Quite a lot of hype has gone into Web 2.0 over the past couple of years or so, and the basic aspects of what makes a site or application Web 2.0 are not going to go anywhere, so I was quite surprised at an article from Michael Arrington at TechCrunch saying that Web 2.0 is dead.

What made this especially odd, was that on that exact same day, the BBC ran an article on tapping new revenue on websites by embracing Web 2.0 elements as part of your site.

Okay, so Arrington was really talking about the slowdown in Web 2.0 startups and growth, rather than the end of the functionality, but I still think he goes too far. The slowdown in startups is easily linked to the general slowdown in the global economy that has been affecting all businesses.

But even if no new web startups were created from now on, this would still not be the end of Web 2.0. While applications like Facebook and Twitter, and offerings from other startups, seem to lead the charge, there are plenty of websites out there that can and will be enhanced by the implementation of Web 2.0. For an example of this, look at a site like BBC News – news reports there are linked out to related articles and external sites, and many stories now encourage public discussions and comments. Although, they do have some way to go – they have many blog, such as the dot.life blog by Rory Cellan-Jones, but there is very little response by the blog authors after comments have been made by members of the public.

So, with all the companies out there with a web-presence, I don’t think Web 2.0 has much to worry about for now.

Even the new idea of Web 3.0 isn’t going to depose Web 2.0 – the scope is just too different again. Web 2.0 was all about the content and the interaction (although a number of people mistook some of the technologies employed, such as Ajax, as Web 2.0). Web 3.0 is, however, all about the new technologies.

So, Web 2.0 is not dead – but the focus is moving from startups whose only purpose was to have a Web 2.0 application, to enhancing all of those existing websites out there for organisations and entities that have yet to tap into the full power of their userbase.

Well, it was probably one of the most dullest ways to spend a week off work, but it was nice and (mostly) relaxing. I didn’t exactly get all I had set out to do either, but hey, it was supposed to be time off.

What I did manage was get out on my bike a couple of times – Ride #1 and Ride #2. I also managed to spend a whole afternoon just chatting with me sister as we wandered up and down the Marion shopping centre, and of course I got to spend time with my niece.

I also started sorting through the collection of data CDs I have stacked on a shelf in my study – most of which is defunct data (like old backups of this site from 5 years ago), or duplicates (like my photo albums, which I’m sorting through and going to place onto a single DVD – oh and post up the choice pictures onto here).

And then there was the reading, and the sorting of the myriad bookmarks, so I have been able to organise a lot of things that I want to write here and on Religious Funny.

Finally, I spent most of the weekend at my parents – helping my Dad with digging up half the garden in order for him to put decking where there was once lawn. Needless to say, I hurt a little now from the hard graft, but I’m surprised that I don’t feel as bad as I thought I would.

So, yeah, back to work today – and it was actually a pretty non-hectic day. Obviously, there was the marathon reading of email, but after that I got back into the swing again today.

Another thing I started doing in the last week was a timeplan in my head – when I’m going to be writing for Horus Kol, Religious Funny and Random Tweak – when I’m going to working on my new Python/Django projects – and when I’m going to doing other things like more drawing, reading, and general relaxing. It goes a bit further than that – I’m starting to think about what I want to be doing in 2010 and beyond already (and we haven’t even got into the last month of 2008 yet). Needless to say, this involves things like buying a home, and travelling more frequently and over more distance again, and getting into shape.

There’s nothing like a week off for getting your head together.

My friend Adam posted a link on his Pligg-site the other day, and it was an aerial shot of Wilpena Pound, which is a remarkable formation in the northern stretches of the Flinders ranges a few hundred kilometres north of Adelaide.

I made a small boast that I had a better one.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite true, because when I came to review the shots that I had taken when my family and I took a 45 minute flight over the area, I realised that I had no pictures of the pound itself from anywhere near as close as the photographer who took the National Geographic’s image had managed.

Still, it prompted me to sort out the better pictures that me and my father took from the air and upload them to the site:

Flight over Flinders Album

Yep, another one…

This time I’d taken the train into the city in order to collect something I’d ordered at a computer shop there – unfortunately, a sudden circumstance meant the shop was closed for the morning.

Still – it was a pretty good ride back.

I wish I’d taken my camera out with me yesterday – the sea and beaches by Glenelg and Brighton looked absolutely wonderful as I cycled along the coast yesterday.

Anyway, here is a map of the thing:

A couple of things – I was going to follow the coast all the way to Brighton before turning back east into the city, but got foiled by roadworks along the way. I then ended up zigzagging a little before finding a landmark that I could use to find my original route again – they’re not much for diversion route markers around here.

The other thing I found along the way was the handling of cycle routes and crossing major roads – I’ve marked the major points with red markers on the map (although care should be taken at all junctions, some need a bit of extra attention).

1. My first major junction was getting across Marion Road at the Sixth Avenue junction. There’s a bit of a kink in the road crossing this junction, and as such it means a cyclist would have to ride against traffic for a short way. I found it was easier to just get off and walk across on the pedestrian crossing.
2. The crossing at the Brighton Road tram stop is another get off and walk across one. Another tip at this point – try not to cycle down Jetty Road. There are traffic calming measures that make things interesting by narrowing the road just at a point where a tram is bearing down on you.
3. The rail crossing at Brighton Road was the best crossing yet. The cycle route switches from the north to the south of the rail line, and they are well prepared for this by giving a bicycle-only turn lane for turning right onto Brighton Road, which has its own green light at the traffic lights. Thankfully the roadworks here didn’t get in my way at all, and this was the easiest road crossing over the whole route.
4. With all the development at Oaklands rail station, I really would have thought that the crossing at Diagonal Road would be the easiest one of the lot. Unfortunately, this was far from the case.

   While there had been changes (including automatically closing pedestrian gates over the rail lines), the signage there for cyclists turned out to be very confusing.

   As I approached the junction, I knew that there was another switch in from south to north of the lines at this point, although I’d never taken the junction on a bike before. The signs directed me to take a left before crossing the road – which then left me on the other side of the tracks, and no crossing for another several hundred metres. On the other hand, if I had stay on the other side of the rail crossing, I would have easily gotten across the road, and then still have been able to get over the rail line.

5. The last crossing is one that I’m pretty familiar with, as I take it most weekends to get to the local supermarket and back.

   According to the maps, the official route for bicycles is several hundred metres away, but that would involve crossing six-lanes of heavy traffic at a point where there are no crossing lights, so the simplest thing to do is to get down to the main crossing with Oaklands Road. Here you can get over the pedestrian crossings in sequence with the lights easy enough.

Okay, I’ve been really slack on the publishing front recently – my contributions at Religious Funny and Random Tweak have been suffering as much as here.

The main reason is that I got bit by Python about a fortnight ago, and I’ve been spending most of my time at home learning this language – I really wish that I had listened to my friend Chris about it a lot sooner, as Python is a really powerful and accessible language. The supporting documentation is excellent, and there are also a couple of extremely well-built frameworks for generating various types of applications.

Obviously, I’m interested in creating websites, so I’ve picked out Django – it’s not a content-management system, but a framework on which a CMS could be built, or any other type of website for that matter.

Other things that have been taking up time have been an art course (I may or may not scan my pictures) over the past month, and also making my flat a little bit neater for the regular inspection from the agent.

Also, I spent some time away with my parents and sister’s family in Second Valley – so named, because it was the second valley along the mainland from where the settlers first landed after they started to move on from Kangaroo Island.

Some of the photos I took are available in my albums

I’ve now got a week off from work, over which I’m hoping to spend some time out and about with the camera, and also some Christmas shopping, and probably get my first Python/Django site up and running.