The Internet Super Hero blog has announced the release of the latest alpha version of the mysql native driver for PDO - version 1.0.2-alpha (PDO_MYSQLND):

I am glad to announce the availability of the first alpha version of PDO_MYSQLND. PDO_MYSQLND is a PHP PDO driver for MySQL based on the MySQL native driver. PDO_MYSQLND 1.0.2-alpha is available for download on http://downloads.mysql.com/forge/pdo_mysqlnd_preview.

Updates include fixes for return values, patches for memory leaks, more code coverage and some "very promising results" running on a set of dedicated testing machines.

Joakim passed along a note today about a new web-based frontend for XDebug:

My about page has mentioned a web based frontend for Xdebug for some time. The project has a name now: The idea for Webgrind, a spin on Valgrind, came from lack of profiling tools for PHP, particularly on OSX. Though it is possible to install kcachegrind on osx it seems overkill for many uses and is definitely not as easy as unzipping a folder to the webroot.

He and Jacob Oettinger have started up the project and have posted some initial code over on the Google Code page for Webgrind. You can check out a screenshot of it in action here too.

The PHP development team has released the latest version in the PHP 5.2.x series today - version 5.2.6:

This release focuses on improving the stability ofthe PHP 5.2.x branch with over 120 bug fixes, several of which are security related.All users of PHP are encouraged to upgrade to this release. Further details about the PHP 5.2.6 release can be found in the release announcement for 5.2.6, the full list of changes is available in the ChangeLog for PHP 5.

Security updates include prevention of a buffer overflow in FastCGI mode, an integer overflow in printf, correction for a safe_mode bypass method in cURL and the bundling of PCRE 7.6 to update the regular expression functionality of the language.

You can grab this latest release from the downloads page on PHP.net (or your favorite mirror) - both the source and the Windows binaries.

On his blog today, Vinu Thomas spotlights one of the major up and comers in the PHP-based eCommerce software package offerings - Magento.

Magento is an ecommerce platform on PHP which is quite feature rich. This platform is based on the Zend Platform. You can take a look at a Magento store and the admin demo over at their demo section.

He mentions some of the features it has including analytics, catalog management, order management, payment integration with Paypal/Google Checkout/Authorize.net and some SEO optimizations.

You can find out more over on the project's website and download your own copy or peruse the forums to get to know the community around this popular app.

Eirik Hoem has posted about the latest update of his favorite framework being ready for download - Prado.

My favorite PHP framework just got a new release, adding several new components and fixing 30-ish bugs. The bundled JavaScript libs (Prototype / script.aculo.us) have also been upgraded, so that should help lots of people struggling with the old versions.

You can download the framework from its website and, if you're new to it, check out the tutorial to get you started. Prado is a free PHP5-based rapid application development framework that doesn't go with the usual MVC format of most frameworks. It opts instead for "logic be stored in classes and presentation in templates".

Christopher Jones has posted about the latest Instant Client release for the Intel chips running OS X:

Hot off the press, Kuassi points out that Oracle Instant Client for Apple Mac OS X (Intel x86) is now available from the Instant Client page on OTN. It's the latest 10.2.0.4 patchset.

The 10.2.0.4 release of Instant Client for Windows 32bit and Linux x86 have also been released.

The Oracle Instant Client is a lightweight version of the standard Oracle functionality that's not only smaller but allows installation of an Oracle client without having to do the full Oracle install.

Padraic Brady has noted that the latest release candidate of the HTMLPurifier software has been posted for download:

HTMLPurifer is possibly the most understated underpublicised quality library in PHP today. I consider it a fundamental standard library that is automatically included in every PHP web application I start these days.

This latest release candidate (their first!) includes updates on two major features - the use of autoloading and a change to the way you use the filters. Check out a demo of it in action or just download this latest release and try it out for yourself.

On the Developer Tutorials website, there's a new guide that steps you through the installation of a simple e-commerce platform available for free from Devellion Limited.

In this tutorial, we will get an introduction to CubeCart, created and distributed by Devellion Limited. Their flagship product is one of the easiest low-cost e-commerce solutions available, and is growing in popularity. Note that CubeCart is not technically open source, since the code cannot be freely redistributed. On the other hand, most of the code is not protected using encoding, and can thus be read and understood.

They go through the selection process - picking which version of their software is right for you - and the installation, configuration and how to verify that everything's up and running smoothly. Screenshots are included to help along the way.

Stefan Mischook has released his latest tutorial covering OOP in PHP in a bit more iPod-friendly format:

I just released my beginners object oriented php video tutorials in iPod format. These videos target total beginners to object oriented programing. Though I talk about PHP, the principles are universal and so they apply to all OO (object oriented) languages.

Tutorial in the list include:

• Beginners Object Oriented PHP
• Classes and Objects in PHP
• Building Objects in PHP - Part 1 & 2
• Build Objects in PHP - Part 3

Check out these and other great videos on the KillerPHP.com website.

On the Developer Tutorials website, Michael Ross has written up a guide to step you through the installation of PHP on a Windows machine (on basically any flavor of Windows too).

Your PC can be turned into a fully capable Web development environment, by installing those three technologies, and configuring them so they communicate with one another. Admittedly, you can simply install and use PHP for its command-line processing. But for creating and testing dynamically generated Web pages on your local machine, then Apache needs to be already installed and working.

If you're wanting to set that part up before you get started and aren't sure how, check out the other tutorial to get started. He works through the process with you, including screenshots of the installer and how to toss MySQL in to the mix.