• Thursday 28 January 2010
  5:30pm - 8:00pm

• Where: Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce, level 28, The Majestic Centre, 100 Willis Street

The UP New Year Party: PredICTions 2010!

Unlimited Potential launched its 2010 calendar with the always entertaining and controversial Bloggers' PredICTions event. Held in the Wellington Chamber of Commerce meeting room and with panoramic views over the city, the packed house was enthralled by witty banter from the local tech blogger brigade, who had briefly emerged from behind their computer screens especially for the event.

Mauricio Freitas (@freitasm) took time out from rebooting his Microsoft Server to sing the praises of smartphones and was driven to make a religious conversion by acknowledging the rise and rise of Apple hardware. But Miraz Jordan (@miraz) had to concede that Apple OS still had a way to go to catch up. Perhaps the perversely named iPad will close the gap? Dressed in stunning 1930s garb, fashionista Joanna McLeod (@johubris), felt that products tailored for girls would take over and additionally that "machines that give and receive" would be popular. Xero design head, Philip Fierlinger brought an international perspective by suggesting Chrome would beat the iPad and that Facebook would turn turtle. Let's find out same time next year.

To see more PredICTions go to the event video channel here:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/uptv/

Completing the lineup was the omni-present Brenda Wallace. Having recently become a mother and also helped bring us the Linux Conf, Brenda (@Br3nda) unsurprisingly completed the trifecta by securing her Bloggers crown for yet another year. The event was ably chaired by Mr Mike Riversdale and voting was courtesy of Twtpoll.

Congratulations to reigning champion, Brenda Wallace!

Unlimited Potential once again brings you the Bloggers PredICTions event from the glittering starlight lounge at the Wellington Chamber. StrICTly tongue-in-cheek this event promises to enrage, enthrall and entertain. See last years players defend the indefensible and this years seers gaze into their murky crystal balls to predict developments on the information technology scene.

Do you want to know what's going to happen in 2010?

A year ago, we asked leading Wellington bloggers to predict the future for 2009.  Well, the future is now, so we're doing it again, first off we'll see if they got it right.

Once again, Wellington's top bloggers will gaze into the future and tell us what the big news will be in the next twelve months. The wisdom of their prognostications will astound you--or amuse you, at the least.

The blogger who makes the best predictions--as voted by YOU, the audience--will be crowned UP Visionary of the Year for 2010, and receive an official certificate, a beautiful tiara*, and full bragging rights... at least until 2011, when we will vote again on whether to revoke their title.

New for 2010: we'll be running a TwitterPoll to help keep the voting as democratic as possible (!!)  - make sure you bring your twitter or wifi-enabled-device and keep an eye on the #PredICTions hashtag.

The 2010 lineup

• Brenda Wallace (@br3nda) Current tiara-holder, Brenda was UP Visionary of the year for 2009, can she defend her title in 2010?  The Capital City’s geek girl extraordinaire and queen bee of the software community, Brenda is to mobile technology and open source what honey is to brown bread, she makes it taste better! Brenda blogs on Coffee.geek.nz about coffee, gadgets, opensource, wellington, new zealand, music, and above all things: freedom.

• Philip Fierlinger (@skyrize) From Silicon Valley to Silicon Welly, Philip’s web design expertise and has been eagerly sought after by online businesses and conference-goers alike. Currently design chief at Xero, blogger at Turntable Media Philip’s passion for web usability also led him to establish his own consultancy. 

• Mauricio Freitas (@freitasm) Geekzone head honcho and microblogging enthusiast. If there’s a new gadget being launched you can be sure Mauricio has an opinion about it. Been renovating his kitchen for last 6 months and has forgotten how to cook, however is on first name basis with all the (good) cafe owners in town. Possibly Wellington’s most avid “Tweeter”. 

• Miraz Jordan (@miraz) From MacTips to community I.T. and other “Oddities”, Miraz must surely be one of Wellington’s most prolific tech bloggers and professional web content authors. From Bach to Buying a Car to Battlestar Galactica Miraz shares the full gamut of cultural experiences.

• Joanna McLeod (@JoannaTMcLeod) Editor of Wellintonista, THE blog about Wellington, Joanna has started calling herself the Empress of the Internet because she can. Other parts of her media empire include her beauty blog  Pretty Pretty Pretty and her guide to partying  You Are So Entertaining. 

The Case of the Midnight Note

The Case of the Midnight Note is a project to raise money to help others attend this year's Webstock conference.

The project includes two major parts: a noir-themed transmedia story and a noir-themed fundraising party. Both of these are a collaboration between a bunch of friends who want students, newcomers, and others without the backing of their employers, to attend the conference. (All proceeds will be gifted to those in need of financial assistance to go towards the cost of a Webstock 2010 registration.)
 
The noir-themed fundraising party is taking place after Bloggers PredICT on 28 January at a top secret location. There is a $10-$20 koha, and it's fancy-dress: dress Noir-style: femme-fatale, gangster, mobster, private detective, crooked cop, journalist - whatever takes your fancy. But if you don't have a costume and still want to join us. Please do!
Find out more here: http://midnightnote.baseofoperations.net/
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