1. Vertical Menus
2. Dashboard
3. QuickEdit and wp-admin Comment Reply
4. Configurable Layouts
5. Threaded Comments and Comment Paging
6. Media Page (this was introduced in WP 2.6)
7. Complete Plugin Installation and Management
8. Sticky Posts
9. Template Tags
10. Comments API
11. And Bonuses!

• ABS-CBN acquires minority stake in Multiply (ABS-CBN News)
• ABS-CBN buys 5% stake in Multiply (Inquirer.net)
• Multiply Gets $100M Valuation As Southeast Asian Media Conglomerate Buys 5% Stake (TechCrunch)

Some people may remember a prior partnership between the two companies last year. It looks like the Kapamilya Network is taking things to the next level.

Multiply is a remarkably popular service for Filipinos as it provides an all in one package for blogging and uploading various multimedia. ABS-CBN is notable for having promoted many of its TV shows online through Multiply profiles more so than subsections of its official website.

Clearly, the media company knows where to go where the buzz is, and whether or not this deal’s pros are outweighed by the cons, it’s interesting to see how a company that built its name through traditional forms of media is slowly discovering what we now call social media.

Political bloggers led by Manuel Quezon III on Wednesday asked the House of Representatives to include the scrapped Bangsamoro Juridical Entity (BJE) agreement in the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.

[...]

The group said they believe Arroyo must be impeached for her role in the BJE memorandum on agreement (MOA) with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

In pursuing the MOA — which the Supreme Court later declared as unconstitutional — Arroyo “did a grave injustice to the citizenry,” the group said.

“It was, in sum, a policy of such deceit and recklessness, as to demonstrate her consecration, not to the service of the nation, but to a policy calculated for personal advantage, to the detriment of the nation at large,” they stated in the complaint.

They also said that the intervention is meant to strengthen the impeachment complaint filed last October 13 by a group of citizens led by Jose De Venecia III.

The group has also launched a new blog called Oust the Imp. Read the intervention complaint here.

Amit Agarwal has posted an animated screenshot of the WordPress download counter passing the 3 million downloads mark as of November 13 at 9:25 pm PST.

Since the counter is reset every time a new version of WordPress comes out, that means there have been over 3 million downloads of WordPress 2.6. WordPress keeps getting bigger and better!

And of course, they’ve made it especially easy to use for WordPress users with a new beta plugin, with the following features:

• Two-Way Comment Sync (comments are saved both in your WordPress database and the IntenseDebate server)
• Admin Panel Integration
• Search Engine Optimization
• Trackbacks
• Profile Sync
• Post Settings

And more:

Can’t wait to get hold of all the great commenting features included in WordPress 2.7? Get IntenseDebate now!

So now we need to choose a direction. For each of the icon sets, we’ll show you the set itself, the designer’s introduction, and some feedback from the lead developers. After you’ve reviewed all five, place your vote for the set you think has the visual style that is the most suitable for WordPress 2.7. This will be followed by additional votes on specific icons, so if you like the specific image used in one set but like the style of another, you can vote to change the metaphor for a given icon. You’ll also be able to leave general feedback throughout the voting process. When voting has concluded, we’ll review the comments and the votes, and will declare a winner.

Aside from the survey results, the “winner” will be decided by the following people: Ryan Boren, Andrew Ozz, Mark Jaquith, Peter Westwood, Jane Wells, Matt Thomas, and Matt Mullenweg.

Be sure to look at the full-size image of the admin dashboard before proceeding, especially if you haven’t tried out the WP 2.7 beta.

Take the icon survey here. (The form will be open for only 48 hours.)

• Your “plugins” directory is NOT secured by default!
• Choose a strong password!
• Rename the administrative account!
• Backup your database!
• Log all your $POST variables!
• Plugins that need write access!
• Encrypt all communication within “wp-admin” directory! (if possible)
• Tighten up the file permissions!
• Of course, update your Wordpress!

The last one is the simplest and easiest to follow, especially with the release of WP 2.7. You should at least make sure that you upgrade to the latest version of WordPress.

The blog post also contains links to other articles on hardening WordPress and dealing with hackers, so read it now!

There was a pool between the stage and the public, bats flew all the place, the Mic was a Karaoke machine.

It looks like Matt was referring to the event that took place in Davao, not the big one in Manila. Still, I’m glad Filipinos have made such a great impression on him. First it was the WordCamp Philippines t-shirt design, and now this.

(Via Winston Almendras)

It ends with a slogan of sorts for WordPress: “this time, it’s personal”. WP 2.7 is all about making the user experience better, so don’t fret!

Oh, and forget to vote which feature in the sneak peek you think is the best.