diff --git a/app/src/cc/arduino/view/SplashScreenHelper.java b/app/src/cc/arduino/view/SplashScreenHelper.java
index 108c1c8b2f6..5f43b7cd460 100644
--- a/app/src/cc/arduino/view/SplashScreenHelper.java
+++ b/app/src/cc/arduino/view/SplashScreenHelper.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 
 import java.awt.*;
 import java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D;
+import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import processing.app.Theme;
@@ -80,6 +81,12 @@ public void splashText(String text) {
     ensureTextIsDiplayed();
   }
 
+  public void setImageURL(URL imageURL) {
+    try {
+      splash.setImageURL(imageURL);
+    } catch(Exception e) {}
+  }
+
   private void ensureTextIsDiplayed() {
     synchronized (SplashScreen.class) {
       if (splash.isVisible()) {
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/Base.java b/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
index 815f264da36..ad724fe8da3 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/Base.java
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
 import java.awt.*;
 import java.awt.event.*;
 import java.io.*;
+import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Timer;
 import java.util.*;
@@ -237,6 +238,10 @@ public Base(String[] args) throws Exception {
 
     SplashScreenHelper splash;
     if (parser.isGuiMode()) {
+      splash = new SplashScreenHelper(SplashScreen.getSplashScreen());
+      if (PreferencesData.has("update.splashImage"))
+        splash.setImageURL(new URL(PreferencesData.get("update.splashImage")));
+
       // Setup all notification widgets
       splash = new SplashScreenHelper(SplashScreen.getSplashScreen());
       BaseNoGui.notifier = new GUIUserNotifier(this);
diff --git a/app/src/processing/app/UpdateCheck.java b/app/src/processing/app/UpdateCheck.java
index cdca1b71783..1f7b8832fb9 100644
--- a/app/src/processing/app/UpdateCheck.java
+++ b/app/src/processing/app/UpdateCheck.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.net.URLEncoder;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Random;
 
 import static processing.app.I18n.tr;
@@ -87,7 +88,35 @@ public void run() {
                         System.getProperty("os.version") + "\t" +
                         System.getProperty("os.arch"), "UTF-8");
       
-      int latest = readInt(downloadURL + "?" + info);
+      // read data from server
+      BufferedReader reader = null;
+      int latest = -1;
+      HashMap<String, String> serverInfo = new HashMap<String, String>();
+      try {
+        URL url = new URL(downloadURL + "?" + info);
+        reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url.openStream()));
+
+        // parse the latest version number
+        latest = Integer.parseInt(reader.readLine());
+
+        // parse the key=value pairs
+        while (true) {
+          String line = reader.readLine();
+          if (line == null)
+            break;
+          String[] parts = line.split("=", 2);
+          if (parts.length == 2)
+            serverInfo.put(parts[0], parts[1]);
+        }
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        e.printStackTrace();
+      } finally {
+        IOUtils.closeQuietly(reader);
+      }
+
+      if (serverInfo.containsKey("splashImage"))
+        PreferencesData.set("update.splashImage",
+                            serverInfo.get("splashImage"));
 
       String lastString = PreferencesData.get("update.last");
       long now = System.currentTimeMillis();