So I was searching the net for challenging tut's, and I came by this one:

http://www.lunacore.com/photoshop/tutorials/tut009.htm

its the leetness!

Check my creations:

I made a wallpaper out of the last one:
CODEhttp://rapidshare.com/files/96414042/Glass_Orb.rar

It contains 3 versions each with slightly altered shadows.

Grtz, Mornothly.

PS: I am following this tut now (also on the site)

CODEhttp://www.lunacore.com/photoshop/tutorials/tut024.htm

im not a big fan of that first one, but the second one looks alright. the problem is the aliasing between the orb and the original picture i think... it looks forced.