First out of the oven is…Just Desserts. Yep, that’s a theme! Designed by Andy Rutledge, Just Desserts is a deliciously stylish premium theme that’s perfect for blogs centered on food.

Discover details about what each [...]]]> We’ve added a user showcase where you can view stunning customizations made by people just like you. From complete redesigns with CSS to adding pizzazz with Custom Fonts to clever use of options like background and header, this showcase will spark your imagination and inspire creativity.

Discover details about what each showcase blog is doing with WordPress.com themes and customizations by clicking a thumbnail to see a colophon-style list of credits on the left.

We’ve also updated footer links so blog owners can show off the types of customizations they’ve made and visitors can learn more by clicking the “Customized” link in WordPress.com footers. A “Customized” link will appear next to the theme name for blogs that are using Custom Design tools like fonts or CSS.

Things we like to see when looking for showcase-worthy customizations are blogs with good traffic, beautiful design, well-written articles or stunning images, recent content updates, and involvement helping out in our CSS Customization forum.

Be inspired, customize your blog and make it that perfect place for your creations.

WP Coming Soon adds a coming soon page with a countdown clock.

Email Log allows you to log all emails that are [...]]]> New plugins

Simple Google Connect is a framework and series of sub-systems that let you add any sort of Google based functionality you like to a WordPress blog.

WP Coming Soon adds a coming soon page with a countdown clock.

Updated plugins

Email Log allows you to log all emails that are sent through WordPress.

Keyring provides a very hookable, completely customizable framework for connecting your WordPress site to an external service.

Social Login for WordPress lets your users log in and comment via their accounts with popular ID providers such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, Live, and over 15 more.

Just days after releasing significant updates to its iPhone and Android apps, Twitter announced Tuesday its plan to upgrade its ‘Discover’ tab on both Twitter.com and its mobile apps.

Twitter introduced Discover in December as [...]]]>

Just days after releasing significant updates to its iPhone and Android apps, Twitter announced Tuesday its plan to upgrade its ‘Discover’ tab on both Twitter.com and its mobile apps.

Twitter introduced Discover in December as part of an overhaul to its website and mobile apps. The tab displays trending topics and hashtags, suggests people to follow and recommends stories based on your connections, location and language settings.

In a company blog post, Satya Patel, vice president of product at Twitter, says the company has improved Discover’s recommendation algorithm to surface more relevant and meaningful content. Stories will also be given “social context” — i.e., you’ll be able to see which of your connections tweeted about each story and what they had to say about it. This, says Patel, will help you “understand why each story matters to you and make it easier to join the conversation.”

The improved version of Discover will roll out to users on Twitter.com and Twitter’s apps for iPhone and Android in the coming weeks.

More About: trending, Twitter

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What can a tablet magazine do that a real magazine can’t? One new publication launched on the iPad Tuesday is one of the best examples yet — and its staff of hilarious, talented writers is just the [...]]]>

What can a tablet magazine do that a real magazine can’t? One new publication launched on the iPad Tuesday is one of the best examples yet — and its staff of hilarious, talented writers is just the icing on the cake.

The magazine, Blackline, is an extension of a comedy podcast, co-founded by Christian Ugbode, Lerone D. Wilson and Robert Pinderhuze. Blackline, says the trio, is for “everyone and anyone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously.”

Considering they also claim their staff are monkeys who get paid in bananas and nutella, we’ll take their word on that.

Blackline’s articles contain a lot of sharp wit and satirical humor, focusing on politics, entertainment, technology and pop culture. Some of the first issue’s features include an interview with the President’s dog, Bo Obama, the story behind Al Sharpton’s “soul shag,” and Steve Jobs making fun of people who can’t afford iPads.

One of the most time-consuming pieces in the first issue: a feature called “Maya Angelou’s Icebox.” This allows the reader to move words around the poet’s refrigerator door — an interactive piece that helps show off Blackline’s impressive back-end.

Though the content may not take itself too seriously, the craftmanship that’s holding the magazine together is another story.

Ugobode admits that including an article that pokes fun at Steve Jobs and Apple was a risk that might have cost them getting through the App Store. In fact, it’s one of the reasons they chose to build the application on HTML5.

Because this level of markup language is still not a standard in mobile development, Ugbode says the technology behind the app was the biggest challenge.

“A day or a week from now our lives could be made much easier, or much worse, when different device makers decide to change how their tablet’s operating system interacts with their web browsers,” says Ugbode, who notes that the web browsers could also interact differently with various HTML5 and Javascript features and calls.

The magazine, which has also been optimized for the new iPad’s retina display, looks highly polished for something that’s required a lot of hacking parts together. There are many major publications who still haven’t optimized for the new display, so these three young, creative individuals have made a stellar first impression.

If HTML5 is the future of mobile development, publishers have the potential to bring their magazines to life. What do you think about Blackline’s usage of it? Let us know in the comments.

More About: Entertainment, HTML5, ipad, publishing, satire, trending

Text message spam promising free iPads or cash rewards may be obnoxious and unwanted, but they also carry a greater danger: clicking on texts can install malware that collects personal data from your phone.

They’re also booming faster than any other sector of the tech industry. Spam text messages in the U.S. [...]]]>

Text message spam promising free iPads or cash rewards may be obnoxious and unwanted, but they also carry a greater danger: clicking on texts can install malware that collects personal data from your phone.

They’re also booming faster than any other sector of the tech industry. Spam text messages in the U.S. increased 45% in 2011 to an incredible 4.5 billion messages, Richi Jennings, an industry analyst and expert in spam, told Bloomberg.

Bloomberg highlighted the story of on 31-year-old Washington, D.C. woman who gave the spammers a taste of their own medicine by calling the sender 20 times. She didn’t receive fewer spam texts, but it felt good to retaliate, she said.

But replying to messages can add significant charges to your mobile bill. And it’s not as if the spammer will be affected. Often, spam texts are sent from prepaid mobile devices using an automated text program. For about $20 a month, spam texts can be sent to millions of people.

Both mobile carriers and customers end up paying for these spam messages. If you have a pay-per-text plan, you will end up footing the bill. And each complaining call to customer service will cost a carrier somewhere in the region of $5 to $50.

Meanwhile, Twitter and Facebook have both cracked down on spammers. In early April, Twitter filed a suit against five web tools that make it easier to spam people on Twitter. Late last year, Facebook began investigating reports of porn spam popping up in users’ news feeds.

Is text message spam a big problem for you? Have you done anything to combat it? Tell us in the comments.

‪Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, ymgerman‬

More About: spam, Spammer, text messaging

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Twitter might be developing a premium version of its service, CEO Dick Costolo indicated on stage at Wired‘s business conference in New York City Tuesday afternoon.

An audience member asked Costolo whether Twitter would ever introduce a [...]]]>

Twitter might be developing a premium version of its service, CEO Dick Costolo indicated on stage at Wired‘s business conference in New York City Tuesday afternoon.

An audience member asked Costolo whether Twitter would ever introduce a “pro” version for individual users. Costolo refused to confirm that Twitter was working to develop one, but did suggest that it was an idea the company was exploring.

Costolo said he imagined a product with “lightweight controls” for users. “Our designers and engineers would define how that would work. I don’t know what it will look like,” he said.

He offered no further details about what the premium product might look like, nor whether Twitter is developing any premium offerings for brands.

What would you like to see in a pro version of Twitter? Let us know in the comments.

More About: dick costolo, trending, Twitter

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Saying BlackBerry 10 is all about the “flow” between apps, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins showed how users could quickly see other apps running by “glancing back” via menus that peek out from the side.

Click here to view this gallery.

ORLANDO — Research In Motion [...]]]>

Glance Back

Saying BlackBerry 10 is all about the “flow” between apps, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins showed how users could quickly see other apps running by “glancing back” via menus that peek out from the side.

Click here to view this gallery.

ORLANDO — Research In Motion CEO Thorsten Heins gave the world a peek at what the upcoming BlackBerry 10 smartphones will offer customers.

The new system, announced Tuesday at BlackBerry World in Orlando, has some novel features. It emphasizes what Heins calls “flow” between applications, as well as social integration and multitasking. We’ve collected the best new aspects in the gallery above.

One of the key differentiators of BlackBerry 10: how applications interact with each other. Heins said the new OS would let users transition between various activities without having to return to a home screen and completely switch apps.

Instead, users will be able to “glance” at apps that are running in the background by swiping windows and menus from the side.

“No one has time to pop in and out of applications every time they want to change an application,” Heins said. “We want to use a paradigm that is easy and fast. It’s all about the flow.”

Heins also showed off how the camera on BlackBerry 10 devices would work. When a user takes a photo, they’ll be able to “go back in time” (presumably via an image buffer) to select the best shot, even if it happened before the shutter was pressed.

The functionality isn’t completely new, but RIM showed off a novel variation — you can limit the temporal shift to a specific area. So if you have the perfect shot, except your drunken aunt had her eyes closed at one moment, you can apply the effect just to her.

With the disaster that was the BlackBerry Storm a distant memory, Heins showed what RIM has in store for onscreen keyboards in BlackBerry 10. While typing, BB10 devices will predict the next word you want to type, presenting it above the letter key it starts with. To type that word, just swipe up.

Although RIM gave out prototype devices to every developer in attendance here at BlackBerry World in Orlando, the features Heins showed will only be available on consumer devices, which are due in the fall. The video below gives an impression of the consumer experience RIM hopes for

What do you think of BlackBerry 10′s abilities? Does RIM have a shot at getting back in the smartphone game with them, or is it too little, too late? Have your say in the comments.

More About: blackberry, BlackBerry 10, research in motion, RIM, trending

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