I just published WordPress News: Weblog Tools Collection Scholarship Fund, WordPress at the Supreme Court, Top Plugin Authors, XML-RPC Trouble, and More, this week’s Blog Herald WordPress News report.
WordPress 2.7 downloads now passing 800,000. WordPress goes to the Supreme Court. Weblog Tools Collection announces college scholarship fund for WordPress students. WordPress 2.7 problems with XML-RPC. WordPress.com annual wrap up features dramatic statistics and features. Analysis of top WordPress Plugin authors in the WordPress Plugin Directory – who is on top? Chicago Breast Cancer Marathon call for WordPress men to march. And more WordPress news, security information, Plugins, Themes, and tips.
The following is a point summary of the key bits of WordPress news you may find interesting. The news report also includes information and news on various WordPress fan blogs, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Themes, development news, WordPress tips, and more.
Problems with WordPress 2.7 XML-RPC
Joseph Scott reports on problems with libxml2 For WordPress XML-RPC users that he’s been finding on the WordPress Support Forums and elsewhere.
One Million Downloads of WordPress 2.7
Two weeks ago, there were 500,000 WordPress 2.7 Downloads and as I write this, there are now over 800,000 downloads, moving fast for 1 million. Bets are on Twitter as to when one million downloads will be counted on the WordPress Download Counter.
Weblog Tools Collection WordPress College Scholarship
Weblog Tools Collection has announced plans for a Weblog Tools Collection College Scholarship to promote “WordPress development and help students dip their toe in WordPress.”
WordPress Theme Intruder Hack Attack
A lot of people are reporting notifications from their web hosts regarding the remv.php file creating malicious behavior on your WordPress blog. Jason Cosper offers a good step-by-step tutorial and Ronald Davies has a video tutorial on how to remove this malicious file from your WordPress Theme folder. After removal of the file from your server via FTP, update your site immediately to WordPress 2.7. For more information, see these discussions on the WordPress Support Forums: Blog hacked, host said to upgrade and WTF is remv.php in wp-content/themes folder.
Weblog Tools Collection Changes Ad Policy to Favor GPL Themes and Plugins
Weblog Tools Collection announces it will no longer accept ads from advertisers promoting non-GPL WordPress Themes and Plugins.
Fake WordPress Malicious Site
Look out for a fake WordPress site. Wordpresz.org looks like the WordPress site but isn’t. The version of WordPress you download has malicious code in the download that opens a backdoor to your blog. If you upgraded WordPress to 2.6.4, you are running a fake version. There is no WordPress 2.6.4. The latest version is WordPress 2.7, and in the 2.6 line, it is 2.6.5, skipping 2.6.4 due to this threat.
WordPress Events Coming Soon
Space if often limited for these WordPress Events, WordCamps, and blog events, so register early.
- Toronto WordPress Meetup – January 3, 2009
- Atlanta WordPress 2.7 Party – Installing and Upgrading – January 6, 2009
- The New Jersey WordPress January Meetup – January 7, 2009
- WordCamp Las Vegas 2009 – Las Vegas, Nevada – January 10-11, 2009
- Happy Hour after WordCamp Las Vegas – January 10, 2009
- Los Angeles WordPress Users Group – January 11, 2009
- South Florida WordPress Meetup Group – Pompano Beach – Search Engine Optimization for WordPress – January 15, 2009
- WordCamp Indonesia 2009 – Jakarta, Indonesia – January 17-18, 2009
- Boston WordPress Meetup – Boston, Massachusetts – January 19, 2009
- New York WordPress Meetup Group – WordPress as a CMS: The Strategy of Content Publishing – January 20, 2009
- WordCamp Whistler 2009 – Whistler, BC, Canada – January 24, 2009 (Facebook)
- Toronto WordPress Meetup – January 24, 2009
- Chicago WordPress January Meetup – January 24, 2009
- The Dallas/Ft. Worth Area WordPress January Meetup – Texas – January 24, 2009
Top 10 WordPress Plugin Authors
Based upon cumulative downloads, White Shadow offers the Top 10 WordPress Plugin Developers within the WordPress Plugin Directory.
Optimize All Those Scripts in WordPress 2.7 Themes and Plugins
WordPress 2.7 now features a lot of AJAX and JavaScript. Ozz offers a technical article on the WordPress Development Blog for optimizing script loading that is a must-read for all WordPress Plugin and Theme developers.
Installing WordPressMU EBook
Andrea Rennick of WPMU Tutorials has just published Installing WordPressMU – The E-Book, a guide to helping you install the popular multi-blog version of WordPress called WordPressMU. The book is available in PDF form for free download.
WordPress.com 2009 Year Wrap-Up
In 2008 Year-End Wrap-Up, Matt Mullenweg sums up the year listing many of the new features, staff, statistics, and changes in the free blog hosting service of WordPress.
WordPress News on the Blog Herald
Each week, I gather up all the WordPress and event information I can find and publish it on the Blog Herald in the Blog Herald WordPress News category. Past WordPress News reports include:
- WordPress News: Weblog Tools Collection Scholarship Fund, WordPress at the Supreme Court, Top Plugin Authors, XML-RPC Trouble, and More
- WordPress News: 650,000 WP 2.7 Downloads, BuddyPress, Theme Threat, Schwag, and More
- WordPress News: WordPress 2.7 Awesome, WordPress.com 5 Million, Plugins Updated, and WordCamp News
- WordPress News: WordPress 2.7 Released
- WordPress News: WordPress 2.7 Out on WordPress.com, WordPress 2.7 News, WordCamps, WordPress Plugins and Themes Updated
- WordPress News: WordPress 2.7 New Login, WordCamp Australia, WordPress 2.6.5 Security Update, BuddyPress, and More
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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.
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11 Comments
Wow, thanks for mentioning that college scholarship; I never would have seen that had you not mentioned it. Maybe I’ll end up applying for it…
Hi, Lorelle. Jason Cospers’ site is down.
@Kate: If it was, it is back up now. There have been electrical outages across North America due to storms recently, so I expect some servers not running on the cloud to go down now and then. Might be the reason, but it’s back up now. Thanks for letting me know.
That fake wordpress address doesnt work anymore! :))
So you checked it? That was a dangerous thing to do, but thanks for being the test dummy for us!
WP 2.7 would probably be downloaded already more than 1 million times. Think about all those like me, who “recycle” their WP downloads for several blogs. This certainly influences the countdown on the WP site.
Thank god it doesnt work anymore. For blogger better to download to original source (www.wordpress.org) for most security reason and stability.
spooky..
Im so glad it doesnt work anymore.. I tried that too..
Lorelle
942,034………..so it’s 17:53 right now (Eastern time), the one million mark will take place tonight or no later than 3am tomorrow…….so when you wake up and have your breakfast cereal, the one million download would of happened.
I don’t know. It might be another day or two. But I’ll trust you to stay awake all through the night so you can be the lucky winner! 😀 I’ll be eagerly awaiting your winning screenshot!
Hi Lorelle,
wow, tons of useful resources and links, thanks for sharing. 🙂 I really wanted to comment about the fake wordpress site, I’m not surprised but it’s crazy how many folks keep getting duped by supplying their info to various sites, some they’ve never seen before… ? Anyhow, the treats and methods being used are becoming more craftier. Not cool.
-Mig