With regard to "tangible new developments" I think that was a valid view 6 months ago, but the project has been revitalized on several fronts. We have daily code commits on our github repos that outpaces most other crypto projects by a wide margin. In the last month, developments include:

* all the EVM work being done (almost live on testnet)... Faq at http://counterparty.io/docs/faq-smartcontracts/
* p2sh support added (https://github.com/CounterpartyXCP/counterparty-lib/pull/818)
* payment channels work (https://github.com/F483/picopayments) that will soon be merged in
* revamped docker based build system. Works on Linux, Windows and Mac OS. (http://counterparty.io/docs/federated_node/)
* numerous counterwallet updates (https://github.com/CounterpartyXCP/counterwallet/compare/1.7.0...master)
* revamped website (Chinese and Japanese translations in the works)
* Counterparty-lib test suite overhaul
* tons of bug fixes (eg https://github.com/CounterpartyXCP/counterparty-lib/commits/develop)

Feel free to join our slack and ask away/get involved, as well: http://slack.counterparty.io