We envision it to be a gateway for the plugin to reach out to other people by providing things users need easily – help, extension modules, showcase ideas: you name it! Hopefully it will be able to attract more users and developers, and together we can make CubePoints even better and more usable. :D

So check out CubePoints.com now and enjoy =)

CubePoints is a project handled completely by just two high-schoolers and developed completely on their own free time outside study. To make CubePoints even better, other than giving suggestions and reporting bugs, one main way is to support us through donation.

So, if you think CubePoints have helped your site, please do consider donating to us and join in the crowd as they donate to their favorite plugins as well. =D

For more information on WPPDD, read this.

This version brings a lot of bugfixes and improvements including:

• New donation and About Author dialog box
• MUCH improved performance
• Ranks System
  
• Custom logging types for plugin integrations

We’ll be uploading to WP Plugins Directory shortly. Note that there are no i18n available for this version yet, but if you are interested in translating CubePoints, email us and we’ll send you a .pot file right away. Enjoy this awesome holiday and the present!

Beware of a known bug: somehow, you might not be able to see the ranks in about page after upgrading. If so, please report immediately as we have not yet find enough situations yet to determine really where the bug is

IMPORTANT: When you upgrade, remember to follow proper procedures including: deactivate the plugin, remove the plugin folder from wp-contents/plugins, and then put in the new plugin.

I spent some time over the past week basically recoding CubePoints, and to me it seems pretty stable and efficient now compared to CubePoints 1.3. I think I’m going to call it 1.5. Note that there are no new features in this version, but only IMPORTANT bugfixes.

Now, to make up for those stupid mistakes we have done before (including releasing a version without throughly testing it), I’m looking for a couple volunteers to help me beta test the new versions – the more plugins you run, the better! Please email admin@techcube.net if you are willing to beta-test for us and to make CubePoints better!

I’m guessing we can release this version before Christmas. So, stay tuned!

Expect a lot of pictures! (Gosh, this sounds like a personal blog now…)

We’ll try to keep up with the CubePoints support (”like there is any support normally anyway…”), and I promise durinng this short break we’ll try to fix the many bugs currently exist in CubePoints.

Anyway, I’ll see you guys in a week, have fun!

Now, this store does not work like others. In fact, it might not even be considered as a “store” plugin. Here is how it works:

• Post a new post with the following tag: [cps]*Name of your item*|*Amount of points you want to sell it for*|*Link text*[/cps]
• Your user will then click on the link to “purchase an item”. Points will be deducted.
• You will receive an email saying this user bought this item. It will also show in the widget in your Admin Dashboard.
• You can then choose to notify your user how to obtain what he just purchased.

Now for example, you can use this plugin to sell ad space. Put a link like that in a post, and an user interested will click on it. You will be notified that the user bought some ad space, and you will contact him for details/instructions.

Download the file here and put it in /wp-content/plugins/ (do NOT put it in cubepoints folder). And yes, obviously, it requires CubePoints to work.

“Wait, Peter, how is this a “store” then?” Here’s what I’d do. Create a category called “store” and exclude it from any category listing. Create your own theme file (category-*ID*.php in your themes folder) to set up a “grid” display (or a list). Take out all the tags/author/category displays, and it will look like it lists products instead of posts.

PLEASE tell us what you think about this. We will work more towards some more features on CubePoints. Next up: Allow users to buy points with paypal

Both of these themes are now in the WP Themes Directory. How cool is that, you ask? Well, in WP 2.8, you can now search for “surreal” or “dark autumn” and install it directly from your admin panel. No FTP required.

Enjoy these themes, and check back regularly for more cool updates!

• [Feature] Reset all points to 0
• [Feature] Number of points given for registration
• [Change] Doesn’t remove white space in user names (Thanks Corey)

Okay, fine, I know it is only a small release, but I hope that through this, we can express the message that “we are not giving up CubePoints”.

The language files and the docs are yet to be updated yet. New language lines are as follows:

The amount of points of all your users would be reset to 0. Are you sure you want to continue? This action cannot be redone!

Reset all points

Number of points new members receive for registering

Do not add points for new registrations

Report any bugs you see! Have fun with the new release, and we will come back with more updates! Download it here

We, once again, sincerely apologize for our inactiveness in both regular blog posts and development of CubePoints. I know “We were busy” isn’t going to be enough to explain all of these, but believe it or not, that is the case here.

Recently, Jonathan Lau and I have started working on a personal project to be submitted to ThinkQuest. We had only one month to put up a fully functional site with JS and Cookies (which is kind of new to us). The deadline is next wednesday, so we’ll be even more busier for the next few days.

Once again, we sincerely apologize, and by the end of this project, we will be able to continue on the development and posts on TechCube. Thank you very much!

Plugins & Themes

Well, as everybody knows, we are continuing our development on CubePoints. More new features, including rank images, should be coming up in a few days.

But apart from that, more themes are coming up including (temporary name) Simply Blue, and Charcoal WP. Some of you might have noticed that there is a new page, called Dark Autumn. 

New Design for TechCube

We are also working on a new design on TechCube. While details are still undecided yet, but I can almost guarantee that it will bring a refreshing look to the site.

Last but not least… sgShops!

A new site, sgShops.net is about to launch in the very near future for Singaporean blogshop owners to advertise about their shops. More details should come as the release date comes sooner. So stay tuned!

Any suggestions for the site? Feel free to tell us by commenting on this post!