What happens when you take the swag out of a WordCamp? You get more of what WordCamps were always about: people, ideas, and real conversations. On October 2 and 3, 2026, the WordPress community gathered at the Central Auditorium of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) for […]

October was the month AI assistants stopped being a side feature in WordPress. You can now ask Claude or ChatGPT to build a popup, set up a donation automation, or find out why a scheduled task failed. Before you read the rest, please check your… Read More » The post WPBeginner Spotlight 29: […]

We’re excited to share that WordPress Campus Connect at Presidency University, Dhaka, has successfully concluded! Held on 25–26 October 2026, this two-day initiative brought students closer to WordPress, practical website development, career opportunities, and the growing role of […]

This week's Open Channels News highlights tensions over AI in open source, new tools like GridCraft, corporate shifts towards open infrastructure, and the need for sustainable, user-driven technology.

Picking a WordPress MCP plugin? Four got the same two prompts, and all eight are compared on price, free caps and defaults. Find which fits your job.

And update on our feed.

LeChonk’s debut, open-source Windows projects, and Wired’s take on digital control shape today’s tech news and business decisions.

Bob Dunn and Derek Hanson reflect on blogging, personal writing, and using post formats to shape digital presence beyond social media.

What is WordPress MCP, which of its routes fits your site and AI app, what does each cost, and how do you set one up with a read-only token?

This security release features fixes for multiple issues. Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately. You can download WordPress 7.1.4 from WordPress.org, or visit your WordPress Dashboard, click “Updates”, and then click “Update Now”. […]

Transcript [00:00:19] Nathan Wrigley: Welcome to the Jukebox podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case how Scanfully 2.0 is making WordPress […]

AI quickens open source coding, Denmark tests Collabora beyond Microsoft Office, and Ben Thompson reflects on the changing internet

Advances in AI have opened an entirely new chapter in how we interact with technology. We are moving rapidly from asking questions of digital assistants to handing them the authority to take actions in the real world. This shift brings efficiency and convenience but also introduces a new kind of […]

Set up the official WordPress MCP Adapter, see what your AI can do once it connects, and learn when a plugin with an OAuth sign-in is the faster route.

bbPress 2.6.21 is a security and maintenance release. Everyone running bbPress should update. This release strengthens access control across forum feeds, search results, BuddyPress activity, group forums, attachment requests, topic moves, and old topic and reply redirects. Inherited forum […]

WordPress 7.2 Beta 2 is ready for download and testing!  This beta release is intended for testing and development only. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, use a test environment or local site to explore the new […]

Reddit’s open source rules, a new Excel alternative, and Tesco considers open virtualization for retail edge infrastructure.

A look at building business trust and reputation by combining local presence with digital communication.

WooCommerce MCP: what WooCommerce ships today, which route is documented for the claude.ai and ChatGPT web apps, and real Claude Code store sessions.

Comparing the 9 best WordPress LMS plugins on real pricing, renewals, free features, and payments. Find the right LMS for your courses, from free to premium! The post 9 Best WordPress LMS Plugins in 2026 (Compared on Price, Payments, and Features) appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

On October 25, Akismet turns 21. We’re celebrating with a few new guests: an official Drupal module, a PHP SDK, and another year of improvements to our WordPress plugin. Spam still isn’t on the list. Akismet launched in October 2005 to help people spend less time dealing with comment spam […]

As AI revolutionizes cybersecurity, organizations struggle with rapid vulnerability detection versus slow human remediation. Balancing efficiency and accountability is crucial, as maintaining human oversight prevents potentially catastrophic errors.

Howdy, Before anything else: check which version of PHP your sites run. On October 21, the PHP project released fixes for two critical vulnerabilities, and they affect any server running a PHP application, not only WordPress. You’ll find your version under Tools → Site Health → Info → […]

As technology advances, prioritizing speed and convenience can undermine critical engagement and reflection. While automating tasks may enhance efficiency, it risks diminishing the unique value individuals bring to understanding and decision-making.

Faster security scans reveal new software issues yet patching and project upkeep require committed maintainers and company contributions.

Connect Claude to WordPress with a free plugin: add your site as a custom connector, approve access, run a first task, and fix it when it won't connect.

Shifting barriers in tech reveal new questions about trust, safety, and sustainability in software.

I'm about to review a WordPress plugin rated 1.7/5 in the official repo. Why do I want to do this to myself (and all of you)? Well, AI Agent by SiteGround had a rough start, but there's more to the story. I'm going to get to all that.

Bowe Frankema shares how digital creation affects daily life and what bringing weirdness back to the internet means.

Learn how to sell your online course to companies: team seats, bulk enrollment from a CSV, and a certificate for every learner, using free Masteriyo LMS! The post How to Sell Certificate Courses to Companies and Teams in WordPress appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

Two critical PHP flaws let attackers run code on your server without logging in. Here's how to check your PHP version and get your WordPress site patched. The post Critical PHP Flaws Found: How to Protect Your WordPress Site first appeared on WPBeginner.

Munich’s shift to practical open source, Meta and Apple’s AI partnership, and NVIDIA’s hardware-driven open AI models

The PHP project has announced a security release that fixes two critical security vulnerabilities discovered in PHP. Due to the critical severity of the issues, site owners are encouraged to immediately update their installations of PHP. Your web host may already be working to update PHP and put […]

Transcript [00:00:19] Nathan Wrigley: Welcome to the Jukebox Podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, how the Static Site Importer makes […]

There’s going to be an emergency PHP release made in just over 2 hours. It’s to address a critical security bug. I’m not sure how long it’ll be before Ubuntu updates, but I will preload a bunch of posts here and on inphotos.org using WP Super Cache and turn off PHP until it’s updated. […]

This beta release is intended for testing and development only. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, use a test environment or local site to explore the new features. How to Test WordPress 7.2 Beta 1 You can test […]

A commentary on building meaningful online communities that prioritize value and listening over constant activity.

OpenStation is a free WordPress plugin that turns wp-admin into a desktop. Every admin screen opens in its own window that you can move, resize and keep open next to the others. You can try it in your browser right now, with nothing to install. Can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube. […]

AI tools have simplified app creation, enabling rapid prototyping. However, the challenge now lies in discerning which ideas are genuinely valuable to users. As anyone can create apps quickly, the focus should shift from mere production to understanding user needs and ensuring the apps solve real […]

I made a WordPress plugin for my holidays. It’s called Travel Steps, and it turns a trip into a page with a map down one side and the story of each day down the other. Every photo I take ends up in Immich, on my own server. My phone sends where I’ve been to Dawarich, on the same server. […]

The Truly Meaning moment in this event Campus Connect Event Successfully Completed! We are pleased to share that the Campus Connect event, held on Thursday, October 1st, was successfully completed with the participation of students from Ahmad’s Education. Ahmad’s Education has already […]

In tech, speed can make all the difference. One topic that doesn’t get enough attention is just how much faster AI inference is changing the way developers work. Training AI models still grabs the headlines with all the talk about big clusters and huge data sets, but the real impact for most […]

In mid-April 2026 my employer started a project called “Radical Speed Month” to step away from our existing structures and processes, make space for people to dive more deeply into AI tooling, and try to build new or sleeping ideas. My participation in this experiment ran until late September […]

How employment is changing at Anthropic is a fascinating read.

A straightforward look at what the open web is, how it started, and why it matters for digital communities.

We get a lot of flak at WordPress.org for supporting older PHP versions, but an area we’ve always pushed the frontier is in Web Standards, getting websites and browsers evolving together to make the web richer. Ever since I caught the religion from Zeldman, promoting more functionality in the […]

On 19th and 20th September 2026, the WordPress community gathered at Civil Service College Uganda, a venue close to River Nile, for the fifth edition of WordCamp Jinja. The event brought together more than 300 diverse participants across 2 days and 3 parallel tracks of sessions full of learning, […]

bbPress 2.6.20 is a security and maintenance release. Everyone running bbPress should update. This release strengthens topic and reply password validation and keeps bbPress post shortcodes literal in ordinary WordPress content loops. It also adds a site-wide Forum Status setting with Open, […]

When we think about what keeps the Internet humming, most of us imagine massive data centers and super-fast connections. Fewer people realize that our everyday digital experiences often depend on the efforts of a very small group of individuals. Recent analysis revealed that in many essential open […]

Who maintains education AI, the backbone of software infrastructure, and a new open source document tool.

Transcript [00:00:19] Nathan Wrigley: Welcome to the Jukebox Podcast from WP Tavern. My name is Nathan Wrigley. Jukebox is a podcast which is dedicated to all things WordPress. The people, the events, the plugins, the blocks, the themes, and in this case, the state of WordPress security in 2026, […]

For the next 30 days, a few billion of you will get an extra header in honor of Eric Binnion. The code in Nginx to do this is poetic: add_header X-Remembering "Eric Binnion <https://friendsofericbinnion.wordpress.com/>" always; Our design team will make that less AI and more humane in […]

Almost a third of our source code was comments. I deleted all of them and asked an AI agent to build the same features on both versions of the codebase, three times each. The code it wrote was just as good with or without comments. If you use agents on a real codebase and wonder whether comments […]

Speaking of sci-fi authors, Automattic is hosting Neal Stephenson for a livestream about his new book soon, please tune in! Neal was a big influence on WordPress! I got hip to him from Tantek. In the source code of billions of pages you’ll see this: <link rel="profile" […]

In today's news, markdown streamlines AI input, AI-generated security reports increase workloads, and autonomous agent costs affect project efficiency

We compared fees on Teachable, Kajabi, Stan, Udemy, WordPress LMS plugins, and more. Plug your own numbers into our free calculator to see the real cost! The post Course Platform Fees Compared: 14 Platforms to Sell a Course (+ Free Calculator) appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

Next month in November, I’ll (Bob) be attending the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. I have been to conferences in the past that have had attendance up to 15,000, but never one that has over 70,000 attendees. That’s a lot of people. A few months ago I applied for media creditation, unsure of […]

Automattic is always 5–15 years ahead of other companies, but things happen faster now. I predict other companies will start scrambling to add great writers to their boards, because, well, look at the headlines in AI. United’s board already has Walter Isaacson. Authors are awesome, akin to […]

Novamira vs WPVibe, plus the MCP Adapter and Easy MCP AI, compared: where each runs, what your AI can touch, real prices and caps, and which fits your site. The post Novamira vs WPVibe vs MCP Adapter vs Easy MCP AI: Which One Fits Your Site? appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

I’ve been wondering how far a theme can take OpenStation. Not just a wallpaper and a different color, but everything: windows, dock, menus, fonts, icons, layouts, etc. So I tried to make wp-admin look like two operating systems from a long time ago. Can you believe that this is still […]

The WordPress MCP Adapter is now a WordPress.org plugin. See what it exposes on your site, who can use it, how to keep it narrow, and your options. The post WordPress MCP Adapter Explained: What It Is, What It Exposes, and Your Options appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

In a fast-evolving tech industry, professionals are embracing diversification for stability and growth. This strategy fosters financial security, creativity, and adaptability, preparing individuals for unforeseen changes.

Check what you need before connecting ChatGPT to WordPress over MCP: the right plan, a public HTTPS site, and the permissions that keep you in control. The post ChatGPT MCP Requirements for WordPress: Plans, Connection Rules and Permissions appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

Compare 9 SEO MCP servers for AI assistants: what each one reads, where it runs, how you sign in, which plan it needs and what your calls cost. The post Best SEO MCP Servers: Ahrefs, Semrush, Search Console and More appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

This week on Open Channels News, discover how AI is changing hardware, security reports, and gaming, plus the latest WordPress and enterprise data updates. Explore our concise wrap-up of major open source and tech stories, along with the recurring themes shaping the industry’s future.

Claude connectors let the AI read and act in your apps. Learn what they are, who can add a custom one, and how to connect your own WordPress site step by step. The post Claude Connectors Explained: How to Add a Custom Connector (With a WordPress Example) appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

Nine AI plugins for WordPress compared by what each one can change on your site, the control that keeps you in charge, and who pays for the AI. The post 9 Best AI Plugins for WordPress (2026): What Each One Can Change appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

September was the month WordPress plugins really started talking to AI assistants in a serious way. You can now manage backups, forms, online stores, and fundraising campaigns just by asking Claude or ChatGPT, and there’s a good chance you already have some of these plugins… Read More » The […]

Stripe fees are fixed, but plugin fees are a choice. Use this simple break-even calculator to see when a free Stripe plugin stops being free. The post The Real Cost of Stripe on WordPress: Plugin Fees and Break-Even Calculator appeared first on Themeisle Blog.

Connect Cursor to WordPress with MCP: one-click OAuth or a scoped token, 280+ tools for posts, media, WooCommerce, and analytics, plus an audit log.

Old posts losing traffic? Learn a simple workflow to refresh old blog posts for SEO, plus a free tool that tells you exactly what to fix first.