Version 2.6 is right around the corner. Some new features and improvements included in this planned release:

• Text Formatting options. Instead of a simple Convert Line Breaks checkbox, you can now set a different formatting option for each entry. Plugins can add new options to the Text Formatting menu, which allows for greater integration with the formatting within the system (for example, Text Formatting will be applied on the preview screen).
• PostgreSQL and SQLite database drivers.
• Enhanced options for comments: Closed, Open and None. This allows you to turn off new comment posting for an entry, but leave up the existing comments.
• Incorporated Brad Choate's Sanitize plugin, adding an mt.cfg setting for a global default and a per-blog setting to override it. Sanitize is turned on automatically for any tags with visitor-submitted data, so existing users will not have to change anything in their templates.
• Added an <MTLink> tag to automatically generate the URL for an index template or an entry (by entry ID).
• You can now add a new category from the Primary Category menu on the new/edit entry screen by choosing "Add new category..." from the menu.
• Support for Creative Commons Licenses. You can select a license in your blog configuration, and the appropriate metadata will be set on your weblog index page and in your RSS 1.0 file.
• metaWeblog.newMediaObject implementation for uploading files via XML-RPC.
• RSD template and a <link> tag referencing it, which simplifies XML-RPC client configuration.
• Dirify now converts certain high-ASCII characters (accented characters, etc) to their low-ASCII characters.
• Changed comment forms in the default templates to be more usable with respect to position of the "Remember me" elements (based on Jeremy Hedley's suggestions).

Expect 2.6 in about 2.5 weeks.

Starting next Wednesday, Ben and I will be visiting Tokyo, Japan.

On Friday, January 17th, our host, Joi Ito and Neoteny will be hosting a Movable Type users meet-up in Tokyo. The venue will be determined once they have a good idea of how many people will be attending. Tentatively, the gathering is set to start between 6:00-6:30 and will be located near their Akasaka office. More details to come.

So, if you're in Tokyo, we'd love to meet you.

Update: Those who responded should expect an email with more information about venue and times. Thanks!

Maciej Ceglowski has built a prototype for a semantic search engine. To adapt it to function as a Movable Type plugin, he needs sample content that he can test against.

If successful, the search feature would let you do a keyword search, and get back relevant results even when there was no exact keyword match.

If you'd like to help out, send him some content.