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Numiton who “bring open source PHP to Java” have announced Wordpress in Java.

The so called nWordpress is based on the version 2.5.1 of the popular PHP blogging tool. It is available under GPL like Wordpress and leverages a Spring-MVC-Framework.

Other PHP applications numiton plan to port include Joomla, Drupal as well as Mediawiki, Mantis and DocuWiki. They have a specific porting tool nTile PtoJ, which they claim can convert PHP code to Java EE.

As a justification for the effort, numiton claim that PHP solutions often suffer from sub-optimal code quality, coupled with insufficient tools/IDE support, that makes you wonder how difficult it is to maintain and develop such projects.

They believe, that by porting the to Java EE through an automated process, they will gain easier maintenance and development and be able to establish superior architectures and finally superior tools.

WordPress have introduced an Open Source app that lets you write posts, upload photos, and edit your WordPress blog from your iPhone or iPod Touch. With support for both WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress (2.5.1 or higher), users can now write and manage their blog on the go.

Download from the iTunes AppStore.

The interesting bit is the solution to prevent data loss when receiving a call. Wordpress for iPhone will recover your post after ending the call. You can take pictures on the phone and blog them instantly, iPod touch users are limited to pictures from the photo library.
See pictures of the app in action in the gallery.

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Optaros has written a streamlined web client for Alfresco based entirely on REST (web scripts) and ExtJS. It is called DoCASU, which stands for Document Access for Casual Users, and we’re making it freely-available as an open source project on code.optaros.com.

DoCASU 1.0 leverages the understanding gained from corporate user requirements and utilizes Rich Internet Application technologies such as the ExtJS AJAX framework. DoCASU is not intended to replace the already existing Alfresco web user interface, but rather offer an alternative for users who require a limited set of features for them to profit from simplicity and ease of use. Already today thousands of users at NXP, a top 10 semiconductor company founded by Philips, are enjoying the user friendly front end solution.

DoCASU is a showcase of what can be done on top of Alfresco’s Web Script approach with state of the art RIA technologies. Developers can take DoCASU as a start for even more comprehensive (or simplistic) user interfaces, purpose built front ends or just as the base for learning on how to build Alfresco user interfaces and applications leveraging Web Scripts.

It requires Alfresco 2.1.1 or later. The future DoCASU releases will include a drop zone for dragging and dropping files also for desktop interaction, tabbed navigation, configurable skins, usability improvements and more.

Read about the project and download the AMP from code.optaros.com. If you see things that need fixing, create a bug report or fix it yourself and let us know.

Forrester Research’s Stephen Powers just released their report “Web Content Management And Open Source“.

As organizations embark on next-generation Web content management (WCM) initiatives, they want to avoid the mistakes made in earlier, more costly WCM projects. As a result, information and knowledge management professionals increasingly show an interest in open source WCM as a way of controlling software costs and increasing their access to product-specific expertise in the marketplace.

Later on Powers concludes that only Alfresco and Drupal have a satisfactory product offering, proven enterprise-level implementations, and a large — and passionate — community of developers and service providers.

When: April 10 2008 - 11am EDT / 5pm CET

The collection of techniques and technologies known as Web 2.0 is only just beginning to have an affect on the enterprise. Join Dr. Ian Howells, Alfresco Chief Marketing Officer, and Jeff Potts, ECM Practice Lead for Optaros, as they explain the significance of these trends to the enterprise, what Web 2.0 really is and how to best leverage it to support content management strategies.

This web seminar will cover:

• The importance of Web 2.0 in the context of content management strategies and the competitive landscape.
• How to get beyond the hype and leverage Web 2.0 techniques and technologies to deliver dynamic and interactive content.
• How to tap into the fast-growing value of the Web 2.0 ecosystem to drive organizational productivity and competitive advantage, while still meeting the compliance and security needs of business.
• How these ideas have been put into practice by Optaros for companies like Endeca and Swisscom using Alfresco Enterprise as the technology platform for a Web 2.0 solution

Register now: http://www.alfresco.com/about/events/2008/04/optaros10apr08/register/

Animoto.com is a 2.0 style web application that creates videos out of still images with the click of a button.

You simply choose a song and images. Animoto then automatically generates a unique video for you. According to animoto, no two videos are ever the same.

Many of the post-production techniques that the founders used while working as producers for MTV, Comedy Central & ABC are used in Animoto’s patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence developed to think like an actual editor and director. The resulting video is produced in a widescreen format, containing the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer.

See the about video here or check out this video about great people at Optaros…

After one year of work with a focus on improving the theme system, internationalization, logging and usability, and re-writing the menu system, drupal 6 is released with over 1,600 resolved issues evident in major usability improvements, security and maintainability advancements, friendlier installer, and expanded development framework. Drupal 6 now includes OpenID support.

For a quick video tour, check out Greg Knaddison’s “New features in Drupal 6.0 screencast”. Find a list of good reasons to upgrate to Drupal 6 in the release announcement.

Alfresco today announced the completion of a $9 million Series C round of financing led by SAP Ventures, bringing total funding to $19 million. Existing investors Accel Partners and Mayfield Fund also joined the round.

Alfresco will use the proceeds to fund continued growth into the enterprise content management market, including product development and acceleration of global expansion plans, particularly in the German, US and Asian markets.

Read the full press release here.

We’ve engaged in the Web 2.0 discussion from the very early Optaros days and our understanding of how UGC, social and RIA should be leveraged for businesses is today manifested in our Enterprise 2.0 practice. Our website however was not reflecting our expertize properly and in fact we struggled for a while with what the corporate voice should be, what role Marketing should play, how much control should be maintained on the content, what expectations are for navigation and numerous other questions around the next generation corporate website

With the new optaros.com website we have started a living experiment to determine what a corporate website should be for a professional services firm in a Web 2.0 world.

See Marc’s blogpost on What is a Web 2.0 Corporate Website? for the thoughts behind our new drupal site.

Jeff Potts, our ECM Practice lead was chosen Community contributor of the month.

Jeff has been a valuable contributor to the forums and the developer site wiki, and has also reported product issues in the Alfresco JIRA. However, what sets Jeff apart is the educational and insightful material he posts on his personal web site, ecmarchitect.com.

Go check out Jeff’s website. It will allow you to jump-start the learning process of Alfresco. He has lot’s of tutorials on advanced work flows, web scripts, implementing custom behaviors, working with custom content types and developing custom actions. All typical customizations with lots of links to code and supporting resources, all based on real-world examples and leveraging Jeff’s consulting experience.

Are you next to be contributor of the month (or to join Optaros to get the opportunity to)? ;)