I’m begining to see a pattern to .Parth’s releases and I’ve come to the only possible conclusion: the man is hell bent on galactic domination. True, he’s only released a few orbs that resemble better-designed versions of our solar systems planets, but I still think it’s part of a greater ploy. If, however, it is not — and he’s merely a mild mannered designer on a planet scuplting bent, playing too much Spore — then I still think he’s raising the bar too high. Damn it man, planets just aren’t meant too look so oggle-able. Still, it’s be a shame not to include a link after that whole rant, so download Asarte and have a look.

Right then. The roundup is back, oh yes, bigger, better and sexier than ever before. Ok, that’s a lie, it couldn’t get any bigger, better or sexier, but it’s certainly operating at full pace. Charging down the corders of the release forums to bring you, the good people of macthemes, a taste of the UI beauty that lies beyond.

Today, I’m a very happy man. Not only because I’ve had the most excellent of christmases imaginable, but also because I’ve seen two long awaited icons released on the same day. As many of us here know, icon development can take a long time. A long long time. But, when something, is finally released, we must celebrate with the utmost decorum. Two new designers are the source of my happiness, releasing two icons that I have sought after for quite some time now. The first, Uni Drive by shlizun is a stunning metallic hard drive icon based on the new MacBook and MacBook Pro’s. Provided in all the usual variations, including idisk’s and externals.

The second icon is something a little different. I have absolutely no idea what I will do with it, perhaps nothing but ogle the poor thing. Never the less, .Parth’s The Red Planet is a beautiful piece and would do well in any UI consumers swag bag.

Well, more like Bow, Bow, Bow. Bowtie, that is.
Developer Matt Patenaude’s seasonal gift to us at MacThemes is the second beta of the incredibly useful and easily skinnable iTunes controller, Bowtie. This iteration fixes a few bugs, as well as adds multiple options, such as a menu bar only option, among many, many other changes. One of my personal favorite new features is the brand-new PowerSearch, which makes finding the song you want a snap without even opening iTunes. You can find Bowtie Beta 2 in the forums or just go straight to its site.

Global warming sucks. The climate crisis is a very uncomfortable truth, and while I don’t make light of it lightly I will take this opportunity to bring to the Front Page Subzero by .Parth. It’s not the Mortal Kombat character that I used to kick ass with, but instead a gorgeous 90% hand-drawn rendition of our blue planet if global warming lead to global freezing. I’d also like to point out that this entire post managed to resist using the word “cool.”

With a new kid, his MD studies, and his moderating duties on our forums, I really can’t blame Jonas for being a little reluctant to update his 2004 Jmail icon set, but update it he has. Personally if I had some time between diaper changes and exams I’d probably sleep, or at least go drink a slushie; thankfully, he decided instead to bring us Jmail 2008 as an early Christmas bonus. Redone from scratch—cause, you know, he had to—and feeling particularly generous, Mr. Rask has also included a PSD so we can tinker to our hearts’ content.

It was almost Christmas and everyone was out partying, enjoying life, and generally avoiding Photoshop.

Tim Burton, a man of extraordinary talent, wrote and produced quite possibly my favorite film of all time: The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was only later on in my life that I discovered that the models for the movie had been built around the corner from my home. And it was later still that Louie Mantia released this updated version of the Spiral Hill, an iconic image from the film.

Today was quiet, or at least as quiet as this rowdy little board gets anyway. Today’s roundup covers just two releases: a sexy new MacBook Pro icon and a new iPhone theme based on the work of David Lanham.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, we always start with the icons and slip down a gear to whatever extra tidbits strike my fancy. Constantin Eichstaedt joined us here on the forums a little under seven months ago and recently released a spectacular MacBook icon. Today he released his version of a MacBook Pro, which is equally spectacular.

The iPhone theming scene has been growing steadily for a while now and since the release of Winterboard, which added many new areas of skinability to its predecessor, Summerboard, the scene has been booming (in quantity, at least). Combine this with one of the most popular icon sets available to OS X’s user base and you’re in for something exciting. Jon released his version of Amora a few days ago and is now on one of the smallest lists in the world: the list of iPhone themes I’d willingly apply to my phone.

Once again I’ve sifted through the multitude of MacThemes threads in order to uncover the coolest new releases—and at no extra charge, no less!

As you may have guessed, I love icons, and they’re by far my favorite type of changeable UI element. I’ll kick things off with Barry Mieny’s Virtually There, followed up by something by one of my favorite, underrated icon artists, Dustin. His work has improved constantly with every release, and has given you all a DIY kit for your movie collection.

Wallpapers are everywhere, and finding a great one is like looking for a needle in a haystack: tiring, boring and, more often than not, unsuccessful. So today I’m posting up a Bowtie theme that struck me as being extra sharp. True Vinyl by Nicka uses nostalgia and modern design in equal measures, looking great on any desktop that’s got enough screen space!