Testing WordPress before hitting update on production – Wellington – 4 February 2019

What

Jeff Ghazally will speak about testing WordPress before hitting update on production.

This talk will cover ways to update your WordPress install safely using a local testing / staging environment.

Remainder of the time will be left to talk about WP5.0 and Gutenberg and how people are finding it so far

What we’re about

A group for anyone interested in WordPress. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a beginner, all welcome.

When and Where

Monday, February 4, 2019
5:30pm to 7:30pm

Biz Dojo
3 Market Lane
Wellington Central

How Much

Free

More

Testing WordPress before hitting update on production
Wellington WordPress Meetup

Hack and Learn 2.0 – Auckland – 5 February 2019

What

Hack And Learn is an InfoSec Meetup group with an emphasis on practical learning for IT Security Professionals and Enthusiasts.

Each meetup will host a series of vulnerable computers/applications in a secure network. Attendees are invited to bring their laptops and participate in a Capture The Flag style walkthrough. Observers are welcome too. Hacks will be demonstrated and discussed within the group.

When and Where

Workday
Level 2
152 Fenshaw St
Auckland CBD

6pm – 9pm
Tuesday 5 February 2019

How Much

Free

More

Hack and Learn 2.0 , February 5th
Hack and Learn Meetup Group

AI-DAY 2019 – Auckland – 27-28 March 2019

What

AI-DAY brings together International Experts, Industry Leaders, Academics and Local Trailblazers to showcase how they’re changing the world with Artificial Intelligence.

Over two days and five 90 minute sessions AI-DAY showcases the incredible stories, panel discussions and applications impacting business, government and society, powered by AI.

From Academics to International Business Leaders, Local Technologists and Innovators, their stories will challenge your thinking and provoke your curiosity.

When and Where

5:30pm – 8:30pm Wednesday 27 March 2019
9am – 7pm Thursday 28 March 2019

ASB Waterfront Theatre
138 Halsey Street
Auckland, Auckland 1010

How Much

$595

Conference pass provides access to all sessions in theatre on Wednesday 27th and 28th March 2019, catering and networking After Party

More

AI-Day Website

Hawkes Bay Geeks Guild: Monday Night Games – Napier – 14 January 2019

What

The Hawkes Bay Geeks Guild is a community for likeminded geeks, nerds, otakus and gamers to meet and hang out (online and in the real world).

If you like board games, card games, video games, role play, superhero movies, comic books, anime, sci-fi, fantasy or anything geeky, this is the guild for you!

Sign up to our Facebook group and join in on the discussions

Our most common meet up is a weekly board game night at Dave’s Place. People usually start turning up about 6:30, and we play some smaller games while people arrive (Coup, Love Letter, No Thanks). After that, there are a few tables set up in a couple of rooms and we split up to play longer games, which people may have brought along. We usually end up in a big group at the end of the night and play a group game (2 Rooms and a Boom, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, or Resistance).

When and Where

Monday 14 January 2019
6:30pm – 10pm

Dave’s House
51 Riverbend Road
Napier

How Much

Free

More

January 14th Monday Night Games
Hawkes Bay Geeks Guild

The Centre for Space Science Technology: What, When, Where, How, Who? – Wellington – 30 January 2019

What

A talk by Duncan Steel

In this talk I will outline the activities of CSST, which was founded last year in Alexandra as one of the government’s Regional Research Institutes. Fundamentally the role of CSST is to provide expertise in the utilisation of satellite-derived imagery for the good of New Zealand: to plug the gap that exists between the torrent of Earth observation data streaming down from orbit and the potential end-users who are largely unaware of what ‘space can do for them’. Applications include the identification of illegal fishing by vessels in the Antarctic Ocean, the early detection of cyanobacteria blooms in NZ’s thousands of lakes, the mapping of how the country is changing shape under seismic and volcanic shifts, right through to the monitoring of the growth and health of crops ranging from grass to grapes.

About the speaker:

Over the past thirty years Duncan has worked on space projects in the US, UK, Australia, Sweden, Canada and NZ. His research has focussed largely on asteroids, comets and meteors, but he has also been involved in planning missions to Mars and the search for life elsewhere. Additionally he is an expert on the history and astronomical basis of calendars.

Duncan is the author of four books, over 140 research papers, and more than a thousand articles in newspapers and magazines published around the globe. He has appeared in dozens of TV documentaries, and hundreds of radio interviews.

Asteroid 4713 Steel is named for him, as is a lunar-roving robot in one of Arthur C. Clarke’s science-fiction novels.

http://www.duncansteel.com/

Space Enthusiasts & Professionals Meetup (Wellington)

This is for anyone interested in creating a space ecosystem, industry and community in New Zealand in light of a new resurgence of interest in space technologies, capabilities and exploration. The intent is to find like-minded enthusiasts (no space background required!) and professionals interested in making this happen in New Zealand through informal gatherings to share ideas, network and potentially collaborate in space projects.

When and Where

Wednesday, January 30, 2019
5:30pm – 7pm

Level 10
BNZ Partner Center
1 Victoria Street
Wellington

How Much

Free

More

Meetup page for the talk by Duncan Steel
Meetup page for the Space Enthusiasts & Professionals Meetup Group
Facebook page for the Space Enthusiasts & Professionals Meetup Group

Stargazing Lab – Auckland – 22 December 2018

What

JOIN US UNDER THE STARS FOR A NIGHT OF STARGAZING.

The first session starts before the sunset in order to explain very basic concepts about astronomy, telescopes, and photography. After that, you will have opportunities to observe the craters and mountains on the Moon, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and the rings of Saturn.
You will also have a chance to observe deep sky objects like star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.

The sessions will target different objects and topics every day. Since these events are weather dependent, on occasions we may need to postpone the event at short notice. If this happens, you will receive a txt message in your mobile, one hour prior to the event, and your booking will be transferred to the next available session.

Even though the sessions end late, these activities are family friendly and ideal for kids. You will have a nice opportunity to learn more about the solar system and the Universe, and also to motivate interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in young minds. Some telescopes and additional resources will be available for use. Including telescopes that can be operated by kids.

We will help you to identify bright stars and major constellations. During each observing session, we will teach participants to find those elusive patterns in the sky with a simple monthly star map and a green laser pointer that projects a visible beam into the sky. Just like at a planetarium but under the real night sky!

Code of Conduct

In order to insure safety, protect equipment and to enhance everyone enjoyment, we ask that you follow the Code of Conduct:

  • Pets are not permitted nearby the telescopes.
  • Smoking and alcoholic beverages are never permitted within the area.
  • Minors under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times.
  • Aerosol bug spray repellent may only be applied away from the telescopes. (Sprays produce a fine mist which can settle on optical surfaces and is very difficult to clean.)
  • Remove any trash and keep the premises clean.
  • Visitors should bring a flashlight with RED light to use for the walk from the parking lot to the observation area and for reading star maps.

When and Where

22 December 2018
9:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Maraetai Beach,
Maraetai Coast Rd, Maraetai, Auckland

Stargazing Labs are taking place from Maraetai Beach, Maraetai, at just 40 minutes from the Auckland CBD. This beautiful location offers stunning views of the night sky and low light pollution coming from the city. This is key to allow long-term expositions to capture amazing pictures of the deep sky objects like nebulae and galaxies.

There are four public parking (free) available (+40 cars capacity) and public toilets close to the observation area.

How Much

$0 – $16.09
Under 5 yrs: free
Child (5 – 15 yrs): $10+fees.
General Admission: $15 + fees.

Please book here.

More

Stargazing Lab, Eventbrite event and Facebook event.
Organised by Skylabs http://skylabs.co.nz/

Games Night Down South – Auckland – 21 December 2018

What

My last event for the year so come on down and make some new friends over random board games and idle chit-chat at Spellbound games.

Spellbound has a decent selection of games but it would be awesome if you could bring your own, doesn’t matter how old school it is, always keen for a round of monopoly.

But yeah if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, don’t hesitate to join.

The Social Geek

A small oasis for Geeks to meet up and make friends with others who share similar geeky interests. Now if you’ve gotten this far and still haven’t clicked the join button yet, then that might be because you have no idea what a ‘Geek’ is exactly, well let me explain…

You see a Geek is an expert, enthusiast or a person obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit mostly aimed at popular culture (Thanks, Wikipedia). However, there is more to Geeks than meets the eye. You see to me a Geek is a creative genius bordering on insanity and the only way to fend off the madness is by going to see the next Marvel movie or playing copious amounts of video games or even just a quiet night in pretending to be an Elf from Neverwinter.

But because of these interests, we tend to stay indoors a lot as we play Overwatch while watching Game of Thrones that we don’t have the time to venture out into the real world and meet up with people that might want to do the same stuff we do—and that’s where we come in.

When and Where

Spellbound Games
29 Aviemore Drive
Highland Park
Auckland

Friday, December 21, 2018
7pm to 10pm

How Much

Free

More

Games Night Down South Meetup page
The Social Geek Meetup Group

Wellington Python Meetup – Wellington – 13 December 2018

What

Two presentations 🙂

Avo Patlong:

As part of my internship at Eagle, I was presented an opportunity to work with the NZTA Crash dataset. My objective was to incorporate machine learning to analyse influential factors and geospatial patterns to predict the risk of a crash occurring at road sections throughout New Zealand. I used Python throughout the project to implement the machine learning scripts, gather data, and implement a feature service that continuously publishes the predictions onto a web map. The web map visualises the heatspots of crash risks, which updates every hour. I would like to talk about the challenges throughout the process and discuss my findings.

Vincent Bonnet:

This presentation is about a personal project started earlier this year where I explored numerical computation in Python. It is only scratching the surface of this wide topic but will include a brief introduction to physics simulation and show an early 2D implementation.

============================================

Python talks! Python people! Discussions from how to start learning Python through to debugging your robot pirate spaceship avionics controller library. Or whatever. There is also pizza, and sometimes spare beer.

When and Where

Level 3 meeting space,
Catalyst House, 150 Willis Street, Wellington

How to find us

The door locks after 6pm, so send a text to the number on the door and someone will fetch you.

How Much

Free. Please register here.

More

13 December 2018 Wellington Python Meetup by NZ Python User Group – Wellington.

NZ Python User Group (NZPUG) https://python.nz and twitter @nzpug.

Christchurch Aerospace Centre Meetup 4 – Christchurch – 11 December 2018

What

At our previous meet up we heard talks about CubeSats, air launch rockets and jet packs. As we glide to the end of the year, we’re going to be zooming in on the human element with talks from a NASA astronaut candidate finalist and a jet pack test pilot, as well as discussing a number of other recent developments.

Sarah Kessans, University of Canterbury. A plant biologist and biochemist by training and an adventurer thriving on challenges by nature, Sarah decided to throw her name in the hat for NASA’s 2017 Astronaut Candidate selection cycle. The journey through the selection process to becoming one of the top 50 Finalist Interviewees (out of 18,000+ applications) revealed many lessons that can be applied to New Zealand’s emerging space ecosystem. In that same spirit of adventure and innovation, Sarah is excited to play a role in developing Christchurch into a hub for space industry and research.

Michael Read, Skybase. After an exciting career as a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force, Michael went on to become a test pilot and executive at Martin Jetpack. Michael now resides in Christchurch and is a founder of Skybase, who are leading developers in the drone industry for Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) flight. In his presentation, he’ll pass on some stories of the past, a look to the future of unmanned and autonomous systems and how Christchurch/ Canterbury is ideally placed to become a nexus of aerospace innovation and launch platform.

So come along to the GreenHouse at 146 Lichfield Street, be inspired and network with our local aerospace community!

The generous sponsor of this event, BizDojo Christchurch, will be providing delicious food and wet beverages.

When and Where

Tuesday 11 December 2018
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM NZDT

GreenHouse
146 Lichfield Street, Christchurch 8011

How Much

Free. Please register here.

More

Event

Christchurch Aerospace Centre https://www.christchurch.space/ Twitter @chchspace.

Code Session: IDE and Time Saving Tips – Tauranga – 13 December 2018

What

Pack your laptops and join us for our last meetup of the year where we’ll talk and learn about something we all use: IDEs.

An IDE is an Integrated Development Environment and where we live in our day to day lives as working or learning developers. We’ll look at some of the different IDEs out there, functionality and how they compare, as well as extensions and keyboard shortcuts that can make your life easier, including making your own code snippets.

This talk and the exercises will be led by Jeff Kranenburg, a senior tutor at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology in web and software development.

5:30pm – Doors open, catch up.
6:00pm – Welcome
6:10pm – IDE Talk and Practical Exercises
7:30pm – CodeChallenge reviews (see the #codingchallenges channel on our Slack for more info)
8:00pm – /end

To prepare:
Make sure you have your chosen IDE on the laptop you’re bringing, and while there are no wrong choices, we will be looking a lot at one of the most popular: Visual Studio Code.
Make sure you’ve joined our Slack channel, as we often share resources through there on the night.

What to bring:
Your laptop + charger
Drink bottle
Your IDE, extension, and shortcut suggestions!

Thanks to VentureCentre at BaseStation for giving us the facilities to host, and don’t forget to familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct before attending. This is a safe and inclusive space for everyone!

When and Where

Thursday, 13 December 2018
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Base Station, 148 Durham Street.
We’ll gather in the cafe Folk on the ground floor and then head down into the basement after 6pm.

How Much

Free. Please register here.

More

Code Session: IDE and Time Saving Tips.

JuniorDev Tauranga Meetup.