Improvements

New WordPress 2.7 Paves the Way for WordPress Social Networks — The popular open source blogging software WordPress has officially released version 2.7, a significant upgrade that makes huge improvements to the user interface, and, more importantly, according to founder Matt Mullenweg, the new code lays the groundwork for WordPress to expand further into the social networking realm. Automattic, WordPress' parent company, has been working for to expand and integrate the social network features of the BuddyPress plugin ever since BuddyPress creator Andy Peatling joined Automattic earlier this year. While WordPress remains vague about its goals for BuddyPress, clearly, with competitor Movable Type already well on its way to creating... [Tags: blog, competitor, cruft, elements, groundwork]

This week in open source: KDE 4.2b1, Python 3, and OpenSolaris hit 'Net — The first KDE 4.2 beta finally arrived this week with major improvements. This week also brought the long-awaited release of Python 3.0 and a promising new version of OpenSolaris.Read More...... [Tags: 2b1, awaited release, beta, improvements, kde 4]

New Samsung webcam sensor rocks 720p, small enough to matter — Earlier this morning, Samsung made an announcement that will hopefully soon lead to some major improvements as far as notebook-integrated webcams are concerned. The South Korean electronics giant has developed a 1/4-inch CMOS sensor that is capable of producing high-quality 30 frames-per-second video at 720p and it small enough to fit in just about any bezel surrounding a laptop display. Woh. The new S5K4AW imager is a major step towards a more usable notebook webcam experience compared to the choppy, low-quality caming most are forced to endure today. This new sensor also supposedly provides much better low-light video than... [Tags: bezel, binning, cmos sensor, dark pixels, giant]

Opera 10 Gets Inline Spell Checking and More — Win; Mac; Linux I’ve been waiting to see what Opera had in store for us in version 10, and it looks like everyone is finally getting a peak. In fact I’m a bit surprised by what has been revealed so far, but in a good way. For awhile it seemed like other browsers were trying to find their own ways to adopt features that were first introduced in Opera, but the opposite never really happened. By that I mean Opera never really went after the handy features that other browsers were introducing. What features am I talking about? Inline... [Tags: composition, dollar question, engine performance, fighting a losing battle, functionality]

FuzzMeasure Pro 3.1 brings new measurements — SuperMegaUltraGroovy announced an update for its audio and acoustical measurement application, FuzzMeasure Pro 3.1. The update offers new A- and C-weighted acoustical measurements, along with clipping indicators on the input level meters. Also included are improvements to the performance and display of the Waterfall plug-in, which presents a 3D layout of changing frequency response, and the Reverb...... [Tags: 3d layout, acoustical measurements, frequency response, improvements, input level]

Logo Of The Day Off To A Great Start — Well it has been just over a week since I launched the new website Logo Of The Day and I have been extremely overwhelmed by the growth of the site in such a short time… if only it was that easy to start a website from scratch every time. I wonder if the prizes (still on offer) had anything to do with it or if it was just the community spirit? I would have to say a bit of both. I am now going to share with you some of the stats and feedback so far. LOTD Stats Visitors:... [Tags: amp, bounce, community spirit, creative design, design inspiration]

Stop Worrying About Basic Research: Focus On Practical Innovation — For years, we've been among those pointing out that the really important thing in economic growth isn't invention, but innovation. It's the process of actually taking an idea and successfully bringing it to market in a way that people want that matters in the long run. Coming up with new ideas is only a small part of the process. That's why we often have so much trouble with the way the patent system works. It greatly enhances the role of simply coming up with the new idea, and then makes the important part -- the innovation -- a lot more... [Tags: academic support, amar bhide, angry comments, columbia professor, economic growth]

Tone2 gives Gladiator synth more power — Version 2 brings a long list of improvements... [Tags: gladiator, improvements, power version]

Eddy Winner: Hulu — This online video service is reliable, easy-to-use, and, thanks to major improvements, an Editors’ Choice Award winner.... [Tags: choice award winner, editors choice, improvements, video service]

Climate Change Set Back For Acidified Rivers — Climate change is hampering the long-term recovery of rivers from the effects of acid rain, with wet weather offsetting improvements, according to a new study.... [Tags: climate change, effects of acid rain, improvements, rivers, wet weather]

ThePort Network Raises $4.1 Million Second Round Led By American City Business Journals — Social media company ThePort Network has raised $4.1 million in a second round led by American City Business Journals. Existing investors Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE), Atlanta-based start-up investor Imlay Investments, and angel investor Robert Jetmundsen also participated. Co-founder and CEO Bob Cramer, who is also an angel investor, told me, "This is our first major round of investment (all the money coming at one time)." He declined to provide a total amount raised, saying the funding, until now, was angel but that some of the investors went into a first round. The company started in 1999 as an XML developer... [Tags: 1 million, angel investor, atlanta business chronicle, blackberry, business development]

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta — As expected, Microsoft announced Windows Vista and Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) today. Fear not, it’s just a traditional service pack with no major new features, but here’s the news from Mike Nash: his week we're opening up the beta to a broader audience. Starting today, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will have access to the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta to begin testing.   Beginning Thursday Dec. 4th, we will be making the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Beta available to everyone through a Customer Preview Program (CPP). The CPP will... [Tags: audience, beta, customer experience, customer preview, environments]

Windows Live: It’s Live! I Think! Partially! Stay Tuned for More! — Here’s an undeniable fact about Microsoft: It’s congenitally incapable of springing surprises on anyone. When Google unleashes a new service or improvements to an existing one, it’s typically with no warning, and the new stuff is available immediately or within a few hours to all comers. Microsoft, on the other hand, tends to give advance [...]... [Tags: comers, google, improvements, microsoft, new stuff]

GAP.com crashed on Cyber Monday — Cyber Monday saw slowdown and minor issues for several e-commerce websites. A standout was the GAP website which was completely unavailable for a total of 1 hour and 25 minutes. Gap.com crashed at 11:37 a.m. EST, responding only with a HTTP 500 server error (internal server error). Twenty minutes later, GAP put up a maintenance page with the words, “We’re updating our site to bring you a better shopping experience. Gap.com is temporarily closed for scheduled site improvements.” (Screenshot below.) Almost 40 minutes later the website came back up, but only very briefly. It didn’t stabilize until 1:06 p.m. EST.... [Tags: black friday, cyber monday, downtime, experience gap, gap]

Drop In Cancer Deaths Tied Primarily To Gains In Behavior And Screening — Behavior change and improvements in screening have contributed equally and substantially to the 13 percent decline in cancer mortality rates, according to new research. Cancer treatment after diagnosis has also contributed to the decline, although this is less of a factor than behavioral changes and screening.... [Tags: behavior change, behavioral changes, cancer deaths, cancer mortality rates, cancer treatment]

New terror guidelines on photography — No change - but police continue to bend the law New guidelines on the use of police stop and search powers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in respect of individuals taking photos in public are to be published this afternoon, according to a spokesman for the National Police Improvements Agency (NPIA).…... [Tags: improvements, national police, photography, search powers, section 44]

Intellectual Property Office refreshes web presence — The relaunched website will include a number of improvements resulting from extensive user consultation... [Tags: consultation, improvements, intellectual property office, web presence]

Another BlackBerry Storm firmware shows up — Filed under: Software, RIM, Verizon Wireless We suppose this comes with the territory when you're dealing with a major new smartphone on a major new (or heavily tweaked, anyway) platform that's in its launch infancy, but there's already a second new firmware floating around for the Storm. Actually, "floating around" isn't a great term here since Boy Genius Report isn't giving up the goods -- but the site appears to have obtained 4.7.0.76, which would be exactly 0.0.0.01 higher than the leaked firmware from earlier in the day. They've posted a laundry list of improvements and changes, giving us hope... [Tags: blackberry, boy genius report, chins, engadget mobile, fast track]

BlackBerry Storm OS 4.7.0.76, other versions left dead in their tracks — What’s that? You somehow got a hold of the 4.7.0.75 OS for the BlackBerry Storm? Well, in this heavily-connected world we call BG Land, you’re already rockin’ something old. We’re running 4.7.0.76 on our Storm, and boy, does this thing improve a whole heap more than 4.7.0.75 did. Here’s a list of the improvements we’ve found (and bugs) For starters, switching portrait to landscape is even faster than on .75. We’re talking half a second to make a clean switch. No more “double keyboards” (half SureType, half QWERTY) on the screen. After around a full day of use, our... [Tags: annoyance, bg, blackberry, bottom bar, bugs]

Recession And Children's Health Care – A Revisit — Ten months ago, we wrote this piece because we were concerned about what might be coming down the road. Like hurricanes and pandemics, recessions are inevitable, and preparing for them makes more sense than ignoring them. But how to prepare? Well, knowledge is always relevant. In an attempt to get a better feel for what might happen, we asked What's The Effect Of Recession On The Health Care Safety Net?: That's a question worth mulling over. We know the safety net, though poorly understood, appears stable. Yet we know that even before the recession hits (or hit, as we might... [Tags: bush, economy, health care safety, health insurance, hurricanes]