Real-time search is now more real on FriendFeed! Social feed aggregation service FriendFeed has launched a real-time search feature. Just, enter a search query and the new results will be displayed at the top of your screen in real-time. Moreover, advanced search options and saved searches on FriendFeed are also displayed in real time. No need to refresh your page, because it is real-time search.

Just enter a search query as you always have, and see new results instantly stream in at the top of your screen in real-time. No need to constantly click refresh. It’s an extremely useful (not to mention mesmerizing) way to immediately see what people are saying about a particular topic. You can search across just your friends or all of FriendFeed, including imported services like blogs and Twitter accounts.

What’s more? You can even embed a FriendFeed search on your blog or web page and the results will be updated in real time. FriendFeed is also working on some advanced features which will allow you to subscribe to saved searches, add them to your friend lists, and even get notifications based on search keywords.

The developers of WordPress has released a new version of the world’s most popular blogging platform. I am sure that you have noticed the news on your dashboard. The new version, WordPress 2.6.5, fixes one security problem and three bugs. The security issue is an XSS exploit that only affects IP-based virtual servers running on Apache 2.x.

The first bug fix prevents accidentally saving post meta information to a revision, the second prevents XML-RPC from fetching incorrect post types and the third adds some user ID sanitization during bulk delete requests. These bug fixes are not so important. Still, it is recommended that you upgrade your installation as soon as possible.

Want to know about the changed files only? Here is the list:

• /wp-includes/post.php  (2 differences)
• /wp-includes/version.php (1 difference)
• /wp-includes/feed.php (1 difference)
• /xmlrpc.php (2 differences)
• /wp-admin/users.php (1 difference)

The last WordPress release was version 2.6.3 and now it is 2.6.5. So, WordPress avoided the version 2.6.4. Do you know the reason? well, it is because of the fake WordPress site that was distributing Trojan with a fake WordPress 2.6.4 release. For your own safety and smooth blogging, download WordPress from the official site only.

Developers at WordPress have released a new version of the popular blogging platform. Yes, WordPress 2.6.2 is here with solutions to the dangers of SQL Column Truncation and the weakness of mt_rand(), which is not a serious security threat but can randomize the passwords of users. So, if you allow open registration on your blog, you should definitely upgrade to this new version.

In the release blog post for Wordpress 2.6.2, the issues that are handled in this update are discussed in details. With open registration enabled, it is possible in WordPress 2.6.1 and earlier versions to create a username such that it will allow resetting another user’s password to a randomly generated password. Some other bug fixes are also included with this new release. If you are interested, check out the full changeset and list of changed files and upgrade to WordPress 2.6.2.

Today a new search engine launches. It is called Cuil (pronounced COOL). Cuil is an old Irish word that stands for knowledge. Aimed at creating the biggest web index in the world, Cuil goes beyond the conventional search engine and provides organized and relevant results based on Web page content analysis. Cuil has already indexed more than 120 billion web pages, which is three times more than any other search engines. So, Cuil claims to be the “Biggest Internet Search Engine”.

Cuil’s technology was developed by a team with extensive history in search. Cuil is located in Menlo Park, California and is led by husband-and-wife team Tom Costello and Anna Patterson. Mr. Costello researched and developed search engines at Stanford University and IBM; Ms. Patterson is best known for her work at Google, where she was the architect of the company’s large search index and led a Web page ranking team. They refused to accept the limitations of current search technology and dedicated themselves to building a more comprehensive search engine. Together with Russell Power, Anna’s former colleague from Google, they founded Cuil to give users the opportunity to explore the Internet more fully and discover its true potential.

What makes Cuil different from Google? Instead of using inbound links as a factor for ranking, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and relevance of a search query. Cuil’s goals are to index the whole Web, to analyze deeply its pages and to organize results in a rich and helpful way that allows you to explore fully the subject of your search.

Cuil searches the Web for pages with your keywords and then analyze the rest of the text on those pages to sort out different meanings of the same keyword in different contexts. Then, all those context are separated into tabs and displayed on your search result pages. The simple aim of Cuil is to give you a wider range of more detailed search results and the opportunity to explore more fully the different ideas behind your search query.

The rich interface and search results on Cuil looks really good. The search results are displayed in columns and you can switch between using two and three columns by clicking on the link at the bottom of the search results page. Text in columns is definitely a new approach for a search engine and it will make the search results easier to read. Other features of Cuil includes Roll-over definitions, safe search and typing suggestion etc.

I really loved their new style of displaying search results and now I am going to test it for a few days. In my view, Cuil is going to stay in the search engine market. It has already got some good fundings from a few companies and we can see some more features in coming days. In the mean time, why don’t you give Cuil a try? Dare to think beyond Google!

WidgetBucks is expanding its cost-per-click (CPC) network with addition of United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belgium into their CPC country list. The expansion started yesterday with United Kingdom (UK). So, a visitor from UK will now see a short-duration cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) display ad followed by a CPC shopping widget featuring UK-based merchants and products, listed in British pounds. According to WidgetBucks blog, within next two weeks, CPC ads will also be shown to traffic from the other eight European countries.

Earlier WidgetBucks CPC ads were served only to U.S. and Canada traffic. With addition of these new countries, WidgetBucks publishers will get two ways to earn revenue from the Western European traffic. This is really a good news for all WidgetBucks publishers, as it will maximize their ad revenue to some extent. On the other hand, WidgetBucks CPM ads will be shown to traffic from the following countries: Australia, Austria, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and United Arab Emirats. Not yet a WidgetBucks publisher? Join WidgetBucks today.

On Monday, Yahoo launched a niche site aimed at women. It is called Yahoo Shine, that will feature a mixture of original blog contents and contents from other partners including Glamour, Style.com, Good Housekeeping and Time. According to Yahoo, Shine won’t be a site just for moms or just for single women or working women. Shine will distinguish itself by having more of an editorial voice than the other sites and by interacting more with readers.

When we started talking about creating a new website for women, we wanted to avoid all of the common categories that advertisers or marketers tend to put us in. We didn’t want to be a site just for moms or just for single women or working women, or any specific demo- or psychographic. We wanted to create a smart, dynamic place for women to gather, get info and to connect with each other and the world around them. The important thing wasn’t how to talk to a 32.5 year-old with 2.2 kids but how to inspire you laugh, think, get mad, empathize, and be surprised and entertained. With Shine, we want to address the commonalities that make us such an amazing group.

The good thing is that with Shine, you will be able to start your own blog, comment on articles, vote in daily polls and join in discussions. On Shine, you won’t find advice on how to please your man and diets that urge you to “lose 10 pounds fast!” Rather, you will find on Shine: Why buying an expensive “It Bag” is a waste of money; how to make a meal in 30 minutes; how to make a face mask out of last night’s 30-minute meal, how to de-stress at your desk; sharp, opinionated takes on the news; and many more interesting articles, polls, discussions etc, on incomes, career, families and happiness.

Shine looks very clean with clutter free design. Shine has the following distinct categories: Astrology, At Home, Entertainment, Fashion & Beauty, Food, Healthy Living, Love & Sex, Parenting, Speak Up and Work & Money. I am sure that it is going to be a big hit among the ladies. You can visit Shine here: http://shine.yahoo.com.

Wordpress 2.5 is almost ready for release. According to Matt Mullenweg, the development of Wordpress 2.5 is complete and it seems to be stable. If you are interested to try it, you can download the Release Candidate 1 of Wordpress 2.5 and test it on your blog. They are waiting just for your feedback!

In the mean time, Matt has released a sneak peek of Wordpress 2.5 in a new blog post. The aim of this sneak peek is to get user feedbacks before the official release of the popular blogging software.

A customizable dashboard, multi-file upload, built-in galleries, one-click plugin upgrades, tag management, built-in Gravatars, full text feeds, and faster load times sound interesting? Then WordPress 2.5 might be the release for you. It’s been in the oven for a while, and we’re finally ready to open the doors a bit to give you a taste.

 

For the past few months, we’ve been working with our friends at Happy Cog — Jeffrey Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria, and Liz Danzico — to redesign WordPress from the ground-up. The result is a new way of interacting with WordPress that will remain familiar to seasoned users while improving the experience for everyone. This isn’t just a fresh coat of paint — we’ve re-thought the look of WordPress, as well as how it’s organized so that you can forget about the software and focus on your own creative pursuits.

The blog post by Matt, tells about the different changes in the new version, with the help of some screenshots. Earlier when I tested Wordpress 2.5, the dashboard looked very dull. I think that they have made some changes. Now, the dashboard feels much fresher and lighter. In the new dashboard, you will see a quick summary of what’s published and scheduled for publication, the latest comments and incoming links, blog stats, and WordPress updates and news. in Wordpress 2.5, you will be able to add your own RSS feeds to your dashboard.

In Wordpress 2.5, you can see changes in the navigation tabs. It will have four main tabs - Write, Manage, Design and Comments. The new write screen only displays the information that you’ll use most often. The new visual editor has a cool full-screen mode, that will help you concentrate more on your writing. There are lots of other changes in this new version of Wordpress. To know more, take a look at the sneak peek or just wait a few days to try the real product!