[Brad]

You can get the new posts as so, its a intensive query tho, not recomended for large boards

PHP Code:

    $sql_newposts = $DB_site->query_first("SELECT COUNT(*) AS count FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "post WHERE dateline >= '$bbuserinfo[lastvisit]'");
    $newposts = number_format($sql_newposts['count']); 


Then use $newposts for the number of new posts in your templates. I don't recomend using that globaly, if you are going to use it restrict it to one or two pages.