Paul and Sean over at php|architect have released the latest episode of the P3 podcast for May 1st, 2008 - "The Twitter".

Still no resolution on the USB audio problem. iPod failed, too. That leaves us with 2 laptops and internal mics. I'm eagerly anticipating 10.5.3, and if that doesn't fix it, I'm going back to 10.5.1. Fail.

Topics mentions are php|tek (coming soon to a Chicago near you!), type hinting and the optimizer Google Summer of Code discussions on the Internals side and the "making WP themes from scratch" and Magento talk on the community side.

You can either pull their feed into your aggregator to get this and other great P3 episodes or you can just download the mp3 directly and enjoy.

We can expect big things from Davey Shafik in the coming months - he's been working on a book for php|architect about one of the more powerful bits of functionality in PHP - streams.

For about 6 months now, I've been itching to write a book on the PHP Streams Layer - one of my favorite features of PHP; and also one of the least known considering it's powerful abilities.

He describes his goal simply as this: to create the definitive resource for working with the streams later in PHP. It should be out sometime in the third quarter of 2008, so keep your eye out for it then.

Ivo Jansch has posted his review of the php|architect book about the Zend Framework by Cal Evans:

Before I voice my opinion, a disclaimer: I have met Cal personally; in fact I'm having diner with him next Monday, I'm writing a book for php|architect, and my company is a Zend partner. I could not be any more biased. If you still trust my judgement (and I will try to remain objective), read on.

Ivo mentions the important things - like how fun the book is to read (a book about a framework, who knew?) and what sort of things it covers. Components of the framework are mentioned but so are things like caching, layouts and web services. I'd give away the ending but that wouldn't be any fun so go check out his unbiased opinion of hos the book turned out.

The guys over at php|architect have released the latest episode of their P3 podcast for April 3rd. Some of the topics they look at include:

• internals talk on attic vs sibera and Phar
• Foreign Keys in MySQL
• April Fools on PHP
• and, of course, TestFest 2008

Two ways to get this new episode - grab the mp3 directly or subscribe to their feed and get the latest episodes automatically (but if you'd already subscribed, you'd know that already, now wouldn't you?)

php|architect has recently announced a partnership they're worked up with Varien to provide training for the Magento eCommerce platform.

According to Roy Rubin, President of Varien, "MTA is a leader in PHP training programs and we are excited to have them working with us to provide Magento Partners and community members with Magento Training by php|architect".

Keep an eye out for the first of the courses to be offered for the popular platform - "Developing with Magento" starting April 22nd, 2008. It will be available through the php|architect website.

The C7Y Podcast (formerly the ProPHP Podcast) has released their latest episode - the newscast for March 20th, 2008. Here's some of the things that Sean and Paul talk about in this show:

• the Google Summer of Code
• the upcoming PHP 5.3 release
• Building PHP on Windows
• the release of version 1.5 of the Zend Framework

...and much more! You can get this latest episode in two different ways - either download the mp3 directly or you can subscribe to their feed and get this and other great episodes packed with news from all around the PHP community.

Maggie Nelson has pointed out an article in the most recently published edition of php|architect magazine (the February 2008 issue) that's an introduction to database design for programmers (by Mac Newbold).

It's a pretty good article about database design and I think all PHP developers who are just starting to integrate databases in their applications should read it. However, there are a few things I'd like to add and point out.

The "blurb" for the article mentions MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL, SQLite and database schemas. You can find out more about this issue, including how to get your own copy, from the php|architect website.

This month's edition of php|architect magazine has been released - the January 2008 edition. Articles included in this month's issue include:

• PHAR: PHP Archive Files from Gregory Beaver
• Webmail 2.0: Introducing RoundCube by Tim Klampackel
• Killing the For Loop from Paul Chandler
• The Doctrine Framework by Nicolas Berard-Nault
• and the usual columns - /Etc and Test Pattern

If you're already subscribed, you should be getting your issue any time now but, if you're not, there's two ways you can get your hands on a copy - either "quick buy" it from the php|architect website or subscribe and get this and other great future issues jam packed full of great PHP content.

Cal Evans has officially announced that his book, php|architect's Guide to Programming with Zend Framework, has been pushed out the door and into the world.

Well, my first book, php|architect's Guide to Programming with Zend Framework has officially been released in PDF format. You can order it now or pre-order the dead-tree edition. [...] On a related note, the support site for the book, www.zfguide.com is now live.

Right now the site only has a few code examples (the ones mentioned in the book) but he does have plans for a lot more content including some possible "lost chapters" going over what there just wasn't room for between the covers.

Check out some of Marci Tabini's comments on the book and its release as well.

The Zend Developer Zone has posted an announcement about a new book from php|architect (authored by DevZone's own Cal Evans) - Guide to Programming with the Zend Framework.

This is a project I've been interested in since it's very beginning, mainly because I'm the author of this particular tome. [...] The php|architect web site was a bit more helpful giving a breakdown of the contents of the book and a useful quote.

The book covers topics on the framework like the parts of MVC, web services, authorization, exceptions and even some tutorials to help you get started (including a look at the brand new Zend_Layout class).