Update: Drupal 7.0 Release Candidate 3 is available now!

We are proud to present to you the second release candidate of Drupal 7.0. Although there are still a few known issues that we are working on fixing, we are confident that our code is stable enough for wider testing by the community. Since the last release candidate two weeks ago, we have fixed upgrade path bugs, improved styling in the default "Bartik" theme, numerous bug fixes and improvements to strings, and fixed a critical bug preventing default Views from working. For the full list of changes, see the release notes.

The first alpha announcement provided a comprehensive list of high level improvements made since Drupal 6.x, so in this announcement we'll concentrate on how you can help ensure that Drupal 7 is released as soon as possible and is as rock solid as the previous Drupal releases that you've grown to love!

There are a number of modules already ported to Drupal 7 for your testing pleasure. You can keep tabs on whether or not your site is ready for Drupal 7 by using the Upgrade Status module. If you are a translator, now is the time to start working on your translations. If you are a module or theme maintainer, now is the time to start working on the update to Drupal 7! Read on for more details.

Packt Publishing announces the publication of Drupal Web Services by Trevor James.

This book covers efficient Drupal Web services that help you to speed up your connections to Web applications. It will compel you to learn more and more about Web services and use them to easily share data and content resources between different applications and machines. This book also covers the usage of each Web service for different purposes. It provides step-by-step instructions on integrating Web services and Web applications with your Drupal powered Web site.

Drupal Web services will show you how to work with all kinds of Web Services and Drupal. The book shows you how to integrate Amazon.com content into your site; add multimedia and video to your site using video services including CDN2 and Kaltura. You will learn how to prevent spam using CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA and Mollom. You will also learn to explore the different types of Web services Drupal offers and can integrate with using the Services module and XML-RPC. Next you will learn to push content from Google documents, deploying this text and image based content as Drupal nodes.

Update: Drupal 7.0 Release Candidate 2 is available now!

Following three beta releases, and with tons of bugs fixed and user interface improvements added, we are proud to present to you the first release candidate of Drupal 7.0. Although there are still a few known issues that we are working on fixing, we are confident that our code is stable enough for wider testing by the community. Since the last beta version was released two weeks ago, we have improved styling in the default "Bartik" theme, numerous bug fixes and improvements to the Update Manager and Search module, revisions to both user interface text and developer documentation to be more understandable and accurate, and we've made final clean-ups to some of the architecture improvements added during the release cycle. The deprecated Profile module is now hidden on new sites and we've substituted it with the ability to put user fields added through Field UI on the registration form.

The first alpha announcement provided a comprehensive list of high level improvements made since Drupal 6.x, so in this announcement we'll concentrate on how you can help ensure that Drupal 7 is released as soon as possible and is as rock solid as the previous Drupal releases that you've grown to love!

There are a number of modules already ported to Drupal 7 for your testing pleasure. You can keep tabs on whether or not your site is ready for Drupal 7 by using the Upgrade Status module. If you are a translator, now is the time to start working on your translations. If you are a module or theme maintainer, now is the time to start working on the update to Drupal 7! Read on for more details.

In 2009 the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) chose Appnovation Technologies to develop a Drupal based community website named Adaptation Learning Platforms. The portal is a community platform which allows NGOs, researchers, and policy makers collaborate together and look at how wildlife is affected by global climate challenges. It features community tools such as groups, discussion forums and user profiles. Initally WWF looked at using Open Atrium, but they quickly realized that since the site is not a project based site, the Open Atrium version would not be as effective. WWF made the decision to develop their ALPs site on the Drupal platform because it offers all the community options they wanted to incorporate and is easily scalable.

For more than 45 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature. The world’s leading conservation organization, WWF works in 100 countries and is supported by 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally. WWF's unique way of working combines global reach with a foundation in science, involves action at every level from local to global, and ensures the delivery of innovative solutions that meet the needs of both people and nature.

Google Code-In (GCI) is an amazing program in which junior high and high school students are encouraged to participate in an exciting open source project, like Drupal!

Open source projects participating in GCI create a list of short-term, high-impact tasks for students to work on.

The last time this project ran (called GHOP) we had a number of new, talented individuals come in to Drupal who are still active community members today. Past GHOP rockstars include Charlie Gordon (cwgordon7), Jimmy Berry (boombatower) and Daniel Wehner (dereine).

Unlike Google Summer of Code, this work is *not* just about code! Tasks can be around any of the following categeories:

• Code: Tasks related to writing or refactoring code
• Documentation: Tasks related to creating/editing documents
• Outreach: Tasks related to community management and outreach/marketing
• Quality Assurance: Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality
• Research: Tasks related to studying a problem and recommending solutions
• Training: Tasks related to helping others learn more
• Translation: Tasks related to localization
• User Interface: Tasks related to user experience research or user interface design and interaction

The GCI contest lasts from November 22 - January 10 and is open for students age 13-18 (read full eligibility requirements). Students will recieve a small compensation for each task that is completed. Are you eligible, or do you know someone who is and can participate? Are you a participant in our community who can envision and mentor tasks for students to work on? Read on to find out how you can help!

LCDTV.net is an online magazine dedicated to LCD TV information and LCD TV Reviews. It employs several journalists to stay up to date with the latest technology news related to LCD televisions, has a large database of the latest TV specifications, and offers enthusiasts the opportunity to write in-depth TV reviews receiving full byline credit getting paid for their efforts.

PropDrop Web Development and Marketing completed the installation, configuration, and custom theme development for the Drupal site. PropDrop is a Louisville Web Design company that specializes in Drupal for small businesses, and also manages a portfolio of various topical websites. For most sites, PropDrop works almost exclusively in Drupal. For LCDTV.net in particular, where we needed robust user management and permissions, tightly defined and unique content types, and easy ways to group and manage that content, we knew Drupal was up to the task to ensure fast development and ultimate success.