Provide a short cut that renders as a nice looking graphic that says "New" (such as one like these http://www.freeiconsweb.com/16x16_new_icons.htm )

Some ideas of how this might work:
For example ( / ) renders as a tick . Perhaps (N) could render as a NEW icon

Ideally, the icon would optionally disappear after a certain time. Perhaps using more complex notation, the date of removal could be coded into the shortcut, for example:

• {new}

  renders as a permanent NEW icon

• {new:expiry=21/03/2008}

  would render as a NEW icon until the date, after which it would not render at all

• {new:expiry=4}

  when expiry is a single number, the number is automatically converted to a date that many days in the future on save