XS is a new free WordPress theme I created that focuses on speed. This theme comes with pretty much every feature you will need (except that which there are great plugins for) for a cool news or regular style blog. XS includes many premium-like features and a theme panel for easy deactivation of main site elements.
XS Preview
XS Theme Page
XS Wordpress Theme Features
* WordPress 3.0+ theme
* 4 color schemes -blue, red, green and purple
* Featured images for posts
* Optional image slider for the homepage
* Optional extended footer
* Optional advertisement spot
* Optional about the author sections
* Optional related post section with thumbnails
* Custom WordPress 3.0 Menu
* Threaded comments
* Advertisement spot
* Built-in Pagination
* Author pages
* jQuery enhancements – jScroll & Superfish drop-down menu
* Easily disable items via theme panel and make customizations
* Custom Google fonts built-in
* And more!