The WordPress Category Posts plugin, version 2.0, has been released and is now available for download via the WordPress Extend Plugin Directory.  WordPress Category Posts is a plugin for WordPress that creates a linked list of the posts in a specific category.

The WordPress Flag Comments Plugin, version 1.7, has now been publicly released. WordPress Flag Comments Plugin allows readers to flag WordPress comments as inappropriate and then allow an administrator control on how to handle that.  Please pick up the most recent version via the WordPress Extend Plugins Directory.

The initial development of the WordPress Flag Comments Plugin was sponsored by Fox News and can currently be seen in use on Alisyn Camerot’s Alisyn in the Greenroom blog.

• Small Business Summit 2007
  Tuesday, February 13, 2007
  Crowne Plaza Hotel, New York City
• The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines
• Essential Tools Every Blogger Should Have
  Good suggestions in general, but…
  • Most laptops on the market will do (we personally recommend AMD 64 based machines), just stay away from the “crippled” chips out there (if it is a $500 USD laptop, there’s probably a reason for that)
  • Unless you’re doing a lot of design work (coding, graphics, video, audio, etc), two monitors would be overkill
  • Adobe Photoshop is an excellent product, but if you only need to edit photos, GIMP (open source, GPL) should do fine and there are other free or cheaper options out there
  • Of the WYSIWYG editors, Adobe/Macromedia Dreamweaver is at the head of the class, but give Nvu (open source, MPL) a spin first to see if that meets your needs (and budget)
  • Most digital cameras on the market these days will suffice, but the Canon DSLR’s are quite nice if you have that sort of budget and want to carry around a large camera
• Want People to Read Your Blog? Go With a Full Text Feed
• Zune Goes Discount, Contributes to $289 Million Loss for Microsoft
  Does any Microsoft product these days make an initial profit?
• Web Design Contracts: Why Bother
• 25 Tips To Optimize Your Blog For Readers & Search Engines
• WordPress Plugins: Bible Verse of the Day, Our Todo List & Share This 1.4

The WordPress Email Notification Plugin v3.0 is still being developed, but in the meantime there is an issue with v2.3.1 which could allow spammers to use the plugin to send mass e-mails from your server. To address this issue we have created an alpha version of v2.3.2 which we need users to test before we release the beta version and then the final version of 2.3.2.

If you are interested in testing the alpha and beta versions, please contact us and we will e-mail you the new files.

Development of version 3.0 of the WordPress Email Notification Plugin is currently underway, though behind the original schedule.

Update: What’s New?

The majority of the updates for version 3.0 are focused on improved performance with WordPress 2.x and preparing for added features in subsequent releases.

Here are a few of the new highlights:

• Better WordPress integration - This will make it easier to get the plugin up and running and will automate most of the installation.
• Improved delivery - This will fix known issues with large mailing lists and notifications being sent multiple times in some instances.
• Add the unsubscribe functionality via a form - Currently the unsubscribe option is only available in the e-mails that are sent to subscribers.
• Localization - This will allow for language specific messages.
• Database updates - This is needed for improved delivery and will allow mailing lists for multiple WordPress blogs to run in one WordPress database.

Update: When Can I Get It?

We still do not have a scheduled release date, but we’re shooting for a September 2006 release. As always, since this is done in our “free time” that may get pushed back due to the client projects that we are involved with.

Update: How Can I Help?

There are currently three ways you can help.

1. Sign up to be a beta tester. In order to make the plugin run more smoothly with Windows servers, we’re particularly looking for users running WordPress on IIS or Apache on Windows and preferably knowledgeable with PHP coding (WordPress plugin experience is a plus as well).

2. Sign up to help with localization of common text messages and documentation used in the plugin.

3. Make a donation via PayPal donation to help “free up” our time. This would be a huge help, so if you’ve found the previous version useful, please consider dropping a few dollars in the bucket.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know.