MiramarMike: Blog

One of my long time and constant sayings about the sea shift within IT Departments of corporates/Government agencies around New Zealand is that they have not grasped that the power has long moved from them to the consumer world. Back in the day the only people with enough money to afford computers were very large organisations and these electronic beasties performed very specific (usually batch orientated) computational work that, to be honest, no-one outside of these organisations really cared about ... except on pay day. In the 1980s companies, such as Microsoft, could see that this computing power was becoming cheaper and cheaper as well as smaller and smaller and quickly jumped on board to supply software to this burgeoning massive market - smaller organisations. It wasn't long (late 1980s and into the 1990s) before every organisation worth its salt had a computer, normally one with Microsoft software running. But this was still the corporate world, you still went to the office

As part of WaveAdept 's drive to create an "ecosystem" of Google Apps users around New Zealand two of us are on the road from next week. First call, Christchurch - Thursday 29th / Friday 30th, October With any collaboration discussion and particularly the breadth offered by Google Apps the discussions can be wide ranging and so we are targeting our time around the following topics: What the hell is Google Apps? How can it help my business and how much does it cost ($70/user/year!) We already use it but not sure we're getting the most value out of it, now what? I know/use it personally and know my work would benefit but ... how do they get it? Of course, like all the best conversations nothing is written in stone so don't hold back :-) We've deliberately left time for those that we don't know to get some free time with us. (those that know and have already booked us are cool as but what about those that just want to hear more - this is YOUR time) How to g

I have been privileged to help create a number of successful barcamps ( Wikipedia ) alongside an ever growing number of committee members here in Wellington over the past few years both public and internally at client sites. I've also attended others around the country which have been mostly awesome but sometimes missing a certain "something". During this time I've managed to crystalise what I believe helps create and facilitate (NOT "run) a successful barcamp - here it is, by all means share it around. Oh, one more thing - barcamps are traditionally held within the realm of the geeks but there's NOTHING about a barcamp that limits it to such an industry and, much like you can hold a traditional conference on any subject under the sun, so you can with a barcamp. What do you need for a barcamp? I've always said you only need the following to get have a barcamp A venue A date A logo People On reflection I should also add, "a need" - dur. The date

Last year's inaugral event was quite fun AND was my first introduction to Aptimize which has gone from strength to strength since then - check out the presentations from them and the others at the W2W YouTube channel . So, who will be this years stand out performer from those that will present during the live technology showcase featuring pitches from selected and groomed Wellington technology companies? Another top reason to pop along (apart from the attractive price of $0) is to hear Richard MacManus talk around this year’s theme, ‘Going Global with Your Technology Business’. Other speakers are Ben Young (entrepreneur, author and marketing guru) and John Watt (nanotechnology pioneer and MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year). Reserve your free ticket at: http://www.up.org.nz/w2w09/ Tuesday 17 November 2009, 2:00pm - 8:00pm Civic Suite, Level 2, Wellington Town Hall, Wakefield Street, Wellington [ map ] Unlimited Potential's W2W event aims to build bridges between academia

There's a little confusion about who I work for which is my error in not communicating with you all the changes I love having around my life. So, here ya go: WaveAdept is who I work for (cloud computing, Google Apps re-seller). I am not the only person working for WaveAdept. MiramarMike is my professional, sole trader existence ("open" advocate) Knowledge Cue (SharePoint gurus) is who I am proud to be an associate of Anyone else you may have associated with me are either past, present or future clients. WaveAdept is, however, also partnering up with like minded companies so you may catch my name alongside others in the near future. For a little more on the difference between Mike @ WaveAdept and MiramarMike read my earlier post, Welcome To WaveAdept