Paint.NET :: Efficient Way Of Applying Texture To Selection

There are a few things i wanted to ask since i don't really find anything relevant to what i'm looking for.

1) Is there a simple and efficient way of applying a texture to a selection (minus alpha of course)? There is a plugin here that claims to do just that, but how to use it or it isn't working properly.

2) I sometimes want to color specific portions of an image that isn't layered, and if there are outlines, it only gets harder. Any tips about that or perhaps some plugin that can pick out a specific color range of pixels from my selection?

3) There is a plugin called Drop Shadow or something. It is really useful and well done, i'll give the author that, but it would also be better if there was an option to dump the shadow in a new layer below the current to allow easier manipulation later on. The current workaround is generating the shadow without the original image, copying, tracing the steps back and pasting in a new layer.

So there are for now. Oh, and one last thing: is a new version or at least an update coming out anytime soon? It's been a long while since i saw any changes.