I'm puzzled. AFAICT Timo's pull request #53 (removing maxlength="50") is included in the release v00.12.00
I downloaded the install zip file and installed it on my site. I find there is still a 50 char limit (on the template body et al) and the attribute maxlength="50" is still there.
I opened the install zip file (NewsArticles.00.12.00.zip) and looked in LatestArticleOptions.ascx. The maxlength="50" attributes also appear in there.
Has there been some kind of error in preparing the release?
Am I missing something?