The new rollover tooltips in AutoCAD 2009 gives you the ability to see common object properties as you rollover an object on screen. You can also disable them if you don't want them but give them a chance, AutoCAD system variable "ROLLOVERTIPS set to 0.
These rollover tooltips are customizable in the Customize User Interface "CUI".
So I changed what would display when I rollover a Hatch object to show the cumulative area.
Couple more nuggets:
Robert Green published an article in Cadalyst Autodesk Unveils 2009 Lineup, Part 1
Did you notice that Steve Johnson started a blog? 
Eeek...what has the digital world come to. ;-)
Please join me in welcoming Steve who lives far out there in Perth Australia to the CAD blogging world.
http://www.blog.cadnauseam.com/