WordPress has released version 2.9 of their popular blogging script WordPress which can be downloaded from the official WordPress website. Users who have configured automatic updates can also upgrade to the new version of WordPress from within their blogs. It is however recommended to backup the files and database before initiating the update.

The new version comes with over 500 bug fixes, changes and enhancements which makes it a recommended download and install. Some of the new features include:

• Trashbin: Posts that are deleted are now moved to the trash instead of being deleted irrecoverably. It is possible to recover posts from the trash at a later time.
• Image Editor: A basic image editor that can be used to edit, rotate, scale and crop images.
• Batch plugin support: Update up to ten plugins at once.
• Video Embeds: video embeds for popular sites have become just a tad easier as it is now possible to simply paste the url into the post which will be turned into an appropriate viewer by WordPress automatically.
• Automatic database optimization which can be enabled by adding define(‘WP_ALLOW_REPAIR’, true); to the WordPress config file.
• Post Thumbnails options which can be used to display thumbnails in every post if the theme supports it.
• Better SEO thanks to rel=canonical.
• Custom galleries with the ability to add pictures from several posts.