A bit of background: I’m a big fan of the Tablet PC. I had a beautiful Acer C110 machine way that I got back in about 2003 which I used for a very long time. I loved that little thing – it’s still mostly working although the screen isn’t pressure sensitive in slate mode anymore and it’s painfully painfully slow.

I then got a lease on an “upgrade” – a Fujitsu P1610. This was even smaller – it has a 9.8” screen – and so very cute. I thought it was going to be all love and happiness again until I twigged that something wasn’t quite right about the screen. Although it was pen sensitive and, once I upgraded to Vista, actually responded to your finger as well, it was not pressure sensitive so handwriting notes etc was really out of the question. I hadn’t realised what an important factor that was on my previous Tablet. I started to use the Fujitsu in a different way – always with the keyboard out, but jabbing at it with the pen or my finger in addition for a kind of hybrid tablet experience.

I got kinda used to that but as soon as I saw someone using a pressure sensitive Tablet PC – I think it was Donna Maurer’s Toshiba – I realised that I really missed being able to scrawl and scribble when I was taking notes or whatever. Also, the tiny screen was really screwing with my ability to read web sites – I was constantly holding the stupid thing up to my nose. However, with the lease not up on the Fujitsu until February 2010 I figured I’d have to just suck it up. I picked up a hell-cheapo 15” Compaq notebook to use around the house when not at my desktop as a compromise for the screen size problem.

But then… on Friday Dave sent me a link, as he often does… to the Toshiba R400 product page – a 12” convertible Tablet PC. Looking at the $4500 AUD price tag, I was just shooting back to him “why are you torturing me?” when he said that because it was an end of life model, a dealer in the Eastern States had them on sale for $1500.

OMG.

To cut a long story short, one is winging it’s way to me next week (end of financial year tax bonuses, I love you). There’s a review of them here http://www.ruggedpcreview.com/3_notebooks_toshiba_r400.html and it sounds like it could be another love affair (double and triple checked and yes it DOES have a Wacom-produced pressure sensitive screen). I may post a full review when it arrives and I have finished drooling on it.

Geoff and the Daemon team have a couple of economy-stimulating initiatives that might be of interest to anyone who would like to come to the WebDU geek rock concert conference next month.

From today’s email:

Whether it be economic or pandemic, zombie invasion or bikie warfare,
escape it all at webDU in the Star City Casino where the doors can be
barricaded and there’s a few weeks supply of water and food.

Sounds good, yeah?

If you’ve been negatively affected by the economic downturn, there’s a scholarship program you can apply for. http://www.webdu.com.au/about/scholarships

If you want to win a ticket, there’s a Twitter competition on too. The guys are giving away five tickets for the most creative reasons to want to go. http://www.webdu.com.au/about/twitter-competition

There’s heaps of flight deals at the moment too, on Virgin Blue, QANTAS and JetStar, so you can get over there pretty cheaply from anywhere in Australia or the surrounding regions.

I’m going to be going, and I’m pretty stoked – I’m a conference junkie and it’s going to be great. I’ll also be reporting on all the action for SitePoint.

Code Wars will be running on Day 0 as well, as has now become traditional, and I’m going to be part of the WANZAC team (West Australian/New Zealand Awesome Coders) with AJ Mercer, Kai Koenig and Campbell Anderson.

So who else?

AWIA has run a number of “Ideas” seminars in Perth over the past few years – well, four others to be exact. Each time we’ve brought speakers from interstate and overseas to share their wisdom on various topics deserving of some deep thinking.

This time around – April 22 -  Roger Hudson and Andrew Downie, two noted Australian accessibility experts, will be giving their insights on the impact of version 2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Just exactly what do they mean to the average (or not so average) web developer?

Ideas5 is an evening seminar to help the web community understand WCAG 2.0 and prepare websites with improved accessibility.

Where?

The Melbourne Hotel
942 Hay Street
PERTH WA 6000

View Map

When?

Wed. 22 April 2009
7:00pm +

How Much?

AWIA Members: $40
Non-Members: $55

Tickets are available online now. If you’re in Perth, I hope to see you there.

The call for speakers is now on - and the cf.Objective(ANZ) team want to hear not only from potential speakers, but from everyone who is thinking of attending - what (or who) would you like to see? What topics are you interested in? Email news@cfobjective.com.au and let us know.

Some of the sessions have already been confirmed, but the final program won’t be decided until after the public call is closed on April 24 - so you still have time.

A little birdy told me a more complete web site for the conference is only just around the corner. You can already sign up to the newsletter at the site or follow cfOjective(ANZ) on Twitter (hint: that’s where confirmed speakers are being name-dropped!).

I feel like I’m repeating myself but it’s true - I’m just so excited that there’s growth in the ColdFusion conference space and that the “hardcore CF” cfObjective brand is coming to our region. All very good stuff.

So the day has finally come for my Ada Lovelace Day post, and although I’ve been thinking about who I will write about for over a month now, I’m still no closer to making a decision. So, I decided to stop fighting it and write about all of the Australian women in IT who inspire me.

These are not the people who get accolades (well, not all of them). But they each possess qualities that I admire and so this post is a little thank you to them for being wonderful.

First up is Sonja Bernhardt. She’s somewhat well known as a spokesperson for the issues facing women in IT and unlike the other women I’m going to talk about, she does get accolades, and they are well-deserved. I admire Sonja for looking at the gender problem and actually doing something about it. Not of all of her ideas succeed, but she has the drive to keep trying different things regardless and she deserves recognition for that.

Second of all I’d like to call out someone near and dear to me: Helen Burgess. Helen is a lecturer at Central TAFE and faces a daily uphill battle to get web development best practices taught to students, in line with industry requirements and expectations. As I write “a daily uphill battle” I can’t help but imagine her battling through a computer-game like world, blasting away at budgetary restraints, stuffy traditionalist teachers and restrictive guidelines as she goes to get her morning coffee. I’m sure it’s less dramatic than that. Helen sits on the Australian Web Industry Association committee (as do I), and is also the Judging Chairperson for the WA Web Awards - so she’s keeping us all honest.

My next local heroine is the fabulous Harriet Wakelam. Harriet works with all kinds of educational technology. I admire Harriet not only for what she achieves, but for her passion for educating which can’t help but come through when you speak to her. Harriet is also on the AWIA committee and when I first met her (at a Port80 networking event at the pub) I was impressed by her ability to juggle a young family and a technology career and still have time for the occasional beer at the pub with some colleagues. She’s a superwoman for sure.

Next I’d like to welcome to my imaginary stage Maxine Sherrin. Maxine is one of the organisers of Web Directions, the web tech conference that has basically become a full time endeavour for her over the past few years and has inspired all kinds of other events, including but not limited to our own Edge of the Web conference in Perth. Maxine is unbelievably cool, and she makes stuff happen. Also she gets to hang out with cool people. In fact, when I grow up, I totally want to be Maxine.

As I write this I realise there’s more and more people I could write about, but I’m going to limit myself to one more: Cheryl Gledhill. Chezza and I share some common ground in that we both decided to start our own businesses in the web development sphere with our partners. I look at the way Molt:n have approached their business and have picked up some things that I think we could be doing better (and I wear my Molt:n “I like code” tshirt with pride). I also love Cheryl’s attitude, which comes through in her blog posts and tweets – this girl does not take shit from anyone.

So there you have – just a few of the Australian women in IT that I admire.