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The recent travails of WordPress have caused consternation among the web community that relies on the platform, which powers more than four in ten websites online today. Now, a coalition of prominent WordPress contributors and the Linux Foundation is unveiling a federated update and plugin-distribution network aimed at eliminating what they describe as a critical supply chain security vulnerability at the core of the worlds most widely used website system. The FAIR Package Manager project, to be announced at a conference in Switzerland later today, enables web-hosting companies and large organizations to run their own mirrors of WordPresss core update, plugin, theme, and translation servers. This setup would replace reliance on WordPress.orga domain controlled by Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg. Supporters say the new system will strengthen security, reduce costs, and open new commercial opportunities for software that millions depend on for web hosting. The project emerged earlier this year in response to controversial moves by Mullenweg. In September, he cut off access to WP Enginea popular WordPress hosting provideraccusing it of extracting hundreds of millions of dollars in value from the open-source platform without adequate contributions in return. He also alleged that the company breached WordPress trademarks, creating confusion. Amid the fallout, around 150 employees exited Automattic after Mullenweg offered buyouts to those who disagreed with his handling of the situation. In October, when Automattic took over the slug of WP Engines product within the ecosystem, we received phone calls from the chief legal counsels of some of our clientsthese are large corporationssaying, this is a supply chain security issue, says Karim Marucchi, CEO of enterprise agency Crowd Favorite and one of the projects initiators. Around the same time, Joost de Valk, founder of Yoast SEO, was attempting to communicate with Mullenweg. While de Valk shared the view that more equitable contributions to WordPress were needed, he disagreed with Mullenwegs methods. We stopped talking pretty much after that, because I didn’t agree with him, de Valk says. One central concern is that every WordPress site depends on WordPress.org for updates and extensions. When we started looking at this, we realized theres a lot of things in this whole ecosystem that we dont control, de Valk says. One of the things that everybodys eyes were opened on was that WordPress.org was, in fact, not part of the WordPress Foundation, but owned by Matt privately, and that he used it as his private website in many ways. WordPress executive director Mary Hubbard notes that users have always had control over how their sites are updated and where updates originateflexibility that has existed since WordPresss early days. “The beauty of WordPress and open source is that people have complete control to run it how they please and modify how it works,” she tells Fast Company. The FAIR system offers an alternative that remains fully compatible with WordPress but operates independently from WordPress.org. Its still all WordPress, says de Valk. Its just a different distribution. Rather than forking WordPress, FAIR provides server components that anyone can run. Over 100 contributors from more than 10 organizations have been involved in building it over the past six months, according to Marucchi. The group has asked the Linux Foundation to provide neutral oversight. Hubbard pointed out that some large hosts like Newfold/Bluehost have implemented custom mirrors in the past, and emphasized that WordPresss update system has always allowed users to modify where their updates come from. “The important thing is that users know where their updates are coming from and have a choice to change it, regardless of their host, she says. WordPress is a critical piece of infrastructure for communication and for organizations that rely on it for their website, for content management, for blogs and media, says Mike Dolan, SVP of legal and strategic programs at the Linux Foundation. And in order to sustain something like that, you need to have a reliable backend behind it. To avoid centralization, the Linux Foundation has created a technical steering committee cochaired by long-time WordPress leaders Carrie Dils, Mika Epstein, and Ryan McCue. McCue, the architect of the WordPress REST API, called FAIR a platform to power the next decades of WordPress, and noted that the community had fractured and needed to be brought back together. Dolan echoed the sentiment. I think the interesting part about this is the organic nature of this, he says. This is something that is coming out of the community. It’s people who have lifelong and career-long engagement in the WordPress community who are saying we need to go and build this, and they want to work on it together. Jory Burson, VP of standards at the Linux Foundation and a participant in the project, hopes it will lead to a reintroduction and reenergization of the community. She adds that morale is currently low. I think this is going to be very exciting for people, and hopefully move some folks past this negativity and drama. We want to get people focused on the very positive future that we think WordPress still has. Although FAIR was created out of frustration with Automattics control over WordPress.org, its backers insist its not a competing fork. When we get up on stage on Friday, literally the words that are going to come out of our mouth are: Were offering this code to Automattic, WP Engine, GoDaddy, Newfoldeveryone, says Marucchi. If widely adopted, the network could allow developers to ship both free and premium versions of plugins in a single signed packagesomething currently prohibited by the official WordPress repository. That opens up innovation, de Valk says, making it easier to build businesses around plugins and to provide good user experiences. Still, Hubbard emphasizes that fragmentation of WordPresss core infrastructure could create more problems than it solvesdisrupting update processes, inflating server loads, and breaking plugin telemetry used for ensuring compatibility. If this work leads to improvements like signed updates or better fallback systems, were open to that, she says. But it has to be done with the same long-term care that got us here. The FAIR repository is already live on GitHub and accepting contributions. Whether Automattic will participate remains uncertain; regardless, the project team plans to move forward. Youre dealing with a community that has had some trust challenges in the past, and theyre looking for stability, says Dolan. They’re looking for neutrality. They have business that they want to get done.
Category:
E-Commerce
Before you install that window AC unit to beat the summer heat, its worth taking a closer look: Yesterday, the appliance manufacturer Midea, who makes units for a number of brands including Frigidaire and Insignia, recalled more than 1.7 million AC units due to the risk of mold exposure. The news comes as, according to industry experts, AC units are expected to get significantly more expensive this summer due to tariff-based supply chain issues. Heres what you need to know about the recall: What is the reason for the recall? On June 5, Midea issued a voluntary recall for about 1.7 million window AC units sold in the U.S. and another 45,900 sold in Canada, according to a notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). According to the notice, the reason for the recall stems from potential mold growth inside the affected units: Pooled water in the air conditioners can fail to drain quickly enough, which can lead to mold growth, it reads. Mold exposure poses risks of respiratory issues or other infections to some consumers. Further, the report notes that Midea is aware of at least 152 reports of mold in the air conditioners so far. Which products are being recalled? The recall involves U and U+ window AC unit models made by Midea. These models were sold under a variety of brand names, including Midea, Comfort Aire, Danby, Frigidaire, Insignia, Keystone, LBG Products, Mr. Cool, Perfect Aire, and Sea Breeze. Affected units were sold in three sizes of cooling power: 8,000, 10,000 and 12,000 BTU. Customers can find a full list of impacted model numbers, organized by brand name, on the CPSC webpage. Where were the recalled units sold? The recalled units were sold at a number of big box stores, as well as a wide variety of online retailers. The physical retailers include: Costco Menards Home Depot Best Buy The affected units were also available online at retailers including: Midea.com Amazon.com Costco.com Menards.com HomeDepot.com Lowes.com Walmart.com BJs.com BestBuy.com Each unit sold within the span of March 2020 to May 2025 for between $280 and $500. Have the recalled units hurt anyone? Unfortunately, yes. Midea has received 17 reports so far of consumers experiencing symptoms such as respiratory infections, allergic reactions, coughing, sneezing and/or sore throats from mold exposure, per the CPSC. What should I do if I have a recalled unit? If you have a recalled unit, do not use it. Instead, you can contact Midea for a free repair or a full or prorated refund. The company told The New York Times that all Midea U buyers will be eligible for a refund (although the amount will depend on how long youve had your air conditioner) or it will mail a free DIY kit to anyone who would prefer to fix their unit. For those who have attempted to repair the unit at home, Midea will still offer refunds or fixes. Midea has assembled a website dedicated to walking customers through the process. The companys recall hotline number is 888-345-0256.
Category:
E-Commerce
Featuring Kate Charles, Chief Strategy Officer and Laurie Lam, Chief Brand Officer, E.l.f. Beauty Moderated by Kc Ifeanyi, Executive Director of Editorial Programming, Fast Company E.l.f. Beauty conducted a study with brand agency Oberland and found that there are more men named Ricard, Rich, and Rick on public company boards in the U.S. than entire groups of underrepresented people. That discovery led to the “So Many Dicks” campaign that’s just part of an overarching initiative to double the rate of women and people of color added to boards by 2027. Hear from Laurie Lam, chief brand officer at E.l.f., and Kate Charles, chief strategy officer at Oberland, on how they’re getting it done.
Category:
E-Commerce
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