WordPress 2.7 has finally hit, and the first thought on most people’s minds might be, “Will my favorite plugin work with it?” What follows is a list of over 20 great plugins that have already shown to work with 2.7 without any problems.

Some of these you are sure to have heard of, others may be new to you, and that shouldn’t stop you from trying them out. This is the perfect opportunity for you to explore new plugins that may improve your audience’s experience on your site.

What 2.7 compatible plugins are your favorite?

Add to Any - Social bookmarking, saving and subscription buttons optimized for WordPress, featuring Google Analytics integration, automatic updating and more.

Akismet - The most well known of the anti-spam plugins always comes packed with the latest version of WordPress, so it is always a given it is ready to go.

cforms II - An easy tool for creating submission forms on your site that can be inserted into posts and pages alike by just inserting a line of code.

Entries On Page X - Adds a link on your posts to the archive page so that people can look through your blog in a more chronological order.

FeedBurner FeedSmith - The essential plugin for anyone who wants to use FeedBurner to monitor their number of RSS subscribers.

Google Analyticator - Google Analyticator takes all the work out of adding Google Analytics to your site.  Install the plugin, enter your tracking code in the settings, and this handy plugin will place the code where it needs to be no matter which theme you switch to.

jQuery Lightbox - A lightbox plugin that enlarges the image while darkening the background so you can see the picture better.

Google XML Sitemap - An essential plugin for bloggers to generate XML enabled sitemaps to aid with indexing by search engines like Google, MSN, Ask and more. This plugin has said 2.1 compatible for ages now, but it continues to work with the various updates.

MyAdsense - Allows you to manage your AdSense placement in your theme or posts from a centralized settings page.

Peter’s Case Insensitive Usernames - Tired of remembering if you created your account with Sean or sean?  This plugin will let you sign in any way you want once it is installed.

PHP Code Widget - This plugin will allow you to post PHP snippets in your post and execute them.

Smart YouTube - Allows you to easily insert YouTube videos into posts, comments, RSS feeds, and gives you numerous options for customizing their display.

Podcasting - Gives you full podcasting support inside of WordPress with tools such as iTunes distribution, support for multiple formats, a built-in player and more.

@Reply \w comment preview -This plugin gives your comments a Twitter-like “@” reply system so that you can see with ease who is talking to who.

SendFeed - SendFeed reads your RSS feed and converts your posts into text and HTML emails to be sent out to your mailing list.

SEO Friendly Images - Assists with the automatic adding of ALT and TITLE tags to your images for better search engine placement.

WP Super Edit - Allows you to add even more features to the WordPress visual editor so you can have an easier time inserting even more HTML code into your posts.

Share This - ShareThis still leads the way in social media sharing, and while the little green button does not yet say it is 2.7 compatible, it is working none the less.

Site Maintenance -A handy plugin that puts up an “Under Construction” notice while you’re undergoing site maintenance or getting ready to release a new theme.

SMS Text Message - You can add a widget to your sidebar where users can enter their cell number to receive infrequent text message updates about what is new on your blog.

WebComic - Ever had a desire to create your own Web comic, but didn’t know how to build a site for it?  WebComic will turn a WordPress site into your perfect answer complete with strip directory, character pages and more.

Interested in more WordPress resources? Check these out:

WordPress Themes: “Top 12 Stunning WordPress Themes“, “30+ WordPress 3 Column Themes,” “20 WordPress 4-Column Themes,” “30+ WordPress 1-Column Themes,” “10 Unusual & Original WordPress Themes”

Plugins: “50+ WordPress Plugins for Multimedia,” “30+ WordPress Plugins for Statistics,” “30+ WordPress Plugins for Comments,” “30+ WordPress Plugins to Get More Blog Readers.”

Miscellaneous: “WordPress God: 300+ Tools for Running Your WordPress Blog,” “The 7 Weirdest and Wackiest Uses for WordPress“

---
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:

Wordpress Plugins Directory - Thanks, Wordpress!
Best of Mashable: WordPress
Wordpress 2.3 out on Monday; Now with Tags
Automattic Launches Wordpress Support Network
What’s Your Favorite Blog Plugin?
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How can you convert the contents of a web page into RSS? How do you generate a RSS feed for a website, search result page or news source that doesn't have one? Can you do this without spending any money and without having any technical HTML skill?

Photo credit: Mipan

In this new Sharewood Guide I have collected the best free tools to convert any web page to RSS.

Web page to RSS converters are free tools, usually web-based, that anyone can use to keep changes of any site which doesn't offer a RSS feed for its readers.

RSS feeds are very intuitive and easy-to-use: to create a feed just grab the desired page's URL, paste it into the box, and click generate. Some of these tools, will also offer advanced options to let you refine which of the items present on a specific web page need to be included in your newly generated RSS feed.

Here the best web page to RSS converters I have found out there (if you know of other ones, please help me out by adding them in the comment area at the end):

Convert Web Pages Contents Into RSS Tool List

1. Dapper
   
   Dapper is a free service that lets you convert any web page content (from YouTube search results to blog posts) into a RSS feed in seconds. Just provide a URL (ore more), select and divide in multiple fields the content that you want to be included in your feed (e.g. titles, descriptions, images...), decide the output format and save your feed. You will need to be registered to create as many feeds as you want. Free.
   http://www.dapper.net/
2. Yahoo! Pipes
   
   Yahoo! Pipes is a RSS feed mixer that mashes content from the web together into new interactive creations. It lets you drag and drop different information feeds, such as the latest news items from your favorite news sources, or search queries, or anything else you want, and combine them through a series of filters into "pipes".The service is completely free to use; a Yahoo! account is required.
   http://pipes.yahoo.com/
3. Feed43
   
   Feed43 is an online service that converts standard web pages or XML documents to RSS feeds. In order to create a new feed, simply identify the web page from which to generate a RSS feed, define the search patterns to help the system locate the news source, and generate the feed. The service is free to use, no registration is needed.
   http://www.feed43.com/
4. RSSxl
   
   RSSxl is an easy-to-use web page to RSS converter, that allows you to convert any page to a normal RSS feed. After you provide the URL of the site, you just have to identify the news items' start and end points by pointing to them with some HTML or string keywords. Then you can click generate, and get your new RSS news feed to keep updated with that page's changes. Free.
   http://www.wotzwot.com/rssxl.php
5. Web2RSS
   
   Web2RSS is a web-based app that automatically turns any website into a RSS news feed. Pasting the site's URL is enough to let Web2RSS convert the content and export it in RSS format, without doing anything. If you want to make it even more precise, you can either match or exclude parts of the page using HTML or string expressions present on the page. Free to use, no registration is needed.
   http://www.baekdal.com/web2rss/
6. RSS Wizard
   
   RSS Wizard is a software for Windows machines than can generate the RSS feed out of any web page without having to edit it first. To create a feed, you have to start the program, paste a URL, provide a start and end string to make the software recognize where the news begin and end, and click OK to create the feed. Free to try, $29.05 to buy.
   http://www.extralabs.net/rss-wizard.htm
7. Feedity
   
   Feedity is an only feed builder that creates a RSS feed out of any website. Feedity is very easy-to-use and lets you get your feed in two steps: enter the URL of the desired website, help the service identify the news source on the page by pointing to some reference points (in simple or advanced mode), and click generate to retrieve your feed. Free to use, doesn't require any registration.
   http://feedity.com/
8. Feedmarklet
   
   Feedmarklet gives you the ability to create your own RSS feed instantly through a browser bookmarklet, with no sign up required. After you insert a name for your feed, you can start adding content to it easily: find a link you want to keep an eye on and click on the bookmarklet button in your browser to immediately add the page you are on to your feed. By doing this, you can mix multiple sources into a single feed with one click. Free.
   http://www.feedmarklet.com/
9. FeedFire
   
   FeedFire is an HTML-to-RSS service allowing anyone to automatically create a RSS news feed for any website that does not have one. You simply register at FeedFire, input the URL of the page and it'll do the rest for you in a matter of seconds. The service offers both free and paid feeds, which you can discover by signing up to the service.
   http://www.feedfire.com/
10. FeedYes
    
    FeedYes is a completely automatic tool for creating RSS feeds out of HTML web pages. Three steps are involved in the process: provide the URL of the page out of which you want to create a feed; indicate among the dynamic links found by FeedYes, which one is the first that refers to the news section; select the last item that closes the news section. Then, after a preview is shown, you can proceed and save your feed, or further refine it. Free.
    http://www.feedyes.com/
11. PonyFish
    
    Ponyfish is a web-based tool that allows you to create your own RSS feeds from almost any web page. All you have to do is point Ponyfish to the web page you want to create a feed from, then select at least two links that you will want to see in your feed (this indicates to the system which links are news sources) and finally copy your new RSS feed URL. Free to use, no registration needed.
    http://www.ponyfish.com/
12. Page2RSS
    
    Page2RSS is a completely web-based and automatic service which converts web pages to RSS feeds. You can just paste a page URL, and Page2RSS will instantly give you back a preview of the new RSS feed you just created, with the possibility of subscribing to it with the major RSS readers available. You can also use a toolbar button to create feeds for all the pages that you are currently viewing. Free to use, doesn't require any registration.
    http://page2rss.com/
13. RSSpect
    
    RSSpect is a service that lets you add RSS feeds to any web page. RSSpect offers three kinds of feeds, so you can add a RSS feed to literally anything you find online: “AnySite feeds” allows you to create update feeds from any website or any document online, even those that you don't control; “MySite feeds” allows you to generate advanced RSS feeds from your own website content, automatically. “Podcast feeds” are specially-designed RSS feeds to be used with iTunes. Free to use.
    http://www.rsspect.com/
14. CaRP
    
    CaRP is a PHP script that lets you generate RSS feeds for your web page. CaRP comes in two different versions: LE (basic) and Evolution (enhanced). The LE version allows no control on the appearance of your feeds, while the Evolution version comes with sixteen free bonus plugins to let you customize your RSS-generating experience: auto-update feeds, add images, embed videos, select which part of the text you want to show, sort your feeds, and much more. CaRP LE is free and CaRP Evolution is priced at $47. Registration required for both.
    http://www.geckotribe.com/rss/carp/

Originally written by Nico Canali De Rossi for MasterNewMedia and first published on October 13th 2008 as "Convert Web Pages Content Into RSS Feeds: Web Page To RSS Converters - Sharewood Guide"

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Need to convert your videos between major video file formats, create web-based charts, as well as editing or adding effects to your existing pictures?

Photo credit: Antonis Papantoniou

All this and more in this roundup of new cool visual communication and video publishing tools I have personally selected for you. This week:

1. ActivePixels: Edit your images for free on Windows machines
2. Cyclops: Search pictures on major stock photography engines
3. iCharts: Create Flash-based charts from input data or Excel tables
4. 1001FreeFonts: Browse and download free fonts for your Windows or Mac platform
5. Smush It: Upload a picture and let the system optimize it by reducing its size
6. Molv: Stream live images from your phone, and embed recordings anywhere
7. CellSea Video Converter: Edit videos with basic features and convert them between various formats
8. TubeMaster: Browse online videos on major sharing sites and download them in multiple formats

Here the details:

Visual Communication Tools

1. ActivePixels
   
   Active Pixels is a photo editor for Windows that lets you edit all of your pictures for free. Its interface reminds of Adobe Photoshop, and it has many features as layers, effects, freehand selection, and everything you would get in a professional editor. It supports more than 100 image formats, between which you can also find Photoshop's native PSD. Active Pixels is free to download and use.
   http://idea-systems.net/
2. Cyclops
   
   Cyclops is an image search engine that lets you make researches on BigStockPhoto, Flickr, Fotolia, iStockphoto, Photos.com, Shutterstock, stock.xchng and stockvault with one click. After you input your query and select where you want to search, results will gather divided by source, and you'll be able to click any image you like and be instantly brought to its download page on the source site. Free to use.
   http://cyclo.ps/
3. iCharts
   
   iCharts is an online service that you can use to create Flash-based charts easily. It allows everyone to upload Excel sheets or manually add data from which they can instantly create, share and embed interactive charts within minutes. Every chart can then be embedded anywhere on the web or printed. iCharts is completely free to use, registration is needed.
   http://www.icharts.net/
4. 1001FreeFonts
   
   1001FreeFonts is a huge database of free fonts for Windows and Mac platforms. When you land on the home page, you can start browsing fonts by category, see the day's featured ones, or even search for them. When you find one that suits your needs, you can simply download it for free, paying attention to the version you need (Win or Mac), and install it on your machine. Free.
   http://www.1001freefonts.com/
5. Smush It
   
   Smush It is an image optimizer that enables users to provide an image and it will automatically reduce its size with no quality loss. To use it, just choose if you want to use it as a Firefox extension, or whether you want to directly upload images from your PC or URL: after a matter of seconds your image will be ready for download, reduced in size but not in quality. Free to use, no registration needed.
   http://smushit.com/

Video Publishing Tools

1. Molv
   
   Molv is a mobile video streaming service that enables any phone to stream live images on the web. If you own one of the supported phones, you can register to the service, download the software, and start broadcasting live images in your own channel. Shows are automatically recorded by default so that you can later embed them on any page, but this can be changed in the settings menu.
   http://molv.com/
2. CellSea Video Converter
   
   CellSea is a web-based video convert and editor which allows you to add effects, change size, add sound or simply to convert your videos to other formats. Just upload a video from PC ur URL (from sharing websites like YouTube, GoogleVideo, DailyMotion): you can then set the start and end time to trim it, join one or more videos to it, resize and crop it, or simply convert it to AVI, MOV, MP4, FLV or 3GP file. Free to use, no registration needed.
   http://www.cellsea.com/
3. TubeMaster
   
   TubeMaster is a freeware portable application which can download multimedia files (such as FLV, MP3, MP4 ...) from major sharing sites like YouTube, and can save them on your computer. Using the integrated browser, you can make researches on these sites, and choose which videos to download as you watch them. All multimedia files can then be converted to other popular video or audio formats (AVI, MPEG, MP3, MP4, IPod, PSP ...). Free to download and use.
   http://tubemaster.free.fr/

Originally written by Nico Canali De Rossi for Master New Media and first published on October 12th 2008 as "Visual Communication And Video Publishing - Selected Tools And Web Services - Sharewood Guide Oct 12 08"

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Photo credit: Rudat

George Siemens, connectivism guru and respected scholar of the effective use of educational technologies and social media, takes you in this weekly digest to places, writings and people that can help you explore, chart and understand these critical grounds in a serendipitous, explorative fashion.

My personal advice is to follow George in his wanderings as the pointers and resources he shares are always of the greatest value.

Here what he has found for you this week:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Internet Users 50+ Are Rapidly Closing the Digital Divide with Booming Online Activity

Not really surprising, but a bit of a push back to advocates who suggest a rigid age-based divide between generational use of the internet: Internet Users 50+ Are Rapidly Closing the Digital Divide with Booming Online Activity "The perception is that Americans over 50 only dabble on the Internet, but we are finding that they are increasingly spending time online becoming involved in robust Internet activities, such as online communities...

In specific areas, there is often little difference in use of online technology between older users and some of the youngest users."

The Future of Online Learning Ten Years On

Stephen Downes delivered a presentation about The future of online learning ten years on. I've reviewed the slides, but haven't had time to listen to the audio (personal whining; my laptop, ipod touch, and other such devices were stolen from my car a few weeks ago...so I'm lacking my usual routine for listening to presentations while I travel).

Stephen offers an interesting look forward by looking back at predictions he made ten years ago. He was quite accurate on many accounts. He mentions (on slide 49) that personal learning environments will replace learning management systems. I hope this is the case. But I'm not sure. Education is a process with multiple stakeholders with dramatically varying needs. To date, those who are served by the existing architecture of LMS' have been dominant in getting their interested addressed (administrators, IT).

The concept of PLEs raises the profile of learners...but until PLEs are able to include the organizational and administrative needs of other stakeholders, they will continue to be marginal.

Blogging Research: Attribution and Ownership of Ideas

Lilia Effimova appears to have completed her PhD research and is actively blogging. She provides a thoughtful and critical voice to online communication. In a recent post she tackles the key challenge of attribution and idea ownership in blogs. The fluid exchange of ideas online means good ideas can be adopted and adapted quickly.

The origin of ideas can be challenging to trace, which obviously makes attribution difficult when the idea has morphed a few times. An idea is like opening a door. Once someone walks through, it's difficult to trace their subsequent activity.

Social Media Starter Kit

Social Media Start Kit is a useful resources intended to "build a toolkit and instructional guides about how social media strategies and tools can enable nonprofit organizations to create, compile, and distribute their stories and change the world."

Weekly modules are still in development (looks like they're up to week two), but it looks like a valuable resource.

Shifting Value Point of Content

I've been harping on this for a while - content is no longer a value point in itself. MITs OpenCourseWare and numerous other open educational projects reflect this reality in the education market. In music, news, and other media, a trend of content as a conduit to new value points is evident. Artists are giving away music and hoping to capitalize on live performance and merchandising.

MIT has increased its appeal and reputation by giving away educational resources. Journalists, authors, and theorists share thoughts online (i.e. blog) in order to increase reputation and consulting opportunities.

Will Thalheimer discusses the trend with a focus on elearning - All media will be sold for cheap: "The new business model will involve selling ancillary services or products. This will not only produce a profound shift in how the world works, but it will affect the learning-and-performance industry as well."

Nanotechnology

We can, with only slight abuses of history, say that the 18th century was the era of mathematics, the 19th of chemistry, and the 20th of physics. The 21st will be the age of nanotechnology (he says without bothering to qualify the statement). Nanotechnology, like technology generally, impacts and alters every field it touches. The production of pharmaceuticals, materials, and plants is significantly impacted by developments within nanotech. Applications to humanity suggest a tremendous revision of what it "means to be us".

A recent British Medical Association publication on cognitive enhancements suggests two views of brain alteration: therapeutic (for when something is wrong) and enhancement (when all is well, but we wish to extend the limitations of our mind).

In a similar sense, Visions of our Nano Future offers an intriguing (frightening?) glimpse into what we will likely be able to do with nanotech in only a few years to improve the frailties of the human mind and humanity in general.

Google Lively

Google has announced Lively - an avatar and online room/chat combination.

I just started playing around with it, so it's a bit early to say exactly what its role will be in the world of emerging technologies.

A quick initial reaction: it's Second Life distributed. Or as one commentator suggests: "Google is looking to create a massive distributed virtual world, where every Google account can have its own avatar that can be used wherever a Lively virtual room is present – for example, on a blog, a social networking profile, or a Web page".

Second Life has the elements of a learning management system (LMS), i.e. you go to the site to do what you want to do.

Distributed technologies allow individuals to use a variety of tools and approaches, all of which can be integrated into their own environment. Consider YouTube. I watch most of my YouTube videos as embedded elements in a blog. I don't go directly to YouTube. Same with Slideshare.

The key idea these sites have grasped is that we shouldn't need to go to data/information. We should be able to experience it in our environments (such as blogs, wikis, or even LMS'). At first glance, Google seems to be trying something similar with virtual worlds - namely, have the world available where you want it, rather than forcing you to go to a certain space. Or, as Google puts it: "It’s integrated with the Internet. It’s not an alternate destination. Our intention is to add to your existing life".

Meeting the Future by Doing More of What Worked in the Past

Times of change have an interesting impact. When foundations of tradition are threatened, we see a common response of increased conservatism from certain sectors of society.

The Roman Empire, for example, had numerous failed attempts at reform before finally sliding into obsolescence. Reformers walked a line between doing more of what worked in the past and trying to innovate to meet the reality of a changed world. Occasional glimmers can be seen - such as with Constantine - where change appears to bring back glory days. Such glimmers are fleeting.

So what is an educator to do? Do we do more of what worked or do we change the system to embrace new realities? What do we keep? What do we discard? These are the foundational questions we are facing. And for each successful innovator or conservator in history, we can see many failures of reform. The design of our systems needs to match the reality of the condition. As Kaiser Maximilian's opponents discovered, mismatching strategies for a particular age can have disastrous effects.

Determining the reality of today's system and extrapolating to future trends (while maintaining the essences of humanity - peace, dignity, equality, tolerance, etc.) is the vital starting point. Most reforms are a blend of drawing from the past and anticipating the future.

Ken Robinson recently delivered an interesting speech on models of how education can/should respond to changes (via Ewan McIntosh). I enjoyed the talk - a call to change based on the intuitive creativity of all humanity. Missing, however, was the acknowledgment of the current systemic elements that need to be preserved.

Experts and Organizations Are Losing Trust

Trust is tied to reliability and consistency. The "big institutions" - government, religious, corporate - that were the object of trust in the past have, in the last century in particular, been revealed as flawed.

While people still pursue religious activities and subject themselves to government, the authority of these institutions is being replaced (is augmented a better word) bys personal networks of trut (see, for example, the notion of networked, social, personal spiritual networks in contrast with organized religion).

I'm trying to find an analogy that best summarizes the shift from trust based on authority to trust based on personal relationships. The social best I can come up with is that of a food critic or restaurant reviewer. Every major newspaper has the token food expert that reviews restaurants incognito. These reviews are valuable and can significantly hamper or improve a restaurant's chance of success. But I rarely base my dining decisions on the review of an expert. I typically turn to friends or colleagues. Their opinions of "wow, that was an excellent dining experience" play a much greater role in where I dine than do reviews in a newspaper. Where authority and personal relationships differ, relationships receive greater weight and merit.

People trust people. It's not really much of a surprise that organizations whose appeal is to authority, not relationships, are experiencing some stress - Experts and organizations are losing trust: The Web is about the informed, skeptical society. There is a break developing between this skeptical society and its experts, institutions and organizations. The organization can’t just say: "Trust us. Follow us. We know best".

Originally written by George Siemens and published as weekly email digest on eLearning Resources and News. First published on July 10th 2008.

To learn more about George Siemens and to access extensive information and resources on elearning check out www.elearnspace.org. Explore also George Siemens connectivism site for resources on the changing nature of learning and check out his new book "Knowing Knowledge".

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Re-edited and expanded from the original seven marketing tools collection appearing on 7thFloor n.12, the one that follows is my own, up-to-date, personal list of cool internet marketing tools that I use regularly to do my own marketing, analysis and promotion work on the net.

Here my favorites:

Cool Internet Marketing Tools

One of the seven marketing strips appearing on the last issue of 7thFloor and showcasing my suggested tools - 7thfloor is an Italian print magazine

by Robin Good

1) Market Analysis

Google Keyword External Tool
Identify niche relevance and advertising keywords volume and cost by using Google's own data.

2) Audience Measurement

Photo mashup credit: SiliconValleyWatcher - Mediaspehere

• Google Trends for Web Sites
• Alexa
• Compete
• Quantacast

Measure international and US traffic trends and compare sites against each other.

3) Web Site Evaluation

Website Grader
Find out how effective your web site is without having to get a consultant. It's not infallible but it gives you good indications of where you need to work.

4) Ad Placement Testing and Optimization

Google Website Optimizer
Test, measure and identify best working ad formats and optimal ad placement solutions.

5) Real-Time Web Traffic Measurement

Woopra
Track web site visitors in real-time and interact with them live.

6) Keyword Research

Photo credit: Chiefingredient

Wordtracker
Search, compare and identify relevant and in-demand keywords for any product or service market niche.

7) Ad Serving Optimization

• Pubmatic
• Rubicon Project
• Direct Media Exchange

Serve automatically best paying ads on your site automatically selected from all the top international ad networks.

List building - Email distribution

Aweber
List building and email newsletter distribution.

9) Technical Issues Preventing Site From Having Greater Visibility

Google Webmaster Tools
Outstanding toolkit to analyze site issues and problems that may limit visibility on major search engines as well as excellent data about your site content and visitors preferences. Invaluable.

10) Spread Your Content Reach

uberVU
uberVU is a web-based service that allows you to publish all of your content including text articles, audio, video and comments from one central dashboard. uberVu is for all of your content what Tubemogul and HeySpread are for your videos. (Thanks to Juan Pablo Lanteri who recommended it to me via one of the best informal marketing tools around: Twitter.)

And You?

Which one are your favorite online marketing tools? Feel free to share and highlight your own cool marketing tools and to promote your own site if you would like to, by using the comment section right below.
Originally written by Robin Good for 7thFloor - edited, revised and expanded edition for Master New Media

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