Work was insane for me between the end of WordCamp Malaysia and the end of last week. I didn’t take a day off in that time. I feel a lot better now for a weekend off and normal working hours during this week. Check out the computer usage below, taken from my Wakoopa account which tracks individual application usage. Too many hours It’s quite the bulge Legend Blue: Internet Green: Audio/Video Red: Development Orange: Utilities Purple: Office Grey/Olive: Design And before anyone says that clearly I just spend all my time browsing the internet, well, in some ways that’s true – but it’s me either making CMS modifications on a customer website, browsing forums for solutions to Magento (that was a lot of time spent in the last month, I’ll have a wee rant... Similar posts

It’s been summer for about a week now. Whether you’re on vacation or burning the midnight oil, attending a local/nearby WordCamp is a great way to spend a weekend. Meet other WordPress users, developers, designers & consultants, learn a little something, maybe share a little of your own experience and knowledge, and break bread (or raise a toast) with new friends and collaborators. Here are the WordCamps scheduled for this summer, along with what I know about them. July 3: WordCamp Germany – Berlin, Germany. I love it that they’re using BuddyPress for their event site. They have multiple tracks, and what looks to be a nice variety of sessions. It’s only a few days away, so if you’re thinking of going, get your tickets now! July 10: WordCamp Boulder... Similar posts

Fresh from subscribing to a few WordPress related blogs by some of the people I met at WordCamp Malaysia, I decided I wanted to change the folder name into which I had added these feeds, a small change from “word-press-related” to a more straight-forward “WordPress”. After a few minutes of looking at the options in the folder settings dropdown, “Settings > Folders and Tags”, and “Settings > Subscriptions”, I realised that there didn’t appear to be any way to actually rename a folder in Google Reader. Something which is a little odd, especially seeing as it’s a piece of cake to rename a subscription. You would think this functionality would be a simple thing to implement. Anyway, after giving up on being able to rename the... Similar posts

Tomorrow evening I travel to Kuala Lumpur, giving myself a couple of days as a tourist prior to WordCamp Malaysia. I find it strange that by travelling 3° west, I’m actually going to end up an hour ahead. Time zones really are quite arbitrary. Time Zone Map Of course, if time zones were completely arbitrary, I guess they’d actually just follow the straight line representations on the map, resulting in people having houses half in one time-zone, half in the other. Now that’d be complicated. Kuala Lumpur’s time-zone will be nice though, the sun will set at 7.20pm instead of 6.20pm – definitely suits the night bird that I am a bit more. Very much looking forward to getting there and looking around. Image courtesy of Nelo Esteves... Similar posts

So I’ve finally sorted out my shit and booked flights, hotel and my ticket for WordCamp Malaysia. Really looking forward to it, and despite my current workload I’m hoping that I’ll pretty much be able to take it easy for the 4 days I’ll be in Kuala Lumpur. Obviously this is a wholly nerdy thing to be doing, but, well, I don’t care. Clearly I’m a nerd and there’s no getting around it. I think if you asked me a year ago did I think I’d be attending a WordCamp in the near future, I’d have said yes. However the location behind that intention would most definitely have been Ireland. In fact I had I even had thought about setting up the first WordCamp Ireland, but got busy and never sorted it, instead Sabrina Dent and Katherine Nolan did,... Similar posts

A week from today on May 1, hundreds of WordPress users, developers, designers and general enthusiasts will descend upon San Francisco for the 4th annual WordCamp SF. Since that first WordCamp in 2006, back when WordPress was on version 2.0 (Duke), the number of people using WordPress to power their web publishing — from personal blogs to large-scale commercial sites — has grown by millions. It’s no wonder this year’s event is going to be so great. If you’re unfamiliar with WordCamps, here’s the skinny: the San Francisco event is the flagship, put together each year under the direction of WordPress co-founder and lead developer Matt Mullenweg, who traditionally reports on the “State of the Word” and assembles a lineup of speakers that have... Similar posts

I would have written this yesterday but I was giving an SEO course all day, so here it is better late than never… Firstly thanks to Sabrina and Katherine for all the work they put in organising a great weekend with great speakers.  Although the two of them are based in or near Cork, Wordcamp was [...] No related... Similar posts

I think this photo pretty much sums up the first WordCamp Ireland for me. It was fantastic in so many ways – the speakers, the attendees, the venue, the whole vibe of the weekend. If you don’t believe me, check the Twitter stream. I’ll try and organise my highlights into something comprehensive and useful later on but for now, major kudos and a huge thanks to the organisers Sabrina Dent and Katherine Nolan. You ladies... Similar posts

I was at Wordcamp this weekend and a talk by Darragh Doyle got me thinking about social media and blogging for beginners. It’s very easy when you are immersed in the online world of social media to come out with statements like “just throw up a Wordpress blog” or “open a twitter account and start talking to people”. They feel very easy steps for business owners to be able to make in trying to establish an online presence. I’ll tell you now that they are not. All my work is online, I tap away at a computer for 16 hours a day and live and breath this sort of stuff just like many other people do on Twitter and other social networks, it comes as second nature to many of us but I remember blogging for the first time and sending my first tweet and it is... Similar posts

Happy Saturday! Aphrodite and I are off to Wordcamp in Kilkenny today – what are you up ... Similar posts

Back in November 2009 I was delighted to help out in organising  Northwest Connects – as well as doing the moderation of the two panel discussions we had on the day. Both discussions went well – according to plan in as much as something like this can – and I received good feedback... Similar posts

Poser! Irish Blog Awards needs judges – sign up here. St. Patrick’s Festival is all go and looking for volunteers. Carluccio’s to re-open after landlord agrees to cut the rent – nice one Carluccio’s! Congrats to the Science Gallery on getting nominated for European Museum of the Year. LoveLab opens to the public this Thursday, members-only launch is on Wednesday and you can get signed up for ‘membership plus’ for a reduced price of €20 until February 10th. The awesome Sabrina Dent is organising the 3rd annual Ladies Tea Party for Blog Awards weekend. Follow @LadiesTeaParty for the skinny. WordCamp Ireland is starting to look truly awesome – I’ll see you... Similar posts

Rested up from the holidays? I hope so, because the new year has begun and a lot is going to be happening with WordPress in 2010, and you definitely want to be a part of it. Later this week the scope for version 3.0 (featuring the addition of MU functionality to the WordPress codebase) will be decided in the IRC developer chat*, based on feedback provided by users like you. But it’s no fun to live by IRC alone, which is why we love WordCamps. Attending a WordCamp gives you a chance to meet people in your local community who are working with WordPress, as well as core contributors, theme designers, plugin developers, Codex writers, support forum moderators and other WordPress volunteers who’ve made WordPress what it is today. Add this New Year’s Resolution to your 2010... Similar posts

“Taking this report with the proper amount of salt will mean exceeding the recommended daily allowance.” - GMSV on Apple Tablet rumours.“Whatever your level, learn more about the web’s favourite blogging software and CMS at WordCamp Ireland. With a fantastic lineup of local and international speakers, a relaxed atmosphere for mixing and meeting, a family friendly venue, a host of social activities and an unbeatable price, the 2010 inaugural WordCamp Ireland will be the only place to be for bloggers, techies and anyone interested in learning more about the web this March.”@murrion proves that working outdoors is not all its cracked up to... Similar posts

Katherine Nolan and I are delighted to announce that WordCamp Ireland, Ireland’s first conference for WordPress,  is officially launched. We’ve spent a mad few days talking to venues, sponsors and speakers and all systems are go: we’ll be taking over Langton’s Hotel in Kilkenny on March 6th and 7th, 2010 along with 35 speakers, 200 attendees and a metric tonne of swag. It is going to be a great conference with both excellent speakers and loads of social activities so you don’t sort of get stranded in a corner (we hate that) and is specifically family-friendly so you can bring the whole gang. The venue is also handicap accessible and utterly amazing - we are so excited it’s all come together like this. This site was a snap to do because Katherine and I... Similar posts

WordCamp NYC was last weekend, and it was crazy awesome to have so many WordPress users and developers together in one place (final numbers to come, but looks like over 700). One of my favorite moments was right at the end, when someone suggested getting a picture of the core contributors (I’d asked them all to stand so people could applaud them when we were doing the closing remarks). Some of them were camera shy and kept out of the happysnap, but here’s a handful of the people who make WordPress what it is. From left: Matt Martz (sivel), Jeremy Clarke, Shane Froebel (^BuGs^), Jane Wells, Matt Mullenweg, Mark Jaquith, Beau Lebens, Andy Peatling, John James Jacoby (jjj). Photo by Chris... Similar posts

There are six WordCamps coming up before the end of the year, and since I like to make sure people know about it when there’s a WordCamp near them, here’s the list, with some personal commentary thrown in. If you just want the list without my asides, check out the full schedule at WordCamp.org. WordCamp Phoenix is first up, on November 13. I’d planned on attending this one myself before they changed the date (it was originally scheduled for the 7th), but will sadly have to miss it as it conflicts with WordCamp NYC. If you, like me, can’t make it to Phoenix, be sure to check their web site for information on the live stream they’re planning to provide. If it’s anywhere near the quality of the stream from Portland or Seattle earlier this fall, it’ll... Similar posts

Today we’ve switched on WordPress.tv, your visual resource for all things WordPress. On WordPress.tv, you’ll find tutorials for both WordPress self-installs and WordPress.com to help you get blogging fast and hassle-free. We’ve kicked things off with the basics — now you can shape what comes next. Just drop us a line and let us know what you’d like to see added. WordPress.tv is also now the place to find all that awesome WordCamp footage that was floating around the web without a home. See the presentations you missed and get a peek at behind-the-scenes action. We call it WordCampTV. You’ll also find slideshows of presentations made by WordPress gurus, plus interviews I’ve done with the media and fellow bloggers. I hope you’ll consider... Similar posts

Andy has the very exciting news that Gravatar icons will be printed on attendee’s WordCamp San Francisco badges this year! On supporting websites, Gravatars have become a de-facto identity for comment threads and discussions so to carry through the identity to the conference floor is just a logical conclusion. There is one caveat. Gravatars can now be up to 512×512 pixels. The bigger they are, the better they’ll print. If your Gravatar is a measly 32×32 pixels it’s going to look like a dirty smudge next to the shiny badges of the big boys. Andy has created a handy form for checking if your image is the right size. If not, please upload a new Gravatar before August 14th! I won’t be at WordCamp this year but after seeing the line up of speakers I’m... Similar posts