Are you a WordPress blogger? Do you enjoy having thousands of safe themes to choose from in the official directory? Did you know that a small group of volunteers goes through every single line of code in every submitted theme to make sure that they work properly on a basic installation and are free from malicious code? Chances are, you didn’t know that last bit, but now you do. The Theme Review Team could use your help, especially if you know your way around a theme or two. At this time, there are typically many more theme submissions than active reviewers, so if you’re looking for a great way to help out the entire WordPress community, join the Theme Review Team today! If you’re a theme developer, but don’t have the free time to volunteer, you can at least help the team out by ensuring that your theme meets the guidelines […]

New plugins No Soup allows you to block users from a specific IP or range(s) of IPs and redirect them to another site. WhatElse is a widget that lets you manually add related content to every post or page. Updated plugins Joemobi allows you to create native Android and BlackBerry applications from your WordPress site. 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.

Putte is a clean and beautiful theme with great features. Red Modern is an elegant theme with red modern menus and elements.

PressTrends has released a rather fascinating plugin for WordPress blogs. The plugin will allow you to measure various metrics for your posts, comments, and plugin usage, and compare these to averages across the entire PressTrends community. The feature list may be just a bit basic now, but there are more features on the way, the design is very clean-cut, and if you’re interested to see how you’re doing versus “the status quo,” this is definitely the way to do it. If you’re a theme designer, you might also be interested in their core product, which provides metrics for theme usage.

New plugins Site Background Slider uses fullscreen images (read from a specified folder) to create a slideshow inside your background area. Updated plugins Fast Secure Contact Form lets your visitors send you a quick e-mail message and blocks all common spammer tactics. Additionally, the plugin has a multi-form feature, optional extra fields, and an option to redirect visitors to any URL after the message is sent. FoxyPress is a custom plugin made to integrate FoxyCart e-commerce functionality into your WordPress website. Slick Social Share Buttons allows you to add Facebook, Twitter, Google +1, Digg, Google Buzz, Linkedin, and Stumbledupon social media buttons in a floating or slide out tab. WPtouch automatically transforms your WordPress blog into an iPhone application-style theme, complete with ajax loading articles and effects, when viewed from an iPhone, iPod touch, Android, Opera Mini, Palm Pre, Samsung touch and BlackBerry Storm/Torch mobile devices.

Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress, turned 28 two weeks ago. It’s been a busy year for Matt. Three major WordPress versions were released, he switched back to using a Mac after 8 years on Windows, and he travelled 190,000 miles over 245 days. Even though two weeks have gone by, it’s not too late to say “happy birthday” to Matt. In fact, he would prefer to receive all of his birthday gifts this year in the form of donations to Charity: Water through his birthday campaign. Matt has set an ambitious goal to reach $28,000 in donations by April, but if that goal is reached, his “birthday presents” will have provided clean water for 280 families in developing countries. Not everyone can head to the nearest faucet for a clean glass of water, so say “happy birthday” to Matt and help someone else enjoy some clean water today!

Evergreen is a colorful theme that packs a visual punch. Famous is an advanced theme for business, portfolio or blog usage.

iThemes has now added a huge student discount to their popular Web Designer’s Toolkit. The new Student Edition offers full-time students in the US and Canada access to over 150 themes, over 20 plugins, and over 300 hours of training for only $97 ($880 less than the original). Folks with a strong memory may notice the similarity to iThemes’s Educator Program. While the Student Edition of the toolkit is not free, the $880 discount is something that can’t be beat, especially if you’re busy spending money on your tuition. If you have plans to launch a WordPress-focused career in design, consulting, maintenance, and other such things, this is a great way to get a head start. Disclaimer: iThemes is one of our advertisers.