28 February 2008

Google launches wiki

Google has added another feature for selected users: a wiki or collaborative site builder. This follows the juggernaut’s acquisition of Jotspot 16 months ago.

It’s branded as Google Sites and is currently available only to Google Apps users. Google Apps requires the user to own a domain. I have my email for gorey.com.au hosted with Google, which gives me multiple accounts and a Gmail interface.

I’ve already set up a GoogleSite for Gorey family history. I transferred content and had this running in less than an hour.

There are several themes to select from and various optional features with the promise of more to come.

As with everything Google the search feature is terrific.

What can it do? In essence, multiple users can work together to build a site within a standard framework. The edits and revisions are clearly marked.

The design is WYSIWYG. Images can be easily inserted and files attached.

I haven’t experimented with this yet, but Google Docs can also be embedded.

Tags: google, Technology, wiki
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2 December 2007

Fitzroy and the Queen

I mentioned in the previous post the Queen attended a match between Fitzroy and Richmond in 1970. The Lions defeated the reigning premiers in that game.

Tags: blog, Fitzroy, lions, PR, wiki
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2 November 2006

Pieter Willem Botha

The former President of South Africa PW Botha died on October 31, 2006.

He was already out of the political scene when I visited South Africa for the first time in 1990 and FW de Klerk had accelerated the reform process. Botha was seen as stubborn in the face of irresistible change but in terms of negotiating the transition his obstinacy may have helped make things smoother in the long run.

I mean that in the sense that all parties to the final solution made compromises they may not have done otherwise if change had occurred faster. The end result is relative peace and stability in South Africa today.

My wife Juliet is related to Botha on her mother’s side. The maiden name of Juliet’s mum is Botha and they came from George, which is close to where PW Botha lived in retirement at Wilderness.

Tags: Africa, media, PR, South Africa, wiki
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20 September 2006

Meebo instant messaging

I’ve taken a look at the Meebo instant messaging web site today. This is an internet service that enables chat through a browser without having to download a program like Gaim, Trillian or Miranda.

I’m not a big IM user but I can see the potential benefits. I came to Meebo because I downloaded Portable Gaim thinking I would run it from my USB stick at work.

The company firewall had other ideas and wouldn’t let me. There are probably proxy settings I could change, but rather than go through that hassle I did a quick web search and discovered Meebo.

It works with AIM, ICQ, Jabber, GTalk, Yahoo and MSN. I have two of those, and if you register with Meebo you can access multiple services simultaneously.

There’s a widget you can install on your own web site for chat. I experimented with it, and found it works, but can’t really see the need for me personally at this stage.

There’s an article on Wikpedia which explains the history of this interesting, useful service.

Tags: fire, History, internet, PR, wiki, work
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10 September 2006

New forum script

I experimented today with a new forum script called Vanilla.

My initial observations are that it’s easy to install, attractive and minimalist. The download was just 380kb. It’s not bloated or overloaded with unnecessary features. There’s an active support community and a wide range of add-ons. Word Press integration is feasible.

On the downside it’s fairly difficult to modify templates.

I don’t have a great practical need for it (like the wiki I set up) but it’s interesting to try these scripts for potential other uses.

Tags: feature, features, list, PR, wiki
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3 September 2006

Gentoo Linux

My Kanotix installation died on me last week. It was a self-inflicted fatality; suicide in other words. I went for over a month without upgrading the distro, just updating software instead.

I finally went ahead and the system shock was all too much. I had the black screen of death, but it locked on me and I couldn’t even get a command prompt. I know I could have repaired things using a live CD, but I took the opportunity instead of a new experiment.

I have read plenty of times that Gentoo is a serious Linux diehard distro with nothing user friendly for newbies and novices. Although not very computer literate in the developer sense, I’ve been using Linux now for two years and thought it was time to take the plunge. Read more »

Tags: environment, feature, features, fire, firefox, linux, management, media, office, PR, software, war, wiki, Windows, work
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22 December 2005

Kalgoorlie weather

I found a nifty Word Press plugin called EzStatic. It enables static pages to be called within a Word Press template, so the look and feel is the same.

An example is my use of the Kalgoorlie weather update from Weatherzone.

While mentioning Kalgoorlie weather, I’ve compared long-term averages between there and Bright. Maximum temperatures are roughly five degrees higher every month, eg January is 35 instead of 30, July is 17 instead of 12. Minimum temperatures are between five and eight degrees higher.

Tags: Bright, Kalgoorlie, PR, weather, wiki
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5 October 2005

The Age online polls

My favorite online newspaper is The Age. It gives a good snapshot of the day’s main stories, with links to breaking news. Important events are posted as they happen.

It’s so good in fact that I don’t buy The Age any more, except on Saturdays. That says something, doesn’t it? How much longer can newspapers survive in their current form? I can’t see the kids of today reading newsprint when they’re my age.

Online subscription services will continue to evolve, also wiki-type sites where readers post news. In regional areas I think this would be a good thing. I’ve tried to create interest in the concept here, but without some serious promotional dollars it won’t get off the ground.

All that doesn’t relate to the headline of this topic, and I may write more about those matters some other time. Read more »

Tags: Australia, government, Kids, labor, news, newspapers, PR, wiki, world
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30 September 2005

Tiddly Wiki

Just when I thought the internet wouldn’t surprise me any more, I discovered Tiddly Wiki. I’m a gadget man and can’t be accused of living under a rock for the past year, but how this one escaped me escapes me.

Tiddly Wiki is “a reusable non-linear personal web notebook”. It’s an HTML file with java script that can be almost anything you want it to be.

The most obvious purpose is as a personal note taker. It can save information online if you upload it to a server, or offline on your computer. Read more »

Tags: internet, wiki
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