Scott MacVicar shares a helpful hint for the PHP speakers out there - how to apply syntax highlighting to the code in your slides.

I use Apple's Keynote for doing my presentations and naturally these include some bits of code that need highlighting so that it’s easier to read. [...] In the end I used GESHI which is a highlight library written in PHP that supports the syntax highlighting of around 50 different programming and scripting languages.

He's provided his sample implementation to help you get up and running. You'll need to download and install GESHI to get it working though. Here's an example of the output.

Ivo Jansch has been attending the php|tek 2008 conference this past week and some things have come to light about the rumors between Zend and Microsoft. One of his latest posts sheds some light on how Microsoft responded (as answered by Joe Stagner)

Joe had an interesting presentation, he kept it short and to the point, and had the majority of his time dedicated to Q&A. Naturally, being in a PHP audience, the questions were about Yahoo, Zend, Microsoft's open source policies.

Obviously, questions were asked about two things - the Zend buyout and whether or not they have stopped talks with Yahoo. The answer to the first was a "no, we're not doing that" and the second was a more vague "we're not done talking to them" sort of answer. Another discussion included Microsoft's contributions to the Zend Core - how they're handled and if they're contributed back.

Andi Gutmans (of Zend) has posted an update on the status of the Zend Framework for the month of May:

This [May 15th maintenance release] reinforces our commitment to high quality and we will continue to release periodic mini releases on an as needed basis. [...] Not only is the Zend Framework user base growing rapidly but we are also seeing a sharp rise in adoption of ZF in business-critical commercial applications.

He mentions several major sites moving to use the framework like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IGN Entertainment as well as the update they've made to the contribution process to allow for easier submission and review.

The keynote for this year's DC PHP Conference has been announced - Kshemendra Paul from the Office of Management and Budget:

The DC PHP Developers Group recently announced Kshemendra Paul as a featured keynote speaker at the DC PHP Conference & Expo, June 2-4, 2008, at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Paul, chief architect for the Office of Management and Budget Executive Office of the President, will be presenting on "Federal E-Government and Enterprise Architecture Updates."

Other keynote speakers include Chris Shiflett of OmniTI ("Security-Centered Design: Don't Just Plan for Security; Design for it") and Chris Jones from Oracle ("Accessing All My Date: Directions for PHP and Databases").

You can find out more about the conference including the schedule and how to grab your spot (hurry before the Early Bird special runs out!) on the main conference website.