Richard Giles Blog

Here’s a pet-peeve. If you’re going to write an application that involves an extension to Firefox, at least ensure it is also compatible with Firefox beta 2.x.

The reality is that most people who are going to use Firefox extensions, especially ones focused on the tech crowd, are the type that like being on the bleeding edge. These are the type of people who have Firefox beta 2.x installed (myself included).

I’ve been sent several invitations to test beta applications that have included a Firefox extension. Only to find it isn’t compatible with the beta. It just turns into a frustrating waste of time.

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I mentioned my interview with Stephen Ibaraki a few weeks ago. With the amount of publicity he can generate, I’m starting to think I need to move to Canada :).

The interview is now available in NPA Careers, CIPS Connections, and I’m quoted in an article in IT Business by Grant Buckler.

Thanks again Stephen!

Just to prove that I’m not busy enough, I’ve started a Perth Entrepreneurs networking group with Viveca Trader.

When I looked a month ago for a local group that I could join to discuss business and entrepreneurship, I couldn’t find anything available. So, while chatting with Viveca, we decided to start our own group.

If you’re in Perth (or nearby), and run or invest in a business, then check out the Perth Entrepreneurs’ weblog for details on the first networking event.

I’ve been waiting for this for a few months. Especially when someone from Flickr dropped a hint about it a few months ago.

Flickr now has in-built geotagging. “So what,” you say. Well now you can explore photos in Flickr by location.

The feature, through third-party tools, has been available for some time, so I’ve had a bunch of photos geotagged. However, with the new feature it is made very easy, and will help wide spread adoption. I’m looking forward to seeing how the community starts using it.

A short while ago I did another interview with Stephen Ibaraki, an amazing technologist in Canada. He published the answers this last week on Canadian IT Managers blog, to which Stephen is a Resident blogger. You can find the first installment here, and the rest on the following days.

I watched some Billy Connolly today. He is a genius. As it turns out, it’s a brilliant warm up to The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which starts in a few short days (well, they’re longer in Scotland right now, but you get my meaning).

So if you love comedy, and lets face it, who doesn’t, then there is one podcast you’ve got to subscribe to: TPN Edinburgh Fringe Show.

My mate Ewan did such a fantastic job of covering it last year that he was nominated for a BAFTA–no joke.

I’m subscribed. It’s my lunch time listening for the next few of weeks.

Oh, it shouldn’t stop you subscribing to The Gadget Show and G’day World.

Mr Barren is always talking about localisation, recently launching his localised search engine called Gnoos, so he’ll be happy to see a community web service that was just launched in Perth.

PerthNorg is Western Australia’s salvation. For too long we’ve been in the dark, because the local monopolistic newspaper has been dragging its clumsy feet when it has come to the Internet: for too long we’ve not had easy access to local news.

PerthNorg solves that problem in a big way. In fact it offers almost complete freedom because the news is up to us.

PerthNorg is a user empowered news site that gives citizen journalists (you!) editorial control. Every news item on PerthNorg is a submission from the Norg community by either creating it, sourcing it, ranking or commenting on it.

I’m a big fan, and I’d like to congratulate Bronwen on the launch!

If you’re a Perthite, bookmark the site and get in there and start helping with the news.