The always aggressive Envato blog network is expanding yet again. This time it is all about 3D graphics and CG art, spearheaded by none other than Kaleb Aylsworth. No, I hadn’t heard of him either, but he’s working at Digital Extremes and doing Bioshock 2 multiplayer stuff, which makes him something of a hero in my book.

Skellie, the Tuts manager, describes Cgtuts like this:

We’ll be publishing a combination of step-by-step written tutorials and screencasts, with preview images and videos so you can see the final result before you invest time in it. At Cgtuts+ we’ll be pioneering the concept of multi-day tutorials, allowing us to produce detailed and in-depth end results without over-complicating the process.

They’re starting off with the creation of a dumpster, that oh so popular graphic element in every FPS game on earth.

USA Today runs the AP story about Israel Hyman who twittered on his vacation and got his home burglarized. Twitter is blamed, because with constant updates on where Hyman and his wife were, the burglars could take their time. The AP story says:

Most people wouldn’t leave a recording on a home answering machine telling callers they’re on vacation for a week, and most people wouldn’t let mail or newspapers pile up while they were away. But users of social media think nothing of posting real-time vacation photos on Facebook showing themselves on beaches hundreds of miles from home, or sending out automatic e-mail messages that say, “I’m out of the country for a week.”

That’s the gist of it really. We’ve heard this before, about traditional blogging. If the wrong people follow you on Twitter, is watching you on Facebook, or reads your blog, and you tell them that you and your family will be on vacation for a week, then they could exploit that. It is worth thinking about, at least.

Do you worry about letting burglars know when you’re out of town via Twitter?

Is this news? Not really, but I find it interesting to see that Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that Mashable now has passed TechCrunch, according to Compete.com. Complete with graph and everything. But is traffic everything? Of course not, new startups still dream of being featured on TechCrunch, and I bet they’d still prefer that to Mashable. Actually, I think the two blogs are so different that the whole comparison is a bit flawed.

But again, isn’t it interesting that a third blog (SAI) is comparing two other blogs to each other, and writes about it? Almost makes the blogosphere echo chamber debate seem motivated again.

Happy Monday, folks! We’ve got a few new and updated plugins this week, so let’s start there.

Byrne Reese released a new version of the Photo Gallery plugin. This version includes two new options for the “front door” of your gallery. You can now choose a grid or blog layout, and you can display a featured photo. Byrne also released an updated version of the plugin’s documentation.

SetOffset, written by Shinichi Nozawa, is an enhancement to the Movable Type admin. On the Manage Entries screen, it allows you to “jump” to a specific point in the list of entries, rather than have to page through them to find the one you want. read more

In just a little while, the Apple keynote speak on WWDC will start. Usually when there’s a big Apple event happening, Twitter is flooded with people sharing their thoughts or just reporting live. So be sure to check out the #WWDC hashtag if you’re curious about the new iPhone OS, and whatever else Apple might have up their sleeve. Then, as the keynote evolves, you can check of John Gruber’s predictions.

Live blogs: Engadget, MacRumorsLive.com, Gizmodo live page

If you have an iPhone or an iPod touch, there is a good chance that you take at least some images with it and, if you blog, use Twitter or have a Facebook account, at least some of those images probably wind up on the Web. Best of all, through various apps available for all three, you can upload those images without them ever first crossing your computer.

However, if those images are copied one might never know where they came from. Though watermarking images is standard practice for many who blog, the iPhone has not had the ability to do that. This has forced photographers to either do without such marks or edit their photos on a computer first.

However, a new application, PhotoMarkr (iTunes URL), by Imangi Studios, changes that. PhotoMarkr adds a very simple and basic watermarking app to the iPhone. Images sent directly from the device can have the same kind of professional marks that one might get from a traditional photo editing application.

However, the app does seem to have its share of hiccups, but at a price point of 99 cents, they may well be forgivable. read more

The first, and possibly only, release candidate for WordPress 2.8 is out now. Ryan Boren on the wordpress.org blog thinks that 2.8 is done, and if that is the case then the June 10th release date will hold firm. Get it now.

You probably remember JR Raphael leaving Duncan Riley’s The Inquisitr to launch his own site. Well, there’s been an ad out where Riley’s been looking for a replacement. Over 400 applications (possibly more as you’re reading this) has been sent in, and the winner is…? Well, let’s start with who were not winners:

There were some amazing applicants based on experience, including an ex-CNN correspondent, a couple of TV ppl, maybe half a dozen newspaper reporters, and a range of people from very well known blogs.

Right, so who is filling JR Raphael’s shoes?

Kim LaCapria, based in New York, and obviously capable of writing an amazing job application. In fact, the application was so good that it prompted Riley to blog about it, which is something you might want to consider if you’re going to search for a new blogging gig.

LaCapria hasn’t started on The Inquisitr yet, but if you’re interested in her work you can check out Magic Satchel and the possibly NSFW Vice Vixen blog.

Gina Trapani, founding editor of Lifehacker, launches another blog over at HarvardBusiness.org. Work Smarter is “less nerd more business” according to Trapani, who will update the blog on a weekly basis.

I’m still finding my legs and meeting the audience over at Work Smarter, but I’m thrilled to be hanging out with the brilliant folks there, at least virtually.

The first post is about workspaces, by the way.

The target release date for WordPress 2.8 is June 10th, and I’m sure you’re as anxious to press that update now button in the admin interface as I am. But hold on, you need to make sure that you’re plugins are compatible. So how do you do that? One solution is to find the plugin’s homepage, which might the wordpress.org directory, but chances are most plugins haven’t been updated for 2.8 there yet, wether if it just a compatibility notice or an actual plugin update. Enter WordPress Plugin Compatibility Checker, a 5,000+ list of WordPress plugins and what they need. Impressive!