Oh, it’s Friday already?  Well this was a fast week, but before we hit the weekend it’s time to showcase some skins from the past week.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Rainbow Clock 1.0 by Vad_M This DX Gadget is way cool.  This clock will match the WindowBlinds skin that you are currently using.
	Early morn’ by CarGuy1 This is a nice and subtle landscape .dream.  Looks beautiful with a dark theme.
	Nature 1 by ethylmorphin These are a unique set of icons that show some great creativity.
	Tutankhamun by domat I just love the design of this wallpaper.
	Save The Planet by vlad Another fantastic wallpaper from Master skinner Vlad.
	Noix by BoXXi An amazingly detailed Xion skin from BoXXi.  Great work!

This has been a long week, and thankfully it’s Friday.  Not going to bore you with talk, lets get right to the skins.

Now for this weeks picks!

	MB-Phoenix (BlackSeal) by ModBlackmoon This is one of those cursor themes you just need to download and check out for yourself.
	Anticipation by sntXrrr This is a really nice .dream, with a beautiful backdrop.
	BrokenBlue by FrankieF I just really enjoy the blue and design of this wallpaper.
	Astronaut by vlad A wallpaper from vlad is always a winner, and creative as usual.  Great job.
	Covert Ops by theAVMAN There is so much to like in this WindowBlinds theme, but my favorite is the taskbar design.  Fantastic work!
	Copper Carbon Fibre by Xiandi This is a great week for WB skins.  The latest from Xiandi has a beautiful design and texture.

It’s a short week for many of us, but I still wanted to put out an issue of TWiS because there were some great skins out this week.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Carbon Fibre GTV by theAVMAN This is a simple cursor theme, but it’s still a great one and works with many WindowBlinds themes.
	SFO Sidekick by sViz I’m not too familiar with SFO, but that really doesn’t matter as this is another stunning gadget from sViz.
	Cloudy Bliss by CarGuy1 This is just a beautiful scene, and perfect for a .dream.
	Adobe CS4 D by philmar83 Need a different set of icons for your Adobe apps?  Check these out, they are definitely worth the download.
	Smokey Mountain Valley by AnnBee Another beautiful landscape scene that immediately caught my eye this week.
	Carbon Fibre GTV by Mirsguy I love the texture of this skin.  Simply awesome!

Since I began running 3 years ago I have been looking for a way to bring my two passions together; Icons and Running. This year I joined the “Team In Training” to help raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I am running 5 marathons this year, including the Alaska Mayors Marathon, along with my wife, as a member of the “Team In Training.” We set a fundraising goal of $10,000 dollars between the two of us. This gave me my chance to finally bring my two addictions together. I’ve done this by creating the “Marathon” Icon suite.

In the Marathon Icon suite I tried to capture the scope of running a marathon by creating a uniquely colored IconPackage for each mile of the Marathon -  26 IconPacks for 26.2 miles. The result is an amazing variety and over 1200 icons that will complement any desktop. To top this all off I included three additional IconPacks, themed for the “Team in Training” so you can show your support to the world, making a total of 29 IconPackages. This, to my knowledge, the largest Icon suite ever.

Stardock has been generous enough to join in my efforts, and will donate all the profits from this pack as well, so 100% of the profits from this suite will go directly to the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help save lives. 

I hope you will join me in supporting this cause. As someone who has lost family to Leukemia, it is near and dear to my heart. On June 20th of 2009, my wife and I will be running across the finish line in Alaska, in memory of my Uncle, and in support of my brother-in-law. In the end it will be those of you who support me by purchasing the “Marathon” suite that will have made it possible.

For additional information about our story, or to donate directly to the cause, go here:

For additional information about The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, go here:

If you don’t already have IconPackager, you can download try it out, get it here.

To help save lives, and get the full 29 pack suite, go here.

It’s Friday!  It’s Friday!  I had to say it twice just because it’s finally Friday!  This week was a little slow for submissions, so lets get working on turning that around.  We did have another great feature from sViz this month for DesktopX, so be sure to check that out.

Of course, don’t miss the WinCustomize 2009 preview.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Covert Ops Dx by theAVMAN This clock for DesktopX is just slick.  It doesn’t even feel right calling it a clock.
	Fire Dance by CarGuy1 The name of this .dream is spot on, and fits perfect with a dark WindowBlinds skin.
	Monsters Inc. by Iconshock_web_icons This is a great set of icons, with a beautiful design.
	S.D.V. Tabbed & Side Docks by WebGizmos Don’t need to say much but a new set of dock backgrounds from WG.  You know they are going to be awesome.
	Maze of Blue by Frankief This design just happened to catch my eye, and the variations of blue is perfect.
	BlueBloodware by tippytoenail The start menu alone is worth a feature.  Great job on this.

You know what day it is, and you know what to expect, right?  Yes, it’s time once again for This Week in Skinning.  The greatest collection of featured skins found anywhere on the internet today!

Now for this weeks picks!

	Drag and Drop Shortcuts Templates by sViz This set of templates for DesktopX will definitely be a help to people creating objects/widgets.
	Kurvy by gef This DesktopX theme is really slick, and I really like the curved styled.
	Ribbons by CarGuy1 I think this is my new favorite .dream.  Very smooth, colorful, and just looks great.
	Springleaf by boss1090 Another clean Logon for Windows XP.  Great job!
	Broadside by kenwas It’s almost hard to tell if these are rendered images, or actual pictures.  Fantastic job.
	GB-02 by gmc2 This is a WindowBlinds skin with a bold color, and cool start menu.

I am so glad it’s Friday, aren’t you?  Well of course you are, and as in typical fashion, This Week in Skinning is here to give you a taste of some featured skins you might have missed this past week.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Black Ovation by Murex This is a simple, dark theme for DesktopX.  Fantastic job on this one.
	Neurons by muckman This .dream looks pretty awesome on the desktop, especially with a dark skin.  Check it out.
	ObjectDock Config by theAVMAN If you need a new config icon for ObjectDock, look no further as theAVMAN brings us this slick icon to use.
	Microsoft Special System by wstaylor This is a cool set of wallpapers created by wstaylor, so be sure to grab these.
	Fuzz. by skinhit This design reminds me of something, just can’t quite remember what it was.  However, it’s still cool.  Great job.
	Alien farstar wb by madcat21 This is a very detailed, and well thought out design.  Great job on this.

We are just about at the mid-point of the month, and one of the biggest things going on right now is the work on WinCustomize 2009.  I would give more details, but not today. 

Good skins coming in, and not much else going on this week, so here are this weeks picks!

	River of Dreams by DEVJIT A new version of BootSkin Vista was released this week, and this bootskin just looks great.
	Winter by BoXXi This was made to match the Winter skin, but even though it’s getting warmer, it’s still a great cursor theme.
	Whoville 5025 by TheMasterBaron This is just an incredible .dream.  Just download it.
	Drive Mastery by AHiLdesigns Hard to describe this wallpaper, but it’s a beautiful design, and that’s good enough for me.
	wicked. by Skinhit This is his first “sci-fi” wallpaper, and I say keep them coming!

We are in the process of updating IconDeveloper, and we wanted to take this opportunity to ask the community for feedback. 

https://www.stardock.com/products/icondeveloper/

Basically, what you like to see to make IconDeveloper really shine?  We would also be interested to hear if you use IconDeveloper, and reasons why or why not.

We are looking for feature suggestions, but if you have bugs you want to bring to our attention, please tag it with #bug in your comment so we can sort through them.

Thank for your help!

Over the past couple of months WinCustomize has had a huge influx of ports, with the majority going to the BootSkin and LogonStudio libraries.  In case you are not familiar with what a port is, it’s basically a skin, image, etc. which was created by one person, and uploaded by another user.  For example, a wallpaper artist might give permission for someone to use their wallpapers as logons, bootskins, etc.

This has been a long standing “controversial” issue, and I’m not about to open that specific discussion again, but there are things people need to keep in mind.

1. Permissions are needed.  Skins uploaded without permission from the person who created the skin or image are considered rips.  People have been contacting me upset because their skin was rejected because permissions were not included.  There is no exception to this rule, and it applies to everyone.  Permissions also need to be clear and just a link to a site is not accepted. 
   
   
2. Stock images need verification too.  If you are using “stock” images that are free to use, then you need to at least link to the page that explicitly states this. 
   
   
3. Credits need to be given.  Since the skin is based off someone else’s work, they need to be credited in the skin description.
   
   
4. Quality, not quantity.  We have had upwards of 50+ ports uploaded to each of the galleries a day.  Because of this, we have had to put up an un-written rule of a 5 port limit per day.  This many ports delays other skins from being moderated, especially when we have to verify permissions for each.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please direct them to this thread.