If you have a WordPress plugin in the official directory, you can now add some pizzaz to your listing with a custom header image. To add a custom header image to your plugin listing, you’ll need to have a 772 × 250 pixel jpeg or png checked in to your plugin’s SVN directory at assets/banner-772×250.(jpg|png). After a few refreshes, the image should appear for everyone. For some examples of the new header image at work, see Akismet, bbPress, BuddyPress, and Jetpack. This is still an experimental feature, so there is always a possibility that the dimensions, placement, and other aspects may change in the near future.

Bizz is a very clean and minimal theme that is ideal for business and portfolio websites. Sunny Blue Sky is a blue theme which includes a cloudy blue sky and sun that is shining and good looking.

New plugins Widget Shortcode adds a [widget] shortcode which enables you to output a widget anywhere you like. WP Snowfall creates snowfall effects for your WordPress site. Updated plugins Front-end Editor enables “edit in place” functionality on your site. Tweetable allows you to integrate Twitter with your WordPress blog, automatically tweet new posts, display your latest tweet in your sidebar, etc.

The results are in from the WooThemes survey. Presented in a handy infographic, this year’s survey brought to life some interesting facts from the 2,000+ WordPress users who took it. Among those surveyed, 90% feel that WordPress has graduated from blog publishing tool to full-fledged CMS, 68% use WordPress for sites requiring extensive CMS functionality, 77% make money from WordPress while 31% make their living from it, and 76% find responsive web design to be an important factor in their theme choice. While we’re on the subject of surveys, you may want to take this short 5-question survey to help improve the quality of the main WordPress.org site.

Indigo is a clean theme with deep, dark, rich blues and blacks. Parament is a great all-purpose theme featuring a dark color scheme with bright orange highlights and a textured background.

The new default theme for WordPress 3.4, appropriately named Twenty Twelve, is officially on the drawing board. This year’s theme will be overseen by none other than WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg. The focus is to develop a theme that is “kind of different from before, generally palatable, and that Matt likes.” Some new things to look forward to include a variable height header image, less “clever things that aren’t super-useful,” and this will be the first default WordPress theme to have no header image by default. For some odd reason, I have stuck to the default themes ever since Twenty Ten debuted, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what Twenty Twelve has in store for us.

New plugins Simple Page Sidebars allows you to assign custom widget-enabled sidebars to any page with ease. Updated plugins FoxyPress is a custom plugin made to integrate FoxyCart e-commerce functionality into your WordPress website. Pricing Table allows you to generate a pricing table in an easy and dynamic way. Tumblr Importer allows you to import posts from a Tumblr blog. WordPress Text Message allows people to subscribe to SMS text message updates of your web site via cell phone.

WordPress for Android has received a major update. If Android phones and WordPress blogs are your thing, this is a must-have app. The app now features a fully refreshed UI, a new post editor with a formatting toolbar, support for Android-powered tablets, background posting, and improved stats! If you aren’t an Android user, never fear! There are plenty of WordPress mobile apps to choose from.