Finally, after some weeks of waiting the highly anticipated Wordpress version 2.5 is released as final.

This new version includes new features, a great design overhaul for the user interface or frontend and tight security measures to prevent hacks or takeovers on blogs.

All the work is done after six months of development. A few weeks ago, Matt, the founder of Wordpress posted a screencast for people to see the new interface in action.

The new features are extensive, if you want to read about the mall, go here.

Be sure to read all the documentation before attempting to upgrade because some plugins or themes may not work with this new version. I posted some instructions on how to upgrade earlier versions wordpress if you want some advice.

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This is a really interesting approach to online applications. The vastly popular Photoshop now has its online version. Adobe is now accepting registration for its new application. It is free and is very promising.

Here is the news excerpt from Vnunet.

Adobe has released its Photoshop Express web-based imaging application as a public beta. Photoshop Express uses much of Adobe’s image editing technology and has been repurposed as a web-based application. Users can store up to 2GB of images online for free, make edits to their photos and share them online. Photoshop Express also allows users to download and upload photos from popular social networking sites like Facebook. The application provides ’standard edits’, such as removing blemishes and red-eye, converting to black and white, cropping and resizing.

Photoshop Express also offers tricks like Pop Color which selects an object in an image, mutes the background colour of the photo and allows the user to swap the object’s colour so that it “jumps off the page”. Sketch effects make photos look like drawings, and a Distort feature allows users to distort facial features or objects for a comical or artistic effect. Adobe said that even users with limited photo editing knowledge can simply select what looks best from a line-up of sample photos with visual hints showing different variations of the added effect. During the public beta period, Adobe will solicit user feedback on product features and functionality which will “continue to evolve over time”.

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Today, Microsoft has released officially Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (KB936330) to the general public. This is what Microsofts calls Wave 0, or the first language versions of SP1.

The languages already available are English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese. All are included in the downloaded setup.

Few weeks ago i posted about the new disc images that are probably set to hit the stores in the upcoming days. This is the preferred way to install all service packs, doing a clean install. But for most people this is not possible and that is why there is an Update setup.

I have SP1 already in my laptop and it is running great. My desktop computer is waiting for me to finish doing my unattended setup to install it.

So far, the only Windows Update that appeared post-SP1 is the monthly release of Microsoft’s Malware Removal Tool. Almost all of the highly criticized performance and compatibility issues are gone (for those of you, that, unlike me, have come to experience this issues with Vista).

Read the Overview of Windows Vista SP1, including what’s new, technical details, guidelines and notable changes.

There is one thing to note though. Vista SP1 will be released via Windows Update in the upcoming days and the file size will be smaller because it will only contain the appropriate language. This Wave 0 release if intended for people that don’t want to wait and want to deploy it right away.

Before installing SP1, read Microsoft’s article “Things to Know Before you Download Windows Vista SP1“.

This Wave 0 is available in 32bit & 64bit so choose the appropriate version when downloading.

Download 32bit | 64bit

Today Launch 1.0 is released. It is the first public release of this program.

With it you can execute, with paramaters if you want, any file type. It is a simple but effective solution to replacing the Run box in the Start Menu of Windows.

I have test it thoroughly before uploading it to make sure everything is working as expected. If you find any error bugs or simply have suggestion on how to make it better, don’t hesitate to send your feedback.

You can find the detailed description and screenshots in the program’s page.

Version History Download

One member of a forum i visit very often posted a link that leads to a norton site which gives you one-year free subscription for their Norton Antibot anti-spyware program.

If you are interested in trying, hurry up and just enter a valid email address in the form field and select the checkbox. When you’re done click the button and wait for the email. Mine just arrived in about 3 minutes.

Norton’s Description:

Norton AntiBot provides advanced, real-time protection against emerging threats, including bots that are used to perpetrate identity theft and other online crimes. This powerful new security solution from Symantec detects unusual behavior on your PC and removes the malicious bots causing it. This protects your PC from unauthorized access and tampering, detects and stops attempts by hackers to take remote control of your computer, and delivers extra protection against emerging ‘zero-day’ threats. To help ensure that you’re always protected, Norton AntiBot monitors your PC continuously to stop suspicious programs.

I haven’t tried that program but im will try it to see how good it is. And if it is worth keeping, that free subscription doesn’t hurt, does it?

* I don’t know how long this offer will last, so hurry up if you want the free subscription.

Registration Form Download

Today, Microsoft has revealed Internet Explorer 8 new features.

According to this news, IE8 will render everything in a new standards-based mode, instead of the old rendering that IE7 and previous versions employed.

The new features include:

• Activities
• WebSlices
• Favorites Bar
• Automatic Crash Recovery
• Improved Phishing Filter

To read about them, visit the official site. The site explains and shows examples of every feature.

For years people have wondered why music labels set the prices too high for new releases Mainstream artists, first Radiohead with their album In Rainbows, and now Nine Inch Nails and The Charlatans are giving away their newest albums for free as digital downloads.

Nine Inch Nails uploaded their own album to some torrent sites. The album is available in many DRM-free formats under a Creative Commons license which states that the music is free to distribute and you can use it for all purposes except commercial use.

Also, the band released a note along with the album, which you can find in this site, along with links to the songs.

The album is called Ghosts and is comprised of 4 parts, all instrumental. The first one, Ghosts I is available for download on their own website, but the site has been down since this morning, maybe because excessive traffic as this news are flying around fast. Anyway, you can still download it if you want from a torrent site here. For just USD $5 you can download the whole 4 parts.

The other album i saw that is being given away for free is You Cross My Path by The Charlatans. For more information on the album and links to download it, read this XFM (UK radio station) article. It has news from the band manager as well as download links to get the album.

According to Microsoft release notes for SP1, there are a total of 551 fixes.

Here’s a list of the updates included in the service pack separated by category:

Fixes Category
75 Internet Explorer
41 Sleep/Hibernation & Power Management
38 Storage
35 Hardware and Drivers
35 Networking
28 Desktop and Shell
25 Printing & Scanning Technologies
25 .NET Framework, Data Components, Development Tools
24 Setup, Deployment, Backup, and Activation
24 Windows Media Center
23 International/Localization
20 Computer Management, Administration, and Tools
19 Application Compatibility
19 Multimedia
16 Performance and Reliability
16 Startup/Shutdown
13 Time Zone/Daylight Saving Time
13 Windows Media Player and Related Technologies
12 Security
12 Remote Access, VPN
8 IIS and WebDAV issues
7 Wireless Networking
7 Offline Files
6 Windows Mail and Web-based Software
5 Windows Sidebar and SideShow
5 Windows Portable Devices