WordPress version 2.9 (code named Carmen) is available for download now. Version 2.9 comes with many new and exciting features. The most important reasons to upgrade are listed below.
Built-in Image Editor
Now WordPress has a image editor built-in into it. You can do all the basic image editing operations like rotation, flipping, cropping, resizing etc. from WordPress’ image editor.
Thrash-it
Earlier when you deleted any post or comment then it was gone forever and there was no way to get it back. Not any more. Now all deleted things go into trash can. You can restore anything that is deleted accidentally.
No Annoying Confirmation Requests
Earlier when you deleted any comment WordPress asked you that are you sure you wanna do this. With version 2.9 this annoying feature has been removed.
Update Multiple Plugins Simultaneously
Now there is no need to upgrade plugins one by one. You can batch update multiple plugins.
Automatic Database Optimization
Now WordPress can automatically optimize the database for optimum performance. To activate automatic database optimization, you need to edit the wp-config.php file in your WordPress directory and add this line to it,
Automatic Video Embed
Earlier you had to copy and paste embed code to post videos. Now you can simply use the video URL and WordPress will automatically generate embed code for it. At the time of writing, this feature supports video URLs from YouTube, Daily Motion, Flickr, Hulu, Viddler, Qik, Revision3, Blip.tv, Photobucket, PollDaddy, Scribd, Google Video and WordPress.tv.
Check the following video to learn more about the new features,
If you want to upgrade manually, You can download WordPress 2.9 from the official download page. Or, you can simply click on the upgrade link on your WordPress dashboard to upgrade automatically.