that canadian girl

I’m spending the weekend in London for mobileCamp, a sort of ad-hoc gathering of people who work with mobile, or just outright love them. I’ve already posted a few pics on Flickr, and will add more throughout the weekend.

The first panel was on the topic of S60 Web Widgets, which was a bit on the geeky side for me, but this second one is on Digital Kids and Disruption is looking interesting. More later once I find somewhere to plug my laptop in!

I bow down to xkcd, the best geek cartoon in the world.

IMG_4787.JPG, originally uploaded by thatcanadiangirl.

Hold on tight, kitty, hold on tight!

Wow, well this was a pretty easy upgrade! I managed to make it as much of a pain as possible for Andrew; forgetting to disable plugins, upgrading from a pre-widgets theme, and being a whinge-bunny.

But now it’s done, with that new swish “Tags” feature at the bottom of the post. I love the ease with which I can tag posts, and I bet that tag cloud (currently at the bottom of the sidebar) will grow to show just quite how nerdy my blog posts are…

Great job, WordPress team!

Both Andrew and I are used to having friends, acquaintances and outright strangers asking us for advice on buying their next computer. However, in recent months, I’ve been amazed at the sheer volume of people who have been asking whether they should switch to Mac.

In many cases, the answer is an easy one: “Most definitely! Get your skates on, let’s go buy one now!” But despite the fact that I have Apple juice running in my veins and that if you gave me open heart surgery, I most likely have a Mac Mini instead of a heart, I still strongly believe that Mac isn’t for everyone. In some conditions, OS X just isn’t right.

So here are the questions I think anyone on the fence about switching to Mac should ask themselves before giving Steve Jobs their credit card details…

1. Do I use any particular Windows-only software on a regular basis?

2. Do I have anything to worry about compatibility-wise?

In 99% of cases, no you don’t. However, if you use very specialised software, again, do your homework before the Big Move.

3. Will it take me time to get used to the difference in user interface?

Yes, it will. There’s no way around it.

It takes some time to get used to a new way of doing things. You’ll need to think differently, far beyond simply going to the other corner of Firefox to close a window. Shortcuts are different. The way installs and uninstalls are handled is different. Using the hardware itself is different: For example, with a Mac laptop, you’ll hardly ever need to turn it off, as shutting the lid sends it to sleep so comfortably that I only turned mine off once since Christmas, and rebooted a handful of times for updates.

You’ll also need to get used to… things just… working! Plug a peripheral in and it works. Add a printer to the network and there it is. Your stress levels will definitely go down.

It’s a complete mentality shift and it will take time to adapt. So give yourself time, have patience and be ready to relearn. Once you get up to speed, you WILL love it, I promise!

This is one of many reasons that, for example, we didn’t encourage Andrew’s parents to move to Mac. Their use of computers is pretty simple: browsing, email, photo management. They know their way around these features in Windows. There was simply no benefit in shifting them into a whole new environment.

4. Will it cost me a lot more than a Windows machine?

Actually, it probably won’t. Sure you can buy Dell’s loss leader at £395 and be sorted for a few years. But if you need to spec up your Windows machine to a similar level to what’s the bare minimum offered on Mac, you’ll find that the prices are similar.

This can be argued, and I’m sure my smart ass friends will come disagree with me on this point, but as far as personal research goes, that’s my observation.

5. Will I get special treatment and a secret handshake?

No. That’s fanboy nonsense.

Ten years ago, meeting another Mac user was a revelation and a bit of a dirty secret. I certainly didn’t know any other Mac users my age. They were all middle aged men, usually my dad or grandpa’s acquaintances.

Today, well… Show up at a conference and count the laptops. Odds are a vast number of them will be Macs. In fact, somewhere between 15 and 20% of all laptops bought in the US since March are Macs. It doesn’t get a second look anymore, and in a way that’s good.

Hopefully that’ll send the fanboys away to play with a different new shiny toy. Hopefully…

6. Am I doing it just because all the other cool kids are doing it?

Yes? Then piss off, I have no interest in giving you support.

In summary, Macs are probably a good solution for Chantal, a graduating student who’s living space is limited and who wants a fast, reliable machine. It’s also a great solution for my dad who’s still living in the 90’s using OS 9.2 (that’s a hint, dad! ) but it might not be the best solution for, say, my sis-in-law Lisa who just wants a bog-basic laptop to use a couple of times a week to check email.

To each their own, pick whatever you feel most comfortable with!

One last piece of advice. Oi! Here! Pay attention or it’ll cost you!

The new OS X operating system, called Leopard, is coming out within the next three or four weeks, so my advice is to wait until it comes out to buy a new Mac, to ensure you get the latest OS.

[Update: Leopard came out in late October, and it's fantastic. So go ahead and upgrade now if you're ready!]

If, like me, you’re using WordPress, you’ll be pleased to hear that version 2.3 has now come out of the oven. It’s upgrade time!

Some highlights: Tagging now comes as default (so no need to faff with third-party plugins), notices when plugin updates become available, automatic non-www domain forwarding, old post slug forwards to the new one if changed (Halleluia!), some improved post management and a big handful of ubergeek features. All in all, some pretty exciting changes!

It’s so funny to see that the very adorable Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress, is even throwing a WordPress upgrade party at his place tomorrow. Shame, San Francisco is a bit of a trek for me. Cambridge upgrade party anyone?

If Post Secret is too heavy for you, and i can has cheezburger is too silly, then find the perfect mashup of the two of them in LolSecretz.

The photowalking Bojangles, originally uploaded by thatcanadiangirl.

Last night, I went out to see “Run, Fatboy, Run!” with Andrew and my lovely friend Celia.

I’m already pretty fond of Simon Pegg’s older movies, but I think this one tops them all. The theme is more appealing to girls than zombies or village cops, so that might have something to do with it. It might also have to do with the fact that the spotlight is much more on Pegg, rather than sharing it with Nick Frost and some guns. And it might have to do with Thandie Newton being so adorable, Hank Azaria playing the over-confident American so well and a handful of classic cameos from the likes of David Walliams and Stephen Merchant.

Take all the above, mix them gently together and you’ve got my favourite comedy of the year by miles.

Definitely comes with two thumbs up, and a big toe too.

Well, it’s here. The iPhone has now been officially announced for the UK and the rest of Europe.

There’s coverage everywhere; Engadget, PocketPicks, TechDigest, TUAW… And I think we’ve all got the same feeling. We’re slightly underwhelmed by the announcement, seeing as there won’t be any 3G.

However, the partnership with The Cloud is interesting. Free WiFi for all iPhone users where The Cloud is available. Having a look at the areas covered by The Cloud, it should be pretty good for Londoners and those based in busier centres, with a few hotspots sprinkled across the rest of the UK.

For the past few months, I’ve coveted the idea of having an iPhone instead of my clunky N95, but there are definitely pros and cons, and I’ll have to mull it over for a bit longer before I decide what to do. I WANT the iPhone to succeed in the UK because I want to see more phones with smoother user interfaces, better thought-out features and less Symbian-like crashes and grey screens. But at the moment, the £35-£55/month tariffs are at the very high end of what we’re willing to pay, and considering the network speed limitations, I’m not sure I’m willing to stump up the money just yet.

What about everyone else? Are you getting one? Are you disgusted by the deals? Are you waiting for the 3G iPhone which might come out next year?