In fact, crafting has undergone another change: You don't increase your skill by churning yout items. Rather, your character improves the more people use your items. If you make a rifle, sell it to someone, and log off, you can log back on and get an experience-point dump based on how often your customer shot things. "It's result oriented", commented Koster.
http://swg-de.emr.net/a26.php)
The poster lists the benefits for each species:
Human: can advance through Imperial military with no penalty
Zabrak: mind-related bonuses, especially willpower, slight resitance to poison, Tattoos
Mon Calamari: swimming speed, increased vision underwater, no combat penalties underwater, can survive longer underwater, mental attrib bonuses, penalties in hot/dry conditions.
Twilek: head-tail language, bonuses to dancing effects, bonus to focus attributes.
Wookiee: physical bonuses, build/use traditional weapons, can't speak basic, negative modifiers when dealing with Trandoshan NPCs.
Rodian: quickness bonus, bonuses to bounty hunting and smuggling
Trandoshan: physical bonuses, claws provide extra damage in unarmed combat, no penalties for fighting or using skills at night, negative reaction with Wookiee NPCs.
Bothan: slicing and investigation bonuses, action-related attribute bonuses.
heh, the link to the article is in the middle of those 2 ;)