At the February 2010 Providence Geek Dinner, Custom Flow Solution CEO Hanaan Rosenthal gave us a look at their system for generating the graphs that adorn the pages of papers such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe. I caught up with Hanaan after the Geek Dinner to learn more. [Video link]

Photo Credit: Jef Nickerson

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010, 5:30 – 8:30pm
AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
FREE (buy your own food and drink – it’s cheap)

The February Geek Dinner rolls into town this coming Wednesday, and will answer the nagging question: how the heck does the largely-technically-challenged newspaper industry serve up super complex pages of data like this, and on a daily basis no less?

With a client roster including the likes of The New York Times, The Associated Press, and Thomson Reuters, Providence-based Custom Flow Solutions (CFS) is a leader in graphics automation software. At the next Geek Dinner, Founder/CEO/Lead Developer Hanaan Rosenthal and Vice President of Information Design John Casarta will give us an overview of the company, its history, its product offering and its exciting plans for the future. The presentation will include a live demonstration of CFS’s impressive Hypergraph software platform.

Please RSVP at Facebook (In the interest of making it more “viral”, we’re experimenting with doing our RSVPs on Facebook – and while you’re there please join our Facebook group. And if you want to join our very-low-volume email announcement send an email to Jack Templin, jtemplin@gmail.com with your name and affiliation.)

As always, for first-timers here are the details on the Geek Dinners:

• The event itself is FREE! Beverages and food are for sale at AS220’s bar and new restaurant.


• It’s totally casual. Wear whatever, bring whoever, arrive and take off whenever! And don’t worry about eating or not – come famished or full – eating is optional, and frankly, the least of the festivities (that’s not say the food isn’t good – it’s actually great)


• Topics of conversation will vary as they will at any gathering of geeks, but many of us will be talking about AJAX, mash-ups, start-ups, new devices, innovative business models, interaction design, social computing, digital art, web services, etc. etc. etc.


• There is Wi-Fi so bring your connected device of choice.

Photo Credit: BlueisCoool via GCPVD.org

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010, 5:30 – 8:30pm
AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
FREE (buy your own food and drink – it’s cheap)

January’s Geek Dinner is actually born of the Geek Dinner last May. That’s where Providence-based web & mobile application strategist Jonathan Stark met O’Reilly Media Senior Editor and Providence Geeks Co-Founder Brian Jepson. Jonathan proposed a new book on an important, but under-addressed dimension of the iPhone. Brian got it. Now 8 short months later (light speed in the publishing world), the print version of Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is about to hit the shelves, and Jonathan is about to embark on an international speaking tour (including such prestigious stops as South by Southwest).

It’s only fitting therefore that next week’s Geek Dinner will be doubling as the book’s launch party!

On Wednesday Jonathan will be giving an overview of the book, with a focus on the important question of choosing whether to development a “native app” or a “web app” when targeting the exploding smart phone market (iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm, etc.). Jonathan, who has quickly become one of the foremost experts on this topic, will examine the pros and cons of the different approaches, complete with live demos. This short session will be packed with invaluable information for anyone considering expanding their business to the mobile world.

**Note: Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is currently available in its entirety in both a free HTML version and as a $5 iPhone app.

Update: Jonathan has written a blog post about the Mobile Web at RINexus.com.

Please RSVP at Facebook (In the interest of making it more “viral”, we’re experimenting with doing our RSVPs on Facebook – and while you’re there please join our Facebook group. And if you want to join our very-low-volume email announcement send an email to Jack Templin, jtemplin@gmail.com with your name and affiliation.)

As always, for first-timers here are the details on the Geek Dinners:

• The event itself is FREE! Beverages and food are for sale at AS220’s bar and new restaurant.


• It’s totally casual. Wear whatever, bring whoever, arrive and take off whenever! And don’t worry about eating or not – come famished or full – eating is optional, and frankly, the least of the festivities (that’s not say the food isn’t good – it’s actually great)


• Topics of conversation will vary as they will at any gathering of geeks, but many of us will be talking about AJAX, mash-ups, start-ups, new devices, innovative business models, interaction design, social computing, digital art, web services, etc. etc. etc.


• There is Wi-Fi so bring your connected device of choice.

At the last Providence Geek Dinner of 2009, DiJiPOP CEO Ji Kim, an online advertising veteran, and Bill Cesare, a highly successful and prolific entrepreneur/investor, gave an overview of their dynamic company. We caught up with Ji after the Geek Dinner to learn more. [Video link]

A few of the Mercantile Block’s 50,000 square feet. AS220 is currently renovating the building with a 2010 opening scheduled. Photo Credit: Jef Nickerson of GC:PVD

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009, 5:30 – 8:30pm
AS220, 115 Empire Street, Providence, RI
FREE (buy your own food and drink – it’s cheap)

The last Providence Geek Dinner of the decade (yes, _ the decade_!) drops next week, and it’s going to be a doozy.

For starters, the excellent Providence-based DiJiPOP will be presenting:

DiJiPOP is helping to define a whole new category of online advertising by making it easy to create and manage cooperative advertising programs for retailers and their manufacturers. CEO Ji Kim, an online advertising veteran, and Bill Cesare, a highly successful and prolific entrepreneur/investor, will give an overview of their dynamic company, and a demonstration of its innovative turn-key online ad management solution for e-commerce companies. (Disclosure: DiJiPop is a “graduate” of this summer’s inaugural Betaspring program. I am a Partner in Betaspring.)

• We also are having our second annual “Geeks for Good” food drive, led by the awesome Michelle Riggen-Ransom of BatchBlue Software. Please bring non-perishable food items (canned fruits and veggies, pasta and sauce, soup etc.) – an item or two or twenty! – to be donated to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.  Last year’s Geeks for Good food drive collected an amazing 334 pounds of food and over $150 in cash donations thanks to the Geeks’ collective generosity.


• After the Geek Dinner, join us as we stroll a few blocks away to the Providence Blogopshere Holiday Spectacular, featuring all our good friends at Greater City: Providence, Providence Daily Dose, RIFuture, Kmareka, and Not For Nothing.

As always, for first-timers here are the details on the Geek Dinners:

• The event itself is FREE! Beverages and food are for sale at AS220’s bar and new restaurant.


• It’s totally casual. Wear whatever, bring whoever, arrive and take off whenever! And don’t worry about eating or not – come famished or full – eating is optional, and frankly, the least of the festivities (that’s not say the food isn’t good – it’s actually great)


• Topics of conversation will vary as they will at any gathering of geeks, but many of us will be talking about AJAX, mash-ups, start-ups, new devices, innovative business models, interaction design, social computing, digital art, web services, etc. etc. etc.


• There is Wi-Fi so bring your connected device of choice.