WordPress 2.6.5
WordPress 2.6.5 has been released! If you’re wondering where WP 2.6.4 is, it looks like the Automattic team decided to skip that version because of the fake WordPresz release that have been circling the Web. Emphasis below:
Note that we are skipping version 2.6.4 and jumping from 2.6.3 to 2.6.5 to avoid confusion with a fake 2.6.4 release that made the rounds. There is not and never will be a version 2.6.4.
The WP 2.6.5 update contains security fixes to XSS exploits as well as some bug fixes. Peter Westwood also writes about this in detail.
For WordPress MU users, a new release of the same version is also out, addressing more or less the same issues.
WordPress.org’s Showcase section promotes WP-powered sites that push the envelope
Those who wonder whether WordPress should be used for more than just blogs might think twice with the launch of Showcase, a new WordPress.org section which features “some of the best and brightest WordPress users, who are using it to do a whole lot more than blog”.
WordPress.org, WordPress.com, WordPress.com VIP, and WordPress MU users are all welcome to submit their sites. Screenshots are updated almost in real time.
This is definitely a gallery-type site I’d want my site to be featured in! It’s great that WordPress is adding more features to strengthen its user community. I sure hope many Philippine sites make the cut.
WordPress MU 2.6.2
WordPress MU 2.6.2 is a required upgrade with several significant bug fixes, though no urgent security issues (unlike WordPress 2.6.2).
Download the latest version of WordPress MU here.
WordPress MU 2.6.1
In coordination with the last official release of WordPress, WordPress MU 2.6.1 is out. Unlike WP 2.6.1, though, which is a maintenance release, WP MU 2.6.1 is required.
Download the latest version of WordPress MU here.
WordPress MU 2.6
WordPress multi-user or WPMU is now version 2.6, whose code was based on the standard WordPress 2.6 release. You’ll find similar new features like the return of the “Press This!” bookmarklet, Google Gears support, theme previews, and so on. Donncha O Caiomh has more details.
Download WordPress MU 2.6 here.
WordPress 2.6 Beta 3, WordPress MU 2.6 beta 1 (2.6 final is 1 week away!)
The Automattic team continues to push out new updates for the WordPress 2.6 branch, WordPress MU included. Once more Ryan Boren is the bearer of the new beta release, download the zip file here.
He also writes that the final release of WordPress 2.6 is just 1 week away, contrary to the belief that it would come out last July 7. That’s still a reasonable delay, considering everybody’s still getting used to 2.5!
StayPress is a WordPress-powered Booking System
Here’s another neat use of WordPress to add to the list. StayPress is a “property management and bookings system” that can run on either WordPress or WordPress MU.
Of course when I say Property, I actually mean any bookable resource of which there is a finite availability. So the StayPress system will be able to manage property rentals, hotel room rentals, conference rooms and centres, B and B’s, training rooms, bands, etc…
This is a really helpful tool especially for the Philippine real estate and resort companies out there. You’re running out of reasons to not use WordPress!
BuddyPress is a WordPress MU Social Network Platform
If you enjoy all the features of WordPress, particularly its multi-user version WordPress MU, but would like to take it a step further and produce one of the hottest places to be on the web right now, a social network, then BuddyPress might be the solution you’re looking for.
BuddyPress is still essentially blogging software but “removes the main focus of WordPress MU away from blogs, moving it more towards the actual member themselves.” Instead of having blogging as its main feature, it’s now one features in addition to more detailed profile pages, private messaging, friends, groups, status updates, photo albums, and something called The Wire, which is basically where friends can leave messages on one’s profile page ala MySpace comments.
Rolling out a custom social network seems like the next logical step after blogging. In the Philippines, there are a lot of bloggers but there are more of us who more easily understand the likes of Friendster and Multiply. Others believe blogging is the next social network. And that our online social lives can remain scattered across different websites like Twitter and Facebook, too. Will BuddyPress draw in the crowds? Could it equal the likes of KickApps and Ning? We’ll find out soon enough.
