Just a quick roundup of events planed for the next couple of months in Cardiff. If you want me to add something, leave a comment.

MathsJam Cardiff – Tuesday 24th January 2012 (tomorrow!)

We meet on the second to last Tuesday of every month, from 7pm in the evening, in the Grape and Olive wine bar which is located at the corner of Wedal Road and Allensbank Road, just off the A48.

Follow @RealityMinus3 for details, or email cardiff@mathsjam.com.

And don’t be put off by the ‘wine bar’ thing – it’s really not that fancy.

Dorkbot Cardiff #6 – Thursday 26th January 2012

(Ignore the date on their page, the next meeting is in fact this year.)

Typically a small gathering, but it’s always eclectic, and this week’s seems no different: Nic Finch will be talking about his VJ work, Rhys Philips on protecting aircraft against lightning strikes and Matt Cook with some sounds from Hong Kong.

Also, anyone else is welcome to show and tell in an ‘open dork’ session.

The dorkbot global network is made of groups of people “doing strange things with electricity”. There are more than 100 groups worldwide, who meet at various intervals and present work in progress, experiments, hacks and other unexpected uses of technology. Members of dorkbot groups include artists, engineers, designers, musicians, hackers, curious types, no robots yet.

Talks will be in Milgi’s garage, 213 City Road, CF24 3JD from 7:30, with presentations starting at 8:00. If you haven’t been before, don’t be put off by the alleyway; the garage is a pretty good venue.

Cardiff UX Bookclub – Thursday 26th January 2012

If Dorkbot isn’t your thing, there’s also the Cardiff UX Bookclub, discussing Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith. They meet at Sequence, Fitzalan House, CF24 0EL at 6.30pm.

Follow @uxbookclubcdf.

Cardiff Node.js User Group – Saturday 28th January, 2012

CNUG held at Y Mochyn Du near Sofia gardens at 1pm. See Eventbrite for details.

Follow @cnug_js.

February

unified.diff – Wednesday 1st February 2012

For too long, Cardiff’s software development community has been fragmented by language, discipline, and platform.

unified.diff is a monthly meet-up for anybody involved or interested in the field of software development.

We hold tech talks, and trade war stories.

The first gathering is at O’Neill’s on Trinity St., starting at 7pm:

19:00 Interfacing
19:20 Walkthrough
19:30 The Loneliness of a Long Distance Coder – Carey Hiles – @handybitesize
20:00 How to handle your terminal like a boss – Warren Seymour – @woogoose
20:30 Clean Code – Gavin Davies – @gavd_uk
21:00 Memory fragmentation
23:00 Shutdown

Follow @unifieddiff.

South Wales Linux User Group – Wednesday 1st February 2012

SWLUG meet in the City Arms on the first Wednesday Tuesday of every month, from about 7pm. They also have regular meetings in Carmarthen.

Note: For this Cardiff meet-up, they will be joining in with unified.diff at O’Neill’s (see above).

Follow @SWLUG.

Update 2012.03.23: From April, SWLUG are moving to the first Tuesday of every month, to avoid clashing with unified.diff.

Cardiff Windows Phone User Group – 8th February 2012

At The Promised Land – doors open from 6.30pm. Book tickets through Eventbrite, follow @cdf_wpug and do the Facebook thing.

Cardiff Blogs Meetup – Wednesday 22nd February 2012

Starting at 6:30pm at the Maldron Hotel on Saint Mary St. (an excellent venue). It’s free, and they’re so inclusive that you don’t actually have to be from Cardiff or a blogger to attend!

Cardiff International Comic & Animation Expo – 25-26th February 2012

If you don’t know what this is all about, read my blog post from last year.

Apparently 75% of the tickets have been sold, though I gather a limited amount will be sold on the day at the doors.

Truthfully, there is no one must-see draw to this in terms of guest speakers (for me), but the stalls, displays, artists, costumes and over-exited fans make this a must. I’ve only bought a single day ticket though.

Follow @CardiffExpo.

WordPress Users Wales – Wednesday 29th February 2012

No firm date for this one yet, but pencil it in for late Feb. I’d expect this second WordPress gathering to focus on useful, practical advice for new WordPress users.

Follow @WordPressWales.

TEDxCardiff – Saturday 31st March 2012

Tickets went on sale this morning, and I expect them to sell out quickly (if they haven’t gone already Update: Tickets sold out within 20 minutes!). I believe there will be more made available later though. Speakers are still being announced (they’ve just announced Lionel Fanthorpe!) but whoever ends up speaking in the unannounced slots, they’re pretty much guaranteed to be interesting and entertaining if past talks are anything to judge by.

TEDxCardiff 2012 will be held in the Weston Studio at the Wales Millennium Centre. There are two sessions (2-4pm and 6-8pm). Tickets are £6 for one session or £10 for both. You need to call the box office to purchase: 029 2063 6464.

Follow @TEDxCardiff.

Also, keep an ear out for new Cardiff Blogs (@cdfblogs) meet-ups. (All set for the 22nd Feb – see above.)

There’s also likely to be a Geek Cluster gathering mid-February. Follow @dorkomatic for info.