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Douglas was away on a tour of Beijing, China with his school during this episode (which partially explains why this episode was somewhat late in its release), so David was joined on this episode by Paul (of the MOD team) to go through the latest flurry of phpBB news.

In this episode, David and Paul began by talking about the release of MODX 1.2.0, covering the changes and the benefits that the new version provides to the MODding community, as well as the much much easier MOD packaging policies. In addition, the Styles Database and Demo were officially opened, meaning that phpBB3 styles submissions will finally start to be validated! Yay!

They also recap on BertieZilla’s experiences at LinuxTag Berlin, where the phpBB guys shared a booth with Joomla! and gave out gummy-Berties. And, speaking of Berties, it looks like Bertie 3.0 is about to be shipped!

Finally, David, Francis, and two other team members will be at Joomla!Day Vancouver on June 14th, and David gives a preview of what to expect.

The MOD of the Week is Display user’s age in viewtopic for phpBB3 by EY, and the Style of the Week is ComicBook for phpBB3 by thecharmed01.

phpBB Weekly is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. Check them out for other great technology podcasts.

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Despite us being somewhat early, this episode was our special for April Fools Day 2008: our best attempt to pretend to be a weekly live podcast all about vBulletin. We tried our best, but we couldn’t resist throwing in a few good doses of surprise and sarcasm.

On this episode of vBulletin Weekly, we look at the history of how vBulletin came to be and where it is today. For those of you who are new to vBulletin, we discuss the requirements of running vBulletin, the licensing fees (ever heard of those?) for vBulletin, and the long multi-step installation process. Plus, the first release candidate of the next major release of vBulletin, 3.7, just came out a week or two ago. We take a look at some of the wildly inventive new features coming in 3.7, as well as our opinions on them. Plus, we discuss a bit about the unique idea of “threads” that vBulletin offers, and answer some questions from our angry mob chat room about vBulletin.

Links mentioned in this episode:
vBulletin Info and History (Wikipedia)
vBulletin Community Forums
vBulletin Customizations Website
Comparison between phpBB and vBulletin
First Look at vBulletin 3.7

The Hack of the Week is the Post Thank You Hack for vB 3.6 by Abe1, and the Skin of the Week is Jedi Knights - Star wars for vB 3.6 by foruma-z.

vBulletin Weekly is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. Check them out for other great technology podcasts.

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On the heels of last week’s accident comes another episode of phpBB Weekly, once again featuring a solo act from Douglas. On this episode, Douglas once again begs for forgiveness for the accident that caused last week’s dilemma, but also takes a second look at what was discussed last week and re-examines (as well as clarifies) the various new features in phpBB 3.2 Ascraeus. At the same time, he examines the announcement that phpBB Development is moving to Subversion, and also makes mention of the new phpBB Code Forge.

This is a short and sweet episode that may sound like a regurgitation of what was covered last week, but we try to tackle it all in a new light as we collectively take a deep breath and move on.

The MOD of the Week is Change Poster for phpBB2 by Joe Belmaati, and the Style of the Week is Jenova Template for phpBB2 by varuna.

phpBB Weekly is a proud member of the Tech Podcast Network. Check them out for other great technology podcasts.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are going to have to cancel phpBB Weekly for this Saturday, January 12th. David’s move to Spokane, which has been the cause of his absence for the past few episodes, has unfortunately had some issues which have slowed it down. Therefore, he will not be able to be here this Saturday for phpBB Weekly. At the same time, I will be out of town for a meeting, and will not be here for phpBB Weekly. Therefore, we are not going to be recording an episode this week.

phpBB Weekly #047, which was intended to be the episode where David will be revealing for the first time what’s new in phpBB 3.2, will be postponed to next Saturday, January 19th. David promises that he’ll be there, and I’ll also be there, so it will be great for both of us to be on the show at the same time for the momentous occasion. Even better, David will be joined by MOD Team member Josh W. (A_Jelly_Doughnut) and Development Team member David M. (DavidMJ)*, who will be joining David in revealing what’s new in the up-and-coming 3.2. And, of course, I will be there, serving as the curmudgeon offering my opinions and judgments on the revealed features, and asking as many more-in-depth type questions as I can, while also making sure that the episode doesn’t trump two hours. And, based on past experiences, with something this big going on, you can expect that there will be some more team members lurking about on TalkShoe, especially now that TalkShoe is more accessible now.

Oh, and of course, we invite you to not only come live and be among the first to learn about the new stuff coming in the next major release of phpBB, but also join in with your own questions and comments! Come in live to the chat room and share your opinions on the new features as they’re introduced, or call in live on the show and talk with our guest team members! Or, if you have questions and comments that you’d like to share, feel free.

Finally, the last thing that I am going to pitch is to ask you all to mention what some of the features you’d like to see in phpBB 3.2. After all, this podcast isn’t just for hearing what the team members have to say, it’s for hearing what you, the community, has to say. Who knows (David does) whether or not your most-wanted feature will actually be showing up in 3.2, but sound off in this topic about what you want the teams to deliver in 3.2, and we’ll be sure that they hear what you want them to hear.

In order to keep the discussion for this particular episode in one easy-to-find place, the comments for this post have been closed and we ask you to please respond in the phpBB Weekly forum topic.

We do apologize for the inconvenience of suddenly canceling this weekend’s episode, but we’re really looking forward to the exciting episode that we have planned for the 19th, and hope to see you then!
–Douglas Bell

* Guests are subject to change without notice.

Those of you who have eagle eyes, or perhaps actually care for some reason, may have noticed that TalkShoe, the website that hosts the live recording/streaming of our show, not to mention our infamous chatroom, has just launched a brand new version of their website, including new features. I thought that I might share the most important aspect of what’s new, mostly the things that are important to phpBB Weekly’s listeners.

The biggest new aspect is that TalkShoe now offers a web-based version of their client. That’s right, you no longer have to download the TalkShoe Live! client in order to listen to the show live and join in the chat room. The chat room operates directly in your web browser. Furthermore, you do not have to be a TalkShoe member to participate in the chat room! This means that the entire live phpBB Weekly experience is accessible to anyone, both chat room and calling in live, without registering on TalkShoe! (Although if you do register, you’ll get a more recognizable username than Guest205, for example.)

Note, however, that the downloadable version of TalkShoe is still available (now called TalkShoe Live! Classic). TalkShoe Live! Classic provides a more robust version of the chat room and audio stream, and is also required for using TalkShoe’s free ShoePhone service. Personally, I will continue to use TalkShoe Live! Classic to ensure that I can maintain a connection to the chat room.

Nevertheless, we’re really excited about the new version of TalkShoe, and we hope that it will open up the opportunity to be a part of the show, live as it’s recorded, and also to be a part of our thriving chat room, to a much wider audience. We invite you all to try it on our next live show!

Finally, as one additional reminder, if you have any issues connecting to the live episodes on TalkShoe, we have a special support thread available.