I found this by chance on Hostmatrix Forums; that is, Star Wars Asciimation. This is not a software release, but then I find it rather interesting, and can’t help but to post it here.

Using Telnet service, you can access the Star Wars story and watch the ascii text in actions. Alright, I’d better keep it short. To enjoy, simply use telnet and access the site, i.e.

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl

Get ready, sit back and May the Forces Be With You.

After a patience wait, WordPress 2.2 is now officially released to the public. This release is given the codename, Getz, in honor of tenor saxophonist, Stan Getz.

This version contains over two hundred bug fixes and integration of some new features, particularly widgets. Some of these features are listed below:

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According to WordPress Codex website, the first release candidate for WordPress 2.2 is now available. Some of the new features are as follow:

• * Improved comment editing
• * Widgets (no longer a plugin but available under Presentation tab)
o Widget capability added to Default and Classic themes
o Archives and categories widgets have option to display in pulldown box
• * Deactivate Plugins automatically (activate automatically not in yet)
• * New Blogger Import
• * Fewer clicks and better user experience for upgrades
• * Improved login accessibility
• * Improved UI when deleting Drafts
• * Improved clarity regarding “Spam it:” and “Delete it:” in comment notification e-mails

In this major release, there are much more powerful features than you might see here. A lot of improvement has been made towards this version over WordPress 2.1. Whilst this may attract a lot of attention, but it is vital to note that it is still a release candidate. Hence, bugs may still be present.

Download Link
WordPress 2.2 RC 1

According to the latest announcement by Matt, the next version of WordPress 2.1.3 and WordPress 2.0.10 are now available for immediate download. These versions are security updates over the previous WordPress versions. Upgrade is highly recommended for all users using both branches of WordPress.

These releases include fixes for several publicly known minor XSS issues, one major XML-RPC issue, and a proactive full sweep of the WordPress codebase to protect against future problems. Many thanks to Sumit Siddharth and Alex Concha for their help with reporting issues in this release.

The WordPress development team is now taking extra security measures to prevent any possible future hacks into the WordPress.org servers.

Download Link
WordPress 2.1.3 & 2.0.10

How many “notepad” applications are there, really? I don’t know, probably just too much to take account for. In this post, I introduce a new application of this Todo Pad, that does the same job as a notepad.

This software is a very simple application, and there is no advanced feature, if you are wondering. Basically, there are two main components:

1. - Tree Area
2. - Text Area

According to the developer, it is as simple as a “Steno Note”. What’s the difference is that this is available in several platforms, including Solaris, Macintosh and FreeBSD.

Download Link
Todo Pad 1.8

ChouXiang 1.23 is an abstract shooting game. Have fun playing the shooter.

The game is operating system independent, and the source release requires Python (http://www.python.org) and Pygame (http://www.pygame.org) to run.

Note that, a Windows binary that requires no other software is also available.

Download Link
ChouXiang 1.23

The recent post I made about WordPress 2.1.1 has a new update. That WordPress version is considered dangerous as the files may include a security exploit that was added by a cracker, and all users should upgrade all the files to version 2.1.2 immediately.

This is the explanation provided by Matt (from WordPress development team):

This morning we received a note to our security mailing address about unusual and highly exploitable code in WordPress. The issue was investigated, and it appeared that the 2.1.1 download had been modified from its original code. We took the website down immediately to investigate what happened.

It was determined that a cracker had gained user-level access to one of the servers that powers wordpress.org, and had used that access to modify the download file. We have locked down that server for further forensics, but at this time it appears that the 2.1.1 download was the only thing touched by the attack. They modified two files in WP to include code that would allow for remote PHP execution.

This is the kind of thing you pray never happens, but it did and now we’re dealing with it as best we can. Although not all downloads of 2.1.1 were affected, we’re declaring the entire version dangerous and have released a new version 2.1.2 that includes minor updates and entirely verified files. We are also taking lots of measures to ensure something like this can’t happen again, not the least of which is minutely external verification of the download package so we’ll know immediately if something goes wrong for any reason.

If you are feeling concerned about other WordPress versions, then rest assure that no downloads were altered, except 2.1.1, so if you have downloaded any version of 2.0 you should be fine.

Download Link
WordPress 2.1.2

The WordPress development team has released new bug fix and security release for WordPress versions 2.1.1 and 2.0.9.

Version 2.1.1 includes about 30 bug fixes, mostly minor things around encoding, XML-RPC, the object cache, and HTML code.

Version 2.0.9 only includes the security update, which was around the code we use to prevent XSS.

The following are the list of changed files. Please take note when you are upgrading your version of WordPress.

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Since the last post on the release candidate of Blender, the final version of Blender 2.4.3 is now released. In addition, this open source software has a brand new look on its home page.

The application is meant for 3D modelling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback, Blender 2.4.3 RC2 is one that has got what it takes. The software is available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License.

The key features of this application are shown below.

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From February 7, 2007 onwards, anyone can sign up for a Gmail account. Previously, users who wished to have a Gmail account can only obtain via invitation from another user with a Gmail account.

Gmail is probably known as one of the first service provider capable of offering large storage space for email. Although they might be opening the signing up to public, nonetheless it might be only valid under specific criteria.

Check out the thumbnail on the right, showing the offer being released to public.

So, sign up for a Gmail account, if you don’t have one yet and get to enjoy 2.7GB space free.