diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category.js
index fd6ad4e26da..965f68434a2 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/category.js
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ Discourse.Category = Discourse.Model.extend({
     return Discourse.getURL("/category/") + (this.get('slug'));
   }.property('name'),
 
+
   style: function() {
     return "background-color: #" + (this.get('category.color')) + "; color: #" + (this.get('category.text_color')) + ";";
   }.property('color', 'text_color'),
@@ -101,7 +102,15 @@ Discourse.Category = Discourse.Model.extend({
 
   latestTopic: function(){
     return this.get("topics")[0];
-  }.property("topics")
+  }.property("topics"),
+
+  unreadTopics: function(){
+    return Discourse.TopicTrackingState.current().countUnread(this.get('name'));
+  }.property('Discourse.TopicTrackingState.current.messageCount'),
+
+  newTopics: function(){
+    return Discourse.TopicTrackingState.current().countNew(this.get('name'));
+  }.property('Discourse.TopicTrackingState.current.messageCount')
 
 });
 
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/topic.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/topic.js
index af80f678cd5..cfe6afc1bef 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/topic.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/topic.js
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ Discourse.Topic = Discourse.Model.extend({
     return this.urlForPostNumber(this.get('highest_post_number'));
   }.property('url', 'highest_post_number'),
 
+  lastPosterUrl: function() {
+    return Discourse.getURL("/users/") + this.get("last_poster.username");
+  }.property('last_poster'),
+
   // The amount of new posts to display. It might be different than what the server
   // tells us if we are still asynchronously flushing our "recently read" data.
   // So take what the browser has seen into consideration.
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/topic_tracking_state.js b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/topic_tracking_state.js
index 80c85b95313..882d0dd6af3 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/topic_tracking_state.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/topic_tracking_state.js
@@ -129,20 +129,23 @@ Discourse.TopicTrackingState = Discourse.Model.extend({
     this.set("messageCount", this.get("messageCount") + 1);
   },
 
-  countNew: function(){
+  countNew: function(category_name){
     return _.chain(this.states)
       .where({last_read_post_number: null})
+      .where(function(topic){ return topic.category_name === category_name || !category_name;})
       .value()
       .length;
   },
 
-  countUnread: function(){
-    var count = 0;
-    _.each(this.states, function(topic){
-      count += (topic.last_read_post_number !== null &&
-                topic.last_read_post_number < topic.highest_post_number) ? 1 : 0;
-    });
-    return count;
+  countUnread: function(category_name){
+    return _.chain(this.states)
+      .where(function(topic){
+        return topic.last_read_post_number !== null &&
+               topic.last_read_post_number < topic.highest_post_number;
+      })
+      .where(function(topic){ return topic.category_name === category_name || !category_name;})
+      .value()
+      .length;
   },
 
   countCategory: function(category) {
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/list/basic_topic_list.js.handlebars b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/list/basic_topic_list.js.handlebars
index 2e488e3ef0d..2cf0896d154 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/list/basic_topic_list.js.handlebars
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/list/basic_topic_list.js.handlebars
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
             <a href="{{unbound url}}" {{{bindAttr class=":age ageCold"}}} title='{{i18n first_post}}: {{{unboundDate created_at}}}' >{{unboundAge created_at}}</a>
           </td>
           <td class='num activity last'>
-            <a href="{{unbound lastPostUrl}}" class='age' title='{{i18n last_post}}: {{{unboundDate bumped_at}}}'>{{unboundAge bumped_at}}</a>
+            <a href="{{unbound lastPosterUrl}}" class='age' title='{{i18n last_post}}: {{{unboundDate bumped_at}}}'>{{unboundAge bumped_at}}</a>
           </td>
         {{else}}
           <td class='num activity'>
@@ -62,4 +62,4 @@
   <div class='alert alert-info'>
   {{i18n choose_topic.none_found}}
   </div>
-{{/if}}
\ No newline at end of file
+{{/if}}
diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/list/wide_categories.js.handlebars b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/list/wide_categories.js.handlebars
index c2e4e5bf760..6bb88dfb71a 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/list/wide_categories.js.handlebars
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/list/wide_categories.js.handlebars
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@
       {{#each model.categories}}
       <tr>
         <td class='category'>{{categoryLink this}}
+          {{#if unreadTopics}}
+            <a href={{unbound url}} class='badge new-posts badge-notification' title='{{i18n topic.unread_topics count="unreadTopics"}}'>{{unbound unreadTopics}}</a>
+          {{/if}}
+          {{#if newTopics}}
+            <a href={{unbound url}} class='badge new-posts badge-notification' title='{{i18n topic.new_topics count="newTopics"}}'>{{unbound newTopics}} <i class='icon icon-asterisk'></i></a>
+          {{/if}}
           {{#if description_excerpt}}
             <div class="category-description">
               {{{description_excerpt}}}
@@ -25,12 +31,15 @@
           {{/each}}
         </td>
         <td>{{number topic_count}}</td>
-        <td>{{number posts_total}}</td>
+        <td>{{number post_count}}</td>
         {{#with latestTopic}}
           <td {{bindAttr class="archived"}}>
             {{topicStatus topic=this}}
             {{{topicLink this}}}
-
+            <div class='lastUserInfo'>
+              {{i18n categories.by}} <a href="{{{unbound lastPosterUrl}}}">{{unbound last_poster.username}}</a>
+              {{unboundAge last_posted_at}}
+            </div>
           </td>
         {{/with}}
       </tr>
diff --git a/app/controllers/categories_controller.rb b/app/controllers/categories_controller.rb
index c7487f13d11..1fe45e8b627 100644
--- a/app/controllers/categories_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/categories_controller.rb
@@ -9,7 +9,14 @@ class CategoriesController < ApplicationController
   def index
     @description = SiteSetting.site_description
 
-    @list = CategoryList.new(guardian)
+    wide_mode = SiteSetting.enable_wide_category_list
+
+    options = {}
+    options[:latest_post_only] = params[:latest_post_only] || wide_mode
+
+    @list = CategoryList.new(guardian,options)
+
+
 
     @list.draft_key = Draft::NEW_TOPIC
     @list.draft_sequence = DraftSequence.current(current_user, Draft::NEW_TOPIC)
diff --git a/app/models/category.rb b/app/models/category.rb
index df86fe8d036..c2ba4456988 100644
--- a/app/models/category.rb
+++ b/app/models/category.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ class Category < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   belongs_to :user
+  belongs_to :latest_post, class_name: "Post"
 
   has_many :topics
   has_many :category_featured_topics
@@ -227,6 +228,26 @@ SQL
     end
   end
 
+  def update_latest
+    latest_post_id = Post
+                        .order("posts.created_at desc")
+                        .where("NOT hidden")
+                        .joins("join topics on topics.id = topic_id")
+                        .where("topics.category_id = :id", id: self.id)
+                        .limit(1)
+                        .pluck("posts.id")
+                        .first
+
+    latest_topic_id = Topic
+                        .order("topics.created_at desc")
+                        .where("visible")
+                        .where("topics.category_id = :id", id: self.id)
+                        .limit(1)
+                        .pluck("topics.id")
+                        .first
+
+    self.update_attributes(latest_topic_id: latest_topic_id, latest_post_id: latest_post_id)
+  end
 
   def self.resolve_permissions(permissions)
     read_restricted = true
diff --git a/app/models/category_list.rb b/app/models/category_list.rb
index 94dd860a093..a3df31e9f87 100644
--- a/app/models/category_list.rb
+++ b/app/models/category_list.rb
@@ -8,10 +8,11 @@ class CategoryList
                 :draft_key,
                 :draft_sequence
 
-  def initialize(guardian=nil)
+  def initialize(guardian=nil, options = {})
     @guardian = guardian || Guardian.new
+    @options = options
 
-    find_relevant_topics
+    find_relevant_topics unless latest_post_only?
     find_categories
 
     prune_empty
@@ -21,6 +22,10 @@ class CategoryList
 
   private
 
+    def latest_post_only?
+      @options[:latest_post_only]
+    end
+
     # Retrieve a list of all the topics we'll need
     def find_relevant_topics
       @topics_by_category_id = {}
@@ -47,16 +52,35 @@ class CategoryList
                       .order('COALESCE(categories.topics_month, 0) DESC')
                       .order('COALESCE(categories.topics_year, 0) DESC')
 
+      if latest_post_only?
+        @categories = @categories.includes(:latest_post => :topic )
+      end
+
       @categories = @categories.to_a
-      @categories.each do |c|
-        topics_in_cat = @topics_by_category_id[c.id]
-        if topics_in_cat.present?
-          c.displayable_topics = []
-          topics_in_cat.each do |topic_id|
-            topic = @topics_by_id[topic_id]
-            if topic.present?
-              topic.category = c
-              c.displayable_topics << topic
+
+      if latest_post_only?
+        @all_topics = []
+        @categories.each do |c|
+          if c.latest_post && c.latest_post.topic
+            c.displayable_topics = [c.latest_post.topic]
+            topic = c.latest_post.topic
+            topic.include_last_poster = true # hint for serialization
+            @all_topics << topic
+          end
+        end
+      end
+
+      if @topics_by_category_id
+        @categories.each do |c|
+          topics_in_cat = @topics_by_category_id[c.id]
+          if topics_in_cat.present?
+            c.displayable_topics = []
+            topics_in_cat.each do |topic_id|
+              topic = @topics_by_id[topic_id]
+              if topic.present?
+                topic.category = c
+                c.displayable_topics << topic
+              end
             end
           end
         end
diff --git a/app/models/post.rb b/app/models/post.rb
index d12279e0c59..d1bfd3e6fc2 100644
--- a/app/models/post.rb
+++ b/app/models/post.rb
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
     super
     update_flagged_posts_count
     TopicLink.extract_from(self)
+    if topic && topic.category_id
+      topic.category.update_latest
+    end
   end
 
   # The key we use in redis to ensure unique posts
diff --git a/app/models/topic.rb b/app/models/topic.rb
index 6a7e3504872..0df39d989b5 100644
--- a/app/models/topic.rb
+++ b/app/models/topic.rb
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
   attr_accessor :user_data
   attr_accessor :posters  # TODO: can replace with posters_summary once we remove old list code
   attr_accessor :topic_list
+  attr_accessor :include_last_poster
 
   # The regular order
   scope :topic_list_order, lambda { order('topics.bumped_at desc') }
diff --git a/app/serializers/category_detailed_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/category_detailed_serializer.rb
index 2d8841f4723..0971b5840ad 100644
--- a/app/serializers/category_detailed_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/category_detailed_serializer.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ class CategoryDetailedSerializer < ApplicationSerializer
              :text_color,
              :slug,
              :topic_count,
+             :post_count,
              :topics_week,
              :topics_month,
              :topics_year,
diff --git a/app/serializers/listable_topic_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/listable_topic_serializer.rb
index b0b0bbfe6e9..9a304e0163b 100644
--- a/app/serializers/listable_topic_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/listable_topic_serializer.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ class ListableTopicSerializer < BasicTopicSerializer
              :closed,
              :archived
 
+  has_one :last_poster, serializer: BasicUserSerializer, embed: :objects
+
+  def include_associations!
+    include! :last_poster if object.include_last_poster
+  end
+
   def bumped
     object.created_at < object.bumped_at
   end
diff --git a/config/locales/client.en.yml b/config/locales/client.en.yml
index 146eb7d626e..99bde17a7c7 100644
--- a/config/locales/client.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/client.en.yml
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ en:
       posts: "Posts"
       topics: "Topics"
       latest: "Latest"
+      by: "by"
 
     user:
       said: "{{username}} said:"
@@ -591,6 +592,12 @@ en:
       private_message: 'Start a private message'
       list: 'Topics'
       new: 'new topic'
+      new_topics:
+        one: '1 new topic'
+        other: '{{count}} new topics'
+      unread_topics:
+        one: '1 unread topic'
+        other: '{{count}} unread topics'
       title: 'Topic'
       loading_more: "Loading more Topics..."
       loading: 'Loading topic...'
diff --git a/db/migrate/20131017030605_add_latest_to_categories.rb b/db/migrate/20131017030605_add_latest_to_categories.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..305aa6c4e10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20131017030605_add_latest_to_categories.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+class AddLatestToCategories < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def up
+    add_column :categories, :latest_post_id, :integer
+    add_column :categories, :latest_topic_id, :integer
+
+    execute <<SQL
+    UPDATE categories c
+    SET latest_post_id = x.post_id
+    FROM (select category_id, max(p.id) post_id FROM posts p
+          JOIN topics t on t.id = p.topic_id
+          WHERE p.deleted_at IS NULL AND NOT p.hidden AND t.visible
+          GROUP BY category_id
+         ) x
+    WHERE x.category_id = c.id
+SQL
+
+    execute <<SQL
+    UPDATE categories c
+    SET latest_topic_id = x.topic_id
+    FROM (select category_id, max(t.id) topic_id
+          FROM topics t
+          WHERE t.deleted_at IS NULL AND t.visible
+          GROUP BY category_id
+         ) x
+    WHERE x.category_id = c.id
+SQL
+  end
+
+  def down
+    remove_column :categories, :latest_post_id
+    remove_column :categories, :latest_topic_id
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/post_creator.rb b/lib/post_creator.rb
index 48031c26a15..a3b02d46b92 100644
--- a/lib/post_creator.rb
+++ b/lib/post_creator.rb
@@ -80,10 +80,13 @@ class PostCreator
       SpamRulesEnforcer.enforce!(@post)
     end
 
+    track_latest_on_category
+
     enqueue_jobs
     @post
   end
 
+
   def self.create(user, opts)
     PostCreator.new(user, opts).create
   end
@@ -107,6 +110,15 @@ class PostCreator
 
   protected
 
+  def track_latest_on_category
+    if @post && @post.errors.count == 0 && @topic && @topic.category_id
+      Category.update_all( {latest_post_id: @post.id}, {id: @topic.category_id} )
+      if @post.post_number == 1
+        Category.update_all( {latest_topic_id: @topic.id}, {id: @topic.category_id} )
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
   def ensure_in_allowed_users
     return unless @topic.private_message?
 
diff --git a/lib/post_destroyer.rb b/lib/post_destroyer.rb
index b02eb8f0b50..06bc3383206 100644
--- a/lib/post_destroyer.rb
+++ b/lib/post_destroyer.rb
@@ -98,6 +98,15 @@ class PostDestroyer
       Notification.delete_all topic_id: @post.topic_id, post_number: @post.post_number
 
       @post.topic.trash!(@user) if @post.topic and @post.post_number == 1
+
+      if @post.topic && @post.topic.category && @post.id == @post.topic.category.latest_post_id
+        @post.topic.category.update_latest
+      end
+
+      if @post.post_number == 1 && @post.topic && @post.topic.category && @post.topic_id == @post.topic.category.latest_topic_id
+        @post.topic.category.update_latest
+      end
+
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/models/category_spec.rb b/spec/models/category_spec.rb
index 329f5d0dd0c..f78d17a3d87 100644
--- a/spec/models/category_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/category_spec.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # encoding: utf-8
 
 require 'spec_helper'
+require_dependency 'post_creator'
 
 describe Category do
   it { should validate_presence_of :user_id }
@@ -248,6 +249,31 @@ describe Category do
     end
   end
 
+  describe 'latest' do
+    it 'should be updated correctly' do
+      category = Fabricate(:category)
+      post = create_post(category: category.name)
+
+      category.reload
+      category.latest_post_id.should == post.id
+      category.latest_topic_id.should == post.topic_id
+
+      post2 = create_post(category: category.name)
+      post3 = create_post(topic_id: post.topic_id, category: category.name)
+
+      category.reload
+      category.latest_post_id.should == post3.id
+      category.latest_topic_id.should == post2.topic_id
+
+
+      destroyer = PostDestroyer.new(Fabricate(:admin), post3)
+      destroyer.destroy
+
+      category.reload
+      category.latest_post_id.should == post2.id
+    end
+  end
+
   describe 'update_stats' do
     before do
       @category = Fabricate(:category)