rj came out with the zeus board. Think a hub with 16 SSc's attached to the new board. This means you dont need SSC's for your 16 strings. There has not been a coop on it yet, but is close.
Matt and Frankr have joined the xlights/nutcracker effort and are creating new effects. We can play movies, have plasma ball effect, can have customization models and more.
Vixen has split into Vixen 3 and Vixen+. both are cool.
There are some pixels called technicolor that are ideal for our hobby.
i am sure others will add to the list
