1. To unify everything and make it easier to get support. It is secure. All logins are sent over ssl and stored in an encrypted cookie. What makes it less secure?
2. It does log failed attempts, but its not showing correctly right now for some reason...thanks...we'll fix that!
3. Yes, news notifications will be sent to your email if you select that option in your profile (default is on for news off for file notification i believe)
4. What's your point? It is no more secure to logout every time....in fact unless you are using a public computer, using a cookie is more secure because its only sending a hash.