Definitely would be nice to have a backup pool option for times like now...
Yep, that's among the things on the top of my list after Black Hat and Def Con are over.
Do you plan on integrating the asic chips into this program?
Yes, as soon as BFL has info on their new protocol available (for communicating with the devices) I'll start implementing it. In the mean time I am working on other changes to the server and client to make them work better with such high hash rates as you will see with ASICs.
oh cool....thanks for the info....that might even make it better (if namecoins ever become worth anything). do most other mining pools or software do this? ....used guiminer, but never saw namecoins being generated.
Some pools have merged mining of namecoins and some don't. Currently I believe they add about 0.5% to your income if you sell them for bitcoins. After the reward halving on the bitcoin chain the namecoins might be a 1% profit boost. But that depends of course on how the namecoin/bitcoin exchange rate will go.