This series on themes which are pushing the web forward using Wordpress technology is an inspiration. It's a pity the better looking gallery is dependent on JetPack technology. It doesn't seem to me something like attractive galleries should depend on third party servers. It contradicts the whole independent publishing ethos.

What I would love to see in the demo is an example of each kind of post format. Right now there's only a few examples and they are not well labelled. I still haven't made my mind up about post formats. At this point for me, any post should be able to handle any content but perhaps with better examples of how to exploit post formats, I would think differently.

Moving post formats to a plugin wouldn't be the end of the world: the plugin could keep all the same core hook names. The plugin could also doublecheck for version on installation to make sure it's not being installed in an older version with post formats in core (hence conflict).