Refresh Miami: May 26

Posted on May 20, 2011 by katie

Building and Scaling (really) Large WordPress Sites in the Cloud

Hey Refreshers!
Hope you all enjoyed last month’s presentation on security concerns and the demo by TheDailyCramp at Miami Shared. This month we will be once again be at MiamiShared, complete with pizzas and beers.

This month’s topic will be:
“Building and Scaling (really) Large WordPress Sites in the Cloud” by Jose Gonzalez of the Z Company. Learn from their experience building out WordPress sites for Yahoo! and others.
Learn more about Jose at http://thezcompany.com/

“ChatChow.tv Introduction”
Giovanny Gutierrez will be demoing his new site ChatChow.tv, exploring the things he has learned, progress they have made, and his vision for ChatChow.
Learn more about Giovanny at http://chatchow.tv/

This month’s food and drinks are provided by TeckPert http://www.teckpert.com/
and Refresh Workshops http://refreshsfl-css3.eventbrite.com/

May 26 2011 7:30-9:30PM

Location: MiamiShared.com
990 Biscayne Blvd – OFFICE 501
Miami, FL

Directions can be found here. http://www.miamishared.com/driving.html

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Refresh Miami May 2011

Posted on May 19, 2011 by brian

Hey Refreshers!
Hope you all enjoyed last month’s presentation on security concerns and the demo by TheDailyCramp at Miami Shared. This month we will be once again be at MiamiShared, complete with pizzas and beers.

This month’s topic will be:
“Building and Scaling (really) Large WordPress Sites in the Cloud” by Jose Gonzalez of the Z Company. Learn from their experience building out WordPress sites for Yahoo! and others.
Learn more about Jose at http://thezcompany.com/

“ChatChow.tv Introduction”
Giovanny Gutierrez will be demoing his new site ChatChow.tv, exploring the things he has learned, progress they have made, and his vision for ChatChow.
Learn more about Giovanny at http://chatchow.tv/

This month’s food and drinks are provided by TeckPert http://www.teckpert.com/
and Refresh Workshops http://refreshsfl-css3.eventbrite.com/

May 26 2011
7:30-9:30PM
MiamiShared.com
990 Biscayne Blvd – OFFICE 501
Miami, FL

Directions can be found here. http://www.miamishared.com/driving.html

Please RSVP on Facebook!

Startup Weekend is BACK! May 20-22
Startup Weekend is an intense 54 hour event which focuses on building a web or mobile application which could form the basis of a credible business over the course of a weekend. The weekend brings together people with different skillsets – primarily software developers, graphics designers and business people – to build applications and develop a commercial case around them.

This event is hosted by our friends at the LaunchPad at UM.

Use coupon code REFRESH to save $20
http://miami.startupweekend.org/

Refresh Workshop! CSS3 Now! with Denise Jacobs June 11
This hands-on workshop answers the question “Can I use CSS3 Now?” with an emphatic “Yes You Can!” CSS3 isn’t the future, it’s the present, and is ripe for the pickin’ and is ready to respond to display your sites in multiple devices right now. Yes, there will be a little code bloat. Yes, you have to institute fall-backs for older browsers. But don’t let the naysayers dissuade you: the pros far outweigh the cons.

This workshop will touch upon the gamut of CSS3 properties from colors, web fonts, and visual effects, to transitions, animations and media queries. If you aren’t yet using CSS3, this workshop will give you the inspiration and resources to go forth and implement the new properties with confidence.
This course is perfect for people who are already familiar with front-end development of websites with CSS and want to add to their skillset.

Join the ranks of the people pushing for change and start using the new CSS3 properties and attributes for true website styling power. You can believe the propaganda: CSS3 rocks! Join the revolution and start using CSS3 now!

What you’ll learn in the workshop:
- Most of the CSS3 selectors, properties and values
- How and where to employ CSS3 selectors, properties and values
- Use of the new, powerful CSS3 selectors that better target page elements
- Application of various CSS3 properties such as border-radius, @font-face, transform and transition, gradient, box- and text-shadow, opacity and rbga, etc.to achieve contemporary web design look-and-feels
- Use of transitions and animations to enhance interactivity and user-experience
- CSS3 cross-browser and graceful degradation coding techniques
- Concepts and approach to incorporating responsive design for viewing sites on multiple devices
- Great tools for generating CSS3 code and helper scripts for cross-browser compatibility

Prerequisites:
- Knowledge of and experience with HTML and CSS syntax and characteristics
- Knowledge of coding using web standards (separation of content and presentation)
- You must bring a laptop capable of connecting to wifi internet.
- Installations of the latest versions of Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, IE9 and IE8 on their computers
- Preferred HTML and CSS editor. Instructor will be using a simple text editor.

Signup before May 31 and get early bird pricing only $75!
http://refreshsfl-css3.eventbrite.com/

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Refresh Lauderdale: May 5

Posted on April 28, 2011 by katie

We’re mixing it up a bit this month…and by mixing it up, I mean we’re going speaker-commando and throwing a little get together at the coolest new spot in Fort Lauderdale, Laser Wolf.

We’ll all be hanging out and talking shop about all of our favorite nerdy subjects while sharing some delicious craft brews. Usually by the time we make it to the bar, it’s a bit late, so now is everyone’s chance to come and chit-chat without missing any bedtimes.

If you haven’t checked out Laser Wolf yet, it’s worth stopping by just for the incredible craft beer selection. They’ll be putting on some drink specials for us as well. See everyone there!

Thursday, May 5 · 8:00pm – 11:00pm

Location: Laser Wolf
901 Progresso Dr #101
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

RSVP to our event on Facebook

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April 21: MIA: Web App Attacks & Security Concepts

Posted on April 18, 2011 by brian

Web Application Attacks and Security Concepts
Presented by HackMiami
Speakers: Alexander Heid and Fabian Rothschild

This upcoming meeting we will be discussing the tools, techniques, and methodologies used in web application attacks.

We will go over commonly overlooked vulnerabilities that can lead to a breaches, defacements, and denial of service attacks. We will also examine the tools used in their exploitation, as well as strategies for mitigation.

Speaker Bios:

Alexander Heid – is a local security researcher and board member of Hackmiami and co-chair of South Florida OWASP. Heid is also employed within the financial industry as a web application vulnerability analyst.

Fabian Rothschild – is a local security researcher and member of HackMiami. Rothschild is a security consultant and has presented at multiple national conferences on the topic of web application security concepts.

Http://hackmiami.com/

Demo – Thedailycramp.com
The Daily Cramp is a once daily newsletter that helps you understand the roller coaster that is your woman’s monthly cycle. It’s 1 part science, 1 part Dear Abby, and all parts funny.

If you’ve ever been confused by the mood swings of your wife, girlfriend, mother, sister, daughter, friend or some other women in your life, then you need The Daily Cramp. Sign up today, master her cycle and get VIP access to a better, happier life.

http://www.thedailycramp.com/

Parking will be by $5 Valet.
This event will be BYOB, so please bring something to share. We will be providing pizzas and sodas, but if you’d like something sudsy, feel free to bring it.

 

MiamiShared 

990 Biscayne Blvd
Miami, FL

Event Details:
April 21, 2011 7:30 pm
Miami Shared 990 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL, United States
RSVP on Facebook

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Refresh Recap: Joshua Sortino and Responsive Design

Posted on April 12, 2011 by katie

Last week Joshua Sortino presented us to a growing topic that will continue to have a large impact on web development: Responsive Design. Joshua discussed the history and ever expanding field of mobile and portable device development and the way that our device screen sizes have impacted the way we design for the web.

Fluid design is a technique in which a single website can operate as a mobile, tablet, and large screen website. Methods for responsive design utilize CSS3 media queries for many things including screen size detection, pixel ratio, and orientation. By detecting screen size we are able to interchange style sheets. In this way we can control layout and image sizes across many devices. A four column layout can easily collapse into a single column layout. The future of responsive design is wide open as we adapt to new devices and the growth of web accessibility.

below are some links:
http://www.joshuasortino.com/
http://www.tinyfluidgrid.com/
http://960.gs/
http://html5boilerplate.com/

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RefreshWorkshop: WordPress for Beginners – April 9, 2011

Posted on April 6, 2011 by refreshadmin

RefreshWorkshop: WordPress for Beginners – April 9, 2011

WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog AND also update it without needing to hire a web developer or designer. WordPress is flexible, highly customizable and is a great content management system (CMS) for blogs, small business websites, online art galleries, and more.

Our beginner course will teach you everything you need to know to start and operate a WordPress powered website. Perfect for those who couldn’t attend WordCamp Miami or who DID attend, but wanted a more personal one-on-one training session to help them get started.

This is what you’ll learn:
- How To Pick A Domain + Hosting And Get Them Working To Prepare for your site
- How To Install WordPress in literally a few clicks
- How to Install Themes & Plugins Without Knowing FTP
- How To Find Cool Themes & Useful Plugins
- Learning About The WordPress Dashboard
- Writing Your First Post And Publishing It Live – Right In The Workshop That Day!
- Knowing the Difference Between Posts and Pages
- Learn About Sidebars, Widgets, and Controlling Your Own Menus – Without Coding
- How To Work With Media – Images, Videos, and Sound Clips
- How To Use Comments and Discussion, Including Moderating and Spam Control
- Time permitting, we’ll cover automated backups, scheduled posting, mobile, and more!

Prerequisites:
- Good general knowledge of the internet
- Great if you know some HTML, but if you don’t – no problem!
- You must bring a laptop capable of connecting to wifi internet.
- If you want to take advantage of some advanced topics, you might want to install an FTP client into your laptop.

Instructor Bio:
David Bisset is a freelancer in South Florida with over 10 years experience in HTML, CSS, PHP/mySQL, and scripting. He has been working with WordPress for over 4 years and has written themes and plugins for a variety of WordPress sites. He organizes WordCamp Miami, an annual event which draws hundreds of people each year to be educated in various subjects involving the web and WordPress.

http://refreshwp-april11.eventbrite.com/

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Refresh Fort Lauderdale April 7

Posted on March 29, 2011 by katie

Web design is experiencing major enhancements that allow sites to adapt to the device it is being viewed on. Whether mobile device, tablet, or desktop, a single page can now flex to suite a variety of device formats.

Joshua’s presentation will demonstrate the concepts of building a responsive design using CSS, grid systems, and flexible
images, so that your next project can utilize these concepts across multiple devices.

Joshua Sortino logs over a decade of hands on experience in web design. He incorporates clean design with intuitive presentations that respond to the viewers device.

Thursday, April 7 · 7:30pm – 9:30pm

AutoNation
200 SW 1st Ave
Fort Lauderdale, FL

RSVP to our event on Facebook!

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Refresh Miami March 24

Posted on March 21, 2011 by katie

Join us this month as Matthew Wensing from StormPulse.com tells us about how he scratched and clawed his way through building his startup from the ground up into one of the leading Weather data providers on the internet.

Wearer of many hats: co-founder, Python developer, visualization guru, front-end grunt, marketer, user-experience champion, and father of four. Co-founder of Stormpulse

We will be at the University of Miami in the College of Arts & Sciences Art Gallery, located in the Wesleyan center building. Parking is available at the meters or in the Pavia garage.
Parking map: http://skitch.com/brbreslin/dsuer/campusmap.pdf-1-page

Pizza and sodas will be provided as usual. We will be moving to the Rathskeller on campus around 9 for beer and drinks.

Thursday, March 24 · 7:30pm – 10:30pm

Schedule:
7:30-8:00: Networking
8:00-8:30: Presentation by Matthew Wensing
8:30-9:30: Beers and drinks at Rathskeller

University of Miami CAS Art Gallery
1210 Stanford Drive
Coral Gables, FL

RSVP to our event on Facebook!

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Refresh Lauderdale March – Open Source Solutions

Posted on March 2, 2011 by willie

Time: Thursday, March 3 · 7:30pm - 9:30pm

Location: AutoNation
200 SW 1st Ave
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Open Source Solutions!

We will have Dean Lyons, visual effects supervisor on all three Lord of the Rings (and countless other) movies / open source advocate, talking about open source solutions for businesses in the creative industry.

After his talk, he will be joined by phenomenal developer, scriptjunkie.com evangelist Rey Bango and Cloud Plumbing podcast, designer extraordinaire Ryan Parsley.

As always, we’ll have pizza and drinks during the event and do a little post-Refresh boozin’ at Side bar.

This event is free for everyone, see you there.

Update: C&I Studios will be recording the whole event so a huge thanks to them. The video will be available here a day or so after!

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RefreshMiami – February 24 2011

Posted on February 18, 2011 by brian

Please join us on Thursday February 24 for RefreshMiami’s monthly meetup. We have two exciting speakers from the UM Launchpad: Sean Kramer from CupidRatings and Sumontro Sinha from Sinha Astronautics.

Sean Kramer is a South Florida native and visionary entrepreneur launching Cupidratings in February, 2011. A current Executive MBA student at the University of Miami, Sean attended Florida International University and has spent his career in the service of others working at the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society.

Sumontro Sinha founded Sinha Astronautics in 2009. He is involved in every aspect of Sinha Astronautics including engineering, supplier relationships, talent recruitment, marketing and scouting prospective customers. Mr. Sinha began his aerospace engineering career at the age of eight. He grew up designing and flying his own model rocket and aircraft designs, leading to two patents and taking him to the 2005 International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona, and the 2008 Team America Rocket Challenge in Manassas, Virginia. In 2004, after watching the X-Prize winning flight of Space Ship One, Mr. Sinha decided to create an economical way of reaching orbit culminating in the design of the Prometheus rocket. Mr. Sinha is currently an aerospace engineering undergraduate student at the University of Miami College of Engineering.

When:
Thursday February 24, 7:30PM
Where:
University of Miami (exact location to be determined)
1210 Stanford Drive
Coral Gables, FL

RSVP on Facebook

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