With Release Candidate 1, we think WordPress 2.8 is ready and complete.  Download it, test it, and tell us what you think.  If you don’t uncover any bad bugs, 2.8 will be released on Wednesday the 10th.

If you’re interested in what has changed since beta 2, consult the changelog.

If you're wanting to build links then you might have read in a few places that you can build something called "link bait". Link bait is just a fancy name for content that is so good that it attracts links from other websites. Those links, being relevant and from authoritative websites, will give your website a boost in the search engines. Make no mistake, link bait is one of the most over hyped concepts in search engine optimization.

Blind Search is the name of a site that lets you enter a search query, and then shows you three result columns where you can vote on the best one. Because you don't see where the particular results are coming from until after you voted, you will not be directly influenced by the brand. Part of the test of Blind Search are Microsoft's Bing, Yahoo, and Google. I find this an interesting test. My first, completely non-representative trial was entering blogoscoped about .

Today are the European elections in several countries, including in Germany. One of the parties on the list here is the Pirate Party. On the date of the election, BBC in their election FAQ writes: "The date of the election will vary from 4 June to 7 June 2009 according to local custom in the 27 member states. The UK and the Netherlands are voting on 4 June, while most of the other member states, including Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Germany,

While traveling in Rome I took some time to visit the crypt of the Capuchin monks at the Church of Santa Maria della Concezione. My companion was the producer of Mediabytes, Shelly Palmer - neither of us knew were about to have a very unusual experience. The Capuchin monks conceived the idea of using the bones of their late colleagues and a few other Romans as a medium of expression. The result is a series of rooms in which the walls are decorated with human bones.

Google have announced that its search engine optimization starter guide is available to 98% of the world population through various languages. While I haven't actually looked at the starter guide just yet I'd still encourage webmasters, both new and veteran, to download the starter guide and read through it. I doubt that you'll find any sweeping surprises and there's no better place to learn how to optimize your web pages than from the world's leading search engine.