WordPress Version 2.2 Getz Available For Download

The latest version of WordPress (Version 2.2 "Getz") is out now and ready for download. The new version is available in both .ZIP and .TAR.GZ formats and offers several new features, most notably widget integration. There are also over two hundred bug fixes in the new Getz version.

This Getz version is named in honor of Stan Getz (Stanley Gayetsky). He is considered of the greatest tenor saxophone players of all time and is known worldwide as "The Sound" due to his warm, lyrical tone. Here's a video shot back in 1989, two years before he died from liver cancer.


Here are some of the features Version 2.2 Getz offers:

• WordPress Widgets will allow you to easily rearrange and customize areas of your blog (usually sidebars) with drag-and-drop ease. This functionality was originally available as a plugin, but is now included by default in the core code. It's significantly cleaned up and enabled for the default themes.
• Full Atom support, including updating Atom feeds to use the 1.0 standard spec and including an implementation of the Atom Publishing API to complement WordPress's XML-RPC interface.
• A new Blogger importer that's able to handle the latest version of Google’s Blogger so you can seamlessly import posts and comments without any interaction beyond entering your login.
• Infinite comment stream, meaning that on your Edit Comments page when you delete or spam a comment using the AJAX links under each comment it will bring in another comment in the background so you always have 20 items on the page. (I know it sounds geeky, but try it!)
• WordPress now protects you from activating a plugin or editing a file that will break your blog.
• Core plugin and filter speed optimizations should make everything feel a bit more snappy and lighter on your server.
• WordPress also added a hook for WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) support in a future version of Safari.
  

For additional reading, check out Aaron Brazell's article - 10 Things You Should Know About WordPress 2.2.

Site Meter Gets A Brand New Face - And More...

Yesterday, the folks at Site Meter unveiled their brand new website. It's a total redesign from the old one, and in my opinion, it looks a million times better. It's very clean and very easy to navigate. Aaron likey.

Along with the same comprehensive real-time website tracking and counter tools that many have come to depend on from Site Meter, they've also introduced some brand new features that will provide you with valuable insight regarding your visitors. Yes, change is good.

But first, here's a screenshot of the new Site Meter website...

Now just compare it to the old one below and you can see the difference. It's like night and day. Well, I guess if night and day both had a lot of green on them. :P Anyway, it's definitely a big improvement aesthetically.

Over the next few days Site Meter will be taking care of a few issues regarding the new site. They'll be working on optimizing load times, tweaking some graphs and fixing a few other minor hiccups - all standard stuff when you launch a new site.

In addition, Site Meter will also be offering a bunch of brand new tools and features. Here's a list of some of the things that will be coming soon...

Demo Reports – These will show you the exact demographics of your site visitors.
User Interest Reports – These will show you categories of content people read when they're not on your site. Knowing this type of information will help you find out what your visitors’ real interests are. That's a goldmine!
Better Account Management – This will allow you to run numerous websites under one single account (I've been wanting this one for a long time!). You’ll also be able to utilize a single login for easier access and management.
Heat Mapping (Heatmaps) – Yay! Heatmaps will show you where your users’ mouse is on the screen so you can better set up your website. Trust me, heatmaps are your best friend!
Variable Format Reports and Export - Pie Charts, Bar Graphs, Line Graphs
Excel, CSV, Tab Delimited
Unique Visitors –Know exactly how many true unique visitors are coming to your site, not just unique hits.
Live View – This will give you up-to-the minute stats reporting. If you're a stats junky who has to know what's going on at all times, you'll like this one.

Site Meter will also be introducing features like RSS tracking, podcast tracking, spider reportss and online videos. Yep, that's right. Online videos. The videos will be high quality, relevant news and topical videos that you can put on your blog or website. So when your visitors read your content they can also watch related videos. This will keep your visitors on your site longer. Hooray!

All in all, it looks like Site Meter is definitely on the right track to keep growing steadily. And with the new look, now they can do it in style.

Tom's Mission Impossible - Opening A Car Door

Here's proof that driving an awesome car (in this case a Bugatti Veyron) doesn't necessarily make a person look cool - even if you are a movie star.

For fun, I've written some internal dialog for Tom. Honestly, I can't imagine anything much different goes through his coconut anyway.

"OK, let's see...Drive car forward to big red area. Stop car. Put car in "P" for park. Open my door and stand up. Wave like a total crotch nut. Close my door. Walk around back of car.

Wow, this is some real easy stuff!

Pull the not my door handle. Pull the not my door handle again. Keep pulling the not my door handle. Hey, how do I open the not my door, door?!"



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