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Filed under: Features, Blogging, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

WordPress 2.6 released

Only a few months after its last major release, the WordPress crew has just unleashed WordPress 2.6 into the wild. While the changes with this update aren't as visually sweeping as those ushered in with 2.5, but they do add some great new options and optimizations. WordPress encourages users to upgrade, as the old 2.5 branch will no-longer be maintained, and they have outlined the upgrade process here or you can use the fantastic automatic-update plugin.

We've been playing around with 2.6 on our local installs since the first beta was released, and we think this is a very, very solid release.

The WordPress team posted video showing off some of the new features:



Read on for our take on the new WordPress!

Read more →

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Blogging, Productivity, Web services

GTD Wiki for Bloggers by Gina Trapani and Barb Dybwad

Blog Tools wikiWeblogs Inc.'s own Barb Dybwad teamed up with Gina Trapani of Lifehacker fame this past week at the BlogHer conference to give a session called Blogging Workflow and Tips - Gina called it "how the hell to update your blog 12 times a day and still have a life".

While it would have been wonderful to be able to experience the session first hand, we'll have to be satisfied with browsing the wiki Barb and Gina set up to organize links to their favorite tools. There's also some brief commentary on various information management styles, and tips on how to handle information overload. For a small wiki, this one's packed with great information.

Filed under: Internet, Blogging, Open Source, Social Software

Wordpress 2.1 released - what you need to know

Wordpress 2.1 released - what you need to knowYou just might have to whip out Ross's post-install checklist, because the WordPress crew have unleashed a major update, dubbed "Ella", to their web-based blogging (and now CMS) platform. Matthew Mullenweg lays out a few of the many new features in their announcement post, but to summarize, v2.1 includes:
  • Autosave - this one's pretty self-explanatory; drafts are now automatically saved to prevent those dreaded "my browser crashed an all I got was this lousy blank post" moments
  • New Tabbed editor - effortlessly swap between WYSIWYG and code views
  • Lossless XML import/export - moving between WordPress blogs has never been so easy
  • Spell checking in the WYSIWYG editor
  • Search engine privacy option - is being indexed by Google putting the squeeze on your personal space? Exclude yourself from their prying bots
  • Set any page as the front page - CMS-like features are slowly creeping in, and this is a major one that users have been requesting for a while
  • Improved upload manager - more manager than mere conduit, you can now administer all your uploads
  • More AJAX administration - not content with mere eye candy, the Dashboard now includes more AJAXy goodness for better and faster back-end management
Other notables include pages that can now be drafts or private, significant improvements to database code, link sub-categories, over 550 squashed bugs, better internationalization and much, much more! Aaron Brazell also chimes in with 10 things you need to know about the new version, including some screenshots of how a few of the new goodies look and work.

Finally, if you can't wait to get your hands on the upgrade, you might want to check the WordPress 2.1 plugin compatibility page in their codex, as beta testers and developers have been laboring to put everything they can through the ringer to see just what works with the new version, and what might need updating. As with all major platform updates like this, however, you might simply need to wait a little while for everyone to get on the same page. Either way, this looks like an impressive upgrade to an increasingly popular blogging tool that i personally can't wait to get my hands on.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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