Well literally speaking they turned off the lights on their homepage in US, UK and Canada. If you are one them who are not seeing this home page then check out the screen shot below which I took at 4:31PM EST (Eastern Standard Time in US).

Well it’s a bit tougher to search now as its quite dark now.

Inspiration for this post even though I saw this earlier came from Download Squad.

To all those who are using WordPress Automatic Upgrade and may have upgraded to WordPress 2.5 there is a bug which was reported earlier which breaks automatic plugin updates which is a feature in WordPress 2.5.

This feature breaks because of a library we used to handle zip files which is also used by the plugin updater. Since the plugin updater does not need to check if the class in question has already been instantiated I have changed the code in the plugin to ensure that the PclZip library is not loaded while updating a plugin.

Anyway for those who do want to continue using WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin please update to the latest version first or else if you are already using WordPress 2.5 first deactivate the plugin and then update and activate it.

I take immense pleasure in saying this too that WPAU has reached version 1.0 and actively supports upgrading from WordPress 2.5 to any new version that may be released.

Download: WordPress Automatic Upgrade v1.0

WordPress 2.5 has been released officially today at the Dallas WordCamp after months and months of delays and version skips. This blog has been updated to the latest version using WordPress Automatic Upgrade plugin.

Have you updated yet? Do let me know your feedback on what you think about WordPress 2.5.

A note for WPAU users after upgrading the file and clicking on the link to update the database when you come back to re-activate the plugins you may need to login again but don’t worry since you will directly be taken to the page where the plugins are activated again, so do not close the window that asks you for your login or else you will have to manually reactivate the plugins yourself.

Have fun once again and cheer that WordPress 2.5 has finally been released.

We all have seen how the native Windows Startup becomes so painfully in-adequate when you start installing a lot of programs. It will be nice to have customizable startup options so you get to the frequently accessed programs easily & quickly. We have seen some excellent application launchers like Launchy, Enso, etc. Still those are fin when you know what you want to open. But, you might even forget the programs you have installed for a particular task.

8start is a portable startup program that is highly customizable. Keith has included this cool startup program in his Hall of Fame, Best of Everything post and I totally agree.

Let’s look at the features it offers:

• A customizable keyboard shortcut to bring it up with a keystroke or you can access it by mouse or from the system tray
• Organize your shortcuts into groups & categories
• Create & configure buttons for all your favorite applications
• Create buttons for shortcuts, url favorites, files, folders and application links
• Buttons are customizable to different sizes and you can add them to Groups.
• Then you can organize groups into Categories such as ‘General’, ‘Development’, ‘Media’, etc.
• Custom skin support (transparent png)
• You can choose to display drive space for any drive of your choice
• Tree-Notes feature - full featured note taking option (I haven’t played much with this yet)

The initial setup may not be very intuitive or easy with drag & drop support or anything. But, once you have set it up the way you want it, it will be an indispensable one for a power user.

If you have been tired of your cluttered desktop icons crowding your beatiful wallpaper, you’ll appreciate this tool once you have everything setup. Again, a casual user might find this hard to use but for a power user it’ll be quite easy to figure it out.

I have been loving Enso Launcher but there are times I have to hit the Start Menu to dig out a program I can’t remember and 8start is going to help me greatly with it.

[image credits: 8start.com]

Here are the popular web2.0 releases that will keep you bust till the next time, have fun.

doof

One of the interesting web2.0 service I saw was Doof which provides users a true Web 2.0 Social Gaming Experience. You can play games and connect with other users using this new entrant into the social gaming networking platform.

doof - Addictive gaming, social networking

PhotoShop Express

Don’t want to use heavy desktop photo editing softwares or have not yet read about the handy online photo editing websites we have converted, then you should definitely try out Photoshop Express which is a scaled down version of the popular image editing software Photoshop. With this new web2.0 service you can now edit and store photos online for free.

Adobe PhotoShop Express

Well its Friday once again time to get your weekly dose of laughter. This time around we bring to you some funny pictures to cheer you up. Keep smiling and have fun over the weekend.

Don’t you dare post my picture on FaceBook

Pic Credit

If you are awaiting the release of Firefox 3 to make your browsing life better then I guess you should wait a little more longer for a browser named Pogo from AT&T. Now if you are asking me why do I need another web browser?

Well when I saw the browser in action I was truly amazed and am eagerly awaiting its arrival for users. You can bet I would be one of the early adopters.

Some of the features than enhance the browser to give you a 3D experience and more are

• PogoDock - A start page built in within the browser that allows you to dock your favorite websites so that you can access them easily whenever you want to.
• Visual Tabbed Browsing
• Organize and tag your favorites into collections
• Keep track of your searches with ease.

Check out the video done by Robert Scoble which analyzes how the Pogo Browse works.