Here is Nicolas Ivanoff of France on his first run through qualifying on Saturday, November 1 2008 at the Perth Red Bull Air Race. The video is taken from the Grandstand viewing area on the South Perth foreshore.

The book claims to cover everything you need to know to configure, manage and maintain your own vBulletin discussion forum and is aimed at administrators with beginner to intermediate skill levels, however, I feel the book is geared more to the absolute beginner. While the book does touch on everything it claims to, it doesn’t delve deeply enough on any of these subjects. For somebody who has been working with online discussion forums for a number of years the book just seems too oversimplified with the majority of the content walking you through the administration screens step-by-step.

The most valuable part of the book for me was the chapter on customising your vBulletin board. While most of the chapter is focused on the usual run through of the admin screens, there are some useful tips for making modifications to the base templates along with information on making use of the multitude of hacks available online to improve the system.

There is a Programmer’s Reference at the end of the book “that you may need if you are going to delve deeper into your vBulletin installation”. I’m not sure the book really prepares you for the advanced customisation that would make use of the reference but I found it a good quick guide to the various permission levels.

Overall the book is a good introduction to the vBulletin system, even if it is a little light on detail. Building Forums with vBulletin – A practical guide to the web’s favorite discussion system isn’t going to teach you how to do everything with your vBulletin installation, but it will give you an idea of everything you can do with it. If nothing else this book is a great reference for more advanced administrators to refer to when needing to figure something out while a true beginner will find a gentle and easy to understand introduction to running an online discussion forum.

All you have to do is go to the Spread Firefox website and pledge your commitment to download Firefox 3 during the 24 hour period to take part. Then, all that is required is that you actually download the software during that time-frame and you’ll be a part of (hopefully) a Guinness World Record.

Some people have issues with the fact that Mozilla haven’t taken into account other timezones with their plan but I feel this is more a case of logistics than ignoring everybody outside the Americas due to the record attempt, it needs to be a single 24-hour period and considering the US is their biggest market it would unwise to exclude them for the benefit of other smaller markets.

For those of you aren’t sure when 10am San Francisco time is in Australia, here are the start times:

• West: 1am (Wednesday 18th)
• Central: 2:30am (Wednesday 18th)
• East: 3am (Wednesday 18th)

You can also follow it all on Twitter.

Why not try it yourself on your blog? Just go to wordle.net and paste the content of your blog into the box. A few seconds later you’ll have a lovely visual representation of your blog’s content. Enjoy!

My Wordle

The photos were taken on my Nokia e65 phone are can be seen, complete with commentary through Flickr.

View my On My Way Home photos.

The Rules

The rules are very simple:

• Use a simple camera, the simpler the better,
• Upload them to flickr or whatever your preference is, but as long as they can be seen through the web,
• Tag them if you can with “onmywayhomeme”,
• Blog it and tell the story,
• Tag your mates.

Who’s Next?

I’ve never done a meme before but this one was actually quite fun once I’d decided how to approach it. So, I tag the following local bloggers to do the same:

• Judd Exley
• Simone van Hattem
• Rosemary Lynch

Taking a look at any of these sites makes it clear that the individual these people are seeking information on, and even worse, publishing information on, is Alexander Graham Bell, the man we all know (or do we?) brought us the telephone and many other inventions and ideas. Those of you paying attention will notice the small, but significant difference between my name, Alexandra, and that of the father of modern telecommunications, Alexander - er on the end, not ra.

While entertaining to see this mistake made and permeated through the world wide web it is a good example of taking anything you read online with a grain of salt. Just because it’s published doesn’t make it true.

So, for those of you researching Mr Bell, it’s ALEXANDER, not Alexandra. So now you know.

The good news is this blog ranks #1 for Alexandra Graham!

The 2-day event in early November will feature 2 streams; business and technology culminating in the 2008 WA Web Awards ceremony. A lineup of international, national and local speakers have been confirmed and will be announced in the coming weeks.

To keep up to date and help us choose a logo for the event, head over to edgeoftheweb.org.au and sign up for the newsletter.

I can’t wait, never having been to a web conference before, it will be great to have one right on our doorstep!

Photos from the event are starting to appear on Flickr, so head on over and take a look.

The May 2008 edition, currently on sale, includes a tutorial entitled How to Brief a Web Developer which appears to be the first in a series to educate clients in dealing with web professionals. The article is well-written and accurate and I’m looking forward to reading the future instalments to see if they continue in the same vein.

It’s great to see a publication aimed at small/medium business owners that does the right thing by the web industry by educating clients of the realities of getting a website developed and maintaining one to ensure a good return on investment. Net Registry have done a great job putting the magazine together and have even done well to limit the amount of self-promotion to the odd advertisement of their own services without going over the top.

I recommend all web developers take a look at the magazine, if they haven’t already, and recommend it to their clients. It’s a good way to keep up with what’s going on from a client’s point-of-view: What do they expect from us? What sort of research are they doing? The inspirational articles from successful web entrepreneurs serve as a good read too.

Well done Net Registry and Nett Magazine for doing the right thing by the Web Industry. Keep up the good work! Now, if only they could get the subscription and delivery part right…