Old WordPress Vulnerable to Attacks: Upgrade Now

WordPress is the largest and the most popular blogging platform available which is available for free and is being used by millions of bloggers, including governments, huge corporations etc. around the world.

Recently, many WordPress websites have been getting hacked and now it has been confirmed by a WordPress developer himself that older versions of WordPress are under attack.

The number of sites being hit by this attack is growing every hour and the only and the best way to save your blog from this attack is to update it to the latest version. All versions prior to WordPress 2.8.4 have been found vulnerable to this attack.

What the attack actually does is that it adds strange keywords in your permalink structure and also creates a back door administrator account on your blog which is inaccessible by you.

For more information on this attack and how to protect new and already hacked blogs, can be found at Lorelle’s blog. A must check out for every WordPress using a version older than 2.8.4.

Upgrade now to the latest WordPress!

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WordPress 2 for iPhone now Available

WordPress 2 for iPhone is now available for download in the App Store. You can now grab it from the App Store and experience blogging in WordPress with lots of new features in WordPress 2.

This app is a completely new app and the previous WordPress for iPhone won’t upgrade to WordPress 2.

When you launch the new app, you’ll immediately see “Version 2.0? at the bottom of the screen. When you’re no longer using it, you can safely remove the previous version from your device.

WordPress 2 for iPhone New Features

• A new, more efficient user interface that makes it faster to switch between comments, posts, and pages.
• Various user interface refinements and bug fixes
• New Comments interface, with Gravatars and the author URL shown in the comment list
• Passwords are now stored in the keychain
• Posts are now automatically saved and restored if network connection is lost during publishing
• Added persistence, so the app re-opens in the blog you last used
• Added an interface for manually entering the XMLRPC endpoint for non-standard setups
• Fixed rotation-related visual glitches
• Fixed errors where malformed XML prevented access to XMLRPC endpoint
• Fixed edge case where local drafts were sometimes not saved
• Fixed the order of photos so that they’re displayed in the order they’re uploaded

WordPress 2 for iPhone Screenshots

Download WordPress 2 for iPhone

You can download WordPress 2 for iPhone from here: Download WordPress 2 for iPhone

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WordPress for Android

WordPress for Android just released in the Android Market. We knew WordPress was working on an Android version of their mobile blogging app after the iPhone and BlackBerry version.

Android version of WordPress was finally released today and is now available in the Android Market.

WordPress for Android Features

Features include the ability to:

• Configure and manage multiple blogs
• Comment moderation including the ability to reply to comments
• Create and Edit Posts including categories, tags and photos
• Create and Edit Pages
• Get notified of new comments in the Android notification bar

The current release v1.0 offers you enough features so you manage your blog and write posts while on the go. This release is pretty stable. I couldn’t get the screenshots up because of my Nexus One drivers are not working on Windows 7.

Download WordPress for Android

You can download this Android app by pointing your mobile browser here: Download WordPress for Android

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Wordpress 3.0 Beta 1 Released: Twenty Ten Theme Added

The last major version of Wordpress was released back in December 2009, which was WordPress 2.9, introducing many new features. And now they have done it again.

WordPress 3.0 Beta 1 has been released by WordPress which is available for early beta testing.

The new version features a new theme “Twenty Ten” and many new features and enhancements that are not present in the current version. However, the version is still incomplete and might differ from the final release. So, they are looking for beta testers who can test it especially the following features:

1. Play with the new default theme, Twenty Ten, including the custom background and header options.

2. Custom Post Type functionality has been beefed up. It’s really easy to add new types, so do that and see how it looks!

3. WordPress MU users should test the multiple sites functionality to make sure nothing broke during the merge.

And email them if they find any bugs so they can be fixed as soon as possible.

Download WordPress 3.0 Beta 1

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Upgrade Wordpress to 2.6.3 Quickly

WordPress 2.6.3, which was released yesterday, is a patch release that fixes two security vulnerabilities involving Snoopy, a library that WordPress uses internally.

All WordPress users should upgrade to the latest WordPress version to avoid being a victim of this particular vulnerability. There are many obvious and less obvious ways to upgrade WordPress, a few possible ways, in decreasing order of required time, are:

• Download the latest WordPress source, unzipde it on your harddisk, connect to your server via ftp and transfer the files. Then follow the upgrade instructions on the WordPress website. This is the method Windows users are most likely to use ;-)
• Do the above, but transfer files via scp
• Log on to your server via ssh / putty, do a wget http://wordpress.org/download/ to download the latest installer zip file. Unzip using unzip latest.zip. mv the required files to your WordPress folder and run the installer using the instructions from the WordPress website.
• Download and install the WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin on your WordPress blog. Go to the plugin page and follow the simple instructions each time there is a new upgrade available. This is suitable if you are running a single blog.
• If you want to upgrade from 2.6.2 to version 2.6.3 , you simply need two files [file1] and [file2]. Just download and overwrite these files in your wp-includes folder, afte changing their permissions, using any one of the methods listed above. Doing it via ssh/wget/cp should take less than a minute.

Whichever method you choose to use, do keep your WordPress installation up-to-date to avoid potential problems and hacking attempts.

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Moderate WordPress Comments from Desktop

It’s been a while since I last shared an Adobe AIR tool. The last one I posted about was about GMDesk which lets you run Google services from your desktop.

Many blogs have comment moderation enabled to prevent from spam. Even this blog uses comment moderation, and I daily have to moderate a big pile of comments. This has just been made easy, thanks to Daniel.

Moderator is an AIR-based app that lets you moderate comments on your WordPress-powered blogs right from your dekstop in rela-time and you don’t have to login to your Dashboard just to approve/unapprove comments. Some features included in this early release are:

• Viewing unmoderated comments.
• Dock and system tray notifications of the number of unmoderated comments.
• Accept, delete, and spam comments from within the desktop client.
• Close application window, or minimize it to the system tray while running.
• Shows the Gravatar icons for the user who posted the comment.

Moderate also supports the upcoming WordPress 2.7. Since this is an early release, expect it to be buggy. The only two requirements this app needs is WordPress 2.6+ and Adobe AIR 1.1.

Download Moderator

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WordPress 2.7 Beta 1 Released

We have already been teased enough by the screenshots and features of the upcoming WordPress 2.7. And again a lot of buzz has been created before the actual release of WP 2.7.

Finally the first beta of WordPress 2.7 is now available for download. The WP Team has been working hard on the pretty visuals you will see. At the moment, there are many glitches in WP 2.7 for IE and Opera, but it works fine in Firefox and Safari.

For all those who are eagerly waiting for the full version of WordPress 2.7, there’s a small bad news. It won’t be releasing on November 10th, 2008 as planned before since the WP Team is two weeks behind schedule. What you get on Nov 10, is a Release Candidate release of WP 2.7.

Nothing has been said about the final release date, but they won’t take long since the Release Candidate version will be released next week. For now, enjoy the first beta!

Download WordPress 2.7 Beta 1

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Download WordPress 2.6 Beta 1

Finally, the first beta of WordPress 2.6 has been released, with many new features in it and is now available for download. WordPress is one of the world’s favourite blogging platform. This release won’t be as big as WordPress 2.5, but will be worth upgrading to, because of the number of interesting new features it has. WordPress 2.6 is slated for a mid-July release which will have many usability improvements including the features mentioned below.

Features

Here’s a brief list of new features that are included in this beta, and will be included in the final WordPress 2.6 as well.

• The old bookmarklet is back in WP 2.6
• Caching of Admin Dashboard files with Google Gears
• Theme previewing like in WordPress.com
• Built-in post word counter
• Ability to relocate your content directory
• Drag-and-drop sortable galleries
• Customizable default avatars
• Bulk delete, activate, and deactivate for plugins
• Plus lots bug fixes and performance improvements

For a complete list of updates in WordPress 2.6 Beta 1, head over here.

I waited for about 3 months before I finally upgraded to WordPress 2.5 after its release, but looks like I will now upgrade to WordPress 2.6 as soon as it gets released because of its new features.

Download

Download WordPress 2.6 Beta 1

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WordPress 2.6 Released – Download Now!

Yesterday, the first release candidate of WP 2.6 (codename Tyner) was released and a day later, the final version of WordPress 2.6 is out and is now available for download.

WordPress again brings in lots of new features and usability improvements with its latest version. They have also done some minor tweaks to improve its security.

What’s hot and new in WordPress 2.6

• One of the major features to be added is the WordPress Turbo, that uses Google Gears to save your WordPress Dashboard files on PC and load pages at lightening speed.
• Then comes Post Revision, with which one can track all the changes made to their posts and restore any old saved data if needed.
• The Press This! bookmarklet is back. This was one feature that many people missed in WordPress 2.5.
• Now blog admins can preview themes on their blog using Theme Preview without making them live for everyone. You can test it for possible errors and fix them before applying it for everyone.
• Other minor features include word count, bulk management of plugins, image captions, revamped image control and reordering of Galleries are just to name a few.
• WordPress 2.6 fixes a total of 194 bugs.

More details on features and bug fixes can be found on the WordPress blog.

Download

You can download the latest WordPress from the link below:

Download WordPress 2.6

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Happy Birthday WordPress

My favourite blogging system and the best CMS around turns 5 today, on May 27. I started using WordPress in Feb. 07 on DJ Flush’s (of Sizlopedia) recommendation. I was always a big fan of Joomla, and thought it was the best CMS around. But I just tried WordPress once, and since then there is no looking back!

With all the tons of exciting features, and ease of usability and flexibility of designs, there can be no better CMS than WordPress. I would like to congratulate, Matt and all other WordpPress developers, on its birthday and would like to see it grow more in the coming years.

If you are interested in reading my WordPress related posts, then head over to the WordPress category.

WordPress Teaser From Sizzled Core

Here’s a teaser for what’s going to come in the next few days! I’m not going to further open my mouth about this.

By the way, no, it’s not the WordPress Dashboard! :)

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WordPress 2.6 Features

The talks about WordPress 2.6, the next version of WordPress, have already started. WordPress 2.6 is going to be another much-awaited release because of the introduction of many interesting features and usability improvements in it. I’ll give you a very brief overview of what this latest version of WordPress is going to offer.

WordPress 2.6 Features

• New and improved bookmarklet (Yes, it’s coming back!)
• Post words count
• Shif-click checkbox selection hack
• Wiki-style revisions management of blog posts
• Google Gears support for writing posts offline
  
• Identicons

If you would like to know more about these features, head over to WordPress Expert.

Demo Site

A demo site for WordPress 2.6 Alpha has been set up. If you would like to try it, visit:

http://wp.chrisjohnston.org/wp-admin/

Username: admin
Password: demo

Looks like its about time I upgrade my WordPress to the latest version. Don’t know what’s making me less interested in upgrading!

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Schedule Posts For Later Publishing In WordPress

WordPress is, no doubt, the best blogging platform and CMS (Content Management System) available. There are endless features in it, and since the new version, WordPress 2.5, is out it’s even more fun to use it. I’ve been using WordPress for the past 1 year now, before that I was with Joomla and worked on that. But seriously, WordPress is more easy, user-friendly and faster to use.

Here’s a small WordPress tip I would like to share with you all. As you all know, previously, I took a 4 months break because of my exams. In the meanwhile, you you kept getting posts on Sizzled Core regularly for some time, even when I was busy studying. That’s one of the features why I love WordPress so much. WordPress has a built-in feature by which you could time-stamp your posts for later publishing.

Like if you plan to go on a tour to a different city/country for a week, and you know you won’t get time to blog, then all you have to do is sit down one fine day (before going), write down posts for the next 7 days and time stamp them one for each day. Pretty useful, eh? Your readers won’t even notice much difference whether you wrote it that very day, or was it written at some other day.

How To Schedule Posts For Later Publishing In WordPress

1. Complete your post in the WordPress dashboard of your blog.

2. After completing, in the right sidebar menu, under Publish Status, you will see Publish immediately.

3. Click the Edit link beside it.

4. Set the date and time of whenever you want your post to get published.

5. Click Publish (don’t click Save, or it won’t get lined up for publishing).

Next time you leave for a holiday, don’t forget to write down posts for your readers to avoid traffic loss! I hope this trick has been useful to you, and do tell me if you already use this tick and how does this helps you.

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