Just like the most popular desktops in 2008, this list is comprised by the popularity of the post in 2009. You can click through to the original post for details regarding how each user put together his/her killer desktop. So check out the top 13 featured desktops below, including Enigma, the one that started off the year with a bang.

The Enigma 2.0 Desktop

The updated Enigma Desktop set the tone for the entire year—it all started with the first 2.0 version being released with an installer, followed with Rainmeter 1.0 bringing the Enigma desktop to everyone as the default theme, and then the year came to a close with Rainmeter 1.1 making it even easier to use with tools that let you modify your theme without mucking around in code. Impressive work, Kaelri!

The Starlight Desktop

The Reader rykennedyan's Starlight desktop was far and away the most popular single desktop of 2009, and with a beautiful wallpaper like that, it's not hard to understand what drew readers in—but the theme had much more going on, with an entire set of launchers and system information in a bar at the bottom of the screen.

The Halo 3 HUD Desktop

Barely a week went by after the amazing Starlight desktop before rykennedyan blew us all away again by transforming his desktop into an impressive recreation of the popular Halo 3 first-person shooter, complete with system stats and information blended into the screen.

The SpiderMac Desktop

Reader zackshackleton's desktop took a comic book panel and blended the system stats right into the conversation bubbles, making one of the most fun desktops we've seen all year—and sparking a wave of desktops with stats integrated directly into unlikely background images.

The Windows 2019 Desktop

Reader Painkilla05's stylish desktop was inspired from a Microsoft research video showing what computer interfaces might look like in the year 2019, with system stats and information wrapped around the sides of the screen—just like they might be on a futuristic tablet.

The Star's Memory Desktop

Reader Chaebi69 took the Enigma desktop customization, transformed it with an artistic wallpaper, and blended the whole thing together into one of the first great looking desktops of the year—and it didn't hurt that he included the Hulk.

The LCARS for Mac Desktop

What desktop nerd-fest would be complete without at least one LCARS desktop? Reader momoses answered the call for one of the most often-requested customizations and turned his Mac into a lookalike for the computer display in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Gothic Century Desktop

Reader chaebi69 continued his artistic flair with this stunning display of useful information blended perfectly into a simple wallpaper. Between the vertical calendar, customized dock, and Century Gothic font, it was an amazing theme that fit together extremely well.

The OS X Alpha Geek Desktop

If there was a prize for the nerdiest desktop, there's no question at all that reader Andreas would win, and while it's not the most beautiful desktop in the world, the incredible amount of information that he was able to pack into one screen is simply amazing.

The Minimalist OS X Desktop

Reader нawk went an entirely different route—instead of overloading the screen with loads of information, he stuck with a simple wallpaper and just the important system stats, ending up with a clean, minimalistic look that sparked a wave of minimal desktops.

The Gaia Desktop

The Gaia desktop suite transformed reader Sweetshop Union's Windows 7 desktop with widgets, wallpaper, Rainmeter, and a visual style to match, resulting in a polished, unique, and beautiful overall look.

The Retro Enigma Desktop

Reader Cody took the Enigma desktop customization and combined it with a retro vector wallpaper to make a slick, colorful, and completely awesome theme.

The Neon Rings Desktop

Reader TDuck's OS X desktop was all about the beautiful wallpaper image, but if you look closely you'll see that he blended circular system information graphs right into the slick overall theme.

Have a favorite featured desktop from 2009 that wasn't featured here? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Send your best design of a new icon that really represents iTunes to me at contests@gizmodo.com with "iTunes icon" in the subject line by next Tuesday morning. Save your entries as JPGs, PNGs or GIFs and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention using whatever name you want to be credited with. On Tuesday, I'll pick the three best/most awful entries as our winners and post the rest of the best in the Gallery of Champions. Get cracking, in case something comes along and slays the iPod.

It's a free download from Einar Andersson & Tor Rauden Källstigen that includes an installer and everything. In other words, you can pretty much double click your way to emoji bliss. And once you're done, maybe you could ping Jason Chen and remind him that I don't need to see that little poop guy every time he forgets his Lactaid. [Emoji for iChat via TUAW]

Yes, it's dorky. Yes, it turns your computer into an ad for the new Star Trek movie. And yes, I'm still about to make the latest NCC-1701 into my new hard drive.

Don't judge me. [The Icon Factory]

The primary backlight system may block light from the secondary backlight system except for those one or more regions. Thus, the size and shape of the status indicator may be set by sizing and shaping the transparent or semitransparent regions of the primary backlight system. In addition to setting the size and shape of the icon, the color of the icon may also be set by adjusting the color of the light provided by the secondary backlight system.

For example, each indicator may have a particular color, blinking speed, or light intensity. These properties may be programmed into the electronic device by the user, or may be hard-coded or hard-wired into the system. Thus, when the secondary backlight is turned on, the properties of the light provided by the secondary backlight system may depend on the status of the device. Also, if the status of the electronic device changes while the secondary backlight is on, the properties of the light provided by the secondary backlight system may change to reflect the new status.

To avoid depleting the battery, these icons' backlight system will be low-power. Don't get your expectations too high, however. The patent doesn't clearly explains how the icons themselves may be displayed. By the look of the diagrams included, they may not even be actual pixel-based icons, but cut-outs illuminated by individual LED lights shining through the main display.

But of course, you know that this may be something completely different from what the diagram shows, since the drawings included in patents always seem to be drawn by a monkey on drugs. At least, I want to believe this thing is more like the illustration I did, because if it's just little icons—like every other single cheap clamshell cellphone out there—I won't be very excited. [Apple Insider]

Technology Review has rounded up a bunch of objects that it feels are design classics from the past 30 or so years and got a bunch of industrial designers to talk about them. And you've gotta admit they're right—on some of the candidates, at least. First up is the Polaroid SX-70, which dates back to 1972.

Polaroid's first fully automatic, motorized camera was an instant design classic. Detailed with tan leather, it folded into a rectangle the size of a paperback book. Andrew Logan, principal designer at Frog Design, admires it for the "immediacy of a favorable output." He explains: "Instead of waiting days to see if you took a good photo, you could take it again right away."

There's a gallery below, and after the jump you can vote for your favorite piece of shiny loveliness.

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Mine has got to be the Sony Walkman, because I was always in my room making mixtapes as a kid. – Ad Dugdale

Objects of desire [Technology Review]

We like the one above. Can you guess why? We're going to need a large version of this so we can frame it. – Jason Chen

Flickr Gallery [Flickr]

Wii Safety: The Missing Pages [Iconfactory]