Josh Sharp design and development. Web pages with purpose.

When I came up with the domain name techAU, it wasn't already taken — but it wasn't unique either. Jason Cartwright had already been working on techAU.tv, a weekly tech podcast. And amidst the flurry of activity post-launch this week, I've been talking to Jason about the similarities in our sites' names. He isn't particularly happy.

Now, when you buy a domain, say a .com, and someone else buys the .net of that name, you're not really able to jump up and down about it. After all, if you wanted to be the sole owner of that name, you should be buying all of the TLDs for it. That's just how it goes.

However, being the jolly good sport that I am, and the endeavour being relatively new, I decided I would concede defeat to Jason. I don't want to go around making enemies, and the guy's already got his thing going. Seeing as I'm only aggregating blogs, I don't mind particularly about the domain name. Maybe I can sell it and make a tidy profit.

Thus techCollective.com.au was born

Hurrah! I'd like to think it's an even better domain. Invokes images of solidarity, and camaraderie. Bringing people together, and gently feeding them technology news.

For the moment, techAU is still active and redirecting to the new domain. But eventually, who knows. I trust you good ladies and gentlemen will remember the new domain and this will not slow anyone down.

Thankyou for a successful launch

Otherwise, thankyou everyone for all the positive attention you've given me for the site — we're still focussed on Aussie web and tech bloggers, and I'm sure we'll succeed in getting some more awareness of the local industry.

It didn't take long, and now it's live. As it says on the site itself, "techAU aggregates both prominent and up-and-coming Australian bloggers who write about the new generation of the web and related technologies." And it doesn't do much else at this stage. I mentioned my list of bloggers in the previous post, and with the exception of Sam Lai (get back to me Sam! We'll figure something out), all have made it to the list.

Its purpose

The idea is that, like Alltop or Web 2.0 Workgroup, you're able to visit the site and quickly scan a list of relevant bloggers for posts that look interesting. In this case, the focus is on Australian content, as I really wanted to boost recognition of prominent figures in our local industry. Bookmark the site and keep up to date on what Australian bloggers think about the future of the web.

Who can be on the list?

Any Australian blogger who writes consistently insightful posts on the web, social media, startups, and the like. I wanted to include Duncan Riley, but I'm not sure the world needs to know about his penchant for rescuing stunned birds :) If you do know someone who you think should be on the list, let me know. I'd be happy to add anyone who fits — the longer the list, the better!

Who said that laziness doesn't yield good results? Earlier this year I called for tech bloggers to help me launch a local-based tech blog in the vein of TechCrunch, but I didn't get a great deal of interest and I don't have a lot of time to follow the idea up, as much as I think it has merit.

So after a bit of thought I have come up with something different, which I think could still help raise awareness of our local industry.

In the same vein as Web 2.0 Workgroup, I'd like to aggregate the blogs of prominent Australian bloggers in the IT industry. I'd like to feature bloggers who consistently write about web-related technologies and ideas, and have something worth adding. Here's my list so far:

• Chris Saad
• Ben Barren
• Ross Dawson
• Nic Hodges
• Mick Liubinskas
• VS Consulting Group's Startup Blog
• Sam Lai's Drive:Activated

What I'd love for everyone else to do, is to let me know in the comments if you know of anyone else who fits the bill. I'd love to feature anyone who falls into the right category, but I don't necessarily know everyone who qualifies at this stage.

Let me know below!