Stardock has released the 2009 edition of its popular desktop experience suite Object Desktop. Object Desktop is a set of utilities that enables users to completely transform the desktop experience of Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Object Desktop includes 6 utilities that focus on enhancing a particular aspect of Windows. These are:

*WindowBlinds
*IconPackager
*DesktopX
*DeskScapes (animated wallpaper now available for XP!)
*BootSkin Pro (Bootskins for Vista)
*Theme Manager
*MyColors Themes

Theme Manager also includes a brand-new desktop suite created by Stardock called Aero Midnight that replaces the Windows GUI, icons, wallpaper and adds gadgets. For Windows XP users, they get an enhanced Windows Vista look. Windows Vista users get an enhanced Aero look that adds 2 years of usability feedback to the Windows Vista experience.

Users can get more information about Object Desktop directly from its website at Link

[Submitted by Island Dog]

Ever wonder where everyone is? Want to have a real time conversation with the people of Skinning.net? Got a question you want to get an answer to right now?

Well why haven't you come by the chat room yet? We are in there everyday and nearly 24 hours a day there is someone in there. You'll find the staff and many of our regulars like Island Dog, Guardian, 2of3, Philly0381, elvee, Quentin, ShelbyGT and others.

Come on by, we would love to see you.. use the link in the main menu or if you already have an IRC program such as mIRC, trillian or the like go to -- server: irc.stardock.com -- channel: #skinning

Looking forward to seeing you there and have a great day.

Well folks, now is the time to start the real countdown to this years GUI Championships, the largest GUI customization competition around, and to give some more details about the competition. Let me first start off by thanking all our sponsors for this years event, I have no doubt this will be the best one yet!

The GUI Champs ‘08 will officially start on Monday, October 13th.

The judging and more detailed schedule will be posted soon, but this is when we will start accepting entries.

Prizes (as of 9-15-08)

* Video Cards from AMD
* Camtasia Studio 5, and SnagIt 9 from TechSmith
* Subscriptions to WinCustomize.com and DeviantART.com
* 32GB iPod Touch
* Subscriptions to Object Desktop from Stardock
* Cash $$$
* Autodesk is sponsoring a copy of a high-end 3D application
* and more!

As it stands now, we have well over $10,000 in cash and prizes for this years event so far. I say “so far” because we are still talking to a few great folks about additional prizes, and I will post more info as it comes in. More details about prize distribution for categories will also come later. Just be assured we have a great prize lineup already.

More info at Link

[Submitted by Island Dog]

Supported Players

CD Art Display fully works with AlbumPlayer, Helium Music Manager, iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, MediaMonkey and partially supports qmp, MP3Toys, musikCube and foobar2000 (Winamp API Emulator plugin).

Skins

There are currently more than 60 skins.

Download more skins at the new Skin Gallery - Link


Main Features

* Skinnable
* High quality graphics
* PNG transparency support
* Reads cover from players database, local folder or ID3v2 tag
* Download cover from Amazon.com via built in tool
* Cover as system tray icon
* Fancy ratings
* Progress bar styles
* Mirror effect
* Cover rotation
* A lot of text options (font, color, outline, shadow etc.)
* Lyrics (read, search and submit thanks to LYRDB.com)
* Hotkeys (including rating ones)
* Free! No spyware or adware!

Download CDArt Display here - Link