SimplePie is getting ever closer to releasing 1.0 final! We expect to have the first release candidate available in the next few weeks, and we’ll be asking the community to report bugs so that we can fix them for when 1.0 goes gold! Here is a list of features, changes, and improvements that are already in the latest trunk builds:

• A completely re-written parsing core which is faster and supports the standards better than ever before.
• Access to ALL of the available XML elements (just like MagpieRSS does).
• Multifeeds support integrated into the core, and has access to all standard SimplePie methods (Multifeeds 1 didn’t).
• Support for embedding Flash Video (.flv) enclosures.
• Faster-loading Flash-based MP3 playback.
• Better compliance and support for feed auto-discovery.
• Full support of the date/time parts of ISO-8601.
• More accurate support for XML mime types (RFC 3023).
• Improved xml:base and XHTML support.
• Literally hundreds of other bug fixes and other minor improvements.

We’ve also got a few “blockers” on the list, meaning that we won’t launch 1.0 until we have support for these:

• Support for iTunes and MediaRSS elements.
• Complete support for GeoRSS elements.
• Image and Favicon caching.
• A few other minor bugs and feature requests.

This will definitely be our most exciting release so far, and we hope that you guys will be happy with it as well! If you want to keep up with what’s on the list, what’s not on the list, and what’s already been done, you can keep track of our progress and test your feeds in the latest builds on the Development page.

The upcoming SimplePie Lite service will be based on 1.0 code, as well as updated versions of the Plugins for WordPress, Textpattern and Mediawiki.