WordPress.com VIP

Dave Pell’s NextDraft on WordPress.com

My favorite daily newsletter, NextDraft, from the amazing Dave Pell, is now on WordPress.com:
http://nextdraft.com

So here’s what this WordPress sponsorship means for NextDraft:

– You can now read NextDraft wherever you want, including on a blog that utilizes responsive design so it looks great on any device. It will be free. And it won’t include any intrusive ads.

– I’ve merged my blog Tweetage Wasteland into the NextDraft brand and those posts are now called NextDraft Originals. Expect some great guest contributors and a new series of interviews called NextUp.

– Each of the blurbs in each edition now has its own permalink and unique spot on the web. This has dramatically improved NextDraft’s sharing functionality. Each blurb can easily be shared with a click or two.

– NextDraft is now hosted and supported by Raanan Bar-Cohen and the excellent team at WordPressVIP, so it will be fast, scalable, and generally awesome.

Full announcement post here.

And if you never read it, go do it now, you’ll be forever more informed and amused: nextdraft.com

TechCrunch relaunched on WordPress.com VIP

From Dave Feldman of TechCrunch/AOL:

THE CMS
One of my favorite things about WordPress is its extensibility. We’re on the same platform today as yesterday, but have built new tools for writers and editors. Featured and pinned articles get expiration dates, so editors don’t have to go back and manually un-feature things. Selecting a post layout is as simple as clicking a button. Automated resizing of images means faster load times and fewer distorted photos. And choosing which articles go on the home page is a single-click affair.

Impressive work by everyone involved. More details on the announcement post Redesigning TechCrunch: We Picked This Logo Just to Piss You Off