WordPress 2.3 Beta 1 is now available for download and testing. Some of the features of 2.3 include automatic notification for plugin and core code version updates, built-in tags support, faster javascript, and SEO-friendly URL redirection.

There have been reports of compatibility issues with a few plugins due to the changes to the category system (plugins that only used the API functions should be okay, but those that used direct SQL queries may break). Also, some file moves in the admin area have affected a few other plugins. Please report problems on Trac, and document compatible plugins on the Codex.

I've already installed the beta on one of my blogs and quite like some of the new features, such as tags and automatic notifications. In fact I already found the plugin notification useful, and upgraded one. I have also however seen some bugs. I'm looking forward to the final release. 

Following a posting by Adrian Lukas, I was reading Web 2.0 is now Business as Usual 2.0. They raise some interesting points. There was one in particular that grabbed my attention.

Why Mahalo, TechMeme, and Facebook are going to kick Google’s butt in four years

The only reason you’ll watch these videos is because you trust me to add value to your lives and not sell links.

 Now, I don't know the poster, and therefore can confer trust to them, but the title was enough for me to watch the three videos on offer.

• Part I Social Graph Based Search by Scobleizer
• Part II Social Graph Based Search by Scobleizer
• Part III Social Graph Based Search by Scobleizer

Robert Scoble is of the opinion that the business models of the large search engines such as Google are so locked into their search methods, that they will not be able to change and keep up with innovations and expections. He points out that current search engine results are suffering from the new industry of Search Engine Optimization. People have become so adept as optimizing their pages, that it is become in difficult to find meaningful results. Even the search engine designers are complaining.

Scoble then goes on to say to say that there is a new future in search, and that being via social networks, such as Facebook. He goes on to explain that a website suggested by a social network friend, and one that has considerable social network behind them carries more more weight. The proof in his argument being that the only way you came to view his discourse was via social networks, he did not publicize it any other way. So the search engines of the future will be driven by social networks, as people come to expect more quality and less marketing pumped at them.

He's got me thinking. 

Here is more about the current freny surrounding unlocking the iPhone from businessweek.com

Why Apple Can't Stop iPhone Hackers

AT&T and Apple may face an uphill battle prosecuting hackers who untether the iPhone from the AT&T wireless network.

Since the release of the iPhone, and the subsequent disappointment and frustration that new owners of the iPhone have experienced by being locked into the AT&T network, the race has been on to crack the iPhone. Now it seems there are results popping up on the net. There has even been talk of people profiting from this by selling the unlocking codes, accompanied by talk of legal action.

At the moment it does look like round one to the hackers, and the owners. People will have the option to use their phone as they wish. 

Hands up who had problems with Skype the other week?

It seems like there is a fair amount of finger pointing going with Skype blaming a Microsoft update exposing a bug in Skype, and then Microsoft replying don't look at us, look at your own shoddy software.

Understandably there are some very peeved people out there, who use Skype for their business. I am one of those people who use it for business communication. Now there's the chorus of people saying, "well, Skype is for free, so you get what you pay for".  But these people seem to forget that there are those of use who actually PAY to use Skype to dial landlines and mobile phone numbers while we trot about the globe with our mobile offices. It also allows us to be contactable where ever we are. So for several days, we were out of business.

I can say that I've looked for an alternative, but haven't found one yet. Be assured though that if I do find one I'll certainly give it ago.

One of my social media enabled clients, Rebecca Caroe recently blogged about her burgeoning FaceBook profile. Reading the comments on the article she references, and many others I've come across on the internet, it would appear there are a rash of anti-cool nay sayers who are waving their red flags attempting to warn people of the "evils" of the closed model that FaceBook is.

FaceBook serves a purpose and is filling a niche that other sites such as LinkedIn are failing on. The issue is not whether one should be using either for professional verses social play, the issue is that LinkedIn is showing its age and unwillingness to adapt to the changing needs of online community members and provide the tools they want or need.

Both FaceBook and LinkedIn have their pluses and negatives, but what astounds me with this current fad for social networking sites is how some of the most seasoned internet denizens are foregoing putting real effort into their what should be their main web presence, their own websites and bemoaning what the social networks are not.

You make your website as feature rich and as socially enabled as you want. The clamour of the social tech commentators voices are calling for Glastnos, openness, Open Source goodness from these socially irresponsible networking websites. Open the APIs and let the people in to claim what is their own, their own personal information. If you truely want to claim control of your own personal information, do it on your own web space, and not that of the latest and greatest web business sky rocket.

Why is it that people feel compelled to complain about something that
they get for free? You get what you pay for. You are playing on their
space. There are those who think that these companies have a moral responsibility to bow to the every whim of the proletariat. These are the people that come to a party, but hold themselves above it, and proceed to complain loudly to everyone who will listen, that various details are amiss. If these social networks aren't doing it for you, then go elsewhere, or do it for yourself. The Open Source tools are out there.

To complete this, yes I do have a profile on LinkedIn, FaceBook, but also, Xing, Tribe, MySpace, DeviantArt, and a string of other art networking websites. The main windows on my world are this site and my art site. All of those others will always be secondary.