong passion about Smartlaunch (and have an email address)

How to participate in this competition?

• Please send an email competition@smartlaunch.net 
• Write down "Language Competition" as a subject in your email
• Mention your Smartlaunch username and the language that you will translated
• Write the reason why we should choose you to translate it
• After we annouce the winner, he got one month or two, to start translate it. And by the time he finished it, we will check it before we give the prize :)

Questions & Contact

If you have any questions about this competition please send an email to: competition@smartlaunch.net

And what are you waiting? Come join us or mark your calendars now!

tlho' SoH


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_29

Here's just a quick update from our side.
We've been working a lot on the new licensing servers lately, and have already transitioned most accounts over to the new servers.
Yesterday we switched on these new servers, and this will also eliminate the licensing server down-time which some users have unfortunately experienced in the recent weeks. We will be monitoring it closely, but if you experience any issues, please create a ticket and we'll get back to you right away.

We also truly appreciate everyone who have signed up for our new subscription, and your accounts have already been fully activated on the new servers.
Over the coming weeks, the remaining non-converted accounts will be closed down. Everyone will receive a trial notice, to ensure a smooth transition.

Once again thanks for your support, and I'm happy to let you know that we are working hard on new exciting things.
Soon we'll also open a closed poll for new feature requests, which will of course be limited to our subscription users, and we aim to have your voting power dependent on the amount of licenses you have - will be fun to see which new features win :)

Over and out, and Happy Valentine's Day

Happy New Year! And no, we're not three weeks late, this is the Chinese New Year! 
So, Happy Chinese New Year! Xin Nián Kuài Lè (新年 快乐)

It has been a pleasure helping you reach your goals this whole time, and we are grateful to have good customers, partners, resellers, contributors, friends who make our work satisfying and enjoyable. We look forward to work with you and contributing to your success in this prosperous year. May on the year of the Dragon your businesses grow in leaps and bounds!

PS.
Hóng Bao Ná Lái (紅包拿來) -- May I have the red envelope, please :)

Recently, Adcore ApS acquired the assets of Smartlaunch A/S and is now proud to offer continued service of the Smartlaunch software to you. Regrettably, Smartlaunch A/S closed down, ceased all operations and will not perform work or provide services under any of its old contracts.  We, at Adcore, apologise for any inconvenience this causes. Unfortunately, the situation allowed for no other option.   

Adcore is proud to offer Smartlaunch customers continued service going forward
The original founders of Smartlaunch software, Michael and Kasper, have had no involvement with the company for the last few years. When we heard about the situation with Smartlaunch we decided to buy out the software and establish a new company. Our plan is to improve operations, customer service, and continue to service Smartlaunch customers with powerful software solutions in the years to come.  

New terms of service to Smartlaunch’s former customers 
In order to support the large existing customer base we must implement a new subscription model for all of Smartlaunch’s former customers who bought the software before the 1^st of January 2011:

The fee structure for the new subscription model can be viewed here and, of course, we urge you to contact us with any questions.
http://www.smartlaunch.com/pricing 

The new subscription model offers the benefits of:

• The highest level of FREE customer support
• Automatic upgrade to new versions of the Smartlaunch software when released

How can I continue using Smartlaunch? 
You must sign up and pay before the January 31, 2012.

For customers who bought Smartlaunch after January 1, 2011.
These customers will be able to continue with their existing license until the 1^st of April 2012. After this date these customers can convert to the subscription model as well.

Discount for existing customers
Existing Smartlaunch customers will have received further information via email about how to claim their discount.
If you have not yet received this email, please just submit a ticket here in the support system and request the discount code by mentioning your account email address.

We sincerely hope that you will continue to choose Smartlaunch going forward and we are committed to improve the software and service to make this a value adding tool for your business.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely, 

The Smartlaunch Team

Great news from Smartlaunch, we just released Smartlaunch 4.5!

Get it now and make sure you have all of our best features:

• Improved compatibility with Windows 7
• Speed up client start-up
  
• Diskless Client
• Windows Desktop Interface
• Interactive Skins
• Improved Security
• Smartlaunch Open API
• Magnetic Card Reader Support
• Remote Administrator Access
• Improved Knowledgebase Articles, Video Screencasts
• Improvement to existing feature e.g. License Management, Personal User Files, Turning Computer Remotely
• New FLASH skin : Very soon!

Please check these steps below to upgrade your current Smartlaunch to Smartlaunch 4.5:

1. Backup your Database and Server.INF file. These 2 files are very important, we recommend you to backup your current database and Server.INF before you upgrade to Smartlaunch 4.5
2. Make sure you have your backup database and INF file and copy those 2 files to certain safe location on your drive
   
3. From your Smartlaunch Server, please choose "Updates" tab and click on "Check For Update" button to get the latest update of Smartlaunch 4.5

Please also check some of KB articles that related with some features in Smartlaunch 4.5:

• How to use the diskless client feature
• What is Windows Interface skin
• Smartlaunch API Documentation
  
• How to use a magnetic card reader for login user
• How to configure magnetic card reader in Smartlaunch

If you have any questions about this new release please send a ticket to our support system here.

Have a nice day!

It's Halloween! It's Halloween! and today we have a spooktacular annoucement to make: our new Smartlaunch 4.5 BETA! (YES, Smartlaunch 4.5)

We have tons of new features, bugs fixed (besides chocolates and candies, of course!) such as:

• Diskless clients to reduce your hardware costs (read more in our KB how to use the diskless client feature)
• New improved Windows desktop interface (have a clean and fully customizable interface on your clients, read the Windows Interface skin)
• New improved interactive skins (to give your customers the feeling of uniqueness and coolness of your gaming center)
• Improved security to prevent users from hacking your system or using your computers without paying
• Smartlaunch Open API to integrate with 3rd party software (or for cafes to build own add-ons to Smartlaunch or even sell add-ons, read the Smartlaunch API documentation)
• Magnetic card reader support (give your customers membership cards to increase loyalty of your visitors, read how to use a magnetic card reader for login user or how to configure magnetic card reader in Smartlaunch)
• Improved remote Administrator access (fully control your cafe from any where in the world)
• Improved support, new guides, video screencasts, and much more
• New loading screen design
  
• Tons of other improvements to existing features, e.g. license management, personal user files, turning on computers remotely, etc.

So, what are you waiting for? Come on and grab it! No tricks.. Just treats!!

Happy Halloween...
Whatever you are!!

Read how to get the beta version

The initial beta of the brand new plug-in system is ready!

In order to make it easier for you to get started with the creation of your own plug-ins, we have created 2 sample plug-ins, a plug-in template, a PDF explaining the plug-in interfaces, as well as a 10 minute screencast explaining the entire process of creating a plug-in.

You will need the latest Smartlaunch v4.1 Beta in order to be able to test your plug-ins.

The package with all the material you need to get started is available here:
http://www.smartlaunch.net/WebPages/Plugin/PluginPackage.zip

The screencast is available here:

Please click here to watch Smartlaunch Plugin Screencast

We're looking forward to see your suggestions for new additions to the plug-in system.

Happy coding!

Let's explore more detais about Personal User Files in Smartlaunch. This is very cool feature and I believe it's gonna be more fun if everybody try it and give us some feedback.

Basically, Personal User Files is one of the most important feature in Smartlaunch where a user will have his/her personal files stored on the Smartlaunch Server. When the customer comes back it will copy his/her files to the client computer. In other words, it allows you to specify what you wish to copy back and forth from the clients and which application the files are related to. The files are then copied when a user starts the specific application, and when the applications end, the updated files are copied back to the server.

Please have a look at our Screencast below:

Personal User Files Screencast

Please follow our KB below, have a try and if you have any questions please let us know by sending the ticket to us.

Related KB article:

How to create Personal User Files?

Please feel free to contact us or submit any ticket if you have any questions.

All the best and have a great day! :)

This time I wanna talk a bit about License Management feature in Smartlaunch. This is one of the most important feature in Smartlaunch because with this feature you are able to distribute licenses and manage the current number of users to prevent a game from ever having more users than you have licenses.

So for instance we have 2 licenses for a certain game in our game center that have 4 client computers and all of those clients are allowed to play that game eventhough we only have 2 licenses. In that case Smartlaunch License Management is really cool and smart because it will automatically distribute licenses to the certain computer where the client computers are currently playing that game. Instead of buying 4 game licenses, we only need to buy 2.

When ever customer tries to load a game the client computer will request a license to Smartlaunch Server and if the license is available and not in use by other client the game will launch, but if there is no available license anymore, the customer will get a notifiacation and the game cannot be launch because there is no free license at that moment. This customer will be able to run the game once the other customer close the game and there is available license.

Please check our screencast below:

Please click here to watch Smartlaunch License Management Screencast

And here are some KB articles about Smartlaunch License Management:

What is the license management feature?

How do I setup License Management for a game?

Please have a try and if you have any feedback please let us know by sending the ticket to our support team.

All the best! :)

As mentioned before in our previous blog post, we have developed Smartlaunch API as an interface between your custom made application and your Smartlaunch Server. Please get the demo project's source code on GitHub, using this url: https://github.com/smartlaunch/api_demo.

We have already improved the demo project, added some commands, and created the documentation to help you understand more detail about Smartlaunch API. Please get the documentation here: http://smartlaunch.helpserve.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/140/3/smartlaunch-api-documentation.

Below is our second screencast about Smartlaunch API, hopefully you will get more detail explanation about it.

Please click here to watch SL API the screen cast.

If you have more requests about some other commands to be added in the demo project, please let us know by sending tickets to us.

We really appriciate your feedback.

After doing a lot of research on the performance and use of the previous versions, we are happy to announce that the new version of Smartlaunch Beta has been released. You will find a lot of cool improvements such as code optimization, and numerous bugs have been fixed.
The main new features are:

• Automatic integration with magnetic card readers for customer loyalty/membership cards
• Smartlaunch Open API for awesome 3rd party integration
• Improved support for Windows 7 and
• The long-awaited Windows Interface – which looks really nice too
• Support for the diskless client
  

Windows Interface
Below you will find some screenshots, which demonstrates the windows interface of Smartlaunch, running on Windows 7, and the client customization options in Smartlaunch Server.

The Smartlaunch Branches

Little information you might need to know about the 3 different Smartlaunch "branches" that we operate :

• Release
  The normal and stable one. This is commonly use by most of the customers.
• Beta
  Here we test the updates before we put them in 'Release'. There are about 10-50 cafés using this one.
• Alpha
  The branch that has the newest updates but might be instable since the updates haven't been tested fully yet. We have a few cafés using that one, and mostly use this for internal testing

You are free to change to the beta branch of Smartlaunch if you want.

We have many cafés running with it, but of course there is a little risk that we might release an update that might break something (we'll be quick to fix it though because we can release updates immediately to the beta and alpha branches). We only recommend this update for those who have a good technical understanding, and make regular backups.

IMPORTANT
Before doing this switch, please make a backup of the entire server directory in case you want to restore your system. Please note that just change the "CheckForUpdatesType" back to "Release" will not work, as you only have the updated database, and the older version of the server, which is probably not compatible depend on the changes you made.
So all you have to do is go back to the release version, delete the server directory, then replace it with your backup.

How to do this? You can take a look at our knowledgebase in here: http://smartlaunch.helpserve.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/125/0/how-to-get-the-beta-version

Please feel free to contact us or submit any ticket if you have any questions and have a great day!

It has been around for a while, but has only had limited focus, and very few people even know that it exists.
In this short screencast, I would therefore like to show a new demo project we have created, which illustrates the potential use of this Smartlaunch API.

The demo is developed in .NET, but you can basically use any language such as PHP, Java, Javascript etc. directly to communicate with the Smartlaunch Server.
All you need is the abilty to send and receive TCP data.

Below you will find the screencast, which is the first in a series of posts about this API.
We encourage you to contact us if you have feedback by creating a new ticket, or if you would like to help develop further on the project, you can fork out the demo project on GitHub, using this url:
https://github.com/smartlaunch/api_demo

So get out the popcorns, here we go:

Watch Smartlaunch API Screencast

API Documentation

Note that we will soon publish a documentation of the API as well, so you can see all the different available API calls, and a clear explanation of how to use them.

Looking forward to hear what you think. 
Please submit a ticket above, to get in touch with us.

Enjoy :)