WP Builds Newsletter #1 – Week Commencing 19th February 2018

This is the first of the WP Builds News podcasts. It’s going to be coming out on a Monday and have nothing but a short round up of the News from the previous week. I hope that you like it!

Jetpack 5.8: A Focus on Speed with Faster Search and Lazy Loading Images
Today’s release of Jetpack 5.8 includes several features that have graduated from beta testing. We are very excited to bring them out for you to try.

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reBusted!
Saves you from asking “have you emptied your cache?”. Forked and updated for todays WordPress and PHP from the original plugin by Paul Clark.

What’s New in WooCommerce 3.3.1 (And What Even Happened with 3.3)?
When WooCommerce 3.3 was initially released on January 30, 2018, there were many reasons to get excited about the upgrades that came with it. However, it wasn’t available for very long before WordPress removed it from the repository, citing issues for users who had WordPress themes that conflicted with the update.

Custom Fonts Are Here! Start Using Typekit & Self Hosted Fonts Inside Elementor
Elementor introduces Custom Fonts. Add your self-hosted & Typekit fonts, and use them on your Elementor projects to create a unique brand language.

5 Things To Think about When Scheduling Your Social
I have written a few posts on this and even shared a couple of lessons. But when I made the switch to Social Web Suites, it occurred to me that there are certain things I have learned not only from my own scheduling, but from watching others do this.

Wordfence 7 Update
It has now been a few weeks since we launched Wordfence 7. Overall we are confident that the change was a good one. The product is now cleaner, more modern and is much easier for a new user to navigate.

Top Digital and WordPress Events to Put on Your Calendar for 2018
Welcome to the future! Just kidding, it’s only 2018, but it feels like the future. Between AI, personalization, wearables, augmented reality, and machine learning, the world as we know it is changing. Websites are no longer static, one-dimensional landing pages. They’re dynamic, unique, and a beautiful example of how seamlessly technology is evolving. As digital pioneers in our field, it’s our job to keep up. One of the ways to accomplish that is by adding these top digital and WordPress events to your 2018 calendar, which I have listed out and described below.

Blockchain Technology: How Will it Impact WordPress?
Cryptocurrency has been around for quite a while by now. But in the past few months, the fluctuations in the price of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have caught the world’s attention. With the ever increasing rise and drop in prices, cryptocurrency has proven to be quite a good investment for many folks. The rising popularity of cryptocurrency will not be made possible without the underlying technology behind Bitcoin (and other such currencies). Blockchain, as it is popularly called, is being dubbed as the future of technology. As such, can the world of WordPress remain untouched by blockchain technology?

Google Announces Two Major Changes to Image Search
Google officially announced major changes to how image search functions. The first change is to remove Google’s “view image” button.The second change is to remove the “search by image” button.

AI ripe for exploitation, experts warn
Drones turned into missiles, fake videos manipulating public opinion and automated hacking are just three of the threats from artificial intelligence in the wrong hands, experts have said.