WordPress 2.7 is released

I'll give Brad a pass on being a tad premature with the WordPress 2.7's announcement, because I know that he -- like many of us who use WordPress to power our self-hosted blogs -- was just super-excited about the new release. Well, the wait is over and the official release for WordPress 2.7 is now available from WordPress.org.
WordPress 2.7, named "Coltrane" in honor of the Jazz legend, is a pretty significant step forward in WordPress's history. As Brad noted in his first look at the 2.7 beta, most of these changes are on the backend, but they are designed to greatly enhance your productivity and speed in maintaining your blog. On the front-end side, threaded comment support and support for "sticky" posts make it easier for readers to communicate with one another and access important information.
You can check out the WordPress Codex for 2.7 to see some of the technical details behind the new changes. I had a chance to talk to Mark Jaquith, one of the lead developers for WordPress .org, about the new release and some of his favorite features.
radical change from WordPress 2.5/2.6 and the 2.x series before it. What went into the development and what are some of your favorite UI features?
Mark Jaquith: We did a series of user tests on the 2.5/2.6 admin as well as on an experimental branch nicknamed "Crazyhorse." It involved eye tracking and timing and other nerdy goodies. We got a ton of data from this, as well as a new UI resource in the form of Jane Wells, now an Automattic employee. Jane came in with a lot of UI and usability knowhow, but relative unfamiliarity with WordPress, at least compared to the core developers.
That turned out to be a really good combination, as she challenged a lot of things that we had just sort of taken for granted, or written off as too difficult to fix properly. She was able to tell us exactly why those things needed to be fixed, and back it up with real data. This was a huge change from before, where we'd do things based on instinct or bow to the loudest voices shouting about a problem they were having. I found myself looking at UI issues from new perspectives, and I think the quality of our UI work improved measurably. Everyone seemed really excited about 2.7 development. We had over 150 people contribute code to the release, and many in the core team put in long hours sweating the details together.
My favorite UI features are the customizable post screen and the menu system. I'm especially proud of the new Publish module on the post screen. It's a small thing, but it's an essential and powerful area. I spent a lot of time on that, figuring out ways to make it more intuitive. One example: if you set a post date to a time in the
future, the "Publish" button changes to "Schedule," on the fly. That way you're absolutely certain of what happens when you press that button.
DLS: What are your favorite WordPress 2.7 features or additions?
Mark: My number one favorite feature is the comment moderation keyboard shortcuts. Dealing with comments has always been tedious. Anyone who has ever moderated more than ten comments in one sitting has gotten
mouse fatigue trying to click those "Spam" and "Approve" and "Delete" links over and over. Now, you can moderate comments -- even reply to them -- all without touching the mouse. It's fast, it's efficient, and anyone who gets more than ten comments a day is going to fall in love with it.
My second favorite feature is probably the built-in core upgrades. Too many people are running old versions of WordPress, and a big reason for that is not lack of knowledge, but fear of the upgrade process. This makes upgrading really fast, and really simple. I hope it means that more people will be keeping their WordPress site up to date!
DLS: Auto-updating of the WordPress core is a huge, huge addition. Is there anything (that you know of) that users need to check with their host or server configurations to use this feature?
Mark: The WordPress documentation has a list of compatible hosts
(http://codex.wordpress.org/Core_Update_Host_Compatibility) but there
are certainly things you can do to make things go smoothly. They're a little geeky, but once you get them sorted out, you should be good from then on.
There are two upgrade methods:
The first, and the fastest, is the direct method. This happens only if the server has the ability to overwrite your WordPress files. You'll have to check the "ownership" of the files as well as their permissions. Check with your host about these settings.
The second method is FTP, which is slower, but the only option for many people. For this, you'll usually want the "owner" of the files to be your FTP username. If you can edit your WordPress files via FTP, you're probably good to go here. With this method, you'll get asked for your FTP information.
We hope that web hosts will help their users get any initial permissions tweaks done -- it's in their interest to keep WordPress installs on their server secure and up-to-date!
DLS: Are there any backend code changes you guys are especially proud of or happy with?
Mark: The bulk of the effort was focused on the admin UI, but some backend
stuff was changed. The number one "hidden" backend change was the addition of the comments API. Wouldn't it be cool if you could moderate your comments from your iPhone or from your desktop blogging application? Stay tuned!
DLS: Is there anything for users upgrading to be aware of in advance?
Mark: Any plugin that modifies the administration interface (like custom admin themes) is certainly going to break, but that's to be expected. The good news is that while a lot changed visually, not that much
changed as far as API functions and core WordPress functions. Fewer things are going to break that you'd expect.
Remember that 2.6.5 is still secure -- so if you want to wait a few days to see if your favorite plugins come out with updated versions, you could. Of course, we'll all be partying without you!
--
I'd like to thank Mark for taking the time to talk to me about WordPress 2.7. WordPress 2.7 is free and available from WordPress.org. If you're hesitant about the upgrade (mine went perfectly from 2.6.5 to 2.7), check out these plugin, theme and host from the WordPress Codex.
And check out our gallery of WordPress 2.7 screenshots that highlight some of our favorite features! [Via: Download Squad ] [Tag: blogging, interview, interviews, mark jaquith, MarkJaquith, wordpress, wordpress-2.7 ]

Study: Digital divide is alive and well in the US

You know that blank stare you got from your parents the first time you gave them your email address? Apparently you're not alone. According to a new survey from Park Associates, nearly one fifth of all heads of household in the US have never used email. And 20 million households are without internet access. That's about 18% of American households.Here are a few more fun facts:

• Only 7 percent of those 20 million households plants to sign up for internet service within the next year.
  
• Almost 33 % of heads of household have never created a document on a computer
  
• Half of the folks who say they've never used email are over 65
  
• More than half of those who haven't ever used email have no post-secondary education

The study did find some good news (if you count the fact that more and more people are spending their days in front of a computer screen good news). The number of "disconnected" households dropped from 29 percent in 2006.

[Via: CNET ]
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OLPC Sugar OS takes on a life of its own, will anybody care?

The OLPC team yesterday announced plans to load Windows XP on XO Laptops in a handful of countries in June as part of a limited trial. By September, Windows could be available to any developing nation placing orders for XO Laptops. And today, Walter Bender, the former president of software for the OLPC Foundation says the unique software interface that was designed for the XO Laptop will live on. Maybe.

Here's a little background. The XO Laptop was designed to be a cheap laptop that could be distributed in developing nations to help bridge the digital divide. The original plan for the XO was to use Linux as an operating system because it's cheap, works well on low-powered devices, and because it's open source anyone could write software for it easily. A unique desktop environment called Sugar was built to make Linux more user-friendly. But many governments have been reluctant to place orders for the laptops because they don't run Windows, which is the desktop operating system used by most of the rest of the world. So the OLPC Foundation has been working with Microsoft to bring a low cost version of Windows XP to the XO.

But what does that mean for Sugar? Walter Bender says Sugar Labs, a new non-profit will develop new versions of the software. The goal is to continue developing open source software for the XO so that children in developing nations will be exposed to open source applications and ideals as they learn about computing. The question is, if Windows XP is available for just $3 more than Linux, will anybody buy the Linux/Sugar version? Yes, we know that many Download Squad readers would be more interested in the Linux models, but if the goal is to give school-age children in your country computer literacy, wouldn't you want them to use the same software that most students in countries like the US are using?

[Via: Download Squad ]
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More acquisitions: Comcast buys Plaxo, Ask.com buys Dictionary.com

There must be something in the water this week. While the biggest new media acquisition story of the day has to be CBS buying CNET for $1.8 billion, big companies are swallowing up smaller ones left and right. Media company Comcast is buying social networking site Plaxo for something like $150 million, while Ask.com is shelling out an undisclosed sum for Lexico, the company that runs Dictionary.com.

While there's been a lot of speculation recently that someone was going to buy Plaxo, Comcast wasn't the first company that sprung to mind. We figured a company that already has ties to the social networking space like Google or Facebook would have made more sense. In a blog post on the subject, Plaxo CEO Ben Golub says Comcast has plans to "bring the social media experience to mainstream consumers." That means using Plaxo's technology to connect with your contacts across multiple devices. And since Comcast is already in the TV, phone, and ISP business, it should be interesting to see how this plays out. Perhaps your TV viewing habits will automatically be added to your social networking profile? Yeah, we hope not.

The Ask.com/Lexico deal seems like a more natural fit. We doubt Lexico's popular web sites like Dictionary.com will disappear. Rather, Ask will be able to increase its overall web traffic by bringing the new sites into the fold.

[Via: Download Squad ]
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Amazon to collect taxes in NY while fighting NY in court

While Amazon plans to fight New York's recent decision to start collecting, the company has updated its tax collection page to let NY customers know that it will begin collecting tax on June 1st.

The state of New York recently passed legislation which requires any company with affiliates in the state to collect taxes on any items sold in New York. That covers companies like Amazon which allow individual bloggers and web site operators to add links to Amazon products on their web sites. Amazon doesn't actually have any warehouses or business offices in New York. But thousands of New Yorkers who blog who run part time businesses from their home are considered representatives of the company under the state law, which means Amazon has to collect taxes.

Yesterday, Overstock.com decided that the easiest way to avoid paying taxes was to temporarily suspend its relationships with New York-based affiliates. But Amazon, which has already vowed to fight the new law in court, must be making a fair amount of money from New York based affiliates, because the company will instead collect taxes until the issue is resolved, even if that discourages some New Yorkers from buying products through Amazon.

[Via: CNET ]
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How I met your Download.com: CBS buys CNET

CBS is buying CNET. For $1.8 billion in cash. While that might seem like a drop in the bucket compared to some buyout offers we've seen recently, that's still a lot of cash flowing from an old media company to a new one.

CBS is no stranger to new media. The company purchased the internet radio service Last.fm last year. But according to a press release put out by CBS this morning, this acquisition will make CBS "one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States."

CNET Networks owns a whole slew of internet sites, including ZDNet, GameSpot, TV.com, MP3.com, Download.com, and of course, CNET and News.com.

[Via: Brian Alvey ]
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Photoshop Express gets Flickr support

The Photoshop Express public beta launched about six weeks ago and other than some early concerns about the ToS, we continue to be impressed with the service. Today, Adobe has added a number of new features to the service, including support for Flickr.

At the conference call in March, we asked Adobe about their plans for integrating Photoshop Express with other web services and they assured us Flickr support was on the way. It's available now and we think it adds a lot of value to both services. Now you can download your Flickr photos directly into Photoshop Express for cropping, color correction, digital effects, etc. Photos edited with Photoshop Express can be immediately re-exported/uploaded to Flickr all in one seamless step.

Additionally, Adobe has added a new "Save As" feature so that you can save multiple versions of a photo in addition to the original image. Adobe has also introduced a new embeddable media player for photo slideshows that can be used with Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites.

Adobe Photoshop Express is free and available now.

[Via: Download Squad ]
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The Internet Archive, busy protecting us from ourselves

We don't like to make political statements too often here at DLS. It just seems a lot less complicated to fight over software, or whether or not something is Web 2.0, or pirates and ninjas. Every once in a while, though, something comes up that's just a little too out of line not to mention.

Wired reports that back in November, the FBI paid a visit to The Internet Archive and served founder Brewster Kahle with a National Security Letter. The NSL (.pdf link, be warned) is a funny sort of document. It is a subpoena that can be issued without a judge's watchful eye. It usually comes with an order to not tell anyone that the person in question has received it, excepting, of course, their lawyer. So Kahle couldn't tell board members, or his staff, or his teddy bear without legal repercussions.

NSLs aren't really new, but they've blossomed since the USA Patriot Act was enacted. According to Wired, though the FBI guidelines don't encourage frequent use, Congressional audits and the FBI itself reveal that it is likely that hundreds of thousands have been issued in the past seven years. It's likely, because, you know, the FBI doesn't actually seem to track how many they've used. Oh, whoops.

The other dimension to this drama is that the Internet Archive is more of a library than an ISP/communications provider. It seems, in light of that, that the NSL used was actually not the proper document to request the sort of things it was requesting from that institution. Whoops again.

This week, the government and The Internet Archive reached a settlement in regards to the NSL issue. The issued NSL is officially off the table. The Internet Archive can't say anything about what the information was that got the FBI so riled up in the first place.

Seeing that the Internet Archive archives public information, that anonymous browsing is allowed, and all that's required to sign up for an account is an email address, username and password (Kahle says IP addresses aren't logged) it doesn't seem as though the FBI will really find much helpful information. They will find a whole lot of Grateful Dead recordings, if that's any consolation.
[Via: LISNews ]
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The Internet Archive, busy protecting us from ourselves

We don't like to make political statements too often here at DLS. It just seems a lot less complicated to fight over software, or whether or not something is Web 2.0, or pirates and ninjas. Every once in a while, though, something comes up that's just a little too out of line not to mention.

Wired reports that back in November, the FBI paid a visit to The Internet Archive and served founder Brewster Kahle with a National Security Letter. The NSL (.pdf link, be warned) is a funny sort of document. It is a subpoena that can be issued without a judge's watchful eye. It usually comes with an order to not tell anyone that the person in question has received it, excepting, of course, their lawyer. So Kahle couldn't tell board members, or his staff, or his teddy bear without legal repercussions.

NSLs aren't really new, but they've blossomed since the USA Patriot Act was enacted. According to Wired, though the FBI guidelines don't encourage frequent use, Congressional audits and the FBI itself reveal that it is likely that hundreds of thousands have been issued in the past seven years. It's likely, because, you know, the FBI doesn't actually seem to track how many they've used. Oh, whoops.

The other dimension to this drama is that the Internet Archive is more of a library than an ISP/communications provider. It seems, in light of that, that the NSL used was actually not the proper document to request the sort of things it was requesting from that institution. Whoops again.

This week, the government and The Internet Archive reached a settlement in regards to the NSL issue. The issued NSL is officially off the table. The Internet Archive can't say anything about what the information was that got the FBI so riled up in the first place.

Seeing that the Internet Archive archives public information, that anonymous browsing is allowed, and all that's required to sign up for an account is an email address, username and password (Kahle says IP addresses aren't logged) it doesn't seem as though the FBI will really find much helpful information. They will find a whole lot of Grateful Dead recordings, if that's any consolation.
[Via: LISNews ]
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SourceForge implements OpenID

It's official - SourceForge.net has joined the OpenID bandwagon. SourceForge, the world's largest open source software development website, is a little late to the party but nonetheless, it's nice to see a leader of the open source community adopting OpenID and walking the walk.

OpenID is an open source, decentralized, digital identity user system which allows users to have one identity across the internet and alleviates the hassle of having multiple user names and passwords to log-in to different sites.

OpenID is gaining traction with big companies such as AOL, Sun, Microsoft, and Novell who are accepting and providing OpenIDs. Today it is estimated that there are over 160-million OpenID enabled URIs with nearly ten-thousand sites supporting OpenID logins.

Thanks FF!
[Via: Download Squad ]
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