Zonic has released version 1.1 of it's Photoshop plugin, IconLab. IconLab is a file format plug-in that provides .ICNS support to Adobe Photoshop as if it were any other standard graphics format. With IconLab you can open and save .ICNS files directly in Photoshop, allowing you to use the powerful graphic application as a your icon editor, giving you the full power of layers and filters when constructing your icons.

IconLab costs $24.95 and has a 7-day trial period.

Iconkits.com, which offers high-quality royalty-free icons to developers, is pleased to announce it's latest icon kit, Plastic Base Kit. This kit includes 160 icons in a plastic and shinny style. The icons fit perfectly into any Mac OS X application, they also work great in other environments. Plastic Base Kit will give your applications or web sites a professional and modern look. The Plastic Base Icon Kit is available today for just 199 USD.

For other royalty-free icon collections by this and other artists, see the stock icons section of InterfaceLIFT.

Almost from day one you've been screaming for an email list announcing when new content is posted to InterfaceLIFT. I have finally implemented a version of this in the form of a weekly newsletter sent out on Friday mornings.

If the response is good I plan to eventually beef up the service based on your suggestions and allow for plenty of end-user customization. For instance, event-driven notifications might be useful for those of you wanting to know when your favorite artists post new content. If you're a content provider, you might want to automatically be alerted when your submissions go online. The possibilities are endless and are ultimately up to your feedback.

I'm looking for a few guinea pigs to beta test the new feature. If you are interested in helping out, visit our signup page to opt in. In particular I'm looking for a good sampling of users to test out compatibility of the HTML messages with mail clients (particularly webmail), and I'll be testing for any load issues with the implementation.

For this initial phase, please only sign up if you are willing to provide feedback as I'll be limiting the number of signups this week. If things go well I'll open the floodgates the following week and start entertaining feature requests and other suggestions.

--Jeff

In response to your suggestions, we have added the ability to browse our desktop wallpapers section by resolution, ignoring any images that aren't available in the size you are looking for.

• 2560 x 1600 (widescreen)
• 1920 x 1200 (widescreen)
• 1680 x 1050 (widescreen)
• 1600 x 1200
• 1440 x 900 (widescreen)
• 1280 x 960
• 1024 x 768

We also have instructions for figuring out which resolution you need for your monitor.

Apple has announced a second Dashboard Widget Contest, running through January 5th, 2005. The winner will receive a 40 GB Apple iPod and public recognition for their work. Be sure to read the official contest rules [pdf] and download the Dashboard SDK (available to ADC software seed key holders only).

Additionally, Apple has published a in depth Dashboard development guide. The guide explains how Dashboard Widgets work and an introduction on how to create your own.

"XP Candy is the perfect icon pak for your Windows OS or candy style web site. The Icons have been produced using the XP colour palette so that they blend seamlessly in to the OS. They have also been produced in a larger sizes then our other icon paks. Download today for a professional touch to your GUI or web site."

For other royalty-free icon collections by this and other artists, see the stock icons section of InterfaceLIFT.

Macrabbit has released a new version of its popular desktop wallpaper utility for Mac OS X 10.3. DeskShade 2 adds a desktop organizer, support for iPhoto albums, desktop transitions, DeskShade:// links, and much more. Deskshade 2 is available for $12.99 after a fully functional 15-day trial period.

For high-resolution desktop backgrounds, visit the Wallpapers section of InterfaceLIFT.

InterfaceLIFT is pleased to announce that it has created RSS 2.0 feeds for each of its major content areas. Now your newsreader can alert you whenever InterfaceLIFT is updated with new content. Mozilla Firefox users can even set up LiveBookmarks.

For links to the full set of RSS feeds, visit http://interfacelift.com/site/rss.html or click the 'rss' link at the bottom of any page.

Iconkits.com, which offers high-quality royalty-free icons to developers, is pleased to announce it's latest icon kit, XPhat Base Kit includes 160 high-quality royalty-free icons. These icons are rendered in a soft style with a touch of XP, that makes them fit perfect into any Windows environment. XPhat Base Kit is available today for just $199 USD.

For other royalty-free icon collections by this and other artists, see the stock icons section of InterfaceLIFT.

Med-designs, suppliers of high quality royalty-free icons and RapidWeaver Themes, has just uncovered their new web site. As well as a new glossy feel and look, there is also a small teaser of the new XP icon kit, coming soon. Keep Checking back for new updates.